Ah the virtues of ADD | ADHD Information
I agree that it is nice to find other people in sync with my inner-self.
Jamieileana, there is nothing in life worth getting too upset over. Granted, like I've already stated, it still happens to us all. That's why the medicine aspect is so tricky. Some of us need meds to keep that from happening, some of us need to stop them because it is happening.
ADD is great and horrid at the same time. I think it is a contridiction within ourselves. The key (only you can find) is relying heavily on the positive.
My students love me and I am very good at what I do. Unfortunately, my principal knows this and keeps putting students that are just like me in my room. That, I think is why this year is so hard for me. ADD helps me to "think outside the box." This is very important when you do not have a class of auditory and some visual learners, but instead extremely kinesthetic/tactile and a little visual. I talk A LOT, that's ADD. My students probably don't ever hear a word I say. Thats OK, talking helps me think and then I get my "light bulb" and viola, I've reached a kid.
I hate when the words, "You have got to clean out that desk," come out of my mouth. I'm not even sure where my desk is on most days. Nobody's perfect and nobody ever will be.
I have tons of friends. I am extremely hypersocial. I no longer do the bar/drink thing. I'm more in to church/Diet Mt. Dew now, but it hasn't always been that way. DH and I have tons of friends from our college-drinking days and our adult-praying days. We have a hard time managing our social life because we ALWAYS have some sort of party to go to and have to decide which babysitter to use. We've been to more than 50 weddings in the last 7 years. It exhausts me and I want so bad to stay home sometimes, but I'd be stupid and extremely selfish not to count this as a blessing.
YOU have a gift. You may not know what it is yet. Mine is definately children and relationships. That is definately a plus because many ADHD/ADD people struggle in this area. I guess I use this to compensate for other areas.
I read last night, while being sucked into cyber-space for entirely to long, that ADD could be looked at as an Over-developed right hemisphere of the brain, or an under-developed left hemisphere, or both. Look at your ADD as an over-development of the brain. That sounds pretty darn good.
ROFLMAO!!! You just described me!!! Hee hee. I know exactly what you mean. Often times, I have this brilliant idea and I forget it within seconds of obtaining it. I interrupt constantly with my 'stream-of-consciousness-speak'. I am 'Miss Anal Retentive' but I lose my 'to do' lists, forget what I'm saying in the middle of sentence, because I am simultaneously thinking about 12 other things in my head. In my organizational efforts at home, I have thrown numerous valuable things away - even money. Gift cards that my kids have received (which I inevitably have to reimburse them for), important documents (the Deed of Trust Note to my house; my birth certificate). Sometimes I've even thrown away bills that need payment and so I end up calling the creditor for the mailing address. One of the things I like about my ADD is my impeccable comic timing. I can come up with something incredibly funny to say about many observations that I find humorous and the timing is perfect. I like that about me.
I am a legal assistant in a large law firm so the ADD has to be 'controlled'!!! When I'm hyperfocused I am shining. I've always had good reviews from the attorneys I have worked with and God knows how. I guess my saving grace is my intelligence, you know? If I didn't have that I'd appear to be a total bimbo but now people just think I'm drunk or on drugs (kidding). In addition, to my fabulous ADD, I am on meds for depression and anxiety. I don't know how I function with a head full of chemicals but they keep me in line somehow...and my sense of humor is the glue that holds me together.
I am 'sensitive' to noise yet I've spent many years directly in front of the Grateful Dead's infamous wall of sound with glee! I listen to Tori Amos in my car blaring so loud that I've blown speakers before.....it's an enigma really. I cannot stand the T.V. being loud and sometimes I hate chaos and sometimes I LOVE IT.
Thank God there are other people out there like me. It's nice to know that the world has a little microcosm for us aliens to dwell in together.
Thanks for such a cool post. 
I used to be worse in person. I think I have learned a little bit of tact but have the habit of saying what I am thinking as I think it.... well actually I think it's a symptom of the H in ADHD lol At work I have a co worker that tris to shield me from our Manager for both our sakes lol....I guess I have a little of that oppositional stuff going on at times
I really would be intersted in any strategies you use...what works for you may also work for me.
The idea of over devolpement is neat. I don't look at myself as defective. just different. I started meds to help me change some stuff I couldnt do on my own. I was like the people who posted after my post. It really interferes with life being that disorganized.
