46? I'm almost 70 and just found out!

Hi calmdown – welcome to the forum.

When you find out what the matter is it’s liberating, frustrating, horrible, lovely, annoying, a relief, all those things. But as you say knowledge is power. Read as much as you can.

I quite liked a book called ‘ADD-Friendly ways to organise your life’ by Kolberg and Nadeau.

In answer to your question here and in your other post – no you don’t need a doctor to diagnose you. But if your symptoms are recent (as opposed to life long) then a doctor can rule out things like thyroid problems. If you want meds then you need a doctor in order to get a prescription but also to rule out other issues that are similar (bipolar). Otherwise there are plenty of resources that are helpful.

Check out the videos on this site.

Hang around the forum too – we’re all just like you.

Heh, it sure is a mixed bag of emotions isn’t it? Very interesting! Do any of you ever wonder how it might feel to think as one of the robots, even if it’s just for one day? 😯

That’s one side of it.

The other side: I was on increasing amounts of Concerta for quite a while. My mind was orderly and instead of writing quick sharp vibrant quips I found myself writing reams of paragraphed material – all of it fairly boring.

Had some chest pains and rising blood pressure so opted to stop the Concerta – at least for a while (I’m still off of it). And now those vibrant ways of thinking are back.

Yeah, ADHD causes no end of problems – but they’re problems I”ve lived with for my entire life. Before the prognosis I had no idea why I was so different or in some cases didn’t realilze that I was different at all – I just thought I was lazier than most, and prone to procrastination. When you go through life like this, you tend to come up with workarounds. Such as making decisions NOT to take on extensive projects, either in school or at work. Or you figure out where your strengths are – in my case, the creative arts.

I have to say now that I truly *like* the fact that there are all of these shiny balls floating around in my brain again, all alive with neon lighting and bursting with music.

Allan and Shutterbug – actually I have no concept of what a non-ADD mind is like. I often try to imagine it but can’t.

I asked a colleague what she thinks about when she’s relaxing and she said ‘nothing’.

So I said but there must be SOME thoughts passing through your brain and she said ‘no’. I can’t believe or fathom that. She’s immensly intelligent and is still alive, so it’s beyond my grasp that someone’s brain isn’t shouting at them constantly.

I guess the nearest I get to it is the brief time the max dose of Ritalin kicks in but then I feel serious and ….well, boring. But that’s good in some contexts and actually quite a relief. But to be like that ALL the time….well, that I can’t imagine either.

Yeah, it’s fascinating isn’t it? I mean how is it possible that somebody can just not have even one thought going through their mind when sitting down? Not even one thought! For the life of me that just seems incredulous! Yep, I’m an old codger as well jaycee, and the self-flaggelation is almost part of the daily routine…do you act your age, or are you prone to disregard your age and just yield to your inclinations irrespective of who might be around? For example, if I’m at the park with my kids and pushing my little girl on a swing, it takes a lot of restraint to just jump onto a swing and go like the clappers! Every now and again I’ll just jump on and be damned! Once down in Tassie as I was playing with my kids in a park I just couldn’t help jumping on a swing and swinging so high, and making so much noise laughing that people were stopping and staring. Even the traffic slowed to a crawl! Is it really strange for a middle aged man to enjoy playing on a swing? The more the dour bores stared the more determined I was to just really see how far I could push that stupid thing, and get it higher than anybody else had ever got it! Although my older kids weren’t so keen to go to the park with me much after that, my little girl was squealing and laughing like a maniac. She still enjoys going to a park with me…