Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Anybody have ADHD or ADD?

Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Anybody have ADHD or ADD?

    My doctor is expecting I will come back with the diagnoses of adult ADHD or ADD from my psych exam. I can see it. (I'm calling on Monday to see if they've compiled the results yet.)

    So, those of you with it, how do you manage it?

    My mom is getting me a proper PDA (I have a limited one I found in the garage, but I found a cheap one with a gps, and it'd be great to have a gps on me at all times considering how easily lost I get.)

    She's also getting me one of those lojack things for.. well, everything. I'm attaching one to my keys, my purse, my wallet, and the pda.

    The PDA I am using to set a proper routine. I'm setting when I do everything, from eating to sleeping to cleaning my rabbit's cage. I don't plan on starting medication just yet.

    Any other suggestions?

  • #2
    I've lived with mine so long I don't register what I do differently from other people to compensate. It has become so much a part of me having been diagnosed at 6 years old it really is just one of my quirks.

    Comment


    • #3
      A colleague of mine and I at uni have both suspected we have some traits that are consistent with ADHD.

      If you have a phone with a GPS function on it (usually called "maps") USE IT.

      One thing I've found lately that has helped me with my issue of fidgeting (I am a chronic fidgeter) is that I'll take along a "fidget toy" of some kind while I'm at uni. Lately it's been crochet, but a colleague of mine with Aspergers and ADHD (not the one mentioned above) uses this when she's agitated.
      The best professors are mad scientists! -Zoom

      Now queen of USSR-Land...

      Comment


      • #4
        One of my closest friends has been living with ADHD since she was a kid. Avoiding artificial colours, flavours, and preservatives helps to make her life easier; so it's worth discussing with your doctor.
        Don't tempt pixies, it never ends well.

        Avatar created by the lovely Eisa.

        Comment


        • #5
          Oh wow. This is really starting to sound like me.
          Seshat's self-help guide:
          1. Would you rather be right, or get the result you want?
          2. If you're consistently getting results you don't want, change what you do.
          3. Deal with the situation you have now, however it occurred.
          4. Accept the consequences of your decisions.

          "All I want is a pretty girl, a decent meal, and the right to shoot lightning at fools." - Anders, Dragon Age.

          Comment


          • #6
            Well Seeshat, here's the stuff that seems to be symptomatic of ADD/ADHD for me:

            Constant fidgeting. I'm not a very active person. I dislike exercise. (In fact, I nearly called it exorcise, because I dislike it that much.) But I can't stop moving.

            I forget things that are fairly constant in having to do. Like at school, I'd forget when I need lunch money. I'd start the reminders about 4 days ahead of time, because it took me that long to remember. At the middle school they'd just feed me anyway, knowing I'd remember eventually, but at the high school they were like "tough luck."

            I could never, ever, ever remember where to put things. My favorite (most frustrating) way to lose things was to find an awesome spot where I would "ABSOLUTELY REMEMBER" I put it there... and then totally forget where that awesome spot was.

            One of my awesome spots was putting my packed lunch in front of the TV... then forgetting it there. I found it on my bed that evening with a note saying "forget something?"

            I could be told to do things several times, and still forget I had to do them.

            I'd constantly forget due-dates, appointments, and events I had planned to go to. Again, at first my teachers were fairly lenient with me, but the further into education I've gotten, the more I just have to accept the consequences.

            I can't focus on just one thing. It drives me nuts. I usually play a casual game like spider solitare (one color) during class, because it took little brain-power and dulled the frustration. Depending on the teacher and my performance in the class, I'd get away with it.

            (I had one student call me on playing Minecraft in Psychology, but the teacher was like "I don't know what I can teach her. She knows it all" and just let it go.) Another class I regularly played minecraft in, I was getting a 4 on the practice ap tests (out of 5) so the teacher didn't care. I could have slept in his class and he wouldn't have cared.


            I also have trouble waiting my turn in conversations. I get very antsy listening to other people. It's not really a narcissism thing, I know what they have to say could be important, but I just REALLY want to say something.

            Also, I'm very disorganized, to the point where every single teacher I had would say: "I'm gonna get you organized!"

            It never worked.

            I've always been smart enough to get around that without much problem, but I'm having more and more issues with it in college, and life in general, to be honest. I'm moving back in with my parents, and one of their conditions is I do chores on a regular basis, so I've put the cores in my pda so I won't forget.

            And stuff I should do every day, like brushing my teeth totally slips my mind. (I know that's gross. Hence why I gave it an alarm on my PDA.)

            Oh, and I didn't put anything in my locker. Everything, every textbook from every class, was in my hands at all times, or in my gigantic purse. (I wasn't even supposed to have a purse that big because DRUGS ARE BAD MMMKAY, but people just kinda let it go.) This way, I almost never not had something I needed. (Grammar, I haz it)

            (EDIT: I'm not kidding. If the bag was bigger than a normal piece of paper, you weren't supposed to bring it to school.)

            So yeah, if that sounds like you, I'd take a look at whether or not you can function that way, and if not, work on changing it.
            Last edited by Cooper; 09-02-2013, 12:39 AM.

