Spouse with ADD
- I have truly been from one end to the other. So many heartaches until my wife started her Adderral medication. She is now so level. However, she still will have thoughts she just blurts out that are hurtful. The main thing is after 30 years of marriage, we can both see so much improvement with her ADD. She has done so much with her education - double masters and working on a book. She still has at times gets so many thoughts in her thinking I have no way to keep up. Our love has got us through the tough times. When she misses her medication or doesn't take it as prescribed, she gets into another zone. Sometimes I think, why does she not take her meds on a regular basis? This is only rarely done now, so my life is better. Our youngest daughter who is 35 also has ADD. Yet she is a school teacher, working towards her masters and she never misses taking any of her medication which is also Adderall.
- —Guest edcone
Not Liking It
- I just know I do not like the way I am and neither does my husband. My daughter age 32 thinks it is in my head. I have nowhere to go and have not been able to work now 2 years. My life has changed drastically. I no longer have any control of it. Someday I hope to wake and I will be as if all this mess never happened.
- —msylvester227
Ups and Downs
- Hello, I’m soon 16 years old. I always knew I was different from most people, but I didn’t know how to explain it. I have ADD. When I was into my new high school with about 1300 kids from ages 14-19 things started getting really bad. I had my ups and downs. I usually sat in class in the last row of chairs because I didn’t like attention. I just sat quietly, not sharing anything with anyone or talking in class. In school all the day I barely worked because I couldn’t concentrate on anything - I noticed the grass outside the window instead of my notebook and started thinking in the clouds. Each time I went home I went to a private teacher, and in one hour with one teacher I did the work of 7 hours in school. Eventually my intelligence was shown and I was beyond my whole class in all subjects. Things were better until some kids started to harass me about my height. I absorbed their insults like a sponge. It was hurtful and I am still struggling.
- —Guest special kid
Weird
- I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 12. I was different - I wasn't able to make any friends, because everyone thought I was weird for acting too hyper. I was not able to concentrate in class, but it was because I hated my school, so it was difficult to pay attention to something I hated, which resulted in getting Ds and Fs.After the one year of 7th grade I got held back and moved to England where I did year 8 (my second year of 7th grade). I go to a great school. I’m not as hyper as I used to be. My mother says I outgrew my ADHD, which is impossible. I am simply doing more things that I enjoy at school, and it’s fun. I still have minor signs like acting too hyper at times. I can control it in fun lessons, like math, French and Spanish. But in exams, my leg shakes and I fiddle around, which makes it tough to concentrate. So I normally speed through my paper, and I get a bad mark. Home life isn't as great a school. I feel I can hide away from home at school.
- —Guest cheese
One of a Kind
- I remember when I was young child like 6...7 noticing I’m not like every other child...there’s something very different about me and at this point I was on Ritalin and in a very depressive state - a point where nothing was fun I didn’t talk, didn’t want to do anything then when I wasn’t on it I was psychotic like a freak off a leash and I couldn’t understand what was wrong until I researched it myself and asked my mom. I stopped taking Ritalin and I found my outlet in music and skateboarding and I learned over roughly a year how to control myself and stay motivated and strive and push to do the best I can now. You might wonder if I’m still wacky and insane in my membrane and I got to say damn right I am and damn proud of it because I got this amazing beautiful girl who loves me for who I am :)
- —Guest Alex Bacon
ADD & Proud to Say So!
- After my youngest son was diagnosed with ADHD in kindergarten, I ransacked our local library shelves and read everything I could get my hands on...and in the process, discovered that just about everyone in our family (both sides) had some version of ADD/ADHD, back several generations. Suddenly, everything became so clear and YEARS of frustration, embarrassment, and pain were suddenly wiped away. Two books in particular, "You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?!" by Kate Kelly & Peggy Ramundo and "The Edison Gene: ADHD and the Gift of the Hunter Child" by Thom Hartman, changed my life. We are not freaks and maybe one day, they won't call it a disorder any more. But for now, I am proud to say I have ADD, and yes, ALL of my best friends and most of the influential people in my life have it, too. We are an intelligent, creative, and occasionally wacky bunch of people and I cherish the unique brain "wiring" that makes us so. Vive la Difference!
- —acmeannie
No treatment
- I was diagnosed with ADHD Inattentive type (back then known as ADHD/R) 20 years ago. Since then I have had many therapists and many psychiatrists but NONE have ever treated me for it. They always consider treating depression and anxiety first. Yet, my inability to stay focused on anything - and at times hyperfocus without intent - has destroyed my professional life and my relationships with everyone. My wife is still sticking with me, though on her terms, which are not really good for me. She tolerates me most of the time but I do not ever get any support. I have found a SW/therapist that I can talk to, but I cannot get any straight answers from her either because she believes a professional should leave her own opinions out of therapy. The result is that I really have nobody at all to have a two-way relationship with - any kind of relationship. To make things even harder and more complicated, I grew up in post-Holocaust Vienna, Austria, and have diagnosed PTSD.
