How To Tell If You Have ADD ADHD

If you have been diagnosed with adult ADD / ADHD or if your child or teen has been diagnosed with ADHD / ADD, chances are that you have been prescribed one or more of the various ADD medications that exist.

Ironically, these medications, which you cannot get until AFTER you have been diagnosed with ADD-ADHD may be the best way to tell IF you actually have ADHD or ADD.

Keep in mind that I am not a doctor, and I have no medical training of any kind; I’m just an adult male with ADD-ADHD who has done a lot of reading, and lot of living with ADD, and a lot of talking with both adults with ADHD, and kids and teens with ADHD.

However, if all of the ADD medications cause these kind of “revved up” symptoms, it is quite possible that you do not have ADD at all.

The brain is the least understood part of the human body. People’s bodies respond differently to all manner of stimulus including different responses to various chemicals.  Some people have almost no response to caffeine, while others bounce off the walls with just a little bit.  Therefore, conclusions about the mind cannot be drawn easily from simple observations.

That being said, every person I have ever known who did not have ADD / ADHD and took something like Adderall or Ritalin anyway for whatever reason, all report the same response to those medications.  They say that the ADD drugs made them feel like their head was buzzing or racing, or it made them lightheaded, or it felt like their heart was racing.  These are the same kinds of complaints made by the handful of people I have spoken to who were diagnosed with ADD-ADHD, but went on to either decide that they didn’t have it all, or that it was so mild that it wasn’t worth “doing anything about.”

In other words, if the ADD prescriptions cause the same reactions in you that they cause in people without ADHD, then there is the very real possibility that perhaps you do not have ADHD.

There is also the even greater possibility that while the medication you are taking works “good enough,” that is is not the best solution for you, and you should try one of the alternatives.

Speak with your medical professional about these possibilities, and if you don’t get a thoughtful, well reasoned answer to your question, seek a second opinion.

However, do remember that people respond differently to medicines, including ADD-ADHD treatments.  I took Ritalin for a few weeks and it did nothing for me. (Note the difference between how the Ritalin had no noticeable effect versus having a very real, but undesired effect such medications on someone without ADD.)

Also, keep in mind that the reason different ADD prescriptions exist is because they do different things.  They are all different chemical compounds, so it is possible that one of them will make you feel very “racing” while another will not. Why live with the compromise if you don’t have to?

Coming Soon – More ADD Tips and Techniques

• ADD Tests
• How To Use Real World Events and Responses to Tell If You Have ADD-ADHD