Asperger's vs. ADD/ADHD

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Do you know what the difference is because I keep doubting whether I just have Asperger's (My current status) or if I have both AS and ADD/ADHD? The doc put me on ADHD meds because I had trouble concentrating and paying attenttion at school, along with my antidepressant. Do any of you feel the same way about your diagnosis(es)?

I'm diagnosed with both, but I only think I have AS. My attention span can waver, but thats because I probably find things excessively boring compared to my special interests.

The one overlapping condition between the two conditions that I'm aware of is executive functioning disorder, which is the inability to plan, concentrate, or stay motivated to finish a task basically. It shows in test taking with me, or even filling out surveys, it just takes me a lot longer to process the information then formulate a response, which is why the ADHD diagnosis is beneficial to me at my university because it allows me extra time.

Sound anything like what you have? In many respects AS and ADD/ADHD are very similar because of executive functioning disorder (and the social awkwardness both conditions share, also some sensitives to external stimuli now that I think about it). So similar that the psychologist who diagnosed me with AS said she was just going to leave the ADD diagnosis on because the two conditions were so similar and that it wouldn't hurt having that diagnosis, and maybe even be beneficial to me. You could very well be in the same situation that I am in.

Pretty easy to tell...

Do you enjoy the company of other people?
Do they enjoy YOUR company?
Do you WISH you could enjoy the company of other people more, but can't figure out HOW?
Do you not "get" subtlty of emotion/facial expression - ie., does someone have to be yelling/in your face before you understand that they are PO'd?

Those are some primary indicators of AS that ADD/AHD don't normally have. (and yes, you can have both... but there are a lot of non-AS ADD/ADHD people out there too.)

Yeah. I'm sure they're different but I'm pretty sure that I have both - my AS symptoms don't make sense unless you assume inattention disorder, and ADHD doesn't explain all the pervasive social/obsessive difficulties of AS. (have been provisionally diagnosed with both at the present time - a possible rediagnosis in the future!)

Mind you, my psychiatrist thought that I was just "fidgety" when I thought it was stimming. I guess the only explanation is that I have a variety of subconscious repetitive movements (either category)

I think the easiest way for me to explain this is to look at what I do when I'm trying to write an essay. I start off with all the good intentions in the world, get obsessed with the topic. I'll do heaps and heaps of reading around the topic, and sometimes I will drift off entirely into one very small, specific area of my topic.
- This is me having inattention for the purpose of the research, which is the essay and the essay question, at the same time I'm being obsessive about my specific interest. Similarly my difficulty with parallel processing/multitasking, ie executive functioning, means that I have difficulty thinking about both the purpose and the actual topic at the same time.

I may repeat that research sequence until I run out of time, get exhausted, or feel overwhelmed by the amount of information I have acquired, usually all three. I will then try and sort out the information and possibly attempt to write an essay. There is a long time of flitting between bits of information and trying to figure out what I should be focusing on first. This is really hard, because all it is is multitasking - two pieces of unrelated information, where do they fit and what else do I need to know about them, is perhaps one a category for the other, are they even relevant for the question - AND what is the question again? - repeat, for however many pieces of information I have. I will attempt to draw diagrams, write lists, I think I've been pretty creative really with trying to make sense of this information stage.
- This is the stage where I get most distracted, go do something else, start a new hobby, jump up and down, feel like running round in circles, mostly because I'm bored and am completely stuck and overwhelmed by all the information. I'm thinking both ADHD and AS could be involved here. It really is just so difficult. I never fully ever get a handle on this one.

