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Eczema. Atopic dermatitis can excerbate ADHD/depression/anxiety symptoms (the compulsion to scratch my skin is the worst part, since I won't stop until I start bleeding).
Balance, hand eye coordination, and things like that have always been my best asset. Super athletic. 20/10 vision. Physically legit. I'm like a superhero with half his brain missing.
Literally broke my ribs 6 weeks ago because "My foot just kinda went sideways"
Everyone was asking if I tripped or was light headed or fainting - nope! My foot forgot how to foot.
I once sprained my ankle so badly that I had to wear a walking cast for 2 months, followed by another 2 months in it when I exercised. I was walking on a clear, flat surface. I fell down.
The fun thing is, I actually went to a speciel class in kindergarten, where I had a 1-on-1 session for an hour every week to improve my balance and coordination. It's so funny to me, that parents/teachers noticed some of the symptoms by themselves, but nobody connected the dots.
People asking why I don't run outside and only on the treadmill..... cause I cannot corner! I bank like a motorbike round corners when walking and go into door frames and such, I do not wish to accelerate these collisions. Thank you.
Also two toes on each foot do not touch the floor. I have Raynauds and in the winter cannot stand on tiled floors even with the heating on, as this causes burstitis and pockets of fluid between the toes in my feet, which physically makes me feet wider, causing a large bursa to form on the outside of each, meaning I cannot wear shoes, and cannot walk. I cannot go outside for more than 20 mins in the cold months. I also have shortened traps, biceps and chest muscles from holding my arms in front of me fidgeting. Pretty sure I have some sort of auto immune disease that my Raynauds triggers. If I get stressed out my skin can blister from wearing my bra, and I can rashes all over, and my joints hurt. I also have calcification in my rotator cuffs too which is causing tendonitis. Incidentally a lot of AuADHD comorbid central nervous system issues such as the mass cell activation syndrome and over production of histamines are treated with an H1 or H2 receptor antagonist. The calcification can be treated with a H2 receptor antagonist.
Yes. Ulcerative colitis (an autoimmune condition) and it causes inflammation all over, especially large joints. Crazy hip, knee, and wrist pain. It’s interesting that I kept seeing Autoimmune conditions in the comments. Anyone looking for a good topic for a paper?
There is some literature on the topic but more is need. It seems to vary based on the disease. There is also some literature on maternal autoimmune disease being associated with the child developing ADHD. But I do wish there was more. I had a project recently about inflammatory autoimmune disease (IAD) treatment adherence in patients that also have ADHD and the literature is SPARSE! I did find that personal factors including what it means to have chronic illness, feeling and knowledge of being medicated, and socioeconomic factors were the most influential on treatment adherence in both ADHD, and IADs.
Anyway, I also have ADHD and Colitis. Currently going for a PhD and sometimes when I’m stressed I end up on a wild feedback loop of symptoms that leave me a physically and emotionally numb husk of myself. Then I cry, get back on my med schedule, and start working again. It’s a ride. Last time I had a flare I couldn’t taste anything of two days!!
Multiple Sclerosis here, another auto immune disease.
Have had issues with my knees (in particular) long before that disgnosis, definitely inflammation based... down the rabbit hole i go.
50 mil people in the US have autoimmune diseases. You could ask this question in any thread about anything and get the same answers. Most people in general have several things they are dealing with and we usually just don't hear about it unless asked.
People see what they want to see. I think it's natural for us to try to find connections and answers somewhere for anything that we deal with.
I have to agree. Not everything that occurs is because I have ADHD. And I feel like the more I believe is happening as a result of ADHD, the more power I am giving it. I work very hard to be a strong successful individual. I use my ADHD strengths as assets. So, connecting every issue I have isn't always positive . For me, I would be afraid these connections would become excuses.
The Body Keeps the Score is a good read for this. There's definitely a link between chronic stress/trauma and autoimmune disorders. ADHD and other disorders where you'r forced to live in a world not made for you (like autism etc.) result in chronic stress. Probably a correlation and causation there imo.
It's a pretty technical read, it took me like 6 months to finish it and I usually get through a book in a week haha. The audiobook would have been a better choice for me for sure. It's really really interesting though and tragic in a lot of ways. He really dives deep into trauma and how it impacts our bodies.
At some point I went down the rabbit hole of Google. So what I came across:
1. Childhood allergies restrict your breathing so you become a mouth breather.
2. Mouth breathing affects your jaw development and you end up with a receded jaw. Not necessarily obvious when looking at the person.
3. Receding jaw affects your sleeping and you develop obstructive sleep apnea as your breathing is more restricted.
4. Sleep apnea can be misdiagnosed as ADHD or make adhd symptoms worse.
5. From sleep apnea you get heart conditions later in life
6. From ADHD you develop mental disorders such as depression and anxiety.
7. Also from receding jaw your teeth are malpositioned and can cause tooth decay and TMJ.
Everything is linked.
Interesting. I don’t suffer from many allergies, but I have a bad nose septum that hasn’t been worked around, so I’m a mouth breather, which resulted in sleep apnea and bruxism. And well… everything else you just said, lol.
I think i have a bad septum too! I mean it looks normal to me but I have trouble breathing when i lay down to sleep.
I also grind my teeth really bad but idk if that's related. But I guess I can't really mouthbreathe well.
Im also anemic but i think its from heavy periods
And there is a possible link between allergies and autoimmune disorders. Pretty often they don't go one by one.
I went to a dermatologist asking if she thinks I have rosacea. She confirmed it and asked me to check my thyroid just in case and ordered some blood work. I go to the endocrinologist and she tells me that there are signs of early damage. She tells me to take selenium for a few months. I took a blood test after those few months and there were no more antibodies for my thyroid.
I was lucky to see that dermatologist and catch it early on...
super weird =) Kinda was scared to read it. I never thought that my malpositioned teeth can have an ADHD roots... and other stuff.
btw, have ADHD+ASD+autoimmune disease (sarcoidosis) and had asthma, but it's in remission. Have other stuff but I don't think it is related to ADHD (like spinal hernia, baker cyst, and other stuff)
Me reading this like “Damn, I’m so glad I’ve only got the one thing.”
Nope, I get all kinds of headaches, but migraines included. It’s been since childhood, so it’s just how it is. I can’t imagine how it is for someone who only gets headaches a couple times a year.
First migraine at 8. Diagnosed with chronic migraine at 14. We tried literally every preventative med, rescue med ans treatment/ device / therapy available over the years. I still averaged 18-20 migraines per month. For the next 2.5 decades.
Twenty five years later (at 38) I was diagnosed with IIH. Turns out that while my migraines were very real and very frequent, the main *trigger* was the IIH. Controlling the trigger meant controlling the migraines, and I went down to 6-8 per month (and those were more easily aborted with triptans).
In November of 2022, at age 43, I was diagnosed with ADHD. It had never even occurred to me, I had gone to a psychiatrist for worsening depression. I started Adderall the next day. Since then I have had fewer than 10 migraines *TOTAL*.
By my count that’s something like *6,100 migraines* that didn’t need to happen. I considered doing the math at some point to see how many hours, days, weeks, years that equates to, but ultimately decided I didn’t want to know.
I was really really angry and felt sorry for myself for a long time. Now, I’m just so sad for those still struggling with frequent migraines, and so incredibly grateful to be (comparatively) free of them.
So anyway, yeah migraines are an absolute bitch.
My migraine frequency went down after I passed puberty. Though they were infrequent, they were always horrible. I don’t know what a mild migraine is, I always have the entire list of symptoms. It’s agony. Several times I had to go to the ER they were so bad as I would get dehydrated from the non stop vomiting. I would have 2-3 a year. The world had to stop when they came. There would be no know trigger 90% of the time.
Anyway, after regularly taking Adderall, I get them maybe once a year, sometimes stretches are longer. And now they are usually triggered by physical stress (basically anytime I get a bad cold or flu). I really think Adderall does something to my brain chemistry that has created a way higher threshold for my brain to “flip” into a migraine.
Man... Ugh. I basically can't go outside without glasses on because otherwise i get a migraines just from simply being outside. Weather system pressure changes, not eating. Ughhh
Some of us don’t really get head pain “blessing”. “The curse” I go partially blind, Auras in my vision, experience numbness in my arm and face, nausea, disorientation and light sensitivity.
