ADHD’s Symptom-Like Oddities

The symptoms of ADHD are easily enough identified on paper and, by a competent mental health care professional, in patients. But additional to the cut and dried symptoms that are identified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, by the World Health Organization, and by various organizations who’s primary interests are the identification, education and support of those with ADHD, there are a great many things that are more likely to occur among those with ADHD. Some of those, like speeding infractions, are directly related to the symptoms of ADHD, while some are puzzles to the medical community and indeed, to the world.

This is not a definitive medical document

Here in this article we will provide a list of some of these unique components, though we would never presume to be able to provide a complete list.

It should be noted by the reader that, rather than being criteria for diagnosis, these items are meant to make the person with ADHD feel more normal for being a part of the group that shares these things among its members.

It should also be noted that this is a list of things that are more likely to occur among people with ADHD than among people without. That does not mean that many or most people with ADHD have these things as part of their lives, only that the likelihood is slightly higher for these possibilities.

The list

If you have ADHD, you may be more likely to:

  1. be left handed
  2. be ambidextrous or mixed dominant
  3. have been the class clown
  4. feel that you have failed to be all you could have been
  5. have dyslexia or other learning disabilities (L.D.s)
  6. have had multiple marriages
  7. have a long list of occupations
  8. have a history of substance abuse
  9. have many hobbies
  10. be very familiar with the emergency department of the hospital
  11. smoke
  12. be self employed
  13. have poor dental health
  14. be behind on filing your income tax
  15. have multiple cooking timers and not keep them in the kitchen
  16. have more than one book on the go at a time
  17. have more than one decorative item on your keychain
  18. not know where your keys are
  19. be unable to list the contents of your fridge with any accuracy
  20. miss appointments
  21. have multiple lists made at any one time
  22. have difficulty falling asleep
  23. have spare keys to home, car, office, shed, mailbox
  24. have no idea where your spare keys are
  25. use risk taking to counter sadness or boredom
  26. be unable to pay attention to someone talking
  27. be able to concentrate after drinking caffeine
  28. be able to concentrate after exercising
  29. be able to fall asleep after having consumed caffeine
  30. be unable to appreciate your own successes
  31. have been adopted
  32. have had an abortion
  33. have given a child up for adoption
  34. have engaged in risky sexual behaviours
  35. have had one or more at fault automobile accidents
  36. have an expired passport, license, registration, library card
  37. have multiple projects on the go
  38. drum your fingers or squirm in your seat
  39. tap your foot even when there is no music playing
  40. climb trees, walls, hills, things
  41. get angry when frustrated
  42. have family members who fit this list also
  43. laugh, a lot
  44. feel anxiety with little or no real cause
  45. find your way holistically or by feel in strange places
  46. dislike being alone
  47. transpose numbers and/or letters
  48. have poor meta cognition or self awareness
  49. tell others secrets
  50. blurt out inappropriate things
  51. be really careful with finances … not
  52. have difficulty filling out forms
  53. talk to yourself
  54. replay or rehearse past or future conversations
  55. forget the really brilliant idea you just had
  56. say the same things over and over again
  57. repeat yourself
  58. be unusually funny (though not always at the right time)

Caveat

Remember that this list is incomplete, and likely is a very small percentage of the things that occur more often among people with ADHD than among people without ADHD.

And while this is a list of things that you have a greater chance of being acquainted with if you have ADHD, it is possible that, if you have ADHD, you may not have any of these situations occurring in your life.

It is also possible that you have more than just a passing acquaintance with a majority of these situations, and not have ADHD … but that would be highly suspect.