How do you cope? | ADHD Information

What do you do to cope with the everyday challenges of ADD?
What are effective ways to control symptoms without using
medication? Any diets? Exercise? What do you find to be most
effective?

It would help yummy if we knew how much time you had - are you a stay at home mum or a working mum.  I have some suggestions but they are a bit time consuming.

I play chess with my son, I play UNO with my son.  And most of the time he beats me fair and square.  As parents I think our biggest role is to show our kids that we are on their side in this life.

Talking with them!  The best talking from kids comes when they are interacting with you, helping to cook, playing above sort of games, and lying in bed with them at night.

Also we use lots of checklists and routine routine routine.  There is a list of things to do on his bed door to help him get reading in the morning, ie brush teeth, have breaky, shoes, socks, books, bag, lunch - all individualised instructions.

This helped heaps, he does it now without looking at it.

Repetition and Rote learning also helps.

Good luck.

[QUOTE=Rae70]

I have discovered that I work better in the
late hours of the night because there is less distractions.  I hate
the day times.[

[/QUOTE]

yeah, i prefer doing things in the late hours of the night, when
everyone else is sleeping. otherwise my mind is focusing on 10
other things at once. i really like multi-tasking, instead of taking
things one at a time. i like to see instant progress, or i lose
interest
fast. why does everything become so tedious?! even enjoyable
tasks can be this way. yummypinkblobs38266.9630324074Cope...hmmm....still trying to find solutions.

My new PDA (handheld computer) is a lifesaver. I love it! I used to double book myself all the time or forget addresses at the post office, etc. Now I'm really on top of it that way.

I keep a daily To Do list taped next to my monitor. Helps when I look at it.

My Adderall is the other lifesaver. It enhances my best qualities (not diminishes them as I feared too). I am more attentive, more awake, less negative or drag-ass about everything, I am WAY more organized and neat at home. I am also funnier, and I think that's a form of creativity. I think I'm funnier because I have access to more of my brain it seems and I can seem hit the mark better and keep up with my really intelligent, witty friends. I am so much more patient too. I listen to others and can resist interrupting. I love the way it wakes me up in the morning. My only real complaint is that I get somewhat edgy and irritable as it is wearing off in the evening or potential insomnia. I usually try to counteract that with some Valerian Root or something soothing.

I strive to eat a really good, hearty diet full of quality proteins, vegetable, fruits, and whole grains. This is so important.  It makes a huge difference in my day.

I still have kinks to work out though. Have wanted to try Straterra, but also fear taking something on a regular basis or how it might affect me, especially that it won't wake me up as well.

I think things become tedious, because we are always thinking about what we havent done, or what happened in a conversation.  I know my internal dialogue of previous conversations, which includes complete fantasies of how I would have liked that conversation to have happen distract me from what I am doing.

I become exhausted with my thoughts and get tired of the physical activity I am doing.

If I am cleaning the house, I will start in my bed room and then see a dirty cup there, I will go into the kitchen to put the cup in there and start cleaning up, I will discover a dirty tea towel and bring it to the laundry, I will hang out the basket of laundry that has been sitting there for an hour and find a weed in the garden bed, then I will pull the weed and keep pulling weeds, then I will notice a cup in the yard from the kids, and bring it to the kitchen, when I get there I will remember I was cleaning my bed room and go back in there. Whew!!!!!!! And then i have to pick up the kids from school

The only thing that helps me was first being made aware of this behaviour from my partner, and then when I find that cup in the bedroom I will throw it into a basket for things that leave my room.  Rather than take it to the kitchen.  I wont leave a room until it is finished.

Rae7038267.0665162037Actually i'm a college student. No kids yet. I was wondering
what you do to cope with your ADD. Although, I bet its a real
challege for adults to get their children together that have it too.
I just want to know some ways to cope without resorting to
meds. I'm afraid of the side effects and troubles that taking
medications like ritalin and adderall can cause. I've heard that
people lose special personal traits. I don't want to become a
different person, I just want to be the most I can be for myself.

 Oh !!!! sorry.

Jeez when I was 18 I was a complete Flip!  I had racing thoughts all the time, I could never finish a project, I started lots tho.  I was extremely ambitious I had a lot of relationship issues with everyone.  I rushed into marriage at 19 and had 3 kids by 26.  So it has taken some time before I even realised I was not 'normal'.  the realisation came when I developed post natal psychosis after my second child and the world fell apart for me.  I had to learn so much after that.  If it wasnt for my kids however, I probably would not have had a reason to improve myself.

I was unbearable to my mother, I would exhaust her with my huge dialogue of 'weird' thoughts.  And on top of that I had a very low self esteem.  But I always talked a lot and over the top of people.

What made me change - Learning about Empathy, Compassion, Consideration.  I lacked these traits and therefore couldnt change.  But life has dealt me enough blows now to have picked up on them.  Fortunately for me I also have a great deal of religious faith and without that to back me up I could have lost it several times too.

