I have stated before that I donot take meds for various reaseons... Feelings of needing something to make me excepted, wanting to have children in the future and not wanting to have to ween myself off of medication when my body will already be making a change. However I went to Sangsters ( a herbal remedy store) and I got some supplements that claim to give extra vitamins to the brain and aid in ADHD. Witht he bottle just sitting there I ask myself the question "what if it works". this horrifies me what if i didn't have it anymore who would i be and would i really want that to happen? I feel almost tlike the deaf community how they didn't want cocular implants because being deaf was a part of who they are. I don't know maybe because I was diagnosed early, i see it as being a LARGE part of who I am. (i was 9) I geusss Iam wondering if anyone else deep down doesn't want a cure. there are days I hate it but really could I part with it? Mmm, I have a lot of ambivalance about life in general, but would love for my ADD-ness to go away. But we all know that it doesn't, no matter what drugs you take. If you feel that you can get by without medication, maybe it means that the symptoms are not that bad??
If it means only being poductive . then no.
i did get some relief but it had side effects and i sill couldnt recall everything instantly.
i dont always have racing thoughts or poor inpulse conrol. so i learned to cope by adjusting my self accountabiliy. I mean when im stable i socialize more with co workers to manipulate my agendas and hings i need help with. but when im forgetful and have cognitive processing i stay to myself and do y self-busy work shuffling papers- organizing desks managing environment. and i keep a simple note keeping C/skill at my finger tips.
without my brand od adhd I wouldnt have the imagination i have which can help me travel to iaginary stars and and back to molecular relationships with the greatest of ease. then like taking asprin for a headache it just slowly vanishes.
I dont think i would like to be humdrum Always .
Ive faced the reality that i cant pick and choose what what is my disorder's symptoms. I have more cons than pros, so i keep a journal to maximixe my pros and minimize my cons. I do better with support rather than to be isolated.
so if i had it to do all over agian yes i would rather be normal
but now that ive lived throught the tribulations I cope with it by knowing my limits and coping mechinisms. I wouldnt trade adhd for all the gold in my house. which is not much. But i do enjoy the high points which practically define my personna.
I bet i save the world one day with one of my ideas.
now wouldnt that would be productive?
adhd
- meds
- symptoms
- coping skills
- notes
- time to self
- todo software
- environment
- routine
- support
- to
- fro
- coaching
- brainstorming
- nightwatcherz
- what ifwe
- info manders
- journal
For me it was simple - either don't recognize and control the ADHD and continue missing out on the things in my life that truly matter (love, job, friends) or get help and begin to accomplish things and actually enjoy my life.
Each person has to decide for themselves. I guess it helps to sit and look at what are the true priorities in your life and go from there.
The meds don't make the adhd go away. It's still there- trust me. 
All things I love about being adhd I still have when I'm taking meds. I'm still creative and imaginative, I still feel conflicted between loving things that are exciting and new, but needing things to be predictable and routine. I still have that special intuition that seems to come with adhd. The meds have just enabled me to focus all the good stuff into productivity. The meds have also helped me to stop feeling like a failure because I have these great ideas but can never follow through on them. I can also get the housework done now!
You have to do what's right for you, but keep a few things in mind: You can always stop taking the meds/supplements if you don't like it, and it will not change who you are (if it does than it's the wrong med for you- there's a ton out there and no reason to settle for one that doesn't work well).
Also, pregnancy comes with it's own brand of semi- insanity, so I wouldn't worry about having to stop the meds for that. Those 9 month are pretty much a write-off- but well worth it, if you ask me. 
I always try to read through the answers to a post so as to not repeat something said.
GlenW, You took the words right out of my....fingers? Anyway, my personal belief is not that my ADHD needs to get "better". I'm one of those crazy people that thinks that ADHD is a "difference", not a disability. My main reasoning behind that is because most disabilities don't increase some abilities while decreasing others. I wouldn't trade the positive effects it has for anything. My having to work hard to control the seemingly bad effects of ADHD are only so I can better mesh with a society that has become a little to intolerant of difference for my taste.
Many people can't or don't harness and use their ADHD for the power of good. Sure I am easily distracted, but on the flip side, I see things and notice things out of the ordinary. I make observations that makes me very good at my job, which involes tons of problem solving. Sometimes my ADHD trait of obsessing helps me to stick with and fix a problem at work.
Anyway, to get back to your question. No, I don't want to get better in a sense of better being like other people. I do however want to get better at working with my ADHD instead of against it.
