For those diagnosed as adults...how did you get the dx???

[silentmayhem]

I have been thinking that I have ADD for at least 2 years now. I am (not to sound conceited ) what I consider a highly intelligent person, but I am also the one that gets the 'lower' end of the stick. For example, in grade school, junior high, and high school, I never did homework, always got zeros on homework and my parents never noticed because I would always pass my classes by making up for the lower grades with excellent test scores. In grade school, I was constantly getting in trouble for talking in class--I would TRY not to, but some how I would still have it written on my report card that I was disrupting class by talking....teachers would also comment on my potential...that I was "gifted" but I didn't use the full extent of my abilities.

My own pediatrician tried to ask my parents about ADD symptoms and they totally blew him off. Just don't believe in that, they say. I am now seeing some of ME in my daughter, who will be five this year, and it breaks my heart.

I work as an accountant--yep, the WORST job for someone with ADD, and since I don't have a lot of hands on supervision, I find myself totally wasting my entire workday by daydreaming or surfing the web, and then I'lll finally get around to doing the books at the end of the month. Of course I make dumb mistakes....just not checking myself well enough, I suppose...but for the most part, I plod along at work. I never get promotions, etc...I will never manage (although I WISH I could be one of those people). I am a terrible housekeeper...planning meals and cooking and cleaning...gosh, I don't know where to start with it all! There aren't enough hours in the day it seems.

I am so frustrated lately that all I do is sit around on weekends, crying to myself, because I don't know where to start or what to start on! My husband is starting to think I'm lazy...says I need to change...but also acknowledges I've been like this for the past 10 years that he has known me, but he says it is getting worse. I totally agree. I even got addicted to pain pills for a little while...unlike most people, I did not get sleepy. I felt more motivated, and even more creative. I did some housework. I quit that because I knew it wasn't right, but I guess I felt like I was trying to "fix" something and going about it the wrong way.

I don't know how to bring this up to anyone...I don't know what to say to a doctor, don't know how to get diagnosed...all I know is I do need help.

Please, please help!


I also take Paxil because my doctor thinks I'm depressed...I don't think that is it. So far, I've been on 20mg for a year and I feel exactly the same...

Oh, I also wanted to add that I am totally addicted to coffee. I can drink 6 to 8 cups a day...even having one right before bed, and I think it helps me sleep?

[houtex54]

I took my 5 year old son to a pediatrician for evaluation at his shool teacher's request. After observing my son's normal behavior for about 5 minutes, the doctor said there is no absolute test for ADD, but in this case, there was not much room for doubt. He wrote a Rx for ritalin and I began researching ADD and what steps I should take as a parent to help my son deal with it.

Surpise! I started seeing a lot of my own behavior described in the books about childhood ADD. The thing that actually got me to see a doctor on my own behalf was a statement in one of the books by a patient that he had "all his life known he was different in some ways and that something had to be wrong with him; and what a great relief it was to have a name for it!" I felt exactly the same way.

I asked my son's pediatrician for a referral and found a psychiatrist who made the diagnosis and helped change my life.

In addition to finding a doctor, I found two authors particularly helpful. Lynn Weiss and Paul Wender. There are, no doubt, many other more recent books, but these two authors were standouts in the field of ADHD therapy 20 years ago. Lynn Wiess was a great help primarily because she took the position that ADHD is not really a disorder so much as it is a difference. It would be just as accurate to describe the rest of the "normal" world as having Creativity Deficit Disorder.

Good luck and God bless!

[Shauleen]

Hi you two, I always knew there was something different about me too but didn't know what it was. I remember a few years ago, while out walking, and thinking, someday someone will find a name for this 'condition' and lo and behold ...... I discovered all by myself - courtesy of the internet - that the condition was ADHD. I've posted before about how I can't concentrate on television programmes so always have to record them so I can rewind if necessary - I just drift off into a dream world.

I always knew I wasn't stupid, in fact, I was considered the one out of our whole family who was considered (sort of) intelligent (ish). So God help the rest of them. In my day, ADD or ADHD wasn't even heard of and teachers and employers had little patience with people such as myself so I just plodded on and made the best of things, as you do ....

I've had my own business (using creative talents) for a while but find that due to other connected (in my opinion) conditions; OCD, depression? and serious tiredness have hampered further progression.

BUT, I'm also so relieved to read that one of the positive traits of ADHD sufferers includes being regarded as a FUN person. I always knew I was! And yes, my house is always a terrible mess but it gets cleaned and tidied (eventually - sometimes) but I always keep in mind that a clean house is the sign of a boring person. And anyway, I'm at that age now where I can blame the menopause on just about anything ... so be it.

I wouldn't change me anyway, I like being me, and if people can't understand or accept who I am, or what I am, I don't particularly want them in my life anyway - and they're most welcome to stay away.