Suspected ADD

My family and I suspect I have ADD and if so I have probably had it since childhood.

I jump around on websites (including this one) like a jack in the box and I quite often find it difficult to concentrate on most things.

Another thing I've found is I can't concentrate on reading for very long so as a result I may sometimes post things and not either watched them or read them through properly, so if I do that, please understand I don't do it intentionally.

Who else finds it hard to concentrate etc?

(It took me almost forever to type this out and I think this is the reason I generally don't do really long posts.)

Please consider & do alot of serious thought & research before you go towards the prescription drug route, please. Lately I've done alot of reading online about drugs for so called "mental illness" or attention deficit problems, & it seems like the drug companies are playing heavily to our paranoia about things that really are kind of normal for people! Especially for young people. Don't let a doctor(drug salesman)talk you into taking a dangerous mind altering drug that you will be stuck with for the rest of your life, seek out other ways to calm yourself down, & there are many alternatives.

B's had ADD since childhood, but has never been on meds for it. He actually uses it as a basis for how he lives his life. For example, the type of jobs he looks for always involve him leaving the office at least one a week. He really can't stand to sit there 40 hrs/5 days a week.

depression can also be linked with ADD, although you're more likely to be diagnosed as depressed. Often times when you're depressed and stressed, you have ADD-like symptoms: racing thoughts, inability to concentrate, etc.

Personally I think with everything going on today, ADD is no longer something special anymore. I think its just the norm.

Originally Posted by lunasmom

depression can also be linked with ADD, although you're more likely to be diagnosed as depressed. Often times when you're depressed and stressed, you have ADD-like symptoms: racing thoughts, inability to concentrate, etc.

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My doctor went to a seminar about girls with ADD/ADHD and it was stated that most girls get mis-diagnosed because we display often times opposite symptoms than boys do. So for years I was on Zoloft and Prozac when it was all wrong.

It's actually harder to properly diagnose in an adult than a child. The Conner's form is an attempt to objectively diagnose ADD/ADHD/depression - a good start, but a ways to go.

Medication can be good or bad, a true trial and error. It is a huge mistake to take the medication and not get counseling. There are behavior modification techniques an organizational training that should occur. Medication can be a positive life-changing experience for some, for others the side effects far outweigh the good. You can, under a doctor's supervision, do a trial of the medication to see if it works. Please note that there are several different types of medication available, in the event that one doesn't work.

That said, get a good physical first to rule out other possible causes - seizures being the first to come to mind. The medication can make seizures worse. And you don't want to waste time treating one thing when it is really something else.

A neuropsychologist and a neurologist both told me I had ADHD,when they were actually diagnosing my brain-damaged daughter!! One suggested that listening to background music helps to activate the brain & improve focusing. I know that if I watch a movie, I'm often reading, too.
Waiting tables was the ideal job for me I get so easily distracted here at the office - I tend to be working on several things at once. If the printer's printing, then I'm off to the copier, etc. Not very good for an office job, so if you come across any good coping suggestions, please post them!!!

Im a ADD person... Medicated one at that! I take a very low dose of ritialin every day.... Thats okay for some people but doesn't work for everyone. I have been diagnosed twice actually, since I was 16! I see a phsyciatrist also to try to learn relaxation techniques because I also have depression along with it. It works really well for me, but I have to take my meds at the same time everyday and I can't miss a dose of the anti depressant. I sometimes skip the ritalin, depending on how Im feeling.

If you think you may have it there is a test that can help diagnose it. But for a ADD person, its not an easy test! You have to stay in the same room and answer a ton of multiple choice questions and it takes forever!! I think its called the M cats? Not sure though, its been awhile since I took it!

I hope you figure out what it is you have... everyones different and no one responds the same way as anyone else to medication! For some people it works, for others it makes it worse!! Good luck!

I was diagnosed ADD in my early twenties... dutifully listened to the docs and took meds... for a year and a half. I hated them. I hated myself on them. I do better with herbal/natural treatments and training myself.

