curious about ADHD diagnosis
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mart ...@algonet.se (Martin D.)
Hi, I have gone through an ADHD evaluation, or whatever its called, the doc cocluded that I have ADHD only she won't be able to give me an "official" ADHD diagnosis, the fact that I've also got cerebral palsy "right sided" hemiplegia, apparantly disqualifies me for this diagnosis.
I got the brain injury at birth because I didn't breath for a few minutes. my CP is considered very mild and most people won't notice it (bugs me though;)).
What's up with this? I thought that ADHD was a diagnonsis you get when you meet the criteria of a collection of symptoms, and that they were present all your life etc.. Is this wrong? Is it known why one gets ADHD?
The most important thing is of course that I'll get the help i need, get to work with the right people, get meds etc. still... I'm curious.
please enlighten me!
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regards, /Martin
"Mark D. Morin" mdmp...@earthlink.net
You are mostly correct. The last criteria to be met reads something like: "if those symptoms can not be also explained by another mechanism." For example, someone with seizures is going to have attentional deficits but they won't have attention deficity disorder.
You say that you have some right sided hemipelegia. That means that there was trauma to the area of the left parietal/frontal sulcus. It is highly probable that the neural fibers running from your left frontal lobe to and from the other parts of your brain are slightly disrupted.
That will cause problems with attention.
If you are lucky enough to have your speach, you are one of the less than 5% of the population who has language localized in the right hemisphere. Most people's language centers (broca's and wernicke's area) are in the left hemisphere. Sometimes when there is pre, peri, or post natal trauma, those areas migrate to the right hemisphere.
Odds are your treatment will be no different than someone with "real" adhd.
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mart ...@algonet.se (Martin D.)
I've got a siezure disorder aswell, it surfaced in my teens I am now 24.
Seizures are now under control provided I remember to take my meds.
the focal area has never been found, still some claim that the center is the same as my C palsy but thats just an ***umption, according to EEGs I dont have E at all...
"is going to"? Do you mean to say that everyone with seizures has attentional deficits? I know I have, but I had 'em long before I haid epilepsy...
Ok, how about the hyperactivity, and the curse of being slave to my impulses?
They did a CT scan years ago, and the injury was found in the motor center so things like coordination and muscle strength (in the right side of my body) are affected. I was under the impression that thay had located the injury in its entirety and that it meant that I haven't got other affected areas scattered all over my brain, maybe I'm giving medical science to much credit and in fact it's more of a guessing game as far as the knowledge of what CP affects...
Sure I realize problems can casecade but it's supposed to be a minor injury or at least so I've been told time and again, my problems that led to the ADHD diagnosis, which in fact won't be one, is not minor in the least as far as how much they affect my everyday life.
That's good, still I'd really like to have a diagnosis. If for nothing else to have a label for it myself, sure that might be a childish wish but it'd be good to able to put a name on it. I can't explain why I have so strong an urge to be able to do this...
Also it'd be good to be able to tell my employer that I have this diagnosis, instead of just "I have problems with this and that and...".
Of course, I haven't seen the diagnosis, I have to get a diagnosis of som kind otherwise I won't get the license for the meds, yet so maybe I'm jumping the gun here...
Ah, well thanks for info!
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Regards, Martin
gotter ...@aol.com (GOtterBMe)
Mark Morin and Martind said: "> You are mostly correct. The last criteria to be met reads I've got a siezure disorder aswell, it surfaced in my teens I am now 24.
Seizures are now under control provided I remember to take my meds." Martin, Mark usually gets even the smallest details right.
I'm certain he meant that if the ADHD symptoms would not have been present except for the epilepsy (or the meds for epilepsy) than it would not be called ADHD by most diagnosticians.
People can have both ADHD and epilepsy of course, but I'm sure Mark knows that.
"Mark D. Morin" mdmp...@PETERHOOD69.earthlink.net
There's a good chance you were having some seizure activity prior to when you first noticed it.
well, the impulsivity could make sense given the disruptions in the frontal network.
I hear you about the guessing game. I look at scans and see but the most obvious. Someone else may look at the same scan and see all this detail that just looked like a grey blob to me. Then on autopsy more things are found that weren't seen on scans. No, it's not an exact science.
When there is other stuff going on neurologicaly, it really difficult to parse out what is due to ADHD and what is do to the other stuff.
I would hope that you wouldn't need the diagnosis of ADHD so as to get the meds. There are other legitimate uses for it besides ADHD--you've had a brain injury and have attentional problems. That won't qualify you for the medications?
mark
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mart ...@algonet.se (Martin D.)
yes, but enough to seriously affect my behaviour???
[...] ok, I don't know seems like I've kind of been kept in the dark all my life then... if my brain injury can cause all the trouble I've gone through it it feels kind of strange I get get real help first at the age of 24 and solely on my initiative, I might add. I pratically forced my doc the write the referral for the ADHD evaluation...
[...] All cards om the table seems like a reasonable attitude, though..., right now I feel as if that hasn't been the case for me, or maybe I just pissed off...
[...] I can see that, it sucks though.
I don't know how these things work....
actually I'm not worried about not getting the meds, but whether I get to work with psychologist, or the like, to learn how to Identify my impulsive behaviour and how to control it so that I might eventually be semi-successful at work and life in general, or at least get along with them.
They weren't all that clear on this point at the closing meeting.
Best would of course be if the meds took care of everything, somehow I suspect that they won't take me all the way though.
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Regards, Martin
wheelieb ...@gru.net (Amethyst Menace)
New one on me. I have CP also, although it's a different type (spastic diplegic). I got a diagnosis of ADHD just fine. My trouble is that I'm currently on muscle relaxants that war with my stims....
One thing I've noticed on this group, though, is that doctors outside the US often have markedly different models of ADHD. Maybe that's the case here...
AmMen
mart ...@algonet.se (Martin Danielsson)
Hmm, that's intresting, maybe it's about where in the brain the injury is located.
I'm only very mildly spastic, so I hope stims, if I get them, won't mess up that for me... I'm more concerned how well my epilepsy will agree with them.
That's propably so, it's highly annoying though, you'd think they could agree I presume they use mostly the material to decide what counts as ADHD and not. Ah well it's not the end of the world...
thanks for the input!
Regards, /Martin
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