Adult ADHD Is More Common Than You Think

David Goodall is a contained ball of energy.

He’s struggled to control that energy, along with his inattentiveness and his inability to focus, since he was 2 years old.

Now 50, it still affects every aspect of his life.

Goodall is diagnosed with a neurological condition known as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, commonly referred to as ADHD, a condition that affects more than six million Americans, according to Dr. Deborah Pearson with UT Health Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences.

His family first became aware of his condition when his father took him to day care for the first time as a 2-year-old.

“They called him back a half hour later and said, ‘We can’t deal with your son, he’s too wild,’” Goodall says.

A pediatrician diagnosed him with hyperactivity and put him on Ritalin, a medicine to treat ADHD. Goodall says it helped—until he reached his teenage years.

Doctors believed for decades that hyperactivity ended when children reached adolescence and they “grew out” of the disorder.

Such wasn’t the case for Goodall.

He stopped taking his medication and his somewhat stabilized world turned upside down.

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