Hearing loss and ADHD

[Giulia]

Hello all,
The thread about loud tinnitus inspired me to start this thread.

Anyone cumulates ADHD and hearing loss ?
GP, ENT doctor and psychiatrist have never had a patient with both ADHD and hearing loss (mine is Single Sided Deafness). So it can be super frustrating when I am stuck with a problem which involves both ADHD and SSD, like social interactions.
My psychiatrist thought about an adaptative disorder, but any explanations about the noise problem (I have hyperacousia, my ENT thinks that it's triggered by my SSD) are so theoretical for her that I become frustrated because she has no idea on how can we move on (I think to ask her how can she see from her eyes what happens in the noise : it will be much more concrete for her, so she will be more able to help me). Not that she doesn't want, but it's the first time that she has a patient with both ADHD and hearing loss, so she has no previous experience (at least, she recognizes when she has no clue, because we can find a solution to the problem).
I can say that with her, it doesn't go as bad as it may sound. It's not neither the nirvana of course, but it's not the catastrophe.

So I create this post for people dealing with these double dx, to share our problems, solutions, to support ourselves etc etc...

 

[FadedRose]

I'm Deaf and when I was a kid I was diagnosed with ADHD and put on ritalin for it. I've since then out grown the ADHD ( if that's even possible ).

I do not take any medications and haven't for ADHD since I was 18.

As for the ADHD with my Deafness it was never a big issue with me and didn't really seem to pose much of an issue. There has been some debate over whether I actually had ADHD or if my behavior was simply because I was Deaf. This I don't think we'll ever know but I was always either very hyper or the complete opposite and was misdiagnosed as bi-polar when I was a teenager when it was actually the medication I was on the crashing and burning from ritalin.

How old are you? I only ask because if you're a teenager there may be a chance that you could very well out grow it like I did.

Best of luck!

 

[Giulia]

Well, I'm 25 yo, so not a teenager any more.

And my ADHD got worse after High School. But like you, misdiagnosed for many years, ranging from bipolar disorder to personality disorder, to no diagnosis.

As far as I know, ADHD persists among adults for 60 to 70% of persons suffering from ADHD.
The only difference is that it moves mainly from hyperactivity to attention deficit (attention deficit goes worse).
However, in my case, both worsened and I was in need for medicine (as a kid I didn't need that bad, now I need it otherwise, I can't read a page of magazine).

Socially speaking.... Well, complicated matter.
Stepmom (dad's wife) considered that my mom should have terminated her parental rights, that I was pretending to suffer etc... She asked to mom to see my sister and I more often, but she didn't assume a thing when it came to going to see teachers at school, or bringing me to the doctor when I was sick...
The top of that happened last year. The cardiologist diagnosed me with a pericarditis (the usual dry viral one I catch every time I get a pericarditis) and told me to stay a month and a half in bed, otherwise I was risking a heart failure. Well, stepmom didn't bother herself to phone me or ask any kind of piece of news while I couldn't move out of home (to tell you the whole truth, I couldn't even go to put a tissue in the dustbin, otherwise, the chest pain and short of breath were unbearable).
When I healed, so I visited daddy, she had the nerve to ask me why I didn't come to see her during a month and a half. Whereas I was in bed for a pericarditis !!! Wow, I can only hope her to have to stay in bed during all that time, because she will truly see the meaning of risking a heart failure....

 

[jillio]

I'm Deaf and when I was a kid I was diagnosed with ADHD and put on ritalin for it. I've since then out grown the ADHD ( if that's even possible ).

I do not take any medications and haven't for ADHD since I was 18.

As for the ADHD with my Deafness it was never a big issue with me and didn't really seem to pose much of an issue. There has been some debate over whether I actually had ADHD or if my behavior was simply because I was Deaf. This I don't think we'll ever know but I was always either very hyper or the complete opposite and was misdiagnosed as bi-polar when I was a teenager when it was actually the medication I was on the crashing and burning from ritalin.

How old are you? I only ask because if you're a teenager there may be a chance that you could very well out grow it like I did.

Best of luck!

Yes, it is possible to grow out of ADHD. The cluster of symptoms that are currently used to diagnose ADHD can overlap with other things. However, a skilled diagnostician will readily be able to ascertain that.

Did the Ritalin help?

 

[Giulia]

Yes, it is possible to grow out of ADHD. The cluster of symptoms that are currently used to diagnose ADHD can overlap with other things. However, a skilled diagnostician will readily be able to ascertain that.

Did the Ritalin help?

Sure that ADHD symptoms can overlap with other diagnoses. I will never tell you the contrary.

But let me say that in France, only 5 physicians can diagnose and treat adults with ADHD.
I tell that it's time to make things change, and I'm working on it, despite all the tiredness and stress it brings.

In the mean time, my ENT doctor has formally excluded CMV as the primary cause of my deafness by reading my medical file of birth (I could get it from the hospital I was born) : for him, the cause is most probably genetic.
He also told me that it may be a new illness, never described before. But I have to see another ENT doctor at hospital, who is specializing on patients with deafness + cognitive disorder(s).
What I can say is that knowing what the main cause is will not change the care I am already receiving. However, it will help to advocate for my rights at administration (it's a mess here in France !!) and people who believe they can decide for me will have to shut their mouth (we say in France yakafocon, it means well intentioned people who says "resolve this problem and everything will be good in your life" or "if you were doing that, your life would have never been such a mess"). It will also help to make some decisions about my health.