After a speech a classmate gave on ADD, I started to ask myself whether this might be something I’m mildly affected by. I looked at some things online and more than a few of them seem to apply.
I do tend to fidgit and move in my seat constantly. I’m always playing with something in my hands or doing something with them. I have a hard time just sitting and concentrating. I mean, a REAL hard time. Its gotten better since early highschool but I still have some trouble.
I talk excessively and almost non-stop at points. I tend to speak out of turn or just plain blurt out things. I’m usually quick spoken without taking much time to think about what I’m going to say. I also jump from topic to topic while I speak. So much so that my girlfriend and others have found it hard to speak with me at times. I’ve found myself talking about topic a, go to topic b and after 5 minutes or so, switch back to topic a without reason or purpose. In my head, it fits logically, but for the people around me its confusing. I’ve made no explanation or indication that I’ve switched topics.Its not from a lack of trying or something I force myself to do. It just seems to be.
I also have some emotional issues. I have a terrible desire for human physical and emotional contact. I can’t stand being alone or without people. I absolutely hate it when I am. When I’m with my girlfriend I’m always hugging her or holding her hand. I always want to be in contact with her. Not in a sexual way but the stronger and harder the contact the better. When I do feel emotions, good or bad, they tend to be intense and can easily change. I’m easily angered although its gotten better since I was young.
I also tend to work constantly. I don’t like working but I always seem to be. Just the other day I told her, “If I’m not working, I feel useless. I don’t know why but I feel like crap.” And then on one of those sites, I find that workaholism might be a symptom of it.
So what do you think? I know this isn’t a physicians office but do the things I’ve listed tend to be signs of ADD or ADHD? Should I see someone or am I just crazy?
I would definitely talk to someone if I were you. Much of what you list here could be ADD or ADHD, but a good portion of it could also be perfectly normal for someone your age (I have no idea what age that is) or symptomatic of something else entirely. Diagnosing ADD/ADHD is like math - you have to have so many of these symptoms and they must affect your life to this degree.
I wasn’t diagnosed until I was in my 30s, but looking back I can see that it was always a problem. Good luck!
Yep - I wasn’t diagnosed until I was 30 (and I’m not on medication anymore - I’ve attempted to make diet changes and use organizational techniques to keep it under control - my work habits have changed 100%) - but I really wish I’d been diagnosed as a kid when I showed tons of ADHD symptoms. I think it would have made my life a bit easier to know what I was dealing with.
Go talk to someone. It can’t hurt. My doctor said that the one thing that tipped her off was the fact that I told her I can have the equivalent of 2-3 cups of coffee right before bed, and I can still just go right to bed and go to sleep - the caffeine has NO effect on me.
My niece is 17 and was just diagnosed - she’s had many of the same issues that I’ve had my entire life, and I am THRILLED that she’s been diagnosed properly. The changes in her have been amazing, and I have a swell of pride every time her mom forwards another email from one of her teachers saying how well she’s doing. The right diagnosis can make all of the difference. (And again, I’m not pushing the medication angle - my niece is on meds, but she’s also working on techniques that I’ve given her to learn to deal with her ADHD, and she wants to come off of the meds eventually - I doubt I will ever go back on meds for my ADHD but in those first few months after diagnosis, the meds were enough to help me get on track.)
Have you ever reread the opening paragraph to a chapter you’re supposed to read over the course of half an hour or longer, and not abosrb any amount of knowledge?
Are you so unable to concetrate on the task at hand, whatever it may be, that you’re unable to be productive doing anything? What about things you enjoy?
Have you ever laid in bed clinging the sheets and starring at the clock while minutes ticked by as though they only lasted ten seconds while dreading an assignment very soon?
I was diagnosed with ADD, and took aderoll a long time back. As soon as I took a genuine interest in my studies I was able to wean myself off of the drug and concentrate on my acedmic stuff without it. Well five years or so passed and I experienced a way stressfull handful of months, and my mind went straight to the gutter. I could NOT concentrate. I hate using words like “Can’t” or “couldn’t”, but stuff seriously wasn’t getting done and my mind was moving so rapidly away from the tasks at hand that it had might as well have been blank. I didn’t know of anyway to get it under my control. So I got represcribed…I still feel like my attention span is shot, but now I can work. I’ll wean myself off of it again, just as soon as I work out a few things mentally.
If this sounds like you, well yeah, you may have it. The drugs won’t cure anything, but they’ll keep your mind steady long enough for you to gain a different, and much needed, perspective on the way you should be going about your studies.
As for the first question, definitely. For my classes this semester, more often classes I don’t like but not exclusively, I need to reread the same information over and over again. Just the other night, I read the same 8 pages three times and I still didn’t pick up a DAMN thing. I had to stop for a while and listen to music because it was so frustrating. I was finally able to get some of it on the 4th attempt but not too much.
I don’t know if it matters, but I tend to only read as fast as I talk. I’m not dumb. I’m fairly smart when it comes to comprehension of a verbal explanation, but reading from a text is just frustrating. If it is something I’m REALLY interested in, I can read and comprehend just fine. Otherwise, I have some difficulties.
As for the second question, I do tend to be unproductive until it really matters. For example, I have problems working on assignments that I know are going to be due. Assignments that I know I’m going to have trouble on and are going to take alot of work. No matter how hard I try, I seem to get distracted and put it off. However, when things start to get serious or I realize that its “crunch time”, I tend to perform outstanding. This also applies to things I like to do. I have an extremely hard time starting anything. Its easier for things I like, but the problems are still there.
As for the third, not that I can remember. I do however do this when I know I have to go to bed. I can sit and know I have to work in the morning. I’ll realize that if I just went to sleep now, I’d have plenty of rest. However, I just don’t seem to. It isn’t until I look again and now I have 5 hours *until I have to be there that I can motivate myself enough to go to bed.
Note that rather than just a list of symptoms, there are some guidelines:
If you think that you match the criteria (including the “maladaptive” aspect, meaning it actually interferes with your life), then search out a really good doctor with experience treating the condition (rather than a well-meaning GP or FP who may simply push whatever drug the local pharmaceutical company has left on his or her desk).
A number of your symptoms match those of my A.D.H.D. son, but you also do not want to rule out the possibility of other issues.