I think mostly my comment to begin with was an irrational fear.I think I just wanted to start a conversation iabout well... if you could take a magic pill or wave a wand and AD/HD would disappear would you? Also I think that Meds were presented to me very negativley as a child and thats why the thought of using them bothers me so much.. That is my incoherant response.
I don't need my ADHD to get any better, it's already quite good
There's nothing wrong with having "ADHD"!
Regardless of what any non-adhd person may tell you, they are just ignorant.
You have the right to be your own person, the rights to think freely however you want to think. AKA FREEDOM!
Nobody in this world has the right to tell you what should be inside your head.
They have no right to try to control your mind, or tell you what you are "supposed" to think.
ADHD FOREVER!!!!
Along with the ADD diagnosis I was given a script, which I started taking without hesitation--I guess you can say living with the traits for 50 years and being basically clueless gave me no cause to ponder over whether or not to try the meds! And for the first two weeks it was as if they were magic pills and someone had waved a wand and POOF! all the ADD traits were gone. But alack and alas, they really weren't gone, no matter how much I hoped and wished and clung to that belief.
Like you, I think we have all pondered at some point the "What if?" you pose: What if we could take strip ourselves of all the ADHD traits we have? It became a crucial quesiton for me to answer for myself not too long ago. It forced me to tally all of what I considered to be my ADD traits--both Good and Bad.
Of course, I've molded myself around these traits--been doing it from day one--so these are not really "ADD traits" such that that I would be a whole person if I were suddenly void of them. I would be a different person, because they are part of me--they are integral to who I am. And, though these traits--because of the career I've chosen and the times I live in--cause problems and get me into binds time and time again--I'll hang on to 'em, thank you, 'cause I've invested a lot of time and effort to be the person I am, working with all the strengths and weaknesses I was born with or picked up along the way! Thanks for posting the question!
I don't consider ADHD to be part of who I am. I consider myself to be a person who happens to have a brain disorder that has negatively affected my life. I've missed out on so much because my brain disorder went untreated for so long.
One thing I don't agree with is when people with ADHD attribute their positive personality traits to the ADHD instead of the person. For example, many ADHD people are said to be creative and thus it is assumed that ADHD "makes" a person creative. Instead of giving credit to the ADHD, why not give credit to the PERSON for being creative.
Interesting perspective...if it's bad, it's the ADD, if it's good, it's me.
Reminds me of the fisherman's saying: if the fishing is bad, it's because of the fish, if the fishing's good, it's because of the fisherman! In both cases, I don't think it's quite that black and white!!
scarygreengiant I think that that is an unfare statement. I have spent far too many years running away from my ADHD and letting it drag me down and believing that having it is BAD! I don't want to believe that any more and I don't know how anyone can say that having a disorder that directly effects your brain cannot attribute to who you are, I think it is part of who I am and you know what I don't want that part to be gone. Also the fact that most of us are creative pretty much says that it is an attribute of the disorder, just because something doesn't fit into the norm of society doesn't mean its bad we are just different, evey other group gets to celebrate their difference why can't we?
[QUOTE=AMYP]just because something doesn't fit into the norm of society doesn't mean its bad we are just different, evey other group gets to celebrate their difference why can't we?[/QUOTE]
But that's the whole point of my post, AMYP. Celebrate YOUR uniqueness. Your ADHD did not make you a creative person. YOU are a creative unique individual. "Normal" people get to celebrate their positive traits and take credit for their accomplishments as people. Why can't we do the same?
[QUOTE=John D]Interesting perspective...if it's bad, it's the ADD, if it's good, it's me.
Reminds me of the fisherman's saying: if the fishing is bad, it's because of the fish, if the fishing's good, it's because of the fisherman! In both cases, I don't think it's quite that black and white!! [/QUOTE]
Interesting analogy but I disagree. ADHD is biological disorder. Asthma and diabetes are biological disorders and I've never heard asthma or diabetes sufferers attribute their accomplishments to their health conditions. Why do ADHD sufferers do that? Personally, I think it's insulting.
Your point is now more clear to me however, Asthma and diabetes are medical problems, I would say that ADHD is a congnitive disability. Think about this when we think about peole with Down-syndrome, we generally think of a cheerful usually sweet and agreeable person. When we think of an individual with Autism we usually think of a disagreeable person not engaging in social interaction, instead engaging in self stimulating behaviour. There is no difference with us, Maybe it is because I can't find any disearnable line to where my diability ends and where I begin. I feel like it is all rolled into one.
