Hi, New Here

Hi all. So as the title says, I'm new here. I'm 19 years old and I had a DID related questions: "Can you have ADHD and DID?" I'll now state why I asked that.

So when I was young, about five, I was diagnosed with ADHD but I suspect that I might have DID. This is something that I intend to talk with my GP about. The reasons for this are because I do have moments where I don't remember something, and no matter how hard I try to remember it, I can't. An example of this would be when I was taking the Placement Entry Exam for the high school I went to, I could remember nothing that I had learned at the middle school I went to for 7th and 8th grade. I wondered if the fact that I hated the school had something to do with it. I knew I had been taught the material that was on the exam but I just couldn't remember how do the problems I was given. Another time this happened is I was in my house and I went downstairs, probably with the intention of going into the kitchen or something but suddenly found myself outside on the porch and I didn't remember going outside at all. That happens a lot where I will go downstairs to get something and forget what I went downstairs to get. Sometimes I will remember but sometimes I won't and go back upstairs. Another memory problem I had was when I was telling my dad about my day at school and in the middle of my sentence, I forgot completely what I had been talking about and couldn't remember, even with my Dad feeding me information about what I had been saying. This is not the first time this has happened. I remember when I was in kindergarten, I was talking to a friend and I said something, but I didn't hear what I said but whatever it was, it was bad enough for my friend to go and tell on me. I also have auditory hallucinations that can be really bad sometimes. I also have visual hallucinations that only happen at night, which I've had since the age of 5. This is bad because I'm kept up by it and the fatigue effects me in class. I've told my parents about it but while my Dad was concerned, my mom thought it was just a phase but I still have the auditory hallucinations and visual hallucinations. She also believes that I don't have ADHD either, despite my doctor saying that I have it. I've never been on any medication for my ADHD since my GP thought that my ADHD wasn't bad enough to put me on medication. So what do you all think about this? Could I have DID or could this be from my ADHD alone? I know that you all can't diagnose me but having some other opinions on the matter would be nice.

I'm sorry, but none of these things really sound like DID? They sound possibly like dissociative fugue. Also, if the hallucinations you are seeing at night look like things swimming around in the darkness, that could just be retinal damage. Do darker objects or things in dim light look like they have a film grain on them? Like there's static? If so, that's a phenomenon called "visual snow" and can cause night swimmers. Also if you only see these hallucinations right after the light goes off, it probably is your eyes just adjusting to the dark. Everyone sees that. Now, if these hallucinations are very clear, like say... jar jar binks was hiding on the ceiling looking at you, then thats clearly not the same thing.

Having a bad memory does not mean you have DID. Having a bad memory can mean many many different things, including ADHD.
I know personally, my dissociation is so bad, that I will sit at the desk and know I'm sitting at the desk, but everything around me feels like a dream, or isnt real, and my hands are not mine, and I'm standing next to me looking over my shoulder while my alters discuss how much they hate each other. I have to pick up things and start naming what they are, or else I will sit there and stare at the wall for a few days without eating.

Thats more along the lines of DID. Everyone's different, but there needs to be an extreme level of derealization and depersonalization.
Like with me, I dont feel like I'm real. I dont use my birth name in anything, and I havent been able to hold a job because one moment I will be completely calm and saying to a person "wow. you're so nice, you're a great friend! I love this job" then the next, my voice will change, and I'll be yelling at that person to get out of my face. Then I'll go back to "oh! you're my friend!" and then I'm fired.

Thank you for your reply.

zrcalo wrote:I'm sorry, but none of these things really sound like DID? They sound possibly like dissociative fugue. Also, if the hallucinations you are seeing at night look like things swimming around in the darkness, that could just be retinal damage. Do darker objects or things in dim light look like they have a film grain on them? Like there's static? If so, that's a phenomenon called "visual snow" and can cause night swimmers. Also if you only see these hallucinations right after the light goes off, it probably is your eyes just adjusting to the dark. Everyone sees that. Now, if these hallucinations are very clear, like say... jar jar binks was hiding on the ceiling looking at you, then thats clearly not the same thing.

