ADHD/ADD instead of AS?

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So I've been researching a lot on ADHD/ADD lately, and many reasons lead me to believe that I have ADHD/ADD instead of AS.

1. My significant other agrees that I show characteristics of ADD. For example I appear to not be listening when a subject is not interesting or difficult, I am easily upset, and I say things without thinking. He also says that I get distracted very easily, like when I do chores, I end up doing a million other things as well.
2. I can relate to what I read about it so far. I've fit the characteristics. In case anyone is wondering, I do experience attention problems and fit the description of girls with ADD when I was a kid (daydreamer...)
3. I'm not sure if AS completely describes all of my behaviour. A lot of other things from my past explained other AS traits. Now I don't know of any that are separate from ADHD:
4. My social problems are explained by ADHD... This describes them completely

It would be hard to go through a diagnosis again, so if anything I just want to know how to identify myself. What do you think? Any recommendations on where to go from here?

The things you describe as ADD/ADHD fits AS too if my memory is serving me correct. However - what makes you think that you are not ADD/AS? You can have more than one issue. I have been diagnosed Bipolar/ADHD and currently undergoing a diagnosis for AS. So it is not impossible to have a co morbid diagnosis.

Thanks for your response. Yes that is true that you can have both.

When I was diagnosed with AS, I had a lot of other issues too like depression, anxiety and probably some PTSD. So I was a troubled child and that could have affected the test results. That's why I'm questioning it.

To answer your question, I am wondering that as well. The only catch is that I have been fairly successful socially for someone diagnosed with AS, and without much help, support or intervention. I've felt like an imposter AS almost. No one believes me that I have it. But I do wonder where one diagnosis ends and the other begins. Perhaps they are more similar than I know about.

I would go with your gut - like for me... when I was introduced to Aspergers I briefly dismissed it then it was like a light bulb went on and I felt I finally had all my answers. I think the biggest indicators of AS are the ToM issues. I do the black and white thinking thing so often I drive my family nuts. The other areas as well.

Whatever you feel - and what ever the result, I wish you luck and all the happiness

A hole bunch of ppl are a combination out of ASD and ADHD/ADD.
Around 70% of ppl with ASD also show singns of ADHD/ADD and also the other way around.

So you can devide 5 diff groups:
- ADHD/ADD only
- ADHD/ADD with some autistic traits
- having fullblown ADHD/ADD and ASD
- ASD with some ADHD/ADD traits
- ASD only

I'm clearly ASD and I have no ADHD, but I also have some hyperactivity since puberty, I was more a quiet child.
So, there is no "black or white" to it.

Last edited by Raziel on 26 Jan 2013, 7:39 am, edited 1 time in total.

I'm really hesitant with ADD/ADHD. It's a disorder that gets thrown around a LOT. (I've heard up to 1 in 10.) I think that it isn't a disorder but a simple example of the disagreement artificial society has with the natural brain. We're living in a world where for the first time in billions of years of evolution we're supposed to sit quietly, and give 100% focus to one thing for hours on end. The human brain is NOT meant to do this. Even 100 years ago the demand of concentration is NOTHING compared to what it is now.

I've met many people diagnosed with the disorder, but only a very few that I believed actually had an abnormally strong deficit in their ability to pay attention.

*agree*

I see it more or less the same way, but also read once, that it is very often nearly impossible to tell with 100% certainty if a person has ADHD/ADD or not. Actually shrinks LOVE diagnosis like this, so they can throw it around very easily.

But so far I know in the diagnostic guidlines in the DSM V not so many ppl will fall into this diagnostic lable anymore,
And clearly not me anymore, not even in the hyperactive part, were I'm glad about, because I never believed having it, eventhough I was once missdx with it. There is a whole bunch of disorders actually, overlapping hugely especially with ADHD.

I'm diagnosed with both ADHD and AS since I was a child, but I sometimes think I only have ADHD.
I have obvious AS traits like oversensority issues, very absorbing interests, overly-formal speech, meltdowns and (more rarely) shutdowns, limited use of gestures and facial expressions, but I show way more ADHD traits.
I've heard people with AS saying they very rarely smile, they have extreme social anxiety, they're considered shy from people, they don't look people in the eyes because it feels uncomfortable, they never talk, etc.
I smile and laugh a lot. I don't really have social anxiety, I only dislike being among too much people because their noise bothers me, but I'm not afraid of telling my opinion just because some people couldn't like it. No one ever considers me shy. I don't look people in the eyes because I don't see why I should. I talk a lot. I can relate more to people with ADHD than to those with Asperger's.
I don't know if the diagnosis is the right one, I've been diagnosed twice with both AS and ADHD, but this doesn't necessarily mean it's the right one. You can never be sure 100%, even if you're diagnosed. If it's not the right diagnosis, I surely have some AS traits, but I have much more ADHD traits.

