Re: Can't they at least TRY to understand?

[sdwa]

Your in-laws sound horrible. Sorry, but they do. Avoid them as much as possible. They have no business berating you – or telling you to get an abortion!?! That is twisted. They have more problems than you ever will! Just…YUCK. There’s no excuse for that. Do not internalize what they say!

I want to recommend a couple of books I have been reading. One is Sari Solden’s “Women with Attention Deficit Disorder.” I feel like she wrote my life story in this book. She gets what we’re up against, from the inside out. She has ADD too. It’s been kind of a painful read because I identify with it so strongly, but it helps me wrap my brain around what this disorder means and does and how it’s impacted my life on so many levels.

The other book is Russell Barkley’s “Taking Charge of Adult ADHD.” He goes through a list of symptoms in the early chapters and shows how often adults with ADHD experience these challenges compared with “typical” non-ADHD adults. People with ADHD report these problems about like 60-90% of the time whereas adults who don’t have it report these problems 2-5% of the time. There is a big difference. It’s real.

As upsetting as it is to learn the impairment is real, it does help to know there are reasons why I’ve had so many problems – and that I’m not the inherently bad or morally deficient person I thought I was.

My step-father said he doesn’t believe in ADHD and that it’s just made up by the drug companies. But considering he does believe in things like the lost continent of Atlantis – ? And this guy has a Ph.D. in molecular biology. LOL. He is not a big part of my life, regardless. The point being, there are many people in this world who don’t know what they’re talking about. Ignore them.

No, really: Ignore them!

Anyway, hang in there. I’m glad you have a husband and children who love you and understand. It’s important to have those special people in life who “get” you. To have places where who you are is OK.

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