Low tolerance and just plain cranky: ADD?

So lately I am super quick to snap, have no attention span, and generally just in a foul mood. I have always had problems paying attention and not always a good student but if I put my mind to something, look out! Perfection! haha Anyways, looking for other people that felt like this before being diagnosed with ADD or ADHD. I'm only looking for opinions, obviously a real Doc can give me a correct diagnosis.

FWIW I've got ADD and I get like this from time to time, especially when I get really zoned into something. Anti-anxiety meds help but unless you take them only occasionally, you work up a tolerance fast.

Maybe it's your coffee?!

Seriously, caffeine *can* make someone cranky. So can stress, and lack of sleep.

A diagnosis of ADD generally requires someone to have pervasive inattention. In other words, if you're having difficulty concentrating at work but can spend three straight hours building the world's greatest RIMS tube, it's probably not ADD. Moreover, the fact that it's paired up with mood problems and seems to be episodic means that most psychiatrists are going to want to rule out other Axis 1 stuff (anxiety, depression, etc.) before they even consider ADD.

Caffeine increases the stimulating neurohormone, noradrenaline, and reduces the calming neurotransmitter, serotonin.

Sounds about right. Going to try cutting that out for a bit and see if I improve. Sounds like
that might be causing it.

MalFet said:

A diagnosis of ADD generally requires someone to have pervasive inattention. In other words, if you're having difficulty concentrating at work but can spend three straight hours building the world's greatest RIMS tube, it's probably not ADD. Moreover, the fact that it's paired up with mood problems and seems to be episodic means that most psychiatrists are going to want to rule out other Axis 1 stuff (anxiety, depression, etc.) before they even consider ADD.

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Yea I can spend 6 hours straight welding a stand.. I'm going to cut out the caffeine for a few weeks and see if I stabilize before seeing a doc. Just came off a 2 year long diet so my hormones might be out of whack as well. Just noticed as of late though so it might be something diet related and not so much neurological. Here's hoping, don't want meds. Hear nasty stuff.

A friend's kid was having weird panic problems and being very moody. Knowing kids today I asked if he was drinking any of the energy drinks and sure enough he had some as a treat just before his panic attacks.

There is not much that can give a person more than a small dose of caffeine naturally. We just aren't supposed to have as much as person, especially a young person, will drink today.

Standard treatment for ADD is stimulants, though, so if cutting the caffeine helps with your symptoms then you almost certainly don't have it.

I need to cut out coffee as well for a bit. I've noticed I've gotten a bit moody the past few years. It's also about when I started drinking coffee daily at work. Then again, it's also about the time we had kids. Lack of sleep, coffee. Can't do anything about the first one with a 3 year old and 3 month old and the first one makes the second a near necessity. What to do?

MalFet said:

Standard treatment for ADD is stimulants, though, so if cutting the caffeine helps with your symptoms then you almost certainly don't have it.

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That is true too. Their other kids has a pretty good case of ADD and the doctor recommended Mt. Dew and it really helped him focus for short periods. It didn't necessarily help his *other* behaviour problems though.

And FYI the two boys have different fathers, and they are not much alike at all.

I'm going to throw this out there... but I am personally a different person when I have not eaten. It took me years to realize I wasnt actually angry all the time, but just suffering from low blood sugar.

MalFet said:

In other words, if you're having difficulty concentrating at work but can spend three straight hours building the world's greatest RIMS tube, it's probably not ADD.

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Ah, but I can spend 3 straight hours designing the world's greatest RIMS tube, as long as there's something else I'm supposed to be doing. Ask me to build it, however, and I'll get 15 minutes in and start wondering what people are doing on facebook.

ADD... frack... In education we send out 3 "check lists" to home, school, and a 3rd knowledgeable party. You have to score high in all three areas to get "diagnosed". It has to be pervasive though all aspects of your life. People love throwing ADD around... it's not even a true diagnosis if its made from checklists... especially if done by biased individuals. IMHO.

We used to diagnose kids who were jerks with ODD (Oppositional defiant disorder) but in the end that's just code when the door closes for ****ty parenting.

If you're ADD chances are you wouldn't have the patience to brew beer at all... lol you switch to another hobby before the water came to a boil...

EDIT: Actually after reading back I remember being told by a doctor that my scatterbrained anxiety years ago was caused by overdosing on caffeine. Cutting back on that... religious addition of a decent breakfast and more sleep fixed me right up!

Hauntedyards said:

If you're ADD chances are you wouldn't have the patience to brew beer at all... lol you switch to another hobby before the water came to a boil...

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To be honest, brew days are a bit of an ordeal for me. I'll start at 7 AM and there will be stuff that needs cleaning even before I can start heating the strike water. Then, I have to set tons of timers to get myself to do stuff on time, and during the pauses I'm either (a) doing something completely different or (b) running around with my head cut off trying to get everything ready for the next step. I'm lucky if I'm done brewing by 7 PM. And then, if I've got enough motivation to clean up after myself, I'll start soaking my equipment in PBW then go off to do something else, then an hour later I'll return to rinse it, then maybe around 10 PM I'll remember to dump the rinse water and start moving stuff back into the garage.

I have a similar issue getting things ready to brew (or for almost any big job). After years of struggling with it, I realized it is related to anxiety issues. I am anxious about making sure i have everything ready, so I am distracted. The distraction ensures I screw something up, which makes me anxious. Insert endless loop.

This also ties into the anger problem. Anxiety often provokes a fight or flight "survival" response, which makes it easy to lash out at people.

Just my personal experience.

Yeah sounds like a life stress anxiety issue. Don't sweat the small stuff! (easier said than done...)

CreamyGoodness said:

I'm going to throw this out there... but I am personally a different person when I have not eaten. It took me years to realize I wasnt actually angry all the time, but just suffering from low blood sugar.

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Funny you say that because i'm the same way. My fiance carries snacks in her purse. I fit those Snickers commercials to a T. I do feel hungry all the time. I can be hungry an hour after eating. I'm not blessed with a fast metabolism either! Hence the diet for two years. Had only a half cup of coffee today to ween me off of it. Going to see how this goes as my ass is draggin bad right now.

CoalCracker said:

Funny you say that because i'm the same way. My fiance carries snacks in her purse. I fit those Snickers commercials to a T. I do feel hungry all the time. I can be hungry an hour after eating. I'm not blessed with a fast metabolism either! Hence the diet for two years. Had only a half cup of coffee today to ween me off of it. Going to see how this goes as my ass is draggin bad right now.

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How much water do you drink. All the signs point to dehydration for me, but I just keep drinking coffee and still no water. Coffee is available all day for free at work. Not water.

Close to a gallon a day. I drink two Nalgene bottles worth here at work then a few glasses at home. I piss more than a pregnant woman. Definitely not dehydrated.