I love when I am drawn into problem solving or have people laughing because the one liners are flying out of my mouth....I spent the day with family and was told by an Aunt I ought to do stand up....I shouldnt...but I did keep smiles on the face of a couple 70 or 80 yr olds and my Sister. I walked into my Dad's apt and My sister wanted to take pictures I threw a purple balnket over my Dad handed him a cross and asked how it felt to celebrate his 25th pontifical anniversary as Pope Richard... He loved it. That's the spontaneity of saying what I are thinking. I grabbed my dad's wallet and said that's going to put your butt to sleep let me help and put it in my pocket..and told him if he didnt get his crap together I was taking him to a Mall and my bet was he'd never get home...I always say that he tells all his neighbors he loves it. My 80 yr old Dad telling a story about his Mom called him a little devil and me nonchalantly saying I called him demonspawn when I was teenager maybe she had a point.. in the moment it brought chuckles.... but. if I was a delibrative person I wouldnt think of those things in the moemnt. Exchanges like that are from the "quickness" of my thinking. The meds havent changed any of that.... maybe I wont need protection formn my manager maybe i will think the fast and shut my mouth now lol. I also for the most part was ok with my dad butchering stories...I love him and find it very frustrating when I get upset just because he has lost a mental step and goes a bit slower...i was a bit more patient.
How in the world could ADD be considered a gift?
I fool most people, and they think I am the most organized person in the world. Truth of the matter is, it takes me hours to do something that should take 5 minutes. However, when it's important, or due (work related) - I start way before it's due. I try so much harder than the average bear just to do average stuff.
ADD sKs!!!
[QUOTE=scattered&fun]ADD is great and horrid at the same time. I think it is a contridiction within ourselves. The key (only you can find) is relying heavily on the positive. [/QUOTE]
Sooooo true - we are like a walking contradiction; an enigma.
Wow. One thing I noticed is how opened we are and not drawn away or shy in expressing ourselves 110% including me. The exact opposite of people who have ADD. But being hidden away anonymously in a computer desk might have SOMETHING to do with it!..........................
OK so it has EVERYTHING to do with that.
But what a great community I found.
Now first BOBEL my intent was not to slam anyone. If I did, I apologize. The post was also for everyone else to see. Always refer to when reading something on the Internet as a neutral tone. It's almost impossible to read the tone of someone on a message board unless stated.
So....with that said...I didn't list strategies I use to cope with the LD or ADHD because we have to find it ourselves. What works for some may not work for others. And LOL!! I wasn't thinking of heroin as a home remedy, but thanks for the laugh!! I needed that! (Not heroin, HUMOR)
From a majority I heard the pills do tone you down including your personality as the rest of us stay unaffected. So if they do work for you continue to take them because we're all unique. And I fear those pills would destroy my personality with my borderline sense of humor.
I have friends who don't understand what these syndromes are. They think I have some kind of disease and that I will contaminate them. When they later find out I have this LD they look at me like they saw Richard Simmons in speedos.
They're probably thinking they should distance themselves as far, far away from me as possible... so that when someone shoots me they don't get hit too.
Hanging around with me will decline any social status they have. Blahblahblahyadayadayada
Or so it seems..........................
So I say to them, fine if you don't want to accept who I am then screw it you were never my friend to begin with. Find those who truly do care about you Amiright?
I think a lot of it has to do with not being angry with yourself for your
shortcomings anymore- adhd isn't your fault, just your responsibility.
Then it is easier to notice what you do well.
I mean, no matter WHAT is wrong with you, just learning to work around
and with whatever it is is better than cursing and hating yourself. That's a
total waste of time and energy.
Can see all of your wordly possessions at one time.. because they are all over the floor
The Mind of a Pentium - with only 2Mgs of RAM
lucky I wasn't drinking milk it would of been spraying out my nose onto the computer screen I laughed so hard at that first line
One of the things I like about my ADD is being able to think critically and question authority (this is both a curse and a blessing), standing up for what I belief is fair and right. Also, my ability to really understand people and be compassionate and always willing to help others. A few years ago it was hard to find something I liked about myself and now I can actually list a few here. Amazing. I had to figuire out how to check something a different way this AM at work. I thought of a way to check what I needed to check on a machine that moved in degrees not thousands of an inch. I probably did it because I slowed down long enough to coinsider it and handle the math. It was a 3 inch diameter tool, I needed to check and angle .032 long accurately and was able to figuire that to be about 3.7 degrees give or take with in my tolorance band...I really don't think I would of been able to juggle all the numbers to reach that conclusion and hold onto them premedication...so, even with the horrid mind not only did I do something ionnovative on a peice of equipment no one thought could be used to check what I wanted to check. I had the focus to see the idea through to conclusion rather than juggling the numbers a bit mixxing them up and saying farg it you are right it can't be done there I don't think the medication effects my ability to think outside the box a bit.Bobel-
I totally agree. I don't think there's enough medicine in the world to make
me 'normal'.
