Symptom: Inattention

Introduction: Inattention

Inattention: Lack of attention or reduced attention span. See free access online books about Inattention below. See detailed information below for a list of 21 causes of Inattention, including diseases and drug side effect causes.

» Review Causes of Inattention: full list

Causes of Inattention

• Aarskog Syndrome - attention deficit disorder
• Alcohol abuse - poor attention span
• Attention Deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders - distractibility
• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder - careless mistakes
• Bipolar disorder - distractability

See all 21 causes of Inattention

Inattention: Multiple Symptom Checker

Listed below are some combinations of symptoms associated with Inattention, as listed in our database. Visit the Multiple Symptoms Checker, to add and remove symptoms and research your condition.

Multiple Symptom Checker - Other Symptoms

• Inattention: Multiple Symptom Checker

Multiple Symptom Checker Combinations

• Inattention and Behavioral symptoms (20 causes)
• Inattention and Personality symptoms (20 causes)
• Inattention and Society problems (18 causes)
• Inattention and Mental problems (16 causes)
• Inattention and Cognitive impairment (12 causes)
• Inattention and Emotional symptoms (12 causes)
• Inattention and Movement symptoms (12 causes)
• Inattention and Head symptoms (10 causes)
• Inattention and Irritability (10 causes)
• Inattention and Balance symptoms (9 causes)
• Inattention and School problems (9 causes)
• Inattention and Speech symptoms (9 causes)
• Inattention and Nerve symptoms (9 causes)
• Inattention and Muscle symptoms (9 causes)
• Inattention and Infant symptoms (8 causes)
• Inattention and Depressive symptoms (8 causes)
• Inattention and Seizures (8 causes)
• Inattention and Sensations (8 causes)
• Inattention and Spasms (8 causes)
• Inattention and Developmental problems (7 causes)

See full list of 437 Multiple Symptom Checker combinations related to Inattention

Home Diagnostic Testing and Inattention

Home medical tests possibly related to Inattention:

• Home Drug Tests
  • Home Marijuana Tests
  • Home Cocaine Tests
  • Home Alcohol Tests
  • Hair Drug Screening Tests
  • Methamphetamine Tests
  • Opiate Drug Tests
  • Benzodiazepine Drug Tests
  • Multiple Drug Screening Kits
• Smoking-Related Disorders: Home Testing:
  • Nicotine Home Tests
  • Home Lung Function Tests
• Mental Health: Home Testing:
  • Home Emotional Stress Tests

Causes of General Symptom Types

Research the causes of these more general types of symptom:

• Personality symptoms (2477 causes)

Causes of Similar Symptoms to Inattention

Research the causes of these symptoms that are similar to, or related to, the symptom Inattention:

• Concentration difficulty (153 causes)
• Hyperactivity (95 causes)

Diagnostic Guides for Inattention

Medical Books Excerpts Read excerpts from published book sections related to Inattention from the following published medical books for more detailed information about Inattention. Free access (no registration): read all online diagnostic book sections about Inattention

Copyright notice for book excerpts: Copyright © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.

Misdiagnosis and Inattention

Parental fears about toddler behavior often unfounded: There are many behaviors in infants and toddlers that may give rise to a fear that the child has some form of mental health condition. In...read more »

Rare epilepsy misdiagnosed as ADHD: The less common disorder of temporal lobe epilepsy is a type of epilepsy without physical seizures. Some patients suffer from hyperactivity and similar symptoms,...read more »

Various conditions misdiagnosed as ADHD: The hyperactivity type symptoms that are often diagnosed as ADHD, can also be caused by a number of physical conditions, as...read more »

Undiagnosed stroke leads to misdiagnosed aphasia: BBC News UK reported on a man who had been institutionalized and treated for mental illness because he suffered from sudden inability to speak. This was initially...read more »

Dementia may be a drug interaction: A common scenario in aged care is for a patient to show mental decline to dementia. Whereas this can, of course, occur due to various medical conditions, such as a stroke...read more »

ADHD under-diagnosed in adults: Although the over-diagnoses of ADHD in children is a well-known controversy, the reverse side related to adults. Some adults can remain undiagnosed, and indeed the condition has usually been...read more »

Bipolar disorder misdiagosed as various conditions by primary physicians: Bipolar disorder (manic-depressive disorder) often fails to be diagnosed correctly by primary care physicians. Many patients with bipolar seek help from their physician, rather than a...read more »

