ASD with or without ADHD ?? -Feedback please

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firemonkey
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12 Oct 2021, 3:48 am

I will start by saying a few, but not many, online tests for ADHD have suggested I may have mild ADD.
I'm currently doing info gathering re my interest in genealogy. Finding the separate pieces of info is not an intellectually difficult task. However trying to coordinate them is much more of a struggle for me. I should say that my prime EF deficits are 'organising and planning'.
Have any of you experienced something like this? How much did it affect your overall cognitive performance? How did you deal with it?



autisticelders
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12 Oct 2021, 4:23 am

might not be useful, I have been told by people who have adhd and add family members that my behavior puts me in that category. I have never been diagnosed. I have often wondered if I might be...adhd/add I rely on coffee and antihistamines ( I have severe year round allergies but they also seem to help my thinking). I don't know if this is my autism or if I am using these as a stimulant such as ritalin used to tread adhd and add is used. On the other hand there is a lot of speculation and studies being done at present to connect adhd/add/ and asd.... so perhaps you are showing autism traits ... or those with add/adhd/ are autistic. There seems to be a cross over. Would it work for you to talk to your doctor/psychologist/psychiatrist and ask about trying add/adhd meds to see if they help? I have considered doing this at various times but didn't want to risk the emotional chances of being mocked, ridiculed, or otherwise scorned by so called "professionals" as that has been the most consistent reaction any time I try to discuss anything with doctors. Hoping you can sort it out. Do you use stimulants such as cola/caffeine, nicotine, or other over the counter products that have a stimulating effect? Do any of those change how you act/think/or otherwise perform?
PS I always find your comments, questions, and insights helpful and interesting.


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firemonkey
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12 Oct 2021, 5:03 am

Thanks for your reply. Like you I'm wary of raising the issue for fear of ridicule/ a contemptuous response. Especially as I'm 64 and ADHD has never been raised a subject with a pdoc in 47 years of being a psych patient.

In 2008 I suggested to my then care coordinator that there might be more going on than just severe mental illness. To give her her due she did arrange a quick extra appointment with a pdoc. That was a disaster. The cognitively challenged twat asked a couple of totally irrelevant questions; then displayed signs of annoyance and promptly shut the subject down.

I should add that that was with my previous trust,whose MH pros believed that being disapproving and judgemental was an acceptable proxy for providing help and support, and the one I'm under now is heaps better, but I'm still hesitant to raise the subject because of instances like the one mentioned above.