ADHD thread

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There is also ADHD-I (the inattentive type) which doesn't necessitate having hyperactive symptoms.

^^

I never dreamt in a million years that I was ADHD (hyper) because I'm not physically hyper except for stimming.
It means that your brain is hyper or jumps around with a short attention span.

Source?

ADHD, particularly in children is sometimes known as 'hyperkinetic disorder' (in the ICD-10) for example. The etymology of the word kinetic means movement or motion (essentially).

In children especially, being overactive, a key feature of ADHD, often results in excessive physical movement. In adults this is often less so the case, but a lot of adults who have ADHD are still hyperkinetic in the same way they were as children, i.e, they move around a lot.

ADHD-I (the inattentive subtype) of ADHD is more like what is sometimes known as more simply 'ADD', i.e, poor attention abilities without the hyperactive part.

There is also ADHD-C (the combined type/hyperactive + inattentive) and the hyperactive type which is just standard ADHD.

I have never heard of a professional source refer to the hyperactivity part, as meaning 'the brain jumping around' rather than it referring to the physical implications of ADHD.

I did over 20 hours of ADHD testing with an international expert on adult ADHD.
So did my daughter.
I know what the tests were, and they were about memory.

Sure there were some questions about physical hyperactivity but most adults don't run around in circles.

You don't have to run around in circles to be considered hyperactive. Even being fidgety in one's seat could be considered being hyperactive.

Here are my measures -

Yes, you're right.
Fidgeting counts.

I fidget a lot, but it's also my way of stimming.
I didn't realise they could be the same thing (stims + restless movement)

In response to lostonearth35, my point is that the sterotype is that of little kids who can't sit still.
That's what I always thought ADHD meant, anyway.
I didn't think that applied to me so I didn't get tested until 2020.

Adults with ADHD do sometimes develop inhibitory brain processes/mechanisms to compensate for being outwardly hyperactive and thus appear to be 'still', even when inwardly they are hyperactive/hyper-aroused in relation to the nervous system/or over-charged or whatever.

But many adults still retain their childhood, outward hyperactivity, which includes being fidgety.

In your case your diagnosis of ADHD-C seems accurate from what you have described.

A lot of the tests were like video games on a computer screen.
There was a hidden camera tracking my eyes.
I didn't know about that.

They were testing if I was paying attention to the screen or looking away.
I had to remember a lot of things in the video games and push buttons.
It measured my memory and reaction times etc.

I also had to recite lists of things forward and backward.

It was kind of fun but not what I expected at all.





I had to give them evidence from childhood so that's why I have all my school reports on hand.

They were looking for ups and downs or inconsistencies in achievement.

Yeah, I'd say you're right about that. I think I appear still, meaning my arse doesn't get up off the sofa, but the entire time my hands and feet are moving non-stop with stimming. You'd be surprised how much I stim. When I told MR and my kids that I don't think I get up or move around much they said I actually do. I wasn't aware of it but apparently I get up a lot for no reason or just walk into the kitchen and go back. I don't sprint and I actually move pretty slowly but it's impulsive or aimless movement. I wasn't consciously aware of that, but I still didn't think that meant "hyper" at the time.

I remember being asked those questions like "Do you feel as if you're driven by a motor?" I didn't know what to say because I'm literal so I thought it meant a car motor, and I'd have to be moving fast all over the place like a car. The doctor said it could be just a motor in my hands, or a motor in my mind.









Yeah, that's me.

Even if I have to stand in queue waiting for something, I turn around in slow circles, put my arms out like an airplane, do pirouettes, or sit on the ground and get up again. I can't be totally still like, ever. I even have a sleep disorder where I move in my sleep. Again I didn't think that counted because the word "hyper" seems like so much more.

^ I think all of those things you mention that are less obvious movements, still likely count as being 'hyper', especially if they are repetitive movements which stop a person from being 'at rest'/still.

Hyperkinetic is what they call it in Britain. Hyperactive is a synonym. ADHD is the long-name shortened again to an acronym. ADHD is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. ADD means Attention Deficit Disorder, but like Asperger's got moved under Autism, Hyperkinetic/Hyperactive and ADD got moved under the same umbrella term ADHD. A poodle is a dog. A collie is a dog. A chihuahua is a dog. Not all dogs are collies, but a collie is still a dog. It doesn't make sense to say "a poodle cannot be a dog because a collie is dog and a poodle is not a collie". Having a diagnosis if ADHD doesn't mean you have all the same symptoms as everyone else who also has a diagnosis of ADHD but there are some things shared. You can have a hyperactive brain mostly but not a hyperactive body and still be diagnosed ADHD. Subtypes are ADHD-I (primarily Inattentive subtype), ADHD-H (primarily Hyperactive subtype) and ADHD-C (Inattentive/Hyperactive Combined subtype). "Hyperactive brain" or "Hyperactive attention" is basically the same as the Inattentive stuff, or "Attention Deficit" or "ADD". They are all part of the big tent ADHD family.

