Just found this video

[Svea]

and do not know what to think about it.

If there would be A solution that would be very nice, but is there? Surely not.

I see that the medication helps my kid i many ways.

This is a very emotional topic and I would like to know what you are thinking about it.

Svea

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[Anonymous]

Nah, that’s garbage.

The minute they said “We do not have a diagnostic test for ADHD, and there validity of the disorder continues to be a problem” you know it’s BS.

ADHD is recognized by just about every major medical authority.

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[Svea]

Sometimes I am soo tired of defending me and my children against such journalism. But these “reports” make it not easier for all of us.

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[billd]

IMO there isn’t a valid diagnostic test that proves ADHD.

You need to rule out things that can be proven or dis-proven first, then test based on what’s known.

I guess in my journey towards a solid diagnosis – I learned there’s no such thing as a “solid” diagnosis or a test that can prove it. They must disprove all else, then indicate that it’s ADHD based on showing it’s not something else, and the final test shows strong indicators along with other pointers.

Example – in my case, it’s been since early grade school. I can show the report cards – my mother saved them ALL.

I can show heredity – back to my grandfather, mother, and even down to my youngest son. There’s a solid chain there. So the indicators from other tests would combine with all the other evidence……………

I took so many tests, blood and otherwise, including 4 hours of psych exams and multiple interviews, they concluded – however, the statement that there’s not a diagnostic test is IMO factually correct.

Every single symptom I have, ALL of them, can be caused by other things, and generally are. Just in my case, they are not, and things add up.

sort of like a jury trial and conviction… did you see the person with the gun actually point and shoot and watch the victim die?

Were you there to see it? Was anyone? Or did we prove it was the defendant based on ruling out all other possibilities?

(and once in a while, even that is wrong)

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[Robbo]

Sometimes I think people get some kind of pleasure out of just plain making an argument for or against any given fact or opinion. I’ve decided that my happiness is usually more important than making some person think I’m right. It’s enough to think, or know I’m right. Not always, sometimes it’s helpful to try to let a person know they’re wrong, and voicing their opinion may be hurting people much more than they realize. We all have to make our own decision on how to proceed with wrong people. And idiots! We can’t possibly correct all the wrong people out there.

I’ve gotten a diagnosis from a good psychiatrist. My appointment with this doctor had a short time limit. I have the option of getting some group counseling too. I think I’m on the right track. It’s just plain hard to figure us out, and how to help us with chemistry. We can’t depend on just medicine, just nutrition, just psychology, or spirituality. It’s a recipe of all that stuff and we the patient have figure out the final recipe for our own happiness. This site is one of many excellent resources for us to figure out our own recipe. And the recipe for the people we’re helping learn how to live in this world. It sucks but the older they get, the less we’re able to steer the course of our children’s lives. Helping ourselves helps them. They watch more than they listen. We help more when We Listen To Them… That’s when they begin to figure out the recipe for their own happiness. I hope.

Our best bet is to get as much education as we can about ourselves, the human problems we and our families can get. And more than anything else, be honest with ourselves. Over many many years I’ve saved copies of all the countless posts on different kinds of message boards, journals, articles, and rants that never made it onto the Internet. I go back, re-read and try to be my own best advocate. The opinions of friends that I think know me well enough to have a decent accurate opinion of how well adjusted or not well adjusted I am. How much I’ve grown, what I still need to work on and what I can give myself a little credit for. I need to listen more than talk. I only have experience with one daughter. Limited because we split up and my daughter has a step dad too.

Lot’s of people are wrong. Including Us, We. Even people that have known us for years may have heard someone else’s perspective that was wrong and changed what they thought about us based on some new crazy psychological mumbo jumbo. There are too many variables when it comes to figuring out how well we are doing in the business of living. I love that “Define Crazy” article by Rick Green, it’s an excellent resource for me when I get myself buried in the complications of my Big rapidly racing micro brain.

In general I think the most important thing for me is this, How much of my energies go towards helping other people, making myself better able to help other people, and service to humanity/society. And how much of my energies go towards my own desires, my own self interests, pleasing and entertaining myself.

