"I survived school unmedicated" thread | ADHD Information

I wasn't diagnosed until i was 27. That was after I had already gotten a full ride scholarship to undergrad, a biology degree in 4 years, graduated law school, and passed the bar. I always knew that something wasn't right with me, but thought i was just lazy or unorganized. I also thought I just took after my mom, who now I realize also has adhd. While I was in law school I actually sampled friends' adderall during exam time. Wow, was that an eye opening experience!!! I was a new person. That person that you always see in the library and laugh, not knowing how they do it. I was normally the person asleep or in the computer lab wasting time on the computer. Once I passed the bar and got a job and INSURANCE, which was huge also, I decided to go to the doctor. I did a lot of research on boards, such as this one, for months before I got the courage up to go. I found a specialist in my city and set up an appointment. He diagnosed me with mild to moderate adhd with anxiety. I was first placed on strattera, but that made me almost narcoleptic. I was quickly switched to adderall and it has worked great. Of course there are some side effects I don't enjoy, but it is better than falling asleep at my desk all day and being told some of my work was sloppy.

My point, after all of this is that you can be very successful without meds, but you can be even more successful with them if they work for you. It's a personal thing, but don't think that no meds means no success.

ladyadd38647.3683101852

I came back to this topic after a few days of thinking how I might respond

I spent most of my life trying to prove to other people that I wasnt stupid or lazy.

my mom called me lazy and slower than a 7 year itch! my teachers had me in the low reading groups with kids that couldnt even read the word CAT. Sigh, I would try to read really fast to prove I was worthy of moving up at least one group! I couldnt understand why I was with "the dumb kids" -- was I really that stupid?

Fast forward to middle school: struggled in everything.. hated math, moved to Florida and spend 6 months without any schooling.. I go back and don't know how to cross multiply.. get laughed at by the teacher when i asked for help

High School: OMG did I ever LOVE BAND!! Music was my redeeming grace.. If I hadnt had that, I'm not sure I would have survived. made C's and D's in most classes.. nearly didnt graduate because I nearly failed geometry. I would do stupid things, like dress out for PE and then figure out it wasnt PE day, have to change clothes and go to the correct class late.. Didnt want to admit I did that-- so wouldnt tell the teacher why I was late... Always getting lost, forgetting where my classes were.. going down the wrong hallways. Forgetting to bring my books home even when I honestly intended to do my homework.

When I graduated high school, I was defeated, angry, and lost....

I don't know how, but for the grace of God how I got my life turned around. I ended up takng classes at College and did just as poorly. Switched majors, switched colleges.. Finally found a major that fit the way I learned.. Speech Communication..

Wrote a lot of readers theatres, performed them, found out I had quite a talent for writing scripts.. Also not bad at speech and debate.. Wow, really helped me to get on track.. it also helped me in dealing with people: One of the classes I took was interpersonal communication.. great insites into how people communicate and why.

Graduated with a 3.5 GPA.

Meds? hmm. On the one hand the struggle has most likely made me a stronger person, possibly the amount of medication I need now is less than what I would have needed if I had taken them all my life.

On the other hand.. I was in misery in high school, contemplated suicide at one point.. I find myself wishing that I would have been on the meds then... I could have been much better, much happier.. I see my daughter and how much fun she is having in high school.. I missed out on that..l I wish I could have had what she has now...

Oh great,, now i'm crying... better stop now while I"m ahead

i was happy socially at school.

i had really lovely friends and i also had ok grades --- i just could never get it together to get things done, or be in the right place at the right time. my friends helped a LOT - to the point of when one of them knew my room was a mess (it was a boarding school) and there was going to be an inspection --- she dashed up to my room and tidied it all for me - so sweet.

stuff like that - you know. i expect i could have done better if i had been medicated later on at 16 or so for A'levels it would have helped a lot (but as it was i got an A and 2 Bs --- which was enough to get me into an excellent university). but i struggled badly with the work --- i couldn't do it, i would do anything but study... right up until the night before the exam and suddenly then throw myself into it in a frenzy. and i felt sick and angry at myself for my lack of self-discipline etc.

i am glad that i wasn't medicated forcefully though. i liked being me much of the time (sometimes i hated being me too - but that is fairly normal isn't it, as you are growing up) and i didn't so much mind being a bit weird and people found my spaciness and hopelessness funny more often than not.

i think there is waaayyyyy too much pressure to conform in American high-schools today - not necessarily from the teachers or parents but from your peers. and i don't understand that mentality - i can't understand where that comes from.

why are all these 13 year olds so adamant that everyone must be like them or they will be bullied. what happened to the old-fashioned virtues of treating everyone well? regardless of ability or difference. it seems to me as bad as a form of racism - picking on people, it's horrible. and i can't understand it at all. and it reflects badly on the upbringing of the 'normals' more than anything. that lack of compassion and decency.

