You don't "develop late-onset ADHD" - you either have ADHD or you don't, it's a genetic condition (one of your parents had it). You have to fit the DMS criteria of having childhood symptoms, and they will want to speak to relatives and friends who can confirm this.
Burnout can cause AuDHD traits but you don't catch anything - likely taking time to recover will be better than trying medication - for a start you have to find the drug and dose that works for you and you need to speak to a psychiatrist for that.
FWIW I was diagnosed at 35 (I'm 42 now) and I'm on 60Mg Lisdexamfetamine per day. The medication is not a silver bullet, and there's day I forget to take it.
What tanepiper is saying is mostly correct, especially the part that late-onset ADHD is not really a thing. Genetic condition is kind of an inaccurate statement, though, in my experience as a psychiatrist-scientist. You can liberally say that ADHD is ~75% [1] heritable (based on twin studies) which is pretty high. However, data suggest that even though DSM requires a binary definition of the disorder, in truth it is more like a spectrum and less like e.g. bipolar disorder type I which you either have or you don't despite the fact that severity may vary. For example in a recent study, we found that among people, a high polygenic score (PGS; a kind of way to score individuals for genetic liability based on published studies that associate genetic variants with a disorder) is associated with typical deficits in cognitive functions found in ADHD even in the absence of a diagnosis [1]. I conceptualize it as another lever within the natural variation of how brains work and are tuned for different environments.
Now visiting the late-onset part, I have mostly seen it in clinical practice in individuals who had ADHD traits already (may not have met diagnostic criteria) that got really worse after traumatic brain injury and/or worsening of a comorbid mental health conditions e.g. their anxiety or their depression. The natural progression of ADHD for most is to get better over the years as they develop compensatory habits and/or choose lines of work that make ADHD traits less of an obstacle; some believe that also brain maturation kind of catches up at some point which is an incomplete cure. However, the effects on confidence and self-perception are long-lasting...
Another misconception is that high IQ corrects for ADHD traits, this has been mostly rebutted in both clinical literature and we have a genetic study under review that mostly replicates that. Finally, there is an overlap in signs when comparing "bored" gifted individuals and ADHD individuals which can be confusing... Unfortunately, smart individuals with ADHD (of the inattentive type) get enough performance to fly below the radar of diagnosis which ultimately hurts them or delays them from realize "their full potential".
Thank you for a very good answer and you are right, it's not clear cut - as I've got older I identify more AuDHD now, have a relatively higher IQ and if wasn't for my wife (also AuDHD) suggesting we get diagnosed years ago I would have continued the "fly below the radar" - which usually means jumping jobs every two years.
Knowing the diagnosis, with medication, I have much better coping strategies for life now - but at the moment my sink is still full of dishes and there's probably a load of laundry that finished washing 2 days ago still in the machine.
It’s often not diagnosed or diagnosed as another problem and is difficult to diagnose later.
I have a friend who discovered that ADHD was the root of a bunch of issues. They had developed some coping strategies organically that were contributing to other issues. Diagnosis and therapy made a dramatic improvement in their life.
Yep - being diagnosed and knowing helped a lot - I got through life pretty well until 33, but possibly moving country also helped in needing to go through it as things I got away with at home were less so here.
> You have to fit the DMS criteria of having childhood symptoms, and they will want to speak to relatives and friends who can confirm this.
I've often wondered why no teacher ever said anything to my parents about me possibly having ADHD. I think because in the classes I was interested in I was a star student and my teachers loved me, and in the others I was an absolutely hopeless case and my teachers didn't care to bother.
Even if your prediction is correct, the immediate benefits in day-to-day life for people with ADHD cannot be overlooked.
Thus far, the only serious side effects I’m aware of are:
* A slight increase in cardiovascular-related conditions in the first few years after starting stimulant medication. This can be mitigated to a large extent by not using stimulants if your resting heart rate or blood pressure are already elevated.
* An increased risk of manic episodes for people already predisposed to bipolar disorder, again, for stimulant medications. If someone in your family has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, don’t use a stimulant to treat ADHD.
Acknowledging that this is a pedantic correction: I think that there will be an acknowledgement of over diagnosis of ADHD. First line treatments are what they are.
But also that, in tandem, there will be acknowledgement of under diagnosis of Type 1 Autism. Precisely because it is so diagnostically evasive "and can mimic ADHD". However, the correction that I'd make of the quoted phrase is that, likely, inattentive ADHD wholly is misdiagnosed Type 1 Autism in my opinion. And that ADHD will come to be seen as Spectrum disorder, for which certain manifestations (ie: not inattentive) do not necessarily crossover with the Autism part of the (soon to be wider) Spectrum.
How that might look, in families, is that those with non-autistic ADHD individuals could be observed to more often contain autistic individuals.
That makes sense to me. My psych and therapist both told me that there is a lot of crossover in symptoms between ADHD and Autism. Anecdotally, my sister has long maintained that I’m on the spectrum.
While that may be correct for actual ADHD, thyroid conditions can mimic a lot of the same problems faced by those with ADHD (or at least ADHD-PI), as in attention dysregulation, brain fog, memory issues, tiredness, and so on. Hypothyroidism, for instance, advances slowly and one might not be diagnosed until well into adulthood. It would not be surprising if many people diagnosed with ADHD actually have a thyroid problem, especially if their medication gradually becomes less effective.
I found out with 38 years old, but I always felt different since childhood, why the memorization in school was bad, to be bad at writing texts, and my second kid got diagnosed, so it made me search more about it.
I am doing 30 mg of Paroxetine, but doesn't seem great. Lots of low dopamine and procrastination.
Burnout can cause AuDHD traits but you don't catch anything - likely taking time to recover will be better than trying medication - for a start you have to find the drug and dose that works for you and you need to speak to a psychiatrist for that.
FWIW I was diagnosed at 35 (I'm 42 now) and I'm on 60Mg Lisdexamfetamine per day. The medication is not a silver bullet, and there's day I forget to take it.