Eating disorders under-diagnosed in men: The typical patient with an eating disorder is female. The result is that men with eating disorders often fail to be diagnosed or have a delayed...read more »

Depression undiagnosed in teenagers: Serious bouts of depression can be undiagnosed in teenagers. The "normal" moodiness of teenagers can cause severe medical depression to be overlooked. See misdiagnosis of depression or symptoms of depression....read more »

Undiagnosed anxiety disorders related to depression: Patients with depression (see symptoms of depression) may also have undiagnosed anxiety disorders (see symptoms of anxiety disorders). Failure to diagnose these anxiety disorders may worsen...read more »

Read more about Misdiagnosis and Inattention

Diagnostic tests for Inattention:

Various tests are used in the diagnosis of Inattention. Some of these are listed below :

• Neurodevelopment assessment - is an important part of the evaluation of children who are thought to be "hyperactive" and inattentive in order to exclude developmental weaknesses.
• Mental state examination (to help detect bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety and personality disorders) - including appearance, behavior, rate and continuity of speech, mood, affect, thought content, evidence of any hallucinations or abnormal beliefs, orientation to time, place and person, attention and concentration, short-term memory, insight and judgement.
• Spinal tap - may be required to diagnose Multiple sclerosis.
• Electrophysiological tests such as visual-evoked response (VER) - may be required to diagnose Multiple sclerosis.

See full list of 4 diagnostic tests for Inattention

Diagnosis Checklist: Questions your doctor may ask (and why!)

During a consultation, your doctor will use various techniques in their assessment of Inattention. Your doctor may ask several questions when assessing your condition. It is important to remember that your consultation is a two-way process and any extra information you can share with your doctor about your symptoms may help them with their diagnosis. Some of the questions your doctor may ask are listed below:

• How long has inattentive behavior been a problem? - to determine if acute or chronic.
• What is the age of the person with inattentive behavior? - causes of inattentive behavior vary with age. Note however, that normal young children are often very active with short attention spans e.g. most parents of 2 year old children become exhausted by the activity level, try to adjust to the frequent changes of activity and modify their houses and vigilance to cope with the impulsiveness.
• Childhood disorders or disabilities? - e.g. fetal alcohol syndrome, autism, microcephaly, Williams syndrome, brain damage, attention deficit disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, hearing impairment, vision impairment, learning disability.
• Family and environmental factors? - e.g. risk factors for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and conduct disorders in children include disrupted childhood care; socially disadvantaged; lack of warm caring family; family violence (physical or sexual abuse); antisocial peer group exposure.
• Past psychiatric history? - e.g. bipolar disorder , depression, anxiety.

See Diagnosis Checklist for Inattention (15 listings)

Diagnosis Checklist: Associated symptoms your doctor may ask about (and why!)

Sometimes, other symptoms may be present and may help your doctor analyse your condition. The symptoms your doctor may ask about (in association with Inattention) may include:

• Learning disability? - A number of children have problems in focusing attention and maintaining concentration. In addition, many are described as being inattentive, overactive, fidgety, impulsive and distractible. All of these behaviors may contribute to problems in learning in the classroom, as well as social problems. Conversely children with learning disorders may tend to have increasing difficulty with peer relations, tend to withdraw from social situations, or exhibit acting out, hyperactive and difficult behavior.
• Hearing deficits? - probably the largest group of children with hyperactive behaviors and with problems with concentration and attention are secondary to hearing deficits.
• Symptoms of Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder? - e.g. impulsivity, inattentiveness, over activity, irritability, poor concentration and school learning problems.
• Symptoms of Bipolar disorder? - e.g. episodes of depression (often psychotic in intensity) and at other times episodes of psychotic excitement (mania or hypomania). Symptoms of psychotic excitement may include elevation of mood, hyperactivity, inattentiveness, grandiose ideas, irritability, disinhibition (which affects social, sexual and financial behavior), rapid speech and racing thought, delusions (persecutory or grandiose) and sometimes hallucinations.
• Symptoms of anxiety? - e.g. nervousness, shakiness, tremor, restlessness, hyperactivity, irritability, insomnia, poor concentration, heart palpitations, racing heart, sweating, dizziness, diarrhea, lump in throat and frequency of urination.

