Is it likely to only find out about ADD in College?

I’m a freshman in my second semester in college and ever since I got here I have been struggling with studying and grades. A friend of mine has ADD and says I should get tested but I don’t know how I would have gotten by without knowing by now. While I have always had a hard time concentrating I was always a smart student in high school (29 ACT, Honors Diploma, National Honors Society etc) and I love to read for hours at a time, especially when I was younger. It’s mostly only things I dislike that I have a hard time with or things that required a lot of work (In high school I was known for handing in big projects late or not at all whether it was a class I liked or not). I never really studied much in high school mostly because I didn’t need to, but now that I’m in college and you can’t really float past the system I’m struggling. I always had a hard time studying, often my parents would make me sit at the dinner table for hours just to get something done, I also have a hard time with things like maths and science but I also struggle with depression and anxiety so I’m wondering if it could just be that?

I really encourage you to get an evaluation by a certified learning disability specialist. It costs around $1500 in Bay Area, CA. My son has ADHD and he is very smart too. The only problem is that he is a very slow processor. He also struggles with OCD which is a form of anxiety problem. LD usually comes in mixed type. 50% of people with ADHD carry forward to their adulthood.

Lots of people don’t realize they have ADHD. Often people realize it after their child or other family member is diagnosed. Or they may start to figure it out when they run into a situation that requires a higher level of concentration or prolonged focus, or when they have to start keeping track of a lot of stuff. And they hit a wall and things start to fall apart.

It can take longer for bright kids to hit that point. One of my kids hit that point in fourth grade, the other in seventh. Before that, there were signs, sure, but it didn’t keep them from what they wanted or needed to do. One started meds in eight grade and her grades really went up because she started to remember she had homework and to hand it in. The other has put off starting meds because of other medical issues. She’s a serious kid but is also one for forgetting assignments or due dates. Thankfully, she’s in a small program in a small college and her profs know her disability and her accommodations.

Before starting meds, a good doctor will screen for physical problems like hypothyroid, anemia, vitamin deficiencies, etc., as well as things like anxiety and depression. One nationally ranked
pediatric hospital system near us does an ekg before starting meds.

I have a history of B12 deficiency and I get really scattered when my B12 drops. Just last summer, I wanted to finally try meds for ADHD and my doctor said, let’s do blood work first. Sure enough, my B12 was low again.

Sometimes teachers and parents miss ADD in kids who do not have the “H” component (hyperactivity) if the kids do well academically. My S20 is ADHD and had it not been for the hyperactivity I’m not sure we’d have caught it when he was young. So it’s possible not to know until you are a little older. But some of the things you have said, like having difficulty concentrating, struggling with things you don’t like and handing things in late, could possibly be attributable to ADD. If there’s a disability services office or some similar resource at your college, maybe they could help you figure out if that’s the problem and maybe they could do it at a lower cost to you than what was previously suggested. Because it can be that expensive. If it is ADD, there are some medicines that might help you. Took some trial and error for us to find the right one for S20, but once we found one that worked, it really helped.

I was diagnosed with ADD when I was 17, although in retrospect, I feel that the symptoms have been apparent all along. What spurred the trip to a psychiatrist and later a diagnosis was I started failing my classes all of a sudden. So my high school teacher made me go see our counsellor. After describing my struggles, she suggested I might have ADHD and wrote a letter for me to go see a psych. The thing with being diagnosed so late is that by that time, I had already figured out how to deal with it. Sure, I still need Ritalin, but it’s been way more manageable now. If you really think you have ADD, please go get it checked.

Bright kids can get by until something pushes them over the edge. I’ve one some who was diagnosed at 16 and another at 15 and theirs manifests itself very differently.

The 15 year old sounds very much like you and likely would not be diagnosed were or not form his older brother.

You’ve nothing to lose by being tested and it’s definitely helped my kids.

I was diagnosed with ADHD Inattentive Type at age 35. As others have said, if one is missing the “hyperactive” part it is often overlooked.

Sometimes insurance will cover the testing. Ask your parents to help you figure that out if you are still on their plan.

My oldest wasn’t diagnosed until middle teens, and because I am a slow learner, I didn’t get tested and diagnosed until several years after that. (Surprise! Apple, tree, etc.) Please look into getting tested. If you do have it, meds may be helpful, or – if nothing else – knowing for sure can help you craft strategies and just feel more competent.

I was not diagnosed with ADHD until I was 15 for many reasons. Firstly, I did not present as a typical ADHD case, I am a girl, I never acted out, I was a gifted student and, like you, I would read for hours and hours at a time when I was little. My doctor later told me that that reading that I did so much of when I was younger was actually a sign of my ADHD because I would hyperfocus (look into hyperfocus as a symptom of ADHD, it’s really a great trait if you learn how to use it) I also struggle with anxiety and perfectionism so ADHD was not as apparent because my executive functioning issues were sometimes masked. My little sister and I both have it and even though we actually both have a very similar severity, she was diagnosed much younger because she was the much more typical bouncing off the walls type of kid. I flew under the radar because I got good grades and would just space out 24-7. Anyway, my advice is that getting tested can’t hurt. Occasionally during testing, you may come to find that you do not have ADHD but instead a different learning disability, either way knowledge is power and many colleges offer free or very reduced LD testing to students.