Background music is really good for me. I'm a writer (hope to be paid for it someday), and have found that listening to music without words (or in a foreign language) while I'm writing or pretty much anything else helps immensely. I listen while i drive, write, read, etc... cleaning too. The lack of words is especially important when writing... not so much everywhere else. When I'm writing, and listening to English singers (as in ones singing in English), I tend to sing along and then those words and phrases find their way into my writing... which i want to avoid (too many cliches and stuff in American music). So classical and jazz, with a mix of world music in there for pep.

Something else that helps me, namely when writing, but it can help in other arenas... a kitchen timer. It's good for training yourself to focus on something. if you feel you want to read more, sit down with a timer nearby, set it for ... say... ten minutes... then sit down and read. Don't get up until the timer goes off. I am good at one hour for writing and editing. When I'm at home, I bounce from thing to thing, but I get it all done... If ifeel like doing a load of laundry, I start it. Then I might do the dishes for ten minutes, but get tired... so I let some soak in the sink and go check email, or work on websites, or... well, you get the idea. I make my ADD work for me. Is it easy? No. Is it something anyone with ADD can do? heck yeah. In both of my jobs I move around (most of the time). Are these jobs perfect for me? Not entirely, as they don't pay the rent... but I'll get there. In my personal life, it all works, in its own freak-show kind of way.

And see? Someone with ADD can write long emails/posts... or maybe I'm just longwinded... hmm... yeah, that sounds about right.

Amanda

I have adult ADD too. I also had a lot of problems in school (gradewise). I don't have trouble concentrating on the Internet, TV or video games, but ask me to to homework or something like that, and I am all over the place. If you've seen this saying "People say I have ADD but I don't know what they are talking abou..oh look a kitty!" that's totally me! Also, when people are talking to me my eyes tend to wander around the room. Also when I am having a conversation I tend to jump around to different topics all the time. My friends get so annoyed by that sometimes, lol.

I took Adderol at first, but it gave me bad headaches. I was on Effexor for a while and I really liked it, but I actually got addicted to it. If I forgot to take it I would get bad headaches, sick to my stomach and the shakes, so I kinda weaned myself off that medication. I have something else, but I keep forgetting to take it.

I was diagnosed with it as a young child in school, I always had trouble doing my schoolwork or sitting down for a long time and concentrating. Finally a Teacher told my parents to have me checked out, and Doctors said I had adhd.

It also affected me socially, and I wasnt popular in school to begin with so it made it even harder to make good friends or want to be with other people.

Turns out I had to be in some "special" classes, but I was always good in English I never had any trouble with that so I was always in regular English

I was on Ritalin for a few years but it didnt help out at all and I still didnt make any friends I wasnt any more social like they said I would become, so I got off of it and finished Junior High and High School without it, though it was a struggle and I went to Summer School ALOT! Plus it CAN have serious side effects!

Some people believe ADHD is just a fake illness, and some of my teachers said I was just a child that misbehaved so alot of times I always had to sit in the corner, they didnt understand and made my life miserable. Even now as an adult, life doesnt change for people with minor cases of ADHD, you still have to do the same things as "normal" people even though you may find it impossible or hard to do certain things, it's like you never get any break in life you know.

To this day it has affected me greatly though and I have never worked yet. I have no health insurance so I cant get any help for my problems. I have 1 friend and he doesnt even live here, and I have no girlfriend and never had any relationship to date. I see a psychiatrist once a week but that doesnt even help that much. So the ADHD and my anxiety really take a toll on my life, if it was taken care of when I was really young mabye things would be a little better, but not saying they'd ever be perfect or normal.

I'm not, far as I'm aware, but my father is ADD (unmedicated) and my brother is ADHD. My brother was diagnosed young and my parents went to four doctors before they would agree to medicate him. He was on a variety of things, ending up with Adderall and Prozac working best. Then he decided to stop the meds and has lived without them for two years quite well.

He's still crazy, but heck, I love him. *noogies little brother*