bookworm/ math-phobe :ADD up? | ADHD Information
Oops, I just began questioning my self-diagnosis of ADD.From the time I can remember I was absent minded, day-dreamy, misunderstood verbal directions, and got into rediculous situations every day. Fifty years of this! But I took to reading without any trouble and became a lifelong bookworm. Of course I read from back to front at times, skimmed and skipped, but was really wired for literature. Now in my fog, I can only clean the house by strapping a book-on-tape over my ears, working to the narrative. Tidying becomes mistily rote once my mind is on the story, not a pained chaos.
I have ideas , tons of them, many enthusiasms, can't organize, plan, or do goals- ...lots that made me think I had discovered my kind. But the posts to Newbie, Sunshine said ADD's are always good at math. Reading is not on the radar...Am I misdiagnosed? I switched to Srattara and don't feel right yet, but my husband says I'm seeming much improved.
I think there are many types of add. I relate to many things on this board but not everything. For example, I'm not adopted although many people with add are adopted.
If you are taking Strattara does that mean that, in addition to a self-diagnosis, a doctor has also diagnosed you? Sometimes I think people try a number of medications before they find one that really works for them. Sometimes also people are misdiagnosed with add. I think I'd talk to my doctor.
However, I wouldn't worry about being misdiagnosed because you don't match with something that some people, including me, say about themselves on this board.
[QUOTE=yellowdog]
I think there are many types of add. I relate to many things on this board but not everything. For example, I'm not adopted although many people with add are adopted.
If you are taking Strattara does that
mean that, in addition to a self-diagnosis, a doctor has also
diagnosed you? Sometimes I think people try a number of
medications before they find one that really works for them.
Sometimes also people are misdiagnosed with add. I think I'd talk
to my doctor.
However, I wouldn't worry about being
misdiagnosed because you don't match with something that some people,
including me, say about themselves on this board.
Yes Yellowdog, We are still
individuals with varying degrees of indicators and within that there is
the level of effect of each so
it vital to find the meds management that suits the best in each case.
It can be a concern until that situation is resolved. A clear record of
how the med is effecting, in writing, is a help to the Doctor to identify
most suitable intervention.
[/QUOTE]Hi, Martindale! I was recently diagnosed with ADHD, at age 54, and I was NEVER good at math. The best practice I have gotten in the last few years has been occasionally playing cribbage.
I was also at one time a bookworm. But as the years have passed, the depression I developed as a result of living undiagnosed - not understanding why I was such a difficult person to like, losing one job after another, etc. - became worse, and I began to have difficulty completing even one book. Now that I'm diagnosed and have started on meds (including an antidepressant), I'm look forward to reading once again and enjoying it. (I have a lot of reading to catch up on! 
) I did have difficulty in school while growing up with reading comprehension, especially in subjects I had not interest, so did poorly in most subjects.
I also wonder if you've been diagnosed by a doctor, since you're taking Strattera?? If you're not, I recommend you do see your doctor, whose monitoring you should be under if taking any ADHD medication.GypsyWomyn38452.842337963Well if ADD is truly hereditary then the explanation of many of us being adopted is possibly that our ADD mothers could not handle the ADD & motherhood. Maybe not the case with all, but if I had a child I can tell you right now I would not be able to take care of it. I am like a big child myself as it is. I don't have pets because I always forget I own them and have to give them away. 8(I am really really bad at math! I can do algebra formulas and stat formulas but math concepts allude me. Also my spelling is terrible. I have a great vocabulary but unless I have spell check I am forced to use simple words because my spelling is so rotten. I also really enjoy reading however I rarely read from the front to the back, I skip around alot and drift alot so I have to reread information. Anyway, math was one of my biggest problems and I have avoided it as much as possible, it kept me out of school for 10 years but I finally went back and will get my BA in psych in May.All I can say is thank God for calculators!!! psychgirl38452.7215625I'm horrible at math! Psychgirl, I hear ya on the calculators!
I am an excellent reader and devour books like food. I could read for hours if I like the subject. If I am without a book I feel naked!I find that often-times I hyperfocus when reading--I start to tell someone
about a movie I saw and then feel stupid because I actually read a book
and there never was a movie ! (except in my head!)
I use reading a book as my "treat" when I go to bed--keeps my mind from
wandering and becoming overwhelmed with the next day's duties!
As for math--I managed if I saws a purpose to it--as far as those trains
travelling on the same track and what time will they meet--I thought
"Does it matter!? They are going to crash when they meet! Do we really
need to know what time!"I don't know if types of intelligence are related to ADHD at all. I can read and do math fine, it's just that I'm always jittery and feel like moving. That keeps me from getting much done - then I start something new. My math skills are next to nothing. I can't visualize a bunch of numbers on a page.