ADHD sucks ass -- LiveWire Teen Forums

depressedfreak:
You're wrong, insurgent. Bipolar Disorder and ADHD are two different disorders. Sure, some symptoms of both disorders overlap, like the hyperactivity and inability to pay attention. But at the time of diagnosis, a doctor must look at the most pressing issues. If one's main problem is fluctuating between moods, they arre likely going through a manic/hypomanic/depressive episode of Bipolar (mood swings are also seen in ADD, but are much less extreme than those going through a manic/depressed episode). If one's main symptoms during a diagnosis are hyperactivity or inability to concentrate, trhen they are showing some core symptoms typical of ADHD. You could go to the doctor one day, say you can't concentrate, and get diagnosed ADHD. The next day, go back and say tyhat you have uncontrollable, extreme swings in mood, and you'll be diagnose as Bipolar. Then you're both ADHD AND Bipolar.

Actually, you're wrong.

Mood swings are a common fluctuation after the age of puberty, so your statement that mood swings are seen in A.D.D is fairly redundant, and doesn't make any sense, actually. How exactly would a psychiatrist properly observe less severe mood swings as cause of A.D.D. without attributing it to just the normal mood swings of a human?

Anyway.

Although A.D.H.D and bipolar disorder are two separate disorders they are created due to a chemical imbalance of the chemicals noepinephrine, epinephrine, seratonin, ect. All the chemicals that control hunger, sleep, mood, energy, and the like. It is not possible to be diagnosed with both disorders.
In a diagnosis you don't tell the psychiatrist a few symptoms one day, and come back the next day and tell them another range of symptoms. They objectively ask you a few questions such as, "How is your ability to concentrate in class?" or "How well do you sleep at night?" and you give a full account of your "life story," you could say, in great detail and based on symptoms such as an inability to concentrate, decreased need for sleep, hyperactivity, and intense emotional outbursts, they would diagnose you with bipolar disorder. Not bipolar disorder and A.D.H.D. The diagnosis takes into full account of your symptoms as a whole, and attributes them to one disorder that closely pertains to your symptoms.

I was diagnosed with A.D.D. at the age of 7 then A.D.H.D at the age of 14 then Bipolar disorder at the age of 23, and upon diagnosis I was told it is a common occurrence for psychiatrists to mistakenly attribute symptoms of bipolar disorder to less severe disorders because the illness contains symptoms of a myriad of other disorders. And incidentally, when I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder I was also told I had clinical depression around the age of 7, which was the cause of my inability to concentrate, and the psychiatrist at the time mistakenly diagnosed me with A.D.D. Unbelievable. But they are just giving their educated opinions, right?

Now, comorbidity does exist, meaning more than one disorder alongside another one. But they'd have to be dissimilar disorders such as...dyslexia and A.D.H.D or OCD and bipolar disorder.

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Maximus:
I knew a man who once said, death smiles at us all. All a man can do is smile back.
- Gladiator

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