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

[SackUp]

[ QUOTE ]
I was diagnosed with ADD during my childhood. I was put on medication(ritalin) when I was in the fifth grade. My personal opinion has always been that in all but rare cases its a bs disorder. It really is used as a crutch.

I think my experience really requires a seperate thread.

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This forum is about quality, not volume - why not tell your story here if you feel it will add to the discussion on ADD?

I always find it interesting when young children are diagnosed with ADD - what kid is able to stay completely focused for any period of time. ADD for kids should be called being a kid.

I guess some kids may be more kids than others, but it seems that many, if not most are able to grow out of it. Then again, I guess if there was not a term for it, or they were not identified as such, it would be much harder to help them out.

[miajag]

I find it a lot harder to concentrate on things, especially reading, than I did when I was younger (I am 25 fwiw). Is this just part of getting older or a sign of adult ADD?

[Dids]

killa and wakko (and others who responded),

Can you clarify if you were diagnosed by a doctor, or is this just your own assumption.

[Slow Play Ray]

Neither of those for me, but I certainly have a touch of OCD, and I would suspect a good percentage of posters here do as well.

[kipin]

I was never diagnosed with ADHD until I was 21 years old.

The thought that I had ADHD had never crossed my mind until I was about 14 or 15 when I was playing pool and someone suggested my lack of concentration after the first game could be related to ADHD. I then started realizing I had classic symptoms of being ADHD.

I was given a prescription for Adderall after going to a psychologist and having a myriad of tests to finally receive an official diagnosis.

I think what a lot of people don't realize is that people with above average intelligence can mask the effects (and outward appearances) of ADD and keep the symptoms in check but once pressures start building up. (Harder classes, more pressing schedules, etc.) these people eventually start to feel like they are falling into a well and have a hard time staying afloat.

My mind races all over the place and just sitting down, and doing one task for any period of time longer than 15 minutes can be a real challenge. (One weird exception to this is doing artwork, for some reason I completely lose track of time and can seemingly focus on drawing for hours without feeling like I need to be doing something else.)

I think having so many ideas floating around in my head at any given time is both a blessing and a curse, but more of a curse. For one thing it takes me forever to get to sleep. I also get really upset with myself when I don't get to, or attempt the myriad of ideas going on in my head.

Getting a prescription for Adderall has helped me a ton on class days, as it really helps me focus on just one task. The only problem I have with the drug is that the effects start to wear off and become less intense after just a couple days. For this reason I don't like taking it more than 2 or 3 days straight.

I agree with you in that lots of people who claim to have ADD or ADHD probably don't.

[guids]

http://www.mindpub.com/art169.htm

there are many types of dyslexia, and varying degrees of it, I dont think anyone is in a position to diagnose themselves though.


I think you are failing to realize that with a lot fo things, there are varying degrees of symptoms, and perhaps other aflictions that can by mistaken for them.

[Berge20]

This is something that I've wondered about myself recently, in terms of one of the attention disorders. Haven't gone much beyond that, but it is a subject that I am working on learning more about.

[jbrent33]

I was diagnosed with ADHA in college, I think I was about 20. I am fairly certain that 90% of the people are diagnosed incorrectly. I fall into that category.

My problem is I have a hard time staying focused on things that don't interest me. Looking back, someone should have said tough [censored] welcome to the real world. However, my mother is a psychologist and had one of her partners perscribe me ritalin. I can safely say I would not have graduated college without it.

I was, however, diagnosed with Dysgraphia in the 6th grade. This I've really got. If anyone has ever heard of it, I'll be happy to discuss it or answer any questions.

[gumpzilla]

[ QUOTE ]
I find it a lot harder to concentrate on things, especially reading, than I did when I was younger (I am 25 fwiw). Is this just part of getting older or a sign of adult ADD?

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I have a bit of a similar problem. In my case, I think it's because I'm finally at a point where I'm not spending a couple of hours every day going to classes or doing calculations. As a consequence, I'm rusty as [censored]. I don't like it.

[NorCalJosh]

my story sounds a lot like kipins, but i'll write out a synopsis of it anyway. I was a smart kid, i finished first and second grade in the same year after my first grade teacher told my parents she'd already taught me everything she had and half of the second grade halfway through the year. this was great, and i floated through the entire rest of my schooling paying zero attention to anything that was going on around me, never doing homework assignments, but managing to pull everything together enough at the end that i passed just fine. my organizational skills sucked, but no one really worried about it, my fifth grade teacher told my parents "by the time it matters, he'll have a secretary to take care of all these things for him".

i went to a year of college, and pretty much sunk. the classes still werent a problem, i was just bored out of my mind and had no discipline as a result of never really having to learn it in high school, so i basically let myself sink, to the point that my second semester i was pretty much paying some really expensive rent.

I had a sister who was 3 years older than me, and studying education wanting to be a special ed teacher, and in my senior year in high school she mentioned that in one of her classes they'd gone over ADD and i basically had every symptom in the book, but we never really thought about it because i was still flying through life with no issues.

the first year in college was really the first time that i'd failed at anything, and i had no one to blame except myself. i went back to the family with my tail in between my legs and kind of felt sorry for myself for a bit. my parents finally snapped me out of it, and i started working again, and they asked if i had any interest in going to a doctor... i went, he said i also exhibited some classic signs but referred me to someone else who specialized in non medicinal treatments, but who he also sent all of his people to before writing prescriptions, just for a secondary opinion. some psychologist of some sort. this guy was great, and showed me a lot of organizational things and tips etc, taught me a lot about what doctors know of the disease. explained that there were a couple different types, one centering around inattentiveness, the other around hyperactivity, and told me that they often went hand in hand with depression.

i ended up with a prescription for wellbutrin and adderall. i took these for a while, and it helped me immensely. I really didnt care for how they affected me as a person. i felt like they evened me out, but they kind of robbed me of who i was. its kind of a lot more in depth than that but thats the basic point of things. ultimately i came to a point where i felt like i had to decide if i wanted to live the rest of my life dependent on taking 5 or 6 pills a day. i decided i didnt. i quit taking both of them, and it was really a struggle for a while. i kind of fell down a couple more times along the way, but the struggles were better than being part of the overmedicated mass. im myself now, and i like it better that way, even if things arent as easy as when i was on meds.

I won't say that no one should be medicated for ADD. I have witnessed people who probably would not have been able to function without it. But in my non professional opinion, there are thousands and probably millions of people who use it as a crutch to explain why they suck at life. It's just another thing to assign blame to, another thing to point the finger at, and another reason that you don't have to take personal responsibility for your actions, which seems to be the general mode of operation for just about everyone these days.