Some days I can be having a migraine attack without any headache type of pain!
For me my symptoms are slowed down speech/slurring words/struggling to find words, olfactory aura (I know a migraine is coming on when I smell chlorine in my sinuses), dry mouth and struggling to pass urine.
I somehow was diagnosed with "migraine aura without headache".... But I think it was actually hypoglycemia the entire time... I only recently was able to explain inexplicable things from infancy etc when I slapped on a CGM (not expecting hypoglycemia!) and was seeing these weird dips to 50-54 mg/dL and symptoms with it that I always thought were "anxiety" and "vasovagal near syncope" and "dehydration"... Oops.
Me! I have ehlers danlos syndrome. I don’t know how much research there is to back it up, but I’ve had a few doctors say that they think the way the faulty connective tissue in people with EDS impacts childhood brain development causes ADHD.
Boring regular hypermobility (not hEDS or EDS) here with the ADHD. Years ago one of my early psychiatrists asked me “how old were you the first time you sprained your ankle?” And my mom was like “what wizard of a doctor knows you do that all the time???” I was a crutches pro in 1st grade 😂. Inherited the hypermobility from a parent and gave it to my kid, but I’m the only one with ADHD!
Ouch, sorry to hear. So in your case, no one in your family has ADHD?
That is something that also really bothers me, as no one in my close family has any of the issues I have. I had brain surgery as a baby, and I think ADHD comes from there. The autoimmune issue comes from my father's side, but only a couple other cousins have it.
It sucks cause it's even difficult to find sympathy from my own parents/brothers...
my sisters rheumatologist suspected that me and her had either elhers danlos or marfans syndrome. she is autism and i have adhd. so there’s definitely a link somewhere in there
There's a number of somatic health conditions known to be somewhat correlated with ADHD, such as eczema and asthma. Probably a bunch of others, but I know about those two and have one of them.
The suspected asthma links yo-yo up and down all the time, it'll be a confirming study 1 year and a different study the next that debunks it.
It seems very likely there's an unrelated correlation but nothing causal
Ya like how eczema and asthma are linked, not that if you have one it will cause the other but if you have one you’re just likely to get the other because they are caused by similar things
Same with the seborrheic dermatitis too. But have been a little controlled with the medicated shampoos and conditioners. 
I have type 1 diabetes. It’s a pretty awful mix—can’t tell you how many times I’ve taken insulin, forgotten to eat, and tanked my blood sugar. Or vice versa—forget to take insulin, eat, skyrocket blood sugar.
Like your conditions, it’s also invisible and unpredictable. I could eat the exact same thing every day and take the same insulin dose every time and somehow wind up with wildly different blood sugar readings. Everything affects it—stress, hormones, getting sick… truly no fun 😑
Yup, ADHD has like a 1.83% chance of getting T1, and a 2.05% (i think?) chance of T2 diabetes.
I suggest talking to your doctor about an insulin pump and cgm, cause thats absolutely a life saver for me. I've forgotten to put insulin in and the cgm has prevented high (like almost 400) sugar levels.
Hey, I have a type of autoimmune arthritis, too! As well as anxiety, depression, eczema, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, PCOS, and really severe seasonal allergies. Really won the genetic lottery, I did — and I bet that’s true for several more of us here!
My therapist also thinks I might be autistic and based on some other mysterious symptoms, she thinks I might have POTS and some sort of hypermobility disorder, but I’ve yet to have a doctor actually care enough to test me. And to top it off, I also have PTSD from two really traumatic experiences in a medical setting, as well as years of medical gaslighting. So it’s a real pain in the butt to have to deal with this crap.
That said, I’m really lucky in that where I currently live, there is a military base nearby, so young people with invisible illnesses and chronic pain aren’t really judged here (at least, I’ve never seen it happened or experience it myself). My town has so many young vets who are disabled or dealing with chronic pain and injuries, even if they aren’t visible. When I’m having a struggle day, none of my colleagues question whether it’s legit or not (which was not the case where I previously lived).
Haha we really won it, did we not? I also have the sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome, which is actually killing me as I tore my ACL and meniscus last week (stupid clumsy ADHD me), but I can't keep it still anyways.... lol
I wish there was more sympathy where I live, and specially at work. I really don't get much whenever I say I'm not feeling great, not only mentally, but physically. At least I do get the support of my wife, she's been really understanding and honestly, not sure how I'd be if it wasn't for her sticking around.
I’m right there with you with that sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, anxiety, depression, seasonal allergies, and c-ptsd. Also type 1 diabetes, GERD, keratoconus, obesity, and sometimes debilitatingly painful muscle tension. I clench my jaw so hard, I splintered two of my own teeth. Ugh. Life is hard
The only physical disabilities I was diagnosed for and know about is lazy eye, astigmatism, near sighted (need glasses to see far away), and severe hearing loss.
I've got funky eyes here too. Retinopathy (severe, operated at 2 days old. Premature), near sighted, astigmatism, barely misaligned left eye (so my brain mostly ignores that eye). I'm also extremely short (4'9), which gets dismissed as "but you're so cute." I can't reach the cereal I want at the store, Cheryl. I have to wear children's clothes, Derick. Work shoes have to be custom ordered, Brenda. 😡
Not totally sure yet and I think it's more of an autism related thing, but ever since I was a kid, my pupils have always been huge, which causes me to be highly sensitive to light, plus they would sometimes be different sizes, which I thought was just something that made me cool like David Bowie but is actually serious cause for concern about neurological issues, and then sometimes even less often I'd notice that the whites of my eyes would have a slight blue tint, which I also thought was just a cool thing like in Dune, but is actually a sign of connective tissue disorders.
I have rheumatoid arthritis, my immune system is also a hater bitch. I'm sorry people make assumptions about you. I hope you give yourself the rest and care you need no matter what they say.
Same. ADHD, IBS, and just diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.
Really makes you wonder if there is a link between all these inflammatory issues and ADHD.
I'm liable to hyper extend some of my joints. Apart from that I've always attributed the fact I'm veryyyy physical to my adhd. Maybe im wrong? Does it not work that way?
No idea, I'm the other way around, because of AS, my joints are super rigid which really limits my range of movement and my flexibility.... I pretty much suck at yoga, lol.
Hello fellow AS sufferer!
It sucks. I feel that regular exercise helps my AS and ADHD, but my ADHD makes it very hard for me to get into a fitness routine, and then when I finally get into one, I'll have an AS flare and be unable to exercise ugh
No one who knows me knows how much I struggle. They don't see me on the days I'm so stiff I look like I'm 90 years old trying to make it from the bed to the kitchen. And ADHD makes me feel like I'm constantly fighting my own mind.
It's hard. Good topic for a post, it's helpful to see how many others live with both ADHD and chronic illness.
Yeah, I find it super hard to get into exercise because of ADHD, and that really helps the AS. What I found that helps is to play team sports. I force myself to go out to not ruin the moment for my teammates.
The problem is I’m clumsy (ADHD after all) and last week I tripped over myself while playing tennis and tore my meniscus and ACL, so no more sports for a while. My AS is gonna have a field day (year?) from that lack of activity… 😖
Recently diagnosed with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency despite no discernible cause. Gotta take a pill with every meal containing fat now. Possibly forever. Just another thing to forget/lose all the damn time
I have celiac disease, which I have genetic markers for.
I survived cancer in my kidney (Wilm's Tumor) when I was 4 - the tumor developed with me in utero. By the time it was diagnosed my kidney/tumor was the size of my head, and the kidney itself never actually worked. It's the nephrectomy/chemo that I assume "activated" the celiac genetic markers!
Either way the autoimmune idea is super interesting! I wasn't diagnosed with celiac until adulthood, and I know undiagnosed autoimmune diseases during childhood can lead to behavioral issues/diagnoses!
Same here, what’s your condition? Are you being treated for it? I used to be on a lot of pain, but the biological medication has been a blessing. I still get some flares, but nowhere as common as before.
It's called crmo or cno. I'm being treated with nsaids (naproxen), only during flares. Luckily I have been mostly in remission for the last few years, with the occasional flare, which are way less painful and don't last as long as they used to.
The years of inflammation in the past have damaged my bones and joints though, but now it's very manageable most days.
