Were you diagnosed ADHD as a child | ADHD Information
Please post your stories, including
how long you used meds, when you were diagnosed, what type of meds, parental input re: positive/negative, teachers re: postive negative, Your current status, life situation happy/unhappy with the choices made for you by your parents/teachers/doctors
This is an opportunity for ADHD adults to help us parents learn from your lives. Teach us and help us make good decisions for the up and coming ADHD children /adults of the future. Write your stories in the format of educating others based on your experiences.
Thank you in advance, 
I can understand parents concerns about putting there kids on meds. So I thought I'd add my story and maybe you would feel a bit more comfortable with the decision. I posted this someplace else but my story hasn't changed so here it is.
I'm a 27 year old woman with severe adhd. As a child my parents (actually my mother, dad was out of the picture pretty early) didn't put me on meds and pretty much knew nothing about the disorder. I was constantly in trouble at home, in school and my grades were horrible. I also suffered from terrible headaches, stomach aches and nausia both at home and at school. In fact I devolped an ulcer at age 9 and again at 13 from all the stress I had put on myself. Looking back now I'm sure my symptoms were mostly stress related. I wasn't physically sick, just overwhelmed most of the time. I'd worry constantly about getting in trouble because that would mean the teacher would yell at me and then my mother would yell and punish me when I got home. I remember knowing I was really smart, but after awhile I started believing that I was just a bad, lazy kid. I struggled and suffered with this until I got to college and had enough. All growing up people (teachers, family friends, etc..) had said that I was probably hyperactive but nobody went any further than just mentioning it in conversation. Anyway in college I was miserable, I had gotten by on raw intelligence and a bit of luck in grade school and high school so even though my grades weren't good I was able to graduate. In college I was finding life impossible, I couldn't sit through the lectures or complete all the heavy reading that was assigned. I had an idea what was wrong with me so I went to a Psychiatrist that specialized in ADHD. I got tested, diagnosed and put on medication for the first time at age 24. It was truly like a miracle for me. This sounds dumb to people who aren't hyper but I felt so comfortable inside. Finally after all those years I could sit on the couch, relax and watch an entire 30 minute show without feeling like I was going to explode. Not only that but I read my first real book. I actually read an entire book without getting frustrated, skipping pages or rereading the same page several times. It may sound like no big deal but to have to wait until your 24 to be able to enjoy a book was a major breakthrough for me. In fact I called several memebers of my family just to tell them. I've been on Adderall XR for almost 4 years now. I have never had a side effect and it works great. I am also planning on going back to college to get my degree. This time I will pick a difficult degree I know I will enjoy instead of just looking for the easiest program and hoping I can handle it. I know I can handle it and that I am smart, I'm not the lazy, bad kid from my youth. I am upset about all the time I've lost but finally excited about my future because I know I will have a future now. If I could go back in time I would make my mother put me on medication. Yes some medications have side effects, it is good to be informed about that possibility and to know what to watch for. It's all about finding the right one for you. Besides the effects of stress can be just as dangerous if left untreated. Not to mention the self esteem problems and depression that usually follows someone that is constantly failing. I'm not thrilled that I will most likely be on medication for the rest of my life, but I would not go back to the way I was before for all the money in the world.
If any parents that are reading this wish to talk more just send me a PM. While I can't tell you what it's like to try to parent an ADHD kid. I can sure help you understand what it feels like to be one. I think if I understood what it was like for my mother trying to raise me and if she understood what I was thinking and feeling as a child we would have had a much better relationship, then and today.
MafiaKiddo38279.0436689815Hey MafiaKiddo and Rae,**NOTE** this post got much longer than I anticipated but feel free to read if you have the time.
This is a great topic. You can get lots of my story from my original topic and the rest is pretty much identical to MafiaKiddo.
