Adult ADD - any sufferers here?

[MakiSupaStar]

My desk looks eerily similar to this. Also, notice how I commented on your post, the one with the picture. I skipped all the long ones because I couldn't concentrate enough to read them but this one had a picture so I read it.

Noticed how I got distracted enough in the middle of what I was doing to take a picture and upload it so I can finish what I was saying?

 

[relwof]

After revealing to my doctor that I've had trouble focusing and remembering things throughout my whole life, he referred me to a shrink who quickly diagnosed me as being afflicted with ADD.

How quickly? As I understand it, proper diagnosis a fairly thorough evaluation... If this was fifteen minutes of filling out surveys and then "poof" you have ADHD, I'd wonder whether your "shrink" really knows this stuff.

Anyway, I was prescribed a bunch of meds and I went through them one by one. Finally settled on one that *seems* to be having an effect, but I honestly don't know if it's because it truly makes a difference or if it's the placebo effect. Nevertheless, I find myself being more engaged and able to stay awake during meetings/classes.

Again, that sounds kind of suspect - there can be a bit of trial and error but a good practitioner should be able to get the right medication and dosage dialed in and explain to you why certain things did or didn't work for you along the way. If they really know ADHD and understand the treatment protocols, they won't be simply resorting to the "throw it on the wall and see what sticks" approach. They also should be discussing other aspects of "treatment", like diet, exercise, sleep cycles, ...

I'm quite skeptical about taking drugs in general so very very rarely do so. Therefore, I only take a pill when I know I'll have a meeting to attend or need to learn a lot of material in a short amount of time. My theory behind this is that my body won't get accustomed to the dosage too quickly and will therefore escape the trap of continually needing to increase my dosage as the years go by.

Not sure which medication you're on, but I'm pretty sure some of the ADHD medications work at least partially through gradual adjustment of neural chemistry. I'd ask your "shrink" whether the start/stop/take as needed schedule is OK with whatever you're on. It might be fine, but it might also make things worse.

FWIW, after ten years or so I have not personally needed to keep increasing dosage with Adderall. It has occasionally gone up, and occasionally gone down. However, there is something of a "honeymoon" phase where you can notice the benefits more acutely after a positive change in dosage.

 

[BayStateBass]

This topic hits home with me.

I was never diagnosed with any type of disorder as a child. However, I was not like other children. My IQ has tested fairly high throughout my life , academically I did fairly well, and I learned quickly. Books were my friends as a child. I often struggled with concentrating on things and I've always been very obsessive and compulsive. Growing up, I found many things comical that others did not, I was nervous around people (even those I knew), and eye contact made me uncomfortable. I was not athletic until I got older. Social interactions made me uncomfortable and even though I wanted to have friends, I had very few. My reading comprehension was extraordinarily high, and often I could read something once and recite much of it back, word for word. I could often easily spot patterns, spacial relations were easy for me, and I would have repetitive phrases or songs that would echo in my head over and over again. I still do, actually. As I got older, I had to spend a lot of time watching others and modeling my behavior after those who were more successful in society. I had to train myself to accept eye contact, be more outgoing, communicate better, and stop stuttering when I spoke. It was difficult. But I did it....all on my own. And with some help from a wonderful girl whom I'd met and saw more in me than my stuttering and strange humor or my fixation on patterns and things other people didn't see. We've been married for 15 years, and were exclusive for 7 years before that.

When my son was born, he displayed many traits that were not typical of an infant, and as he grew into a toddler these traits became even more noticeable. Once he was school aged, it was recommended to us to have him evaluated. After multiple evaluations and lots of work, my wife and I were informed that our son tested well within the accepted norms for Autism, specifically Asperger's Syndrome. Now that he is bigger (he's 10 now), I see many of his personality traits and mannerisms are not all that far off from what mine were at the same age. I work with him constantly because I often understand how his mind is working and how he will react or view a certain situation...it makes sense to me. It's a constant challenge and heartbreaking watching him get treated the same as I was by children in his age group; shunned, ignored, bullied, called names like "********", among other things.

I often have wondered if I am also mildly autistic. Although, while my son and I are similar, we are not the same. In addition, I've been living with this "learned behavior" and constructed public personality so long....it's just kinda become "me". Well, to a point.

So yeah, I get what all of you are talking about.

 

[G.Bisson]

I have a co-worker. like that.

Let's say he wants to say that he went to the market and bought a tomato, the story will be told like this ;

"Uh, yesterday... it was nice out and I looked in the fridge, because I wanted to make myself a salad. I had the lettuce, the dressing, the chicken, but no tomatoes. So I took my car... uh, was it my car or the wife's car? Hmmmm,... Oh, I think it was my car. That's right because the wife's car was parked on the side of the street. We had to do that because..."

