A.D.D or Autism?

[theblogger]

I'm new here... I was diagnosed with a little bit of everything as a child, my psychiatrist said it was mostly A.D.D and schizoaffective disorder and later was changed to schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder... I am treatment-resistant and no meds have helped with A.D.D my Dr. and treatment team say I don't have ADHD... what do you think? does anyone else have this problem?

[forgetsalot]

Hi and thank you for sharing. I can imagine you must be so frustrated when you go to get help with ADHD symptoms and the doc's don't think it's ADHD. I read recently that ASD and ADHD have a lot of overlapping symptoms. CHeck out this article: additudemag.com/is-it-adhd-...

What other coping strategies have you/are you trying? Therapy, coaching, exercise, sleep, diet, etc? I just got diagnosed at 41 last week and am super frustrated because I have been trying to manage depression, anxiety C-PTSD, OCD and addiction but turns out these are all associated (besides the ptsd) with ADHD. It can get really muddy!

Hope you hang in there and keep working on getting better!

[wtfadhd]

hey blogger, based on my personal experience and what i have learned from others who share on this group, i think its pretty typical to get multiple diagnosis, and get our diagnosis changed after being “ treatment resistant, etc. its frustrating for sure. And like forgetsalot said- overlapping symptoms are common. I have read that most people dx with ADHD have comorbid ( more than one) dx. The thing that helps me process my frustration is to stop worrying about what my “ label” is and just focus on what symptoms are holding me back or causing damage to my life. I also like to remind myself that mental health itself is not linear or static and to view it as a continuum- life and lifes joys n problems come and go depending on so many factors. We arent just one thing- we are a collection of lots of moving and always changing parts. ❤️.

Also, keep in mind that medical professionals are tasked to use the DSM to bill insurance and to prescribe meds. Effective medical professionals who treat mental health dislike the DSM. I mean seriously, the most terrible part of ADHD is the relationship piece and emotional dysregulation ( per pretty much all of us, lol) and those diagnostic symptoms got taken out of DSM in late 60’s!!! So why put too much weight on your actual diagnosis. ❤️

[forgetsalot in reply to wtfadhd]

thanks for bringing up how the DSM took out emotional dysregulation. I just listened to a podcast called: ADDitude Adhd Experts #369 Emotional Self regulation: The overlooked ADHD symptom that impacts everything. It was pretty mind-blowing for me.

[wtfadhd]

me too!

[zonarosso]

Knowledge is power! You know you better than the Doc's. Once learn like you just have you can help them treat you better, IF they listen to you! Strive to be a partner not a patient. There's a lot of good info out there are you can bet you're not alone in your boat. Good luck and never give up learning about who you are, and how to deal with the world to find your happy place. Keep going! 😀🙏❤️🙏