I've always moved around, could never sit still. When I did sit still, I daydreamed (or to others just stared for a long time). I did alright through public school but you can see around grade 7 the comments start saying things on the line of "if he would just try harder" and "maybe pay attention to the mood swings", etc. No one really paid attention, though, cause my grades weren't all that bad even if I didn't do any homework or study or do anything productive. I got through on sheer intellect. Highschool started off that way too but as things started getting a little harder, not handing in assignments became my bane. Actually, very poor test writing was up there as well. I also started getting in trouble all the time. To tell the truth, from about grade 10-13 I only had a few lunches where i wasn't in detention. When I turned 18 it got much worse as I started skipping all the time (I skipped in entire course cause the teacher said that if I didn't shut up and pay attention, he only wanted to see me for tests which suited me just fine). I also got rid of my report cards and forbid my parents to go to parent teacher night cause I figured they would be terribly disapointed in me. Funny thing is that I'd skip class and just hang out outside the school property walking around in the bush cause sitting still was too much to ask of me. Still, i passed my courses so no one really made any fuss about it.
Actually, to this day my parents still don't know about the vast majority of that as I am slightly ashamed. My little thing in the year book (graduating year) about where I would be 10 years from now was jail although I don't much break the law (or never got caught anyway).
On to college. I started the first time in 97 and failed almost every class I took but somehow talked the dean into letting me keep going for three years (parents don't really know about that one either, just that I didn't do very good). I did help almost anyone I knew with their schooling though. It's funny but it seems that if I am helping someone else, I can show them things and use their powers of concentration to get them really good marks.
Actually, about half way through my first semester at college (the first time) my buddy called me and asked if I was having fun (wasn't) and did I want to just drop everything and tour europe for a couple months. Jumped on that one pretty quick and had a great time. My parents knew about that one but didn't mind as my mom had done it and my dad had toured canada and they thought it would be a great experience. At this point I had already traveled alot of north america during public school and high school (usually with relatives or friends cause my parents couldn't afford vacations) so my parents knew that I liked to travel.
After my first attempt at college, I took a couple years off and just worked which was fine but I couldn't keep a steady job as I got really bored and would often just not show up one day, then the next, then felt too bad to go back so I wouldn't. I would get my last pay in the mail so I figured they just wrote me off as having quit.
Well, two years ago the same buddy as before was at my apartment visiting and we decided it was time again to leave so a couple weeks later we headed off to south east asia for a couple months. That was great fun.
Upon coming back, I took a year off and did nothing but collect employment insurance (couldn't find a job around my small town) and then decided that I needed some education to get anywhere. Came to college last December and am still here. I passed the first semester as it was all stuff I had already learned but failed the second semester almost completely. It was at this point that I figured something must be wrong with me. Well, I had thought that for a long time but had never heard of anything that described my symptoms.
I heard about ADHD. It was the story of my life so I bought the book "Driven to Distraction", read it (well, as much as I could which was most, I am proud to say) then went to the disabilities office at my school and got assessed.
Currently I am 26 and am having a very hard time getting help as I started smoking marijuana around 20. It let me hyperfocus and actually work on things (usually the wrong things hence my failing) but it was great. I could slow myself down (although becoming very anti-social) enough to actually get things done and I started to sleep better.
Wow, this is terribly long so I will end it but I must add a few more things. I have tried adherol, dexadrine and ritalin (dexadrine works best for me that I know about but I haven't had enough to really try cause I don't like that idea without doctor aproval). It was incredible. Actually, I took a dexadrine for my math exam and got 92% which is by far the best I have ever gotten (ever). I could also listen to people and remember what they told me (ritalin test with my good buddy to supervise and let me know of any changes, he was shocked).
