I think it's time I face the fact that I am ADD

[rudeguy]

I've been hyper all my life. It makes me who I am and I like it. As I've gotten older, my short term memory had gotten worse and worse. It peaked after I got sober and it hasn't let up. I'm sure my posts reflect that I can't hold a thought for long or continue on the same thought for an entire sentence.

Tonight was the last straw. I got home from work and made dinner for me and Lil rudeguy. After we ate,I did the dishes. While doing the dishes I figure coffee sounded good, so I made some in the French press and let it sit while I finished the dishes. After the dishes were done,I decided the counters needed cleaning and put the French press on top of the fridge so I could clean them all. While cleaning those, the cat let me know she needed water, so I grabbed her water bowl and filed it. Then I thought it would fun to put an ice cube in her water to see if she'd play with it. This was my great undoing.

I opened the freeze, the French press fell and on instinct I reached to grab it. By the time my brain figured out what was happening, the press shattered and I sliced my finger pretty good. It was bleeding very heavily and after 10 minutes of trying to get it stopped, I conceded defeat and went to the med center. It was a flap type cut, so they fixed me up with some super glue.

All this because I can't do one thing at a time.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

I don't see what that has to do with ADD. Doing the dishes, making coffee, and retrieving an ice cube doesn't sound difficult to do around the same time.

 

[Perknose]

Shit happens. The fact that you just typed out three coherent paragraphs featuring nothing but grammatically complete sentences to describe your plight makes you a genius level master of serene repose here on OT.

 

[rudeguy]

Shit happens. The fact that you just typed out three coherent paragraphs featuring nothing but grammatically complete sentences to describe your plight makes you a genius level master of serene repose here on OT.

I love you Perky.

This was just the final straw. I've punched out early twice this week at work. Less than ten minutes each time, so no big deal. But the truth is that I thought I had stayed late. I looked at the clock, my brain just didn't process the time.

So I have to try to explain to my boss how I managed to screw that up. I'm getting tired of my brain not cooperating.

 

[zanejohnson]

I love you Perky.

This was just the final straw. I've punched out early twice this week at work. Less than ten minutes each time, so no big deal. But the truth is that I thought I had stayed late. I looked at the clock, my brain just didn't process the time.

So I have to try to explain to my boss how I managed to screw that up. I'm getting tired of my brain not cooperating.

i'd say give the meds a try, see how it works...

sounds like your really stressed, so dont just to any conclusions too quick, no what i mean.. but yeah, i'd say give the add meds a try, if it gets worse maybe an anxiolytic instead of the add meds... trial and error my friend, i have simalar "issues."

 

[yhelothar]

Do you find high stimulation to be overwhelming? Do you find yourself repulsed by weirdness? Do you find yourself perpetually flaking out on your plans, and thus you live day to day as things come to you?

 

[chubbyfatazn]

i'd say give the meds a try, see how it works...

sounds like your really stressed, so dont just to any conclusions too quick, no what i mean.. but yeah, i'd say give the add meds a try, if it gets worse maybe an anxiolytic instead of the add meds... trial and error my friend, i have simalar "issues."

You're*

But yeah. That sounds like you just have a lot on your plate/mind. My dad is like that, his short term memory... sucks donkey testicles, but I'm 99% sure he doesn't have ADD. Unless you think scrubbing down the counters is more interesting than drinking your coffee and dropped that for the washing.

Do you get anxious about this sort of stuff? Sounds like you are based on your OP. Just wondering.

 

[SagaLore]

That's not ADD. Not even close. You're just really efficient at multitasking.

ADD would have been more like this:

Tonight was the last straw. I got home from work and made dinner for me and coffee sounded good, so I made some in the French press and the cat let me know she needed water, so I grabbed her water bowl and put an ice cube in it. I went to the med center.

 

[SagaLore]

i'd say give the meds a try, see how it works...

sounds like your really stressed, so dont just to any conclusions too quick, no what i mean.. but yeah, i'd say give the add meds a try, if it gets worse maybe an anxiolytic instead of the add meds... trial and error my friend, i have simalar "issues."

uh D:

 

[WT]

Do you find high stimulation to be overwhelming? Do you find yourself repulsed by weirdness? Do you find yourself perpetually flaking out on your plans, and thus you live day to day as things come to you?

Ehh, that'd be me. :thumbsup:

 

[T_Yamamoto]

That's not ADD. Not even close. You're just really efficient at multitasking.

ADD would have been more like this:

Tonight was the last straw. I got home from work and made dinner for me and coffee sounded good, so I made some in the French press and the cat let me know she needed water, so I grabbed her water bowl and put an ice cube in it. I went to the med center.

Is that why you're avatar is wearing a scrub?

 

[rudeguy]

Do you find high stimulation to be overwhelming? Do you find yourself repulsed by weirdness? Do you find yourself perpetually flaking out on your plans, and thus you live day to day as things come to you?

Define high stimulation?

I love weirdness. I think.

And I always flake out on plans. Hell... I've abandoned carts of groceries at the store because I felt overwhelmed.

 

[yhelothar]

Define high stimulation?

I love weirdness. I think.

And I always flake out on plans. Hell... I've abandoned carts of groceries at the store because I felt overwhelmed.

High stimulation - adrenaline junkie, you are drawn to extremeness, you like to blast music, etc...

 

[mikeymikec]

I've abandoned carts of groceries at the store because I felt overwhelmed.

That's the only thing you've described that isn't the sort of thing most people consider to be normal, IMO. What were you thinking about at the time / on one of those occasions?

I'm not qualified or experienced in mental health related stuff, my wife has a little more experience with kids that have ADHD. She pointed me towards this page:

http://www.ldawe.ca/DSM_IV.html

Obviously some things are aimed at diagnosing children with the condition, but it may help you but things into perspective.

