Could this be the answer? Looking for more info...

Can anyone direct me to some good sources for info on adult ADHD?
I was just thinking about how I have difficulty with concentrating and I was wondering if this could be the cause of my problems... SO I looked up adult ADHD on google and when I read the list of symptoms on webMD I realized I have almost all of the ones they listed. The only thing is I am not really impulsive and definitely not hyper, I am very shy and reserved/introverted. I do tend to fidget a lot though and if have to sit still I am always either playing with something like a pen or a piece of paper or else my foot (or toe, or leg) is moving. I am trying to find some more info to see if this really may be the case.

Here is the list from webMD (in bold, the stuff not bold is my notes on it):

* Chronic lateness and forgetfulness. --Yep. I am always running late for things and am very forgetful (I forget where I put things, forget what I am supposed to do, forget something someone just told me, etc...)
* Anxiety. --Yep.
* Low self-esteem. --Yes, very much so.
* Employment problems. --Yes
* Difficulty controlling anger. --I get irritated easily.
* Impulsiveness. --Not really.
* Substance abuse or addiction. --No, except for caffeinated sodas, I realized when I started to get withdrawal headaches if I did not have a coca-cola often enough...when I figured that out I quit cold turkey...but I do think I have an addictive personality.
* Poor organization skills. --Yes, very much, I can never seem to get organized.
* Procrastination. --Yes, I have a lot of trouble with this, if I have a large assignment due for a class I always end up not starting it until the last minute even if I tell myself I am going to get moving early.
* Low frustration tolerance. --Maybe
* Chronic boredom. --Yes, I get bored really easily.
* Difficulty concentrating when reading. --Yes and no. I can get very absorbed in reading and concentrate well if it's something I am very interested in, but I have a lot of trouble concentrating when reading things for classes, like research articles or other things that I don't find as interesting.
* Mood swings. --Sometimes
* Depression. --Yes
* Relationship problems. -Yes

Adults with ADHD may have:

* Had a history of poorer educational performance and were underachievers. --Yes, since grade school, but partly because I had trouble getting up on time for school. I also was bad at getting my homework done and that sort of thing.
* Had more frequent school disciplinary actions. --I never got in trouble for behavior in school but I did for forgetting assignments or not finishing homework and I missed a lot of school
* Had to repeat a grade. --No.
* Dropped out of school more often. --Yes, I was kicked out of H.S. when I was 16 for having too many absences, but several years later I took the GED test and then went to university.
* Change employers frequently and perform poorly. --Yes and no, I have not had poor performance but I tend to either do seasonal jobs or else after a few months of working somewhere I start not liking it, missing work, etc...


Do you think I should bring this up with my doctor? Or am I just reading too much into things?

I think it depends why you have these problems. For people with ADHD its *because of* an inability to concentrate.

You need to ask yourself what the cause of those symptoms is really. a lot of people think they have ADHD because they can't concentrate or have those symptoms, and i think it also gets overdiagnosed a lot that way too.

when it comes to mentioning it to your dr, it depends where you're based, US, they dx way too much, UK dx with adult ADHD is done only by one clinic and after very stringent testing, and if they believe they can test for it, probably should be more than one clinic for the whole country! so it varies a lot from place to place.

so many problems can *look* very much like ADHD from the outside, its important to rule out other potential causes. e.g. I can't concentrate if I am angry or anxious - neither could most people if they had extreme anger or anxiety thrown at them. I am late and procrastinate cause underneath it all I struggle with all sorts of contradictory feelings, I seem dazed or forgetful because I dissociate, but at other times I am fine. people with ADHD underachieve at school because they can't concentrate - same with easily bored, they lose concentration and are bored/frustrated from not being able to concentrate (worth noting as its not the same thing as just being constantly bored.)

personally, take away emotional triggers and dissociation and I have great concentration skills, but still manage to have most of these symptoms when those problems are in place. - i asked my GP about this (and for a referral to said testing clinic after an ADHD group decided they thought i had it) a few years ago - after a long chat and having known me for a while, she referred me for CBT instead.

so you have to figure out what is causing those symptoms, it only points to ADHD if the symptoms aren't better explained by other problems and if they are caused by lack of ability to concentrate. I imagine it gets a little worse with tiredness, ? but also shouldn't jump around all over the place as something with a neurological basis you wouldn't expect periods of sudden clarity from it or extreme temporary worsening.

Lots of people fidget, lots of people find it harder to read something that isn't interesting. the next bit is not what most people say, so this bit is contraversial/personal opinion, but IMHO, people i have met with ADHD find it hard to concentrate on reading things they *do* find interesting as well as those they don't.

Hope some of that helps you figure things out!