The Forums › Forums › I Just Found Out! › My Story › I now "Know" what I've always suspected
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November 26, 2010 at 3:48 pm #88624
AnonymousInactiveNovember 26, 2010 at 3:48 pmPost count: 14413Hello all,
At 43, and the end of another failed relationship & job, I moved back to my home town of Windsor, ON… now I was feeling really low. With an appointment with my psychiatrist already booked, I was having dinner with an old friend at Boston pizza on game night; can you say noisy? She was telling me about her Phd she is working on in psycology. She explained how having 4 autistic children lead her to this new journey, and some other stuff blah, blah, blah…I couldn’t even remember.
When she asked what was new in my life I was honest with her about everything. She asked “have you ever been tested for ADHD”? I jokingly scoffed, and exclaimed “I don’t need a test to tell me that, just read all my report cards from school”. She started to explain about adult ADHD, and asked me some baseline questions. She suggested that I should talk to my Dr about ADHD as it relates to my depression / anxiety.
I am now on Adderall, 10mg a day, and a follow-up appointment next week.
REPORT ABUSENovember 26, 2010 at 4:51 pm #96399
AnonymousInactiveNovember 26, 2010 at 4:51 pmPost count: 14413Good luck and welcome!
Keep looking for info, ask questions and start putting the pieces together. You already know it like you said. I was the same but it wasn’t until I started the right meds and getting the right info that it clicked.
If you have any questions you’ve come to a great place
REPORT ABUSENovember 27, 2010 at 6:48 pm #96400
AnonymousInactiveNovember 27, 2010 at 6:48 pmPost count: 14413Me, too, always suspected ADD in addition to Aspergers (what a combo) I just learned about this wonderful website watching the public education channel in my area and said to myself out loud “Oh, my god, that’s ME!” I always felt I was just weird as a child and adult. Now, I now why! I feel I’m too old for a diagnosis to do much good now, except for my own verification. My family will all just say, “oh, there’s nothing wrong with you!” I think one reason family members are in denial is because they subconsciously feel that a acknowledging a cognitive disability in another family member is somehow a reflection on them or that they may somehow “catch” it themselves. Being a retired civil service worker, artist & Buddhist practitioner, I’ve made a decision that I will use natural methods and walking meditation to learn to focus myself. Good luck on your journey! We are really lucky, I think, because we CAN do so many things due to our ability to shift our attention so quickly when we learn to focus!
REPORT ABUSENovember 27, 2010 at 7:36 pm #96401@msgrizz, researchers now believe that ADHD and Aspergers may be related. At least, they share many of the same characteristics.
You are NEVER too old for a proper diagnosis to do you much good! I was diagnosed at the age of 41. There are some people here who were in their 60s or 70s when they were first diagnosed. And ADHD is often misdiagnosed as something else. Maybe your symptoms which were diagnosed as Asperger’s are actually due to ADHD. Wouldn’t it be interesting to find out?
A proper diagnosis enables you to take action, to do something about it. There are some excellent books out there, about techniques for living better with ADHD. Your doctor can refer you to a specialist (and you must shop around for one who specializes in adult ADHD, or at the very least, is a recent enough graduate to have received the most up-to-date information on it), who can help you to properly treat your condition. A condition which has a huge effect on the quality of life for the person who has it, and for those around them.
Walking and meditation are excellent techniques for improving focus, but please don’t rule out medication as a possible tool, just because you feel it’s “unnatural”. If you were suddenly diagnosed with Diabetes, would you refuse to take insulin or Metformin, because they were “unnatural”? ADHD is no different. It’s simply a case of the chemicals in your brain being out of whack.
The right medicine(s), given at the right dose(s), under medical supervision, can help you to make the necessary lifestyle changes to help you to function properly. Some people master the changes so well that they eventually no longer need the meds. Others need to continue taking them for the rest of their lives. Each person is different.
As for your family fearing they may “catch” your cognitive disability, they may already have it. ADHD and other cognitive disabilities are genetic. If you have it in your genetic makeup, then you inherited it from one or both of your parents’ genetics. And your siblings and children may have also inherited those same genes. Perhaps, if you get diagnosed and treated, it will encourage them to do the same. Many of us have discovered our own ADHD after a family member was diagnosed, and we recognized the same symptoms in ourselves.