I'm thinking "GET TO THE F@$%^&* POINT!!!!"

oh, you have a coworker like that too. Sometimes I think the guy must have ADD by how easily he goes off on tangents. Even the people without ADD get impatient hearing him tell mundane stories. He is one of those frequent distractions I spoke off. He is rubbing off his ADD onto me.

 

[Relic]

BayStateBass ^ wow, that hits home in a big way, dude. I know exactly what you're saying.

 

[G.Bisson]

This topic hits home with me.

I was never diagnosed with any type of disorder as a child. However, I was not like other children. My IQ has tested fairly high throughout my life , academically I did fairly well, and I learned quickly. Books were my friends as a child. I often struggled with concentrating on things and I've always been very obsessive and compulsive. Growing up, I found many things comical that others did not, I was nervous around people (even those I knew), and eye contact made me uncomfortable. I was not athletic until I got older. Social interactions made me uncomfortable and even though I wanted to have friends, I had very few. My reading comprehension was extraordinarily high, and often I could read something once and recite much of it back, word for word. I could often easily spot patterns, spacial relations were easy for me, and I would have repetitive phrases or songs that would echo in my head over and over again. I still do, actually. As I got older, I had to spend a lot of time watching others and modeling my behavior after those who were more successful in society. I had to train myself to accept eye contact, be more outgoing, communicate better, and stop stuttering when I spoke. It was difficult. But I did it....all on my own.

I know exactly where your coming from, like that had been copied and pasted straight from my life story. When I first learned about Aspergers it scared me to death how closely it described me.
These three in particular I continue to push myself to improve on daily: eye contact, be more outgoing, and communicate better.

 

[Strat-Mangler]

(...) specifically Asperger's Syndrome.

That's *exactly* what I was thinking while reading your post.

Doesn't sound like ADD to me, but rather Asperger's.

 

[MakiSupaStar]

This topic hits home with me.

I was never diagnosed with any type of disorder as a child. However, I was not like other children. My IQ has tested fairly high throughout my life , academically I did fairly well, and I learned quickly. Books were my friends as a child. I often struggled with concentrating on things and I've always been very obsessive and compulsive. Growing up, I found many things comical that others did not, I was nervous around people (even those I knew), and eye contact made me uncomfortable. I was not athletic until I got older. Social interactions made me uncomfortable and even though I wanted to have friends, I had very few. My reading comprehension was extraordinarily high, and often I could read something once and recite much of it back, word for word. I could often easily spot patterns, spacial relations were easy for me, and I would have repetitive phrases or songs that would echo in my head over and over again. I still do, actually. As I got older, I had to spend a lot of time watching others and modeling my behavior after those who were more successful in society. I had to train myself to accept eye contact, be more outgoing, communicate better, and stop stuttering when I spoke. It was difficult. But I did it....all on my own. And with some help from a wonderful girl whom I'd met and saw more in me than my stuttering and strange humor or my fixation on patterns and things other people didn't see. We've been married for 15 years, and were exclusive for 7 years before that.

When my son was born, he displayed many traits that were not typical of an infant, and as he grew into a toddler these traits became even more noticeable. Once he was school aged, it was recommended to us to have him evaluated. After multiple evaluations and lots of work, my wife and I were informed that our son tested well within the accepted norms for Autism, specifically Asperger's Syndrome. Now that he is bigger (he's 10 now), I see many of his personality traits and mannerisms are not all that far off from what mine were at the same age. I work with him constantly because I often understand how his mind is working and how he will react or view a certain situation...it makes sense to me. It's a constant challenge and heartbreaking watching him get treated the same as I was by children in his age group; shunned, ignored, bullied, called names like "********", among other things.

I often have wondered if I am also mildly autistic. Although, while my son and I are similar, we are not the same. In addition, I've been living with this "learned behavior" and constructed public personality so long....it's just kinda become "me". Well, to a point.

So yeah, I get what all of you are talking about.

Great post.

See being a teacher, and being that I'm ADD, I was quick to come to the conclusion that this sounds a lot like Aspergers and found myself rushing to your last paragraph. Once I concluded that yes, this is what you were describing, I went back and reread your whole post.

I've worked with a lot of Aspergers children and I can tell you that IQ and even capability have little to do with it. They were some of my best students and went on to have very successful high school careers and my first student is now in college getting his BSEE.

