adhd and how it REALLY affects peo

[snappertapper]

Got diagnosed as an adult, went through a couple rounds of vyvance and decided to deal with the adhd as I didn't care for the loss of appetite.

Those pills could sure cure a hangover though.

[bklem]

I think I have it, I'm 46.
I have a 124 IQ in HS my GPA was like 2. Barely graduated. Why? I was bored with being bored we being bored.
I read tons of books.

I wish I had a teacher that taught me to harness it.

I am also still socially akwatd yet I love being around people.

What helps ME in those situations is to have a goal and a plan. NOT a detailed plan.

I think you are maybe more GT (Gifted & Talented) than ADD. The two can-and often do-overlap, but what you described is more GT.

[coy-ote]

Thanks for such insight I guess I have ADD throughout elementary my teachers would tell my parents he’s so smart but daydreams a lot, he’s the smartest kid or one of them but doesn’t do any home work maybe he’s cheating? I was put in catholic school to be made to pay attention and still would hear things retain the info or read once and retain it but I couldn’t complete certain tasks , my oldest son has some of the same traits but is like me in learning once and done. But to try and get him to practice is a struggle, in martial arts I try and train with both of my boys 10 and 7 and my oldest loses interest in training but does great in tourneys. Thanks for the input I will try what you guys have posted to deal with his and my issues.


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[Ace141]

I have it. When I was a kid a doctor said I should be on meds. At the time the only thing available was Ritalin, and I had a friend on it. I told my parents I absolutely refused to be a mindless zombie. With advances in medicine I hear its better but I turned out fine. It was rough for a few years but I may have just not had it as bad as others.

[Buckwheat]

I was diagnosed with ADD as a child. Stopped my meds in middle school. And learned to work with it. When in hit my late 20s I noticed sitting still and not interrupting people was a hard thing to stop. I went and took a test. And was told I had Adult ADHD. Took meds for about a year and said screw it. Made me lazy. Was hard to get motivated. But man once I did the concentration was there. But now I just use to my advantage. Get work done. I might do 10 steps in different orders. But it gets done. Lol.

I do squirrel ALOT...

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[bklem]

I call it chasing rabbits. That is what we do all day in our minds. The trouble happens when the rabbit we want to see goes down a rabbit hole (then the OCD side of ADD takes over) and we obsess about it until we get to the rabbit.

Here are the tools.

1. Make Lists
2. Make outlines of essays and projects.

Work in short bursts of flurry....then take breaks

Focus the rabbits....Make the list... let the rabbits run.

Focus the rabbits....Accomplish part of the list...let the rabbits run

When using an outline on an essay the outline gives focused structure to the writing while the running rabbits give information.

Over time they will learn to focus the rabbits when needed and it is amazing to see how fast they can accomplish things when they do. They go back to letting them run.

Get 2 or 3 ADD people together and the conversation will go from project to cookies to whataburger to project to football to soccer to swimming to project and they will all follow the conversation........and the non ADD people will still be on cookies and lost.

Never realized what I was doing was accommodating ADD/ADHD kids but you have just described my teaching style. Especially when teaching essays. We focus on small detailed tasks. I always tell them to "quit worrying about the mules and just load the wagon"! In other words, focus on the task I gave you and not the end product-yet. My guess is that most of our youngsters today have some form of ADD due to the technological format they grow up in. So many opportunities for multi-tasking that their mind never practices focusing. Just a theory.

[Rat]

I call it chasing rabbits. That is what we do all day in our minds. The trouble happens when the rabbit we want to see goes down a rabbit hole (then the OCD side of ADD takes over) and we obsess about it until we get to the rabbit.

Here are the tools.

1. Make Lists
2. Make outlines of essays and projects.

Work in short bursts of flurry....then take breaks

Focus the rabbits....Make the list... let the rabbits run.

Focus the rabbits....Accomplish part of the list...let the rabbits run

When using an outline on an essay the outline gives focused structure to the writing while the running rabbits give information.

Over time they will learn to focus the rabbits when needed and it is amazing to see how fast they can accomplish things when they do. They go back to letting them run.

Get 2 or 3 ADD people together and the conversation will go from project to cookies to whataburger to project to football to soccer to swimming to project and they will all follow the conversation........and the non ADD people will still be on cookies and lost.

Great way of stating it, this is exactly how to do it!

[Outbreaker]

Never realized what I was doing was accommodating ADD/ADHD kids but you have just described my teaching style. Especially when teaching essays. We focus on small detailed tasks. I always tell them to "quit worrying about the mules and just load the wagon"! In other words, focus on the task I gave you and not the end product-yet. My guess is that most of our youngsters today have some form of ADD due to the technological format they grow up in. So many opportunities for multi-tasking that their mind never practices focusing. Just a theory.