Then I have to figure out what the best balance is for my own mental, spiritual, physical health. I’m more “high maintenance” that I would like to be, but I started out down the ladder pretty far compared to the average person I have in my life to compare myself to. Perspective really throws the whole equation out of whack if I get too deep into the wide range of human experience that can happen to us. How much I’ve grown is what I’ve got to give myself a little credit for. I seem to mess myself up if I spend too much energy comparing myself to other people. Especially with over 7 billion people on the planet to compare me to. Plus history… sheesh, a lot of peoples experiences. Turning my brain off and getting quiet is very important, and possible. I know from a lot of experience that if I try hard enough, for long enough. I can meditate. Turn the brain almost completely off, without the help of chemistry. I’m really lucky to be able to do that. I didn’t get the hang of it overnight, or over the course of a few years. It still takes a lot of real work. And I need help too. Meditation is the one solution I always find the most in all the writing I’ve done about coping with a gazzillian different human problems I come across.

Plain old meditation and connecting to some kind of power higher than myself, stronger, more powerful than just me has always been the best way for me to figure out how to spend my energies. The pursuit of happiness is difficult business. I’m super glad I don’t have to figure that out all by myself. I believe in God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. (all three, God, the Holy Trinity is what I believe in) God has always been the most dependable source for me to find peace of mind and true happiness here now in the moment, day by day. The Holy Trinity is what I connect to when I meditate. It didn’t start out that way. It’s also a source of security for me, I think we’re all concerned about the future at least part of the time. I don’t insist that my way is the only way. It’s the best way I have found yet for me. You have to find your own source of power.

I don’t like to use the word Religion, it’s nearly toxic. But any way you want to label it, spirituality, connecting to the rest of humanity on a deeper level, taking good care of my soul, or becoming one with everything. My spirit seems to always help the rest of me get more comfortable. I found a book at a garage sale for 50 cents called Meditation, about 26 years ago, I think. It changed my life. I found my own spirit, my soul. And found I was not alone. Not alone is the same as not lonely, ever. My spirituality grew from that point on. The whole “long strange trip” has been good. Good because I’m still alive, and relatively free.

I wish I could find a way to say this with less language. I’ll keep working on that. For now maybe I’m just helping you learn a little patience. : )

Love and peace to you.

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[Anonymous]

Good on you Robbo…….without judgement, it appears (to me) to be a healthy path you have chosen……….yes (I believe) the road is long and the path rocky but the rewards……are tremendous….and for life.

Patience is it’s own reward just as impatience…….is it’s own punishment.

Toofat

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[Robbo]

Thanks, it’s a wonderful thing to live without judgement. I hope to figure that out some day. When people say they don’t judge, I choose not to argue with them… In many cases it actually is the truth. I don’t feel judged by you. That’s a rare pleasure though. Sometimes it’s other peoples judgement that keeps me from really screwing up bad. Mostly they teach me patience if you know what I mean. :o)

Staying on any particular path is the difficult part for me. And those rocks really suck huh?.

I don’t know why I chose the webinar #13 about eating disorders. But I watched it last night after writing (this mornin actually) I may not feel like I have an eating disorder, my appetite’s the problem. It’s just not there!. If it does happen, I eat as much as I can while I don’t have to force myself to. Force-feeding myself has saved my life during the last few years battling pressure sores, waiting for a plastic surgeon… Eating tons of protein supplements, healthy whole foods, etc. Huge quantities. I may have killed my appetite just eating too much, don’t know, don’t need to know.

I found tons of solutions to many of the ADHD problems in that Webinar, that had to do with other bad habits that usually cause eating disorders or relate to them. A well spent hour indeed. I’ll be watching many more of those. I think I’ll watch all of em, even if the title doesn’t sound like it applies to me. If you guys see me doing better, it’s because of those videos, and all the folks sharing their experience here; being brave and caring enough to tell the truth on the Internet. The videos are not therapy, but an excellent and very helpful option nowadays where good psychotherapy just isn’t available to most of us. I did make a start at getting an ADHD support group started at a local church last night. Talking to folks in person, with eye contact will be the best way to live with this characteristic we have. (not character flaw)

I tend to say thank you a lot here, I’m that grateful a lot!. I’ve tackled many kinds of problems in my life, always with the help of other people. “Groups”, support groups are the first big “higher power” I really got help from. I can especially relate to folks that got the ADHD diagnosis later in life, after many years after being treated for, and treated like! they had other more socially unacceptable problems. Glad ya made it here finally. Stick with it you guys. The folks just reading instead of posting. We care about you a lot.

Any of you guys that haven’t checked out the video’s please PLEASE check em out, they are an excellent and generously helpful resource. Watch a bunch before you decide if they’re helpful or not. Take the time, make the time. Don’t give up!

My next goal is to figure out how to keep what I say brief. For now, that’s just plain way too steep of a climb for me. I’ll keep trying though. (this one was twice as big before I edited it in a word processor.) Then it grew some more, ugh… ***chuckle***, ***silly grin***.

Ukay, later…

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