Sunshine-
I really believe add people just think differently. Different is bad when it
comes to balancing your checkbook, or remembering to turn in little
receipts from a business trip.
What some people call 'distraction' other people (is it Dr hallowell?) call
scanning. Instead of thinking in a straight line, adhd people don't screen
out thoughts/stimulus/observations.
While Bobel could have accepted that the tool at work didn't display
inches, he couldn't ignore the thought that if he new the # of degrees it
would be the same. The instantaneous (sp?) thinking is what can be a gift
to add'ers. The methodical follow up to prove the idea is what is hard to
do without meds.
A normal person, though, would have not had the lightning flash in the
first place.
Unfortunately like Sunshine says, we have to spend so much effort doing
the mundane not much is always left.
I personally have good ideas all the time, but it's hard to follow through
or document them, even. But if i didn't have adhd, i wouldn't have as
many good ideas. but my socks would be organized.oh here is a poster i put inside a cabinet door in my classroom. I would
subtly leave it open for my adhd kids to read. They liked it a lot.
http://adhd.kids.tripod.com/50great.htmlhttp://adhd.kids.tripod.com/50great.htmlnickled&dimed38369.6097222222
It can be both a blessing and a curse. Sometimes it's very easy to use my ADD as an excuse for my behavior, my mistakes, etc. but the bottom line is taking responsibility for my actions and trying to 'think' before I 'react'.
http://adhd.kids.tripod.com/50great.html^^^
That website. Never seen it before!
I love how the text is just all in one huge chunk, kinda like our brains.
The content seem like it was written by Baz Luhrmann.
I feel like I'm alone in this category so the only way to rid that is to ask you all this question.
OK everyone super glue your eyes wide open and tie yourself to your computer chair, because I know that even after one sentence some of you your heads will drift into the clouds. I should know. It happens to me all the time!
Ahem...My question is:Is it just me or (HEY! GET BACK ON THAT CHAIR NOW AND READ WHAT I HAVE TO SAY!!! (I didn't even type that much) :) O.K As I was saying: Has anyone felt that when they forget that they have ADD or have a LD that somehow your mind can process your ideas well? But as soon as you remember you have "it" you start to stumble on your own words and then become very uncoordinated and everything goes to hell, And that brilliant idea you had about an invention gets caught in a fortress summer like Los Angeles smog and then you have yourself a mental block?
In other words: Picture a train track and an arriving train, everything is moving smoothly but a vicious savage leaves a penny on the very side of the track causing the train to derail and laughs maniacally. You know like (Muahahahahaha)
Anyone feel that this is EXACTLY how your ADD acts?
Vicious savage = Just the thought of remembering you have ADD makes you susceptible to make mistakes or omissions.
Also I want to note that I'm not frustrated with the ADD or LD at all, I'm just curious. Because we all know Geroge W Bush has ADD as well, so there's hope for all of us. Just making a note of it so nobody misinterpreters my post.
By the way...speaking of Bush, The thing that bugs me about Attention Deficit Disorder Bush is that he has never paid attention to our Deficit!!
Ok...Well that was my question. Am I alone in this or has anyone felt like I have?
Oh, I guess this can also be used as a Welcome post!
I think it's called HYPERFOCUS. One minute you are the most productive person in the world. The next minute you can't finish tying your shoe.
Oh, if only everybody had the attention span for me to share the contradictions in my life.
I personally think ADD/ADHD is a gift. I went through November and December of this month not thinking this as I was trying desperately to change meds., BUT before then, I've always had this view.
Hi Bobel and everyone else,
My opinion but I don't believe in pills for anything other than an actual disease. These ADD or ADHD pills do work but they change you into the suit&tie and a breifcase person who's friend invites them to a strip club but would rather read the stocks and bonds on his newspaper instead of paying attention to the hookers!! I mean I'd end it all right there if I became one of them :)You know what I mean?