but perhaps this 'intolerance' is part and parcel of their upbringing and something they have learnt from 'imitating' from their parents behaviour???

on balance - i am very glad i wasn't medicated. and beyond all i would have wanted it to be MY choice. not guilted into it. not forced on me. but MY choice.

that's how i see it. offer it to the child and then ask them if they want to continue with it - having tried it. seems fair enough, really.

but then i think i have always been bi-polar as well and although i suffered horrific downs as a child i also had euphoric, incredibly amazingly euphoric ups and i valued those. as far back as i can remember i have been 'semi-suicidal' if i can put it that way, i have always seen death as a release and a blessing and the only reason not to kill yourself is because it upsets your family --- but time on this earth has always seemed something you have to suffer through just to get to death (phew) so i don't know. i'm probably not the person to ask.

but i would definitely push against any form of bullying in schools --- really, i think that is FAR more of an issue than ADD in the end... and far more insidious and destructive and wrong.

but on the positive side --- i do think the best thing of ALL is that there is such a diagnosis of ADD and children no longer will be stigmatised by the constant undermining "you're lazy/you're stupid"..................

boy, forget the meds --- that in and of itself is a miracle. DO I NOT WISH THAT THAT HAD BEEN THE ATTITUDE WHEN I WAS A CHILD. OH BOY. OH BOY. OH BOY.

i am gonna be one of those old codgers going ''you have it easy! in my day..... yada yada yada"

honestly - that in and of itself would have made SUCH A DIFFERENCE!!!!!

I CAN'T STOP WITH THE CAPITALSN COS IT WOULD HAVE MADE ALL ALL ALL THE FLIPPING DIFFERENCE. to me.

chjones38650.8952430556

Omalley - what a change!

Glad to see it - I knew it would be better for ya!

Keep us posted - we need the positive postings here now more than ever!

Good for you omalley, please send me an envelope of what is working for you so I can open it and see for myself.

seriously, best of luck If I had Adderall XR when I was in school I would have been a billion times
more successful. It took 30 years of HELL in school and college and work
before I went on meds. Now, work is great! I love it! No matter how much
you try to organize your life after finding out you have Adult ADD, you
can't do it without meds. You can't control the chemicals in your head by
yourself. It's impossible.Johanna,

I really dont know. I think I would have prefered a diagnosis early but would only consider highschool important as far as grades and concentration go.

My experience with meds isthat I still can't focus on inane crap but can focus when I need to, which would seem to be a key element as far as schooling goes.

I can understand your confusion, I really can't say which direction I'd go in - I've seen some parents with "ADD children" simply misunderstanding the concept of an 8 year old (in real life. I dont have any opinion on anyone here - I also have paranoiac aspects of my ADD so I figured I should add that). Unless my child were dangerously out of control I think I'd wait til they were 12+ before medicating. Until that time I would do whatever I could to ensure that she was in an environment that harnessed her strengths. I have a few ADD friends who went the montessouri until high school age, then had treatment and it seems to have worked out ok for them.

I do regret no meds, but dont blame anyone else for it :) It really hastn impacted my life in any way negatively except for large corporate jobs that my ADD mind could never survive anyway

sdw, like someone said in another thread: The Bees, the bees stopped!

I've always likened it to a tornado in my mind, sometimes its just chaos, sometimes it drags my thoughts around with it, sometimes it's a useful mixer for ideas. At least now I have some control over it.

I agree Fallen. I'm ready to grow in life instead of just floating around.

As a parent I know how concerned I am about my child. I'm lucky that so far it appears that my ADD didnt get passed on. I do understand the daily medicating thing though and the struggle. I can't imagine having the weight of my childs education in a hypothetical balance.

So I figured this was a decent place to start a thread for people that have survived life unmedicated, had a tough time at school and yet didnt turn out to be serial killers or starving in the gutter.

Me: no meds. got average to crap grades in school. I always knew what I was interested in. Now successful computer geek (computer science was a course I flunked disasterously while at school) and considered near the top of my field.

Medication? not til this year when I finally got tired of forever being in a transition to the next phase of my career - which involves a great deal more stupid mundane work, trying to kill my annual 'lets find a new thing!' urge.

I've had a lot of jobs compared to most people, but within my field it's accepted and my ADDness is considered one of my primary strengths rather than disruptive. Of course, they tend to hide me away from any visitors or customer focused events - on the plus side I have the freedom to work when I want, on what I want, how I want because they realize that letting me harness my innate ADDness leads to superior results.

