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inattentive

fail to pay close attention to details or makes careless mistakes

difficulty sustaining attention

do not seem to listen when spoken directly to

do not follow through instructions, fail to complete tasks

difficulty organising tasks and activities

avoid, dislike or reluctant of tasks that require sustained mental effort

lose things

easily distracted

forgetful

Compare Symptoms

Many Mental and Physical Disorders have similar symptoms and sometimes co-occur with one another. This is why it is often very hard to diagnose these disorders correctly. And sometimes the percieved illness is an effect of another illness. It isn't always a cut and dry case for doctors. It is very hard to see which is the cause and which is the effect. This page is to show the different symptoms of different disorders and how they compare. Again, I am not a doctor or therapist. This information comes from research and personal experience. I have put it here for you to arm yourself with in the battle against whatever disease you may be fighting.

ADHD

3 types of ADHD:

Predominantly inattentive:
Predominently Hyperactive/impulsive
Combined

Hyperactive

figgity , sqirms in seat

Leave Seat when expected to remain seated

moves excessively or restless when innappropriate

difficulty engaging in activities quietly

"on the go" like driven by a motor

talks excessively

blurt out answers before questions completed

difficulty waiting turn

interupts or intrudes on others

Combined is the most common type of ADHD and has a combination of symptoms from both other types of the disorder.

Note: ADHD is the official name for the illness. Many people use ADD as a blnket term or to desribe the inattentive type of this disorder. However the true name for the illness is ADHD.

Oppositional Defiance Disorder

is found in 1/2 of children with ADHD (particularly boys)

Symptoms

Negative behavior

hostile Behavior

defiant behavior.

I know that you are saing to yourself that it sounds like every kid at one point in time or another, but ODD is when these symptoms are to an extreme and are the normal way for this child to react to authority or in situations where they are not in control.

Conduct Disorder

Symptoms

agression

destruction

deceitfulness or theft

serious rule breaking

Ths disorder is shown to be present in an estimated 40% of children with ADHD

Approximate 1/4 of children with ADHD ( mostly younger and boys) experience anxiety and/or depression.
at least 25% suffer from some type of learning/communication disability

Border line Personality Disorder ( BPD)

Several of the following symptoms

Marked mood swings periods of intense depression, irritability, or anxiety that last a few hours or a few days

inappropriate, intense and/ or uncontrolled anger

impulsiveness in spending, sex, substance abuse, shoplifting, reckless driving, binge eatting

reoccuring suicidal threats or self inflicted injury.

unstable, intesne personal relationships. views are black and white when it comes to people and experiences and can alternate between all good or all bad.

uncertain of self image, long term goals, friendships and values.

chronic boredom and/or feelings of emptiness

franticly trys to avoid abandonment whether real or imagined

This illness can co-occur with serious depressive illnesses such as Bipolar Disorder, eatting disorders, and alcohol or substance abuse

Schizoaffective Disorder

This illness is a combination between Schizophrenia and affective mood disorder. the debate is still out on whether this is a schizophranic disorder or if it is a mood disorder. This disorder shows the primary symptoms of schizophrenia with periods of major depression or manic episodes.

there are 2 types of this illness:

depressive - major depression episodes only mixed with Schizophrenic symptoms

Bipolar- periods of mania with or with out depression, mixed with schizophrenic symptoms.

Early Onset Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is very rare before the age of 13 years , and is not very common before the age of 18 years.

there are 2 symptom catagories : Possitive Symptoms and Negative Symptoms

Possitive Symptoms

Hallucinations

Delusions

disorganised speech ( hard to maintain conversaton/ stay on topic)

disorganised and catatonic behavior ( unusual or bizarre)

Negative Symptoms

reduced emotional expression

seemingly no motivation or energy

loss of interestand enjoyment in activities including social behaviors

2 symptoms are need for diagnosis and must be preasent for 6 months and an increase in difficulty with everyday living ( ie. relationships, chores, work or school work)

Sleep Disorders

There are many types of sleep disorders that can affect children. Lack of sleep or of good sleep can be a cause from other disoreders or can be the cause of the symptoms for some disorders. My youngest son suffers from a sleep disorder.
His symptoms reflect ADHD, ODD and COBPD. He has temper tantrums that can last for hours, doesn't seem to understand or listen when talked to, has a hard time sitting still, staying on task and paying attention. He also had many invisable friends that he blamed for everything and even started taking on other personalities when he was in touble, telling us that he was someone else and that he would kill us or hurt us. And there were frequent nightmares, not like night terrors but enough to wake him in the night.
What made us realise that it was not these other disorders was the fact that he was up and down all night long, when he did sleep he jerked around, would open his eyes for a second or 2, talked in his sleep and always seemed over tired. But the final piece of the puzzle was when we finally started to notice that he ws sleeping less and less every night and that when we corrected behaviors he didn't comprehend what we were telling him, no matter how simply we said it.For example, when we said to stop doing something, he would say OK and then continue doing whatever it was we told him to stop doing. When we would enforce the concequence, he woud become violently angry and throw tempertantrums that were very reflective of a Bipolar tantrum.

He has what is known as Periodic Limb Movement Syndrome. This causes him to have spasms in the night when he is sleeping that keep his body from resting. The other symptoms are caused by lack of sleep. In essence he is always tired or over tired. And any parent knows that an over tired child can be hyperactive ( if they sit still long enough they will fall asleep) cranky, throw tantrums, be violent and disobedient. They are also not able to pay attention and seem to not be able to listen and/or comprehend.

My son is being treated now for this disorder. Our family doctor refered him to a specialist. The main process for diagnosis was a sleep study where we slept in a room kind of like a hotel room and the nurse hooked electrodes him on his head on body to monitor how he slept. Being that he was 4 years old at the time, he was scared but I stayed with him and he allowed them to put the wires on him. We slept there that night and then we left in the morning. A week later we went back for the results.

He is being treated with medications. One at night to help him sleep and the other is for ADHD that he takes to keep him settled more in the day, so at night he is easier to get to sleep. Basicly his lack of sleep is causing ADHD symptoms and once we get the sleep completely under control he may no longer need this medication anymore.

It is amazing how the medications have helped him. His comprehension skills are getting to where they should be and he has stopped with the tantrums. The distructiveness and violence has all but disappeared and he has started growing at a rapid pace. And the fantacy world that he lived in for a while with invisable friends and what seemed like multipule personalities have gone.