But maybe that's just me. Who knows. There are many people out there who love doing anything as long as they make a fortune. Rich and boring Bill Gates person. Good for them. To each their own I say. But not me.
So yeah, I'm very disorganized and have some type of LD Called:(Visual Spatial learner and Auditory Kinesthetic Deficit or VS-AKD A type of dyslexia. But I'm not about to give up on one of these magic pill and let all my troubles go away. What if there's something we have to learn about our ADD, ADHD, or LD HIJKLMNOP. HOW MANY OF THESE ARE THERE ANYWAY?!?!
Again, this is just my opinion but I think we can all train our brain to do exactly what those pills do for us. It just may take a little longer but I know anything is possible. I'm getting along just fine without medication. There are home remedies for this by the way. Life's to short to worry about a tiny little paperclip that's stashed away in the furthest corner of a master bedroom which NOBODY has access to anyway. Did you polish your paper clips also? :) j/k
It's not like this will ever happen:
"......And there's the bathroom. That's the den, Here's the kitchen. So are we through? Can you make me an offer on the house?"
"Yeah...I think we love it! Wait.What's that thing by that corner!"
"What's what??"
"Look!"
"Oh um....I...uh...it's nothing."
"Honey it looks like a paperclip!"
"A papercl-"
"YES!!........You pig!"
"And look there's a piece of debris by the window pane"
"THEN THAT'S IT!! THE OFFER IS OFF!
IM NEVER GOING TO DO BUSINESS WITH A FILTHY SCUM LIKE YOURSELF!! Good day!"
"Aww. If only I'd leaned to take my ADD pills on time this would never have happened!"
Yeah..I exaggerated but do you see my point?(opinion)
When you reach a milestone reward yourself and never feel sorry for yourself is what I learned.
Yep, "You have nowhere to go but up" as they used to say in Charles in Charge.
No, I didnt polish it I threw it out... the amazing thing was I noticed it in the middle of my Living room and bent down to pick it up....I dont pick up anything till it's in the way..It is a good feeling to go cook and not have to clean up from the last time I cooked. I am a bit of an odd duck. I found if I go to the strip club one night I end up going every night and I really dont think woman are meat so it creates some conflict with my own moral values...so I dont go at all pre meds. I am glad you can think your way out of ADD I cant. I am happy to hear your experiences. But could you skip passing judgement on mine because they aren't the same? I'd like to hear the strategies you use to think your way out of the disorder now that might of been useful to me unlike what feels like getting slammed on a support board which I have no use for. You didnt share any of the ways you overcome your problem. Living in the abject chaos I have been living in wasnt working for me.
I would agree ADHD wasnt a real disorder except for the brain scans showing abnormal electrical activity in the brain of those who have it.
I am 43 and believed EXACTLY as you do for a very long time? If you are younger maybe you will decide medication actually is...medicine and can help :) or maybe it isnt for you...as too me I am not about to become "a suit and tie' lol but what's wrong with that? I don't look down my nose at people like that. One thing I did stop being at some point in my life was the fatally cool outsider on the fringe I used to revel at being.
Well, I say you don't need to inhale anymore I have deigned that you can think your way out of breathing...now the next time you exhale dont inhale...Use that willpower and thought...you can do it...Dont feel bad when you fail and you will, over and over for 30 yrs ....my God if someone looks down their nose at you in judgement for not trying to address a problem the same unsuccessful way after 35 -40 yrs of failing dont get mad just smile inside at their ignorance of you or your experiences. Walk a mile in someone elses shoes before you pass judgement. I don't disavow you can think your way out of it what makes you beleive I can...I am not you. i don't know you you may be a great guy or an Ass but I didnt appreciate what felt like a slam. I would dare so you don't know what the "pills" do since like me for so long you have such prejudices against trying them. A home remedy that is an "herbal" product is just non fda approved drug....Heroin is an all natural herbal remedy for lifes pain and I would hardly not call it a drug or call it a good thing. I would much prefer trusting the FDA than the totally unregulated herbal/supplement Industry.
Any of my friends would bet on me buying a jar of manic panic for the warp tour and returning to bright green hair before becoming a "Stiff" although I'd love a wall street salary! No harm no foul but, do you see my point? I was feelin a bit of disdain for your response writing this I hope the tone isnt too harsh.
*must........shed............newbie........status*I love my hyperfocus states. But there's always this buzzing in the
background- the annoying sound of kids wanting food, the dog chewing
something important, or the bill collector at the door.
