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Reverse engineering my ADHD test

nullpt.rs

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Re: Reverse engineering my ADHD test

#111

Post by jaggederest »

subarctic wrote: post #103
johnwalkr wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want to add that the comment is also funny to me because it and the blog post are very relatable to me. I don't mean to dismiss it at all. It's really important to get a good diagnosis for anything like this and not dismiss it or lock into the wrong diagnosis because of your own tunnel vision. You wrote "the test is quick, easy, and painless" but I also want to note that it's not always. Depending on your country,…

Why is it so life changing to get help? What kind of help is there besides meds?

Imagine you spent your whole life crawling, and someone taught you to walk, but for your brain. It's hard to describe.

The medication unlocks your ability to learn the skills you need to cope with the problems you have, and therapy gives you the outside feedback you need to escape your own brain trying its hardest to mess things up and hide the mess.

Imagine if every 10 seconds this guy was in your body taking over your hands for a second or two: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GguQu5Iderg

Re: Reverse engineering my ADHD test

#112

Post by BirdieNZ »

usernametaken29 wrote: post #38
anamexis wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ADHD is not an autism spectrum disorder, is it?

That’s my bad for conflating the two. Indeed they are not the same in ICT-11 but! diagnostics is moving towards the direction of treating them the same. ADHD and ASD have extremely high comorbidity and it has been proposed many times to classify them together because the symptoms overlap (difficulties at school, aggressive behaviour or temper, lack of social skills, etc). In fact it has become so difficult to find di…

I don't think that's the conclusion of the paper you linked, although there are papers suggesting that ADHD and autism are essentially subtypes of a single overarching disorder.

The more common view is that because prevalence of attentional deficit in autism is so high, it's rare to find someone with autism who isn't also able to fit an ADHD diagnosis. This might mean a shared common ancestor as it were, or perhaps autism has attentional deficit as an intrinsic part of the disorder rather than people with autism also often having ADHD.

The other direction is the amount of people who have ADHD who also have autism. In this case, while the overlap is higher than the general population, it is easy to find people with ADHD who do not meet the diagnostic criteria for autism.

Put more simply, people with ADHD aren't necessarily autistic, but people with autism are usually ADHD.

Re: Reverse engineering my ADHD test

#113

Post by jaggederest »

tacticus wrote: post #99
jaggederest wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right let me be very explicit: TOVA or equivalent are basically "play video games for 10 minutes as a part of your diagnosis" like the OP, the kafkaesque part is getting the appointment, and getting them administered, getting the diagnosis confirmed, going through the records and getting the prescriptions, everything around it :) they're actually pretty sophisticated tests, despite their palatability - I think if the…

"Sorry the psych is no longer available today. your appointment has been moved to the next available booking in 9 months time"

Or even better, "We have one available psychologist and they kinda don't believe in ADHD, so they'll see you but not actually grade the test correctly, so you'll have to try again, and as a bonus get labeled medication seeking". Not my experience, but...

Re: Reverse engineering my ADHD test

#114

Post by jaggederest »

mkl wrote: post #104
jaggederest wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In some countries it's almost impossible (I don't have any direct experience but I've heard tale that in e.g. aus/nz, east asia, south asia, etc people give up before getting diagnosed often), and my understanding is that in Europe it's virtually unheard of to have an adult diagnosis. In the US, at least, it ranges from difficult to straightforward, but that's not true everywhere

In NZ it's easy, and some GPs can do it as of earlier this year.

IDK I'm just going by a friend moving there and not being able to get any of her existing medication prescribed, even though she's been diagnosed for literally 40 years.

Re: Reverse engineering my ADHD test

#116

Post by jaggederest »

pstuart wrote: post #67
hungryhobbit wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know this is a joke, but I'd be careful about assuming: I had a trained therapist diagnose me with ADHD ... incorrectly . It turns out, there are other conditions out there that can appear to be be ADHD. If a trained therapist can confuse them, outside observers certainly can too, so it is possible that "very ADHD-acting" person you know might not have it. (Or, especially for females, the reverse can be true, as no…

I understand this is your personal medical info, but could you drop any hints as to the nature of the misdiagnosis? I've learned late in life that I am neurospicy and learning from other's experiences in this domain has been quite helpful.

Differentials for ADHD include: panic disorder, metabolic issues, anxiety disorder, depression, adrenal disorders including deficiency and excess like pheochromocytoma, bipolar, autism, learning disorders, personality disorders like borderline and antisocial, OCD, trauma including PTSD and CPTSD, sleep disorders including narcolepsy, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, insomnia, ironically substance use disorder like cocaine and amphetamine addiction, thyroid issues again ironically including both hypo and hyperthyroid, seizures, hearing and vision issues, and life stressors.

So, uh, ... a whole textbook. And I probably forgot some.

Re: Reverse engineering my ADHD test

#117

Post by jaggederest »

annzabelle wrote: post #96
pstuart wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can roll with that. I do have executive dysfunction and other "fun" facets of a funky neurobiology. I also recognize that every body and mind is different and it's a personal journey to find the right tools. I recognize that non-medical options should always be front line approaches but there can be a chicken and egg effect as to making that happen. In my youth I adhered to a "better living through chemistry (wink…

On the non-medical options front, I will note that my lifelong hyperactive and neurotic tendencies dramatically improve with a 3-4 day a week distance running training regimen. I enjoy running enough, even though it is very difficult, that I've kept up with it for several years. I'm not as consistent about this, but I also found yoga classes to be a way to make mindfulness fun and easier. That's not to say I'm not on…

Exercise is one hell of a drug, to be honest. I suppose you shouldn't exercise for a few issues in particular, but in general, boy.

Re: Reverse engineering my ADHD test

#118

Post by Thlom »

jaggederest wrote: post #30
nullpt_rs wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure! However, I think at that point I just felt trapped and overwhelmed that I no longer cared about the test or its results.

Which is exactly how it manifests, at least for a lot of people. ADHD isn't just "I can't focus lol", it's "trying to focus feels like dragging myself through broken glass" He says while commenting on HN as CI runs...

One of my kids got diagnosed with ADHD and autism/asperger. He can sit for hours reading IF IT IS INTERESTING. But homework? Impossible. Even if it's just reading a couple of pages of a book it's nearly impossible for him to do it and it takes so much energy and suffering to get through it.

Re: Reverse engineering my ADHD test

#119

Post by rtpg »

I remember finding a test online for "left-right blindness" that had a similar kinda busted vibe. It was literally something where you look at arrows going up/down/left/right and you have to press a thing to match it.

I wish I could find it again and run it across some cohorts, because it was quite fascinating to feel my brain suffer more on the horizontal arrows.

Re: Reverse engineering my ADHD test

#120

Post by thaumasiotes »

Weryj wrote: post #107
steve_adams_86 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are only papers which suggest this could be true, none that conclusively prove it. That I’m aware of. There are some cool studies done where people with a without ADHD are tasked to forage berries. The people with ADHD do better and adhere to foraging patterns which existing theories suggest would be more optimal. A lot of the studies like that indicate the individual with the condition might benefit more from…

I’ve always thought, it’s not absurd to think there different development routes which the brain takes depending on the environment it develops in. With your foraging example, it does make me think ADHD is a small group/individual optimisation. Prioritising high vigilance and individual productivity over social cohesion. I speak with no authority. I don’t even know how such a theory could be tested.

> I’ve always thought, it’s not absurd to think there different development routes which the brain takes depending on the environment it develops in.

What do you think nutritional stunting means?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stunted_growth

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