r/adhdwomen • u/Mamahei2 • 2d 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/Acrobatic-Aioli9768 2d ago

I mean…how else would you get it?

My dad is definitely the one who passed it down. The symptoms are so obvious with him but he won’t get diagnosed, I don’t even think he knows what it is. He goes through food hyper fixations a lot. I was the first to get diagnosed, then my sister and I’m sure my brother has it too but he doesn’t think so but I can see the signs. I think because he’s really active and he doesn’t have many household responsibilities, his symptoms aren’t as obvious.

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u/ShitJustGotRealAgain 2d ago

I mean…how else would you get it?

Traumatic brain injuries can also cause adhd. So if you had a really bad concussion, you could develop adhd.

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u/ContemplativeKnitter 2d ago

I know I’m being the obnoxious “well actually” person, but it’s probably more accurate to say that traumatic brain injuries can cause problems with executive function that look a lot like ADHD. According to the DSM-V, you have to have symptoms of ADHD before age 12 for a formal diagnosis of ADHD, so a TBI at 30 doesn’t really cause ADHD as it’s medically defined.

Totally get that it doesn’t really make a difference in real life if you have the same issues and get treated with the same meds, nor do I personally care if someone in that situation calls it ADHD. But it’s not really a non-genetic way to get ADHD.

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u/ShitJustGotRealAgain 2d ago

I'm not trying to "akshually" back to you but I was referring to Russell Barkleys video on adhd and tbi. He cites research that shows tbi can cause adhd. And since adhd is a disorder with a set of characteristics that are needed to be met in a patient in order to be diagnosed and not as indisputable as a broken bone that can be x-rayed I, find it logical to say it's adhd and not something different that just looks like adhd. If there isn't adhd in the family and a patient is diagnosed with ADHD, we don't even know if it's caused by the genes or tbi in individuals. So the need for the distinction is not there.

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u/ContemplativeKnitter 2d ago

That’s fair enough and again, I don’t think it makes a difference in practice. I don’t mean to gatekeep anyone, nor do I think the DSM-V is infallible. I just think it’s interesting how the definition in the DSM-V plays out in practice, as it can have a lot of practical implications. Sorry to be pedantic!