Adult ADD and Grad School

I notice that several people posting on this board have attempted, with varying levels of success, higher education, and even graduate school. Is this just being a glutten for punishment or is there some other explaination for this phenomena? (I myself graduated from law school, and have a relatively significant ADD condition.) Just curious, I guess.

A second question; has anyone else with adult ADD had problems with obsessive/compulsive-type behavior? What about narcolepsy? These problems have given me almost as much grief as the attention problem itself. . .can anyone relate/empathize?

re your first question: "they" say that ADD is somehow connected both to relatively high intelligence and creativity quotients, and i have noticed that in general, the more similar to myself people are, the smarter they seem to be! ha. actually, i've been mucking about my law degree for far too long already, and would dearly love to hear about your experience with it as i ponder my future (ie how old you were, were you diagnosed at the time, on meds etc...).

i'm pretty sure i don't suffer from either of the otham,afzzzzzzzzzzz.......

haha

anyway, from either one, although i've always had a host of self-created "rituals" which i suspect are a wee bit compulsive (ie i haven't landed off a flight of stairs with my *left* foot since i was a child). ok so they're kinda wierd, but that just makes them blend in.

mebbitt

Hi Mebitt -

Although I have always been a lousy student, I much benefitted from the panic-induced hyper-focus you referred to in one of your other posts. However, unlike yourself, I was able, for reasons unknown, to get through law school based on night-before cramming/hysterical-fits-of-writing. I almost self-destructed,dropped out, and lost my marriage in my last semester. (my wife has chronic depression problems) Anyway I got through law school with very mediocre grades (bottom 50%).

We went to Utah and I passed the Utah bar. I left for California for a new job one moth after admission to utah bar. Failed California bar. I am supposed to take it again in July. I am not very happy about that.

I am currently not medicated, although I take 400mg of caffiene every morning. I self-diagnosed at the beginning of my final year in law school. I took ritalin for a while while studying for the utah bar. I had only caffeine for the California bar.

Despite my current position and degrees, I feel like I have always been a screw up/underachiever. I have always been told it was just laziness. Perhaps law school was an attempt to prove something. Who knows.

Anyway, nice to hear from you, and thank you for the response.

well, congratulations for dogging it through to the end, tho you have my empathy re the collateral damage (i can relate to most of that). i too survived on hype and panic, until the panic dried up and was replaced by fatalism (i never had a clear desire to be there to start with). i'm curious as to whether you've ever sought formal diagnosis. also, if you can just get over the bar (ha), i bet you'll make a much better lawyer than student - i always did better in real life than in school, anyway.

any retrospective advice for one still mired?

Mebbitt-

The only formal diagnosis I recieved was from my general practitioner physician, who seemed to think, based on my own description of my symptoms, that I was a clear case.

However, I am currently seeking a psychologist who can perform a more thorough diagnosis, mainly so that I can get the time accomodation I need on the bar exam.

As for being a better attorney than a student, the results are mixed. Although I can't actually practice in CA, this really only limits my ability to make court appearances. So, I have a good idea already as to what my strengths and limitations in the real world are. In school, at least in college, I was judged by what I was able to learn an regurgitate. I became very proficient learning mass quantities of information in a limited amount of time, which made up for the fact that I spent less time studying.

Now, I am not judged necessarily by what I know, but by what I produce. That is a whole different ball game, which requires additional adaptations. Huge projects frighten me, because I know I will get mired down midway though and completion will difficult, if not impossible.

On the bright side, having a greater variety of things to do, as an attorney, is a better fit with my extremely limited attention span. If I feel myself getting overwhelmed by a project, I can always move onto something else, unless there is a deadline looming, and then the panic effect kicks in.

However, I am still hindered by the fact that, unmedicated, I am unable to read for more than 1/2 hour at a time. This is not a good quality for an attorney to have.

Although I am not a graduate student (yet) I think my experience may add an interesting dimension to this discussion.
I am a Chemistry major at UCB (so it's not really a school where you can get away with not doing your work consistently and pass any of your classes) and very ADHD. In the past, I've had to pull out of school a few times (thankfully Berkeley has been really flexible about this with me because of my status) because of academic difficulties. However, right now I am doing really well and getting great grades. For me, the approach was two-pronged. First off, I forced myself to really sit down and learn how to study. It wasn't exactly fun, and I know I still procrastinate, but going to a behavioral therapist made all the difference in the world (and at first, I really thought the idea was stupid). At least now when I need to study, I can make more effective use of my time. The other equally important step I made in terms of being able to focus was getting medicated. For me, this has been a 5 year ordeal trying basically every drug known to be effective for ADHD. I have finally found something that works, and now I am in a position to be able to do well in school (just so long as I like what I'm learning about).

