I think my ASD diagnosis hid my ADHD

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I think I have super obvious ADHD symptoms, but I haven’t been diagnosed. I dropped out of high school because my ADHD symptoms are just so extreme. I guess it’s easier to blame everything on autism and let me rot in special ed. I think I even fit the ADHD stereotype pretty well. I’m pure chaos. I guess what I don’t have is a whole bunch of ADHD “hyperactivity”. I think I still do.
My “hyperactivity” is low enough to not be all that impulsive and not look ADHD enough to some people. I think my hyperactivity is high enough to get stared at by people and seem weird. It’s bad enough for me to be self-conscious about it. I guess I’ll be left to rot forever. No one is acknowledging that I have real issues. I probably have a very bad learning disability as well. I just have no f*****g clue what it is. I’m supposed to figure out everything myself and tell everyone how they can support me. Guess what? I have no f*****g clue. I just need a better diagnosis than just autism.

There is overlap between the symptoms of ADHD & Autism but they are not the same.

ADHD is an issue of concentration, focus and selective attention amongst a couple of other specific factors.

Autism is a social & communicative disorder, primarily.

Yo Samdy Sam on YouTube just came out as auDHD after having finally been diagnosed as ADHD. I doubt she's the only one. Personally, I got the OCD diagnosis then the ADHD diagnosis, but in part because of those diagnoses, and a lack of acceptable stimming early enough, it's been a challenge getting the ASD diagnosis even though there's no question about that if you meet me.

If you've got both conditions, then they're going to mask each other the way that OCD tends to mask ADHD. It's somewhat less clear if it happens for a reason with auDHD the way that OCD masking ADHD is likely due to them being largely opposite disorders where a mixed diagnosis couple has a better chance of surviving than either on their own leading to selective breeding for either both or neither.

EDIT: Her'es a a video where she talks about her experience in this area. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ8fAfVevL8&t=749s

I was dx ASD in 2018 and felt the way you do. Even though I was deemed Moderate functioning I knew there just freaking had to be more to the story. I'd read ASD posts on here and they didn't sound like me at all. I mean yes of course they do in terms of symptoms, but I was always so intense and so dysregulated / lost, and such a hot mess with it all that it was far beyond a social impairment or sensory hell.

I went back for 20 hours of ADHD testing in early 2020, right before Covid. For all my life I assumed I couldn't be ADHD since I don't run around in circles with my feet. Then I realised my feet might sit still but the rest of me is always in motion, including my mind which goes at warp speed. At the same time I can't retain anything or hold a thought very long.

I was finally dx with ADHD-C (combined presentation). I've been on two kinds of meds at titrated doses and still haven't found much help tbh, but it's better than no meds. At least I'm not feeling like I'm encased in concrete 24/7 -- that's how my brain fog and lack of EF always felt. (I still have brain fog and no EF, but at least the cement is gone.)

I have a whole thread about the diagnostic journey here, somewhere.

My learning disability turned out to be audio-visual. I can't listen or watch to learn. I can only learn or even think by reading written language. That's why I'm on here so much - I can't really think without seeing my thoughts typed out in words, or by reading what others have to say.

I can try to link my thread if you'd like.

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=384481&p=8442035&hilit=ADHD#p8442035

Here's the thread if you're interested. ^


Here's my scores if you're interested:





I can only speak for myself but I feel like the meds are generally made for non-autistic people, so it's hard to find one that will fit. My doctor took a long time choosing a med for me because I have a history of stroke. I'm not allowed the class with Ritalin but I can have Vyvanse.

I started on a crazy low dose of Vyvanse which had to be compounded for me. I think it was 5mg? I had a pretty good response at first but it slowly went up to 50 mg over the course of a year or so. By then I couldn't sleep until around 6 a.m., even if I took it 24 hours before. My EF remained really bad and my emotions were an absolute s**tshow. I had one of the biggest meltdowns of my life in the summer of 2020 and even left here for a while. I think I was around 20mg at that time. It's like everything got supercharged, but I didn't know.

I had to go back on my atypical SSRI with the Vyvanse, to balance out my moods. But then I had a bad reaction to my SSRI and quit that.

I had a second stroke in December 2020 but they don't think it was related and I was allowed to stay on Vyvanse.

I stayed on the high dose Vyvanse thinking I might even need higher (?!) to fix my EF, but finally in the spring of this year my doctor decided to switch me to a different kind called Guanfacine (Intuniv) which is made for Autistic children. It's a different class from Ritalin or Vyvanse. You can take it at bed to help sleep, or in the morning, or even both.

It doesn't really help me sleep but I take it at night anyway. I tried it in the day and feel a bit brain foggy from it, but I think it's pretty decent overall and it really helps my mood. My partner sees a huge difference because I'm a lot more calm, in general, than before. I guess I appear calmer to people but inside I'm still struggling to do things, and I'm still losing at least ten things per day. My phone is currently lost and has been lost for three or four days before. I lost my car keys for two weeks. Something is always lost, if not multiple things.

Could easily be both, same for me while I wait the 2 years for a assessment for ADHD-C

My wife had neurological issues and suspected a genetic link so we went to support groups for different diseases.
She also became a support group leader! It was quite obvious to see similarities when you had a dozen or more people with the exact same issues. None of them minded if you weren't exactly in the right group. You could be a support group leader for a disease you didn't have.

So yes, not being able to have the medical community figure it out is a big issue.
I've seen someone with a placard or sign labeling themselves with a genetic test result looking for others with the same.

At my more dysfunctional states, I can be mistaken for someone with ADHD.

I do not have ADHD.
I do not have the signs in childhood. Yet somewhat 'have' since puberty.

Not because of harder expectations or harder school life; but of puberty and hormonal imbalance which I'm still dealing with to this day.

It sort of also lined up with the timeline, when at my worst years was also the first I have a PC and gaining internet addiction; and being overstimulated as a form of autopilot default.

I do not have that in childhood. Overwhelm was not my so called head's default.
Yet it did when mental health issues came; it was a way for me to cope. But I no longer really need it, now it's an unwanted habit.


Once I figure how to get out of this stupid hole that my head had made no thanks to puberty, I won't 'have ADHD'.

I have much more control than this, and it's frustrating; it's also how I get to understand why people cannot seem to get out of it.

At any rate, I refuse the ADHD self diagnosis and label.
It doesn't explain my case at all, even after months and years contemplating with the possibility and suspicion; lots of overlaps yet something deep just doesn't fit.

My source of executive dysfunction is a bit more subtle and complicated than that.

How about wall of texts and seemingly chattiness?
My compensation over poor language control, which is definitely autism and nothing else; along with not being a true introvert.

And even the positive aspects like craving novelty and boredom?
That's just me as an autistic, without dealing with everyday anxiety -- in which I find no one else seem to relate -- along with my personal deprivations and counter-autistic personality traits that I inherited and acquired.

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