Does anyone in here have Attention Defecit Disorder?

[Bioture]

Yaoi?

[adorn]

I honestly just realized that I have ADD. In school i can not do anything but think about random stuff that has no relevance to school at all. Also i can never be comfortable no matter where i'm sitting. I'm always moving around and doing different things. When i get home from school i can never take out my homework untill like 11 o'clock and then i never finish it because i can't concentrate on it for long enough to get it done.

Any Diagnostical Advice?

[Money]

yea ive had ADHD (attention defecit hyperactivity disorder) ive had it since 1st grade and im 22 now

[Pearl Jam]

How would you suggest avoiding the trap of using it as a crutch? I would really hate to be around someone like that, and one of my total nightmares is becoming one of those people.

Like I said, I'm embarrassed to talk about this so I definitely am not doing it for attention. Secondly, the reason I'm asking about it here instead of friends is because I don't want them to think of me any differently, or feel sorry for me. Fuck that shit.

There's definitely a male ego component where I feel a certain element of shame for not having my shit on lock, 24/7.

I take a fairly hardass approach, but I'm a firm believer in mind over matter. Anything like depression, ADD, etc. can be beat through sheer willpower. Of course, it's a lot easier to just pop some pills and say they're working, but that has always (huge pun coming, watch your head) been a hard pill for me to swallow (hope you made it out unscathed).

When I was 14 I was diagnosed with ADD and all the while that I took the ritalin I questioned it. I knew it had some effect, yes, but I didn't really feel that it was A. Necessary or B. A significant enough effect to continue taking. So around age 18 I said fuck it and refused to take it anymore. I just don't think about, honestly - it's a lot easier to tell myself "concentrate pearl jam, you fucking moron, this is important" than it is "oh man I can't concentrate, the ADD has a hold of me, I NEED SOME ADDERALL AHHH CODE BLUE CODE BLUE".

A good friend of mine did the same thing with depression (even though I'm sure he wouldn't approve of me mentioning that here). Took his medication for a couple of months, then decided that the only way to be happier with himself was to ditch the medication crutch and turn things around for himself. And he did exactly that. Sure, I'm sure there were patches in there where it wasn't easy. But in my opinion, worth it. It's so much more satisfying to beat something without the aid of something else. I'm pretty sure most people could admit to that.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a scientologist. I'm not saying all psychological condition medications are bullshit. But with less severe conditions like the ones I mentioned above, I'm calling bullshit about 90-95% of the time.

[DoTheFandango]

You guys, just because you fidgit or can't pay attention in class doesn't mean you have ADD or ADHD, it just means you are hyperactive and/or retarded.

There is a difference. Trust.

[PaulOakenfold]

I take a fairly hardass approach, but I'm a firm believer in mind over matter. Anything like depression, ADD, etc. can be beat through sheer willpower. Of course, it's a lot easier to just pop some pills and say they're working, but that has always (huge pun coming, watch your head) been a hard pill for me to swallow (hope you made it out unscathed).

Okay Tom Cruise

[Liquid Blue]

sci-en-tol-ogy~

[NaiLed]

You guys, just because you fidgit or can't pay attention in class doesn't mean you have ADD or ADHD, it just means you are hyperactive and/or retarded.

There is a difference. Trust.

haha, i was just thinking this

[Facetious]

Strattera (Atomoxetine) is a non-stimulant treatment for ADD. it is a norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor. its a drug of fast adjustment so if you get sick from it that wont happen for long, just after as little as 3 days adjustment takes place. it may cause appitite surpression and weightloss. going on 40mg straight up i do not recommend or you could vomit and get discouraged, tell the doctor you want 25mg for the first 3 days. Danger: do not combine with ultram (tramadol) and of course MAOIs (duh).

took it, made me impotent

worst thing ever

[DoTheFandango]

I take Concerta BTW, if any of you (especially J=T) were interested. I believe I'm at the 72mg level now, and I think will stay there for at least 3 more months.

After taking them for the past 2 months, I know that they have helped me. I have a B or higher in 7/8 classes (AP Physics is a bitch, give me a break)

[Eric is God]

I won't claim to be an expert on ADHD, but here are my credentials on the subject:

1. I have ADHD (actually ADD, inattentive type)
2. I have two brothers with ADHD, one with hyperactivity type
3. My mom is the head of the ADRN (Attention Deficit Resource Network)
4. She also works along side one of the country's (Canada) foremost experts on childhood ADHD and in roughly 4-5 months she may get a new job as president of CADDRA (Canadian ADHD Resource Alliance)
5. I'm doing my 4th year economic thesis paper on a cost-benefit analysis for the treatment of children and adults with ADHD. So I've read roughly 40-50 medical studies on the subject of what ADHD is, how many people have it, what treatments work, the comorbidities (other psychiatric conditions) that are common in people with ADHD etc...

