Hello everyone,
I am new to the group, until probably a few months ago I would never have thought that I had AD(H)D. I was only diagnosed a few months ago. I am 24 and have lived my whole life with out any one even suggesting to me that I may have this problem. I can remember being in grade school and the teachers literally yelling at me to hold still, I often talked in class and found it very hard to pay attention to most assignments. From there I remeber that I often fell far behind in home work assignments and other long term projects, usually leaving them to the last minute if ever doing them at all. Moving on to a few years I began 'impulsive behavior' and acting out. I often got in trouble for authority diffience. I did not talk to kids my own age and remember day dreaming for long periods at a time during school. As far as grades go I never had to compete very hard. My test scores were always extremely good and that combined with the few assignments that I did complete I coasted through. Through high school I started to "self medicate" I guess is the popular term. I soon found that the nicotine in cigerrettes was paricularly soothing. After school (yes I did graduate dispite not knowing 12 of the teachers names or what time I was supposed to be in their class) I started to work construction. After a few years in that racket I started to get bored. I started again to "self medicate" and drink heavily. During most of this time I started to have the reputation as a mouth. I talked a lot and alsmost never thought about what I said. After wards (due to the company going under) I moved into computer tech support (over the phone) It's here that I noticed how others could sit in their chairs and just work with out bouncing around. Soon after that my then fiance started to get tired of my erratic behavior, and me forgetting EVERYTHING. I went to a psyciatrist and he said that almost every thing that I talked about did point to ADD and was amazed by that no one had thought to suggest so earlier... Since I have tried Stratra (it was the first thing I tried) and did not do well on it, I then switched to Concerta and have done much better. I can remember to feed the cat and pick up something on the way home from work. I guess that after 24 years even just remembering where I took off my shoes seems great to me. Sorry for the long post, just wondering if any one else, who had never been diagnosed with ADD as a child, went through this too?
I too am new to the group and can associate with almost everything you have said. My story while parallels yours is a little different. I was diagnosed with ADHD as a child but my family refused to have it treated because of the horror stories about ritalin and such. As a result, I had to as I call it "brute force" my way through life. Everything always in shambles, my car, my home, my finances, my relationships, my jobs, etc. Alas the great thing about being ADHD is that we are impulsive. One of those impulses was to join the Marine Corps, what a fun 13 weeks boot camp was, especially since the Recruit Depot in San Diego was adjacent to San Diego International Airport. I was always buzzing thru boot camp and actually had an anxiety attack in boot camp. Made it through boot camp somehow and the follow on training. The Marine Corps decided I was going to be a Weatherman. Meteorological and Oceanographic Analyst is my Job Title. I somehow breezed through the school with minimal studying (read none). Its amazing what will hold ones attention and what won't. The ADHD conditions manifested itself in my whole person. Very impulsive, Drinking problems, Difficulty Focusing except on computers. I was very lucky to have a leader above me who while he did not recognize it as ADHD he still worked me to my advantage. Always giving me challenging high intensity jobs. He has two analogies for me when he describes me to others. One is that I am like a Laser Beam at the beginning of a project but towards the end I am like a Shotgun Shell. The other is that I am like a puppy dog chewing on the floor. About two years ago I became seriously involved with a girl who had a 5 year old with ADHD and it was looking like I was going to be a part of his life so I started reading up on how to handle ADHD kids. Alot of his "problems" sounded like mine however I just dismissed it. I survived this long, whats the rest of my life. Shortly before we got Married, my wife suggested I get checked out for this and now have been formally diagnosed with ADHD Inattentive type. I was started out on Strattera but I got bad headaches. I was switched over to Concerta and it works great but its a time release. Once it wears off I am wired and irritable. Last two days I think I have gotten a combined total of approximately 3 hours of sleep. Once I am rolling I can function, How I dont know but I do . Im going to end this here and I look foward to talking with all of you more.
Robert