I think I have ADD.

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I know that I've been diagnosed with AS, but I've been looking at some of the symptoms of ADHD-inattentive and it seems to make alot of sense to me. When I was younger they thought I had ADHD, so they gave me ritalin. I reacted very badly to it, so they took me off and dropped the diagnosis. My parents to this day think I only have aspergers because ritalin didn't have the effect on me that it should have on people who usually have ADHD. I'm kind of odd though, I kind of have ADHD with alot less of the H.

I'll list some of the symptoms I experience on a day to day basis

I have problems focusing on things
I have a terrible memory
I can't handle more than 3 instructions at once
I completely zone out and forget my surroundings now and again
I have problems listening and remembering the information given to me
I can't stand frustration
I can be a bit drifty at times
I can't use the phone, ever.
I have difficulty remembering numbers and phone numbers
I tend to make careless mistakes and I'm quite clumsy
Theres always a train of thought going through my head and I can't seem to switch it off.

It sounds like they match, but I'd say you'd know yourself better than anyone else. When you look yourself over, then you'll know for certain. Which is why even a legitimate diagnosis can be wrong; usually all they're good for is services.

If you don't mind my asking, why do you think those symptoms should be attributed to ADD, rather than chalked up to the previous diagnosis of AS or to your personal idiosyncrasies? I don't ask with the intention of causing an argument or tearing down your statements; rather, I ask because I suspect the same about myself and would like to learn more.

How did Ritalin affect you? Me, I had a host of temporary side effects that faded within a week or two. For the inattentives it does make you feel you have more energy and sometimes can make you feel hyper. You've just got to learn how to manage yourself on it.

I personally believe that people on the autistic spectrum either have the meds do nothing, give them bad side effects or work too much so they have to have a smaller dose and they get bad side effects.

For the other poster that asked about the differences of Inattentive ADHD and autism/AS:

The long term memory is not usually impaired in autism, in ADHD-PI it usually is. Autism has similarities in short term memory with ADHD but I guarantee you it's worse in ADHD. A few days off my medication makes my poor memory return. And I forget everything.

I think people with autism only have problems focusing on things if they have sensory issues or are preoccupied by their own interests. people with autism have an attention to detail and people with ADHD see the bigger picture and not the details. Although those with both disorders can have both. I get stuck on details but can also miss them when it's most important.

Zoning out is very common in AHD-PI. It's as if there is a fog over your mind and you can't even concentrate long enough to listen to people or see what's going on around you. I would daydream constantly in my childhood. I still don't mind zoning out when I can't even focus on watching the TV.

Many of those other symptoms listed could be either autism or ADHD. Clumsiness is more common in autism.
I don't understand the phone thing. That's more of an anxiety to speak to people kind of thing. With me it's a "I don't care about answering the phone because I know it's not for me and even if it was why didn't they call my mobile." I think that's closer to the inward world of autism.

Autism and ADHD both have similarities but I think the difference is where the focus on the symptoms is. That's important too because the differences in the brain are well, different. ADHD is a lack of the neurotransmitters dopamine and norepinephrine. Autism is...er personally I think is an underconnectivity of the frontal lobes with the rest of the brain and some areas are very different than a typical brain. But because each disorder has an impairment in say the temporal lobes or the amygdala and the pre-frontal cortex, the symptoms are very similar.

ADHD is focused on concentration issues, hyperactivity, hypoactivity, learning issues, and organisation problems.

Autism is focused on communication skills, rigid thought process such as needing routines, narrow interests, literal thinking, aversion of change and other issues such as sensory and motor skills.

By focused I mean what doctors look to diagnose.

Read about the lovely world of ADHD-PI here:
http://www.addforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=322

Thanks for the reply, Pensieve. I've always thought I had ADHD, but have never been on medication for it. I am honestly amazed at my power to forget things sometimes.

That's alright. My reply was kind of unstructured.

Do you get a moment of becoming interested in something or wanting to do something and then just jump into it and after a couple of hours get over it? That's kind of like ADHD hyper focus. With me I usually get interested with something for a few hours or I pick up my camera and attempt to do this great fantastic thing, then by the time I'm done I don't even feel like uploading the photos. Putting them through an editing program takes a lot of motivation.

There was another thing I was going to say but forgot it. Ha!
Oh, it was that I need music to be able write at my best and sometimes when I read. That's common in ADHD too. To block out any distracting sounds I think. Even to block out any conflicting thoughts. Oh, you should hear my head in the morning or once the medication wears off. I have literally a few minutes of peace in my head when it wears off then the thought just flood back in. Sometimes it's a good thing because I rely on my constantly changing thoughts to help me to write.

I have ADD - I know I do.