Signs u have adhd

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) - Symptoms

Symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

The symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can be categorised into 2 types of behavioural problems:

inattentiveness (difficulty concentrating and focusing)
hyperactivity and impulsiveness

Many people with ADHD have problems that fall into both these categories, but this is not always the case.

For example, around 2 to 3 in 10 people with the condition have problems with concentrating and focusing, but not with hyperactivity or impulsiveness.

This form of ADHD is also known as attention deficit disorder (ADD). ADD can sometimes go unnoticed because the symptoms may be less obvious.

ADHD is more often diagnosed in boys than girls. Girls are more likely to have symptoms of inattentiveness only, and are less likely to show disruptive behaviour that makes ADHD symptoms more obvious. This means girls who have ADHD may not always be diagnosed.

Symptoms in children and teenagers

The symptoms of ADHD in children and teenagers are well defined, and they're usually noticeable before the age of 6. They occur in more than 1 situation, such as at home and at school.

Children may have symptoms of both inattentiveness and hyperactivity and impulsiveness, or they may have symptoms of just 1 of these types of behaviour.

Inattentiveness (difficulty concentrating and focusing)

The main signs of inattentiveness are:

having a short attention span and being easily distracted
making careless mistakes – for example, in schoolwork
appearing forgetful or losing things
being unable to stick to tasks that are tedious or time-consuming
appearing to be unable to listen to or carry out instructions
constantly changing activity or task
having difficulty organising tasks

Hyperactivity and impulsiveness

The main signs of hyperactivity and impulsiveness are:

being unable to sit still, especially in calm or quiet surroundings
constantly fidgeting
being unable to concentrate on tasks
excessive physical movement
excessive talking
being unable to wait their turn
acting without thinking
interrupting conversations
little or no sense of danger

These symptoms can cause significant problems in a child's life, such as underachievement at school, poor social interaction with other children and adults, and problems with discipline.

Related conditions in children and teenagers with ADHD

Although not always the case, some children may also have signs of other problems or conditions alongside ADHD, such as:

anxiety disorder – which causes your child to worry and be nervous much of the time; it may also cause physical symptoms, such as a rapid heartbeat, sweating and dizziness
oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) – this is defined by negative and disruptive behaviour, particularly towards authority figures, such as parents and teachers
conduct disorder – this often involves a tendency towards highly antisocial behaviour, such as stealing, fighting, vandalism and harming people or animals
depression
sleep problems – finding it difficult to get to sleep at night, and having irregular sleeping patterns
autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) – this affects social interaction, communication, interests and behaviour
dyspraxia – a condition that affects physical co-ordination
epilepsy – a condition that affects the brain and causes repeated fits or seizures
Tourette's syndrome – a condition of the nervous system, characterised by a combination of involuntary noises and movements (tics)
learning difficulties – such as dyslexia

Symptoms in adults

In adults, the symptoms of ADHD are more difficult to define. This is largely due to a lack of research into adults with ADHD.

As ADHD is a developmental disorder, it's believed it cannot develop in adults without it first appearing during childhood. But symptoms of ADHD in children and teenagers often continue into adulthood.

The way in which inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsiveness affect adults can be very different from the way they affect children.

For example, hyperactivity tends to decrease in adults, while inattentiveness tends to remain as the pressures of adult life increase.

Adult symptoms of ADHD also tend to be far more subtle than childhood symptoms.

Some specialists have suggested the following as a list of symptoms associated with ADHD in adults:

carelessness and lack of attention to detail
continually starting new tasks before finishing old ones
poor organisational skills
inability to focus or prioritise
continually losing or misplacing things
forgetfulness
restlessness and edginess
difficulty keeping quiet, and speaking out of turn
blurting out responses and often interrupting others
mood swings, irritability and a quick temper
inability to deal with stress
extreme impatience
taking risks in activities, often with little or no regard for personal safety or the safety of others – for example, driving dangerously

Related conditions in adults with ADHD

As with ADHD in children and teenagers, ADHD in adults can occur alongside several related problems or conditions.

One of the most common is depression. Other conditions that adults may have alongside ADHD include:

personality disorders – conditions in which an individual differs significantly from the average person in terms of how they think, perceive, feel or relate to others
bipolar disorder – a condition affecting your mood, which can swing from one extreme to another
obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) – a condition that causes obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviour

The behavioural problems associated with ADHD can also cause problems such as difficulties with relationships and social interaction.