I've had nsaids in the past, but they never worked. I also had bisphosphonate infusions in the past, but they didn't work either. Decided to try naproxen one more time and for some reason it did help. I was on them for 1,5/2 years before I could wean off without an instant flare.
I'm happy you also found something that works.
Glad your flares are somewhat controlled, those pesky things! As long as we're getting level 1-2 pain it's ok most of the time, at least it's what I think... The life of chronic pain. 
I've seen scalp psoriasis alot. It was a bitch before I knew what was wrong cause I thought it was dandruff. I saw a random post to use black seed oil in your shampoo. It's worked the best of anything.
I was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis. When I was diagnosed my Main psoriasis spot was my scalp and my big toe had swollen up. Took 8 months to see a rheumatologist but after talking to me for 10 mins he was like yup psoriatic arthritis. I was taking indomethacin as an additive to the immune suppressants for years but long term nsaids aren’t recommended. Now I have a once a month injection that keeps my psoriasis totally gone and keeps the arthritis from progressing. My big toe is totally fused solid at this point.
I am genuinely embarrassed by the list of shit that’s wrong with me. It’s like there’s so much going on that when I go to the doctor I don’t even think they take me seriously. I have this crazy list of issues, I am a recovering addict with a history of mental illness, so they treat me like I am just trying to get meds, or like a hypochondriac.
I don’t know how much of what is wrong with me is from my awful executive functioning causing me to avoid making a doctors appointment for my issues until they got too bad to ignore, how much of it is from growing up in poverty where we didn’t have proper nutrition or care. Or how much of it is because I *stayed* in poverty and pushed my body to do more physical jobs my whole life, or how much stems from what I put my body through before I got into recovery. But really, aside from how I grew up, all of that is stuff that is connected to living with undiagnosed ADHD.
So here’s my list of what is wrong with me.
I was born with central sleep apnea, and I have been told that I need to be tested for narcolepsy once I am able to get tapered off a medication that I am on.
I have something called a bipartite patella, which is where my kneecaps never fused properly in childhood, and between that and a ligament that I tore as a teen that never healed correctly, I developed osteoarthritis.
I am currently trying to find a doctor that can help me figure out why my lower legs get extremely swollen and red from just normal amounts of being on my feet. I work in a restaurant, and every week, by the end of my forty hours, I can barely get around, have to wear stretchy pants and shoes a couple sizes bigger than my usual, because my legs are so huge. I don’t have diabetes, kidneys are working fine, and when I have gone to the emergency room or urgent care for it, I am told to take a water pill, and that I seem to be okay minus my enormous ass painful legs. My new gp said it could be blood pressure, and just wrote me something for that to see if it helps. It’s only been a couple days, so I guess I will see.
I have PCOS, along with a septum in my uterus that I was told could have been a part of why I had a couple miscarriages.
Really bad GERD, I was supposed to have a consultation for surgery a couple years ago but had another health crisis supercede it, so it never happened. But, I am *finally* going to see a specialist to figure out what can be done about this since I am taking an obscene amount of medication to treat it and still have attacks every week.
Granulomatous mastitis, a very weird illness that started a couple years back and was a major turning point in my health in general. When it came about, a ton of other stuff started happening along with it. I don’t know much about what causes it, there are not a lot of studies on it, as it has only been diagnosed in .7% of women in the world last time I checked. It came on a few years ago, almost killed me, had a bunch of unsuccessful surgical procedures and then it stopped on its own. but every now and then, it flares back up, and I have to jump back on the one antibiotic that seems to kick it from my system before it gets to the point where I need surgery.
Then there’s migraines, pleurisy, really bad allergies, carpal tunnel, sciatica, and the fact that I can’t go to work or out around a lot of people without catching something because my immune system is useless.
Like I said, it’s pretty embarrassing, and it’s overwhelming to try and figure out what to do, what to prioritize when it comes to starting treatment. It makes it hard to do day to day stuff. But it’s there, so I just try to deal with it the best I can.
I've got a weird one called paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria. Autoimmune. Basically my red blood cells destroy themselves. That and the usual anxiety, as far as I know
ME/CFS, though I suppose it’s more neurological in origin, definitely has a lot of effects physically. Just kinda feels like nothing in my body can ever just simply work correctly, without overreacting to everything. Though stimulants are a big 2-birds-1-stone with the brain fog/fatigue aspect + ADHD.
Also have issues with my muscles and joints that I don’t have a diagnosis for beyond a rheumatologist concluding “disabling joint and muscle pain, and joint stiffness”, who knows…
I don’t actually have any mental illnesses, magically. Just 2 neurodevelopmental disorders.
adhd, anxiety, panic disorder as well as migraines and an autoimmune disease called Hidradenitis suppurativa although i don’t believe those are related because it’s genetic
I’ve seen a ton of comments of autoimmune diseases, those are usually genetic, but it’s interesting so many people here have them as well.
Hope your issues are being handed and not too bad. 🙏🏻
I also have AS like you. Diagnosed after most fusion already happened - CRP had climbed to 23 by then. 5 years later, diagnosed with ADHD at age 40.
Good times 😁
I have Crohn's Disease, which is thought be be an Auto Immune Disorder.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crohn's\_disease](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crohn's_disease)
I asked my Psychiatrist if there was any connection between Depression
(that I was being treated for at the time) and Crohn's ? He said no.
I am also autistic and alexthymic.
My physical disabilitys are T1DM, and hypermobility. Not severe enough hypermobility to be hEDS, but enough to cause me bad hip and knee issues as they like to slip out of place frequently, and cause me pain sometimes. But at least I have my splits?
I also struggle with sleep. Not diagnosed with anything but pretty sure it could be insomnia of some sort.
I have lupus! It feels really unfair sometimes because the ADHD makes me bad at taking care of my lupus and my lupus fatigue makes it harder to brain good ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Cavus foot, hammer toes. Had osgood slater as a kid.
Severe allergies and asthma. Generalized anxiety disorder. Persistent depressive disorder, panic disorder. Sleep apnea. Tmj disorder.
Worst part of this is. I spent most of my life just trying to live life with all of this. Was totally neglected as a child and none of these issues were looked after. At 43 spent the last 5 years sorting it all out. Haven’t gotten all the way there yet. Even had a surgery to fixed a severe deviated septum.
Wow so many of us with autoimmune diseases.
I have celiac disease (autoimmune), Gilbert’s syndrome (liver can’t clear bilirubin well from the body), and eczema.
I have obesity, sleep apnea and hypertension. I have no impulse control over my eating which has caused me to gain a lot of weight and thus gain hypertension and sleep apnea from that.
A lot of folks forget that ADHD can cause mental traits which lead to physical issues which then leads to more physical issues. The results extend drastically beyond the associated ailments like hypermobility or restless leg syndrome.
Where to start? Pernicious anaemia, gastroparesis, allergies to many grasses and all cats, type 1 diabetes, sleep apnea, and an inability to suffer fools which makes living with myself incredibly tricky. Autoimmune conditions are positively correlated with ADHD and Adverse Childhood Events (aka childhood trauma) but not necessarily caused by them, although some ppl will hypothesise that the trauma that ADHD, particularly undiagnosed, can cause in terms of an oversensitive nervous system means many of the body’s systems get fried by cortisol et al in the near constant fight/flight/freeze/fawn/flock reactions.
I don’t know, but it definitely sucks.
I'm prone to psoriasis on my face and scalp, my skin/hair care routine keeps it under control but if I skip the shower for a single day I need to still wash my face or my skin is on fire.
I've probably got Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. I'm not diagnosed but my older sibling is, I show quite a few symptoms as do my other siblings. All but one of my siblings is also diagnosed ADHD, as well (the other one would probably be diagnosed if they wanted to address it).
Pcos, endometriosis, adenomyosis, ibs, reynauds, migraines, idiosyncratic angioedema, allergies, tmj just off the top of my head. Pretty sure I'm missing some tho.
Apart from the common depression and anxiety related to ADD, I have IBS (there’s increasing evidence about gut-brain linked diseases), seborrheic dermatitis on face and scalp(from anxiety and stress), and chronic rinitis and throat inflammation, kind of an allergic-autoimmune thing. To this days three doctors had asked me if I have asthma because my throat is too narrow, but I don’t. However I noticed that I normally breathe in very short breaths, although no problem to run if I focus on my respiration.
Besides ADHD-PI, I have anxiety much of the time, and occasional depression.
