Here is some background.
1. I've never been diagnosed with ADD though from all the books I've read and therapists I've talked to, I have symptoms of it.
2. I am a very functional professional with a wonderful family (wife and young daughter). I have a great job, am good at what I do, and am well respected in my field. Though its stressful.
3. Family history is normal (what is "normal", not sure)
4. Being treated for hypothyroidism with Synthroid.
5. Slightly overweight, moderate drinker, fairly active.
So here are my problems that I have been facing my whole life that is troubling me now that I am a middle-aged (35) adult
- I have a short temper and allow my emotions to get the best of me which not only affects my professional life, it is affecting my personal life as well.
- I cannot focus for any longer than 10-15 minutes on any one task. My focus is literally llike a pinball going from one thing to the next. I find distractions to help me move on to the next thing when "I" am done with the taks at hand (not necessarily the people in the room with me).
Does anyone have any tips or tricks for me to help me with these issues? I am not into medicating or long-term therapy. The therapists I have seen have given up on me because I am functional but these things are starting to affect my way of life. Just looking for ideas. Not looking for the silver bullet. Thanks for listening.
May I ask why you are opposed to medication? Meds have helped lots of folks with ADD. Of course it isn't necessary, but the right med might be able to help.
Many folks with ADD are helped by adrenalin. Anger produces adrenalin. Skydiving produces adrenalin. Driving like a maniac produces adrenalin. Ruining your financial situation produces adrenalin.
My point is, that adrenalin is a drug (produced by the body, but a drug nonetheless) that helps an ADD person to focus. Sometimes folks find ways to utilize this in socially acceptible ways, such as working as an ambulance driver or taking up a risky hobby like skydiving. Sometimes folks are not aware of the benefits of adrenalin, and they produce it in socially unacceptible ways, like getting angry or setting up their lives to be always on the brink of failure.
Working in an office, even at a job that you like, can be an environment with looooong stretches of boooooredom. ADDers need stimulous to keep our brains functioning. If we don't have it from the outside (ambulance driver gets frequent calls to go racing through the streets to rescue someone), we create the stimulous ourselves. In the right environment, this can be a good thing. You are indicating that, in your environment, it's a bad thing.
I suggest that you pursue the quest to get a diagnosis. Once you have the diagnosis, you can start figuring out what to do about it. Meds have helped lots of folks -- one of the earliest meds that turned out to be helpful to lots of folks was Ritalin, a stimulant. Remember, adrenalin is a stimulant. Undiagnosed ADDers are notorious for trying to find a way to self-medicate. It may be that a stimulant med might help you. It may be that simply learning how to channel your own adrenalin will also help.
Are you sure your not having sugar highs and lows that are causing irritability? I'd try to go a time with very low sugar intake and see if your symptoms subside some, I'm very sensitive to things as an ADHD and sugar really does affect me much more than I realized, I used to have the shakes from putting too much sugar in my coffee thinking it as the coffee, and then I changed out to stevia(natural sweetner from asia) and the shakes stopped, it was the sugar. I also remember hearing that there was a study done on ADD or ADHD brains that proves they process sugar slower than non-diagnosed/normal people.
From what I've heard <removed>, there's a large incidence of alcoholism and other major addictions int the ADHD/ADD population, and they end up being basically self-medicating/comorbidity material.
Last edited by mod-anon; 03-26-2009 at 11:45 PM.
Reason: removed profession