When I'm really involved in something that is both creative and technical i
am so stimulated that i do almost nothing else. For me adhd is being
unable to choose paying attention or not.
It is only with exhasperation i finally tear myself away to eat or put the
kids in bed or... oops, turn off the alarm- time to go to work!!I too most certainly believe ADHD or ADD is a gift. Think of it as having a broken cable box but on the upside you have this magic antenna that occasionally picks up channels from other parts of the world and you have access to free porn. New Alcohol38368.1237847222
i just dont get it. i see nothing great in having ADD. maybe because i am not creative in anyways, maybe because i have "gift", maybe that make me NON-ADD then?
i feel the opposite of the first poster. when i think i have ADD i can BETTER get things done. if i forget that that is my problem i just feel plain ditzy and dumb again.
when i realize that my aimless running around in circles, forgetting things, getting lost, not getting anything done, etc, is due to the ADD then i feel better about myself and focus more consciously on what i need to do.
does not mean that it works but at least i have something to aim for. if i forget, like i said i just feel totally confused and frustrated.
now i wish i had this "talent" and or "gift" that everyone that keeps talking about ADD'er having, so maybe then i am not ADD since i have no "gift". lol.
i can hyper focus like on this computer all day long! i can sit here for freakin hours and not even blink! we go out every other weekend to the karaoke bar for about three hours and with all the excitement and people around all i feel is bored and lonely dispite being there with my daughter and hubby, all i want to do is go home and go to bed.
geat when I am really trying to fix a problem or do something intersting
Not so great when I get a letter from the Insurance company telling me I have been dropped for non payment becuase I kept putting off paying the bill whenever I thought of it, not so great when I leave and return to my condo 5 times in 3 minutes getting the 5 of 6 things I wanted to bring with me and of course leaving the 6th at home, not so great when a conversation amounts to me waiting for a chance to say something, not so great when that sarcastic remark other people think to say to the boss but dont goes faster than thought directly from my brain to my lips
I love that at times things completely involve me I dont like the chaos at other times..
Ritalin is amazing. My kitchen is clean, I actually bought an address book and have begunusing it, I am taking the time to cook healthy rather than eat crap, I havebeen far far more productive and less bored at work... I have had 4 great days that chaos didnt reign over. It's not that I am organized it's just I have been much more centered in my thinking. I have noticed little things like the debris next to my waste basket and paid attention to it long enough to pick it up as unstimulating as that may be. I picked a paper clip up off my rug..didnt even think, I saw it and did it. I don't know if others were like this but:; in the past I may of looked at it and not seen it or at best seen it and kept moving right along where ever my thinking was pointing. I have strike through or soemthing so never edit my posts. gets to frustrating so can see a real difference in how I am typing.
New Alchohol-My medicine does not make me a suit and tie. Have you even tried it?
I take a mega load of medicine, and I am still hilarious, fast, topic to
topic, and a woman of a million interests. My job is creative, and i teach
other people to be creative, and everyday somebody says to me "That's a
really good idea!": the only difference is if i set my
keys down in a wierd place where i'd never find them, it occurs to me
about 30 seconds later that maybe I should pick them up because I'll
never find them again. I catch my mistakes sooner.
If I stop taking my meds, i lose my phone, ipod, bills, money and debit
card. THat gets really expensive. I am not a wealthy woman. Also i
appreciate your story, but one week i ran out of medicine and locked my
keys in the car THREE times the following week. I pay my babysitter a
minute for every minute that i'm late, and she could care less if it's
because i'm uncaring or ADHD. It costs the same either way. I can't deal
with that stress. It makes my life hell.
When I'm not on meds i lose my students' irreplaceable projects. They
don't really care why, it hurts their feelings. If I haven't learned how to
keep track of things by age 37, and a little extra dopamine in my frontal
lobes makes it happen, that's fine with me. I don't feel sick or wierd, i just
think i need this medicine so i can interface with the boring people a little
bit better. Sometimes on the weekends I don't take it, and the only big
difference is that I am hungrier, sleeper, and lose my debit card.
I think of it as mental juggling. when i'm not on meds i can only hold one
thought- keys, for instance. I am a helpless victim as the next thought
knocks the first thought out of my hand. medicine just gives me time to
finish the first thought before taking on the new one. I still have all my
crazy thoughts.
