Ask me about childhood and adult ADD.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Ask me about childhood and adult ADD.

TrueChaos: Nov 14, 2006

rainbow kittens posted:

EDIT: My question for the OP (and other ADD sufferers) is this: Does it feel like your head will explode ALL THE TIME? Do you ever overthing everything so much that you pretty much just freeze and can't do anything other than sit in a lump while your mind wanders aimlessly? Do you feel rage boil to the surface when you are interrupted while doing something you are attempting to concentrate on? I know my feelings aren't typical of a "normal" person, but I'm really looking to see if they are normal for a person suffering from ADD/ADHD. I don't know. If the doctor comes back and says I don't have it, then what the hell could it be? My cousin has Tourettes, and Mom always told me that I had it because of certain characteristics that I showed as a child (ticks, loud voice, etc), but I read in a book that Tourettes can also be comorbid with ADD. Mom also thought I was bipolar because I was always moody and I would fly off the hanger if someone interrupted me. Of course, I always told Mom off when she hinted there was something wrong with me anyway but now I see where she is coming from.

Yes, just about 100% of the time before I got on meds. Its overwhelming, but I managed to find ways to deal with it. One of the biggest things that helped me in highschool / before meds in university was to have music going when I was working, that and talking on msn at the same time as writing my lab report. Sure the talking on msn didn't help with the efficiency, but with the music (I'd always find myself singing along under my breath) and the MSN conversations I managed to occupy the parts of my brain that would go a million miles a minute from one subject to the other. Occasionally, I'll hyperfocus, and good luck tearing me away from whatever I'm doing when this happens. I've put off a simple thing like going to the bathroom until it was basically painful because gently caress it cant stop now! Also, when growing up I'd get so into a book that I would have no recolection of my parents asking me to do stuff while reading. Like, they'd tell me to walk the dog, and apparently I'd reply "Ok in 5 minutes" and 2 hours later I'd be in the same spot, 200 pages farther along in my book. "Why didn't you walk the dog?" "Uhhh no one asked me to."

Oh, and for whoever was asking about meds, I'm on strattera and it works wonderfully. My mind shuts up for the most part. I tried ritalin SR, and even on something like 20mg x 3/day didn't do anything. I just didn't feel any different. So I tried strattera and it worked.

Edit:

KH_BlanK posted:

I am of the firm belief that this "disease" plagues the majority of society to a degree, and can be overcome through will power and training. Like anything you want to build up, it requires exercise and dedication. Surely some medication can aid in the process, but if you only use the crutch, your leg will weaken and the withdrawal will leave you worse off.

Some background on myself: In first grade I threw a chair at my teacher, so they tossed me in special ed and would of thrown away the key if my parents had not fought for my freedom. Of course the fact that I was smart helped convince the system I was worth saving.

A couple pills later I was on Ritalin, and by fourth grade when we moved, I had been mainstreamed back into regular classes. Even on the pill, I could still have problems concentrating on things that I didn't find interesting, and still had problems doing home work when Id rather be playing video games or doing other things.

I do believe the pills helped me concentrate better, and at the very least gave me a nice pick me up in the morning so that I was awake during class. I also had bouts with depression during puberty, that of course were compensated by more pills (Nortriptyline?), but it went away with time. My assumption is, most of these things are "normal" to a lesser extreme, and probably something most kids suffer from, but only the extreme casses get pumped full of meds.

By college, I decided enough was enough, and I needed to see what I was capable of without the medication. I took myself off the meds, and did the best I could, still procrastinating on work like any normal college student, ignoring and cramming the courses I thought were BS and uninteresting, and living my life relatively "drug free".

Nine years later, I look back on a relatively successful college career in which I excelled at the things I was passionate about. I avoid pills whenever I can, and normaly take half doses of things when necessary (read pain medication that most of society is hopped up on). I have a job as a software engineering, and when my mind branches off into tangents I let it explore a bit and then stop myself and role back to the direction that is actually important and critical. I consider my thought process to be a tool and not a disability.

Good for you buddy! I did 6 months with a learning specialist who refered me to a doctor after nothing worked well enough that I could complete my work. You sound like that one dude who had a really easy time quitting smoking because they only had 1 or 2 a day anyway, and thinks its the easiest thing in the world because of it.

TrueChaos fucked around with this message at 14:15 on Aug 24, 2009

# ¿ Aug 24, 2009 14:08

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# ¿ May 3, 2024 02:00

TrueChaos: Nov 14, 2006

Stofoleez posted:

This is important for you to recognize, because - and I think someone mentioned this earlier - marijuana is a loving wonder drug where this disorder is concerned, if it's the disorder you have. If you can find a way to somehow get a diagnosis, and it turns out to be ADHD; smoke weed.

Interestingly, a small hit does wonders for me. That point where I'm not quite high, but just starting to feel it? Yeah, I can sit down and do one thing. Its like being in full control of the hyperfocus, which others have described here.

# ¿ Sep 19, 2009 00:04

TrueChaos: Nov 14, 2006

Ytlaya posted:

That's really funny, because weed in any dose actually makes me unable to focus on anything for more than about 2-3 minutes. Not sure if it affects other people that way.

Its a really fine line. Any more than a little hit and 2-3 minutes is all I can focus for.

fake edit: Just realized I finished typing this post and got distracted by another tab without hitting submit. 45ish minutes after typing my response, it now gets posted!

# ¿ Sep 19, 2009 21:29

TrueChaos: Nov 14, 2006

So, please excuse the long post, I know in this thread that it's probably a bad idea.

I was diagnosed ADHD (inattentive) in university, when after failing a bunch of stuff due to lack of focus / inability to sit through classes without daydreaming I finally went to a learning specialist who referred me to a physician. Started out on stratera, no luck. Was given Ritalin XR, and it was quite literally a HOLY poo poo THIS IS HOW NORMAL MINDS WORK?! kind of result. After a while though, I kind of came to the conclusion that I didn't like the way I thought when I was on it, it wasn't 'me', so I stopped taking it around 4th year of university. Thankfully by this point my classes were interesting enough that I could actually stay sort of on task, and I did very well. Queue me thinking that I could deal with this without meds. I have my methods (20 mins work 5 mins whatever the gently caress I want, listen to music while working, etc.) that generally work pretty well, but now that I'm out in the working world my job (while awesome) does at times involve mundane bullshit that isn't all that interesting. While my performance reviews have all been very good, I know I'm not getting as much done as I could.

The other area that I haven't really thought about in a while is the social effect. I have trouble paying attention when something isn't directly interesting, I get stuck on one train of thought and can't move on to something else, etc. I also am horrible at meeting new people, because my thoughts are so jumbled I can never seem to say what I actually want to say.

I guess my first step is finding a family doctor in my area that's actually taking new patients, but after that, what should I do? I'm nervous about medications that will result in me not being myself, but would also like to improve at work (and it'd be great to not get half the lawn mowed, realize there are some weeds in the garden, start pulling those, oh look the garden is kinda dry, guess I'll water it, oh I have the hose out and my car is dirty.... 5 hours later and the lawn still isn't cut). Is it possible to have meds that can be taken on an as needed basis? Are there other things I can do to help with stuff without medications?

# ¿ May 14, 2013 23:43

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