Alright, almost done. Little things: I don't notice anything from day in day out (changes in the room, people around me, etc). I have never been able to keep friends long except one. I have never had a real relationship with a girl (to wierd and can't pay them enough attention). I talk (and write) way too much (used to be called motormouth and mouthew by my parents and friends of the time). Music does something too me akin to hypnotism (put music on and I am lost to you). I talk constantly with myself in my head (though everyone has an inner monologue) and the idea of meditation, to me, is not real but something people make up (focus all your thoughts, clear your mind, yeah right). I find almost all mundane tasks overwhelming such as laundry, paying bills (i've been in trouble with creditors for that even when I had the money to pay, just didn't), anything like that. I change moods always and for no reason (that I can see anyway). The internet is the best thing as I can constantly look things up in an attempt to satisfy my unending curiosity. I play guitar but now that I have quit smoking weed i'm back to being really hyperactive and my fingers just want to move too fast (the saddest thing for me as it is my favorite thing in all the world).
That's me. I could go on for quite a bit longer but I'm not sure if anyone is even reading this far anyway as this is an ADD forum.
mattBy the way, if you read my whole post, thanks for taking the time, your the greatestthanks Mafio - but I thinks you are all alonsies.
I hope more follow.lol yes I actually wound up posting it in a few places. It seems like people are asking the same question in various places in these forums. I first just put a link to this message because I thought you had a great idea with this thread. I figured people would click the link and add there story or ask questions if they had any. Maybe most people only visit one section of these boards so they don't check out parts they think don't pertain to them.
Who knows it was a good idea though. I was actually looking forward to hearing from other adults who suffered and learning what there lives are like now.
it may get picked up later, i am a little pedantic myself, and sometimes feel like cleaning this board up. filing all the same but different threads together. Do a big filing thing.
all my life i just went throug school getting by on bad grades except for some subjects which i liked. i was always jus wanting to do things i liked i never had my priorities in line. like bart simpson i done what i felt. what my mind told me. if i didn't feel like going to class i wouldn't if i didn't like a teacher i would get really aggressive with them and even use foul language but after acting like this i would get very depressed. i am a really nice person under the front i try to put on sometimes,i would excessively talk in class and just daydream. i just appeared the type who wouldn't cause any trouble and studied the whole time while i was just wild under it all. to people i knew they saw the wild side but to some teachers i put on this quiet innocent sorta of way
. but under all of it was a very depresseed person. i would sometimes cry and feel really angry at myself. i hated every aspect of myself. i was always running myself down thinking everyone was better than me but i had better qualities than some people. i never had a gf i always feared rejection. i had no friends even though i did have one but he wasn't a true friend he would drop me for someone else. he was boring anyway but i still liked his company. but the thing is....subconsciously i realized everone else had a more stable lifesyle than me. i would act wierd and repel people while they were just on an even pase and attract everyone as a friend and have loads of girls. i felt odd again. but now my self esteem is gettting better. i was a nuclear bomb to be around lol
all i can say is that if you have a child who has adhd understand that they may feel different about life than most people and act different and learn different but we still get upset at rejections, failed exams. it manifests itself as battered self esteem. a feeling that the "normal"
people are better than us. we are as good as them but we have what i like to call "personality spark"
. we're the ones that make tv, radio, reading, classes a lot more entertaining. einstein was adhd. who would say he didn't change the world or thomas edison. he would give us all light bulbs so the "normal" people could read their boring books. lol. live and let live.
Good luck all and by the way....i was supposed to be in class while writing this but i was too distracted by the computers to go.
Actually believe it or not I was diagnosed with Depression and ADHD when I was born...I have basicly taken meds since I was young one...I will say that my life has been hard but in also some ways its been ok...like with ADHD I know that if I didn't have it then I wouldn't have won my national award...so there I can say that I am kinda glad that I have ADHD...but then my Mom who is also has depression and takes meds...I can't talk to her b/c we are so much alike that it is scary...I hate ADHD in general...its been hard...And also My 8 yr old bro has ADHD and Bi-polar and I have no idea how to deal with him b/c I am not at home anymore so when I come home he is always at me wantin me to do something wit him and if I tell him I can't he gets mad at me...I hate that and then mom gets on my case and then we are all mad at each other...oh well...my family is all the same I guess..