By the way your picture with the kitty moving back and fourth VERY distracting, but I also have problem with the emoticons on the side cause they are all moving.
I don't think ADD is a disorder like asthma. Asthma is fairly simple to treat and only affects one area of your life. Its also not a personality disorder like say narcissistic or antisocial personality because ADD has IMHO as many positives as negatives associated with it. So what is it?
I think ADD is a group of people on the tip of a psychological bell curve. Imagine the bell curve plotted as to how much stimulation your brain needs to feel "OK". That little point at the end is us. There's also a group down at the other end we could call maybe anti-ADD. They need almost no stimulation to feel OK. They're out there. These are the people who are perfectly content to work on an assembly line 10 hours a day screwing the caps on tooth paste tubes or whatnot. Now does anyone ever say that THOSE people have a disorder or a problem? No. It's just the way they're wired. I say that this is just the way we're wired. Not bad, not good, just at the tip of the bell curve.
I think like lots of things there are alot of different ways to conceptualize ADD. Which one works for you? Which one is empowering and positive while still staying close to the truth?
i don't know sometimes what is what...
i don't want to lose access to that intangible part... if the flip side of that is having ADD then i'll keep the ADD and the access.
i don't want to medicate. i don't want to do any psychoactive drugs - including alcohol, cigarettes, tea, coffee. i don't think i necessarily think of ADD as a disorder either (altho i think it is a pain in the butt in this materialised society that we live in). i think it is a difference - a very undervalued difference - typical ADDer point of view, i suppose.
i wonder about the States - medicating away all its ADDers. i remember Chairman Mao's great idea re. feeding the population in China "ah well, the problem is the birds eat a percentage of the grain. so what we need to do is kill all the birds and we will have more grain - then there will be no more starvation"
yup, what a fantastically brilliant idea... and what's more to be able to convince others to carry it out!!!! amazing. then - having killed all the birds they had plagues and plagues of insects devastating the crops and the worst famine in their history.
it may seem like ADD is just a problem. in that short-term, narrow-minded view. but what will America be like if it really has managed to change or alter all those brain patterns of the children who were intended to be ADD? where will be all its free-thinkers, scientific geniuses, artists, musicians, creatives, revolutionaries, spiritual mystics, adventurers - the Franklins/the Ghandis/the Einsteins/the Mozarts/the Van Goghs/the St. Francis'? will it end up having the worst famine (in a metaphorical sense) in its history??? what will happen to its balance?
or will it all turn out for the good? who knows? - if my soul is on a journey then i think the ADD is a part of the sign-posting (away from the tangible and to the intangible) so why would i ever want to lose that until i reached my destination....? but if you are talking about the intellectual/material/physical part of me then the ADD is a huge, ginormous pain-in-the-backside-stumbling-block!!!
but why bother with the intellectual/material/physical part??? can we not leave that bit to God to sort out...
i realise we can be difficult - and i realise that "normals" do far more than their fair share most of the time and "carry" us... on a lot of levels. but we do, too. when given a chance, when everything collides in a positive way... ADDers impact, resonating through the ages. why is it that we still read what was written by Buddha, Christ, Socrates that we still start in wonder at the truths expressed in works from ancient texts, music, art --- and not just ancient! language that you can still find in modern works like Rothko etc.
why is it that tears can flow down our cheeks at a piece of music? or that we can faint at a sight of flying cranes back-dropped by a stormy sky? why can we read Shakespeare and be shell-shocked at the depth of truth in his words - and the beauty of his expression?
not that i think Shakespeare was ADD --- i think he was that one in a billion billion exception a creative without the flip of the ADD.
that's what makes me not worry so much about everyone medicating their ADDled kids. i keep on hoping that the end result will be that: creatives without the flip/negative part of the ADD. who knows?
altho i remember one parent writing about the paintings her son used to paint (she couldn't understand them at all) and how much "better" his paintings were after medication and i wanted to cry. just cry for that boy. that he had been turned from an artist into a craftsman.
so i think there will be many who don't retain that access to the soul/that language of expression - who will be normalised. but then again, so many ADDers destroy their lives through drink and drugs, inability to function/survive in contemporary society perhaps the attrition rate will be exactly the same as before. just a different format.
well all will be revealed... if we live long enough to see it!
this question reminds me of one that was asked to Dostoevsky who used to suffer from epilepsy and he replied that for a split of a second before he fell into his fits he had the most exquisite moment of clarity --- and that, for him, far outweighed any of the negatives that came with having epilepsy....
i've gone orf drugs at the moment - i've decided ADD is enough of a drug in its own right. so i am on a little ADD binge.
have a good one!
