I've got adhd. The meds helped me study but made me a drone. I use it to my advantage. I can multitask like a mofo. I think people with add and adhd just need to stay busy and find something they truly love doing and they will prosper
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Adult ADD - any sufferers here?
- Thread starter Relic
- Start date
I have found that omega-3 fish oil helps. Also cutting out high fructose corn syrup and sugar helps.
My son has been on a bunch of Meds. Some made him suicidal, some angry, some violent. Some caused him to be unable to sleep, some he lost his appetite and didn't eat much.
The one he is on now is working ok. He's add not adhd.
I take the fish oil also and it has helped me with my add. It helps me maintain my concentration. My short term memory is also better.
My son has been on a bunch of Meds. Some made him suicidal, some angry, some violent. Some caused him to be unable to sleep, some he lost his appetite and didn't eat much.
The one he is on now is working ok. He's add not adhd.
I take the fish oil also and it has helped me with my add. It helps me maintain my concentration. My short term memory is also better.
Yes, cutting out sugar of all kinds helps me but I have a hard time doing it, since it tastes so good and it's in EVERYTHING! I did cut out all soda and bread out of my diet, at least for the most part. I still have episodes though. For instance, I totally forgot about a rehearsal at church tonight. I NEVER forget those unless I'm having an episode. I've been having a lot of them lately and I don't know why either.
One of the things that worries me about my ADD is now that I'm in a band again I'm wondering how long it's going to be before I get bored with it. I have a history of getting bored with things after a while, which has kept me from achieving a lot of things in my life. Hopefully this time I'll be able to stick it out for a good long time, but I'm not holding my breath!
I'm starting to think I'm either getting it or already have it. I've been progressively having a harder time focusing on everything, and my memory has gone into the toilet. I should probably get tested.
How do you fight it though? I've found that this flip-flopping in interests is nearly impossible to overcome.
One month I'll be so totally into something that it's crazy, the next month I don't want to have anything to do with it....and it seems that no matter how hard I try to push myself, my mental state in regards to that interest just doesn't change. I'm right there with Stratovani in that I've gotten bored with bands and such far too often.
Hmm, I guess I force myself to do things knowing I had an interest in them, that's why I started. So even though I don't feel like doing it, I do it anyways. My interest usually comes back. Once I force myself to do it I remember why I enjoy it and since I know this feeling will come back I know to fight the lack if interest that starts to get to the interest again.
The more you do it, the easier it gets. I'm almost 40 and have been dealing with this for a long time. It wasn't easy at first. But the older I get the easier it is.
The more you do it, the easier it gets. I'm almost 40 and have been dealing with this for a long time. It wasn't easy at first. But the older I get the easier it is.
I don't really have this bored with projects problem. But i do have a lot of them. I enjoy bass, I enjoy playing in a band, I enjoy composing and creating music, I enjoy surfing, teaching my son to surf, golf, mountain biking, snowboarding, reading, writing, and some more that I've forgotten probably.
Relwof- everything you wrote, I wanted to but by the time I made it through the thread in the last day and a half you had already said it, and by the way for someone with severe ADD, it was a struggle to make it all the way through. I only have one thing to share. Much like some of you who need some sort of other motor stimulation to occupy you while doing other things like conversation, among many other self medications, music has helped me a great deal. I always have music playing whether I'm driving or working or studying or even playing some video games. Having that to occupy part of my brain helps me concentrate on other things, otherwise just like everyone else here I become bored and when that happens I start finding ways to make menial tasks become more "fun" which has never pleased any boss or teacher I've ever had. Good luck guys.
I have some of these similar struggles, but I just figure that my brain works differently than most and take full advantage of it. I have tested extremely high on the intelligence scale (I scored perfect on the Mensa pretest, never did take the final test) and I have read several biographies on some of the most intelligent people to have lived, they all though differently. For example, when I read something, I can read the same sentence four or five times and can't really recall what I just read, because I was zoning out. If I read it once as fast as I can, I am able to recall 99% of what I just read. I have found out that I can do this while listening to a lecture and be able to recall both what I have read and what I have heard.
Another thing that I have discovered is that since my mind bounces around a lot, that if I decide to control where it bounces around to, I can synthesize information extremely quickly, because I am thinking about multiple things and outcomes at the same time. By taking advantage of this, I am able to problem solve extremely quickly.
Don't be ashamed of your weirdness, take full advantage of it.
lowsound
Another thing that I have discovered is that since my mind bounces around a lot, that if I decide to control where it bounces around to, I can synthesize information extremely quickly, because I am thinking about multiple things and outcomes at the same time. By taking advantage of this, I am able to problem solve extremely quickly.