also I take 3 different kinds of meds...One is I think its 30 mg of valporic acid..I take that 2 times a day...I have 2 kinds of ritilin...one is slow release...I take those in the morn and at lunch time...I take valporic acid at bedtime...I also used to take a sleeping pill cuz I was not sleeping and that was a 50mg..lets say I was asleep in school...lol...They gave me too muchI wasn't diagnosed but my mother was an alcoholic and my father was a soldier, always away at a war (I adored him for it), so I had to take care of my younger siblings and I learned that if I didn't concentrate they got hurt. When it started, one was 2 and one was almost 3. I was 5 and I was responsible for them. It's a great motivator. I continued taking care of them until I was 15. I had my first child at 17, so I have always had to focus or some child got hurt mentally or physically. It will make you find a way. I learned all the techniques that parents on here mention now but I learned them by myself. My father was my hero so I wanted so badly to please him that I made myself try and try until I did what he wanted, but I know now how much easier it would have been and how much less it would have messed up my head if I'd known what was wrong, why it was so hard for me to do the things I wanted to do. It was so easy for me to do physical things, meet really tough physical challenges, but he wanted good grades and good behavior. I don't know if I would have made it if I'd had a mother to protect me. It took a lot of responsibility to keep me focused.I too grew up fast raising myself and my younger brother. Being extremely hyper and having about zero impulse control I wasn't able to keep myself safe or out of trouble much but I was very successful at keeping my brother out of danger. I guess I used up all of my focus on taking care of little bro cus it seemed like I had none left to help myself.
I taught him to walk, talk and play quietly in his room so he wouldn't upset my parents. I also made sure he had lunch everyday, and did well in school. I pretty much did everything I could to keep him under my parents radar. Considering I was a baby myself I think I did an outstanding job. He turned out great and I couldn't be more proud.
Of course I felt horrible the times I'd slip up with watching him and he'd get whipped. I felt like it was my responsibility to protect him and I let him down. He was never mad at me for it, we were very close, but still I felt terrible. He was always the sensitive one so he needed to be taken care of. Infact he used to cry whenever I got a beating. I remember the longer I cried the longer he would so I learned to stop my tears so I could calm him down.
It took until he was in college and doing well for me to be able to stop worrying about him and start trying to help myself. So far it's only been 4 years since I started trying to get my life together and it is way tougher then I thought it would be. Sometimes I feel like giving up but since that is not an option I have to keep fighting and hope eventually everything will work out.
I know what you're saying. I would protect the little ones even if it meant I got beaten myself. My mother would get up at 6am and lock us all outside until Dad got home, if Dad was even in the country, so I had to watch the kids in the streets and around strangers and wherever. We learned that lunch is a luxury and we'd go to a neighbor if one of the little ones absolutely had to go to the bathroom, although if a neighbor ever mentioned it to Mom I'd be in real trouble so we tried to avoid that. I had two of them to keep track of, both babies and then school and homework when they got older and one needed summer school so I'd walk him back and forth every day, etc. I almost got them killed more than once and it makes you grow up fast. I had to steal lunch money for them from my mother's purse and I'd get beaten worse the more money I took so I usually didn't take any for myself. Then we'd get home from school and there would be supper, if Dad was home, but if not we'd have to find sandwhiches or candy or something. (Now I don't eat every day, sometimes not for several days, so when people talk about ADHD being related to diet I have to laugh. My sister used to cook for me every Thursday to make sure I ate at least once a week. I can't stand to sit down to eat and I long ago forgot what hunger pains mean. I've gone 12 days on nothing but milk with no change in the ability to focus so I know it's not a diet issue unless it's dairy, at least not for me.)
This kind of responsibility at a very early age when the brain is rapidly developing will beat ADHD but you can't advise parents to do this to their kids. It messes up too many other brain wires. Now I'm a scientist, so it was for the best for me. Wasn't good for the two babies. And I'll always wonder what I could have been if I'd had help with the ADHD. It takes a long time to learn techniques for focusing by yourself when you don't even know other kids focus better than you do.