First of all, chjones, I would never have been able to read past the first paragraph of your post without my ADHD medication. I wouldn't be able to write this post without my ADHD medication.
I think there are energetic, freethinking, or somehow "different" children who are falsely being mislabled with ADHD. These children should not be on medication because it could negatively affect them and take away their creativity. But for people who truly have a chemical imbalance in their brains, medication can help us to channel our talents and creativity. In my case, ADHD has made me less creative. Having a fuzzy, confused, foggy mind is not very conducive to being creative and engaging with the world. I'm MORE creative with my medication because I'm no longer trapped in a world of confusion and chaos. What good does it do to be creative if you can even get your ideas out because your brain is too foggy and chaotic?
There seems to be a tendency among ADHDers to assume that the "normals" are just boring clods with no imagination and therefore we assume that every creative or unique person in history had ADHD. I don't think you have to have ADHD to be creative. Being creative or unique or thinking outside the box does not automatically mean you have ADHD. Why do so many people assume that all of the Mozarts, Gandhis and Einsteins had ADHD? We can't just label every famous person with ADHD. I hate to say this but isn't it slightly egotistical to assume that every freethinking, creative person person has ADHD while assuming that "normals" are just nonconformist sheep? Maybe it's a defense mechanism because we've received so much negative feedback from the world. It might be comforting to assume that every famous freethinker or artist in history had ADHD but it's misleading. There has to be a way for us to look at ADHD with a balanced perspective without being all negative but without being too naive about it either.
i don't want to lose access to that in ... ... ...
[/QUOTE]
great post -
- just to add that there's nothing wrong with the medications we use -
- as long as we use them in a certain way -
to give just a skimmed overview -
- ADD is a different type of mind -
which has been selected because of the ever increasing 'information' age in which
we're in -
the idea makes a lot more sense with a slightly different 'take' on information -
if you try a google search on
'Hawking, black hole, information'
- you'll see what I mean.
So - in much the same way that (and there's much more to this idea :-) of course) - man :-)
grew a mind
'pop!'
around 30,000 years ago -
- so are we seeing the next stage in that same basic process -
a mind with the capacity to handle more information.
In addition to Hawking, we also have A.Huxley in Cambridge -
- relative to the great Aldous and Nobel prize winner for investigations into neurotransmission (in 1963) -
his cousin I think - Aldous - wrote a famous book 'Doors of Perception' - investigating just this phenomena
kinda'
(whilst listening to the 'White album')
kinda' ???
:-)
By the way - all provably so - and to cap it all -
from a quick perusal of this thread - it appears as though asthma and diabetes have made an appearance -
imagine if the so called Western disorders of 'asthma and diabetes' are actually physiologically mandated conditions based on the changes which also lead to the experiential perspective of ADD -
biochemical changes which lead to altered mind-
- ADD is us
ADD is the future
and - honestly - it's all very obvious -
after the initial shock
remember we're
H. sapiens -> 'knowing'
and we evolved ... ... ... so some other bloke from Cambridge (who apparently liked tortoises or sumptin')
tells me
in my bizarre ADD dream world ... ... ...
Asthma,Eczema and Allergy (Atopy)
the clue's are to be found in histamine (basis to asthma (mast cell and basophil degranulation) and the neurotransmitter of the 'awakening')
Type II Diabetes (not I) (here)
The shift from carb -> lipid metabolism away from sugar usage and away from anaerobic respiration and into -
- essentially :-)
and this bit is tentative
into a state in which respiration may be possible with greatly diminished oxygen and elevated demands on atmospheric nitrogen.
This bit is a little tentative (but only a little
- :-)
won't find it on CNN
yet
though).
:-) time to run before being told to 'STFU'
- don't come around here too often - live on the other ADDforum (there's only really one other big 'un out there)
- so apologies if I don't reply here -
:-)
Well I never thoght there was anything wrong with me. I've always been the jack of all trades which i thought was good....but i was the master of none. I've been a very social person that everyone feels very drawn to and loves to be around....at first. I've always had what I explained as a two month lease on friends. I would meet a new person and like a fire we would be the best of friends ever, but like a fire it would soon (usually around two months) consume it's fuel and burn out.
I have noticed a great deal of change since i have started on Adderall XR 30mg and honestly feel that my marriage may have been saved if i had just been diagnosed earlier.
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