new and lost @47 wating for testing

[trashman]

as i said iam 47 and lost learing that it sounds like ihave adhd please for give spelling and the like i have spent most of my life working as a labour iam at the point that my arms do not want to work anymore. i have allwase worked hard it is very hard iallso have very bad depretion still trying to find my place in life. when i was young and in school i did not do well and was allwas made to feel and look stupid. at the time i failed grade 9 iwas told by the school to find a job. where to nowlost at 47 i find this tyiping hard thank you for time

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[Anonymous]

Hi Trashman

Yes I am sure everybody can read your post, Hope your finding the help you need to get your life in the direction you need it to go

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[Anonymous]

Hello Trashman,

Have you an idea what your next steps will be? Have you looked into getting an evaluation at a clinic for ADHD? I’m 40 and just got diagnosed – it has been a life-changing event. Depression is a horrible companion to ADHD and I really feel for you. But the very fact that you have found and posted on this forum is a very hopeful sign. Very brave of you – nice going! I was terrified, frankly, when I first posted…

My first step I suppose was attending a Totally ADD seminar – and learning a little more about the condition, and seeing that the whole auditorium was full of many other people with ADHD. It was really eye-opening. I couldn’t believe I was amongst so many other people who had similar stories to mine.

Keep posting to this site and asking questions – there are a lot of helpful people here with lots of experience with ADHD, who can help illuminate some options for you.

Cheers,

Mungo

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[trashman]

thanks for the replies iam still wating to be diagnosed but my psychiatrists is told me i have adhd she can tell just by talking to me iam told i need testing so they have a record of it and to see if there are any learning disabilitys shes allready put me on concerta it has only been 1 day so its to soon to tell if it will help good to know i might not be a dummy after all. thanks for reading my thoughts idont know who eles has a cule of what i am talking about.

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[Anonymous]

Hey trashman,

How ya been lately? Welcome to the forum, by the way. I know what it’s like to have to have to be a laborer. I did rather lousy in school myself and after high school graduation, I was done. I kinda had a phobia of higher education because of what I suffered through in childhood. I’ve been laid off for a few moths now and I’m hoping to take a plunge into school soon for some math upgrading. For me math is the worst. I would rather face a firing squad than have to do a course in college level algebra, but I digress. At least I’m good at writing and computer stuff and I can turn a wrench.

I’ve noticed that maybe writing isn’t exactly your thing, but hey, everyone has their own gifts, yourself included. I know that I’m not dumb and I doubt that you are either. Figure out what YOUR gifts are and go from there.

PS. If I use too much of big, highfalutin words for anyone’s taste, sorry but that’s my style.

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[Anonymous]

Trashman, don’t despair! Hopefully, the meds might help you out with getting yourself more organized in your day to day life. You mentioned that your arms don’t want to work anymore. Age isn’t always a good thing, is it? When your arms are tired it does make typing on a keyboard a lot more difficult! My arms are absolutely muscle-less and when I’ve had to do real work with them, I’ve not been able to type either without making a lot of extra errors.

Schools aren’t always ADHD friendly places. I can say that with good authority since I’m a teacher and I deal with the ‘system’. Even now, a lot of ADHD/ADD kids struggle to get the attention they deserve. Unfortunately, a lot of us ADHD people also have other issues to deal with along with the ADHD. What’s that? When it rains, it pours???

Many kids and adults also have learning disabilites that interfere with their ability to ‘learn’ or access information in the same way as others. Does it mean that they’re dumb? No way. They just need the information presented in different ways (often far more interesting ways, I might add).

Could it be that you also have a learning disability? Possibly, so that’s something I’d ask your doctor for direction on when you go in to see him/her. The doctor should be able to direct you to where you can find out some of these answers. Also, I would check out your local learning disabilities association. Most sizeable communities have a local chapter that holds meeting for people to attend. They have support groups for kids and adults and have resources for you to borrow and use (videos, books).

They also can provide advice for training programs that might be available for you to take. These groups are not just for people with learning disabilities. I found out about their programs when my own son was just a kid of 10 and was diagnosed as ADHD. I turned to them for support to learn more about ADHD and how to better deal with parenting him. At that time, our local chapter even offered classes for the kids to take so that they could learn how to keyboard since printing and writing is hard for many of us.

Check out them out! If you live in Ontario, the website is http://www.ldao.ca

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[Anonymous]

Trashman, I’m back! I went and looked around their site a bit more. When I used their services I did it all in person at my local chapter as their office was very near my home. Nowadays, everything is also available online (or so it seems).

When I did a quick look on the website http://www..ldao.ca I found this course. It might be helpful for you. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to do this but here is a cut and paste of one of the adult courses that I thought might interest you:

*************************

Adult Workshop Series: Self-Advocacy for Adults

Cost: $15

Address:

Online

Organisation: LDAO

Contact Email: courses@ldao.ca

Website: shop.access.ldao.ca/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=42

Self-Advocacy for Adults

This online workshop is self-pace and self-directed. The moderator is available through email or the bulletin boards to assist with any questions you may have.

