Often adults with ADD do not receive a proper diagnosis until one or more children are diagnosed ADD or AD/HD. Many parents recognize personal characteristics of ADD while reading or discussing their child’s similar behavior or symptoms. Before receiving a proper diagnosis, adults may endure years of frustration and disorganization.

Adults ADD may manifest itself in any or all of the symptoms listed below:
• trouble staying organized
• difficulty finishing a duty
• procrastination in starting projects
• chronic lateness for work or appointments
• difficulty in maintaining relationships
• trouble monitoring mood changes
• extremely spontaneous behavior
• reduced financial organization
• lateness or forgetting to pay bills
• high-risk behaviors
• difficulty managing time

These symptoms are often traceable back to one’s childhood. It is imperative to remember that ADD begins in youth. If ADD has a sudden onset in adulthood, more than likely one is dealing with a different dilemma such as depression. When you have ADD as an adult, one tends to be forgetful. Before a diagnosis AD/HD, one may begin to wonder if they have the early onset of Alzheimer’s.

Diagnosis is determined from several aspects. First, one must have a problem in more than one setting. If everything is always ok at home, school, and with family, but chaotic at work there may be another situation to consider. How severe and how long one has lived with the symptoms will determine if this is AD/HD or not. A diagnosis of ADD in adults often exhibits without the symptoms of impulsivity and hyperactivity, as seen in many children. Another consideration is how the symptoms of ADD in adulthood disrupt one’s lifestyle.

Adults must exhibit significant impairment in at least two areas of their life before a diagnosis of ADD is considered. Everyone is disorganized, unfocused and fails to follow through in something in life. Having periods of fuzziness and distractibility does not constitute a diagnosis of ADD. Everyone is forgetful at times. Yet, misplacing items, forgetting to pay bills or keep appointments and chronic lateness are all signs of Adult ADD if there is chronic and significant disruption in one’s daily life.

If you feel meet the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) for Adult ADD, please talk to your healthcare clinician. Currently the DSM-IV recognizes three subtypes of AD/HD. These include the Primary Inattentive Subtype where the greatest difficulties occur with distractibility, organization, and staying on task until finished. The Primarily Hyperactive Subtype manifests itself in lack of self-control or impulsive behavior, and physical restlessness or fidgeting. Finally, the third and final subtype is a combination of the other two subtypes, and includes inattentiveness, impulsivity, and physical and internal restlessness.

There are ways to live and work successfully with ADD or AD/HD. Please discuss any personal concerns and symptoms with your healthcare professional. ADD has many positives that those living outside the realm of ADD will never fully grasp. These include high intelligence, the ability to multitask or do several different tasks at the same time, ability to think outside the box and find solutions to problems that are creative and inventive.