So get the diagnosis, and take it from there. Start with the Virtual Doctor in the “Tools” section of this website. Then do one of the other preliminary diagnostic tests. If you score high enough to suspect that you really might have ADHD, print out the tests and your results, and take them to your doctor.
Good luck!
REPORT ABUSENovember 27, 2010 at 8:15 pm #96402
AnonymousInactiveNovember 27, 2010 at 8:15 pmPost count: 14413After watching the ADD PBS Special this moning, I realized what I have known for quite some time, that I have ADD. I have been to see several mental health counselors, but never got to a clear diagnosis other then having depression. Now I am Fifty and trying to find out who I am and why I act the way I act. I am always thinking of ways to stop thinking so much. I want to stop my brain and have been considering suicide. I don’t want to leave my life but I am struggling in so many areas of my life, why should it matter to be here. I don’t know how to stop things that happen in my brain. Things I want to stop most are, procrastination, being reliable, being severely impulsive with money, being too thin skinned, being a failure with my work, and my relationship with my spouse, having so many projects, boredom, and much more. I need to talk to someone and I’m very open to medication. I am in the Tampa area and want to know if there is anyone seeing any professionals that they are having sucess with. I want to lick this moment in my life before it lics me. I have told my husband about my thoughts and hey are watching me for any strange self injurous behavior.
Thank you to all the postings, comments and this website. It has helped already to know that I can come to a palce to rest my brain if just for a moment.
REPORT ABUSENovember 27, 2010 at 9:05 pm #96403
AnonymousInactiveNovember 27, 2010 at 9:05 pmPost count: 14413jnana60,
Keep your spirits up, you have made the most wonderful discovery today! You do matter, and you should be here. You are not alone, and there is help out there; see a Doctor, get tested, and get better!
REPORT ABUSENovember 29, 2010 at 1:51 am #96404
AnonymousInactiveNovember 29, 2010 at 1:51 amPost count: 14413Just recently I have been going to psychologist & then saw Rick Green on Province Wide. I immediately went online to the website and after a life of this condition I feel some hope. I dont ask myself “Why do I do this to myself?!” I ask “What’s their phone number?”
I can’t believe this is actually looking hopeful. I could never understand why others didn’t experience what I have. This is really too overwhelming! Not being able to sit and study, not having done my taxes for 6 years, I got demoting once because I didnt do my expenses for 6 months (actually I never did them where ever I was), interupting my wife when she’s teling me an about her day, I didnt read an email from my boss completely and almost missed an national sales meeting (a co-worker called me from the bar and asked me if I wanted to meet after checking in at the hotel: I threw clothes together and drove like a mad man for 3 hours), I can’t stand in a line for anything, on and on and on these behavioral signatures go. I cant believe there is something out there to help, I really can’t. Deep down, I always thought I was a fraud, a screw up. Yet I am now a professional trainer, techy guy, with my own company and have been recognized by my peers as a top tech in my field. It is all really too much for me to take in right now!
REPORT ABUSENovember 29, 2010 at 2:08 am #96405
AnonymousInactiveNovember 29, 2010 at 2:08 amPost count: 14413Dear jnana60:
You are so very intelligent and sensitive. This is, here-by, now, officially a journey for you and all us. Let your intelligence and heart guide you, enlist those close to you as your companions on this journey. I learned on my own, not to always believe in what my brain was thinking. I know when you find your legs, that this will be an amazing journey for you.
REPORT ABUSENovember 30, 2010 at 2:58 am #96406
AnonymousInactiveNovember 30, 2010 at 2:58 amPost count: 14413jnana60,
You are an important part of life and you are special and needed. The world WOULD be a worse place without you. We all have something very special to share and an important part to play in life. Never give up hope and belief in yourself. You can do this. Please continue to come here for peace and respite, but also seek professional help if you need it. I went to a psychologist for several years and also attended a support group and it did help alot, if nothing more than to make me realize that others shared the same challenges in life. It takes a lot of courage to open up like you have. Good luck on your journey and know that you don’t walk alone!
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