Coping with ADD

[Idiotex]

[ QUOTE ]
This thread has hit home for me. I never really put much thought into whether or not I had ADD, but I certainly have a lot of the symptoms you guys are talking about. I always did pretty well in high school; show up, take test, easy enough. But when I got to college I found out I was a really horrible student. I always just thought it was basically a motivation issue, and that my school was a tough school, blah blah. And while it's true that you need to apply yourself, I think it's definitely easier for some people. Some people definitely have a natural organizational edge.

Waking up on time, scheduling time to study, meeting deadlines, and all that stuff is easier said than done for some people. And reading. I HATE to read. Even if it's something that interests me, the actual reading is a chore (the stimulation of learning is sort of separate, and what ultimately drives me to do it). But being forced to read a certain set of pages, forget about it. Even if I really made myself sit down and crank it out, my mind would wander so much that I'd get very little out of it. Reading internet forums is really a good way for me to learn stuff, I guess because of the way it's broken down, and the personal aspect (and occasional interaction) helps stimulate me. But even longer posts on here I just can't bring myself to read, even if it's something that I think would interest me.

I've always been bad with those things (organization, deadlines, reading), but good with small, concentrated tasks. Like Pete said in the OP, some people don't see it as a disorder, but more a trade off. Personally, I like our side of the coin. Though I'm not sure what I would actually be doing if I didn't stumble upon poker a few years ago.

Another thing. Movies. If a movie sparks my interest, then I'm totally engaged in it. I'll enjoy it so much and catch every detail. But if someone else puts one on (say I'm hanging out with a few people) and it's not something that I particularly want to watch, I'll have a hard time even following basic plot lines. And I mean that quite literally. I'll just totally space out. I might occupy my mind by being intrigued by a certain person's accent, then wandering again, then maybe catching a stimulating scene or line or two. But I'm not really "following" the movie (even a blatantly simple one).

I've always had it in the back of my head that maybe I have some sort of (maybe mild) case of ADD, but I've never really bothered to connect the dots. After reading this thread, I think I'm in the same boat as a lot of you guys. I don't know if I really "have" ADD in the sense that the drugs would do much for me, but I certainly might. If nothing else, I exhibit similar behavior. I guess "it is what it is" in my mind, and I'm not too concerned about labeling it. I always thought it was just sort of the way I was, and didn't realize a lot of others had similar behavior patterns. This has been interesting to read.

[/ QUOTE ]

This thread has really hit home with me also. Some movies I become obsessed with every detail. But often I go to a friend's place they will have a movie on and I just can't stand it and have to get up and do something because I'm so bored. I'm so used to my poker / do whatever I want when I want lifestyle that I hadn't considered the ADD possibility seriously.

[sirio11]

I would like to be able to read all the posts in this thread, but my lack of focus doesn't allow me [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] Damn it!

[shilohisadog]

Wanting something other than med's to treat my son's ADD, we googled, asked around, and so forth, and found a treatment called Neurofeedback. I've just started the process and the results so far are quite amazing. It's basically a process to (re)train your brain processing to either a) minimize the non-productive "noisy" processing in your brain (which is my problem) or b) stimulate the active processing in your brain (my son's problem).

Outside of the med's aspect of treating ADD, but, I thought it was worth mentioning in this thread.

siad

[keikiwai]

[ QUOTE ]
Wanting something other than med's to treat my son's ADD, we googled, asked around, and so forth, and found a treatment called Neurofeedback. I've just started the process and the results so far are quite amazing. It's basically a process to (re)train your brain processing to either a) minimize the non-productive "noisy" processing in your brain (which is my problem) or b) stimulate the active processing in your brain (my son's problem).

Outside of the med's aspect of treating ADD, but, I thought it was worth mentioning in this thread.

siad

[/ QUOTE ]

what are you using to find out about Neurofeedback? A book? A therapist?

[shilohisadog]

kw,

We are going to a Psychologist / Counselor here in No. VA for Neurofeedback "treatment". The treatment is basically watching a computer screen, which is running through a variety of visually oriented games (maze, puzzle, simple stuff), with electrodes attached to your head, measuring brain response to the visual activity on the screen. The system provides auditory cues, which provides the positive feedback to your brain, when you are either minimizing the noise, or maximizing the active processing. The system can be tuned for a variety of other feedback mechanisms as well.

That's a rather feeble attempt at explanation, but here are a couple of links that provide more information:

EEG Spectrum-FAQ
Wiki-Neurofeedback
Paper on Neurofeedback and Sports

I have other links, but on my computer at home. I can dig those up, if interested. Hope that helps.

siad

[keikiwai]

[ QUOTE ]
kw,

We are going to a Psychologist / Counselor here in No. VA for Neurofeedback "treatment". The treatment is basically watching a computer screen, which is running through a variety of visually oriented games (maze, puzzle, simple stuff), with electrodes attached to your head, measuring brain response to the visual activity on the screen. The system provides auditory cues, which provides the positive feedback to your brain, when you are either minimizing the noise, or maximizing the active processing. The system can be tuned for a variety of other feedback mechanisms as well.

That's a rather feeble attempt at explanation, but here are a couple of links that provide more information:

EEG Spectrum-FAQ
Wiki-Neurofeedback
Paper on Neurofeedback and Sports

I have other links, but on my computer at home. I can dig those up, if interested. Hope that helps.

siad

[/ QUOTE ]

thanks, that sounds interesting

[warlockjd]

I would also add, that I had previously always associated ADD with a learning disorder or dumb kids in class.

I am not sure where I got this misimpression, but I thought the fact that I was at the top of my class somehow disqualified me.

[spyderracing]

This is a very eye-opening thread. I've considered the fact that I may have ADD for a while now. When I'm playing for longer than an hour often time I end up surfing the web, watching TV, etc. When I read I always drift off and manage to get to the bottom of a page and not know what the hell I just read because I was just thinking about something else. I just have a hard time finding out how to break it to my folks. I'm 19 and attend a good school. I've always just managed to deal with it, but I've always wondered wether or not I could do better with some medication.

[KungFuManchu]

I have ADD, and when it comes to something very intresting for me, I have hyper focus. There are things that stimulate me and seem to massage my mind. ITs like when you put Die Hard on or see it on tv, you just have to stop and watch.

happens with video games, poker, sometimes really good books (and i love to read, it just gets reallz really hard to do sometimes). I never had cable tv for a long time because even when commercials are on, I will just sit and watch. Ive had to really work on being able to pull myself away or force myself to do things that need to be done.

As for jobs, they are crazy hard for me, even the simple ones. because they just burn me out because most are unintresting past the second week, if at all. I also think its the reason I play mostlz shorthanded and HU poker, or I have to play a ton of tables, I always need stimulation and I love playing as much as possible.

[sawseech]

1) caffeine
2) more caffeine

i've tried the meds and caffeine is far, far better imo

on caffeine all i need to do is make sure i get all the sleep my body wants and sporadically take a day off