Is it possible to be good in school and have ADD?

[Anonymous]

So, I took the quiz and it said I could have the primarily attentive type of ADD/ADHD (not sure which one). I have had friends with the disorder (one highly ADHD medicated, one ADD, diagnosed but non-medicated) who have mentioned on a few occasions that they think I had the condition a few years back when we were in school together. I waved it aside, because from what I heard it was mostly to do with inattention in class and inability to do homework.

So, I did very well in school. I do admit, I did not have to pay much attention in class. I hear something and I mostly remember it if it has to do with schoolwork. Homework duedates and assignments were tricky, but I managed to complete them, normally within a half hour. My only homework issues were essays where I had problems organizing my thoughts onto paper, or even thinking of something in the first place. In college, there were very few homework assignments given, and essays had weeks to accomplish (I majored in BIochemistry), and I graduated with 3.18 gpa without ever really having to study.

And now I am in the real world, and I find myself trying to teach myself things with online classes, or TLC classes, and learn languages and a variety of other things (keep house) and I just can’t do it. It is really frustrating to me. And I don’t know if it is lack of will because I really really want to learn all these things. But I cannot seem to keep up with them. And lately I have been making various mistakes at work (missing negative numbers and RSD’s on data, losing all my pens, forgetting to process data that coworker asked until hours after I get home), and while I have generally considered myself absent-minded, it has been getting ridiculous. And the harder I try to be more detail oriented, the more mistakes I make, and the more stressed out I become. But, I don’t know if that is anywhere near a symptom of ADD/ADHD… I am a little wary of psychologists/psychiatrists because I have gone before for depression and I have either gotten no treatement, or treatement after being asked 10 questions over 5 minutes and then I was given prozac and told to come back in a month. So I am unsure about going back to that doctor since it did not seem to be really thorough and brain meds are not something to mess with…

Is it possible I just have atrophied willpower since I never needed it before? Or could it actually be something I can get more help with?

PS Sorry if it seems kindof a jumble of thoughts. I am not the best writer in the world.

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[ashockley55]

It is possible you could just have atrophied willpower…..anything is possible.

******OR******

It could be that, in the “real” world, you are lacking the built-in structure that the school/college environment had, and, faced with creating your own structure, your own motivation, your own success without those supports that school/college provided, you are finding that you are struggling.

I’ve read that ADHD doesn’t first occur in adulthood – if you have it, you’ve had it since childhood, and there should be markers there to clue you in, looking back. However, I’ve learned that many people are not diagnosed until adulthood, and many find that they feel their ADD symptoms are “worse” in adulthood for precisely this reason – gone are all the structures and support that were part and parcel of most childrens’/students’ experience, if they were lucky enough to have a stable home environment and/or school.

In adulthood, all of a sudden you have to do it *all* on your *own*.

And that’s really stressful.

And that makes ADD scream really loud in a very high pitched voice.

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[Scattybird]

Yes I agree with Ashockley. Leaving your homework until the last minute suggests you had ADD but it was compensated for intelligence and structure. Biochemistry is also logical and structured and you would have had structured learning.

In the real world we have to juggle a lot of balls in the air and also do tasks that may not be interesting. But doing well in biochemistry suggests that you can pay attention to detail so missing negative numbers etc might be because the task doesn’t motivate/interest you, or it could be due to something else altogether.

In answer to your question – yes it is possible to do well at school and then for the AD/HD to become intrusive in adulthood (although it will have been there in childhood, but it was compensated for).

Adjusting to the real world can be stressful even for a non-ADDer so you need to look for clues in your childhood and see if it makes sense that it’s ADD. You’ll have a feeling about whether you were a ‘typical’ child or not.

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[Anonymous]

I have combined type ADHD, and I wasn’t diagnosed until my second year of university. I was an honour roll student in high school, and was on the dean’s list last semester (before I started taking meidcation). Absolutely its possible to be good in school and have ADHD!

I agree with ashockley and scatty. Its easier to do things with set expecations and structure. When things change, it can be harder to manage. I know when I’m in school with my schedule and calendars I manage very well without medication, its only been this summer with my constant-sitting desk job where I started having problems, because I don’t have that time between classes to go for a run or take the kind of break I want.

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[Amy]

Yes, I had a 4.0 GPA in high school and graduated Cum Laude from a major public university. I wasn’t diagnosed until over 15 years after I graduated.

That said, I was lucky in that my mother was very organized and helped me set up some study habits that lasted me through college. I was able to cram the older I got and was able to get by that way. At times a teacher would comment about how I could do even more if I would… you guessed it… apply myself. However, I took the easy academic path in college whereas if I had pushed myself, I could have gotten a more rigorous degree and been more successful. I would get to a certain point and hit a wall. I’ve had a few people say to me that they were surprised that I didn’t do more with myself because I was “such a good student.” I hid an alcohol problem as well.

My problems with ADHD really started getting out of hand when I started working and I struggle now as a parent.

Amy

http://acatwithadhd.com

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[Anonymous]

Sort answer..YES!!! There many many bright ADD folks…folks who achieve in spectacularly…..academically, lawyers, doctors, chemists etc etc….folks achieve in the business world too, and in any other way you can think of…..for some people ADD is a gift …a boon…..which elevates them above the linear processing crowd!!! Not for everybody and that’s true….but for some of us we wouldn’t have it any other way, even if we had a choice!!!!