Page last reviewed: 24 December 2021
Next review due: 24 December 2024

Do I Have ADHD? 10 Ways to Tell & How to Get a Diagnosis

Written by Janie McQueen

Has anyone ever asked you if you have ADHD? Maybe you've even wondered yourself.

The only way to know for sure is to see a doctor. That's because the disorder has a number of possible symptoms, and they can easily be confused with those of other conditions, like depression or anxiety.

Not sure whether you should get checked by a doc? If many of these apply, you may need to get checked out.

1. People say you're forgetful.

Everyone misplaces car keys or jackets once in a while. But this kind of thing happens often when you have ADHD. You might spend time looking for glasses, wallets, phones, and other items every day. You may also forget to return phone calls, space out on paying bills, or miss medical appointments.

2. People complain that you don't listen.

Most of us lose focus on a conversation once in a while, especially if there's a TV nearby or something else grabs our attention. This happens often and to a greater degree with ADHD, even when there are no distractions around. But still, ADHD is more than that.

3. You’re often late.

Time management is an ongoing challenge when you have ADHD. It often leads to missed deadlines or appointments unless you work on avoiding that.

4. You have trouble concentrating.

Problems with attention, especially focusing for long periods of time or paying attention to details, is one of the hallmarks of the condition. Depression, anxiety, and addiction disorders can also take a toll on your focus, and many people with ADHD have one or more of these issues, too. Your doctor can ask you questions to get to the bottom of what's causing your attention problems.

5. You leave things undone.

Problems with attention and memory can make it tough to start or finish projects, especially ones that you know will take a lot of focus to complete. This symptom can point to depression, too.

6. You had behavior issues as a child.

You need to have had attention and concentration problems as a child in order to be diagnosed with ADHD as an adult -- even if those early symptoms didn't come with a formal diagnosis.

People may have accused you of being lazy back in childhood. Or they may have thought you had another condition like depression or anxiety.

If you actually were diagnosed with the disorder as a child, you may still have it. The symptoms change as you age, and not everyone outgrows it.

7. You lack impulse control.

This is more than tossing a candy bar into your cart at the checkout line. This is doing something even though you know it could have serious consequences, like running a red light because you think you can get away with it or not being able to keep quiet when you have something to say, even though you know you should.

8. You can’t get organized.

You may notice this more at work. You could have trouble setting priorities, following through on tasks, and meeting project deadlines.

9. You’re fidgety.

Kids with ADHD are often hyperactive, but adults are more likely to be fidgety or restless. You might also talk too much and interrupt others.

10. You can’t control your emotions.

You might be moody or irritable, express frustration often, feel unmotivated, or be prone to angry outbursts. ADHD can make it hard to manage uncomfortable emotions or follow appropriate behavior when you’re upset.

There’s no one test. Instead, doctors and psychologists get information about what and how many symptoms you have, when they started, how long they've lasted, and how severe they are.

In order to be diagnosed with ADHD, you need to have several symptoms, not just one or two. And they have to have affected your jobs, relationships, or other important areas of your life. Your doctor will also want to rule out other conditions or find out if you have more than one disorder.

Several treatments can help you manage the condition. So if you answered yes to a lot of these questions, consider making an appointment with your doctor. The sooner you find out, the sooner you can start treatment.

ADHD in adults - treatment, symptoms, diagnosis

Make an appointment

Treatment of ADHD in adults

Rehabilitation clinic "A NEW DAY" specializes in the treatment of adults with ADHD. We have developed and effectively applied a set of rehabilitation measures for ADHD.

Individual approach

Each patient has his own doctor - a neurologist. He knows everything about the patient and his disease, if necessary, he can make adjustments to the course of treatment at any stage. The main thing is the result. At the end of the course of treatment, individually developed recommendations are issued.

Treatment is always a complex

Taking into account the variant of the course, the age of the patient, the severity of manifestations, the most appropriate methods and their combinations are selected: (BOS).

In everyday life, ADHD patients are not recommended to engage in those sports that involve a competitive nature and have a pronounced emotional component, for example, martial arts, team games. Useful jogging, swimming (non-competitive), cycling, skiing.

To improve the psychological and emotional state, reduce anxiety, overcome depression, sleep disorders, various methods of psychotherapy are used. The choice of a technique suitable for a particular patient is carried out by a psychologist or psychotherapist.

Relaxation techniques: special relaxation massages, relaxation sessions, medical treatment.
Cognitive training is used for attention deficit. Acupuncture (IRT) is traditionally used to restore the regulation of many organs, including the brain.

