Just wondering if any moms here have gotten an ADD/ADHD diagnosis for a teen girl? And what the signs/symptoms were? My 15yr old has a diagnosis of anxiety and depression. She’s on Meds, sees both a psychiatrist and a psychologist. Any advice?
10 Likes
Help a mama out and respond anonymously on our forum. What are the signs of ADD/ADHD in teens? - Mamas Uncut
Add/ADHD presents so differently in females. It often goes undetected bc it’s not typically the tell tale signs of add/ADHD. That being said I don’t know what it looks like in teenage girls so I’m very interested to know. I hope you find some answers.
1 Like
Take her to the dr and get her tested for it. That’s really the only thing to do. There are also lists on the internet. Like questionnaire things you can fill out. My son is 5 and was recently diagnosed with a combined form of adhd and add.
Attention to detail, not liking routine change, not being able to regulate emotions, great at masking I’m 30 and just going through process of it now My son has adhd asd xx
1 Like
Ask the pediatrician to administer the Vanderbilt to help determine the diagnosis
I was diagnosed at 4 years old with ADHD, and it is SEVERE. I’m now 35 about to be 36 and still cannot function whatsoever without medication. I’m also on the spectrum but my ADHD meds are what makes it possible for me to “mirror” others and hide my autism (to a point, it’s still noticeable that I’m mirroring to other autistics). I was so hyper that I annoyed myself as a child, still do on occasion. As far as signs go, we are extremely intelligent but not really motivated, if we already know what you’re trying to teach us we CANNOT pay attention no matter how much we want to and try to force ourselves. With ADHD, especially in females, it’s called “interest based attention”, meaning if we already know it (which is usually the case) or we’re not interested, we absolutely cannot force ourselves to focus even if we know it’s extremely important and we really want to, we just can’t. We fidget… A LOT. We often grind our teeth without realizing it (even awake) or clinch our jaws whether we’re medicated or not, so if you’ve noticed unusual tooth chipping or if a dentist has mentioned severe grinding without there being a medicinal or mental stressor involved that’s a tell-tale sign although not a significant one as there are often other reasons for grinding. Insomnia and “elite sleeping” is very common with female ADHDers (elite sleeping is requiring only 4 hours or less of sleep to fully function like neurotypicals do with 8 hours of sleep). We sometimes go through cycles of not being hungry because our bodies are wired different and it feeds on itself making us not feel hungry when we should be, then other days eating like we’re imitating a blackhole. When asked to show our work in mathematics we struggle to do this because we’re naturally human calculators (I was constantly IQ tested all through middle and high school because of this… they thought I was cheating even when they placed my desk outside the classroom to be alone during tests and could never show my work, was too bored to do daily work (again, interest based attention, if we already know it we can’t make ourselves do it) but would never miss a single question on any tests). We’re often put in classes far below our level because of our inability to focus on what we already know as it bores us, and consequently, unless you have a good school system that understands kids with ADHD, you will be setup for failure in life because they will refuse to put you in classes that you need to be in to be able to focus and succeed. We also have trouble controlling emotions at times, sometimes it’s either “all or nothing” in our reactions and it may seem like an overreaction at times. Having ADHD is not a joke like everyone thinks, not being able to focus when you really desperately want to and know that you need to and just cannot do it makes you feel stupid, it causes you to ostracize yourself in your own mind, it makes you really not like yourself sometimes, it causes massive anxiety and often depression because of this thought of “everyone else can focus on this, why can’t I, why can I not pay attention, I know I have to, I know I really need to, why can’t I just do it like everyone else” that’s always there. I know this was long and rambling, again I’m severely ADHD, but this is what goes on in the mind of someone with ADHD, and in females all these thoughts and feelings are amplified about 100 times worse than in males, because we ARE different and we tend to hide it better but the feelings we have inside are much stronger and self-destructive because we’re not understood, and diagnosis of females usually falls about 7-13 years behind male diagnosis because of this misunderstanding and ability to hide it that females use as an innate action to prevent being singled out. My experience is like thousands of others, but I’m an extreme case and everyone is different. Either way, I hope this explanation helps at least a little.
2 Likes
Also, depression meds are the wrong way to go if she has ADHD! ADHD causes anxiety and depression, especially in children and teens, even worse if they’re female. If she has ADHD, ADHD meds will help and will relieve the anxiety and depression associated with being ADHD. Just anxiety and depression meds will not help the ADHD and will only make the depression and anxiety MUCH worse because you’re not treating the root cause of it. With ADHD, depression and anxiety meds without treating the ADHD well exacerbate the symptoms that are causing the depression and anxiety in the first place, however, treating the ADHD alone may or may not eliminate the depression and anxiety, and if not eliminate it, it will ease up and a combination of ADHD treatment and a very low dosage for the depression will help immensely. It’s a delicate balance, especially with females because we’re not quite understood like male ADHDers.
My daughter is 16 and adhd.
Just this morning I had the parent interview portion of the adhd testing for my son. I think the symptoms range greatly from kid- kid. My son loses everything, needs constant reminders to complete everything, gets bored/uninterested VERY quickly, gets upset quickly about little things, makes careless mistakes on school work- he just rushes thru everything, gets easily frustrated, loses everything. My biggest concern is that his behavior is starting to interfere with his friends. They view his behavior as “annoying”. He doesn’t wait his turn, disregards rules of games and Has a hard time understanding personal boundaries. Very “touchy” - will try to pick people up, put his arms around people and not really understand when they are getting irritated or upset. There are 2 other parts of the adhd testing that he will do and the doctor will then make suggestions - it’s very difficult knowing what a sweet and kind kid he is but it’s difficult to have to remind him all day/every day to do stuff and to give people space!
I was the teenage girl with severe adhd, anxiety, & depression.
I had a very hard time till I was put on medication at 14. Brain fog, hard time falling and staying asleep, constant fidgeting, aggravated when I couldn’t understand something which resulted in failing grades, I couldn’t multitask and the list goes on. Once I was put on medication it made a world of difference when we found the right dose. I had to go through testing with a psychiatrist to get diagnosed. I’m 31 and back on medication because I couldn’t handle being off it.
1 Like
My son was diagnosed with ADHD when he was in 1st grade so I definitely can’t help with a teenage girl other then my 6 year old girl definitely has signs of ADHD…but I’ve also heard it could be related to the dyes in their foods…good luck mama ADHD is no joke