Can someone describe how is it to have both ASD and ADHD?

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I'm wondering if I may have ADHD too so I want to know how different is it to have both from having just ADHD or just ASD.

I have both, and it makes me basically useless. I have special interests but I tend to jump from one thing to the next, as a result I master nothing. I tend to get started on very detailed art projects and other things but never finish them. I'm a good artist, but since I never finish what I started, I have nothing to show for it. I'll get started reading something then suddenly realize I don't care, so I have a bunch of books but it's not like I can talk about them to anyone. I don't tend to delve too deeply into anything because I get distracted too easily. It's a shame because I have a high IQ, but it's not like I can apply my "intelligence" to anything. All this, plus my bad social skills, and sensory issues makes it hard for me to accomplish anything. I'm working on it though. I've started back on my stimulants and am going back to school. The stimulants help to an extent, but I think I just need a kick in my a** to be honest.

Been diagnosed autistic singe age four, just recently received an ADHD diagnosis. In hindsight, it makes sense - my inability to keep on task, my emotional sensitivity, my restricted interests (which I can attribute to the ASD, but ADHD has a similar phenomenon called a "hyperfocus"), et cetera. The two disorders are so closely related, it's hard to tell which one is causing a particular symptom. In fact, if I hadn't switched psychiatrists, the attention facet would've likely continued to be overlooked. I'd continue research (ADDitute is a good website to start) and if you still suspect that you have both, talk to a professional about it. It hasn't been a miracle cure, but since I started ADHD meds, I've noticed an overall improvement in the depression/anxiety department. Definitely something to look into!

I was recently diagnosed with ADHD. Aspies are sometimes called "little professors" and ADDers are sometimes called a "wild child". In my opinion I would describe it as being the Absentminded Professor or a Mad Prodessor (depends on your flavour of ADHD). I compare myself to my autistic friends I notice most of them are a lot more stable than me. By that I mean that they are pretty set in their ways and are content with rigid routines. I need structure as well but I am way more impulsive than my friends and struggle a lot more to reign myself in. They need routine to feel secure and I need routine so I stay out of trouble I guess.

I have both ADHD and ASD. Diagnosed with ADHD (combined type) first and then ASD just over a year later. I take ADHD medication and an anti-psychotic.

For years, I was undiagnosed. Seemingly unconnected problems included poor social skills, patchy employment, lack empathy, anxiety, highly obsessive behaviour, tantrums as well ASD drinking.

I thought ADHD was possible, but not ASD. So I was surprised when the ADHD doctor also spotted ASD symptoms. As well as ADHD, he said that he noticed 'narrow patterns of interest' and 'adherence to routines'. The ADHD doctor referred me to his ASD colleagues in the same hospital department, where I later diagnosed.

On reflection, I can better describe ADHD and ASD.

The ADHD is unruly and has to be controlled (the prescription drugs help). It makes me impatient and maintaining attention is difficult. Sometimes, there's hyperfocus. It makes talkative and hyperactive, enthusiastic or exciteable. My ADHD also covers my ASD, which I couldn't see but a doctor could.

My ASD is the inner order, logic, rules and information. My ASD diagnosis report shows me just how much autsim affects my life. Empathy, social communications and my intense special interests. I now know my tantrums are meltdowns when routines are disrupted. Certainty and predictably are essential. There are sensory problems, which I previously thought was a hearing issue.

Sometimes the ASD and ADHD combine. I can get very enthusiastic about a favourite topic. At other times, anxiety feeds off uncertainty. Obsession is a constant feature. Many tasks are all, or nothing.

I am better at working how each affects me. If I am honest, having ADHD and ASD dominates and governs my life.

This_Amoeba's comment is pretty much true for me as well.

ASD has shaped my personal interests, ADHD has blunted them.

Add to that though

I'll dig my heels in if anyone tries to impose routine on me yet am incapable of sticking to my own even though I know I desperately need them to achieve anything. I like rules but can't stick to them.

Disorganised isn't a big enough word.

ADHD is the enemy at work, ASD at play.

I'm boring yet unpredictable

I'm either absent/oblivious and mute or jumping feet first into other people's conversations with my view of the world.

