Is it possible my mother in law has AADD?

Question

Over the years, we have overlooked a lot of my mother in law's quirkiness as just something we had to endure. But, lately it seems to be getting worse and is causing concern. I looked at some of the websites that show the questionnaires, but she doesn't fit with some of the criteria. Even if she did, how would a person tell another, especially a mother in law, that they may need to be checked for AADD?

For an example:

* she loses things all the time. Car keys, her daily heart medicine, bills she supposedly placed in a safe place and forgets, gifts she buys ahead of time then puts away and forgets, and she has left her purse at the grocery store so many times.

* she has a lot of hobbies that she starts and gets "addicted" to, goes full steam, then gets bored and leaves them in piles which she intends to return to some day.

* she is well known for saying the most inappropriate things at the most inappropriate times. This habit is getting worse. It's very embarrassing for the family.

* she talks non-stop, literally non-stop. If she has no one to talk to, she talks to herself. She has always done this, but this habit is also getting worse. She talks with food in her mouth and sprays bits and pieces of her food all over herself and others. Another habit that is embarrassing for us.

* while in conversation, she continually interrupts to speak her mind, usually totally unrelated to the topic, because her minds moves so fast, when a thought pops into her head she has to say it or she will forget. This habit has always been annoying, but now it is embarrassing.

* if engaged in a conversation that she feels is important and requires her full attention, she will close her eyes. She has always done this.

* she has always complained that sitting in a chair and reading is impossible because she always falls asleep.

* performing simple housework tasks like vacuuming may last for an entire week because she will get distracted by something she sees laying around, gets started on another task, which leads to the same problem, and she completely forgets that she was vacuuming. She thinks this is funny, and says it has been a lifelong character trait. She calls it multi-tasking. While in the work force before retiring, she had to work hard on staying focused to keep this kind of stuff in check and completing projects.

There is more, but this gives a general outline. My husband and I were concerned that she may be showing early stages of alzheimers, but perhaps it's simply AADD -- would hate to think that it could be both.

Any ideas, suggestions, or possible subtle hints would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for answering.

Answer 1

I totally agree with you on this one.  I am so glad to see someone who actually cares about they're mom-in-law.  My son does the same stuff all the time and he has ADHD and my daughter is ADD but she got it under control with meds awhile back and seems like she outgrew it.  I would get her to see a doctor.  I hope its nothing like alzheimers or dysmentia or anything bad.  God Bless.

Answer 2

It could be Alzheimer's or ADHD.  Suggest she get checked out.

Answer 3

I've found that sometimes there's a very fine line between someone with a quirky personality and someone with a mood disorder. Some of the symptoms that you described sound just like my dad's ex-wife who has bi-polar disorder, but then again she doesn't necessarily have all the symptoms, and sometimes the disorder has varying degrees (mild to severe) Alot of the symptoms you listed sound a lot like Mania, so it's worth checking into.

As far as Alzheimer's is concerned, it doesn't seem like she has it. If she were forgetting knowing family members or displaying other weird behavior like storing perishable food in the dishwasher then I would be concerned.

As far as ADD is concerned, it is possible that she has it. I do a lot of classroom observations so I'm only used to the child symptoms of it, I'm not too sure about the adult symptoms. But some of those behaviors are what I see in the classrooms.

Good Luck.

EDIT- I found some info on Hypomania, it sounds closer to what your MIL has than Bipolar disorder. I put the link in the box below.

Answer 4

My opinion would be that if she has always done these things, it's probably nothing to worry about. If she does have ADHD or some such, I don't think there would be a lot of point to diagnosing and medicating her at her age--after all, she's gotten through her life fine thus far without the diagnosis, and mental variances like ADHD aren't exactly progressive or dangerous.

Alzheimers is always a possibility in someone who's aging, but from the sound of it these traits are not new developments.

Your mother-in-law sounds like she does have her quirks, but unless her behavior is changing noticably from how it used to be, I don't think it's likely to be anything dangerous.