Not only is research catching up with ADHD as a very real neurological condition, but news studies have also found it does not end in childhood, the Washington Post reported.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collected in 2011, 11 percent of children in the U.S. age 3 to 17 have attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD). Among those children, 30 percent will carry a full diagnosis into adulthood, with another 30 percent experiencing lingering symptoms of ADHD, according to a study from earlier this year.

"We tend to think that ADHD is a lifetime condition," said J.J. Sandra Kooij, a psychiatrist in the Netherlands. "You don't outgrow it."

Kooij said common and effective ways to handle adult ADHD is to avoid careers associated with deskwork and to find a partner with strong organizational skills. Sometimes the hyperactive behavior can turn into something else, a nervous tick for example, like the tapping of a foot or continuously clicking a pen.

David Goodman, a researcher at Johns Hopkins said adults with ADHD sometimes compensate for their disorder by going into a career they were told they would not do well in. For example, he said, an ADHD adult might want to prove he/she can thrive in business by handing in reports on time, but had to work all through the night just to finish said report.

Keith Connors, a psychologist, professor and ADHD specialist at Duke University told the New York Times that sudden awareness for ADHD makes it seem like a much larger issue than it is.

"The numbers make it look like an epidemic. Well, it's not. It's preposterous," he said. "This is a concoction to justify the giving out of medication at unprecedented and unjustifiable levels."

In 2002, stimulant medication sales were an estimated $1.7 billion, but that figure soared to upwards of $9 billion as recently as 2012.

Benedetto Vitiello, of the National Institute of Mental Health, told the Post he has not noticed any adverse affect with long-term use of ADHD medications. For some patients, it is necessary, while others can decrease their regimen over time. In adults with ADHD who do not need medications like they used to, it is often because they found a way to mentally or physically cope with their disorder.

For more information on ADHD, visit the websites of the National Institute of Mental Health (nimh.nih.gov) and Children and Adults With Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (chadd.org).