Is this an ADHD thing? | ADHD Information

Growing up I was never good at reading but in middle school I found
some books that I really liked and started to read more. My problem is
with reading comprehension though. For example, I could read you a
page out of one of text books and you would think I was a good reader.
However, I would have no idea at all what I just read. I have to read
everything multiple times to understand it. I can understand it, it just
takes longer. So, I'll be reading a book and then I have to stop, go back a
re-read a sentence a few times or sometimes I will read faster than I can
comprehend and then I am kinda still thinking and trying to understand
what I read at the top part but I am now at the bottom but have no idea
what I just read near the bottom because I am reading faster than I can
comprehend and still thinking about the stuff from the top. With all this
re-reading and stopping I'll lose my place on the page or sometimes like
when I read faster than I can comprehend, I'll stop and then I don't know
if I should start reading where I physically was reading and usually then I
have to figure out when I stopped comprehending it and that is hard so I
have to go even further back. As you can imagine, this gets frusterating
and for that reason I tend to avoid reading. This also makes reading
college text books difficult. If it is an easier, more interesting and less
complex read like Harry Potter I don't have as many problems and can
tolerate them more. My friends all like to read a lot and the books they
read are difficult. I like having intellectual conversations and want to be
more well read but these books seem to take me so much longer to
comprehend and then I usually get frusterated and give up. None of my
friends can understand that I don't find reading that enjoyable. I wanted
to read "The God Delusion" recently which isn't
incredibally difficult but way harder to comprehend than Harry Potter. I
didn't get very far because I got frusterated and gave up. I also tend to
get lost when reading, like I will be reading one line and accidently slip
two lines down instead of one. This makes
taking tests and my school work take a lot longer as well because it takes
me longer to comprehend what the questions are asking, read the text
etc. I just don't know if this is related to ADHD. I am diagnosed with
ADHD and I take medication which can help with comprehension I think. I
haven't payed enough attention to it to tell. I just want to know if this is
an ADHD thing or something else and maybe how I can improve this.

yoda199039971.8834953704

Although i dont know, im the same way! If you read a book you are really into, then it should be fine. "ADHD/meds" or not. In my oppinion.

If you ask me ADD people want the MOST satisfying thing to read. I'm not a reader, but this is how i would choose my book.

Im not an expert though. And i don't take meds.

I understand though. You can read a sentence a million times but you don't put the words together fast enough, or there is no motivation to. Maybe you arn't into the material. It seems like maybe you or we cannot execute comprehension. Have you tried with the meds? It seems like a focus thing. Another thing i was just thinking is that our verbal memory, or short term memory retreval could be weak. Med's, coffee or etc should help verbal memory.

You have to MAKE it work. lol, i still never do though. I'm a hipocrit!

If it's true that misery loves company, then I think you can safely rest assured that you are in very good company when it comes to reading.   Here is an excerpt from an article by Thomas Brown, MD.:

"...In addition, focus on reading
poses difficulties for many. Words are generally
understood as they are read but often have to be
read over and over for the meaning to be fully
grasped and remembered." ( http://www.drthomasebrown.com/pdfs/cmgarticle.pdf )

I too share this trait, which caused me to essentially give up reading books by the age of 20.  Only 30 years later did I start reading again--once I was diagnosed and taking medication for about a year.  

But ya know, the meds allow me to stay settled long enough to read whatever I want to read, by my reading comprehension and recollection is still sh*tty.  I don't read fiction 'cause I can't remember who's who, am slow picking up on the plot,  and once I do I struggle keeping it all together in my mind--not fun or relaxing!

Oddly enough, I love to read.  And though I don't retain as much as "normal" folks do, reading can quiet the noise in my brain like little else can--and that alone makes it worthwhile for me. 
John D39999.2775925926 John - I am very selective about what I read.  I tend to like non-fiction stories.  Something about the truthfulness makes it easier to read.  I haven't read any longer books in quite some time - I tend to like the shorter things in the newspaper.  I do read ADHD books however. :)

I remember when I was in college, it would often take me twice as long to read something - especially if the material was difficult.  I would usually have to get an image in my head, a scene to follow and play it out in my head.  Didn't think about the "visual" learning until just now.  I wanted, but never could, to read the Lord of the Rings Trilogy but there were way to many abstract concepts. 

Yeah, I think these are ADHD traits.  Because we do better with simplicity, complex ideas are hard for me to grasp.  Not good or bad, it just is.  But my hunch is that there's many of us ADHDers that are excellent writers! :)

I just wanted to add that sometimes it helps me to read the material out loud.  Of course, I have to be alone for that but it helps with the comprehension.
kjl269139999.3146990741Thanks, it nice to know I'm not alone. The problem seems to be more
apparent with academic material, such as, text books and books with a
complex topic or a lot of information(like a book debating God's existance)
and not as much of a problem with books I am really interested in. I have
always loved fantasy books, like Harry Potter. I have read all the harry potter
books multiple times. I was able to read the 7th one(about 800 pages) in
less than 4 days, although I litterally nothing but read for those days. If the
books can suck me in I will read it for hours but if it can't it's a whole other
story. There are still books I want to read that I have this trouble with but
they seem to be much more difficult and complex to follow and usually
educational. It does help when I take medication though, but I don't take it
all the time.