- —steiner71
The Bitter Sweet Edge of Insanity
- At 41 years old 5 doctors diagnosed me as severe ADD/ADHD and dyslexic. I had taken every single prescription medication to try to counteract the symptoms, and worked night and day to cover them too, and appear 'normal.' They stopped my salary when I started Ritalin, but the 120 Xanax and 120 Imovane and 120 Stilnox daily and Lithium and all the categories of anti-depressant medication were OK for them as long as I did my job. When I stopped all and stuck to the Ritalin, I officially became the drug addict of the family. Now that four other members have been diagnosed with ADD/ADHD they may learn that Ritalin to a person born without the brain's connection wired right is as addicted to it like a diabetic to insulin, or a patient and his pacemaker. You can live and fight a life of being told you are stupid, and within the curse there is a gift, but nothing replaces the inner self-confidence you receive when the Ritalin is taken.
- —Guest Photi M Bouri
Lost for too long....
- I spent my entire childhood knowing that I was different, but not why! My poor mother could not figure out why I was so disorganized. She tried so hard to help me, there were many a night with tears spent from both of us. When I joined the work force, I managed to finally get it together some, but it was still hard for me to learn like everyone else. I still have times where my head is in the clouds, just lost somewhere.When I finally did some research and spoke with me mom about my findings, and about other family members that had similar traits, we realized that not only did she have some, but also numerous family members from both sides of the family had some of them.This has given hope and help to the next generation, it’s no longer kept in the closet and hidden away. Seek help anyway, and anywhere you can find it.Like I explained to my friend once, one and one equal two still, but for me it’s more like one and a half, and a half equal two. It all depends on how you look at it.
- —BaltimoreJaxs
ADHD WHERE DO I START?
- I was 22 when diagnosed with adhd, been very difficult to live with, 38 now and have been through some real xxxx so far and don`t know where to turn sometimes. Any ideas?
- —rogerrabitt333
Living with ADD
- My son is 14 now and is ADD when he was younger we battled very much with power struggles and with everyone else telling me my child was naughty (I’m a single parent) and I wasn’t firm enough. I put him onto Ritalin but found the side effects (eating only after 6pm and becoming very violent and then if he forgot his tabs then getting headaches and feeling nauseous also he got quite a few panic attacks) he was on the Ritalin for 3 years. I decided to stop the medicine and he became a wonderful person - fun loving and he grew suddenly to this big man now and is taller than me. I have put him onto Omega Vite the extra strength and find that this medicine helps him to cope with all his emotions and concentration at school. It is very tough sometimes but they just need constant attention and consistency. As long as I’m calm he is happy. If my emotions are haywire then I have problems with him. I find that at night when doing homework the less distraction the better he copes.
- —Guest monica visser
Tired of it
- Those with this diagnosis, when made in later life, are usually pretty bright, having escaped diagnosis earlier...and, as previously mentioned, sought evaluation and care due to a child who had behavioral problems, drug problems, legal problems etc. which seemingly came out of the blue because they had been so talented and gifted in early school years. Then after laborious investigation, eventually got diagnosed, but, unfortunately, had so many co-morbid diagnoses, and had made so many screw ups that a significant recovery seemed impossible. Then enter you(?), the responsible parent, but due to generational differences, somehow managed to survive, but felt significant turbulence, and were vastly relieved to get the same diagnosis yourself. Now all will be well and happy....or so you initially felt. Trouble is, the comorbidities of anxiety, depression, substance abuse and dysfunctional family etc. are not usually addressed enough even to low standards. My advice is tough love and pray.
- —Baron51
Life is good here
- It took 20 years for the doctor to put a title on my "creative inattentiveness," but after growing up without a name to the "disorder" and battling social, weight and "giftedness" problems, I was on Ritalin for long enough to organize, prioritize and grow, and marry the deaf musician who understands what it's like to miss out on 60% of your own life. ADD builds determination and character, exasperates my family and employer, stretches imagination, challenges the ideals of "normal" and emphasizes the importance of "carpe diem" -- "seize the day" -- because I might not have the attention span tomorrow to do that which needs doing. ADD decides who will stand with me through trial and who will fall away. Does it define who I am? Resoundingly, "Yes," and "No," because it has no boundaries. If there's any one thing to say about having ADD, it's "Persevere." Not everyone likes grape jelly on their toast, and you just might be a marmalade eater in a grape jelly toast cafe.
- —Guest Sarah
Son and I both ADD/ADHD
- I always thought my problem was my dyslexia but found it strange that it affected concentration, organization and communication more than my reading and writing. It took a long time to get an ADHD diagnosis for my son (now 11) as his behavior was initially dismissed as being a result of an absent father (even though we never ever even lived with him) and his intelligence. While learning about ADHD to help my son I realized that ADD sounded exactly like me. Eventually I got more and more tired of trying really hard to organize myself and my son and failing that I sought a diagnosis for myself also. We support each other and work together to find solutions to problems we face. Some days are really difficult and we both want to cry but we have so much energy and great ideas that we think we have the best fun together ever.
- —Leswonder
living with ADHD
- I have a son aged 16 with ADHD and the one thing ADHD does to me and him is cause a lot of heartache. He gets so upset and so depressed and has attempted suicide many times however on saying this I also have learned so much about ADHD through him that it has made me a stronger and better person and I know I can cope with what this condition throws up at me on a daily basis. I also would not change Bob for anything.
- —Guest josie
