Self Diagnosis Talk: Raise your had if you've got ADD or Dyslexia

[ozyman]

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I do think that it is most often used as a crutch and the diagnosis is abused but I most certainly believe that it is real.

I don't have it but my father was actually diagnosed with ADD at the age of 40. He is an extremely successful businessman, driven, and from the outside looking in you can't see anything but focus, order, and attention to detail. He is his own accountant, secretary, etc. and runs one of the most successful building corporations in Dallas in which he started from the ground level.

When you walk into his office you will see that he has a formula that he never steers away from. He does this b/c when he was in his twenties he was struggling to make it b/c he was disorganized, and his mind would wander so easily to the things that interested him instead of doing work. Most people keep things organized but he does it to where it is almost creepy but he has to or he will fail.

Some of his friends told him a few years back that he may be ADD and to take some tests to check it out. Turns out he was. He believes that he hasn't needed medicine b/c of how healthy he is, he is a fitness freak and with the combination of his diet and figuring out methods to combat his bad habits (which really was his ADD all his life) are what made him successful...no crutches or excuses.

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Would you (or anyone else who deals with it) mind telling us some of the formulas that your dad uses to overcome ADD.

[Roland32]

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I do think that it is most often used as a crutch and the diagnosis is abused but I most certainly believe that it is real.

I don't have it but my father was actually diagnosed with ADD at the age of 40. He is an extremely successful businessman, driven, and from the outside looking in you can't see anything but focus, order, and attention to detail. He is his own accountant, secretary, etc. and runs one of the most successful building corporations in Dallas in which he started from the ground level.

When you walk into his office you will see that he has a formula that he never steers away from. He does this b/c when he was in his twenties he was struggling to make it b/c he was disorganized, and his mind would wander so easily to the things that interested him instead of doing work. Most people keep things organized but he does it to where it is almost creepy but he has to or he will fail.

Some of his friends told him a few years back that he may be ADD and to take some tests to check it out. Turns out he was. He believes that he hasn't needed medicine b/c of how healthy he is, he is a fitness freak and with the combination of his diet and figuring out methods to combat his bad habits (which really was his ADD all his life) are what made him successful...no crutches or excuses.

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i'm quoting tdarko here even though i'm replying to NorCalJosh because I think tdarko is answering my own confusion. Those people I know who have ADD have never managed to organize their lives in a way such that they can function healthily without medication. I suppose that comes from dealing mostly with children with ADD and only in a very small number of cases dealing with adult ADD - and even then I'm talking at the oldest middle twenties.

I stand corrected. Maybe it is possible to organize your life to such a point where you can deal with this stuff without medication, but I haven't seen it personally yet.

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I find this discussion very interesting. My entire life, I have been struggling with something although I never new what it was. Growing up my friends, their parents my uncles and aunts have always lovingly joked about me. People would call me an airhead or blonde, stupid, no common sense etc etc etc. I never realized until I was older but this did have a profound effect on whole I look at the world. I am constantly justifying these stupid things I do.

I never knew what ADD was never thought I had it. When I was a teenager was the first time I had heard of it, and basically thought it was a scapegoat for Moms who didnt want to admit there kid was an idiot.

But through my entire life I have been tackeling these "issues" bu issues I mean. Forgetting things like, tying my shoes frabbing my wallet keys, what I am doing at any given moment. I remember numerous times in high school going to school in the morning and arriving at my afterschool job instead. Listening to people is hard, I have a tendency to walk away from conversations in the middle and not realize it, obviously this offends alot of people. Getting anywhere on time, I constantly late for everything, regardless of the effort I put forth to be their on time. I know as I say this alot of people think how hard is it to get to a place on time? If you wanted you would. I know, I know but for some reason I just dont. I remember as a kid my dad pleading with me to just stop and think things through, and constantly making life changing resolutions that I could never go through with. Procrastination is another huge problem I simply cannot get anything done until the very last possible moment otherwise I just cant either start or if I start stop and not finish or finish but not the right way. But if it the last minute and there are not any other options then I can get things done. Tasks that require anysort of thouroghness I suck at, writing is a good example. ANyone who follow y posts realize that I need to learn what a sentance is, etc.

Overall though I have adapted my life. I am personabe so I have always been able to come off as slightly off but loveable. I have plenty of friends ans was mildly succesful in sales before I went to law school. I am old enough know to know that I am a pretty smart person and alot of my ability to adapt is just based on the fact that I am usually the smartest person in the room, but succesfully play the dumbest. I remember basically my entire life whenever some sort of standerdized test or trivia at the bar or anything that was intelligence based my friends would be amazed that I would do better than them. But your an idiot, eventually they would sy I was really book smart but had no common sense which is basically how everyone looks at me now.

The whole point of this rant is, about 6 months or so ago, a poster posted an add test and I took it. I was basically pretty high. At first this scared me and I actually retook the test and tried to lower my score I dont know why but I did. I started thinking and making some connections and though well maybe I should get tested. Well in true me form I have been meaning to do this for about 6 months or so. I finally made an appointment yesterday. I am very interested to see if I am in fact diaganosed with it.

[whiskeytown]

I was medically diagnosed with depression once and I thought for sure I had ADD at one time.

I now think I might just be mildly bipolar - as I do have focus issues but only when depressed - when I'm going I can crank 14 songs out in a month.

people are trying to look for what's wrong with them - Lord knows that's all I've been doing for the last 4 months.

