Re: Firefigher with ADD, ADD and work

[Anonymous]

0911 – My husband is a firefighter and has ADD. He wasn’t diagnosed until he was 28 years old and didn’t get hired until he was 32. Your account of life on the job is EXACTLY how he describes his days sometimes. He is a hard worker and gets a lot of praise on the job from captains. But when he has a bad day and makes tiny mistakes, everyone seems to notice. He calls me to vent about his frustrations and its very hard for me to hear because I cant totally empathize. I listen and I know that’s all he really wants, but as his spouse, I want to be able to help fix it, but I cant. I give him a pep talk, which he needs and those help, but at the end of the day, he hates feeling like he sucks at his job.

He is on medication, but the meds cant fix everything. He had no life coping skills because he was an adult when diagnosed. He is also so afraid of anyone on the department knowing about his ADD that he stresses even more when he has those bad days.

It only makes it worse when he forgets his meds at home and is gone for days on end.

Are you partnered/married? Do you have anyone to vent to close by? I try to encourage my husband to find a support group, which he is open to, but unless I find the group and drag him there myself, I know he will never do it. He always has good intentions, but zero follow through, which only frustrates him more.

Anyway, I would be more than happy to share my insight as the spouse of a firefighter if that at all helps.

Good luck!

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