Sarah

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[This message has been edited by help (edited 08-05-2003).]

considering the age of this post I wonder if he ever passed grad school or became medically unable to graduate with some offset of chemically poisoning from the drugs he was taken?

Which post are you referring to ?
wfox said he already graduated from law school and the post from chemistry student from Berkeley was super recent..

No way. About 6 years ago, I was talking with my counselor, going through a divorce, and he asked me if I had ever talked to anyone about ADD. I was about 35 at the time, and had graduated from undergrad, but reading, studying, etc was very difficult for me. I would have to re-read sentences over and over because my brain kept wandering. To make a long story short, I started taking Ritalin, and it has made all the difference in the world. I take the long acting Conserta now and it is even better. In May, I will be graduating from Law School. I have gone to night school (4 years). I have read more big fat books in the last 4 years than in my whole life. And while I may have trouble with some things as a result of ADHD, I am highly motivated, multitask oriented, and will be one heck of a litigator.

I say, go for it.

Steve

I have the same difficulties with school (see my first post "Nursing Student, And May Have ADD")as so many of the people who have posted on this topic.

I have atrocious study habits. I hardly study, then cram the night before for exams. I do very well on exams relative to the amount of studying I accomplish. Lecture happens to be very interesting to me, so I hyperfocus for most of them. I don't retain the information for a very long time, though.

"Getting it all together" seems to just sift through my fingers. I can get organized BEFORE a clinical day, but once I'm in the middle clinical, my plan goes out the window.

I have pretty darn low self esteem, which has always perplexed me because I grew up in a very supportive family environment. I just cannot seem to get a higher self esteem to "stick," even with all the self talk and encouragement from other people. It lasts for a day,or so, then dissipates. This is highly disruptive to me when I am trying to become a confident nurse. Confidence, I have found, can "make you, or break you."

I have been depressed from an early age; about 8-years-old. I was diagnosed with mild bipolarism when I was 23-years-old, and took lithium for 16 years. I kept taking it because I would become more depressed when I stopped taking it. Five months ago I started taking Prozac. Due to the fact that I could hardly stay awake while taking both medications, I stopped taking lithium (too the moans from my psychiatric NP). I am not only happier, I am much less moody than when taking lithium.

I've never been described as "Manic," but I have been described as "Spaced out," "Not connected to Earth," "Flakey" and "Confused." These labels terrify me, as they insinuate "Incompetent."

Thanks for reading this long reply. This is only my second post, so I guess I still have a lot to say!

JessP

Jess P...you would not believe the how your post hit home,,nursing student w/ bipolar, at an early age..also add, and depression. i have done my term paper on adult add for psych. and just doing it, helped me ...my doc just prescribed neurontin, I have been on paxil ^60 mgs, for 3 yrs, but Im still awful moody and they swing alot.my report dealt alot w/ how girls where misdiagnosed in the early 60's thru 80's and how other symptoms developed from us trying to learn to cope and deal w/ whats going on all on our own. its a relief to me to know that im not stupid and lazy,,and that i just never gave it my all...good luck and god bless you...Aria

ARIA-

Hello! You are also a nursing student? Congratulations!

So, you did a report for the psych content on Adult ADD? That’s great. I just started reading about it in the last few weeks.

I just happened to do my psych report on SSRIs, so I learned a lot about SSRIs. When I realized that I was probably still somewhat depressed, even while on lithium, I requested to add an SSRI. I asked for Zoloft (my sister takes it for anxiety, with good results), but the psychiatric NP prescribed Prozac, considering my issue with PMS. I have responded very well to it. At one point a while back, a psychiatrist prescribed Neurontin for me to try instead of lithium, but I felt very “stoned” the first day I took it, so I stopped. How have you felt on Neurontin? It’s an interesting medication, as it is used for so many issues (seizures, pain management, depression). Did you originally start on Paxil for moodiness?

People who know me, and who are educated regarding ADD, themselves, think that being evaluated for ADD is a good idea. They, too, question the diagnosis of bipolarism, especially since I’ve been doing so well since changing from lithium to Prozac. I have started to help myself utilizing what I have learned reading this book and noticing what is helpful to me, while I wait to be evaluated.

I’d like to hear more about your experiences, school, etc. Hope you are doing well.

JessP