r/adhdwomen • u/Mamahei2 • 1d ago

General Question/Discussion Do some of y’all have genetic ADHD?

Literally my mom, my sister, my niece, my nephew, and I all have ADHD as well as me and my mom having autism.

Edit: I’m more so talking about ADHD being a dominant trait (at least for my family)

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u/hiddenvalleyoflife 1d ago

I don't know where I got it from, honestly. My parents don't share my struggles. Feels quite lonely, especially when most other people with ADHD seem to be able to identify it in their family members.

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u/tiredoftryingtobe 1d ago

My family has it but I'm the first diagnosed. The rest of them refuse to believe me and one sibling doesn't believe ADHD or Autism are real. My mom,who is a retired teacher, told me to my face a few months ago that I'm not ADHD because I did good in school and didn't cause problems. It's lonely this way too.

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u/hiddenvalleyoflife 1d ago

In my case, my mother is the world's most neurotypical person and my father is a workaholic (and has been for decades) who doesn't relate to the vast majority of my ADHD symptoms, so even if he did have ADHD it would be much milder than my own.

I won't lie, seeing people in this thread say that it must always be genetic makes me feel quite unsupported and not valid. Not ruling out that it is genetic in my case, of course, but with no other family members I know struggling like this, what am I supposed to think?

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u/tiredoftryingtobe 1d ago

I understand, thankfully for me I can look around and see the raging epidemic of ADHD in my family even if they can't or refuse to acknowledge it. Do you know what your mother 's nutrition was like whenever she was pregnant with you. I went to a training and there was an epigeneticist from ASU who shared that broad spectrum b vitamin deficiencies actually make a child in utero 70-90% more likely to develop neuro divergent and mental health conditions. And genetics are funny, I have brown/hazel eyes and so did my ex husband but our daughter has beautiful blue eyes. She's a random genetic throw back. You may be too. You having ADHD could have even been influenced by your grandmother's pregnancy with your mother because all of the eggs that your mother ever had were created while she was in utero and their creation was impacted by all of the things going on in your grandma's life and that wonderful situation trickles back all the way to the beginning of humanity.

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u/hiddenvalleyoflife 1d ago

My mother's health was fine, from what I've heard - but yeah, genetics are weird and in the end I don't really care why I have ADHD. It's just an attribute that I live with.

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u/tiredoftryingtobe 1d ago

I just wanted to help you see that you're not an imposter and you deserve validation.

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u/DenM0ther 1d ago

I think that maybe don't pay as much attention to the negative perception of 'how was your mother's health?' It was only a question. I think the important point the commenter was trying to make, was for you to feel supported - you'd said it's lonely to be the only adhder in the family.

Fwiw, I agree with possible health implications - often quite mild or not picked up. Science shows what the father eats in the lead up to conception impacts future health of the child too, in different ways, but still there.

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u/Jen__44 1d ago

Workaholic can def be a sign of adhd, its just a different way to cope

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u/ArtSlug 1d ago

Workaholic, you say? Ding ding ding. Often a socially acceptable way to cope/hyperfocus/compartmentalize/ escape for ADHD, AuDHD……

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u/vpblackheart ADHD-C 1d ago

I don't think it's all genetic. We don't know enough about how the brain works to declare that as 💯 fact. We may never know.

My family has Bipolar, autism, depression, anxiety, OCD, ADHD, etc. Some are diagnosed and some are not.