did your child age out of ADHD?
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Anonymous
| sophomore at college. No. still on adderall. It becomes a crutch for studying. If you have ever tried one yourself you know why. It really is a wonder drug for anyone that needs to focus and work. |
Anonymous
Yeah but ADHD is diagnosed in the here and now not by whether the symptoms persist forever. By your definition, anyone whose ADHD behaviors and symptoms improve/disappear with age and maturity never had ADHD. |
Anonymous
| I am in my early 30s and have successfully completed significant post graduate studies despite having ADHD and executive functioning issues. I struggled significantly during my academic career, however, I have gone on to do as well if not better than my non disabled counterparts. I've become ok taking my ADHD medicine, as I once resented taking it. And I've found tactics which help me not need my ADHD medicine. I look at this site time to time for my daughter, who also learns differently. Back in the day, I was cognizant of my parents insecurities and concerns about my ADHD (even though they never said anything to me), similar to the anxieties and concerns addressed on this post and other similar ones. perhaps, rather then hoping your child grows out of their disability, you recognize that they aren't disabled but differently abled and help them find the strategies necessary to succeed. Some of the "symptoms" of my ADHD, that my parents and the school were most concerned about, are now used by me to be an asset in my career and even allow me to excel beyond most my peers and colleagues. |
Anonymous
Thanks for posting! I know of 4-5 adults in their 40s who definitely would have been diagnosed as ADHD (had that been a thing back then) who are all now extremely professionally successful ... in great part because of the "symptoms" that were actually strengths. This is not to say that they didn't have struggles, or that they wouldn't have benefited from the treatments we have today. Just that with ADHD what looks like a problem quite literally is not - it's a kid not fitting the environment. If you find the right environment, they flourish. Personally, I don't have any ADHD traits in me, but I love working with ADHD colleagues. You guys have the energy and focus that serve as the engine to get things going! |
Anonymous
| 13, No. |
Anonymous
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Yes, well, my sister has ADD - she's 48 and while it was never diagnosed, when you read information about "the adult with ADD" it's like reading a descripter of my sister. Her son was "active" "hyper" and "anxious" although they never had him tested, so he doesn't officially have any diagnosis. And he's less of all those things now, in 6th grade, so perhaps they were right not to do that, although I didn't think so at the time.
But. My sister loses her keys, can't help her kids get organized, she and her kids lose everything, laundry is all over the house (clean), getting out of the house with 2 (middle and high school kids, not babies) kids on time to drive to school is a disaster area because she can't organize herself to teach them to be organized, her executive functioning skills are very low, so god knows where her purse, keys, phone, and what she needs are at 7:30am, never mind if homework, lunch, blah blah is in kids backpacks and ready at 7:30am. It's exhausting to watch. And it slows her down in her business, because she's so disorganized. Would it have been better for her if she could have been trained to be organized, to use lists, to use systems to put keys on hook by back door no matter what? Heck, yes. But given she got all A's excelled in school, etc nobody picked up on the ADD. And now, at 48 years old, she's frankly resistant to trying to learn any techniques, partly because that sounds so overwhelming to learn. I can't even. I'm so naturally organized, I just can't be in her house without wanting to try to neaten up, make some rules about kids not just tossing stuff as they walk through the house when they get home, blah blah but it can't stick because she can't stick to it. I love she's my sister, not my husband! |
Anonymous
| Yes, aged out, but I think his was misdiagnosed. Now a supernova heading for the Ivies. Other child has Aspergers and no, will never age out. In fact, the autism is much more obvious as an adult than when she was a child. |
Anonymous
| 19, No. |
Anonymous
My 40 yo husband never aged out. Stimulant meds keep him as close to normal as he was meant to be. He tried coming off of them several years ago, and it was not a good time for our family 
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Anonymous
Thank you for the post. Why did you resent taking medication? My teen DD was recently diagnosed and just started taking a medication and I'm hoping to do all that I can to have her comfortable with this. |
Anonymous
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I have a relative that had really bad ADHD as a child, through high school and into college. However, by the time he graduated college, it was like a miracle. You would never know he had ADHD -- he is very responsible, calm, etc. I was surprised to find he is no longer on the medication and appears (to me) to be totally asymptomatic. It gives me hope for my child.
I am sure I would have qualified for an ADHD diagnosis as a child, combined type. I learned a lot of self coping mechanisms and did really well in school and my early years of my career (hyper focus was really helpful). Now I'm in my 40's and really really struggling with the demands of balancing growing kids and my career. I'm considering medication now, in middle age, because if I lose my keys once more I'm going to go crazy. Another couple of years and they'll be saying its Alzheimer's! |
Anonymous
| It's still confusing to me-- I think I have ADD, but I don't lose things, I'm on time and I remember appointments. BUT I have difficulty organizing information, planning for cooking, multi-tasking with working FT and kids. It also takes me a long time to do projects/write (like probably twice as long or 3x as others), but when I'm done, I've done a great job. But it's painful. Academics were always hard, but I pushed and did well. As a mom, I often feel overwhelmed. But I don't have the typical description of having lots of energy (quite the opposite) and the typical things. I always felt I had ADD (many hours of school daydreaming! but no one would have described me as "spacey" per se)-- but those with ADD don't seem to be the people who become great entrpeneurs, have lots of energy etc. (those are the ones with the "H" in there!). Much of this struggle is internal and most people wouldn't notice, but I often feel overwhelmed, disorganized, slow, low energy etc. despite working FT, driving kids to sports, etc. I've never tried meds... |
Anonymous
I happened to find this thread when searching for something else. I was a supernova headed for a top Ivy, where I finally got dx'd with ADHD. I always knew I had a problem with concentration but pre-Internet, I hadn't known that ADHD even existed. Unfortunately, medication either interfered with sleep or didn't help much. I ended up with a series of elite positions and washed out of all of them. Moral of the story: Stay vigilant even after your kid gets into that elite college. |
Anonymous
| Okaaaay... |
Anonymous
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My daughter was diagnosed ADD (non hyperactivity type) as a five year old. She was on medication to age 25 and it helped enormously. Then she went off meds and gained an enormous amount of weight and has trouble focusing or holding a job, but her husband convinced her that ADD is just a made up condition.
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