Bear in mind a couple of things:

1) it's not a good idea to try and diagnose yourself
2) people on forums probably are neither qualified or sufficiently experienced to help you

Personally I think it's normal for people to try and multi-task a few tasks (let's say 3 to 5) and potentially not complete or screw up one or two of those in a minor way, which causes them to concentrate on fewer tasks to get those done correctly.

 

[rudeguy]

uh D:

so I'm normal?

SWEET!


I was a bit stressed when I posted this. I couldn't believe how bad I screwed up.

 

[edro]

Sounds like you just like to be as efficient as possible.
Multi-tasking is a great skill.

 

[yhelothar]

2) people on forums probably are neither qualified or sufficiently experienced to help you

Unfortunately, there's a good share of doctors who aren't far off either. I find getting opinions from a wide range of sources best for making an informative decision.

Good post on the DSM-IV, btw. It's a good place to start, however, I would not trust it on deciding what to do about your ADHD. It is merely a collection of traits that are associated with ADHD. It says nothing about its etiology, and hence treatment of it should vary depending on its roots. This is something doctors won't tell you. If they think you have ADHD, they'll give you drugs and send you on your way. That's what doctors do.

Here is a good example of why handing out drugs for ADHD should not be an automatic form of treatment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zif0_60b3WU

 

[yhelothar]

Define high stimulation?

I love weirdness. I think.

And I always flake out on plans. Hell... I've abandoned carts of groceries at the store because I felt overwhelmed.

I asked these questions since these are all traits often overlooked but highly related to ADHD. Although the first two traits are inversely related to ADHD in which people with ADHD would crave high stimulation and be novelty seekers.

The brain's dopamine system is by far the most studied neurotransmitter system in ADHD. This is the neurotransmitter the medication works on. There is found to be multiple polymorphisms(variations) of the dopamine receptor DRD4. People with ADHD are highly correlated with a particular allele of the receptor[1]. This allele is also highly correlated with novelty seeking and substance abuse[2].

Genetics aside, repeated high stimulation and acting on impulses weakens the prefrontal cortex's descending inhibitory control of our impulse centers.
In plain english, it weakens willpower and forms the biological model of addiction. This weakened inhibitory control of the prefrontal cortex also forms the biological model of ADHD. Thus, ADHD extends far past attentional deficits to an overall of disruption of our behavioral regulatory system. Although I want to add that there are many perks to having a hyperactive novelty seeking system and crave high stimulation. You can think of it as being hyper curious and you love to have fun.

 

[Ichinisan]

I've been hyper all my life. It makes me who I am and I like it. As I've gotten older, my short term memory had gotten worse and worse. It peaked after I got sober and it hasn't let up. I'm sure my posts reflect that I can't hold a thought for long or continue on the same thought for an entire sentence.

Tonight was the last straw. I got home from work and made dinner for me and Lil rudeguy. After we ate,I did the dishes. While doing the dishes I figure coffee sounded good, so I made some in the French press and let it sit while I finished the dishes. After the dishes were done,I decided the counters needed cleaning and put the French press on top of the fridge so I could clean them all. While cleaning those, the cat let me know she needed water, so I grabbed her water bowl and filed it. Then I thought it would fun to put an ice cube in her water to see if she'd play with it. This was my great undoing.

I opened the freeze, the French press fell and on instinct I reached to grab it. By the time my brain figured out what was happening, the press shattered and I sliced my finger pretty good. It was bleeding very heavily and after 10 minutes of trying to get it stopped, I conceded defeat and went to the med center. It was a flap type cut, so they fixed me up with some super glue.

All this because I can't do one thing at a time.

Sounds a lot like me.

 

[SagaLore]

That's the only thing you've described that isn't the sort of thing most people consider to be normal, IMO.

Yea. But I don't think that sounds like ADD either. It sounds more like an Anxiety issue. But as common as anxiety issues are these days, even that I would consider normal.

 

[Mixolydian]

I've been hyper all my life. It makes me who I am and I like it. As I've gotten older, my short term memory had gotten worse and worse. It peaked after I got sober and it hasn't let up. I'm sure my posts reflect that I can't hold a thought for long or continue on the same thought for an entire sentence.

Tonight was the last straw. I got home from work and made dinner for me and Lil rudeguy. After we ate,I did the dishes. While doing the dishes I figure coffee sounded good, so I made some in the French press and let it sit while I finished the dishes. After the dishes were done,I decided the counters needed cleaning and put the French press on top of the fridge so I could clean them all. While cleaning those, the cat let me know she needed water, so I grabbed her water bowl and filed it. Then I thought it would fun to put an ice cube in her water to see if she'd play with it. This was my great undoing.

I opened the freeze, the French press fell and on instinct I reached to grab it. By the time my brain figured out what was happening, the press shattered and I sliced my finger pretty good. It was bleeding very heavily and after 10 minutes of trying to get it stopped, I conceded defeat and went to the med center. It was a flap type cut, so they fixed me up with some super glue.

All this because I can't do one thing at a time.

I dunno, that doesn't really sound like ADD.

 

[olds]

ADD is like global warming. Fake.
Some people are just better equipped to handle life and what it throws at us.
Some people can hit a 90 MPH fastball, some can't.
Some people can do calculus, some can't
...

 

[Red Squirrel]

When I was a kid I was diagnosed with ADD, my parents thought it was BS so they brought me to this specialist who said I did not... Squirrel! brb.

 

[Fritzo]

I think I have it too. I have a hard time concen....ooooo shiny!

 

[rudeguy]

I think I have it too. I have a hard time concen....ooooo shiny!

I love shiny!

want to ride bikes?