CPTSD and ADD question

[themcd1313]

Hi friends...I was just wondering if anyone has ever touched based on this topic:

I'm a bit new to the world of CPTSD...so my research is ongoing.  I believe I have read that ADD/PTSD can go hand in hand.  My question is if there is any information out there on the way Dr. Russell Barkely views ADD as an executive functioning issue, and the huge role of emotions effected with ADD while also trying to recover from CPTSD.  I guess I'm trying to figure out if they together may make recovery more difficult, if through recovery they both would diminsh possibly, etc..

Thanks!

[radical]

Hi Themcd1313,
I was diagnosed with ADD as part of my ptsd, at one stage, and prescribed ritalin, which may have helped but I didn't like feeling so humourless.

For me the executive dysfunction was an aspect of the wider trauma symptoms.  Some of the biggest problems for me related to reduced white matter and connectivity due to brain damage from long term stress.  This is an extremely common outcome of chronic trauma.

I've heard that some believe that all attention deficit problems are trauma related, but I have no way of knowing if that is the case.  I do know that anxiety can sometimes mimic the symptoms of ADD.

We all have our unique set of trauma symptoms.  It's always a tough path - I'm not sure if any particular profile is worse, but I do know that healing happens.

I hope this helps in some way.

Welcome to the board!

[Whatsinaname]

Hi themcd1313!

I've been diagnosed with ADD too. Honestly, I have no idea if together they make recovery more difficult or if they both might diminish.
In the past I learned it's better for my sanity that I don't overthink it. There was a time where I tried to find answers about this co morbidity, but I gave up. It just made me feel like crap because I couldn't find any helpfull information. Nothing I found was conclusive or well researched.
All I know is that when I'm really tired and I feel overwhelmed and stressed out in the morning, taking my ADD meds can help. It not only helps to focus, but it helps me to stay grounded and to reside in the 'here-and-now'. And thanks to that I don't have as much EF's that day. (I don't take it daily because it could lose it's effectiveness.)
Another thing that helped me was the knowledge that ADD is just a word. It's a word that was invented by a group of people to describe a certain phenomenon so they could try to understand it. The way ADD presents itself in my mind and body is different than yours and yours is different than the next person. So I try to focus on what I feel and what my body tells me. Because getting labeled with that word can sometimes make me feel powerless against it. So I try to remember that it's just a word.

[crohnie]

I started taking Vyvanse for ADD about ten years ago, before I knew I'd been living with CPTSD.   I live with awful fatigue from Crohn's disease, but I'm now thinking that the CPTSD, and being in extended fight/flight mode, contributes to the fatigue.  I honestly don't know if I could function without Vyvanse (an amphetamine), since it helps to counter the fatigue.   

Food for thought. 

[LaurelLeaves]

I was diagnosed with ADD but I don't think it was real.  Ritalin didn't work.  Now that I'm healing from CPTSD (self diagnosed), I can function better.

I think comes from a maladaptive freeze response and it mimics real ADD.  But i'm not a doctor... that's just my opinion based on what I've read.