RB

[invisibleleadsoup]

i'm irish,and as far as i know within the medical profession in ireland and europe,ADD is seen as something of a joke,it embodies the american touchy-feely everyone is a victim attitude to psychology and psychiatry.

some children are still diagnosed with ADD over here,but nowhere near as many as in america,and only in very severe cases.

i read an article about ADD in an american magazine a while ago (i never bookmarked it,but it was a fairly reputable one,new scientist or something like that) and found it interesting,in that it seemed to describe me quite well.

there was a link to some sort of official us government health site (the address was .gov anyway,seemed legit) FAQ about the disorder,which included one of those "if you answer yes to more than 5 of the following questions" style questionaires.

i answered yes to pretty much all the questions,but rather than taking this as an opportunity to blame all my shortcomings on a disorder,i used it as an opportunity to confirm my suspicions that said disorder was a fancy name for a personality trait.

the idea that if i was a kid in america i might have been given speed-type drugs for my "disorder" seems crazy from a european perspective.

[hobbes9324]

I think ADD to some degree, like a lot of psych issues, is a spectrum - my softball team had a kid on it that HAD to have had ADD, but that was 30 years ago, so we just thought he was "high strung".
Having said that, I think about 3/4 of my professional group, including myself, have mild attention deficit disorder - but we found a line of work where you need to able to do 18 things at once and feel good about it.

MM MD

[somapopper]

I was diagnosed in 4th grade with ADD and put on ritalin. I was pretty convinced the diagnosis was incorrect. I stayed on ritalin for two years and I consistently hated the way I felt. In retrospect, the closest I can come to describing it is feeling like a walking zombie.

After the two years my stepmother said that she thought diet would be effective in controling the ADD. I'm not really sure what kind of changes she made, but my "symptoms" (depending on if I had it or not) got better from 7th grade to my senior year of high school. I also had a more stable home and social life over that period. I definately was way below my academic potential through high school though.

I did well in college; the only C I ever had was in 2nd semester latin. However, I still have issues. I'm very bad with bureaucracy. If there are forms to be filled out or signatures to be obtained it is almost certain that I will lose the form, procrastinate, or in some other way screw it up. I've had more than my fair share of bank overdrafts, and I'm about the messiest person I know.

As an adult (25) these are still problems for me. I'm in graduate school now and the long relatively unsupervised work on my thesis has been difficult.

I very easily get to the point where I feel overwhelmed. If I handle things one at a time, I'm OK, but it's a challenge to not think about everything at once and feel somewhat paralyzed.

I've basically given up poker (coming back to these forums may be bad) because I often found myself playing when I really should have been doing something else.

I'm not really sure if I have adult ADD or not. My previous experience with drugs makes me unwilling to give that another shot, so it may be a moot point. I think either way the problem is really trying to overcome ingrained bad habits.

[Jack of Arcades]

soma,

one of the biggest tipoffs to ADD is a severe lack of organization. Obviously I have no idea whether you have ADD or not but it's something to keep in mind.

And not all treatments for ADD are medicinal, and not all treatments have the same effects.

If it's not a problem I wouldn't worry too much about it, though.

[Farfenugen]

I legitimately have ADD but I can definitely understand how it is way overdiiagnosed.

When I first went in to get checked out for ADD the conversation went like this:

Doctor: So whats the problem?
Me: I have trouble concentrating. I am very disorganized.
Doctor: Ok, you have ADD. Heres a prescription for Adderall see me in a month so you can renew. Bye.
Me: ...

[somapopper]

Jack,

I'd be curious to hear about non-medicinal treatments if you don't mind sharing. Thanks.

[Roland32]

[ QUOTE ]
I legitimately have ADD but I can definitely understand how it is way overdiiagnosed.

When I first went in to get checked out for ADD the conversation went like this:

Doctor: So whats the problem?
Me: I have trouble concentrating. I am very disorganized.
Doctor: Ok, you have ADD. Heres a prescription for Adderall see me in a month so you can renew. Bye.
Me: ...

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Well for those interested I will update my diagnosis progress. I met with a psychologist on Monday for a prescreening, basically they screened me for Bipolar and depression etc. He then asked me a series of questions, one based on attention type ADD and one for behavioral hyperactivity. I answered an 100% affirmative for the attention and only 40% for hyperactivity. He said this was usual for adults w ADD as with age comes adaptation and what is adapted is your outward tendencies or behaviors. He said he thought I had ADD and said he was handing me off to a psychiatrist who is more specialized so I made another appointment the next day to see the new person. Which is what I did, this session was less of a screening and more of him getting me to talk on why I thought I had ADD. This was tough for me because I was very guarded, I a very private person and it is tough for me to open up. (obviously telling a bunch of anonyous people on the internet I dont have a problem with.) At any rate I really do not remember the discussion but at the end he said he was pretty confidant that I had ADD. He was curious though that I could have made all the way to Law School succesfully though. I basically told them that I was of an age now where I can canconfidantly know that I was smart so I basically learn things quickly enough to get away with it any way. So now he wants me to buy this audio book and listen to it with my wife and have us write down things. So have another appointment in a month. I will say I am extremely happy and relieved that they did not just give me the meds. I think somewhere I hope in the back of my head that I dont have it or something. At any rate, I believe they are taking the time to properly diagnose me and not just kick me out the door with the meds. I will say though that the more I learn the more obvious it becomes that I really do have it and atleast it appears that I am pretty much a text book case.