Toofat

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[Anonymous]

I was straight A student through high school, college, a university degree . . . excelled at every job I had . . .until I got promoted into management and had to organize other people’s paperwork, expense reports, handle 110 emails a day with 40 direct reports. . . add on top a failing marriage to a husband who rejected his ADD diagnosis and now a son with sever ADHD . . .and yup . . .my coping cup finally ran out . . and I was diagnosed with ADHD. I had always had it . . . the “messy” kid in the family, who carried every text book in my backpack through junior high out of fear of forgetting the one I needed. Regularly charmed teachers into assignment extensions, because I was such an engaged learner . . .i loved school. I was fortunate to grow up in a great family, in a great school, and got to study stuff I loved. . . and yes – I am also very bright, and was fortunate to not have any other learning disabilities as a child. But looking back . . I always had the ADHD. I got my thrill out of learning . . . so YES !!! And I certainly hope so – as I have just started graduate studies focusing on ADHD and counselling . . .

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[Anonymous]

Scored in the 99 percentile in all areas except reading comprehension (adhd causes a reader to lose information as their mind wanders while their eyes keep moving over text), and spelling (can also be a flag, but not always). Admin wanted to skip me ahead a grade in elementary school but my mother refused to let it happen (my mother’s refusal to allow me into gifted programs and preventing me from skipping grades only amplified my feelings of failure and inadequacy stemming from my undiagnosed adhd, but that is another post).

The original poster’s last sentence apologizing for the “jumble of thoughts” and statement “I’m not the best writer in the world” is also a dead give away as well as evidence that your symptoms were present from early in life. Because the executive function is impaired, organizing ideas into unified paragraphs (or even into sentences in many cases) doesn’t “come naturally”. I, too, couldn’t write my way out of a paper bag and chose not to apply to any colleges that required essays on applications as a result. I took all honors and AP classes. My inability to write coherently finally started to limit my academic progress my senior year in high school. My AP Lit teacher almost kicked me out of the program (scored a 2 on the test- adhd limited reading a writing doomed me from the start) and my AP European teacher only let me stay in the class if I followed his outlines for all of my essays (scored a 4 on the test – my mind is a trap for knowledge and the essay was one of the essays he had outlined for me). However, my inability to finish books or even the assigned chapters was easily covered up by my “talent.”. I feel guilty that I, like G Dubya, didn’t finish a single book in high school and only a few of them in college and am now a successful individual despite this fact. Now, as an English teacher, it makes me feel like a fraud.

I made through college at a HUGE state institution (highly structured environment) in four years with a 3.0 (my report cards are littered with red flags- boring classes have low grades while interesting classes have high grades). I learned how I write in college and also learned how others need me to write so that they can understand it. It still can take me HOURS to write an important email. It took me two hours to write three sentences for my daughters pre-k application! This post has had three revisions and taken over an hour. I cannot publish/send anything without extreme anxiety over the quality of my writing. To this day, I wonder what my academic life would have been like with meds and knowledge of my condition from early on. To this day, it still irks me that no one caught my “twice exceptional” condition. But my experience also makes me a more empathetic and compassionate teacher.

So, yes, brilliance does happen as a “co-morbidity” with an adhd diagnosis.

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[Tiddler]

Good that you found out about your 2E situation, starrmck. I have the same issue – very high IQ with adhd and borderline dyspraxia. ‘Identified’ as clever and lazy at school, it took till I was 40 to find out what was really going on.

I was an English teacher for a few years too – the marking load was a drain. 80 hour weeks were not unusual for me.

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[Anonymous]

I’ve always done well in school. I graduated at the top of my class in high school, and carried a great GPA in College until my last year, when I took classes way out of my depth, and still passed them all. When I started back in graduate school I had a 4.0 GPA until I got suspended for not completing all the assignments.

It is perfectly possible to be great in school, and still have ADHD. In fact, it’s also totally possible to believe that you are one “type” of ADD and find out you’re another entirely. It was a complete shock to find out I had combined type, but then when I started looking at my actions I could see it.

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[Anonymous]

Yes, it is quite possible. I was only recently diagnosed myself, and I was surprised to find out that the average diagnosis age in females is around 37 years. As I understand it, ADD symptoms can be aggravated by change and fluxes in hormone levels, thus explaining the late diagnosis age for females. Something to consider; I hope the information is helpful. Best of luck.

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[phoenixmagicgirl]

I was diagnosed as a little girl and all throughout my years in school, I struggled especially with math. I got very good grades in school, I was in the National Honor Society in high school for both 11th and 12th grade. I’m in college for the third time and recently just finished a speech class about interpersonal communication, I had to speak in front of others, it was nerve wracking but I got through it…I passed the class with an A, something I wasn’t sure I could do since the last speech class I took I got a C in…don’t give up!! It’s cliche but have faith in yourself and don’t be afraid to ask for help. I hope that that gives you some encouragement!

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[Fabulous]

Both possible and dangerous — because it vastly increases the odds you will go undiagnosed until later in life.

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[Author]

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