ADHD Ptsd and adhd

[njray]

Anyone here have this dual diagnosis? How are you coping?

 

[Lady of Longbourn]

I have both. My Adhd can be pretty sever at times.

Coping? Well, not really. Having both makes for an interesting mix of symptoms, and some cancel the others out. I have problems with focusing, but I don't take meds for it. They want to stabilize my moods first.

I have always felt...stupid for having adhd. So no, I am not coping at all!

 

[Lady of Longbourn]

I should add that, A lot of people with Adhd have other disorders. Same with PTSD.

 

[Lady of Longbourn]

Here is a nice article...its funny. A nice...into the mind article.
[DLMURL="http://montclair.patch.com/articles/one-mothers-view-adhd-is-like-frogger#"][/URL]



[/DLMURL]

"I have ADHD and so does my husband. One of my favorite bloggers, who also has ADHD, wrote this:
“I think that ADHD could be diagnosed more accurately if psychiatrists took a look at how their patients react when presented with a sum of money which can only be accessed after completion of a multi-step task, like going to the bank. Normal people go to the bank to deposit their checks without pausing to feel completely overwhelmed by such a simple process. People with ADD have a much harder time with this task.”
This is exactly right. My mother has called me to ask why in the H-E double hockey sticks have I not deposited the check for child's birthday-Christmas, et al? I have checks sitting waiting for me to make the trip to the bank, which might as well be a trip to Europe.
My oldest also has ADHD, and I suspect my younger one might as well since, you know, they won the genetic lottery in this department. At a meeting at one of my children’s schools we were discussing family history (a k a my husband and me) and someone said, “I wish that people would not be so causal to write off the effect of ADHD—that there is something going on in the frontal lobe—something real.” I wanted to cry; I was so relieved to hear someone say this.
I was diagnosed as an adult, but looking back on my childhood it explains so much. Testing extremely high in some areas of academics, and being told "you’re not working to your potential. I was working the only way I knew how. My relationship with time and my chronic lateness are classic symptoms. It is all part of it.
When people ask what it’s like to have ADHD I tell them it’s like being in a room with 50 people talking to you at once and you can’t tune them all out to have a one-on-one conversation; you get snippets of all the conversations. The medication helps to tune out all the extraneous noise for me and I can focus.
This week I ran out of my ADHD meds, and the pharmacist told me they were back ordered for a few days. My days without my ADHD meds can be a bit like the 80’s video game “Frogger”:

• Get home from dropping husband at train and youngest at school and sit down in the quiet house to work on an article. Realize I’m cold and under caffeinated so make myself a cup of tea.
• Waiting for the kettle to boil see the notice on the blackboard that orders for something were due a long, long time ago. Feel like a terrible mother for not purchasing a magnet-bracelet-hat for my child’s school. Wonder how they will grow up properly when I can’t even remember to buy a stupid magnet.
• On the way to the recycling bin with notice, stop to turn the kettle back on, and leave the notice on the counter.
• Think of a really good intro for piece and run to laptop to write it down. Begin writing and realize I need my notes from interviews I’ve conducted for the article. Get up to go find notebook.
• Notice the breakfast dishes left by the husband and kids. Rinse them out before the cereal becomes permanently cemented to the side of the bowl and put them in the dishwasher. Realize the sink is dirty and clean it. Think, well I’ve got the cleaner out, I might as well hit the bathroom sink too. Clean the bathroom sink. Realize I have to pee. Clean the toilet afterward because I'm already cleaning.
• Return cleaner to under kitchen sink. Notice dog shampoo, remember the dog smells like butt and needs a bath. Put shampoo by the sink to clean dog. Speaking of dog has anyone fed him? Feed the dog.
• Notice teacup sitting expectantly next to kettle near the cabinet where we keep the dog’s food. Turn the kettle on again. Take the notice to the recycling bin while water boils. Make tea and head back to computer.
• Alert goes off-phone meeting in fifteen minutes. Get up to find notes on project I’m working on for said meeting. Back to the computer, only to go back again to find where I left my tea. Post meeting make additional notes and start back on article. Forget how to spell a word. Google symptoms of early onset Alzheimer’s. Think about medicine and how cool it would be to be a doctor. Wonder If I went to medical school now, how old would I be when I could finally practice medicine?
• Realize I need to email son’s teacher to let her know he won’t be in school the next day because he’s going to his allergist in the city. Realize it’s now time to pick up youngest child.
• Get home and try to work on piece for a few minutes but the kids need things or have questions or want to talk. Give up.
• Later those night: Children in bed sit down to write again. Look up a word in online thesaurus. Wonder about the origin of words like napkin and potato—why those names? Think about potatoes, and the first person to figure out you could eat them. Think about the failure I had last summer trying to grow onions. Realize I need to water plants.
• At the sink filling up watering can notice the dog shampoo and vow to give the dog a bath tomorrow.
• Back to computer to work. Wake up the next morning on the couch, in my clothes, article only one-third to one-half complete.

This is what ADHD is like for me—my brain multi-tasks for me whether I like it or not. Even on medication it’s a struggle to keep things ordered, but it’s so much better. Restless, easily distracted, overly talkative, these are all me.
However, there is an upside to having ADHD. People who have ADHD tend to be bright with high IQ's, and excellent at spontaneous problem solving. They are typically extremely creative; thinking outside the box is the only way we know how to think. Those with ADHD have been shown to be highly intuitive, compassionate and resilient. We tend to have a pretty good sense of humor too. These are all things I see in myself.
Had I been diagnosed as a kid, perhaps I wouldn’t have spent years thinking I was broken. I am not lazy or lacking in fortitude or intelligence, as some told me. My brain is wired differently. I can appreciate that now and can make damn sure my daughter and if he's diagnosed down the line, my son, appreciate their differently wired brains too. "

 

[njray]

Thanks for your response Ayesha. I was diagnosed with ADHD about 3 years ago. However I did not become really educated about the disease until recently. It was uncovered because of learning issues I was experiencing upon the return to college then of course it rolled into life issues.. There is this great website for adhd called "totallyadd.com" It is very informative and it has taught me alot (I like to say educated me about me) and sometimes that is kinda scarey! ...

I had been the victim of a violent assault almost one year ago and the struggles to erase or surpress the incidents are nearly impossible for me. I was having these inner struggles (more than normal). My brain always kinda moved fast inside but now I was getting these surges or flashbacks of this new outside incident causing additional chaos in my already fast wired and sometimes fuzzy thoughts. I was so distraught I went to a local library and started to research ADHD and then I saw a poster about PTSD for armed service people and said "Crap" those symptoms are what I am experiencing. I am not sure sometimes if it is the PTSD (the Mds call it that) or my hyperfocussing from ADHD that make it so difficult to forget what happened to me but I struggle everyday. A full night sleep is nearly impossible and my anxiousness is pretty much at an all time high.

For me surgery is necessary because of a shoulder injury I sustained in the attack. I am struggling with the thought of going under the knife to fix what a person with a knife did to me. Also MY X (RN) used to tell me about all the screwed up doctors at work and that has come back to haunt me as well... I have even decided to go to doctors miles away just not to be around any MDs she talked about to me.

Any way sorry for rambling and if you care to share I am all eyes as it will be another long night as the vision and feeling of the infamous knife being put to my throat and only through shear strength and a bit of luck was I able to repell the attacker and survive with my life. At least the attacker was caught, convicted and put away as to not hurt anyone else.......