Innovative techniques

Translingual neurostimulation (TLNS) is an effect on the brain through the stimulation of tongue receptors. This is an advanced innovative technique, most effectively used in the treatment of diseases of the central nervous system, and as we know, ADHD belongs to such diseases. The use of TLNS allows you to restore the regulation of excitation-inhibition processes in a short time, which ultimately leads to an improvement in the course of ADHD, the best psychological and motor correction. In addition, TLNS has a positive effect on cognitive functions, such as concentration and memory, improves sleep, allowing the body to restore its neurotransmitter stores and have a good rest.

Continuity and recurrence

ADHD has a favorable course when properly treated. It is important to maintain the results achieved. To do this, at discharge, we give detailed individually developed recommendations. As long as there is any residual symptomatology, courses of treatment should be repeated, as a rule, 2-3 times a year.

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Attention deficit disorder in adults

ADHD is a childhood-onset neurological behavioral disorder characterized by difficulty concentrating and maintaining attention, excessive motor activity (hyperactivity) and incontinence (impulsivity).

In recent years, the frequency of ADHD has increased, including among adults. It used to be thought that by adolescence, the symptoms of ADHD would significantly lessen or go away. However, now these ideas have changed: in 30-70% of cases, ADHD persists into adulthood. Most often this is due to insufficiently effective treatment in childhood.

More about ADHD

All processes occurring in the nervous system are based on two oppositely directed mechanisms: excitation and inhibition. Normally they are balanced. However, the formation of the nervous system does not occur immediately after birth. The brain is mainly formed before the age of 8 years, but finally only by the age of 25. Therefore, in children, arousal and inhibition often get out of control, in some cases leading to ADHD. Over time, the brain matures and the symptoms of ADHD improve or go away on their own. But even in an adult, cognitive, behavioral, and motor
disorders resulting from ADHD. That is why the prevalence of ADHD in adults, although it has increased in recent years, still remains much less than in children.

In general, the manifestations in children and adults do not differ, but there are features.

First, if a child does not have ADHD, then an adult will not develop this disease. Therefore, ADHD in adults is not a separate disease, but disorders that have persisted since childhood.

Secondly, in adults, attention disorders prevail over manifestations of hyperactivity. It is difficult for such people to concentrate and maintain attention, so many activities that require concentration may not be available to them. Hyperactivity can be manifested by restlessness, so sedentary sedentary work is not suitable for them.
Impulsivity can be manifested by conflicts in the family and at work.

And thirdly, the presence of ADHD in adulthood requires careful examination to exclude other disorders, incl. mental illness.

Manifestations of ADHD depend on the course of the disease.

Types of ADHD in adults

With a predominance of attention deficit disorder (deficit)

With a predominance of hyperactivity

Mixed ADHD

Symptoms of ADHD in adults

Symptoms of inattention (adults have at least 5 symptoms for at least 6 months):

Inability to pay attention to details, inattention errors
Inability to maintain long attention span Often adds up
Inability to follow instructions, algorithms, for example, to fulfill conditions tasks
Resistance to getting involved in tasks, avoiding or active resistance
Frequent loss of things, especially those necessary to complete tasks
Easy distractibility to extraneous stimuli or thoughts (“hovering” thoughts)
Routine forgetfulness (errands, chores, being late)

Symptoms of hyperactivity (in adults, at least 5 symptoms for at least 6 months):

Constant movements in the hands, feet, fidgeting in a chair
Getting up from a place
Inability to sit still
Inability to pass time calmly
Constantly in motion, as if “wound up”, as if “attached a motor”
1
Answers a question without listening to the question itself
Difficulty waiting in line
permissions.

These symptoms must reach a degree of severity that interferes with learning, communication, work. They should be observed both at home and in other places (at work, at a party, etc.). They should be noticed not only by relatives, but also by those around them.

An additional examination may be required to clarify the diagnosis and exclude other diseases that have similar symptoms:

EEG (electroencephalography)
Doppler ultrasonography0101
Evoked potential (EP) method
Psychotherapist's consultation
Brain MRI
Psychiatrist's consultation (if indicated)

)
– ADHD CR (expanded complex)
– Cognition CS (standard complex)
– Cognition CR (expanded complex)

– Psychotherapy ind. COP (complex standard)
– Psychotherapy ind. CR (advanced complex)

Comparative table of all programs

Attention Deficit Disorder: Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (abbreviated as ADHD) are certain disorders in the psycho-emotional development of a child. The first symptoms begin to bother from the age of three: the baby cannot sit still and tries in every possible way to attract attention to himself by deliberate disobedience.