There is some truth to it, but a bit.
A lot of ppl with ASD are like this, but it's also a bit clichée.
I had some social anxiety issues in the past, but no social anxiety disorder and usually I'm socially very open and willing to talk. I'm also not very shy, maybe sometimes under too much stress and also in certain social occations that are new to me.

Actually it's kind of funny, in one of my courses at university (it's a smaller one), I, a guy with schizotypal PD and another girl who is a bit strange talk the most. So much to "clichée".

This in addition:
Some believe that ADHD/ADD and ASD are one spectrum, because they are highly overlapping or even that ADHD/ADD is on the ASD spectrum...! So I wouldn't worry too much about it, knowing this.
There are some differences, but a lot more who is actually overlapping.

Last edited by Raziel on 26 Jan 2013, 8:15 am, edited 1 time in total.

Yup. I heard some psychiatrists saying that ADHD/ADD were part of the spectrum according to them.
I've even heard that they wanted to add ADHD/ADD to the spectrum in the next DSM, don't know if it's true or not.

Yes some, but that's not what they did in the end.
They put all the autism forms together to one ASD diagnosis and seperated diagnostically ASD and ADHD/ADD even more, also they made the ADHD/ADD diagnosis a lot more strict.
So everyone who meets both diagnostic criteria at the moment, my thought on that is, to check when the new DSM V comes out, if this is still the case.

Yes, I am hesitant as well. I've seen kids being diagnosed left right and center when I wonder if we're not just changing to a society that has more distractions.

A couple of things have convinced me that I have it though, and my bf agrees:
1. I have switched careers. I tried to be hyperfocused in a field that requires a lot of attention but left to a career that is more fast-paced and has more risk-taking. When I was younger, I would get by by following a routine just so that I can stay organized and if I deviated from the routine then I would goof up. But normally I hate routine.

On that note, I don't think that my interests are as intense as others with AS. I switch them frequently and get bored easily. It's rare for me to continue with an interest for a long period of time.

2. Something is different and I can't quite put my finger on it. I know that I'm mild AS, so maybe I am just not as severe as others with AS, but I do see a difference between me and others with it. Then I also don't get along with NTs because I think that I can be annoying. In fact I wonder because the people who I've related to best also have ADD. So I know that I am socially impaired or different in some way, but AS doesn't explain it as well as I'd hoped after three years of being diagnosed. I can't think of any way that being diagnosed with AS has helped me except for school accommodations.

And it gets even more confusing because when I was a kid, I wouldn't have any facial expressions and I would appear uninterested in people. I displayed many traits of AS back then but I've heard that girls with ADD often go unnoticed as well. I get confused just thinking about it

Thanks

Yes, I seem to be better at ToM than others with autism. I can notice social cues but it's just acting on them that's the problem. Or noticing them when I am thinking about something else.

In fact I originally thought that I had ADHD so being diagnosed with AS was a surprise to me. I kind of was confused by being told that I thought in black and white.

I can relate to that

I've been diagnosed with both. Seems like there's so much overlap that sometimes it's hard to know which symptoms are due to AS or ADHD.

That's me. I'm clearly not ADHD because I have a long attention span and my activity level is normal to low, but I have more significant executive dysfunction than usual - I see people with poorer social skills, more obsessiveness, more sensory issues, etc than me who are functioning better than me due to better EF. Not all ASD people have EFD, but it's universal in ADHD. So I often find ADHD strategies and advice work better on me than autism strategies, even though I'm not ADHD.

Of course, with the way they screwed up the diagnosis of adult ADHD, according to DSM-5 I suddenly developed ADHD-I at 16 without any actual change in my functioning. (They dropped the number of criteria needed for 16 or older versus children, but I've always met the same number of criteria ever since I was little. So I fall short of the child cutoff and just barely make the adult criteria.)