Autism and ADHD

Hello Chuckalicious. I have dyspraxia (dcd), adhd and Aspergers. All diagnosed in my 50's. I agree with you wholeheartedly. Some of the characteristics overlap, seem contradictory. Sometimes one applies the next the opposite. I think I should type up lists for each diagnosis so that I can compare them as it is confusing. On one of the threads I posted a ven diagram showing the overlap of Neurodiversity. At one time it was said that you couldn't have both autism/asd and adhd but this has been found not to be the case. I know what you mean about the mistakes too which in my case became worse after menopause when hormones change. My short term memory got worse so that there are jobs I have enjoyed in the past that I could no longer do. It is bewildering. I hope Ellie's advice was able to help you on the practical side but I just wanted to encourage you to look into the dual aspect of asd/adhd more because it sounds very like it

This is all interesting reading, Misfit, can you go back to the place where they diagnosed the ADHD with your ASD diagnosis and ask for some help, or go to your GP and ask to be referred back there?  You really sound like you need help making sense of your alphabet soup to enable real changes to make your life more settled and fulfilling.

I've been looking into ADHD, or trying to, it seems a lot like trying to nail jelly to a wall.  Depending on how it is written about it describes me but then I read something else and it doesn't.  I also think my head is very resistant to the idea of there being something else on top of ASD, it's hard enough to come to terms with that, like you said some of the 'symptoms' of the two conditions are so contradictory that how the hell do you pick the bones out of it all?

Part of me wants to raise the question and like you and chuckalicious, get to the bottom of it all but the other part wants to stick my head firmly in the sand and shout 'NO, NO MORE!' 

No no more is how I feel I think that's why I haven't chased anything up.. but yes I do need to find a way forward to feel more settled and fulfilled.( I used "symptoms " because I couldn't think an appropriate word.)However on one level I do now feel as though I have got the whole story it's just learning to work with it rather than against it. You know how it's not really been a female ing to have autism/asd ? Well it's the same with dyspraxia and adhd but as knowledge and research develops the professionals have realised we present differently. I started off reading about dyspria/dcd and as I read I followed this link and that. I felt like the tangled ball of wool would never unravel because once you start following the links there is a lot of information. For 2 years Iigned up to the women's palooza which offers a whole week of mini webcasts. The lightbulb moments just kept coming ( as I do with the podcasts terry Matlen and Linda Roggli and as with women's Aspergers one person leads to other so there are a few really good writers and speakers on the subject. Also there is the attentive and the inattentive types and a mixture of the two. It's also going back to the ND vendiagram ea. The professor/Dr I saw first "got me" immediately. It was the first time anyone had. But she said anyone with anything (in my case dcd developmental coordination disorder/dyspraxia which was wt she was assessing) is most likely to have elements of the others to a greater or lesser degree and it would be rare for that not to be the case. It's not whether you have or have not. It is the gree to which it affects your life. Communication, coordination and executive function difficulties overlap in all 3 conditions and probably other things too. Some people have x y z but have full ves or muddled through others are more affected by it and with me it has had a cumulative effect until I have sort of ground to a halt. Plus as said before memory and executive function in particur is much worse since menopause to the point that do not trust myself. This makes putting myself out there in the real world harder both socially and work wise. For example I cannot tell when I'm ing to be exhausted and let people down, I cannot tell when I am going to forget something important or what I am going to break next. It's really embarrassing and frustrating to the point that I most keep it a secret because to NT who don't have these problems wouldn't believe it. Mm not sure I've helped.. sorry foggy brain doesn't help! How much we want to find out or get to the root of things and how to deal with it is such a very personal decision. However I did wonder about you as soon as you mentioned your work space...  

No no more is how I feel I think that's why I haven't chased anything up.. but yes I do need to find a way forward to feel more settled and fulfilled.( I used "symptoms " because I couldn't think an appropriate word.)However on one level I do now feel as though I have got the whole story it's just learning to work with it rather than against it. You know how it's not really been a female ing to have autism/asd ? Well it's the same with dyspraxia and adhd but as knowledge and research develops the professionals have realised we present differently. I started off reading about dyspria/dcd and as I read I followed this link and that. I felt like the tangled ball of wool would never unravel because once you start following the links there is a lot of information. For 2 years Iigned up to the women's palooza which offers a whole week of mini webcasts. The lightbulb moments just kept coming ( as I do with the podcasts terry Matlen and Linda Roggli and as with women's Aspergers one person leads to other so there are a few really good writers and speakers on the subject. Also there is the attentive and the inattentive types and a mixture of the two. It's also going back to the ND vendiagram ea. The professor/Dr I saw first "got me" immediately. It was the first time anyone had. But she said anyone with anything (in my case dcd developmental coordination disorder/dyspraxia which was wt she was assessing) is most likely to have elements of the others to a greater or lesser degree and it would be rare for that not to be the case. It's not whether you have or have not. It is the gree to which it affects your life. Communication, coordination and executive function difficulties overlap in all 3 conditions and probably other things too. Some people have x y z but have full ves or muddled through others are more affected by it and with me it has had a cumulative effect until I have sort of ground to a halt. Plus as said before memory and executive function in particur is much worse since menopause to the point that do not trust myself. This makes putting myself out there in the real world harder both socially and work wise. For example I cannot tell when I'm ing to be exhausted and let people down, I cannot tell when I am going to forget something important or what I am going to break next. It's really embarrassing and frustrating to the point that I most keep it a secret because to NT who don't have these problems wouldn't believe it. Mm not sure I've helped.. sorry foggy brain doesn't help! How much we want to find out or get to the root of things and how to deal with it is such a very personal decision. However I did wonder about you as soon as you mentioned your work space...