After years of hearing 'ADHD' or 'ADD' sent my way by suspecting docs, I have started taking Strattera. Now, I am thinking I need a deeper understanding of this ADHD/ADD thing I have. My doc is great, but I get only very brief chances to talk with him. I am thinking maybe the good folks at this board can help me.
LOL, I was not sure I have ADHD until I read the thread about "You know you have ADHD when.." I definitely fit the bill. Not the worst symptoms.. for instance, I would notice a map on my wall if it was there for 6 months, but most of the other stuff sounded like me.
I smoke a lot of weed. I think it is good for me, but I also think it makes my ADHD more pronounced. But if I don't smoke weed, I lose half my life. Before anyone gives me grief about weed, I wanna say that I used to take Ritalin, till I found out (from my doc) that you can crush and snort ritalin. It was the best cocaine I ever tried. However, I could see that was causing me problems, so I ratted myself out to my doc, and now I won't be getting Ritalin anymore. I mention this so people won't think I am smoking weed just for kicks, but rather because I seem to benefit from it.
I am pretty decent in math and programming. About 10 years ago, I got promoted into mangement of computer stuff. I SUCKED at that. I just could not connect with people on all the flakey sh*t managers deal with, including their systematic deception and use of employees for personal gain. I tried soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo hard to be good at what I was doing, but after getting fired twice, I figured I was doing the wrong work.
Now, I just program, and life is good. Transitioning from management back to programming was ridiculously difficult. I had to take a 60% pay cut to start over again at entry level, but now I earn what I did as a manager, so I am happy about that.
But I feel like the loser of my family, because my 3 brothers all pull in 0K/year or more.
I have 3 children, from two different ex wives. They both dumped me for ADHD-related reasons, I am sure, but I think calling it ADHD is over simplifying those situations. In fact, I am clear that ADHD and the medical treatment is somewhat simple compared to the overall dynamics that ADHD fit into. I think the reason ADHD is a 'popular' diagnosis is there are medications that happen to tweak ADHD control levers in the brain. Then there are other meds for tweaking depression levers, and still others for schitzophrenia. None of these medical conditions are clear cut, at least not in my whirley brain.
Sooooo I am just spilling some info that I think might be relevant to a discussion about what my situation/problems really are.
If asking for this kinda help is an abuse of the board, then I apologize in advance. I am new here, and just am excited about maybe being able to get some mysteries resolved or truths confirmed or misunderstanding cleared up, etc..
Thanks in advance to all.
whirly_Head38539.4293055556so, I really fit here?
I feel like I do.
Are there many people here smoking weed?
Welcome aboard. I took ritilan back in the 4th grade and I didn't know you could snort it. We're all here to help one another. I'm sorry that your wives left you due to your ADHD, that's terrible. But, now you can learn how to cope with the ups and downs. We're all trying to do that I think.
Speaking of self medicated, this was stupid of me to do, but when I was like 12-ish. I was taking my inhaler and I accidently slipped my finger and took 2 puffs but then I was curious to see what would happen if I took "too many puffs" and that resulted in me seeing things in a weird way. I should've gotten caught but I didn't..I've been did do it one last time at a different age but then that was that and that can kill me that I've heard. Please be careful. ^__^Whirly, I believe we've all self-medicated at one time or another with alcohol, illegal drugs, caffeine - pop(COFFEE!!) and such before being diagnosed. I personally have been clean and sober for 13 years, however I still drink coffee, which seems to help some.