There is a lot of crossover here for sure. My niece has NF-1 (look it up if you want a scare), and ADHD is one of the many byproducts of this disease, along with a type of autism that barely registers on the autism scale (there's a name for it but I forgot, but I do know that it's between 'normal' (whatever that means) and 'aspergers' on the autism scale. This presents itself mostly in social situations when interacting with other people. She has a hard time reading faces. She doesn't know the difference between a joke and a joke at her expense, and eye contact is a difficult thing for her. She's a sweet girl and is highly intelligent, and I've found myself having very in depth conversations with her, but it's people that tend to throw her off. If all goes well, her NF-1 will prove to be mild as she approaches puberty, but I really worry about guys taking advantage of her when she starts growing into adolescence. Fingers crossed.

 

[Strat-Mangler]

oh, you have a coworker like that too. Sometimes I think the guy must have ADD by how easily he goes off on tangents. Even the people without ADD get impatient hearing him tell mundane stories. He is one of those frequent distractions I spoke off. He is rubbing off his ADD onto me.

Nah. I just think some people are incapable of narrowing down the story to its core elements. It's like these people talk in a novel style where they keep adding more and more descriptions, as if it benefits the story. Ugh!!

There's a Louis CK bit where he rants about how his wife sucks at talking because of exactly this.

"Here's a story ; "I bought a tomato, I ate it, and it was good!" The story was about a tomato THE WHOLE TIME! Anybody can follow that story." lol!!

 

[MatticusMania]

I have a hard time with it, but not because I can't follow them.

At the risk of sounding conceited, I'm highly intelligent and have a high dose of common sense and logic. Therefore, when somebody's explaining something and they're taking the long way, I'm usually already at the conclusion and waiting for them to get there... which seems like it can take an eternity, at times.

I wish most people were brief, but most aren't good enough at verbalizing things in a concise manner. Drives me nuts, but I doubt it has anything to do with ADD... more like my inherent impatience.

^ Yeah, this is me with long winded people.

V Freakin EXACTLY like my friend. Actually, I know of another who is the same way. I dont like when they tell stories. They feel the need to set up every particular detail and Im like "I dont need to know that the weather was perfect and thats why you felt like a salad."

I have a co-worker. like that.

Let's say he wants to say that he went to the market and bought a tomato, the story will be told like this ;

"Uh, yesterday... it was nice out and I looked in the fridge, because I wanted to make myself a salad. I had the lettuce, the dressing, the chicken, but no tomatoes. So I took my car... uh, was it my car or the wife's car? Hmmmm,... Oh, I think it was my car. That's right because the wife's car was parked on the side of the street. We had to do that because..."

I'm thinking "GET TO THE F@$%^&* POINT!!!!"

 

[capnsandwich]

I've often wondered if I had some mild autism or Asperger's but I'm too social to be able to claim any of that. I've always been a popular guy and outgoing, which is not a trait that most Asperger's or autism sufferers have in usual cases.

Also, there's no way I can sit down and read a book long enough to comprehend anything. I can read a paragraph 3 times and still not realize what I just read. I can be thinking about something completely different every time I read it. It takes me 10 times as long to read a book than most people. The funny thing about that is that I was accepted to Purdue University to study aeronautical engineering but backed out because I knew I would struggle too much in the reading and comprehension part of college.

Life really sucks when you have this problem! No one around you understands a ****ing thing you're going through but are so quick to call you stupid or lazy when you're going through it. FML sometimes!

 

[BayStateBass]

As a young child in the 70's and early 80's, there really wasn't a lot of availability for early intervention or training unless you had an obvious physical handicap. Children who were different were just generally regarded as "weird", and ignored. Parents were told "it's a phase", or "they're just different", or maybe "Well, little Johnny's just kinda 'slow'".

My father, while being loving, was not a patient man. Having been a popular teenager, very physically large and overpowering, a good athlete, and one of the "cool guys", he did not deal well with my difference from him. His solution to working with me was to use intimidation and shame to make me more "normal". While we are good friends now, I hated him and feared him as a child. As an adult, I accepeted that he really did the best he knew how to.......after all, he was raised by a single mother.

In my desire NOT to be like my father, I've spent a lot of time researching the potential causes and proven methods of raising/living with an autistic child.

What I've discovered;

-Autism is, statistically, found (now) in one out of every 110 children. As opposed to 25 years ago, where the data suggests it affected one in 2500 or so. While it is seen in girls, boys are far more commonly affected at a staggering rate or relationship to girls.