I was also very messsssssyyyyyyyyy.  My house was a disaster.  Only in my 30's did I learn how to do housework constructively.  I organised my life by using boxes and files and containers for everything.  Everything has a place and a place for Everything.  I have discovered that I work better in the late hours of the night because there is less distractions.  I hate the day times.

I hope something of the rambling helps.

I can sooooo relate Rae, I wish I could turn off that internal tape player that's stuck on repeat and analyze.  I kind of enjoy that run-around clean everything at once routine.  Strange, huh? I figure at least it is getting done!

Yummy - a quick summary of some things I have read and help me (I don't take meds): keep your blood sugar stable, eating protein at every meal helps with this, developing routines, such as always parking in the same spot etc., and keeping lists of everything - make them as visible as possible so you can't forget about them.

,  Rae and all, you have made my day!!!!

I am in a normal mode, I thought it was just me being a wife and mother of ADHD. Nope it goes for me too.  That internal monologue has never ending batteries even when I sleep.  Someone needs to shoot that bunny< hahaha>.

I have learned to adapt by boxes, etc.  Every room in my house has a chart. Chores are charted, routines are charted, life is charted.  And God forbid I lost my new best friend, the hand held day planner. I panic when I can't find it.  Our lives are normal, its the rest of the world how is lost.

Oh, and to everyone who helped me through my giving up!!!  Great news

I am offically going away for ONE WHOLE DAY with the ladies at church, we are going flea marketing and to breakfest and lunch.  Yep, 12 glorious hours of me and other females who are supportive.  I wasn't going to go because of the family, but they refuse to let me decline.  They see my stress.  So Saturday I am out of here and have informed the troups they are all to themselves.  HEHEHE

In university: I enjoyed classes (lectures) because they
were stimulating. I didn't learn so well out of books.
Some lectures were boring, but I doodled or sat in the back
and ate or whatever to keep my mind occupied. I put up my
hand and asked lots of questions in class. I left assignments to do on the last night, or the last two
nights if they were big assignments, because the
pressure of the last-minute rush made them more exciting and
helped me clarify what really did or did not need to be
done -- I skipped less important details. After a couple
of years I decided to try not to feel guilty about leaving
things to the last night. A few assignments I just didn't do.

I take choline and I think it helps me be able to ignore
unwanted stimuli like distracting noises. I get chiropractic
treatment and I think it helps me mentally -- I get spacey if I need and adjustment.
Lately I've been doing lots of strengthening exercises (Pilates) for my spine and I think
that's even better than chiropractic.

I take flax oil for omega-3 essential fatty acids; everybody needs
omega-3 for the brain to work properly. I take
phosphatidylserine: it's supposed to help memory, and I think it cuts
down on the amount of time I feel too tired to work.

Vitamins help too. Vitamin C cut down a lot on the crying spells I used to have.

I've been using David Burns' books for years ("Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy" and "10 Days to Self-Esteem"). Books like this help me to control
negative self-talk: racing thoughts where I think negative things about myself:
feeling guilty, inferior etc.

I've set up routines to help my life go smoothly. For example I have rules about the few places I allow myself to put my keys.

I also have a rule that I don't let myself use the computer for fun after 8 PM, so that I'll get enough sleep. ... I'm breaking that rule at this very moment ...   :-)

Rosina, I would love to get a daily chart or perhaps weekly of your "keep well' routine.  What vitamins and when - if you could put it into a schedule of sorts, that would be easy to follow, that might help me a lot.

I forget my birth control pill all the time, no wonder I keep having kids.  But I would like to buy a pill holder and organise a week of recommended vitamans and suppliments and see how I go.

 

Good ?

I do take Strattera and it helps me to focus! I have low blood sugar so eat right usually and exercise (deeeep breaths), all of this helps...but here is one that you might like!! I listen to subliminals during the day at work!!! soootheing music with messages like Self-esteem, focusing! etc....I got mine from Valley of the Sun publishing but you probably get some tapes/CDs anywhere.

Talking to myself helps, can hurt too, depending on the message!

 

(Rae70 that icon reminds me of R.Welch! LOL)

I also take strattera to cope with my ADD.  To tell you the truth I think its really difficult to cope with ADD without meds, because no matter how hard you tell your lazy brain to get up and do something it will keep procastinating.  At least in my case, I always used to want to do a lot of things but I could never get myself to start them and even when I did start them it used to take me 3x longer to finish them than it should have.  Trust me, I really really tried to tell myself to do my work, but it wouldn't work.  There a lot of people taht say diet changes will help you cope with ADD, but I don't know how those will play out, because I never tried them. 

By the way, yummypinkblobs, I can relate to your problems because I am also in college.  I got diagnosed when I was 21 and I wish it would have been done sooner because I really struggled to get anything done in the beginning, and I got diagnosed as a junior and school became a lot easier for me.  If you don't mind me asking, what school do you go to?