I keep losing important stuff and I am really starting to wonder

[stepka]

Originally Posted by jasper12

Wow! That is sad. I know that I have ADD, and simply set up my life to accomodate that disability. I have auto-bill pay, I pay someone to come help me clean my home once a month, i hand out cards with my name and e mail address, I tell them to contact me. I set up my life, so I don't have to remember stuff. I have a job, that is ideal for someone who has a zero attention span, this "disability" can be difficult to live with, but you can manage it. Don't let others tell you you can't, or that you are stupid, you just need to make your life work with your disability. And it is a severe disability, if you need help getting a job, go to voc-rehab.

I had a job, that was horrible for me, I knew it required too much organization for me to deal with, I found a better job for me.

As for marriage, it was too stressful for me to manage. I own that. I know that I can't deal with it. I am better off alone.

That's sad Jasper b/c the right partner can make all the difference. My brother's wife is like his "life manager" and while I know he gets irritated with it sometimes, I know he would fall without her and she's good to him. She rides him hard and won't let him procrastinate, but you have to take the bad with the good sometimes.

What is your job, if you don't mind sharing? I have one like that too, but I wish it weren't so low paying and little esteemed by others. I agree, this disability can be very difficult to live with and it's made more difficult by the attitude of others who know you're smart and they wonder why you can't just try harder. If only they knew.

I've held off on auto bill pay b/c I'm afraid that I wouldn't look at the bills and if they charge me for something extra, I want to notice.

[Mightyqueen801]

Originally Posted by stepka

That's sad Jasper b/c the right partner can make all the difference. My brother's wife is like his "life manager" and while I know he gets irritated with it sometimes, I know he would fall without her and she's good to him. She rides him hard and won't let him procrastinate, but you have to take the bad with the good sometimes.

What is your job, if you don't mind sharing? I have one like that too, but I wish it weren't so low paying and little esteemed by others. I agree, this disability can be very difficult to live with and it's made more difficult by the attitude of others who know you're smart and they wonder why you can't just try harder. If only they knew.

I've held off on auto bill pay b/c I'm afraid that I wouldn't look at the bills and if they charge me for something extra, I want to notice.

Might be a good idea, anyway, stepka. I have only one bill that I have on auto-pay, my car insurance, and I was thinking I could put some others on, but then in the financial forum someone mentioned that one of her billers somehow charged her thousands of dollars and it took months to clear it up. I'll just continue to do it manually.

I am obsessive, so I'll check five times to make sure I paid a bill even when I know I paid it already. We all have our quirks on here, don't we. But, the up side is, IMO, that the people who aren't quite "normal" are the most interesting and the most creative.

[hiknapster]

The piles, the boxes, the filing cabinets! ugh.

I now have four boxes and several purses with stuff that should be filed. I bought a one-drawer plastic filing cabinet and filed some things. It took a couple of years to do that. Then I bought a beautiful cherry cabinet and barely filed anything. I have piles and piles of papers, books, mail and magazines on my bed, in my office and on the dresser. Oh, the dresser.

And I am now becoming known for this sort of behavior and it is getting worse as I age. I have a terrific memory but I just can't get organized.

ADD runs in the family. My mother, now almost 77 has it, we are sure. When she was in elementary school they once tied her to a desk. They also tied another kid in the class and I ended up dating his son at one point. What a mistake that was.

But I digress. My son had it the worse and is actually considered disabled. He is 26.

Jasper, you may find someone that is organized and will help. I had a husband like that at one time, and it was a huge help. I am now married to a man that is more disorganized than me. Not a good situation.

But it sounds like you are very good at coping and doing very well.

Stepka, not every job needs great organizational skills. Of course some do. I use to be a newspaper reporter and that was great because every day it was a new task and a new deadline. I think things are easier for us to handle in spurts like that.

Might be something to think about.

And a quick aside to Mighty Queen. I had an abusive boyfriend (the son of the tied student) and also an abusive father. They never grow out of it. My father is 75 and came to visit not that long ago and was terrorizing everyone in my house.

It is true that it is so much harder to remember things under those circumstances. I am glad you are out of that.

[newtocolumbia]

Look up chemical trails. Chemicals affect mental health very much.