Either when I realise this is pointless or that I have very little time left in which to complete my essay, I stop trying to make sense of my information. I will (in considerable desperation, usually) launch right into my essay. Usually I find it impossible to get started unless I create a structure for myself, so I'll write headings for beginning, middle points, and ending, so I have some sort of expectation. Sometimes I will get bogged down at this point because I don't know if I'm completely right about what the headings should be: I might run back to stage one and dive into the research to try and figure out what the point of everything was (accompanied by being overwhelmed by all the information). After a struggle I will usually come up with headings that are "reasonable" but I am always bothered by the fact that they are not perfect and a niggle that I have forgotten to include a large chunk of information (which I almost ALWAYS have - too focused on the details)
- Perfectionism for having the content matching up to the headings, having the headings I want at the end NOW (ie not being able to conceive of the essay as a "draft" but needing to have the "finished product). A variety of mild executive dysfunctions here. I will frequently forget about anything that I tell myself to do unless it is written down, and sometimes with too many scraps of paper with stuff written on it I will just get overwhelmed.

At the moment I'm kinda forgetting where I was going with this post... heh nothing like reality eh. Here's the rest, in compressed form:
- Get more desperate: Insert information all over the essay where I feel it's missing
- Weed out irrelevant stuff
- Insert more information
- Weed out irrelevant stuff
(repeat, if enough stamina)
- End up with an essay that either answers another question, and therefore doesn't answer the actual essay question, or an essay that contains so many pieces of information and the sentences are so unrelated to each other that it's incoherent, even if I managed to focus on the original essay question.

I didn't specify everything but you can see both sides coming out in full force.

I'm not sure the professionals are even sure how they interrelate. And officially, by the DSM, you can't have both. Which could just mean that, at least as of the most recent update, they didn't know how to distinguish the two well enough for duel diganosis. Though some professionals will give a duel diagnosis, apparently. At least, I assume the folks here diagnosed with both, that that's the case, at least for a good number of them.

The way I see it, the only real value to having an ADD/ADHD diagnosis, if one already has a austism or Asperger's diagnosis, is medications, if one chooses to use ADD meds and finds one that's effective.

Hi,

i jus want to say i feel exactly the same. I am now enrolled in a pdh program and i am afraid the professors won't understand that my problem is not aabout being smart, it's jus my attention problem. In class it is very hard for me to do well because, for example, if the class lasts 1 hour, i only pay attentionfor 10 minutes. The rest of the time i am flying away, making my own assumptions and interpretations about the topic being discussed and living inside my world.

DWill, i am glad to hear that your "condition" is recognized and understood. I just wonder if here in Spain people are educated enough in order to understand what happens to us and be patient. As far as i know AS/ADHD is not well known in Spain. Were are you studying ?

I personally don't really think ADD/ADHD is legit. I got diagnosed with it a long time ago... and its true that my attention span is horrible... but I really don't think it has anything to do with a disorder. I think they just try to hard to put a label on any sort of "abnormality". But when it really comes down to it, I think at least 80% of people have attention span issues. Most people could easily get diagnosed with it if they actually went to a psychologist and discussed their attention span. Also, even if it is real, I think that putting that label on a little kid is ret*d. Little kids are supposed to be hyper and lack an attention span. That's just the nature of kids.

AmberEyes, you somehow got the quotes mixed up in your post. The first one is from kalantir, the others are from me. Edit: Already solved.

Having an attention deficit can be part of ASDs. As someone suggested earlier in this thread; people with autistic spectrum disorder tend to have executive dysfunction, and the executive functions play a large role in controlling attention.

I was unoffically diagnosed with ADD as child and was put on medication off and on throughout my childhood. In early 2004 when I was 19 I was offically diagnosed with ADD. Recently I was diagnosed with PDD-NOS, and now I tend to see my attention deficit as part of my PDD-NOS diagnoses.

I remember reading somewhere that Temple Grandin suggests that people with non-traditional (high-functioning) types of autism can benefit from stimulants.

AS+ADHD here. Officially you can't be diagnosed with both (a PDD takes diagnostic precedence) but you can definitely qualify for all the other diagnostic signs--which I do.

It's frustrating because the lack of concentration (which, incidentally, does not respond to medication) and poor planning ability are holding me back when I'm trying to use the skills I have. Oh, sure, the creativity and ability to draw conclusions by putting together far-flung bits of information do come in handy--those are ADHD traits--but if I can't force myself to do what I need to be doing, what good are they?