I want to raise awareness of this condition.

[redhorse]

Like many people I thought I knew what attention deficit disorder was. It is all about being hyperactive and not being able to sit still etc. Well none of that applied to me. I am the complete opposite so I never had any interest in researching it further. Accidentally I stumbled across a condition called primarily inattentive add and to my complete and total shock my whole life fell into place.

Were you a daydreamy type of kid? Were you always disorganised and forgetting your homework etc? Do you find it hard to get going sometimes? Did you maybe have problems with things like driving or dance steps? Do you tend to zone out sometimes when people are talking to you? If so you should take a few mins and look at this condition. There is a good forum for it called Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Forums

People who get it are more prone to mood disorders and addiction. They think there are loads of addicted adults who do not know they have it and I mean loads. These people were overlooked because they were not the typical hyperactive kids. I just wanted to put it out there because there are probably more people here who think they know about Add and dismiss it. Thats all! Why ADD/ADHD Increases the Odds of Addiction and Alcoholism

[LVT25]

I want to raise awareness of this condition.

Hi Redhorse,

Last year about this time someone on here mentioned something about ADD-Inattentive, and something clicked in my brain. You see, our then 16 year old son had been having problems in school, and in sports, and even trying to learn how to play a new game. So I started looking into it and made an appointment to have him tested. Sure enough, the doctor said he definitely had this and should do quite well on medication. My husband and I were concerned about the side effects and addiction to the meds, and the doctor said on the contrary--a great portion of people that don't get treatment become addicted to alcohol or drugs. I think it is a form of self medication.

I believe a lot of people with alcohol problems probably have ADD. I think my husband is one of them. Thanks for sharing your information!

[FlyAway]

I want to raise awareness of this condition.

Very interesting! Thanks for posting this.

[catch22]

I want to raise awareness of this condition.

Thanks for your post redhorse, my son was tested by the kings college for this. Got a letter last year to see if he would come back for antoher test to keep check on all the kids growing up because they believe in there reseach kids growing up into adults from ADD or ADHD may have a addiction problem with alcohol drug or other things....

[redhorse]

I want to raise awareness of this condition.

They think up to 43% of gamblers have this condition Check compulsive gamblers for attention-deficit symptoms

Here is an interesting report on alcoholism and add/addh


...... "Within this group of alcoholics, subjects with ADHD in adulthood are five to 10 times more frequent than in the normal population," she said. "Compared to alcoholics without ADHD, alcoholics with ADHD in adulthood were at least four years younger at onset of alcoholism, drank about 50 grams pure alcohol more per day during the previous month and had a nearly twofold higher rate of first-degree positive family history of alcoholism"

Specialized Treatment Needed

Both Johann and Loncarek spoke of a need for the development and evaluation of specialized treatment programs that address "phenotypical specifics" as well as co-existing disorders such as alcoholism and ADHD. While pharmacological remedies, they noted, have been extensively evaluated for the treatment of ADHD in childhood, little attention has been given to substance-abusing individuals with ADHD in adulthood."
"ADHD seems to be highly underestimated in adulthood," said Johann, "yet seems to be an important risk factor for the development of alcohol dependence."


William Neiderhut M.D one of the leading authorities in Add/Addhd believes that EVERY ALCOHOLIC should be assessed for this condition.



I dont believe there is enough discussion about it on alcohol recovery forums. I plan to make a post about it on the TSM and Sober recovery forums at some point too.

The main thing for people to be aware of is that it does not always involve hyperactivity. Addh usually does but the Add people can be the opposite ie very sluggish. daydreaming(or what looks like daydreaming),problems with driving,problems with maths,problems with dance steps etc are all common symptoms.

ADD/ADHD rarely travels alone.An alcohol problem can just be the outward mask for this condition. Peel it away and very often you find anxiety/ depression/mood disorders/bipolar etc but peel THAT away and you get to the REAL source or the engine of the problem which is years of untreated Add/Addh.

I dont want to keep hitting people over the head with this but I would eat my hat if there arent dozens of people on this forum who have it and dont know it. I have read studies which say anything from 40-67% of alcoholics have this condition. If even half this figure were true then it should be a big talking point among alcoholics.

A lot of people will never get sober until they deal with underlying conditions such as this. Anyway at least that is the MWO people informed ! Thanks for reading.

[azurmyst]

I want to raise awareness of this condition.

Very good information that is thought provoking. I am one of the creative types and have always had a hard time explaining how things effect me. Always coming across to deep and out there for most people. Just curious how to get diagnosed? No insurance?

[blueblah]

I want to raise awareness of this condition.

I was diagnosed with ADD before it became an over-diagnosed condition. I have the type of ADD as described. I was never very hyperactive, but damn could I day dream and procrastinate. And yes, driving was a very difficult thing for me to get a hang of. Also, this tends to effect your spatial vision and it took me forever to learn my right and left.

I have struggled off and on with mild depression, self-medicating and chemical dependency. I consider myself pretty intelligent and actually have strong will power, I have been able to deal with these issues pretty effectively, but they still pop up from time to time.

One major issue that this has caused me is problems sleeping, its been a life long issue for me. My mind can really start racing when laying in bed and I can get very anxious. For a long time I liked to have the TV on until I passed out. Obviously, that isn't the best idea.