3 ms·
Source: I've been diagnosed with severe ADHD on 4 occasions(mostly retests for due diligence reasons after switching psychiatrist) Generally by having a full w
by mtlmtlmtlmtl 4y ago
Source: I've been diagnosed with severe ADHD on 4 occasions(mostly retests for due diligence reasons after switching psychiatrist)
Generally by having a full workup with a psychiatrist. They will do various interviews. Possibly might have to interview parents and teachers in pediatric cases or in adult cases where ADHD was not diagnosed in childhood(childhood onset is a diagnostic requirement for adult ADHD).
In more difficult cases a neuropsychologist might be consulted and can perform various neurological tests to more thoroughly rule out other disorder. There's some promising work on blood biomarkers and brain imaging but nothing in clinical use yet afaik.
- BeFlatXIII 4y ago> childhood onset is a diagnostic requirement for adult ADHD What would be the diagnosis for adult-onset ADHD symptoms without a childhood history of those symptoms?
- mtlmtlmtlmtl 4y agoTheoretically, any type to damage to or dysfunction in the frontal lobe which is affected by ADHD can manifest similar symptoms. There are some nutritional deficiencies that can cause a false positive for ADHD(zinc, possibly omega-3). There's also some curious cases of ADHD manifesting due to an very specific type of potassium imbalance. Though AFAIK the only known cases of this have been genetic. It's probably also possible that childhood ADHD could have been "hiding" in childhood, if say your childhood environment was very ADHD-compatible it might not have been enough of a problem to be detected then, but become a problem in adulthood as your environment and responsibilites change. Probably you could make an argument for a diagnosis of adult ADHD in a case like that if there's at least a family history of ADHD.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]