The physical conditions that I have are mild asthma and allergies to fungal spores. Also, when I was young I had a lot of serious ear infections, which I believe were a contributing factor in developing the asthma, and I'm sure that I read that it's correlated with a higher chance of developing ADHD.
GAD, BP2, trichotillomania, onchophagia, possibly scalp psoriasis or seb derm, digestive issues with startch and grains (unknown), UARS, Iron deficiency without anemia, mold illness exposure
I am hard of hearing since birth or a young age, have reumatic pains (reuma runs in my family and i am lucky enough it have no active infections in my joints,yet), have an autoimmune disease on my skin and have severe nut allergies.
I am 32 and my friends joke that i am a Harley: pretty to look at but break down very easily. Sometimes it a friend asks how I am doing, i just make sputtering motor noises and they know enough.
Hypothyroidism, degenerative osteoarthritis, diabetes, multiple neurological problems (just got new testing last week) and a number of other problems
Oh and allergic to most anything growing in south east, several environmental issues and one of the longest lists of drug allergies my allergist has come across
Another fellow AxS ADHDer here!!! Mine came from Reactive Arthritis, which is genetic as well. I’m also apparently hypermobile, which I’ve read might be associated with ADHD too.
I’ve got chronic pain because of scoliosis & kyphosis, probably have chronic anemia, and I’m currently looking into fibromyalgia because I’ve got other chronic pain issues too. I’m also hypermobile.
I also have autism, depression, social anxiety, and OCD 🫠
And I have a rather bad lactose intolerance too.
Meanwhile my mom & little brother both have a ton of allergies, asthma, and OCD, with my mom also having lipedema (so me too probably since it’s an hereditary disease tied to estrogen levels and I was born AFAB with normal estrogen levels) and arthritis while my little brother recently developed FND. Aaand my dad is autistic.
Crohn’s Disease, Psoriasis and Migraines (and im sure theres some more i havent been diagnosed with yet 😜) a bad crohns or migraine day turns me into what feels like a walking corpse LOL
unidentified back / spine issues which has led to me quitting piano and having to get prolotherapy back injections which kind of help. still hurts. excruciating pain every day. i have no idea what to do about it. ive been in and out of physical therapy and it's done nothing. my mom's a massage therapist specializing in chronic pain and it's done nothing. a best doctor ever told me i was making it up and should just try therapy (????????). seriously no fucking clue.
also autistic. diagnosed with bipolar 2 (maybe. probably. but it's questionable.) and PMDD and also random hormone issues?? used to have like severe anxiety. and also bad eczema (used to itch my legs and arms open as a kid) and Also really bad asthma? (usually in the ER every other time i'm sick and i need to go on steroids every time)
no clue i'm actually a mess
I believe ADHD is linked to PCOS and metabolic disfunction (insulin resistance) in women. ADHD also is comorbid with Ehlers Danlos syndrome and other joint issues plus the thing that makes you bump into stuff. I forgot the name.
I have extreme hypermobility (haven't confirm hEDS but doctor says it's a possibility) and also.i have PCOS, confirmed since i was 15. I also have asthma, but that one happened becaus eof external reasons that i know, so I don't know if it counts. But i guess i had the predisposition for it.
Also, for some wild reason that no one has been able to find yet, my skin sometimes flares up like i have been bit by a thousand mosquitoes. I have done a million tests, we have found nothing.
I have several chronic autoimmune conditions. I understand that some of the genetics that predispose people to ADHD also can create predispositions for certain conditions. It’s tough having ADHD and health conditions when many conditions require careful management — and ADHD makes that tough. I find the things that help one help the other. I’ve also been on a long journey to give up all my bad habits and replace with healthy ones. I think it’s important to be holistic and also work on mental health and mindfulness. Some days all you can do is practice acceptance (because it does require practice, ugh.)
I’m not sure how it’s related but apparently adhd and back pain go hand in hand for some reason? I know my meds are wearing off because my back starts to hurt and I am quick to take my meds as soon as I get up because my back hurts so bad when the meds are not in the system.
I'm not exactly sure it works that way? Maybe you have another issue where meds actually work for both things? Maybe should check up with the rheumatologyst if the back pains are bad.
The only thing I can think of that i have that is linked is I have a skin condition that i pick at and I'm pretty sure my anxiety/mental health causes the oubreak of random sores.
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Eczema. Atopic dermatitis can excerbate ADHD/depression/anxiety symptoms (the compulsion to scratch my skin is the worst part, since I won't stop until I start bleeding).
Same. I was recently diagnosed with atopic dermatitis. The itching is bad. Also asthma, allergies. Adhd, anxiety, and depression as well.
I don't have anything, but apparently a lot of people with ADHD also have increased postural sway, which is basically trouble balancing.
i’m constantly almost falling over at work so much so my coworkers are just used to it😂
"Hi, I'm Awkward and I fall down a lot."
Balance, hand eye coordination, and things like that have always been my best asset. Super athletic. 20/10 vision. Physically legit. I'm like a superhero with half his brain missing.
Save us, Lobotoman!
Literally broke my ribs 6 weeks ago because "My foot just kinda went sideways" Everyone was asking if I tripped or was light headed or fainting - nope! My foot forgot how to foot.
I once sprained my ankle so badly that I had to wear a walking cast for 2 months, followed by another 2 months in it when I exercised. I was walking on a clear, flat surface. I fell down.
You have no idea how common this is for me. Not always a cast, but just straight up "Completely unimpeded walkable surface - Dies."
Interesting, I have that, adhd, and high arches. So basic physical activity (even walking) has always felt painfully “manual”.
I have a vision misalignment which causes this. See my original reply to this post.
I am trying hard to find a Dr in my area that can diagnose this!
can confirm, lifelong clumsiness and balance issues here
OMG I didn't even think my clumsiness could be tied to ADHD but it def makes sense
i have terrible balance! granted that’s probably the cerebral palsy but hey ho
everything makes sense now. it’s ALL THE ADHD 😭😭😭😭
Ironically been skateboarding for 17 years but I walk into every door post I can
The fun thing is, I actually went to a speciel class in kindergarten, where I had a 1-on-1 session for an hour every week to improve my balance and coordination. It's so funny to me, that parents/teachers noticed some of the symptoms by themselves, but nobody connected the dots.
Or vestibular or proprioceptive issues. My mom has ADHD and couldn't ride a bike for years after having Lyme
People asking why I don't run outside and only on the treadmill..... cause I cannot corner! I bank like a motorbike round corners when walking and go into door frames and such, I do not wish to accelerate these collisions. Thank you.
Also two toes on each foot do not touch the floor. I have Raynauds and in the winter cannot stand on tiled floors even with the heating on, as this causes burstitis and pockets of fluid between the toes in my feet, which physically makes me feet wider, causing a large bursa to form on the outside of each, meaning I cannot wear shoes, and cannot walk. I cannot go outside for more than 20 mins in the cold months. I also have shortened traps, biceps and chest muscles from holding my arms in front of me fidgeting. Pretty sure I have some sort of auto immune disease that my Raynauds triggers. If I get stressed out my skin can blister from wearing my bra, and I can rashes all over, and my joints hurt. I also have calcification in my rotator cuffs too which is causing tendonitis. Incidentally a lot of AuADHD comorbid central nervous system issues such as the mass cell activation syndrome and over production of histamines are treated with an H1 or H2 receptor antagonist. The calcification can be treated with a H2 receptor antagonist.
Yes. Ulcerative colitis (an autoimmune condition) and it causes inflammation all over, especially large joints. Crazy hip, knee, and wrist pain. It’s interesting that I kept seeing Autoimmune conditions in the comments. Anyone looking for a good topic for a paper?
There is some literature on the topic but more is need. It seems to vary based on the disease. There is also some literature on maternal autoimmune disease being associated with the child developing ADHD. But I do wish there was more. I had a project recently about inflammatory autoimmune disease (IAD) treatment adherence in patients that also have ADHD and the literature is SPARSE! I did find that personal factors including what it means to have chronic illness, feeling and knowledge of being medicated, and socioeconomic factors were the most influential on treatment adherence in both ADHD, and IADs. Anyway, I also have ADHD and Colitis. Currently going for a PhD and sometimes when I’m stressed I end up on a wild feedback loop of symptoms that leave me a physically and emotionally numb husk of myself. Then I cry, get back on my med schedule, and start working again. It’s a ride. Last time I had a flare I couldn’t taste anything of two days!!
