Do you have ADD/ADHD?

[crimsonblue]

Have you been diagnosed with ADD/ADHD?

[Deja Q]

1. ADD/PTSD/AS, with an AAS and going for a BA because "BS" makes for a terrible degree abbreviation

[SoxFan]

2. Mmmm...Concerta

[crimsonblue]

4. I'm on Concerta, too.

I was on it throughout HS, but decided I should switch to Strattera for college. What a HORRIBLE decision that turned out to be. I blame, in part, my craziness during that period on Strattera.

[SoxFan]

6. Concerta is MUCH better than regular Ritalin/methylphenidate

The weird osmotic release makes it a lot less "spiky". I don't get the nasty headaches when it wears off, although it makes me very thirsty.

[crimsonblue]

8. Maybe that explains why I drink so much water!

I love Concerta over taking Ritalin. I actually enjoy taking my Concerta everyday, because it wakes me up better than 2 cups of coffee. Without it, I feel like there's something a miss in my head, like my mind is becoming mischievous or something. Do you ever get that feeling after missing a couple of days of Concerta?

[SoxFan]

16. I don't have missed dose issues with Concerta

Miss a dose or two of Effexor? Hoo boy. Dizzy spells, fatigue, weird nightmares.

[crimsonblue]

21. I only miss when I am out and haven't had the opportunity to get more

(Since it is a narcotic, I have to have a handwritten scrip for it, and my parents have to mail it to me. )

[Midlodemocrat]

3. Yup. Raging ADD. But I manage.

[lizziegrace]

5. Me too

finally diagnosed 3 years ago after being called "ditzy" and hearing "that's how LG is..." for so many years. I graduated from HS a year early because I have a very good memory and if I've heard it, I usually remember it. Got to college and crashed and burned. I have the attention span of gnat and am very self-conscious.

x(

[Orrex]

7. Out of curiosity...

Have you all been diagnosed with the condition?


I only ask because while in college I knew about two dozen people with ADD/ADHD, but when asked, almost all of them revealed that they'd self-diagnosed.

[crimsonblue]

9. I've been medically diagnosed since the 3rd grade..

And I've been taking medication for it ever since. I started out on 5 mg Ritalin tablets, but that eventually amped up to a 20mg tablet twice daily. Then I switched to Concerta, and I'm on 72mg daily.

[Orrex]

14. Yikes! Does that help?

Those people during my college years annoyed for two reasons:

1. Their self-diagnoses came across as either fishing for pity or as an attempt to get praise for, in effect, doing nothing

2. They cheapened and trivialized the actual condition


Please note that I'm absolutely not saying that the conditions are themselves trivial or that people with these conditions are "doing nothing." In fact, I'm saying quite the opposite!

[crimsonblue]

18. I've never once used my ADD as an excuse..

I forget I even have it, and taking my meds has become commonplace. I've never taken extra time or help in a class, because I don't need it.

[Orrex]

24. Oops. What I meant was..

The people who don't have ADD were the ones who used it as an excuse. They used it to make it seem like an extraordianry achievement to have acheived an ordinary life.

I have trouble explaining this, so I apologize if I've come off as unsympathetic to the real condition. But over the years I've met many (literally dozens of) people who've professed to have non-verifiable conditions that would, if true, turn them from ordinary, neurotypical people into remarkable heroes who've overcome profound challenges to achieve an appearance of being ordinary and neurotypical. Many of these people claimed ADD or ADHD; a number of them claimed Asperger's, and quite a few claimed several forms of dyslexia, among other conditions. With one or two exceptions, all of them were self-diagnosed. And unlike midlo, they weren't qualified to make the diagnosis.

That's why I found it so distasteful. It was a claim of heroism for having done nothing except to trivialize the difficulties facing people who actually do have the claimed conditions.

I realize that I wasn't explaining myself well, so I apologize for coming off as flip or insensitive.