I'll start with part of the intro to my paper and some facts I've collected:

"Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (or ADHD) is an inherited neurological syndrome, affecting both children and adults. The three core symptoms of ADHD are inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. The most important thing to realize is that the person cannot control their focus when they need to. This disorder is not actually a new disorder and is well documented from at least the 1950’s on. ADHD is the most common childhood behavioural disorder. It occurs in 5-12% of children throughout the world, affecting roughly 8-10% of males under the age of 18 compared with 3-4% of females of the same age group. Over 60-80% of these children continue to have the disorder through adolescence and by adulthood, 40-60% still struggle with some symptoms of the disorder".

The estimate of 5-12% was a rough average taken from national studies in both Canada and the US. ADHD is the umbrella term they decided to use because it got confusing always using both ADHD and ADD. ADD is just a subclass of ADHD and applies to people who don't have the hyperactive aspect. ADHD is basically a brain wiring problem. Your brain's wires just don't send or receive signals as effectively as other people so you get problems like being easily distracted or fidgeting or whatever.

Some other facts I've discovered from studies (I won't go into the actual numbers because it would take forever, but rest assured these have all been put through statistical tests that show the results to be significant):

1. Children with ADHD are much more likely to have other psychiatric conditions like anxiety, depression, learning disorders etc..)
2. Children with ADHD have roughly twice the medical costs of non-ADHD children. This includes hospitalizations, emergency room visits, prescription drug costs and inpatient visits like seeing a pyschologist or psychiatrist.
3. Children with ADHD are more likely to score lower on notional math and reading tests and also more likely to be suspended from school at some point

4.Adults with ADHD are also much more likely to have other psychiatric conditions
5. Adults with ADHD are more likely to have substance abuse problems, be involved in car accidents, be fired from or impulsively quit a job(s), and studies have shown that ADHD in the prison population is much higher than in the rest of the population
6. Adults with ADHD are much less likely to graduate from highschool, complete a post-secondary school education and on average they have 2-2.5 less years of school than adults without ADHD.
7. Adults with ADHD also have roughly twice the medical costs of non-ADHD adults (one study showed average yearly costs to be $5651US vs $2771)

In terms of medication, the research I did focused mainly on the cost-effectiveness of different medications so I don't think I'll go into that.

As for my personal history with the disorder. I was diagnosed with ADD-inattentive type when I was 12. I went on ritaline for about a week and it caused racing in my speech and the teacher noticed I kept interrupting her so I stopped taking it. I went without any kind of treatment for about 8 years. Adolescents with ADHD are statistically more likely to be gifted in terms of intelligence and generally have higher IQ's. As such it's very common for children and teenagers with ADD (no hyperactivity) to never be tested or diagnosed because they are able to breeze through elementary and highschool on natural intelligence alone. However, as at least one of you mentioned it's also very common for ADD and ADHD children to br horrible procrastinators. We put things off until the last minute at which point we panic and adrenaline kicks in and forces us to study/write the report. While we are in this panic mode, we are usually saying things like "I'll never put things off again" "why do I keep doing this" and then we almost always end up getting a great mark on the report or test. Then we tell ourselves how smart we are since we can keep pulling off these great things at the last minute. This becomes a cycle that reinforces the procrastination, also contributes to developing an anxiety disorder and generally just wears your body out. Unfortunetely, natural intelligence can only get you so far. Almost always, this kind of person will hit a wall where their bad habits catch up with them and they just can't pull it off. In my case it occured in 2nd year university where I blanked on my stats exam (couldn't remember a thing) because I had only studied the night before. Went into the exam with an 82%, came out with a 61%. People with ADHD usually have thought patterns that are like roller coasters. We can quickly go from rational and methodical in our thinking to irrational and panicked. For example, going from: "I waited till the last minute to study for this exam" to "I have no time left and I'm going to fail" to "I'll fail the course and be kicked out of school" to "My life is over" all in the span of about 2 minutes. All of those tendencies I mentioned apply to me and I wanted to try and explain what it's like to have ADHD or ADD to someone who doesn't have it.

