Anyone Misdiagnosed With Attention Deficit Disorder?

[heiff]

Apparently, it is not at all uncommon for the cluster of symptoms that are associated with Attention Deficit Disorder to be misdiagnosed as such, when the real culprit is actually OSA. While I don't doubt that I do indeed have an attention deficit to some degree, after just week or so of treating the apnea (the diagnosis of which is not subjective in quite the same way ADD/ADHD is), I feel confident that it was the primary underlying cause all along. I wake up feeling refreshed and alert, and have no trouble maintaining concentration, keeping organized, and staying wide awake throughout the day. The drugs for attention deficit never worked this well, even on the very best day.

When I think about the way I feel now (i.e. the profound, life-changing effect that CPAP has had), I wonder how long this has been affecting me...and I would venture to say "a very, very long time". Since at least high school, I think (I'm 41 now). Like others I have read about here on the forum, I wonder how things might have been different for me if I'd known about this earlier on.

I was wondering whether anyone else here has had a similar experience that led them down a path of misdiagnosis for a time?

I wasn't diagnosed with ADD until I was an adult, and never had the hyperactivity aspect, even as a child (which in retrospect, is a big clue that notion of attention deficit was barking up the wrong tree to some extent).

Regards to all,

Ian

[roster]

Apparently, it is not at all uncommon for the cluster of symptoms that are associated with Attention Deficit Disorder to be misdiagnosed as such, when the real culprit is actually OSA. While I don't doubt that I do indeed have an attention deficit to some degree, after just week or so of treating the apnea (the diagnosis of which is not subjective in quite the same way ADD/ADHD is), I feel confident that it was the primary underlying cause all along.

I never had an official diagnosis of ADD, but I know for sure I had a pretty bad case of it before CPAP treatment. ADD was one of the symptoms that caused me to pursue the root cause.

Today I spent six hours with one of my clients, a small business owner, who has classic symptoms of OSA. Any time I spend with him is frustrating because of his constant yawning (I am not boring ), confusion, forgetfulness, and regularly asking me to repeat what I just said. He confuses peoples names, confuses previous conversations, and is somewhat paranoid.

At one point today he drove me out to a small industrial site that he is probably going to develop soon. We were there just a few minutes and when we left he had to ask me directions to get back to the main road we had been on.

I have given him a lecture on OSA before and he is in denial. He is so frustrating to deal with that either he retires soon or I am raising my fees so high he will kick me out and get a new business consultant.

[SleepingUgly]

I wasn't diagnosed with ADD until I was an adult, and never had the hyperactivity aspect, even as a child (which in retrospect, is a big clue that notion of attention deficit was barking up the wrong tree to some extent).

It's actually not much of a clue. A personal can have ADHD, Predominantly Inattentive Type, and not have any hyperactivity. That you weren't diagnosed as a child isn't that telling considering that 35 years ago they weren't as aware of ADHD. That said, you shouldn't have been diagnosed with ADHD as an adult unless there was evidence of it in childhood (even retospectively), as there's no such thing as ADHD that develops in adulthood.

That's great that you're having such a positive response to CPAP!