[crimsonblue]

29. You're fine..

I understood you, and I probably came off crass. My bad-- I was jonesing for a cancer death stick and my head was hurting. All is well now. :P

[Deja Q]

10. Officially diagnosed, yes.

[Midlodemocrat]

12. Well, I diagnosed myself.

But, I am qualified to do so. In all honesty, I think just about everyone on the planet has some form of disorder on the Autism Spectrum. JMHO.

[lizziegrace]

13. Medically diagnosed

after being treated for everything else... I don't have the hyper component so diagnosing was harder. Also, I'm over 40...

[Midlodemocrat]

15. I don't either. I have the impulsivity component.

As does my son.

[lizziegrace]

19. My brain never stops

I'm always just barely asleep. Noises distract me. The muzak at one place I worked drove me to distraction. I already felt like I didn't fit in, but this makes it worse.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

31. So do I

[SoxFan]

17. Diagnosed when I was 30

I was diagnosed during my 1L year of law school. In retrospect, it was screamingly obvious, but I guess none of us really wanted to go there.

[HopeHoops]

11. I really thought I should point out that - oh look, a duck!

Old joke. Yes, I do, my dad does, and two of my three daughters do. The duck joke is a favorite of my middle daughter.

[no name no slogan]

20. No, I do NOT have AD-- OH COOL LOOK A PONY!!!!

In all seriousness, I don't have it. I do have bipolar disorder, though-- which is oftentimes misdiagnosed as a combination of depression and/or anxiety and ADD, as the symptom combiinations can be quite similar.

[fizzgig]

32. i didn't know about that misdiagnosis, but it makes sense

especially when i look at myself and my symptoms (bipolar here, too)

[no name no slogan]

34. You know what's really frighting about that misdiagnosis?

Most of the time, ADD/ADHD is treated with amphetemines of some sort, like Ritalin-- speed. The only problem is that speed can trigger a manic episode in bipolars, just as much as a too much use of an anti-depressive will cause a manic episode.

That what bugs me so much about so many ADD + Depression diagnoses: they could actually be misdiagnosed bipolar disorder, which is then exacerbated by a prescription for speed, an anti-depressant, or both.

[fizzgig]

38. that is really frightening

i'm glad i didn't have to go through any of that during my diagnosis

[SoxFan]

22. There's some milk in the fridge that's about to go bad!

And there it goes!

[Radical Activist]

23. what?

[leftofthedial]

25. Let's ride bikes!

[NoGOPZone]

26. I voted Yes because I didn't want to read all the options nt.

[PBS Poll-435]

27. Other

Self diagnosed with bipolar disorder & associative AO-ADHD.

[WCIL]

28. I voted other

I don't have it, but both my daughter and my husband are diagnosed. While we were filling in the questionnaire about my daughter before her diagnosis in 3rd grade, my husband kept saying "this sounds just like me!". He went in for an evaluation and was diagnosed at 47. He takes Adderall XR every day now and it has made a real difference in his life. My daughter has been on nearly every medication and gets the best results from 3 small doses of Ritalin each day.

I hate that two such smart, curious people struggle so much that they hate school. My husband quit high school and didn't go to college until he was in his late '20's, and my daughter escaped high school by the skin of her teeth. She is away at college now and is really having a hard time staying focused and organized.

[Angleae]

30. Never been diagnosed, but I hate doctors.

Unless I'm bleeding profusly or it's an on-the-job injury I don't go. That said I probably do suffer from ADD, I'm easily distracted and my mind wander off frequently.

[ghostsofgiants]

33. No, but Gandhi does!

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-3772351029415403863

[Lucian]

35. ADHD...yeah.

I think I still have it too.

[DarkTirade]

36. I voted 'other' because I was never tested, but I'm pretty sure I've got ADD.

My brother had it pretty badly in high school, to the point where he was given permission to bring a tape recorder to class. Because he was incapable of focusing well enough to take notes and learn properly in real time. He needed to go over it a few times at home. And he's just about as smart as I am. I wasn't quite THAT bad, so compared to him I'm sure mine is fairly mild.

[Redstone]

37. As a 39-year-old, after a lifetime of nobody knowing that there WAS such a thing as ADD.

Redstone