Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've just diagnosed myself with ADD based on Wikipedia article. Yes, that's right.
On a serious note, I'm 24 and I always suspected I've had something like this. I've taken a lot of time to do my own research, and basically I'm more than 100% sure I have at least 9 out of 10 symptoms of this disorder.
Where do I go to get properly diagnosed for this stuff? I'm a recent immigrant in LA, so I'm not really familiar with US's healthcare system.
Anybody else in here lives with ADD? How do you cope with that? It never really bothered me, I just want to know for sure and learn of the ways how to minimize its effects.
Generally you'd want a psychiatrist, or psychologist, to give you an actual diagnosis. Some general medicine physicians have a particular interest in the subject and can test you for it too.
One thing to understand, is that those symptoms are also symptoms of other things as well, not just ADD. So just because you have the symptoms, doesn't mean you have ADD.
I have it - no hyperactivity though. It was initially dismissed as bi-polar and I was given antidepression meds, which made me totally miserable and jittery and felt like I was a zombie going through the motions of life. Once I got off the meds, I decided that I'd been living with "whatever it was" for 40 years, without even a diagnosis let alone medication - and if I could make it just fine to that point, I can continue to make it without meds for another 40 years.
I've learned the intricacies of my own thought processes, and have learned how to apply them to living my life. Basically - I suffer from continual data overload. Where everyone else's minds can filter what is and isn't important enough to notice, I lack that filter. In my head, EVERYTHING is important. Every scrap of information that comes to my head, including my own thoughts and internal dialogue, gets equal weight. The sound of the heat turning on, the cricket under the stair, the light shining through the window flickering because of a leaf hanging from a tree in the way, the fact that I have a blue notebook on my desk, my cat rubbing against the chair leg, my stomach reminding me that I want something to eat, my fingertips reminding me that they're dry, my brain reminding me that the hand lotion is in that pink thing just to the right of my right elbow, the sensation of warm feet because I bought new slippers, and the knowledge that I'm typing all of this stuff that I'm "noticing".. this is all coming into my brain at the same time. And I'm noticing all of it. Sometimes I even notice the rhythm of of my own breathing, in addition to all the rest.
When people think I'm daydreaming, I'm not. I'm just incredibly distracted, and can only notice so many things, before something has to get ignored. Usually - I end up ignoring other people, and turn inward until I can manually filter what I can put aside.
So - in my head, that's what ADD is. It's noticing everything, always, simutaneously. It's very "noisy" in my head. It's not an "inability to pay attention." It's not a defecit. It's an overload. I'm paying attention to TOO MUCH stuff, not "not enough" stuff.
Generally you'd want a psychiatrist, or psychologist, to give you an actual diagnosis. Some general medicine physicians have a particular interest in the subject and can test you for it too.
One thing to understand, is that those symptoms are also symptoms of other things as well, not just ADD. So just because you have the symptoms, doesn't mean you have ADD.
I have it - no hyperactivity though. It was initially dismissed as bi-polar and I was given antidepression meds, which made me totally miserable and jittery and felt like I was a zombie going through the motions of life. Once I got off the meds, I decided that I'd been living with "whatever it was" for 40 years, without even a diagnosis let alone medication - and if I could make it just fine to that point, I can continue to make it without meds for another 40 years.
I've learned the intricacies of my own thought processes, and have learned how to apply them to living my life. Basically - I suffer from continual data overload. Where everyone else's minds can filter what is and isn't important enough to notice, I lack that filter. In my head, EVERYTHING is important. Every scrap of information that comes to my head, including my own thoughts and internal dialogue, gets equal weight. The sound of the heat turning on, the cricket under the stair, the light shining through the window flickering because of a leaf hanging from a tree in the way, the fact that I have a blue notebook on my desk, my cat rubbing against the chair leg, my stomach reminding me that I want something to eat, my fingertips reminding me that they're dry, my brain reminding me that the hand lotion is in that pink thing just to the right of my right elbow, the sensation of warm feet because I bought new slippers, and the knowledge that I'm typing all of this stuff that I'm "noticing".. this is all coming into my brain at the same time. And I'm noticing all of it. Sometimes I even notice the rhythm of of my own breathing, in addition to all the rest.
When people think I'm daydreaming, I'm not. I'm just incredibly distracted, and can only notice so many things, before something has to get ignored. Usually - I end up ignoring other people, and turn inward until I can manually filter what I can put aside.
So - in my head, that's what ADD is. It's noticing everything, always, simutaneously. It's very "noisy" in my head. It's not an "inability to pay attention." It's not a defecit. It's an overload. I'm paying attention to TOO MUCH stuff, not "not enough" stuff.
I can kind of relate to this. It's very "noisy" inside my head too, and I can't seem to ever shut it off. Overload is a good description.
One thing I will say about ADD is that sometimes I just get so tired from everything that's in my head and trying to keep track of things that are important--something is always falling thru the cracks and often it's a bill unpaid or something at school that I was supposed to do. Because of this, those with ADD tend to stress out quicker than others and since we look normal, folks expect us to keep up with them but we get sick if we try.
I have accepted that I take longer to do some things at work. I work longer hours to compensate for that. I also have a Franklin Day Planner, and write things down in it. The value of that is I can go to a date three months ago, and know what I did, where I was, who I talked to, I save them , ten years baxk.
While I may be annoying in a relationship, the value is I don't hold grudges or have arguments, because I rarely listen to what is said to me or remember it unless I write it down.
I realized the value of ADD, I know a lot about things, as I have overcompensated to make sure I maintain employment.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