            Comment


            • #7
              Quoth patiokitty View Post
              I have a bunch of safe spots for things - so safe that even I forget the spot. Cleaning can be a real treat because I'll find things I thought were lost ages ago...and then I put them in another safe spot and promptly forget the new spot!
              I'm glad I'm not the only one who does that!

              My goal is, once I move into my new/old space (I'm not moving in my old bedroom, I'm moving in the basement. This is mostly for the pets. The rabbit gets a tiled space to have her cage on, and I'm going to put up a baby gate so my parent's cat cannot torture my kitty.)

              I'm literally going to tape out where things go, and then stick a map on the wall.

              Like, if my glasses go on my bedside table, I will tape a card that says 'glasses' to table, and mark on the map that my glasses are there.

              Comment


              • #8
                So, I updated my grandma on the new plans, and got some interesting results:

                Cooper: But yeah, the goal is to stay at about 3 meds a day, at most.
                Grandma: Does the therapist know about the exam?
                Cooper: Yup. He mentioned that they do those exams, but when he heard the doctor was looking for ADHD or ADD he agreed Compass was the better place.
                Mom and Dad and I are acting like I already hae it, basically. I have a PDA that alarms whenever I have to do anything except eat.
                Grandma: That is not good.
                Cooper: Why?
                Grandma: How can I get in touch with the therapist?
                Not good that everything upsets you but eating.
                Cooper: .... no, that's not it at all.
                It tells me to do everything except eat. It has an alarm for:

                Wake-up
                Checking pet food
                Medication
                Homework time
                Chores
                Shower
                Brush teeth
                Bed
                Grandma: What is a PDA then?
                Cooper: It's like a mini electronic calendar.
                Grandma: So you have these things programmed into it?
                Cooper: Yes.
                Grandma: I see. Well, that sounds good. Who determined the schedule?
                Cooper: I have, but Mom and Dad and I are going to calibrate it when I move back in

                Comment


                • #9
                  Oh boy do I know the "I'll put it here so I can remember where it is... wait where'd I put it?"

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    My wife is good for the "must put this in a special place", and we know she has some form of ADD/ADHD. In fact, *I* get the blame most of the time for moving things. When in actuality she just puts it somewhere and cannot remember. Three weeks ago my eldest went to the doctor for a wart removal and getting shot immunization records for starting middle school. I was working at my desk, and I recall her saying "We CANNOT lose this paper." but took it with her somewhere in the house. The wart instructions and another pamplet stayed on my desk, SHE took the shot records. And yet when it came time a week later to produce the shot records it somehow became my fault that they weren't still on my desk. Where that paper had never been. Bah. She eventually did figure out it went into one of her hidey holes but we've still yet to find it. Solution? The office faxed the records to the school... and her freaking' out was totally not worth it.
                    But the paint on me is beginning to dry
                    And it's not what I wanted to be
                    The weight on me
                    Is Hanging on to a weary angel - Sister Hazel

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      ... my grandma just told me I should consider accounting.

                      It's like she doesn't KNOW me. This might be another ADD/ADHD thing, but I make careless mistakes all the time. My most infamous was when I literally left a glove in someone's sandwich. (It was caught before they ate it, and nobody could explain how it got there, but it was me, as I made the sandwich.) It multiplies by a lot if it's a repetitive task. I dislike math repeatedly.

                      And repetitive tasks... and accounting is pretty damn repetitive.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Woot!

                        My grandma told me if I do well this semester, I can enroll in art classes starting next semester. (For art education.)

                        (I needed her permission because she's the financial backer for my education. I suspect I'll need her to co-sign student loans if it comes to that.)
                        Last edited by Cooper; 09-04-2013, 10:45 AM.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Congrats! The way i remember stuff like keys and my wallet (if i dont leave it in my pants) is to place it on or near my keyboard for my computer. I check my computer constantly for weather and playing video games. If i don't place my keys there, they get lost. :/

                          As far as remembering stuff, alarms set for stuff is the way to go. I do it on my cell phone. Right now it's just basic stuff, but so far been way more useful than trying to remember to do it and forgetting.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Even though you don't like exercise, it WILL help. The combination of wearing out your body, with the meditative effects of (some) cardio, and the hormones released by a workout, make for a great non-medication method of control. I started running, and it's actually done some amazing things for my mental health.

                            Alarms are your best friend. In addition to the event alarms, also set periodic alarms (I use 30 minutes). This will keep the hyperfocus at bay. I'll turn it off if I'm in a particularly good zone for something like plugging away at code, but generally it helps me keep moving.

                            Pick up a fidget aid, like knitting, crocheting, or some other dexterous-but-mindless thing. Bonus: after not-very-long, you start making really pretty things!

                            Find what you love. If you do what you love, you will succeed - but there will always be that one repetitive thing that is just miserable. I have no advice for that, except just do it. Procrastination makes it take longer and hurt more.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              I have actually learned how to knit. XD I need to pick it back up.

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X