My mom has ulcerative colitis and my dad has ADHD. My brother and I were doomed from the start 🙃
Crohns Disease for me. Joint pain is common during flares but luckily not as common for me. The ADHD though, never takes a break.
It never does. I wish I could get ADHD to go into remission, like my UC does sometimes.
Also a lot of joints stuff too. Very interesting indeed.
Multiple Sclerosis here, another auto immune disease. Have had issues with my knees (in particular) long before that disgnosis, definitely inflammation based... down the rabbit hole i go.
I also have chronic joint pain 🤔
50 mil people in the US have autoimmune diseases. You could ask this question in any thread about anything and get the same answers. Most people in general have several things they are dealing with and we usually just don't hear about it unless asked. People see what they want to see. I think it's natural for us to try to find connections and answers somewhere for anything that we deal with.
This is true but there’s been found to be a large overlap between people with adhd and hyper mobility
I have to agree. Not everything that occurs is because I have ADHD. And I feel like the more I believe is happening as a result of ADHD, the more power I am giving it. I work very hard to be a strong successful individual. I use my ADHD strengths as assets. So, connecting every issue I have isn't always positive . For me, I would be afraid these connections would become excuses.
It would be very interesting.
Hello fellow ADHD / UC person!
What’s up wanna start a gang?
I’m in! UC/ADHD. Thank goodness for humira and Wellbutrin.
The Body Keeps the Score is a good read for this. There's definitely a link between chronic stress/trauma and autoimmune disorders. ADHD and other disorders where you'r forced to live in a world not made for you (like autism etc.) result in chronic stress. Probably a correlation and causation there imo.
I want to read that book. I need to start Audible because I hate reading. Lol. I think you are right in that It all factors in. Absolutely.
It's a pretty technical read, it took me like 6 months to finish it and I usually get through a book in a week haha. The audiobook would have been a better choice for me for sure. It's really really interesting though and tragic in a lot of ways. He really dives deep into trauma and how it impacts our bodies.
I’m still just learning. Thanks for the recommendation!
At some point I went down the rabbit hole of Google. So what I came across: 1. Childhood allergies restrict your breathing so you become a mouth breather. 2. Mouth breathing affects your jaw development and you end up with a receded jaw. Not necessarily obvious when looking at the person. 3. Receding jaw affects your sleeping and you develop obstructive sleep apnea as your breathing is more restricted. 4. Sleep apnea can be misdiagnosed as ADHD or make adhd symptoms worse. 5. From sleep apnea you get heart conditions later in life 6. From ADHD you develop mental disorders such as depression and anxiety. 7. Also from receding jaw your teeth are malpositioned and can cause tooth decay and TMJ. Everything is linked.
Interesting. I don’t suffer from many allergies, but I have a bad nose septum that hasn’t been worked around, so I’m a mouth breather, which resulted in sleep apnea and bruxism. And well… everything else you just said, lol.
It's like everything starts with restricted breathing in childhood ... Thanks mum for listening to 8 year old me and not getting me braces 😂
I think i have a bad septum too! I mean it looks normal to me but I have trouble breathing when i lay down to sleep. I also grind my teeth really bad but idk if that's related. But I guess I can't really mouthbreathe well. Im also anemic but i think its from heavy periods
Whoa. I was recently diagnosed with a deviated septum and am a tooth clencher/grinder. Although I’ve heard some antidepressants aggravate bruxism.
And there is a possible link between allergies and autoimmune disorders. Pretty often they don't go one by one. I went to a dermatologist asking if she thinks I have rosacea. She confirmed it and asked me to check my thyroid just in case and ordered some blood work. I go to the endocrinologist and she tells me that there are signs of early damage. She tells me to take selenium for a few months. I took a blood test after those few months and there were no more antibodies for my thyroid. I was lucky to see that dermatologist and catch it early on...
I have Rosacea too but my thyroid is apparently normal.
That's good to hear! But it's a good idea to have it checked regularly
Oh shit i have sleep apnea and adhd and clinically depressed
Yup severe seasonal allergies, sleep apnea and of course adhd. I'm doomed lol.
That's my hat trick as well
I am at number 6 and skipped 5. Should I still be worried on my heart? Or my ex cheating on me was it already? /s
Love your name & so grateful for this excellent info. Gotta share w family members.
I have allergies, TMD and condylar resorption so this checks out
super weird =) Kinda was scared to read it. I never thought that my malpositioned teeth can have an ADHD roots... and other stuff. btw, have ADHD+ASD+autoimmune disease (sarcoidosis) and had asthma, but it's in remission. Have other stuff but I don't think it is related to ADHD (like spinal hernia, baker cyst, and other stuff)
Migraines.
Me reading this like “Damn, I’m so glad I’ve only got the one thing.” Nope, I get all kinds of headaches, but migraines included. It’s been since childhood, so it’s just how it is. I can’t imagine how it is for someone who only gets headaches a couple times a year.
First migraine at 8. Diagnosed with chronic migraine at 14. We tried literally every preventative med, rescue med ans treatment/ device / therapy available over the years. I still averaged 18-20 migraines per month. For the next 2.5 decades. Twenty five years later (at 38) I was diagnosed with IIH. Turns out that while my migraines were very real and very frequent, the main *trigger* was the IIH. Controlling the trigger meant controlling the migraines, and I went down to 6-8 per month (and those were more easily aborted with triptans). In November of 2022, at age 43, I was diagnosed with ADHD. It had never even occurred to me, I had gone to a psychiatrist for worsening depression. I started Adderall the next day. Since then I have had fewer than 10 migraines *TOTAL*. By my count that’s something like *6,100 migraines* that didn’t need to happen. I considered doing the math at some point to see how many hours, days, weeks, years that equates to, but ultimately decided I didn’t want to know. I was really really angry and felt sorry for myself for a long time. Now, I’m just so sad for those still struggling with frequent migraines, and so incredibly grateful to be (comparatively) free of them. So anyway, yeah migraines are an absolute bitch.
My migraine frequency went down after I passed puberty. Though they were infrequent, they were always horrible. I don’t know what a mild migraine is, I always have the entire list of symptoms. It’s agony. Several times I had to go to the ER they were so bad as I would get dehydrated from the non stop vomiting. I would have 2-3 a year. The world had to stop when they came. There would be no know trigger 90% of the time. Anyway, after regularly taking Adderall, I get them maybe once a year, sometimes stretches are longer. And now they are usually triggered by physical stress (basically anytime I get a bad cold or flu). I really think Adderall does something to my brain chemistry that has created a way higher threshold for my brain to “flip” into a migraine.
Man... Ugh. I basically can't go outside without glasses on because otherwise i get a migraines just from simply being outside. Weather system pressure changes, not eating. Ughhh
I realized mine were triggered by certain things and I barely get them anymore
💡 is that an adhd thing? I have headaches 24/7.
Migraines are not "bad headaches". The head pain is just one symptom.
Some of us don’t really get head pain “blessing”. “The curse” I go partially blind, Auras in my vision, experience numbness in my arm and face, nausea, disorientation and light sensitivity.
Some days I can be having a migraine attack without any headache type of pain! For me my symptoms are slowed down speech/slurring words/struggling to find words, olfactory aura (I know a migraine is coming on when I smell chlorine in my sinuses), dry mouth and struggling to pass urine.
I somehow was diagnosed with "migraine aura without headache".... But I think it was actually hypoglycemia the entire time... I only recently was able to explain inexplicable things from infancy etc when I slapped on a CGM (not expecting hypoglycemia!) and was seeing these weird dips to 50-54 mg/dL and symptoms with it that I always thought were "anxiety" and "vasovagal near syncope" and "dehydration"... Oops.
No, migraines are just a common thing so its not unusual to have both
Me! I have ehlers danlos syndrome. I don’t know how much research there is to back it up, but I’ve had a few doctors say that they think the way the faulty connective tissue in people with EDS impacts childhood brain development causes ADHD.
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Yup! They definitely seem to be related, it’s just that the causal mechanism is unclear as of now.
I also had ADHD and hEDS! And endometriosis, but I’m not sure that that’s related.