Medications and treatment have a lot of issues. If you think you have ADHD get tested by a specialist in the area. This usually involves questionaires given to your parent and teacher as well as to you and other forms of testing to see if you have ADHD and what type you may have. My own research suggests that family doctors simply give out medication 95% of the time and are much less likely to refer patients to get other treatment from psychiatrists or pyschologists.

ADHD is a behavioral disorder. You can't simply treat it with medication!. Medications (and since 2nd year university I've been on 5-6 kinds. I'm on 10mg of Adderall daily atm) for ADHD are supposed to help you focus to the point where your own willpower can be used to help you acheive. Using myself as an example, there have been periods in the last 3 years where I was so depessed, stressed, and anxious that getting out of bed by 2-3pm was an accomplishment. If you live a life of constant anxiety, eventually your willpower is useless because you are tired of struggling, your self esteem is shot to peices and you have zero motivation. If you don't give a damn about your life, telling someone to suck it up and try harder isn't going to work. Again, the point of medication is to surpress the anxiety, depression, ADHD etc... enough so the person is then able to feel incontrol of their life again. The other huge problem with medication is when you are dealing with someone who doesn't just have ADHD, they have anxiety and/or depression. ADHD is treated with stimulants, which can obviously increase anxiety. If you think you have anxiety or depression as well as ADHD, make sure your doctor knows that. It may seem contradictory, but as well as Adderall I also take Clonazepam which is reduces my anxiety (its a relaxant). The toughest part about medications is that different ones work for different people and not only that, but dosage is extremely important depending on the severity of the ADHD, anxiety, or depression. It may take months or even a year before you can find the right combination and dosage of medications that work for you. If you find one doesn't work don't keep taking it.

Now I said you can't simply treat it with medication. Once you have the symptoms under control, exercise has been proven to be the 2nd best way of controlling ADHD symptoms (after medication). The problem is that most people need to be on the medication before they can work up the motivation to start exercising. Also, build structure into your life. Have a weekly schedule that goes by the hour or half hour. People with ADHD are horrible with time management so prioritization and scheduling are key.

One last paragraph then I'm done. ADHD and ADD can actually be positive tools in a person's adult life. I've be going to lectures and seminars in the past few months and a few of them have stressed that many adults with ADHD/ADD prosper in certain careers. It's believed that a huge percentage of Hollywood actors/directors have ADHD because histrionic personalities are common among ADHD individuals. Borderline personalities are also common among ADHD individuals so they make great vets, social workers, and other proessions that deal with helping or saving people. As for people with ADD it's believe that a large percentage of people who work as programmers (especially in graphics) have ADD because computers are great stimulators and that's what people with ADD crave. Under the same premise you could probably see why a large percentage of people who are online playing games 8-12 hours a day have some kind of ADD.

That took a huge amount of my time, but I hope I've done at least a little good in writing this. If anyone has any specific questions, I'll gladly answer them. Again, I'm not an expert, but I do have access to a couple of them and a whole stack of studies sitting on my desk at the moment.

[za gophar]

i could never never never create a schedule for myself.

i have tried this many times a year, long term schedules and short term schedules, it has never worked.

next time i create a schedule, it will include things that i dont want or need to do. then, in trying to follow it, ill actually procrastinate doing the things on the schedule by doing things that i actually need to do. that would work better for me than trying to create a real schedule.

[Eric is God]

i could never never never create a schedule for myself.

i have tried this many times a year, long term schedules and short term schedules, it has never worked.

next time i create a schedule, it will include things that i dont want or need to do. then, in trying to follow it, ill actually procrastinate doing the things on the schedule by doing things that i actually need to do. that would work better for me than trying to create a real schedule.

I'm the exact same way. Just because I wrote all this advice on what we should do doesn't mean I do it myself. The closest I've come to a decent schedule is making a spreadsheet in excel for a one-week period, broken into hours. You don't have to be precise in what you schedule in when it comes to school work. If you have 2-3 things to study for and 2-3 assignments or reports to do just schedule in that you will do school work from say 4-5pm and 8-10pm or something. You don't have to specify exactly what you will be working on, just that during those hours you will be doing something productive. And if you deviate from your schedule a bit don't give up and tell yourself you can't follow a schedule.

[za gophar]

suddenly i am intrigued. i will try to make a schedule for myself tomorrow.

anyway, i just realized a brilliant way to make ADD work in your favor. if you are about to do something, and then get sidetracked by a thought and forget what you are about to do, just start doing something productive, like homework. You will immediately realize what you were going to do, stop doing homework, and do what you originally wanted as a way of procrastinating the homework. this works every time, like a charm.