Does this sound like ADD | ADHD Information

[QUOTE=Emily86]

I really want to do my work but I just have a very hard time sitting down and doing it. Just wanted to mention writing papers for my classes is a big problem for me. I always have a hard time actually organizing it into a paper. I start with the points I want to make but takes me forever to turn it into a paper.

[/QUOTE]

Yep. That's us!

Mark -

Yup, when you go in for testing, they will ask a bunch of questions and have you rate yourself on different characteristics. I brought my best friend in with me when I got tested so that the doctor could ask him questions and the both of us would say how we thought I rated on certain things. This helps to get an accurate diagnosis.....and also, sometimes there are aspects that an individual may not realize or notice, but someone else might notice these things.

As chocoholic said, if you do get a diagnosis, talk with the university's disability services.....You can get accommodations that will help you to succeed.

Good luck and keep us posted!!

I am a freshman in college and I have a really hard time actually sitting down and doing my school work. Most of the time I plan on doing my work with plenty of time to spair, but I usually end up doing them at the minute. Like on the weekends I plan on doing it spread out but then it is sunday night and I haven't worked on it. By the time I do sit down and do it, it takes me alot of time because I am not staying focused.
I was looking at some symptoms of ADD, some that really stuck out that I have are, not being able to sit for a lond period of time, inpatient, bored very easily. I don't even like going to the movies unless it is a movie that I REALLY want to see, otherwise I am just bored. I never had any problems when I was younger, but I never really had to do much work in school. But now that I am in college and have to study alot I am really strugling with grades. I notice when I am in class all i do is write down the notes andnot able to really pay attention,I am not taking in the information, it is like it goes in one ear and out the other. Just wanted to know if this could be ADD and if it does what should I do?

Thanks for any advice

-Emily-

There are some great online tests. The amen clinic site has a thourgh one. Adhd always shows up as a kid. It may not get diagnosed but the symptoms are there. You might ask your folks if some of the questions regarding ADHD behavior were true of you when you were a kid. I wasn't diagnosed as a kid. Bad grades can be a consequence of ADD but they aren't a symptom. I always got by. The symptoms though...they were there and in my case the schoiol raised some flags but it was a time ADHD was not often diagnosed and my Paraents just went ballistic when the school tried to tell them I was slow and needed special ED. Good luck! If you go for a diagnosis or an evaluation I'd suggest a Pshiatrist who handles ADHD IMO. A good book that will tell give you a pretty detailed description of add is Driven to Distraction by Hallowell and Ratey. There is a pretty good self questionnaire in it that might give you a little further idea of whether you might have it.

Just as BOBEL said, AD/HD is not something that is suddenly acquired.....You either are born with it, or you are not....Symptoms must be present from childhood and persist, interfering with more than one aspect of life (EX: family and school, or friends and work, etc.) Actually sitting down to study and paying attention (to maybe not your favorite professor) is hard for everyone.....AD/HD is more extreme.

Hope we've helped you a little....keep us posted as to what you end up doing!

Best of luck!

Also forgot to mention, if you do get tested and turn out to have add, make sure to speak with someone in your university disabilities office. Add is considered a learning disability and they should be able to help you with some of the classroom difficulties you might face.

I checked out that Amen website and took the test. From what I put in It says I could have ADD, but I don't know how well i rated them. I think I might talk to a doctor just to check it out because I think something is causing this. Like i mentioned in my first post I think I might have had some things whe I was younger but it hasn't really effected me untill now when I really have to do work. I don't think it is just a disinterest in the school subject. Last semester I wasn't happy at my school and thought that was why I wasn't doing too well. Now I transfered and really want to do well in school, I am interested in physical therapy so I need good grades. I really want to do my work but I just have a very hard time sitting down and doing it. Just wanted to mention writing papers for my classes is a big problem for me. I always have a hard time actually organizing it into a paper. I start with the points I want to make but takes me forever to turn it into a paper.