So: school sucked, but I knew that was the point. It has had zero impact on the remainder of my life.
Good point ladyadd. My friend was diagnosed with Adult ADD at age 31 and she did pretty good in school and in college despite not being on meds. I went through hell in school and college, but I passed somehow. If I would have been on Adderall XR in school and in college, I would have done a billion times better. That's a fact.

Before ANYONE goes jumping straight for meds as solution for their ADHD, go to the library and get every book you can find about ADHD and research and learn new ways to organize your life. That's what I did and it worked great...however, I still couldn't control my brain going a billion miles a second. That's when I realized that I needed something to help that out. Adderall XR was the cure. Life is good.
[QUOTE=ladyadd]

[/QUOTE]

Thanks, that's exactly what I was hoping this thread would let parents understand. It's a hell of a choice to make and each person (or family) needs to weigh the benefits vs possible negatives before making it.
That's the way OMALLEY! Isn't this the same OMALLEY whose world was crashin' down about a month ago?

I'm 35 and was finally diagnosed this summer while trying to help my 2nd grader. It was like a slap in the face when I picked up Delivered from Distraction and realized it was me. I never knew that there was an explanation for my serious underachievement in school, ditto college, ditto too many degrees that I floated through without studying. It took 2 independent professors telling me I wasn't PHD material to figure out they were right. I can't believe I got a master's (and two bachelors and almost another masters) without picking up a book except to cram at the last minute or write that last minute paper.

If someone had noticed sooner maybe I would have lived up to my potential in school and maybe I wouldn't have spent so many years of discontent and maybe I wouldn't have almost ruined my marriage and maybe, maybe, maybe... I'm on Concerta now (with a Wellbutrin kicker) and I've never been as content as I am now. I'm able to sit through a training without needing to get up a million times during a lecture. I'm able to focus on my work and remember what I said I'd do. I wish someone had noticed when I was in high school. I'm taking the alternative route with my son to see what we can take care of before grades count but if he needs it, we'll do it. I don't want him to suffer the same hell I did.

Thank you guys for confirming for me that I'm not alone and not a total disaster. :)

Yes, it's me! I survived my work stress and hopefully have a new outlook on things. I've spoken to all my supervisors in the hierarchy and I think that we've all come to a good place. Thank you for listening when I needed it!(in my best Austin Powers' voice) "YEAH, BABY, YEAH!"

Told ya it would work! :)
It's one of those things that when you explain to your superiors and co-workers about what's going on that they all kinda go "Ohhhh, that's it! That explains it!" Best thing is that most people know someone with Adult ADD or ADHD so they completely understand usually.

HOORAY! Life is good, eh!?

I honestly am not sure if school would have been any different if I was diagnosed with ADD back then, I mean its possible but unless I go back to college or something of that sort I'll never know for sure. I do often wonder however if things would have been different. If they would have been, how would my life be different today.

I was never a great student, if I was on the proper med then, perhaps I would have been better...who knows for sure really!

I wish I could have tried it with different medications... Back in 1970-1980 I would have welcomed anything, instead of being the way I was and what I became... SIGH... ADHD IS REAL AND IT SUX..... But I WOULD RATHER BE ADHD, THAN DENY THAT IT IS REAL.. LIKE SOME PEOPLE.. Urm. Martial arts taught me self discipline. Concentration isnt an issue unless it's disrupted by the ADD itself. Hyperfocus is easy. I think a lot of contrary action is because the system does not allow us to put people into the space they know they need to be. Lets send a petition that Marshall arts be added for kids. This teaches concentration.

Fallen -- do you wish you had been medicated earlier?? Alot of people are really against medication on these boards and you are someone who lived through it. Do you think the benefits would outweigh the risks?? We are debating medicating our son or not and I would appreciate our insight.

I got through school unmedicated. It was tough but I managed to have fun. The reason why I have choosen medication now is the same reason as Fallen. I'm over job surfing although it is in the same field. I was actually recruited for my current position although I don't know why. I honestly think it is my personality and I tend to have a big impact when I first join a company but quickly get the "boredoms" and want to change. I am currently in a professional place where it would be VERY prudent to put down roots and grow in my career and with this company. THat is my motivation for meds. I perform fine without. Better than others most of the time. The problem is sticking with it and staying on board for the long haul. So far Strattera hasn't given me any problems with "personality" or "zest" for life. It has calmed me down and I'm not as much as a spazzzzzzz. Thanks for contributing your history of no medication. I have finally come to the realization that school is not for everyone and will not ultimately determine my son's future. I hope there will be a movement soon to praise ADHD behavior, not try to suppress it. We will need the unique perspective of an ADHD mind to reverse the destruction of our planet--if everyone is medicated then who will come up with a way to end Global Warming?