See Diagnosis Checklist for Inattention (15 listings)

Stories from Users for Inattention

Real-life user stories relating to Inattention:

• once more pay your kind attention kiera
• Attention!! Attention Ladies Please Read!!!
• again your kind attention needed

Symptom specific forums: The following patient stories in our interactive forums and message boards relate to Inattention or relevant symptoms:

• Constitutional (General Wellbeing) (156)
  • Sore Scalp/hair follicles
  • Fat loss in entire body
  • Dont know how much more I can take..
  • I'm Lost.
  • My wife does not sweat I'm worried
  • More user stories
• Cardiovascular (Heart and Blood Circulation) (171)
  • Chest pain and shortness of breath
  • Hand numbness
  • Purple-blue skin color
  • Need help with diagnoses
  • Anxiety and high BP
  • More user stories
• Neurological (Nerves) (357)
  • Could this be MS?
  • Numbness and tingling all over
  • Tingling/numbness in arms/hands/legs/face/head [more symptoms]
  • Eye twitch
  • Essential tremor
  • More user stories
• Psychiatric (Mental Health) (218)
  • PLEASE can anyone help my son?!
  • My husbands making me sad
  • Heart condition or mental health problem?
  • Anxiety or...?
  • Weird Behavior at School. Normal?
  • More user stories

Videos for Inattention

Patient Surveys for Inattention

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Definitions of Inattention:

Inattention: Lack of attention; negligence.
Source: Stedman's Medical Spellchecker, © 2006 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.

Organs affected by Inattention:

The list of organs typically affected by Inattention may include, but is not limited to:

• Brain

Detailed list of causes of Inattention

The list below shows some of the causes of Inattention mentioned in various sources:

• Aarskog Syndrome - attention deficit disorder
• Alcohol abuse - poor attention span
• Attention Deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders - distractibility
• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder - careless mistakes
• Bipolar disorder - distractability

See full list of 21 causes of Inattention

How Common are these Causes of Inattention?

This information refers to the general prevalence and incidence of these diseases, not to how likely they are to be the actual cause of Inattention. Of the 21 causes of Inattention that we have listed, we have the following prevalence/incidence information:

• 1 causes are "very common" diseases
• 3 causes are "common" diseases
• 1 causes are "uncommon" diseases
• 2 causes are "rare" diseases
• 2 causes are "very rare" diseases
• 15 causes have no prevalence information.

See the analysis of the prevalence of 21 causes of Inattention

Conditions listing symptoms: Inattention:

The following list of conditions have 'Inattention' or similar listed as a symptom in our database. This computer-generated list may be inaccurate or incomplete. Always seek prompt professional medical advice about the cause of any symptom.

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Doctors and specialists: Who should I consult about Inattention?

Depending on the seriousness of the onset of Inattention, you may want to consult one of the following medical professionals.
Important:In extreme cases, always seek advice from emergency services :

• General practitioner
• Emergency physician
• Psychiatrist

Classifications of Inattention:

Medical Conditions associated with Inattention:

Personality symptoms (2444 causes)

Symptoms related to Inattention:

Concentration difficulty (139 causes), Hyperactivity (55 causes)

Inattention as a disease:

You may also want to research other Diseases in our Disease Center.

Medical articles on signs and symptoms:

Doctor-patient articles related to symptoms and diagnosis:

• What to tell your doctor about your symptoms
• What questions will the doctor ask about your symptoms (and why)?
• What does your doctor do in a physical examination?
• What questions should you ask the doctor about a symptom or diagnosis?
• What questions to ask the doctor about the treatment
• Steps to take to get the most out of a doctor visit
• More articles on symptoms and diagnosis

These general medical articles may be of interest:

• Medical Symptom Books
• Symptoms of the Silent Killer Diseases
• Online Diagnosis
• Self Diagnosis Pitfalls
• Pitfalls of Online Diagnosis

See full list of premium articles on symptoms and diagnosis

Medical News summaries about Inattention

Our news pages contain the following medical news summaries about Inattention and many other medical conditions:

• Capsuled medication proving effective in treatment of bipolar disorder
• Correct diagnosis of ADD and ADHD can lead to fulfillment of potential
• Depression has recognizable symptoms and is treatable
• Diet affects ADHD
• Symptoms of bipolar disorder defined

More Ways To Research Medical Signs and Symptoms:

• Symptom Center - over 2,500 symptoms listed
• Symptom List
• Symptom Descriptions
• All Symptoms
• Diseases Center - find symptom lists for over 8,000 diseases.
• Books on Medical Symptoms
• Books on Medical Diagnosis