I think I will go to my regular doctor first and ask about and see what they reccomend. I was also wondering when you do go for testing does the doctor just ask questions are what?

yeah i just got diagnosed. If you are a college student i would recommend going to the student disability and testing center. there you can get FREE counselling and an official recomendation for a psycologist for real testing. (required by most insurances) make sure you are clear with your insurance company before recieving testing because many times they wont cover ADD testing.

the test is pretty simple, it is partly an IQ test, a test for attention and a personality quiz. you should have two 1 or 1 1/2 hr sessions of testing and a longer follow up visit where you get your results.

I did really well in school, even college. I graduated magna cum laude. But after school when I started my own business, I couldn't keep track of anything!! I remembered back to school in my younger years. I would always do the assignement at the last minute, sometimes in the class just before! I didn't keep track of much. My mother was a very supportive type and came to my school many times when I would forget my assignments. Ond day I called her three times. The last time she came she said, "This is it. Don't call again!" What a patient mother! I am very blessed to have her!

Sometimes in grade school and even high school the lines are drawn for you pretty clearly. But when the work gets harder or your time is your own to organize, you lose it. That is me. Medication and herbal supplements help me tremendously.

good luck

That really sounds like you are from our planet...but if you are you would have had the traits as a child. Ask your Mum if you had things like: daydreams alot, stares off into space, talks a lot, interrupts the teacher, does not raise hand, can not be quiet in the library, climbs on everything, kicks the chair in front of her all the time, socially immature, Well all of these were on my report card and my doctor laughed and said he could have made the diag with just all my report cards....then he laughed...so check into that...you have to have it as a child...it can not just appear as a young adult....also go get tested....and if you are...get on meds...it will make a big difference in your GPA...Good luck!

those are definite ad/hd signs...

another common ad/hd report card reading: "DOESN'T LIVE UP TO HIS/HER POTENTIAL" or statements as if you could just do better "if you put your mind to it"....did you have any report cards like that?

I had several, the teachers always thought that I could do better, because the first couple of weeks of school, when everthing was new and fresh I made pretty good grades, then school got BORING (as it usually does) and I would just drift off on cloud nine in the stars and then my grades just went to the toilet.

Just because you did not have behavior problems does not mean you might not have ad/hd, it just means you have it a little differently....more like "ME"!

A lot of my teachers ESPECIALLY the ones in my INTERESTING CLASSES, that i made GOOD grades in, had a hard time believing I even had a problem because I was one of those quiet, spacy, adders, and i did not have the hyperactivity, and paying attention was not a problem IF the subject was interesting and IF it was a really good teacher. but that was only a couple of classes.

Most of the time, my teachers just thought that I was just being ornery and just didn't wanna be there, when in real life, the class was discussing, say, the civil war, and I am reliving the last star trek episode, OR wondering what my new puppy at home is doing, OR wondering how I'm going to get my current crush to notice me after 3rd period............. but I never had any behavior problems at all......BUT MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT, I AM STILL A TRUE ADDER!!!!

I looked for some report cards and I found 2nd and 5th grade. The second grade says has difficulty following directions in math and reading. Only had positive comments about behavior in class. The 5th grade says I need to work on listening skills. I remember my teacher in 5th grade not letting me sit next to friends during lessons because I wouldn’t pay attention. But no behavior problems. Although my behavior out side of school has always been different. My parents could never understand how I could behave so well in school and not well at home. I have always been different in school than I am out of school. Even today when I hangout with new people out side of school say I am so different. The only thing I am wondering about is that I was able to control behavior in school, I would think that it would be something that I couldn’t control. Or else if I do have ADD I just don’t have it as sever as other people. So anyway just some more information, I can’t wait to get all of this figured out!

[QUOTE=sonya_h]

I can defintaley relate to that, being really motivated in the begging of the year and getting good grades but then losing interest. FOr example my senior year, 1st marking period I got an A in physics second was C.