Have you ever felt that someone didn’t understand you or that you were treated unjustly because of your learning disability? Have you needed help and did not know how to ask for it? Or asked for help a little too late to benefit you? Did you ever try to explain what your learning disability is and the person didn’t understand?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, this workshop can help you develop the skills and strategies you need to be successful. Becoming an effective self-advocate means that you know how to explain to others what your learning disability is and are good at asking for what you need. The first step in learning how to be an effective self-advocate is being able to talk about your learning disability.

Unit Breakdown

Unit 1: About Learning Disabilities

Unit 2: About Self-Advocacy

Unit 3: Disclosure in the Workplace

Unit 4: Strategies to help adults with Learning Disabilities

Unit 5: Your Legal Rights Unit 6: Workshop Wrap-Up

************************************

ADHD (or ADD if you prefer to call it that) is just one type of learning disability out there that affects people. Check the site and see if their is a local ‘in person’ chapter close to you. You can set up an appt. to see someone there (free) and get some in person direction.

Hope this helps.

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[trashman]

thank you zsazsa for the intell iam in mb. started wor king with our local learning disibilitys people they been a great help , but to go through them to get tested is $2400 witch i dont have that wood be great , because iam not close to living on the street yet iwill have to pay or wait for 7 months for the province to pay for the testing dont know where to from there . iam hoping it will be abig eye opener but only time will tell . my parents always told me i should feel lucy to be alive because at birth icould not move my right side and i had blood driping on my brain,they did a mri scan and found a stain on my brain from back then . my dad said i had to go to the childrens hosptial in a ambulance he told me he was not paying for that trip . so the on nurses said she would hold me and he could drive so they weant she had told him to hurry or i might not live. his awnser was if he lives he lives if not then it wasnt GODS will that i live.telling me this many times, it allways sounded to me like awish didnt come true. i always was very close with my mother untill iwas 22 i stoped in at my parents house and she comes to me crying asking me to forgive her because when she found out she was expecting with she hadnt wanted me and i was not sapose to be born.and my older sisters allways reminded me of that but now the story had to change because they where all stuck with me .so instead they said .GOD had this big plan for my life what a big fuckin joke that tured out to be. sorry for rant and maybe some offencive words.with one parent passing in 2001 and know the last one in 2009 i feel i can be honest for once.some days i wish they would have been right. ihave 2sons and itry to be very positive with them and idont want them to live with adad that took his own life.iwill stop feeling sorry for my self and get back to life. sorry once agan for rant ;it does feal good to say this in the fact that no one knows me.iwill be back later.

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[Anonymous]

Sorry for the late response, trashman but I’ve been having computer issues. I’ve had to control my temper or i might have smashed this machine and put it (or myself) out of its misery.

I’m sorry that you had a rough upbringing. That certainly does nothing to help us develop any self-esteem and feelings of confidence when we feel like we unwanted and a ‘mistake’. I’m born and bred in the cold brutal climate of MB just like you! Perhaps your father had a bit of frostbite to his brain to have treated you so harshly.

Take joy in the fact that you are able to understand the errors your own parents and siblings made while you were growing up. Understanding and seeing those mistakes has given you the power to do a better job of raising your own two boys. As kids, they won’t thank you now but in the years to come, they’ll look back at you and their childhood with love in their hearts.

Don’t give up! Take each day, one day at a time. No one ever has all the answers or that perfect life. It just always seems to be that way when we’re looking over our neighbour’s fence. As they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day. It sure wasn’t! I try to take each day, one day at a time. Otherwise, I get overwhelmed.

We can learn from past mistakes and move on. I’ve had to go through some very traumatizing experiences in the past 2 years that I has no idea how I would get through. Both medically and mentally. Somehow or other I managed by telling myself that I could do it. I had to give myself my own personal pep talks over and over every day for a long, long time and do you know what? I did it! I got through it all and I believe I actually grew stronger because of it. YOU have the same spirit in you to do it too Otherwise, you wouldn’t be here talking with all of us!

Keep in touch so we can support you through this. And one more piece of advice, if you’re feeling depressed, talk to your doctor. I’m not saying take meds for that. Only your doctor can advise you about that. BUT, if you’re really struggling with a lot of big mental health issues sometimes it helps you get to see the right specialist quicker. Kind of like the saying that the squeeky wheel gets the grease!

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[trashman]

thanks for all the feed back istarted a new job o n friday so things are looking up i am working with the learning diabilties chaper of manitoba great people. we are all wating for my testing so we will know about whitch learnig desiabilties i have spelling might be one of them.ha ha. iwill keep you all in the loop thanks for caring. have a great day.

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[Rick Green – Founder of TotallyADD]

I was 47 when I was diagnosed. Do read as much as you can, or have someone read to you. And see if you can get to a Doctor. Your feelings of frustration and of hope are so familiar. Hang in there! Keep moving forward. And keep learning more. If you are looking for suggestions we did up a quick DVD with a bunch of the best strategies for ADDers. It’s for sale in the store. They work for everyone, but especially well for people with ADHD. Some of them are very specific for one area of life. Some can help transform every area of life. And of course, keep looking here, there’s lots of ideas and sharing in the Tools and Strategies section.

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