Yep my understanding is the symptoms mirror and overlap. But it is possible to have both. I have adhd & BPII. I started out a few years ago at age 34 went on meds for depression and anxiety. The pdoc discussed a lot with me and after a few visits we agreed i'd had add my whole life. High intelligence as a child, yet distractable, trouble reading, keeping eyes on pages of books, forgetful, unorganized, etc. So we added in adderall and it was great. But then I had some hypomania - which I didnt exactly tell my pdoc everything going on for quite awhile. But when I came clean and told her the embarrassing truths, she "evolved" my dx to BPII with adhd. I'm so confused though, what if it is just adhd? or just BP?

But adhd can totally wreak havock on your life! If you can't organize it gets so overwhelming. If you can't focus well at school and work, yet you know your brain is smart, can be really bad for self-esteem. My pdoc described adhd brain as trying to store immense amounts of information without enough filing cabinets. I liked that analogy.

The thing with having BP and taking some of the adhd meds is that they can send you into a mania, kinda like how we respond sometimes weirdly to anti-depressants. So my pdoc says I have to take Lithium or another mood stabilizer if I want adhd meds. Seems to be working well so far.