Sorry that I didn't specify about my hallucinations. My hallucinations are very vivid and usually occur a couple of hours after I go to sleep and can last for hours. My hallucinations consist of skeletons and shadow figures that are very terrifying to me but I know that they aren't real though. I feel very threatened by them. I don't know why I have these hallucinations but I've had them for years.

zrcalo wrote:Having a bad memory does not mean you have DID. Having a bad memory can mean many many different things, including ADHD.
I know personally, my dissociation is so bad, that I will sit at the desk and know I'm sitting at the desk, but everything around me feels like a dream, or isnt real, and my hands are not mine, and I'm standing next to me looking over my shoulder while my alters discuss how much they hate each other. I have to pick up things and start naming what they are, or else I will sit there and stare at the wall for a few days without eating.Thats more along the lines of DID. Everyone's different, but there needs to be an extreme level of derealization and depersonalization.

I see. I don't know about the dissociation thing. There are times where I feel disconnected from my surroundings, in particular when I'm stressed about something.

zrcalo wrote:Like with me, I dont feel like I'm real. I dont use my birth name in anything, and I havent been able to hold a job because one moment I will be completely calm and saying to a person "wow. you're so nice, you're a great friend! I love this job" then the next, my voice will change, and I'll be yelling at that person to get out of my face. Then I'll go back to "oh! you're my friend!" and then I'm fired.

I've had experiences where I snap at someone for no reason but I'm not sure if that's the same thing as you've described but I appreciate what you've had to say. Thanks zrcalo.

I feel I should expand on the intro I gave for my reasons of suspecting I have DID. For one, I have insomnia that is usually accompanied by voices and a feeling of being lightheaded and pressure. Also, I do have some history of emotional abuse. My mom has a tendency of making me feel bad and majorly criticizing me. I also find her to be intimidating mainly for the reason that if she gets mad enough, she hits and this has happened on more than one occasion. Also, my brother usually points out that at times my voice changes but I've never noticed this myself. People have also pointed out that I make gesture or facial expressions that I am not aware that I'm making. I have met people that seem to know me but I have no idea who they are. I also have moments where someone will say something to me and then I have no recollection of the conversation later on. That's all I wanted to say.

Dissociation + visual and auditory hallucinations + outbursts sounds more like a psychotic disorder to me. Schizophrenia has all of those symptoms. Maybe instead of telling your doctor you think you have DID, just write down a list of all of your symptoms and explain how they impact your day to day functioning. Your GP can then refer you for psychiatric evaluation.

AltCtrlDel wrote:Dissociation + visual and auditory hallucinations + outbursts sounds more like a psychotic disorder to me. Schizophrenia has all of those symptoms. Maybe instead of telling your doctor you think you have DID, just write down a list of all of your symptoms and explain how they impact your day to day functioning. Your GP can then refer you for psychiatric evaluation.

That sounds reasonable. Thanks AltCtrlDel

Thats more along the lines of DID. Everyone's different, but there needs to be an extreme level of derealization and depersonalization.

DID does not have to include derealization and depersonalization. I do not have very much of either though I experience time loss and identity alteration and all the other tell-tale signs of DID. I rarely feel that I am not real, that my surroundings are not real or a disconnect from my body other than dissociating away pain or things like that. It is however very common.

Maybe instead of telling your doctor you think you have DID, just write down a list of all of your symptoms and explain how they impact your day to day functioning. Your GP can then refer you for psychiatric evaluation.

That sounds like a good idea

I have a question: how can you tell if someone is faking DID over the internet? I know that's a hard question to answer but I know someone that I met through the internet who claims to have this disorder but there are somethings that make me question whether he has it or is just doing it for attention: the health complications he has with the DID. He recently told on the site that he has a skin disease and that the level of water in his body is 29% of the total he should have. He also has a low metabolism and low blood sugar that causes him to faint sometimes. My question is, can you survive with only 29% of your body water and why would the hospital release him if you can't? I like to give people the benefit of the doubt but I'm suspicious of this a lot. Also, he's had this disorder since age 9 and only recently was given medication for it which doesn't make sense to me either. Should I be concerned I'm being played?

The body is 75%-80% water. Any less than that would result in cell death.

As for faking DID over the internet...anyone can fake anything over the internet.

I've seen questionable things online that seems to be a grab for attention. If I feel they are just attention seekers, I ignore them and move on. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Did you get a referal to a psychiatrist yet?

No I haven't gotten a referral yet but I'll get to it. The person just found out that I feel that he wasn't telling the complete truth and got mad at me for it and wants me to never talk to him again. I wish I hadn't done that but what can I do? To be honest, it a load of stress off of my shoulders as harsh as that sounds.