Possible ADHD?

So I've been reading this forum and relating to a lot of what a lot of you are saying symptom wise so I did a little research on common signs and symptoms of adult ADHD and wrote down the ones that are a big problem for me. I have two questions, do you think from this list that I might have ADHD? And two, do you think I should present my list to my psychiatrist to see if he will evaluate me? I already have a bipolar diagnosis so I know a lot of the things on the list could be explained by bipolar or both but I get those things even when I'm in a normal mood state. Anyway, here's the list:

Difficulty getting organized

Procrastinating on tasks

Getting distracted when people are talking

Get hyperfocused on certain things that I really care about and get in the zone for a long period of time

Tend to overdo things when they're not good for me

Get really frustrated when things move too slowly

Low self esteem

Need a lot of stimulation

Say things without thinking first and get myself into trouble

Rather do things my own made up way than follow given rules

Have nervous energy, leg bouncing, pacing etc.

Make a LOT of careless mistakes

Can't deal with relationship transitions

I smoke cigarettes

I lose things all the time

I have trouble at work (paperwork, phone calls, faxes, all of the boring things)

Problems completing tasks (laundry, housework, shopping etc.)

Impulsive

My psychiatrist is already suspicious that i might have ADHD but he said right off the bat that stimulants are out of the picture because of the bipolar. So I'm not a drug seeker. I know I not going to get put on Adderall or something if I get diagnosed. I'd have to try other things.

Any insight or am I alone on this one?

I am in the opposite situation as you- I'm diagnosed ADHD and on stimulant medication and am trying to find a mood stabilizer that works. I think that it's common for symptoms of the two disorders to overlap. I can relate to some of the things on the list so it might be worth investigating with your pdoc. If this is a doc that you have been seeing for bipolar treatment though, and you've mentioned wanting to try ADHD medication, he has probably already noticed some of these things.

Yeah, he has, and when we spoke about it briefly he just said "well the wellbutrin might help with the adhd if you have it" and in a way it helps a little bit. But I want to know with a little more certainty whether I have add/adhd especially because my pdoc wants me to apply for disability services at my school to get extra services like longer amounts of time on tests and quiet test areas and stuff and I feel like it would be important to put on the form that he has to fill out if I have adhd or not. I'm going to talk to him tomorrow about it now that I'm not manic and he hopefully won't be preoccupied with that. Hopefully tomorrow I will get something resembling an answer.

Are you filing as bipolar as well? Because if the ADHD symptoms will allow you the same accommodations as the bipolar diagnosis, I wouldn't bother going through the hassle of trying to get your pdoc to add it to your list (accommodations are completely separate than getting proper medication though). Extended time and separate test environment are pretty standard accommodations so I wouldn't be surprised if your bipolar diagnosis allows that.

That's what I'm totally not sure about. I have no idea what the accommodations for bipolar are. Maybe you're right and they're about the same as the accommodations for ADHD, but for some reason that doesn't make sense to me. I feel like the best I'll be able to get is a note taker, and I don't need that. I take good notes.

Anyway, my pdoc completely ignored me on my last visit with him, didn't fill out the paperwork at all, with adhd included or not, didn't answer any of my questions about getting tested for dyslexia and dyscalculia. All he said was "Oh yeah, I'll include "ADHD symptoms" on your form" but he didn't do the form, and I have a test this coming wednesday. I still have to attend an information session after his part of the paperwork is submitted and I just highly doubt that it will get done in time. I don't want to get this term off to a bad start like I did last term. I really want to test in a quiet area by myself with extra time.

What's worse is the wellbutrin was helping my potential adhd a little bit and then he lowered the dosage back to basically nothing 75mg and now I'm not feeling any benefit from it either antidepressant wise or attention wise. So my head is swimming.

I wish our appointments weren't so short. Last time we were double booked so he rushed me out the door to get to the next person and I didn't get to say even 1/4 of what I wanted to say. It was extremely frustrating. I'm going to email him again and see if he will send in the paperwork tomorrow morning.

Definitely stay on top of this. Sometimes you have to be a pain in the *** to get anything accomplished in the medical world. Keep e-mailing, calling. Hopefully he'll eventually respond.
I have a confirmed diagnosis of ADHD and no bipolar and I have a lot of the symptoms that you describe above, but you're right, a lot could also be explained by bipolar disorder. You're on a pretty heavy med regimen. Are you stable bipolar wise on it and still having the above mentioned symptoms?
One thing I wanted to mention in a previous post is I noticed you're on a pretty decent dose of Topamax? I don't want to step on any toes and I don't know how dependent you're mood stability is on the Topamax, but doses above about 100 mg/day usually cause "cognitive dulling" and it's called "dopamax" on the streets. I doubt it has anything to do with your ADD, but if you think your mood stability could handle it, lowering that dose might help with some of the memory issues and overall issues with school. Just an idea.
I'm guessing you've asked your psychiatrist about Strattera? That sucks he won't at least try an increased dose of wellbutrin to see if it helps. That's definitely the lesser of many evils. Maybe try presenting it that way. I have no idea what you've taken anti-depressant wise but a couple of the TCAs - imipramine especially have some efficacy in treating ADD. Maybe he'd be willing to try that. IDK.
Good luck. I hope you find something that works for you.

I've had these problems for much longer than I've been on meds. Only been on meds for a couple of years and had these problems since i was an adolescent. I was just good in school for the most part so no one ever suspected anything.

I agree about dopamax though. I want off topamax completely. It has never helped stop a mood episode in all 3 years that i've been on it. my pdoc just put me on it because he said it "might" help me lose weight. Well, it didn't. It didn't do anything good. I'm pretty stable right now other than my usual sleep loss, but I've dealt with that literally since I was a baby. I get some racing thoughts at night, but I think that's the anxiety, not really the bipolar. My mood is fine. I could go without topamax no problem. And if he doesn't want me to go off it, I'm going to go off it anyway, because I need to pass the statistics class I'm in to get into grad school and fulfil my dreams.

I wish he would raise the wellbutrin or try straterra or both.

Are TCAs tricyclic antidepressants? My pdoc thinks those will cause mania too. He thinks everything will cause mania. I don't even get that manic, or that often. I think he's just being a nutter.

Yes. TCAs are tricyclic antidepressants. It does kind of sound like he's being paranoid. Theoretically, all antidepressants can trigger a manic episode, but the TCAs no more than anything else. Topamax does cause weight loss is some people, but so do higher doses of wellbutrin. And Topamax isn't even regarded as that great of a mood stabilizer. Nobody's really sure it even does anything mood stabilization wise, seems to in some people, but nothing in a lot of people. With everything you're on, I'd be kind of surprised if you had a manic episode with Strattera or an increased dose of wellbutrin. I hope you figure something out soon.

Hes letting me go off the topamax. I started going off it myself and he said to cut the dose in half one more time for a week then im done. Im on day 3 of the lowest dose 50mg.

he also increased my wellbutrin bsck to 150. I sent him a serious email yesterday about him not addressing my adhd symptoms so im hoping he will have another change of heart and either up my wellbutrin to 300 or let me try strattera or let me try a low dose stimulant because that has worked well for me before and didnt cause mania.