Don't be ashamed of your weirdness, take full advantage of it.
lowsound
This is another thing that I remember from my pre-medicated days - reading being an utter struggle.
See if any of this sounds familiar...
You start reading a book. You are on the first page of the first chapter and all's well... Suddenly you discover after 5 minutes of staring at the page that you haven't been reading at all - you have been composing your own version of the story based on bits and pieces of what you read...
OK - shake it off... back to the read... concentrate! Arrive at the bottom of the page and discover - I can't remember a thing about what I just read... damnit!! OK - ONE SENTENCE AT A TIME... take your time, really read it...
I don't know how many times I would find myself reading and re-reading pages and sentences JUST to get through the book...
Sometimes I didn't have a problem with that - and I think it was only because the story really had me -but if I couldn't 'hook in' - I couldn't even scan a book effectively - it was always all or nothing.
That's a thing of the past even though I can still feel the tendency to want to compose my own version - I have a much better time of focusing on things like reading, and more importantly, comprehension - even stuff that doesn't interest me all that much.
Force yourself to read it as fast as you can. Put your finger on the line that you are reading and slide it across the page as fast as your eyes can keep up. Do this for every line. You will find that you can recall and follow everything just as well as if you reading it normally.
lowsound
Very true - and that would have been really useful to me 30+ years ago.
What I learned was that I can, as you describe, scan with a pretty high degree of comprehension. But I've also learned to avoid reading for recreation - as many people do everyday - and to mostly read for function. If I want to learn something, I can read anything - but if the end result doesn't includes adding to my skills or something I am going to use - I simply don't bother.
What I've found since discovering the correct medication is that I can read anything for whatever reason and without the need for compensatory devices which has opened up the world of 'reading for pleasure' to me.
And that's where getting diagnosed helps greatly, IMO. Before, like many other people have said, I just assumed I was deficient - not interested - didn't have the aptitude of my peers - all very logical assumptions because they all could so easily be true.
Discovering that there indeed is a reason my mind loses focus and that there are ways to compensate for it makes finding solutions (coping mechanisms/medications) an option that was otherwise not apparent. That alone makes intelligently and proactively managing the symptoms of ADD possible. Before diagnosis every symptom was it's own unique complication that was not necessarily tied to any one particular cause. This meant every compensatory device was created in a very ad-hoc way as opposed to comprehensively.
Yes, you can manage each symptom as a one-off -but why?
I know that I could choose not to use medication and still overcome my ADD symptoms in many ways but the fact is that the medication does it all so comprehensively it's hard for me to justify not going with the easiest solution (for me).
I still haven't found the downside - but that doesn't mean there isn't one.
late to the thread...here's a link to a doctor's blog for living with adult add:
Not good enough - ADD Tip o the day 237 | ADDadultstrategies
best wishes! ron
(disclaimer: this is my uncle)
Not good enough - ADD Tip o the day 237 | ADDadultstrategies
best wishes! ron
(disclaimer: this is my uncle)
I had a learning therapist in college tell me that and it helped alot. Now, years later I don't need to use my finger any more, but it's still hard to read something that I'm not invested in to some degree. Certain books and authors can keep me interested but if it doesn't grab my attention in hte first few pages I end up putting it down. On the other hand if it grabs my attention and keeps it and is a quick read I can get obsessed with it and not be able to put it down, but that is the exception.
loosing keys was mentioned ... wallet, keys, cellphone ... i "loose" them all the flippin time.
everyone in the house makes fun of me... "What are you looking for now?"
everyone in the house makes fun of me... "What are you looking for now?"
I was so bad with loosing stuff that my wife got a basket a few years ago and put it on the side board next to the front door. Now it's become habit that I throw everything in my pockets in the basket. That being said, if something is not in there when I need it, then it is missing for days.
HAHA That hits home.
I'm so bad that I actually lose tools when I'm in the middle of fixing something. God help me if I walk away holding a screwdriver because I'll absent-mindedly put it somewhere weird then spend the next 30 mins trying to find it once I need it again. Cursing, kicking stuff... What's worse - I'll do that repeatedly! If it was just once then I could write it off but duuuuuhhhh
I'm so bad that I actually lose tools when I'm in the middle of fixing something. God help me if I walk away holding a screwdriver because I'll absent-mindedly put it somewhere weird then spend the next 30 mins trying to find it once I need it again. Cursing, kicking stuff... What's worse - I'll do that repeatedly! If it was just once then I could write it off but duuuuuhhhh
