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Co-morbidity?

Lellynelly
over 5 years ago

I have just recieved my full assessment report from the person who gave me a diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder and she has also sent me and email saying that due to my processing difficulties she would like me to fill in an ADHD questionnaire. On the report she said she was sending one to ‘rule it out’

Can ADHD and ASD co-exist? I always thought that if there was a diagnosis of ASD then any other difficulties were put under the umbrella of that,  and not a separate thing?

  • over 5 years ago

    I did the questionaire she sent me for adhd and it cam back positive. she has suggested I see my gp for a referral to be assessed

  • over 5 years ago

    It is true that, under older guidelines, there was a time when autistic people could not also be diagnosed with ADHD or ADD, but the thinking on that has changed, and more recent guidelines do allow a dual-diagnosis. In fact, some preliminary research suggests that anything from 30% to 80% of autistic people may have significant signs of attention deficit distinct from their autistic traits (for example, this newspaper article.) It seems to still be controversial exactly how much the traits of the two conditions overlap, but it certainly seems that there is a cohort of autistic people with a slightly different presentation that suggests attentional problems to a greater degree than other autistic people (just as any other autistic trait varies between individuals.)

  • over 5 years ago

    Hi Lellynelly,

    ADHD and other conditions can coexist with ASD.  OCD is another one.

    It's good that the health professional wants to investigate things further though just to be sure and help you manage things going forward. 

  • over 5 years ago

    I did an online test and got scored as having borderline autism. I did not know such a category existed. It did mention AHAD as a co-morbid thing.

    I  can see the test's point though. I have always been very absent-minded, especially if these days there is s change on certain ways of doing things or generally stressed. Keys, umbrellas, gloves, even whole bags. I got into npnend of trouble over forgetting things as a child.