Those people that have messy desks, garages and backpacks but know where everything is.........that is a hallmark of ADD. Non ADD people (my wife and a former boss) do not get it.

Teachers that have ADD and openly talk about it really make a difference to ADD kids. I had a kid apologize for being off her meds. I took her outside and talked with her. I totally changed her life and she changed how I talk about ADD. It is always the first day of school every year.

[cattlelackranch]

Some good information

[txhunter90]

My wife has ADD/ADHD and has been on Ritalin for 8 years now. She never stops moving whether on her medicine or not. Saying this, because she has just now started to get off of her medicine. If we ever wanted to have kids she has to get off of it. It is rough trying to get her weaned off of her medicine. I just wonder if the medicine has done more harm than good from taking it.

[LiftAndShoot]

Preface: Never been diagnosed officially. However, my parents' best friend in the world my whole life (like my second dad) was a clinical psychiatrist and assured the family that both my dad and myself had some form of one of the two.

That said, I can speak to some 'symptoms' that I experience on a regular basis as an adult.

1. Complete lack of focus. I care very little about a LOT of things (things, not people). My attention moves from thing to thing ridiculously fast and it's not really a choice. It's incredibly difficult for me to stay interested in something, which sucks, because it makes me feel like I'm not smart enough to 'get' some things. I realized this is likely a symptom and not a sign of lack of ability because I was horrendous in math when I was a kid - I couldn't pay attention in class. But, when I got in flight school and got interested I could all of a sudden make in flight calculations faster than a lot of other people. It was striking.

2. Laser focus. If a problem (or hobby, in some cases) really tickles my fancy I will fall down the rabbit hole so fast it'll make your head spin. I can easily sink hours and hours into investigating something and never think twice about it because the resolution becomes the most important thing in the universe.

3. Irritability. I tend to get upset faster than I should. Most of the time this is because I very rapidly run through a course of action or set of decisions in my head and I feel like whatever else is going on hasn't caught up to my speed.

4. Very specific but limited subject recall. I have an absolutely horrible memory. I can't express how much this is the worse thing about the whole ball of wax. There are things I want to remember, details I want to be able to reach back to - and I just can't. Mainly because 'living in the moment' or 'slowing down' is not an option. But, if I'm in an argument or some kind of mentally stimulating exercise, I can remember everything everyone says - down to the word choice, pause, and inflection. Sometimes I can hear a song once and remember most of it. I can quote movies I've only seen once. It's profoundly annoying to a lot of people.

5. Last one; I keep lists and clutter bothers the crap out of me. This may not be a real symptom but I keep a post-it note list attached to my wallet that I put on there about once every day or two. Also keep lists on my phone. And, it always makes me feel better to take a mess and add some order to it.

Not sure if these 'symptoms' are qualifying, but if anyone experiences this kind of thing - you aren't rowing the boat alone. It's a hard, hard thing to deal with, especially when you work corporate and/or make an effort to go back to school.

-LaS

[silentstalker92]

My wife has ADD/ADHD and has been on Ritalin for 8 years now. She never stops moving whether on her medicine or not. Saying this, because she has just now started to get off of her medicine. If we ever wanted to have kids she has to get off of it. It is rough trying to get her weaned off of her medicine. I just wonder if the medicine has done more harm than good from taking it.

correct me if im wrong but wasn't there a lawsuit on Ritalin? Or was that Risperdal?

[SAC]

I was "diagnosed" with ADD in the 4th grade. Took meds, trashed most of them. It's interesting to read others situations and how similar they are to mine.

[ckamp52]

My wife has severe adhd and when on certain meds she is the same way. emotionless and wont eat etc. She hates taking meds since it is basically legal speed but has found little else that works. She was on the deans list and in an elite degree program in college but only due to her smoking the left handed cigs. She doesn't smoke normal cigs or the other now but wishes she could just because it calms her down enough to function properly etc. She tries different ways to control it but in the corporate world it is very hard for people not to judge her no matter how good the results she is producing are. She color coordinates everything in her planner, etc and people run to her management saying she is coloring in meetings and not focusing. then she shows them what she is doing and they are like wow you are super organized no wonder you are efficient. took a long time and losing a good many jobs before she found one with good management that works to utilize their peoples stregths and weaknesses properly and not just be a power trip happy manager

[Aggie PhD]

Get 2 or 3 ADD people together and the conversation will go from project to cookies to whataburger to project to football to soccer to swimming to project and they will all follow the conversation........and the non ADD people will still be on cookies and lost.

Holy bejeezus...... this is me to a T. It's like carrying on 3 conversations at the same time.

I'm sure that I would have been diagnosed with it. And there are days that I could probably take an Adderall.

I got to get back to focusing rabbits for a minute. Squirrel.....