Anyone with Asperger's + ADHD? Advice needed!

Post Reply New Topic

About me: Female, 32 years old, student, cat lover!
I got diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome (AS) a few days ago and just been told by my psychiatrist that I have ADHD too.
I cannot tell you how confused I am right now. Although I've read many books (including Attwood's - very useful) on AS, it seems impossible for me to understand what it means to have BOTH Asperger's AND ADHD.
I asked my doctor how severe is my AS and he said "moderate". I have almost all the typical AS characteristics - no friends, live alone, problems with employment (hence doing a phd now) etc. Before the diagnosis, I thought I'm pretty self-aware but I can't say I know myself at all anymore. I've been told by the doctor that I am very chatty (overly so), impulsive, not able to focus, scatty, pedantic...I saw myself as someone very quiet, calm, attentive, focused before...the complete opposite basically!

Also, the doctor suggested medication to control the ADHD...will it dull my mind or make me lose weight? I need to have a very active mind for my studies...any thoughts?

Any advice/comments anyone?

Thank you in advance!!

I have PDD-NOS.
Besides the rigid schedule, I was a textbook case of Asperger's syndrome.
Although I am not sure I have ADHD, that may just be because the symptoms have decresed in severity over the years, but it can really interfere with things.
I never really like to do anything besides my interests, and that used to be worse.
Although my ability to concentrate was heavily controlled by my interest in the subject, so that may be related to PDD-NOS.

im in the same boat.. though id say my AS symptoms are less than moderate now. im 39. i just started taking meds for the double whammy of anxiety that these two can cause. trying to find a fine balance between the side effects and desired effects. the adhd can be really awesome at motivating , both oif these can be a huge asset dont forget

I am a 55-yr old electrical engineer aspie with ADD. Engineering is not an ADD-friendly profession. A lot of engineers are on the spectrum, though. The focused interest of autism is reinforced by the hyper-focus inherent in ADD, sometimes to my benefit. The take-home message here is: find your passion and go for it. You, more so than those around you, will not succeed in any other way.

Add meds may help. I am measurably helped by dimethy-amino ethanol (DMAE), which I take 3 times per day. I get this stuff cheaply from Bulk Nutrition (.com). Tyrosine also helps. Daily aerobic exercise also helps - a lot.

Just enjoy your neurological uniqueness. Aspies have more patents than the general population: I have one and am working on a couple more. Math also tends to be easier for aspies, such has been my experience. ADD has helped me look at problems and make connections to seemingly peripheral facts that others missed.

Otto

I'm 44, female, and have both ADHD and AS. And I talk a lot

I'm on methylphenidate for the ADHD (72 mg Concerta and a total of 20 mg Ritalin per day), and it does NOT dull my mind at all. It makes me focus better, and it helps me to make better decisions and respond better to other people's needs at times when I might have been more anxious or self-focused. It does reduce my appetite but I happen to be on other medication which INCREASES my appetite, so the two cancel each other out.

I enjoy the hyperactivity. It makes me dance.

I have AS and ADD. I was suspected of having ADHD as a child but never got diagnosed, it was ADD instead. I sometimes question my ADD because I don't know if I was one of those kids who never had it. ADD was big in the 90's and over diagnosed I've read. Then I was diagnosed with AS in 1997 and I say online I am professionally diagnosed and it was before AS became a fad. I just want my label to be taken more seriously so I say that when someone claims AS is trendy now and a fad or over diagnosed. I am not sure if my ADD symptoms are actually my AS symptoms. Me getting distracted easily and by sounds, that could have been sensory issues and me fidgeting, that could have been me stimming and getting overloaded. AS symptoms can be mistaken for ADD and you can have both. Also we hyper focus and are hyperactive and we are impulsive too just like ADDers are. We also say things without thinking but so do people with ADD. I was worse as a kid but I have gotten better thanks to therapy. The treatment I was getting for ADD wasn't working and the pills I was on for it were the wrong kind. One of the best side effects for it was high metabolism so I was able to eat anything and not gain weight. Then when my parents took me off them, I gained weight and got all these stretch marks. I might have gotten less of them if I laid off the sugar.

So my AS was worse as a kid but it's gotten better. The symptoms are less severe. Now I am borderline. At the time of my diagnoses I was the mild to moderate case of it but I think I have always been mild. I knew a boy in my school who might have had AS and he was a lot worse than me. I was like him in my early years but at age nine I was a lot better. So compare to him I was mild. I was doing much better when I got put on new medication after my diagnoses. I had less cluttering and my symptoms were less severe. My mom has always claimed I had very little AS. I used to not believe it because I had never met a real aspie so I had no idea how mild I was. It just seemed bad because I was different and I wasn't around other aspies to see how less effected by it I am. Back then I didn't even know this boy in my school probably had it because I didn't even know what AS was then. I only assumed it was me struggling with my school work and I thought if I had very little, I wouldn't struggle in school so much. But I didn't put much thought into it then. I didn't even know I was literal then or what I was missing and I didn't know my obsessions was a result to it and disliking change and having routines and focusing on my interests. Same for my behavior and past behavior.

hi again

im reading lots here that makes a lot of sense. i also will echo the exercise thing: i started jogging around 21 years of age, it helps so much. i ONLY do it for the mental health. (well.. it doesnt hurt that it keeps me fit now that im getting older and saggier

i also concur about the advise to follow your passions.. its the only things i had half a shot at succeeding in and i can say ive been lucky that way (i have a career working for myself that was one of my aspie obsessions back in my early 20's)

hi... no im 39 not 32.

well i must say i do enjoy running thats why i do it, it just makes me feel better all around (probably all those reasons you mention). i guess i didnt say that clearly...

I have Adhd, Ocd, and PDD (basicly means autism:other)
Medication helps me focus and stay awake due to all the other meds I am on for Ocd which make me very sleepy.
However Add meds usually help ppl focus better but you miss the hyper-focusing which is sometimes needed in school. Other than that, I want to say congrats...you joined the league of the living.
When you first get diagnosed, it may seem like you are going nuts...like their are layers to yourself that you never knew existed. This can be scary, but you are who you were before you got diagnosed, just more aware of why you do the the things you do. Before you knew what you thought and what you did...now you are begining to know why you do these things. Once this introductory phase passes, you will begin to feel more like yourself again. It is just the news of this kinda has you alittle rattled.

Jojo

I have AS and ADHD. I take a stimulant medication for the ADHD. It does not make me dull or boring or subdued. It helps me do my job and function in the world.

YMMV.

I've been on concerta. I know it helped me concentrate, but I'm pretty sure it had side effects. Anxiety and mild depression spring to mind. Though I can't be sure the meds were causing it. It also decreased my appatite.

I don't really like meds.

I have AS and ADHD. I was on methylphenydate and it helped my concentration and focus, but it made it harder to keep eye contact and made my anxiety worse as well.