My personal take based on all my reading and personal experience: genetic mutation or inherited genetic difference comes first. This affects the neurological development and the body's production of molecules called "proteins" in particular "neurotransmitters". This results in difference in "attention" and "activity" behaviors. To further complicate things, the genes may need some specific environmental triggers to kick them into gear, like food, something in the water or air, trauma at birth, trauma after birth (etc, etc). In US and Canada I think they use the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) some other countries use the ICD. It doesn't matter much because they both are based on each other and the published journal articles that everyone reads on both sides of the pond. They tend to either be the same or close. DSM is based on observable behavior. The "Tests" that people get are statistical instruments, and are used to cross reference different metrics against populations. They are supposed to help with the diagnosis, which is based on DSM, which is based on observable behavior. In the USA ADHD falls under "Other Health Impairment" (OHI) which is specifically written into the law to include ADHD, but the definition of ADHD is based on diagnosis by a reputable healthcare provider. The Schools have to follow the Law, but the law doesn't define ADHD, the DSM does. The Law says what the school must do once there is a diagnosis. It is like dominoes, they all have to line up and then fall.

So you are both right: it is a floor wax AND a desert topping. It's BOTH!

I wouldn't mind a little bit of physical hyperactivity. Might actually get stuff done and not need so much sleep.

When I was tested, the only criterion for hyperactivity I met was not being able to sit still. At school I got into trouble for swinging on my chair.

I used to swing on my chair too, at school. And in IT class I would spin on those chairs. I could barely keep still in high school.

I live in France and the term ADHD has only been used for a few years here. It was not really in use back in 2020 when I was diagnosed as "Hyperactive/hypersensitive" after an assessment at the pain clinic I went to for my fibromyalgia.
But I am lucky - my mom being originally from Toronto I speak english so I watch a lot of North American Youtube channels where it seems you guys are quite a few years ahead of us.

My discovery journey has been a long one and it is far from over. Right off the bat I was a bit of an odd one. I held elaborate conversations with adults before the age of 2, and read several books a week by age 6. I always preferred to be by myself and never ever got bored, but in a group of my own age I would take charge and boss everyone around and it broke my heart when I got told off. At age 7 a child psychologist gave us an aptitude test at school, and after getting my results she sent me to a clinic to have the Wechsler test done. I came up with the results of a 12 year old when it came to everything but logic, abstract thought and maths :p. My mom only registered the good sides, I don't think she paid much attention to the rest... She did however spend the next few years indulging my need to try all sorts of different activities, although I quit most of them after only a few sessions... I tried ballet, gymnastics, judo, modern jazz, junior astronomy, and more, and finally fell in love with horse back riding and art classes.

Back in those days, in the area I lived in, it was common for kids to spend most of their free time doing a whole bunch of stuff. So my being involved in a lot of activities, though mostly solitary ones, was not raising any red flags.
I joined a world music choir when I was 15 under the direction of a clearly hyperactive Italian ethnomusicologist (but that meant nothing to me back then). We had a lot of success and performed in loads of venues, and by the time I was in my last year in high school I spent 15-25 hours a week working with the choir, on top of classes. Again, nothing that seemed out of the ordinary for a young adult full of energy.

Except I also had 6-12 spasmophilia attacks every day. I was hyper anxious, depressed, very overweight, and generally very VERY tightly wound.

Fast forward a few years - at the age of 23 some really crappy memories of abuse come back to the surface, I have a major breakdown, and I end up being diagnosed with severe depression, CPTSD, dissociative personality disorder, and OCD. From that point on, any symptom I have is put on the back of the abuse, though I'm not going to lie I did cross the paths of a few old male doctors who tried to tell me I was just another hysterical woman with hormone issues.

In 2014 I got fibromyalgia. Once again, it was put down to the abuse I suffered in childhood. In France at that time, neurodivergency is not a word you hear at all. I had to wait 2020 for a doctor to diagnose me as "hyperactive/hypersensitive", but even then I did not really make a link with ADHD (although I had heard the term frequently on english-speaking channels and websites). By then I was also suffering from severe chronic fatigue (another thing that's completely ignored in France), and unbeknownst to me a deep change was going on inside me. Slowly but surely, my protective walls, masks and friendly personas all started to crumble, and that's actually what made me realize I'd had them up in the first place. It turns out I was not quite the person I thought I was. But I had become too tired to pretend.

I started to understand that my neurodivergencies had played a big part in my psycho-emotional life, but that this had been largely ignored by the medical world. I decided to learn more about being an ND, and about the various diagnoses I had received, all of which I found frustrating as they seemed to explain a lot of stuff, but not everything. I was obviously still missing a piece of the puzzle. I kept hearing this term, "ASD", in a lot of the videos I was watching. So finally I decided to look into it... and it was an amazing Aha! moment. Autism explained all those unticked boxes from my other diagnoses. Why I'm not always ADHD, not always OCD, but often something else entirely. And that in turn got me looking into AuDHD, which I think is basically what I am. I will not expand on all my quirks here as I have gone on for long enough already! Suffice to say that now I am able to look back on my life in a completely new light - it's going time to process and perhaps re-interpret certain memories, but I am really glad for it. I'm not the weirdo I thought I was after all, I'm just a bag full of original quirks.

Long live divergence and diversity!

Probably nobody cares but:

https://www.pasco.k12.fl.us/library/ese ... lth_dx.pdf

Cross-walk from ADHD diagnostic codes for the old codes and names from the DSM IV and the new DSM-5 and ICD-10 (which use the exact same codes now but different names)