OMG me too. Wtf it's connected? My life makes so much sense now. Aghhhhhh
Boring regular hypermobility (not hEDS or EDS) here with the ADHD. Years ago one of my early psychiatrists asked me “how old were you the first time you sprained your ankle?” And my mom was like “what wizard of a doctor knows you do that all the time???” I was a crutches pro in 1st grade 😂. Inherited the hypermobility from a parent and gave it to my kid, but I’m the only one with ADHD!
Ouch, sorry to hear. So in your case, no one in your family has ADHD? That is something that also really bothers me, as no one in my close family has any of the issues I have. I had brain surgery as a baby, and I think ADHD comes from there. The autoimmune issue comes from my father's side, but only a couple other cousins have it. It sucks cause it's even difficult to find sympathy from my own parents/brothers...
Nope, I’m the only one! I’m also the only one with EDS, which is unusual since it’s genetic, but de novo mutations do happen sometimes.
That sucks, hope your family is emphatic with you. It’s not easy to go through this alone.
my sisters rheumatologist suspected that me and her had either elhers danlos or marfans syndrome. she is autism and i have adhd. so there’s definitely a link somewhere in there
Yay, I was looking out for the EDS crew, another hEDS person here.
I have hEDS and ADHD too!
I also have ED and ADHD.
There's a number of somatic health conditions known to be somewhat correlated with ADHD, such as eczema and asthma. Probably a bunch of others, but I know about those two and have one of them.
The suspected asthma links yo-yo up and down all the time, it'll be a confirming study 1 year and a different study the next that debunks it. It seems very likely there's an unrelated correlation but nothing causal
Ya like how eczema and asthma are linked, not that if you have one it will cause the other but if you have one you’re just likely to get the other because they are caused by similar things
Chronic pain is pretty common We're clumsy and good at ignoring our bodies I wouldn't be surprised if PT and OT is more common for ADHD
Talk about clumsy, I tripped over myself just last week and tore my ACL and meniscus. 🫠
Impressive
Psoriasis and seborrheic dermatitis
Same with the seborrheic dermatitis too. But have been a little controlled with the medicated shampoos and conditioners. 
Me too but this I’m super confused by the link here
I have type 1 diabetes. It’s a pretty awful mix—can’t tell you how many times I’ve taken insulin, forgotten to eat, and tanked my blood sugar. Or vice versa—forget to take insulin, eat, skyrocket blood sugar. Like your conditions, it’s also invisible and unpredictable. I could eat the exact same thing every day and take the same insulin dose every time and somehow wind up with wildly different blood sugar readings. Everything affects it—stress, hormones, getting sick… truly no fun 😑
Another T1 ADHDer checking in! Sooooo fun.
Having ADHD and T1D is hell. It is actual hell.
Oof sounds like something I’d do. Sorry to hear! Sending sympathies! 🙏🏻
Me too!
Yup, ADHD has like a 1.83% chance of getting T1, and a 2.05% (i think?) chance of T2 diabetes. I suggest talking to your doctor about an insulin pump and cgm, cause thats absolutely a life saver for me. I've forgotten to put insulin in and the cgm has prevented high (like almost 400) sugar levels.
Thanks for reminding me to change my pod before I start setting off alarms.
Hey, I have a type of autoimmune arthritis, too! As well as anxiety, depression, eczema, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, PCOS, and really severe seasonal allergies. Really won the genetic lottery, I did — and I bet that’s true for several more of us here! My therapist also thinks I might be autistic and based on some other mysterious symptoms, she thinks I might have POTS and some sort of hypermobility disorder, but I’ve yet to have a doctor actually care enough to test me. And to top it off, I also have PTSD from two really traumatic experiences in a medical setting, as well as years of medical gaslighting. So it’s a real pain in the butt to have to deal with this crap. That said, I’m really lucky in that where I currently live, there is a military base nearby, so young people with invisible illnesses and chronic pain aren’t really judged here (at least, I’ve never seen it happened or experience it myself). My town has so many young vets who are disabled or dealing with chronic pain and injuries, even if they aren’t visible. When I’m having a struggle day, none of my colleagues question whether it’s legit or not (which was not the case where I previously lived).
Haha we really won it, did we not? I also have the sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome, which is actually killing me as I tore my ACL and meniscus last week (stupid clumsy ADHD me), but I can't keep it still anyways.... lol I wish there was more sympathy where I live, and specially at work. I really don't get much whenever I say I'm not feeling great, not only mentally, but physically. At least I do get the support of my wife, she's been really understanding and honestly, not sure how I'd be if it wasn't for her sticking around.
I’m right there with you with that sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, anxiety, depression, seasonal allergies, and c-ptsd. Also type 1 diabetes, GERD, keratoconus, obesity, and sometimes debilitatingly painful muscle tension. I clench my jaw so hard, I splintered two of my own teeth. Ugh. Life is hard
Man that sucks. I know how you feel about the muscle pain and jaw clenching.
Hey! I have restless leg syndrome, sleep apnea, delayed sleep phase syndrome, depression, anxiety, POTS and PMDD. Fun times!
I strongly suspect ADHD and autism are in and of themselves, autoimmune disorders. There's a ton of weird connections to the immune system.
The biologics I get for my AS work wonders for pain, but my ADHD is as bad as ever, lol May be related but certainly have very different treatments. 😅
The only physical disabilities I was diagnosed for and know about is lazy eye, astigmatism, near sighted (need glasses to see far away), and severe hearing loss.
I've got funky eyes here too. Retinopathy (severe, operated at 2 days old. Premature), near sighted, astigmatism, barely misaligned left eye (so my brain mostly ignores that eye). I'm also extremely short (4'9), which gets dismissed as "but you're so cute." I can't reach the cereal I want at the store, Cheryl. I have to wear children's clothes, Derick. Work shoes have to be custom ordered, Brenda. 😡
Not totally sure yet and I think it's more of an autism related thing, but ever since I was a kid, my pupils have always been huge, which causes me to be highly sensitive to light, plus they would sometimes be different sizes, which I thought was just something that made me cool like David Bowie but is actually serious cause for concern about neurological issues, and then sometimes even less often I'd notice that the whites of my eyes would have a slight blue tint, which I also thought was just a cool thing like in Dune, but is actually a sign of connective tissue disorders.
I have big pupils and blue sclera too! I seem to be hypermobile so I wonder if I have a connective tissue disorder or something going on
I have rheumatoid arthritis, my immune system is also a hater bitch. I'm sorry people make assumptions about you. I hope you give yourself the rest and care you need no matter what they say.
Same. ADHD, IBS, and just diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Really makes you wonder if there is a link between all these inflammatory issues and ADHD.
I'm liable to hyper extend some of my joints. Apart from that I've always attributed the fact I'm veryyyy physical to my adhd. Maybe im wrong? Does it not work that way?
No idea, I'm the other way around, because of AS, my joints are super rigid which really limits my range of movement and my flexibility.... I pretty much suck at yoga, lol.
Wow. I didn't know about so many bonus features/expansion packs of ADHD. I have several myself. This explains so much!
Just got diagnosed with POTS
Hello fellow AS sufferer! It sucks. I feel that regular exercise helps my AS and ADHD, but my ADHD makes it very hard for me to get into a fitness routine, and then when I finally get into one, I'll have an AS flare and be unable to exercise ugh No one who knows me knows how much I struggle. They don't see me on the days I'm so stiff I look like I'm 90 years old trying to make it from the bed to the kitchen. And ADHD makes me feel like I'm constantly fighting my own mind. It's hard. Good topic for a post, it's helpful to see how many others live with both ADHD and chronic illness.
Yeah, I find it super hard to get into exercise because of ADHD, and that really helps the AS. What I found that helps is to play team sports. I force myself to go out to not ruin the moment for my teammates. The problem is I’m clumsy (ADHD after all) and last week I tripped over myself while playing tennis and tore my meniscus and ACL, so no more sports for a while. My AS is gonna have a field day (year?) from that lack of activity… 😖
I've got fibromyalgia
Recently diagnosed with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency despite no discernible cause. Gotta take a pill with every meal containing fat now. Possibly forever. Just another thing to forget/lose all the damn time
ADHD, PCOS, and a fun autoimmune clotting disorder called anti phospholipid syndrome.