Many parents do not consider it necessary to deal with hyperactivity in children, attributing bad behavior to a difficult age. However, in the future, the disease turns into serious problems for the student: inability to concentrate, poor progress, frequent criticism from teachers and friends, social isolation, and nervous breakdowns.

Hyperactivity is a dysfunction of the central nervous system. If left untreated in childhood, the disorder can greatly affect the quality of life of an adult. Therefore, it is worth seeking the advice of a specialist and conducting a comprehensive corrective therapy if you suspect a child has ADHD.

The development of ADHD is hidden in several reasons that have been established by scientists on the basis of facts. These reasons include: genetic predisposition; pathological influence.
Genetic predisposition is the first factor that does not exclude the development of malaise in the patient's relatives. Moreover, in this case, both distant heredity (i.e., the disease was diagnosed in ancestors) and near (parents, grandparents) play a huge role. The first signs of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in a child lead caring parents to a medical institution, where it turns out that the predisposition to the disease in a child is associated precisely with genes. After examining the parents, it often becomes clear where this syndrome came from in the child, since in 50% of cases this is exactly the case. Today it is known that scientists are working on isolating the genes that are responsible for this predisposition. Among these genes, an important role is given to DNA regions that control the regulation of dopamine levels. Dopamine is the main substance responsible for the correct functioning of the central nervous system. Dysregulation of dopamine due to genetic predisposition leads to the disease of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Pathological influence is of considerable importance in answering the question about the causes of the manifestation of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Pathological factors can serve as: the negative impact of narcotic substances; influence of tobacco and alcoholic products; premature or prolonged labor; interrupt threats. If a woman allowed herself to use illegal substances during pregnancy, then the possibility of having a child with hyperactivity or this syndrome is not excluded. There is a high probability of the presence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in a child born at 7–8 months of pregnancy, i.e. premature.

Symptoms

Attention deficit disorder is expressed primarily in hyperactivity and inattention of the child. These are the main symptoms of the disorder.

Signs of hyperactivity:

A constant feeling of internal restlessness causes the child to fidget in the chair, jerk his legs, wave his arms or fiddle with something.
Feelings of anxiety increase when adults are forced to be quiet and calm. This causes a backlash: the children respond to the request not to make noise with stormy laughter, stomping or jumping up from their seats.
Hyperactivity is expressed in impulsive behavior. For example, a child shouts out an answer in class before the teacher has finished speaking the question. Or he may get into a fight because he is unable to wait his turn in the game competitions.
Inattentiveness inherent in the hyperactivity syndrome is expressed as follows:
Any task tires very quickly, just a couple of minutes after the start. It is almost impossible to focus on learning a new subject. Usually children are able to keep their attention on what they are really interested in. But in a child with ADHD, boredom and an absent-minded look appear in any activity, even in the one with which he “fired up” in the first minutes.
Problems with concentration develop absent-mindedness. Sitting down for homework in the language, the child opens a math notebook and does not notice that he is writing the text on a sheet in a cage. He forgets to write down information in a diary, he may forget his textbook and notebooks on his desk, or he may not hear a request addressed to him.
There is a very poor memory. Trying to learn something by heart, a child can repeat a phrase twenty times and not reproduce it after a minute. This happens due to constant distractibility: children mechanically pronounce the words they are learning, but mentally follow the crawling fly on the wall or listen to the sounds from the street.

Diagnosis

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is diagnosed using a questionnaire, behavioral observation of the child, and MRI brain examination.

Asking questions to parents, the medical specialist builds a clinical picture, differentiating normal behavioral symptoms from actual abnormalities, in order to accurately determine whether it is ADHD or normal puberty.

Frontal brain scan serves both to investigate attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children and to confirm the diagnosis.

Treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

The best treatment option for ADHD is complex - psychological correction in combination with medications.

A lot depends on the actions of mothers and fathers. Do not constantly scold the baby for wrong actions and inappropriate behavior. It is much more useful to offer your help in cleaning things or preparing for school, to praise for the diligence shown and overcoming difficulties. It is very important to emphasize every achievement, no matter how small, and give the child confidence in their own abilities.

Praise the child for any possible reason - he washed his cup after himself, put away his toys, wrote neatly in a notebook or helped his mother set the table. Do not skimp on words of support even in case of failure, because adults quite often make mistakes and minor misconduct.