-Autism is commonly misdiagnosed as ADD, ADHD, or other attention deficit disorders, especially in the "milder" forms such as Asperger's Syndrome or PDD-NOS. Much of this is because old-school physicians and neuropsych doctors were trained that autism has certain physical characteristics....which has been proven not to be true. In addition, autism is a "spectral" disorder, meaning that those who have it can fall into a very broad range, anywhere from "mild" to "severe", so symptoms are not always universal, although there are characteristics that are common in those with autism.....just often in varying degrees or intensity.

 

[Strat-Mangler]

How quickly? As I understand it, proper diagnosis a fairly thorough evaluation... If this was fifteen minutes of filling out surveys and then "poof" you have ADHD, I'd wonder whether your "shrink" really knows this stuff.

It was a deeper investigation than that.

Having said that, in Canada, we don't pay for appointments or consultations. However, the flipside of that is that we're oftentimes referred to people who aren't exactly top experts in their field. I could spend years chasing shrink after shrink and be no closer to a miracle cure and I personally doubt there is one. Bottom line ; this is most likely the very best possible outcome for me, considering the circumstances.

I've come to grasp with the fact that I'll be at a disadvantage to others when it comes to learning highly technical material and thus have learned to work harder to get the same results... which is frustrating. However, at least with this current drug, I'm able to not drift into a deep sleep while reading or attending meetings/classes. That alone has made a big difference.

I'm glad you were able to have access to such a person and I'm glad that you've had a miracle awakening of the senses, so to speak. More often than not though, people report a more subtle change. Regardless, I'm happy things turned around 180 degrees for you.

 

[relwof]

I have a hard time with it, but not because I can't follow them.

At the risk of sounding conceited, I'm highly intelligent and have a high dose of common sense and logic. Therefore, when somebody's explaining something and they're taking the long way, I'm usually already at the conclusion and waiting for them to get there... which seems like it can take an eternity, at times.

I wish most people were brief, but most aren't good enough at verbalizing things in a concise manner. Drives me nuts, but I doubt it has anything to do with ADD... more like my inherent impatience.

Actually, that may have a lot to do with ADD.

Question: Do you find it much easier to listen to someone "taking the long way" if you are at least partially occupied with another activity? (like driving, playing your bass or a game on your phone, any activity which ties up some neurons in motor skills and processing visual or tactile input) If so, are you typically able to perfectly replay their explanation (or better yet, concisely summarize what they where trying to say) even though it might appear that you're not paying attention?

If so, this is quite possibly an ADHD issue. This is a rather major problem for me, as my wife likes to talk with (not just at) me, and she wants to feel that she has my full attention.

It is difficult for me to focus on something when the input coming to my brain is too sparse (either slow or insufficiently complex). This is often the case with conversation (it's even worse on the phone). If I try to be fully present, it's like trying to run downhill - slowly. I can do it, but it is mentally exhausting. On the other hand, if something can keep my mind idling up to a certain level, it can be almost effortless. Some of the best conversations I've had with my wife have been while driving on long trips (before we had kids). She still feels like she has my attention, but the effort of driving adds enough extra stimulus that I'm not feeling like I'm constantly on the edge of mentally stalling.

 

[capnsandwich]

As a young child in the 70's and early 80's, there really wasn't a lot of availability for early intervention or training unless you had an obvious physical handicap. Children who were different were just generally regarded as "weird", and ignored. Parents were told "it's a phase", or "they're just different", or maybe "Well, little Johnny's just kinda 'slow'".

My father, while being loving, was not a patient man. Having been a popular teenager, very physically large and overpowering, a good athlete, and one of the "cool guys", he did not deal well with my difference from him. His solution to working with me was to use intimidation and shame to make me more "normal". While we are good friends now, I hated him and feared him as a child. As an adult, I accepeted that he really did the best he knew how to.......after all, he was raised by a single mother.

In my desire NOT to be like my father, I've spent a lot of time researching the potential causes and proven methods of raising/living with an autistic child.

What I've discovered;

-Autism is, statistically, found (now) in one out of every 110 children. As opposed to 25 years ago, where the data suggests it affected one in 2500 or so. While it is seen in girls, boys are far more commonly affected at a staggering rate or relationship to girls.

-Autism is commonly misdiagnosed as ADD, ADHD, or other attention deficit disorders, especially in the "milder" forms such as Asperger's Syndrome or PDD-NOS. Much of this is because old-school physicians and neuropsych doctors were trained that autism has certain physical characteristics....which has been proven not to be true. In addition, autism is a "spectral" disorder, meaning that those who have it can fall into a very broad range, anywhere from "mild" to "severe", so symptoms are not always universal, although there are characteristics that are common in those with autism.....just often in varying degrees or intensity.