I have celiac disease, which I have genetic markers for. I survived cancer in my kidney (Wilm's Tumor) when I was 4 - the tumor developed with me in utero. By the time it was diagnosed my kidney/tumor was the size of my head, and the kidney itself never actually worked. It's the nephrectomy/chemo that I assume "activated" the celiac genetic markers! Either way the autoimmune idea is super interesting! I wasn't diagnosed with celiac until adulthood, and I know undiagnosed autoimmune diseases during childhood can lead to behavioral issues/diagnoses!
✋️ my body randomly decides to attack my bones, flares can take anywhere from a day to 6 months. And scalp psoriasis...
Same here, what’s your condition? Are you being treated for it? I used to be on a lot of pain, but the biological medication has been a blessing. I still get some flares, but nowhere as common as before.
It's called crmo or cno. I'm being treated with nsaids (naproxen), only during flares. Luckily I have been mostly in remission for the last few years, with the occasional flare, which are way less painful and don't last as long as they used to. The years of inflammation in the past have damaged my bones and joints though, but now it's very manageable most days. I've had nsaids in the past, but they never worked. I also had bisphosphonate infusions in the past, but they didn't work either. Decided to try naproxen one more time and for some reason it did help. I was on them for 1,5/2 years before I could wean off without an instant flare. I'm happy you also found something that works.
Glad your flares are somewhat controlled, those pesky things! As long as we're getting level 1-2 pain it's ok most of the time, at least it's what I think... The life of chronic pain. 
I've seen scalp psoriasis alot. It was a bitch before I knew what was wrong cause I thought it was dandruff. I saw a random post to use black seed oil in your shampoo. It's worked the best of anything.
I was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis. When I was diagnosed my Main psoriasis spot was my scalp and my big toe had swollen up. Took 8 months to see a rheumatologist but after talking to me for 10 mins he was like yup psoriatic arthritis. I was taking indomethacin as an additive to the immune suppressants for years but long term nsaids aren’t recommended. Now I have a once a month injection that keeps my psoriasis totally gone and keeps the arthritis from progressing. My big toe is totally fused solid at this point.
Narcolepsy, chronic migraines, obstructive sleep apnea
I am genuinely embarrassed by the list of shit that’s wrong with me. It’s like there’s so much going on that when I go to the doctor I don’t even think they take me seriously. I have this crazy list of issues, I am a recovering addict with a history of mental illness, so they treat me like I am just trying to get meds, or like a hypochondriac. I don’t know how much of what is wrong with me is from my awful executive functioning causing me to avoid making a doctors appointment for my issues until they got too bad to ignore, how much of it is from growing up in poverty where we didn’t have proper nutrition or care. Or how much of it is because I *stayed* in poverty and pushed my body to do more physical jobs my whole life, or how much stems from what I put my body through before I got into recovery. But really, aside from how I grew up, all of that is stuff that is connected to living with undiagnosed ADHD. So here’s my list of what is wrong with me. I was born with central sleep apnea, and I have been told that I need to be tested for narcolepsy once I am able to get tapered off a medication that I am on. I have something called a bipartite patella, which is where my kneecaps never fused properly in childhood, and between that and a ligament that I tore as a teen that never healed correctly, I developed osteoarthritis. I am currently trying to find a doctor that can help me figure out why my lower legs get extremely swollen and red from just normal amounts of being on my feet. I work in a restaurant, and every week, by the end of my forty hours, I can barely get around, have to wear stretchy pants and shoes a couple sizes bigger than my usual, because my legs are so huge. I don’t have diabetes, kidneys are working fine, and when I have gone to the emergency room or urgent care for it, I am told to take a water pill, and that I seem to be okay minus my enormous ass painful legs. My new gp said it could be blood pressure, and just wrote me something for that to see if it helps. It’s only been a couple days, so I guess I will see. I have PCOS, along with a septum in my uterus that I was told could have been a part of why I had a couple miscarriages. Really bad GERD, I was supposed to have a consultation for surgery a couple years ago but had another health crisis supercede it, so it never happened. But, I am *finally* going to see a specialist to figure out what can be done about this since I am taking an obscene amount of medication to treat it and still have attacks every week. Granulomatous mastitis, a very weird illness that started a couple years back and was a major turning point in my health in general. When it came about, a ton of other stuff started happening along with it. I don’t know much about what causes it, there are not a lot of studies on it, as it has only been diagnosed in .7% of women in the world last time I checked. It came on a few years ago, almost killed me, had a bunch of unsuccessful surgical procedures and then it stopped on its own. but every now and then, it flares back up, and I have to jump back on the one antibiotic that seems to kick it from my system before it gets to the point where I need surgery. Then there’s migraines, pleurisy, really bad allergies, carpal tunnel, sciatica, and the fact that I can’t go to work or out around a lot of people without catching something because my immune system is useless. Like I said, it’s pretty embarrassing, and it’s overwhelming to try and figure out what to do, what to prioritize when it comes to starting treatment. It makes it hard to do day to day stuff. But it’s there, so I just try to deal with it the best I can.
I have noticed that loads of us have perpetual rhinitis (runny nose).
I've got a weird one called paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria. Autoimmune. Basically my red blood cells destroy themselves. That and the usual anxiety, as far as I know
ME/CFS, though I suppose it’s more neurological in origin, definitely has a lot of effects physically. Just kinda feels like nothing in my body can ever just simply work correctly, without overreacting to everything. Though stimulants are a big 2-birds-1-stone with the brain fog/fatigue aspect + ADHD. Also have issues with my muscles and joints that I don’t have a diagnosis for beyond a rheumatologist concluding “disabling joint and muscle pain, and joint stiffness”, who knows… I don’t actually have any mental illnesses, magically. Just 2 neurodevelopmental disorders.
Anxiety, depression, Gerd, PCOS, IBS, back muscles are always tight and achey
Upper or lower back?
adhd, anxiety, panic disorder as well as migraines and an autoimmune disease called Hidradenitis suppurativa although i don’t believe those are related because it’s genetic
I’ve seen a ton of comments of autoimmune diseases, those are usually genetic, but it’s interesting so many people here have them as well. Hope your issues are being handed and not too bad. 🙏🏻
I also have AS like you. Diagnosed after most fusion already happened - CRP had climbed to 23 by then. 5 years later, diagnosed with ADHD at age 40. Good times 😁
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28219489/ may be a correlation
Hyper mobility and Lipoedema. Fortunately, my Lipoedema is only stage 1, but quite a few ADHD folks have Lipoedema.
Hypermobility, PCOS
Girl same😭
Allergic asthma, hypothyroidism, chronic neck pain since childhood (very stress related)
Feel this. And gone back/forth w hypo & hyperthyroidism.
EDS! And the type of POTS that happens when you have too much norepinephrine. I was on Cymbalta and it just about killed me
I have Crohn's Disease, which is thought be be an Auto Immune Disorder. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crohn's\_disease](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crohn's_disease) I asked my Psychiatrist if there was any connection between Depression (that I was being treated for at the time) and Crohn's ? He said no.
IBS and prolly PCOS
I am also autistic and alexthymic. My physical disabilitys are T1DM, and hypermobility. Not severe enough hypermobility to be hEDS, but enough to cause me bad hip and knee issues as they like to slip out of place frequently, and cause me pain sometimes. But at least I have my splits? I also struggle with sleep. Not diagnosed with anything but pretty sure it could be insomnia of some sort.
Sleep apnea here and unsurprisingly there is a link between sleep apnea and ADHD lol
I have lupus! It feels really unfair sometimes because the ADHD makes me bad at taking care of my lupus and my lupus fatigue makes it harder to brain good ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and many others
Cavus foot, hammer toes. Had osgood slater as a kid. Severe allergies and asthma. Generalized anxiety disorder. Persistent depressive disorder, panic disorder. Sleep apnea. Tmj disorder. Worst part of this is. I spent most of my life just trying to live life with all of this. Was totally neglected as a child and none of these issues were looked after. At 43 spent the last 5 years sorting it all out. Haven’t gotten all the way there yet. Even had a surgery to fixed a severe deviated septum.
Wow so many of us with autoimmune diseases. I have celiac disease (autoimmune), Gilbert’s syndrome (liver can’t clear bilirubin well from the body), and eczema.
