Just Curious about Everyone else

[DanielsMom]

I was just kind of curious about this so I thought I would ask. My son is of course was dx ADHD. While I have never been "officially" dx with ADHD, I have spoken with my doctors about it and I was told that I did most likely suffer from it, more so as a child than I do know. However I have been "officially" dx with Seasonal Affective Disorder (severe depression through the winter months) and Anxiety/Panic attacks during this period. I have heard from many sources that ADHD is someway related to depression or something to that affect. When we took my son to be tested for ADHD, I was asked if I or his father or anyone else in the family suffer from depression, anxiety/panic, or any other psych. conditions. Well, I'm the only one that I know of and I can't help but feel responsible for my son being the way he is.

Anyway, my question is, do any of you that have an ADHD/ADD child suffer from any psych. conditions yourself? I have always wondered about this. I know this is quite personal so thank you to those who reply.

[catatonic]

Shannon,
Like you, I've never received an official diagnosis, but in retrospect it seems pretty clear to me that I suffered from ADHD as a child. I think I've matured out of a great deal of it, as well as learning how to cope. These days I'm just hyper and tend to get disorganized if I have too many things to deal with at the same time. Like you, I can't help but feel responsible for my boy's condition, even though I know this is not rational, still I feel that.

[swmom]

I believe I am. Now that I know what ADHD is and what the symptoms are, when I look back on jobs that didn't work out or problems I had in school or at home, it almost always boiled down to not being able to focus well. I always had(and still have) too many ideas floating through my head at any given time. I was always a good student but never tested well because I couldn't focus for that long. I wound up getting into public relations eventually because the skills needed for that - creativity, being able to switch from task to task and from idea to idea quickly - were the essence of my personality. I did that successfully for 25 years, 15 of those on my own so I could work at my own pace, keep my own hours, dress in whatever happened to be closeby! I do feel responsible at least in part for my daughter's ADHD which is why I think I'm so driven to help her through this. I shouldn't feel responsible though because I believe I inherited the disorder from my father who had either ADHD and/or bipolar was never diagnosed or treated. Oh, the problems he caused for my mother and our whole family! He's still wreaking havoc at the age of 75! His life is a sad, sad story and one I believe that could've taken a much more positive direction had he been diagnosed and treated.

[DanielsMom]

My parents never took me to a doctor to get dx. Now that I look back, they should have. I see my son and I see myself back then. I didn't graduate from high school because of this. My parents never pushed me in school. That is the one of the reasons I am doing everything humanly possible for my son. I will not let him end up like I did. He will not go through what I had to go through. I am not stupid by any means but because of my lack of focus and total inability to sit still for ANY period of time I flunked out of high school. I did get my GED a few months later. Now I just turned 30 two weeks ago and am about to go to college. Something I never thought that I would do given my history in school. I am sooo much better now than I was in high school. I know what's wrong and what helps and what doesn't. I think I will make it through. I don't blame my parents. I don't think they knew about ADHD when I was growing up. But I do and I will do everything I can for my son.

[DenverSarah]

Sometimes when I look at the things my son does I remember doing the exact same kinds of things. He has a temper, I have a temper. He is hyper-sensitive emotionally, and so am I. He gets in trouble at school/home, so did I. He is extremely creative, and bright, and those are the words that I remember my teachers (bless their patient hearts) using to describe me. I believe those of us who are "hyper-sensitive" are more prone to any extreme...depression as well as contentment, and are unfortunately more prone to a veritable mish-mash of mental disorders. The route that my " Differences" took me down was alcoholism, from which I am now in recovery, and have no doubt that my difficulties contributed to developing. I worry about those things with my son and it's those times when I have to remind myself of the old adage "one day at a time". He is doing wonderfully right now, and is a happy kid. Down the road that may change, but I'm not responsible for his life and his happiness, only for guiding him and showing him by example the things that work for finding happiness in life, and the things that don't. It's hard, but I can honestly say I wouldn't change a thing!

[AustinsMom]

Our ds is adopted, so we're talking different gene pools here. Sometimes I think it has made it harder for us to fully understand where Austin is coming from, i.e. there's no sense that he's just like I was at that age, or just like Uncle Joe, etc. And our older daughter is a polar opposite, so we have had to reinvent our parenting skills for him. But he and my dh share definite personality traits, especially some of that testosterone driven stuff. So he often feels like he remembers being emotionally similar to Austin--which probably contributes to the some of the disputes they have!

Danielsmom: Way to go on the college plans! Besides doing everything possible for your son right now, you are also being an incredible role model for him. He's a lucky boy.

[DanielsMom]

Thanks AustinsMom! Let me tell you, I am completely terrified of the whole back in school thing. Not a good experience first time around. But.............

[babytay]

My son is 8 yrs old and has adhd. Yes I think that I have some kind of disorder I have never gone to see a doctor. I have went as far as making an appt. for myself to see someone for depression but I have never went throught with it. I have been very depressed lately because of problems with my son and family but I deal with it on my own.

My mom is in a mental hospital right now and has been there since I was about 2 or 3. I was told she had problems as a child and was taking some type of medication then. I never have gotten the full story my family hides it from me. I believe I was probably adhd as a child also I remember being hyper and having a hard time with friends I still do. Because of my mothers problems my family would never even think of giving me meds when I was young I think they were afraid of me turning out like her.

I am very impulsive I have done some crazy things once I bought a car I knew I couldnt afford just because I passed by the dealership and thought the color was nice. I had to give it back three months later .

So I think these disorders are passed on to our litte ones.

[gabrielsmom]

I don't think that I have ADHD or ADD or anything close to that but I do suffer from depression. I can remeber feeling depressed and empty as early as when I was 11 yrs old. Through the years it has gotten worse. I had a really difficult bout with depression at around 18 yrs old that last about 2 yrs. It was alleviated somewhat after that and returned when my son was about 1 yrs old. I think the worsening of the depression has come about becuase of the difficulties of dealing with my son's ADHD. I do however, see a lot of him in me. Inablility to concentrate, 1,000 things going on in my head and not being able to focus on one thing, etc.. but I believe that this comes from my depression and not ADHD. The reason I believe this is because I never had any of these problems as a kid. I was good in school, I didn't get into any kind of trouble at school or home, etc.... I've never exhibited any or the signs or symptoms of ADHD. I believe my son's father is ADD, but of course, he denies it......Anyway, I think gabe inherited it from his dad. As to the depression, well, it turns out that all of my immediate family (mom, dad, brother) suffer from depression, some of us in milder forms than others. I also have an aunt who is being medicated for depression as well as anxiety.

WOW!!! this was a long post. Sorry didn't mean to carry on.....