Dammed if I do

I read your post and found alot of it interesting.  I am not an expert on ADHD, however I am in the medical field and I also happen to be an adult who has been professionally diagnosed as severe ADHD.  I am currently taking 120mg-150mg of Adderall each day.

Some of the signs and symptoms that you listed do describe ADD, however they also have alot of similarities with people who suffer with bipolar.  ADHD and bipolar have alot of the same signs and symptoms. 

Perhaps if you found more information on adult ADD/ADHD, you could better direct yourself in seeking a diagnosis.

Have a great day and good luck!!

Hi Gandalf,

Just letting you know I totally agree with everything you have stated. I was diagnosed with ADHD about four years ago now and it was the most horrific time of my life. I went to see a so called "professional" who confirmed what I already knew. I must admit I was very confused and wanted answers. He told me that I needed to take medication and perscribed it. I have forgotten what he perscribed, because unlike you I have learning difficulties and major problems with long and short term memory. I took the medication one day felt totally different, and I just thought "this is not for me". So I went back to see him and told him I  really didn't want any medication just some answers. He said that I really needed to take it and that he would now perscribe Valium to calm me down. I never went back again. I went back to my local GP who orginally referred me to him and she agreed with me.

In answer to your feelings of not being focused when you exercise I tend to be more focused when I exercise, but I find when I am tired I too like you become unfocused and find it very hard socially, and say things out of context.

No I don't think speed medications are the only answer. You sound like a very intelligent person. Unless your life is seriously being affected by "LABEL" I don't believe in medication. I think for me having a "LABEL" makes me a better person I'm more understanding of people and their differences. As I'm sure you are.

Nice to see another Aussie on here I think this message board is great but I wish there was one for Aussie's.

Hope I was of some help.

Joanne 

You said...

<<I notice some peculiar things with ADD people. They often believe they have a higher IQ than most. This is perhaps a defence thing set against failure, or the feeling they
must be smarter than most cause of all those idea streams they get, yet never seem to carry through on.>>

My response to this is that yes, I am smarter than "most" people, or at least better at taking intelligence tests, according to my scores.  Ironically, I would probably be considered a "failure" in career by traditional measures.  This is tough to live with, and I hope that receiving proper treatment for ADHD will help balance the discrepancy.

Notwithstanding the above, I am usually very humble about my intelligence; I have to be.  I don't seem to be very effective at "making money" and other objective indicators of career performance.  Though I have received praise for all the work I've ever done, I've rarely found a permanent position in an organization, or been able to perceive the pathways to advancement.

Some of my old friends from school, who know I'm smart, have said they think a "black cloud of bad luck follows over my head".  One way or another, I continue to be part of the "working poor".

Perhaps it's those with high IQ's that have found our way to these message boards, stumbling blindly at first in a world where knowledge about this condition is not readily available from mental health professionals.

I reckon that my high I.Q. has been somewhat of a blessing and a curse.  I'm pretty sure it's the high I.Q. that allowed me to "muscle" my way through college (cramming and writing papers the night before due) with high grades.  I'm pretty sure it's also why, after eight years of banging at the doors of mental healthcare providers.  Eight yeaqrs of seeking knowledge and understanding first of the fact that I may be "different" and then of HOW I might be so.  I've been able to string together my experience clinically with my own personal research and finally track down the few professionals in this city that seem to even believe Adult ADD exists!

To tell you the truth, if I hadn't had so many financial difficulties, crashed cars, etc., I probably would be able to go through life happily ADHD and thinking that lots of other people had BAMS (Boring and Mundane Syndrome).

I do believe that if EVERYONE had ADHD, the world would be a much different place, and not any better or worse off.  Although it would be the "meticulously ordered" thinkers who would have to take medicine to break down the barriers of their thinking.

In fact, deep at heart I don't believe ADHD is a disorder at all, but simply a minority personality type which is not well adapted to the sociological systems that a non-ADHD majority follows!  But if that's the case, I'm willing to take medicine if that's what I have to do to survive among the "normals", and improve my quality of life.

Perhaps the most fascinating part of all of this is that if a bunch of us with ADHD and high IQ's get together, we can have the most damn interesting, multi-tangential, analytical, theoretical, critical conversations across a number of different topics and intellectual disciplines.  And though there may not be a specialist among us, we sure have garnered alot of interesting general information in our sporadic moments of hyperfocus.

Who knows what stimulant meds will hold for me, but if I ever learn to sit still long enough, I swear I'm going to write a book about all of this someday!