Aspergers and ADHD

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do all people with Aspergers also have ADHD, or ADD.

no, but many and also the symptoms overlapp.
Some even think it's a spectrum from ADHD/ADD towards ASD, but I wouldn't go that far because there are also very extrovert and highly social ppl with ADHD.

Last edited by Raziel on 11 Oct 2013, 10:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

According to the diagnosis papers my Psychiatrist gave to my teachers to check and write about what they notice me doing, I may ADHD, I'm scheduled to get a blood test before I take the pills I've been prescribed.

Hi Raziel,
I have been told that often ADD/ADHD and Aspergers go together (Dual-Diagnosis/Co-Morbid). Like you stated, I have also been told that many people in the medical profession think that ADD/ADHD is on the Autistic Spectrum.

On a personal level; in December of last year (2012) my GP sent me for an Aspergers assessment. I already have a Dx (Diagnosis) of ADHD, and due to this the psychiatrist I saw at that time told me that both ADHD & Aspergers share some identical traits. I wasn't even given an Aspergers assessment as he felt that the symptoms that the GP had considered were AS could also be ADHD (which I am already diagnosed with). So, I was told I have ADHD and Aspergers traits.
Another specialist then decided that no, I have ADHD and ASD, so I was sent back to be assessed properly in June 2013. Due to the waiting list, I have had 3 of the 4 assessments required to reach that diagnosis. I am waiting to have the 4th and final one. The specialists this time already told me that it is highly likely that I have ADHD & Aspergers (rather than ADHD & Aspergers traits).
I'm not interested in what "name" they call it, but I'm just hoping that with a proper diagnosis I may be able to access services that will enable me to improve the quality of my life. Much needed access to learn coping strategies & life-skills. Supported volunteering and employment opportunities. And above all to know why I am the way I am. Over the years I have tried so hard to change the person I am because I considered it flaws that I could fix. Maybe instead I need to accept those flaws and to make the best of life with them.

I head that ADD looks a lot like AS. Some counselors I've met seemed to consider ADHD/ADD as a part of the autism spectrum, or a disorder similar to high-functioning autism.
Personally I think that ADD has caused and still causes me more troubles than AS.
Both of them of course caused me disadvanteges, but I think they kinda "balanced" in some aspects of my life.
An example: people with AS overlook the "big picture" and notice details a lot, while people with ADHD/ADD miss them.
I should admit that am a little bit more drawn towards details, but I notice both the big picture and the details usually (but when I'm reading I tend to miss details like some letters and punctuation).
Don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying that ADD and Asperger's together will make you a kind of genius or a gifted person-in my view, none of them has been a "gift" in my life. They are an annoying combo. But I think that I am able, in some ways, not to focus too much on details (usually), because of the overlooking of details that ADD causes, and that I don't completely overlook them because of the strong attention to details Asperger's causes.
I can only speak for myself of course, I don't know if other people with ADHD/ADD and autism experienced the same.

The way it was described to me is that people with AS can't see the wood for the trees, and people with ADHD can't see the trees for the wood (or was it the other way round).

This actually happens very often that some ppl get dx back and forth between ADHD/ADD and an ASD diagnoses.
There is even a book about it: http://www.amazon.com/The-ADHD-Autism-C ... roduct_top

I was diagnosed for many years with HFA, but then my social understanding got better and now I'm more or less in the normal range and have issues focusing. So it was decided that now I've ADD with autistic tendencies. I didn't have an ADD diagnoses befor, but I guess they wanted to put my symptoms somewere and I've also issues focusing. Maybe another psychiatrist would have decided differently, but I don't really care anymore about psychiatric labels, because they don't change me and it didn't helped me that much, figuring out in what diagnostic categories I could fit best...!

I wouldn't say ADHD is on the autism spectrum but it is a common trait that often occurs with ASD in the same way that OCD and learning disorders are.

Most people with AD/HD do not have autism at all but about %70 of people with autism have AD/HD

So it could be though of as a symptom that is commonly is seen by itself.

I agree.

The way I see it is that getting an accurate diagnosis isn't so that I have a "label" but so that I can access services which having that "label" will entitle me to. I have been told by the team that is currently involved with my diagnostic process that once the assessment is done I will be able to access proffesional advice & support in living with Sensory Processing Issues, & attend groups to learn life-skills & overcome social-skill deficiencies.
Also, what I am hoping is that I will then be able to access vocational courses that have a learning style appropriate to my needs.

By the way Raziel, I like your cat avatar. My instinct is to blink at the cat in the picture as that's something I do with cats whenever I meet one.

I'm about to change my own avatar picture because today someone told me that I have "Spidey senses" (reffering to Spiderman) due to noticing various sounds that they hadn't until I pointed them out to them.

Yes that's true. That's propably the mainreason I got rediagnosed actually because my psychiatrist wants to try methylphenidate if it helps me to focus better and in my country he is just allowed to do so if I've ADHD/ADD. But because I was a very quiet child who daydreamed a lot he decided ADD it'll be.



Thank you.
(=^・^=)

I have both AS and ADHD. and I wouldn't say I was a highly social person, I feel that is a little general of a comment to say the least about people with Adhd etc. if only life was that easy.

"I have been told that often ADD/ADHD and Aspergers go together (Dual-Diagnosis/Co-Morbid). Like you stated, I have also been told that many people in the medical profession think that ADD/ADHD is on the Autistic Spectrum." My Speicalist doctor thinks this also.

I was a crazy ass 11 12 and 13 year old. I used to say crazy stuff on the internet. I'm sure if I created a WP account when I was a pre-teen, I would have gotten banned in a week from talking about pooping, farting, and grandmas.

I definitely had ADHD when I was a kid. I would run on walls.

Hi Codyrules37,
I used to behave like that until I was 30. Then the doctors spoilt my fun by putting me on ADHD meds.
Ever so often the meds are stopped to see what happens; the last time within 5 days I was back to running everywhere, jumping over benches, climbing along walls, crawling under tables in restuarants as a short-cut, and scared an old lady by blowing her toilet cistern overflow pipe like a trumpet. Then both myself and a woman I was with (who also has ADHD) got in trouble for pulling a gutter off the side of a wall, and a young adult I was with & myself got into trouble for climbing onto a flat roof and jumping up and down, and then poking a metal pipe into an air conditioning fan.
I never hurt anyone, and it was all fun; but not the way a person aged almost 40 should behave.
Thank goodness for Strattera

I've a question, because I've ADD the quiet type - how does it FEEL having hyperactivity?
I mean how does it feel if you behave that way?
And what do you think in that situations?

Last edited by Raziel on 14 Oct 2013, 3:56 pm, edited 2 times in total.

People once thought I had ADHD until I got my AS dx back in 05. I actually have a link of other dxs piggy backing onto my AS.