h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Fascinating entry!

But what happens when ADHD children grow up? I assume the condition doesn't just affect children. How do people cope as adults? Anyone got any stories?

They carry on acting impulsively, still have temper tantrums in shops, but learn how to make friends.

There are not likely to be an adults with ADHD, because it hasn't been diagnosed and named for all that many years I think. However, it's incredibly likely that I would have been diagnosed with this if I were a kid now. I have many of the same symptoms as my son who has it.

Hi Mina

My husband John has just finished reading Billy Connolly's biography by his wife, Pamela Stephenson and has told me that apparently Billy had/has ADHD but wasn't diagnosed as a child.

As a result of reading this book John now thinks that he also had ADHD as a child, which would account for his hyperactive behaviour in and out of school that eventually resulted in his being expelled on several occasions and sent to see a psychiatrist.

Now that John has mentioned it, I suppose it would account for his mood swings, impulsiveness and numerous unfinished projects littering our house! Fortunately I'm completely the opposite to John and at best can be described as a careful and boring old fart, so at least between us a happy and sometimes heated medium is usually struck.

I think the suggestion that ADHD/Autism may be genetic is possibly true as our son Chris is diagnosed as being profoundly autistic and John's brother's two daughters also have autism. My brother also has three sons who have autism/Asperger's Syndrome of varying degrees, although his daughters are fine.

My personal opinion is that Chris's autism was triggered by his receiving an MMR vaccination, as until then he was a normal, albeit hyperactive toddler. Following his jab we completely lost our little bundle of mischief although now he is an absolute sweetie and I wouldn't swap him for all the tea in China. It may be that Chris was genetically predisposed to autism, but I'm certain that it was the MMR that "pushed him over the edge".

I've got lots of good stories. It's a wonder i'm still alive! I don't have time now, but I'll be back.

I too, was a hyperactive child. As an adult I discovered I have a major insomnia which a doctor suggested may be due to adult ADHD. Since then I have done some reading up on this. I have a very good article I could send someone who wanted to learn more, but mostly I wasn't really surprised by much in it. In order to get through everyday life, I developed some coping strategies which are very much in line with what the article suggested. Find a job that engages your interest: people with ADHD can focus for long periods of time on things that interest them, but have trouble getting through tasks they find boring. If there are boring parts of your job that you have to do, use reminders. A scheduling program on your computer that pops up and tells you it's time to get ready for a meeting that starts in 5 minutes is great. A watch alarm that you set to go off when you need to start preparing is OK, as long as you remember to set it. Asking a co-worker who will be going to the meeting and who sits near you to let you know when they leave will work in a pinch (depends on the co-worker). If you're fidgety, get a desk away from commonly used supplies and destinations like the copier so you have an excuse to walk around and burn off that extra energy. I used to walk around the office a lot until a couple managers took me to task for looking unprofessional or something - I just think best when moving. Fortunately I have a wonderful husband who is very well organized and reminds me of things as often as needed. He teases me a bit about it, but I could never manage without him. He gets exasperated at my inability to remember to take something out of the oven I just put into it 15 minutes ago, and I can't understand what makes an alarm go off inside him to say 'go check on that!'. Even if I remind myself to check the clock every few minutes, I frequently forget what I'm supposed to when the magic time rolls around. Why was I waiting for 4:45 again?

I can't think how many things I've forgotten to do that I'd agreed to, or how often I've been frustrated by things other people seem to have no trouble with. By the way, that insomnia? It turned out to be caused by alpha waves during sleep. Yes, I can't fall asleep because I can't stop thinking, and even when I finally get to sleep my brain keeps going on as if I'm awake. Just can't rest!

That's very good advice! I use the calender facility on Outlook for *all* my meetings, even the informal ones, and then tell it to remind me about three times.

I've got a desk covered in bits of paper with reminders of stuff to do on them, but I've just started using a desk diary, which is really helping. I'm too lazy to need to do the walking about thingy at work, but when I really need to concentrate I put clematis flower remedy in my , put a CD and the headphones on, and I can really get through stuff then. Having the best job in the world helps now, but it does explain why I was so miserable in all the other offices I worked in!

You said earlier you didn't think there would be many adults with ADHD because it wasn't diagnosed when we were kids - you can get a diagnosis as an adult - talk to whoever deals with your son's diagnosis. This may be valuable for employment - you may be able to claim 'need for reasonable accomidation' from employers if they give you a hard time about minor things that you can't help doing. Or then, this may get them really annoyed at you. Depends on your situation.

Gwennie:
"My brother also has three sons who have autism/Asperger's Syndrome of varying degrees, although his daughters are fine"



How on do they cope?
Did they also have the MMR vaccine?

i have a son who has been diagnosed with ADHD & have found that i also have it,,i only know a little about it but find that having recognised the fact that i have it explains a lot of things,,i find that the overload of information as i absorb what is going on around me is the reason for my not being able to concentrate on the little things other people seem to take in their stride,,if asked too many things at one time i cannot straighten them out in my mind,,i too have found that writing lists has helped me to organise my life emensely,,therepy has taught me about ppl so i don't get so confused by others as i used too..