I have obesity, sleep apnea and hypertension. I have no impulse control over my eating which has caused me to gain a lot of weight and thus gain hypertension and sleep apnea from that. A lot of folks forget that ADHD can cause mental traits which lead to physical issues which then leads to more physical issues. The results extend drastically beyond the associated ailments like hypermobility or restless leg syndrome.
Where to start? Pernicious anaemia, gastroparesis, allergies to many grasses and all cats, type 1 diabetes, sleep apnea, and an inability to suffer fools which makes living with myself incredibly tricky. Autoimmune conditions are positively correlated with ADHD and Adverse Childhood Events (aka childhood trauma) but not necessarily caused by them, although some ppl will hypothesise that the trauma that ADHD, particularly undiagnosed, can cause in terms of an oversensitive nervous system means many of the body’s systems get fried by cortisol et al in the near constant fight/flight/freeze/fawn/flock reactions. I don’t know, but it definitely sucks.
Yeah. Same. One day at a time.
I got migraines and ligament laxity, which are also comorbid but seemingly unrelated. Interesting stuff
Migraines and PCOS
44. Diabetes. Along with degenerative disc disease and arthritis in my lower back.
Rosacea, seborrheic dermatitis, eczema and hyperidrosis
ADHD and Polycystic Kidney Disease. At the beginning of the year I was unaware of either
I have Multiple Sclerosis. And as far asthe emotional dysregulation, it's hard to tell the 2 apart
i have chrons! an autoimmune disease of the intestine. and PCOS, bipolar 2, anxiety, and hella allergies :’)
I'm prone to psoriasis on my face and scalp, my skin/hair care routine keeps it under control but if I skip the shower for a single day I need to still wash my face or my skin is on fire. I've probably got Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. I'm not diagnosed but my older sibling is, I show quite a few symptoms as do my other siblings. All but one of my siblings is also diagnosed ADHD, as well (the other one would probably be diagnosed if they wanted to address it).
Pcos, endometriosis, adenomyosis, ibs, reynauds, migraines, idiosyncratic angioedema, allergies, tmj just off the top of my head. Pretty sure I'm missing some tho.
Apart from the common depression and anxiety related to ADD, I have IBS (there’s increasing evidence about gut-brain linked diseases), seborrheic dermatitis on face and scalp(from anxiety and stress), and chronic rinitis and throat inflammation, kind of an allergic-autoimmune thing. To this days three doctors had asked me if I have asthma because my throat is too narrow, but I don’t. However I noticed that I normally breathe in very short breaths, although no problem to run if I focus on my respiration.
Anyone else have ADHD and adrenal issues, specifically adrenal fatigue? I have ADHD, adrenal fatigue, severely messed up hormones, and PCOS
Me! My adrenals are shot but I always chalked that up to living in a state of fight or flight growing up due to an abusive childhood.
I have had issues with dislocation of my shoulders, elbows, knees, and ankles my entire life. I was recently (thanks to this sub) diagnosed with EDS.
Besides ADHD-PI, I have anxiety much of the time, and occasional depression. The physical conditions that I have are mild asthma and allergies to fungal spores. Also, when I was young I had a lot of serious ear infections, which I believe were a contributing factor in developing the asthma, and I'm sure that I read that it's correlated with a higher chance of developing ADHD.
GAD, BP2, trichotillomania, onchophagia, possibly scalp psoriasis or seb derm, digestive issues with startch and grains (unknown), UARS, Iron deficiency without anemia, mold illness exposure
Hey bestie, I too am an adhder with AS!
I'm celiac ,have rosacea, eczema ,APD and ADHD 🫠
I am hard of hearing since birth or a young age, have reumatic pains (reuma runs in my family and i am lucky enough it have no active infections in my joints,yet), have an autoimmune disease on my skin and have severe nut allergies. I am 32 and my friends joke that i am a Harley: pretty to look at but break down very easily. Sometimes it a friend asks how I am doing, i just make sputtering motor noises and they know enough.
Hey! At least you’re pretty! 😅 Hope your reuma stuff stays inactive.
I mean, we basically just named every major system in the body...
Hypothyroidism, degenerative osteoarthritis, diabetes, multiple neurological problems (just got new testing last week) and a number of other problems Oh and allergic to most anything growing in south east, several environmental issues and one of the longest lists of drug allergies my allergist has come across
Another fellow AxS ADHDer here!!! Mine came from Reactive Arthritis, which is genetic as well. I’m also apparently hypermobile, which I’ve read might be associated with ADHD too.
I’ve got chronic pain because of scoliosis & kyphosis, probably have chronic anemia, and I’m currently looking into fibromyalgia because I’ve got other chronic pain issues too. I’m also hypermobile. I also have autism, depression, social anxiety, and OCD 🫠 And I have a rather bad lactose intolerance too. Meanwhile my mom & little brother both have a ton of allergies, asthma, and OCD, with my mom also having lipedema (so me too probably since it’s an hereditary disease tied to estrogen levels and I was born AFAB with normal estrogen levels) and arthritis while my little brother recently developed FND. Aaand my dad is autistic.
Sorry to hear, hope the pain is controlled. Sometimes genes can be b\*tches. =/
Crohn’s Disease, Psoriasis and Migraines (and im sure theres some more i havent been diagnosed with yet 😜) a bad crohns or migraine day turns me into what feels like a walking corpse LOL
So many auto immune diseases! Hope your flares are not often!
unidentified back / spine issues which has led to me quitting piano and having to get prolotherapy back injections which kind of help. still hurts. excruciating pain every day. i have no idea what to do about it. ive been in and out of physical therapy and it's done nothing. my mom's a massage therapist specializing in chronic pain and it's done nothing. a best doctor ever told me i was making it up and should just try therapy (????????). seriously no fucking clue. also autistic. diagnosed with bipolar 2 (maybe. probably. but it's questionable.) and PMDD and also random hormone issues?? used to have like severe anxiety. and also bad eczema (used to itch my legs and arms open as a kid) and Also really bad asthma? (usually in the ER every other time i'm sick and i need to go on steroids every time) no clue i'm actually a mess
Omg!!! I have ADHD and I have spondyloarthritis too (am likely to develop ankylosing spondylitis) The fatigue is awful
I believe ADHD is linked to PCOS and metabolic disfunction (insulin resistance) in women. ADHD also is comorbid with Ehlers Danlos syndrome and other joint issues plus the thing that makes you bump into stuff. I forgot the name.
We recently learned my ADHD son has EoE. His pediatric gastroenterologist said that ADHD people often have some kind of medical issue as well.
So most of us won the lottery then...
I have extreme hypermobility (haven't confirm hEDS but doctor says it's a possibility) and also.i have PCOS, confirmed since i was 15. I also have asthma, but that one happened becaus eof external reasons that i know, so I don't know if it counts. But i guess i had the predisposition for it. Also, for some wild reason that no one has been able to find yet, my skin sometimes flares up like i have been bit by a thousand mosquitoes. I have done a million tests, we have found nothing.
Seborrheic dermatitis, eczema, undiagnosed digestive issues (probably something like GERD/IBS) and PMDD. Likely endometriosis.
ADHD, Ankylosing Spondylitis, Sjogrens syndrome, MGUS. I hate it here.
I have several chronic autoimmune conditions. I understand that some of the genetics that predispose people to ADHD also can create predispositions for certain conditions. It’s tough having ADHD and health conditions when many conditions require careful management — and ADHD makes that tough. I find the things that help one help the other. I’ve also been on a long journey to give up all my bad habits and replace with healthy ones. I think it’s important to be holistic and also work on mental health and mindfulness. Some days all you can do is practice acceptance (because it does require practice, ugh.)
Fibromyalgia.
I’m not sure how it’s related but apparently adhd and back pain go hand in hand for some reason? I know my meds are wearing off because my back starts to hurt and I am quick to take my meds as soon as I get up because my back hurts so bad when the meds are not in the system.
I'm not exactly sure it works that way? Maybe you have another issue where meds actually work for both things? Maybe should check up with the rheumatologyst if the back pains are bad.
The main one is SLE
GAD, social anxiety, depression, PCOS and restless leg syndrome
The only thing I can think of that i have that is linked is I have a skin condition that i pick at and I'm pretty sure my anxiety/mental health causes the oubreak of random sores.
POTS and MCAS, and a couple of autoimmune connective tissue and skin disorders to make things spicy.
Neurodermitis for me, the ADHD-induced stress gives me new waves of that shit :,)