If I'm giving anything away I'm giving everything away and you can read me like a book which is really unfair as I can't read people at all.

*Sigh*

And Hi! (first post)

I have ADHD nonhyper type & it makes it hard for me to focus & pay attention. I zone out & daydream a lot & can get distracted when doing things. I also get bored easily. This is on top of most all the other typical Aspie issues that I have except I don't have any Aspie special skills/strengths/talents & I think my ADHD is one of the factors as to why.

My friend has ASD and ADHD as well as bipolar disorder. He can be very difficult to talk to sometimes because he hates to let people get their 2 cents in in a conversation, and his patience is so low he can barely be taught anything.

He dropped out of school in the 9th grade because he just couldn't concentrate and pay attention to the teachers. He really made it to adulthood by the skin of his teeth because his whole adult life was filled with hospitalizations (for meth abuse) and jail terms for several misdemeanors. He takes medications now but, to me, he's one of those people who is being failed by his psychiatrist. For the past two weeks he's been hyper, meaning I'd rather not be around him.

Thanks for posting this! I really appreciate what everyone has said and I love the "mad professor" label.

My official diagnosis 12 years ago is "ADD and anxiety with OCD traits" but the more I read about ASD, the more I wonder if it should be "ADD with ASD traits."

For context: I have three friends about my age with ADD to compare to and my partner has ASD. My partner is much, much more stable than I am. She can sit still all day long if she's in a special interest. She can sit for 14 hours, only getting up to pee and maybe eat if she remembers. Even if I'm hyperfocusing, I get up a lot more often than she does (also I have a standing desk I can use that really helps me focus).

I know I miss social cues sometimes, I'm bad at reading facial expressions and I interrupt and overtalk -- but I usually catch this. My partner does not give a crap about socializing. I'm her one friend. And we have one mutual friend that she likes but if she doesn't see him for months, it doesn't bother her. I like seeing my friends, preferrably one-on-one. I can go months without seeing some of them, but I get lonely if I go for two or three weeks without seeing people other than my partner.

My friends with ADD seem more boisterous than I am. I tend to speak more quietly than they do (unless I get going on a favorite topic). I used to date one of them and she would love to spontaneously hijack me (like we'd go to brunch and then she'd just drive the car to a store instead of going home), and then laugh when I got pissed off about it.

I need to be able to anticipate and control what's happening next in my life -- but I don't do routine well. I get bored super easily. To get boring work done, I usually have to be also watching TV or playing a game, which is a very ADD thing. My partner sometimes walks into my office and I have three or four screens going at the same time -- two for work, one game, one show. My life also seems to work best when I design it like a game and approach it playfully.

What I think my ADD traits are:
Wild enthusiasms that may be short-term
Fidgeting when I need to pay attention (so I can pay attention)
Listening to all the conversations around me at the same time
Daydreaming
Generating lots of ideas all the time
Starting things rapidly that I might never finish
Being able to watch sitcoms (my ASD partner hates them)
Interrupting people, talking over people, walking out of the room when other people are talking to me because I just had an idea -- even walking out of the room while I'm taking because I just had an idea
Forgetting where I left my keys, shoes, jacket, wallet, phone
Crying when I have to do paperwork

What I think might be my ASD traits:
I need control and to know what I'm doing next
Skin picking because it feels SO comforting and I hate ragged edges
Getting anxious/depressed if I don't have enough quiet time to sit and work on my special projects every week
I tested in the bottom third for recognizing facial expressions -- they sent me home with a DVD to learn to read faces and I never watched it because it was boring (that last part's ADD)
I'm good at telling jokes because I learned how, but I don't always get them
When I was younger and went to bars (loud, overstimulating), I'd sometimes come home and go into a rage
Food has to be "right." There are a lot of rules about food.

I take Adderall and that has really helped, and a bunch of natual supplements for anxiety. I have a flexible job and work alone in my home office most of the week. Being able to get up and go for a walk or tweak my environment when I feel understimulated has been crucial for getting work done with ADD. And being able to avoid people also seems important for me getting work done.

If anyone wants to weigh in about whether you think this sounds like ADD + some ASD, that would be cool.