ADHD/ADD instead of AS?

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I have ADD, was also diagnosed with a mood disorder on the bipolar spectrum but they seemed to think that ADD fitted me better. In the UK and Europe, they are often reluctant to diagnose co-morbid conditions. My pdoc told me that he could possibly give me a list of DX's but he feels that ADD best describes me.

I think its something to do with healthcare being publicly funded. I was with a private pdoc, but he had to ensure that there was a convincing argument to use for my GP. Typically private health insurance doesn't cover treatment for developmental disorders and rarely covers the cost of meds for any condition. The pdoc will suggest treatment and your state funded go will administer it. That way you only pay around $10 dollar for your meds.

I think I was conned a bit as I was diagnosed with ADD under DSM criteria, the NHS typically use ICD 10- so I have to go wait to be assessed again.

ADD is common in those with AS and I've read that in many cases the ADD symptoms can seem more prominent. Especially in adults. Although I have had ADD all my life, it became most debilitating at work as I just couldn't focus, despite doing everything I could. I had all the other symptoms as well.

However, if you have the added problem of not paying attention because you are absorbed in your special interest, then you may find that ADD meds just absorb you more and that you really have to work hard.

I'm not diagnosed with AS, but have a lot of AS traits, which is apparently quite common in ADDers.

Mild AS is one of the most difficult things to diagnose and you might have very well been misdiagnosed. As someone who has a few friends with both ADHD and AS, I can see how it's a very fine line with them, as they don't present with all the symptoms of AS. With the new DSM, you will probably no longer be diagnosable as ASD, because the criteria are more stringent. Even having met you, I can't really say whether you really have it or not, but I think you are quite successful for someone your age and you don't seem to have had trouble getting jobs and getting by in dynamic, overwhelming work environments (unless there's something I don't know, but that's the impression I got). I was actually kind of amazed when I met you at how far you seem to have gotten with minimal support. But, taking into consideration what you have said in the original post and having met you as well as many other people with ADHD, I think it's quite possible that you have it.

I don't know...like Math Girl says there's a lot of overlap between ADHD and mild AS so it's possible you were misdiagnosed but also possible you were correctly diagnosed and have a mild case of both. The social problems described in your original post could describe me too and I think a lot of people with AS (not getting implied meaning, trouble interpreting body language, weird body language things you do like shake hands too hard ect.). You don't seem to have repetitive behaviours though. The fact that you do so well in school and keep a job and balance all that with a social life means that probably have only a mild case of both or of one or the other. To function that well just having ADHD and not being on meds or having a lot of intervention is quite impressive. When I met you and spoke to you I got the impression that you are a very intelligent girl (young lady). If you're intellectually gifted your intelligence may have ameliorated some of your symptoms. ALso you may have personality traits like being very determined and motivated which help you succeed......you didn't give up when obstacles stood in your way.....you kept trying until you got better. Math Girl is like that too......and I'm so jealous of this trait. I really wish I were more like that......dogged determination can often outweigh all else.

Also these disorders are based on behaviour, symptoms and are therefore doomed to be somewhat subjective. Symptoms are subjective, signs of illness are objective to some extent measurable characteristics of a disease/disorder (like high blood pressure). There is no sign that is specific and sensitive enough to be scientifically valid for diagnosing ADHD or AS. I know studies show reduced white matter in frontal lobes ADHD, larger brain size and more grey matter , less white matter for AS ect, but other studies contradict these findings......and they just aren't considered sensitive or specific enough to be signs. Therefore the symptoms of AS and ADHD don't have exact defined boundaries where you can say 100% X symptom means joe schmo has X disorder in the realm of mental and developmental disorders. If you're getting the intervention/help/accommodations you need then don't worry about it.

Thanks for your posts, daydreamer and Mathgirl! I appreciated having an outside perspective.

I talked to the doctor today about ADHD and he seems to agree enough to warrant getting a second perspective. He did question me about social problems though and I honestly don't know what to say about it. I told him about what social problems I thought that I had but I couldn't say that I get into arguments because of misinterpreting people...

Also just a little background. If you meet my family, they are very recluse, even moreso than me. My mom seems to be oblivious to obvious social cues and my dad was the unpopular member of his family. My siblings aren't really very social either.

I asked my parents about my social problems. My mom misinterpreted what I was asking lol (I think that she's autistic) and my dad thinks that I might have picked up some of their behaviours which caused me to get diagnosed with AS. I wonder if that could be the case. I think that I showed more autistic behaviour when I was diagnosed three years ago than now, after I've been away from home for a few years. But maybe it's just because I learned it from home?

Anyways, thanks for your responses everyone. It looks like I'll have to get another diagnosis for this. I appreciate everyone's input; I know that this an be a touchy and controversial subject. Thanks for your tact.

A few things:

1) Your parents having AS traits and you learning the behaviour from them is hard to separate from you inheriting some genes from each parent and together this combination of genes create the disorder. AS is polygenetic which means you get a combination of random genetic defects (or differences if you want to be PC) ,so it makes sense that a lot of different family members would have some genes and therefore some traits of the syndrome. It is mainly genetic but there are thought to be environmental influences too-some of these could be prenatal but nurturing could play a small part too and it stands to reason that since your parents gave you both your genes and your environment the two influences would be hard to separate.

2) Math Girl might be right that when the new criteria come out you won't meet them...because they'll be more stringent. The new criteria only require that you have had X amount of Y category symptoms at some point in history OR have them now though. So you have to have 2 from the repetitive behaviours category: sensory issues, need for sameness, routines, special interests or stimming to the point that they impaired you- or you have to have had this in the past. Do you think this fits you? Do you/did you have any of these things? Of course you should just let the doctors diagnose you/reassess you and it doesn't really help you to tell me this, I'm just curious.

3) Good luck with your assessment, Delta Function. Even if you don't still meet the criteria you should still hang out here (if you want) because you have a lot of traits and a lot in common with ASD people and could still use the site/groups ect. as a support.

^^^^
Good , I'd miss you if you went away. Let us know how the assessment goes.