Expert Doctor says I don't have ADD – I say I do

[Anonymous]

I spent many years being told I have it, then I don’t, then I was faking it, etc.

I am from an isolated town in Labrador and our hospital is host to a bevy of residents fresh out of school and no real experience. So you get the know-it-alls, the quasi-racist, ones who don’t prescribe medication and ones that are too medication happy. You can barely get to know a doctor for longer than a few months and by the time you get a good report with them, they move on to where they want to be, instead of stuck in Labrador LOL

Just get another opinion and don’t be afraid to express your deepest fears and how much the ADD is disrupting you life. I was always vague with DR’s and I realize how much that hindered me in the long run. Once I was honest with them about everything, the quicker we could begin to find a reasonable solution.

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[wolfshades]

My God. It’s difficult to not get angry at the number of times so many of us get labelled as “lazy” or “not trying hard enough”. I mean, I said that to myself – put myself down – for so many years and believed it. The evidence was there: other people could do projects involving intricate planning and details, and they weren’t any smarter than me (or vice versa) so obviously it *had* to be a matter of laziness.

Toby: it’s worth finding a reputable doctor – someone who is known to have studied ADHD in particular – and getting some testing done. The idea that it might be something else is quite right – it *might* be – but a wild guess, especially if it doesn’t adequately explain your symptoms – is far from helpful. An actual full-on series of tests which include an examination of you and your family’s histories right back to childhood, will clear that up. Many of us who have ADHD also have comorbid conditions as well, and true testing will show all of that. When in doubt, there is nothing wrong at all with getting a second opinion.

For myself, I did the online test here and was surprised at how letter-perfect my symptoms measured up. Then I attended a few seminars and an ADHD support group and heard others’ stories. All of this before ever getting tested. I saw three different professionals, all from the same psychiatric office, before I got my diagnosis (a psychometrist, a psychologist and the psychiatrist himself). When the results were in, I wasn’t as surprised by then so much as grateful that this…..thing….that I’ve carried around all my life had a name. And….that there were so many others just like me.

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[Anonymous]

I only got onto the site tonight because I had one awful day and needed comfort so I journaled then wandered around and was surprised to see responses to my first post a month ago. I want to add, after rereading what I wrote and reading what others wrote that my traveling and going to therapists around the Country who had written books and were well known, I also discovered many therapists and psychiatrists who weren’t doing well professionally, so they decided to advertise that they were ADD/ADHD specialists. THEY WERE NOT in my opinion, anything other than people who were not making it and this was a good way to do it. In the 20 years since my diagnosis, I’m fairly astute and it’s pretty interesting to talk to those who pretend to know, but have no clue. That even happened when I got to Houston and attempted to find a psychiatrist so I could get meds. Went to a WORLD FAMOUS hospital ADD clinic and discovered I knew more without a degree, and they were just there to get the patients tested for $750…I was NOT a happy camper to say the least. Unfortunately, Houston which is the 4th largest City in the Country actually is not all that together when it comes to ADD/ADHD. That’s one of several things I miss about L.A. I have a wonderful therapist but she isn’t knowledgeable about ADD but the work I do with her, helps a lot because she cares about me and even more, she cares about sharing what she knows. I wrote her this evening about me dreadful day and told her I needed to find someone to write a script for meds for me and probably will get a response over the weekend back. What I’d really like to do is get this amazing phenomena brought forward so people know it isn’t “you’re lazy, crazy or stupid” as the book was named, but intelligent, capable, artistic souls looking to be part of everyone’s World instead of looking through a large picture glass window at everyone inside while we stay outside…that’s how I think of myself….I got diagnosed first by the L.D. instructor at West Los Angeles College…she sent me to a school nearby who only worked with learning disabled. I remember the woman who I was assigned to asked me to write a short story for her then sat with her mouth open as she read it and said that something wasn’t right because I had told her I wasn’t smart and she was reading a whole other thing. They tested me again…I still have the green and white folder with the diagnosis. It was downplayed by the Hospital here in Houston…but I caught on as I said…they just wanted the $750. By the way, I actually started the testing process while in another school…I am a Certified Hypnotherapist. I took that program because I wanted A degree and was told I could take tests with an open book…I’m not good a taking tests so was drawn to that program. I started the program sitting in the front row…and as time progressed, because I didn’t have a clue what they were talking about, wound up one evening all the way in the back of the room. The instructor that evening started talking about the 7 ways we learn and I knew that at that moment, that this had to do with me, especially when he described KINESTHETIC LEARNING. So you see everyone, NOTHING is an accident. I wound up passing the course…moving forward as I searched about ways to learn and wound up at that college where it all connected. I am a winner and so are all of you…we just have a different path to follow and just because we all “march to a different drummer” doesn’t mean we are wrong. By the way too, I am convinced a very recent President has ADD…think about it especially after you read “Driven to Distraction”….and you’ll know whom I speak of!

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[allan wallace]

Hmmm, a handful of different psychiatrists have said that I have ADHD, but I say that I don’t! I wish that they had more facey things in that box! Have any of you seen the ‘silly’ one? It’s like an upside down smiley one….which reminds me, I can remeber in my old clubbing days this really fun chick that I used to know came running onto a dancefloor once and was babbling jibberish in my ear whilst i was ‘in the zone’….eventually between her hysterical laughing and what not I discerned that she was saying that I was wearing odd socks! I went over to the side and sat down and had a look for myself, and sure enough I had two completely different socks on….she was watching me and was almost epileptic with laughter! I exploded! I collapsed onto the ground pissing myself laughing and could scarcely breathe after a few minutes of it…..man, it took ages for me to regain my composure, but it gave me an idea! I used to sorta dress most of the time Don Johnson style with jeans, t-shirt, and a colourful jacket on top, so anyway, I took my t-shirt off as well and turned it inside-out and wore it back to front as well! She and I were in hysterics!!! Our buddies and her b/f pimp and my g/f were just shaking their heads at us two being childish and puerile, but man it was a hoot. From that night on I always wore odd socks and my t-shirt inside-out and back to front with my jacket over the top! That was my protest against being cool and wearing cool stuff! Oh boy, okie dokie, I’m going to go now….*runs away*…

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