I have had two doctors tell me I had ADD,,,,and I have always known that. I have been hyper all my life. I also will be honest and say I have a mild form of bipolar disorder,,,,,,,,not the severe Bipolar I as my mother had,,,,,,,,but the one where you feel alot of energy , manic, but you don't have psyhcotic thougths. But soon the high I would feel would turn to total complete irritation and anger, mood swings.
Now doctors are saying that bipolar and ADD may be the same thing, or so very closely related.
They also say that with these chemical malfunctions in the brain , they are very closely connected to seizures. Some seizures as you know are the Grand Mal type,,,,,,,others can be so sublte that all a person , watching someone with this , would see a slight personality change. Some people just stare in space for several minutes and don't even realize they have this.
I had depression so bad as a JW,,,,,,,,,,and it was for many reasons,,,,not just chemicals in my brain out of wack, although they were.
Now I stay on my meds,,,,,,,,and I am fine.....I hate to take meds, but if I don't I hate myself, and I am sure that my family hates me as well........lol.
For along time I didnt want to say that I was bipolar because it gets such a bad rap,,,,,,,people hear that word,,,,,or the older term manic depressive and they think you are an evil, crazy, hell raising, B*tch!!. Well, I know I can be,,,,,,,but that is just my personality anyway....... lol.
But my point, is that not all people with this disorder do extreame things that cause terrible havoc as much as some people are lead to believe. Some cases are mild. I hope that mine never get worse, as they say it can the older ya get,,,,,,,darnit........but I will always keep an eye on myself. Thank goodness I have my family around to also make sure I am taking my meds,,,,,which are very , very low doses. I take Wellbutrin ( antidepressant shown to be especially helpful for mild bipolar mood stabalization) and Klonopin( antiseizure drug, and a benzodiazpine(sp) addictive thou). I take such a low dose I just feel better,,,,,,, I have no side effects except for the feeling of being in a level mood .