We must have had the same dad! Mine was a total jerk when I was growing up. He constantly called me weird and always told me that I was not normal and never encouraged me in one of the only thing I was good at, music. He even banned me from getting a guitar at first and never hesitated to take it away when I would struggle with school. We're cool now but it was hard in my teens.

 

[Strat-Mangler]

Just a general comment ; people are very very quick to label themselves or their behavior as being ADD, OCD, etc.

This explains away their strangeness and gives people comfort. In reality, I'm sure a boatload of people are mistakenly diagnosed by incompetent or uncaring doctors.

Kind of the new fad ; people seem to want to be different or special and they'll use these terms to make themselves more interesting. Happens all too often online and in real-life.

That deserves a big facepalm, IMHO. It also kind of downplays or lessens how much of an impact these very real conditions affect people who actually are afflicted.

 

[capnsandwich]

Just a general comment ; people are very very quick to label themselves or their behavior as being ADD, OCD, etc.

This explains away their strangeness and gives people comfort. In reality, I'm sure a boatload of people are mistakenly diagnosed by incompetent or uncaring doctors.

Kind of the new fad ; people seem to want to be different or special and they'll use these terms to make themselves more interesting. Happens all too often online and in real-life.

That deserves a big facepalm, IMHO. It also kind of downplays or lessens how much of an impact these very real conditions affect people who actually are afflicted.

And then, at the same time, people who actually have that issue are not diagnosed with it due to some doctors trying not to diagnose them with ADD as so many other doctors over diagnose that disorder. IMO, if you think you have this disorder, go to several doctors and get multiple opinions on the matter.

 

[Strat-Mangler]

Actually, that may have a lot to do with ADD.

Question: Do you find it much easier to listen to someone "taking the long way" if you are at least partially occupied with another activity? (like driving, playing your bass or a game on your phone, any activity which ties up some neurons in motor skills and processing visual or tactile input) If so, are you typically able to perfectly replay their explanation (or better yet, concisely summarize what they where trying to say) even though it might appear that you're not paying attention?

I don't need to do so and can just wait it out but it's painful because I'm a naturally impatient man. Through the years (I'm 34), I've been very successful at taming it quite a bit, but there are instances here & there where there can be smoke emanating from my ears and this is one of those times. I need to interact with that aforementioned coworker everyday and it takes forever for him to even give me the time. At a party, I'll just wait it out and give the storyteller the benefit of the doubt in case it's the exception to the rule.

I don't need to be toying with anything, but I'm a good multitasker and can surf online, watch something, etc. while listening to somebody tell a story. It's not exactly challenging. Nevertheless, I'm much more engaged in a story that is either humorous and/or doesn't take 100 tangents to get to the point. It's not easier or harder to pay attention to them if their stories are unnecessarily long. For me, it's all about wasting time. I hate having my time wasted and telling a boring long-ass story that's pointless and taking 5 min to tell it as opposed to 30 secs is a frustrating thing to be exposed to day-in and day-out.

It's more of a pet-peeve than anything else.

 

[BayStateBass]

Just a general comment ; people are very very quick to label themselves or their behavior as being ADD, OCD, etc.

This explains away their strangeness and gives people comfort. In reality, I'm sure a boatload of people are mistakenly diagnosed by incompetent or uncaring doctors.

Kind of the new fad ; people seem to want to be different or special and they'll use these terms to make themselves more interesting. Happens all too often online and in real-life.

That deserves a big facepalm, IMHO. It also kind of downplays or lessens how much of an impact these very real conditions affect people who actually are afflicted.

My wife and I work constantly to train my son so live, function, and become a "normal" part of society. While we do not expect him to be ashamed of his particular challenge, we also know that left unaltered it may cause him great hardship and difficulty once he becomes a "citizen of the world". I have to remind him that all the same rules apply to him as everyone else and nobody is going to excuse him of his responsibilities just because he has a form of autism. Instead of choosing to make the world change for him, we choose to teach him to change so he can fit the world. It is constant "in the moment" teaching and lots of role playing games....not to mention social stories and an awful lot of explaining (typically the things that other kids just "get", like humor, facial expression, irony, or puns).

Some disagree with this path and claim you need to make adaptive accommodations for a child with Asperger's.

Some people will claim to have disorders that don't. But, really, why would you do that? My experience is that the average person is not going to like you MORE if you tell them that you have a psychological/social disorder.....

 

[Strat-Mangler]

For most people who do, it's all about getting attention and/or sympathy from others.

It's twisted and stupid, but there are *plenty* of people who fit in that mold. A damn shame, but that's how it is.