OK, I'm having some trouble getting my head around this concept: "Disorder"

[caper]

@Tiddler: I can’t remember from your previous posts whether you’ve tried “public” drugs like caffeine & nicotine. Both are stimulants, and I’ve read one study that showed nicotine helped ADHD more than methylphenidate.

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[Tiddler]

I’ve got brittle asthma too so nicotine is out, but I am still plodding away with my attempts to use caffeine successfully. I’ve found a tablespoon of coffee in the cup works for a couple of hours but then i get sweaty and bad tempered and I usually end up crying…

Maybe nicotine patches?!

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[Tiddler]

I forgot to add that I lost our house keys. Again. We can’t use the front door because that was our last copy of the key.

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[Anonymous]

Tiddler, you may be getting bad tempered due to the caffeine wearing off. Have you tried having another cup of coffee at the time you begin to feel like crap?

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[Anonymous]

Hi Gary…I thought I would wade into your thread. I have observed there are two distinct schools of thought on ADD, along with grey smudges everywhere!!! At the risk of being offensive….there are what I observe as the “Gifties” and the “Disorder”.segments…..that is not intended as a slur, just my way of identifying segments from my observations here. I happen to subscribe to the Gifty faction….that doesn’t mean a damn thing though…that is just me, and my perspective. Now I must clarify……….I personally don’t believe ADD is a gift for everybody, some good……no ….some great folks suffer intolerably with ADD and I feel that is not to be diminished, negated or judged in any way shape or form by me.

ADD is said to be a spectrum condition (I refuse to use ‘disorder”)…… which means ADDers can have very different traits and strengths, and weakness(s), as varied as snowflakes from individual to individual. Now having said that, there are are also commonalities that exist between even between gifties and disorder folks…..which indicates the spectrum is broad and varied with both consistencies and inconsistencies. There are also schools of thought that say that the gifts some folks have are separate from ADD, just as there are schools that lay every inherent flaw at the feet of ADD, and of course again, there is everything in between. So the debate rages on…….

So, gift or disorder or extent may depend on the individual and maybe their place on the spectrum, or life circumstances, or response to meds, counseling. perspective, socioeconomic conditions or what have you. …..I don’t know. As I said at the onset I too am a ‘Gifty” that is not to say as a Gifty my life has been a constant parade, it hasn’t been, not by any means. There has been strife and struggle in my life but, the richness has far, far outweighs the strife. I’m not even sure the richness would have been so satisfying without striving??? Anyway, there are those that would suggest that my success and gifts would have existed without my brain functioning the way it does, in fact my life and success would have been greater minus ADD…..but I don’t buy that. We are after all the accumulation of genetics, life experience, circumstance, hard work, and what have you. So although some factions of the scientist and the medical community seem to be able to pick the flyshit out of the pepper…hmmmm…that’s not my take!!!

So there you have it……that’s my perspective, it’s not up for debate it’s mine, but……… remember opinions are like belly-buttons everybody has one, and you know what that makes them worth.

Toofat

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[Anonymous]

I don’t see it as a gift. But, if you talk to people you’ll find no one really is a normie. Everybody has some issues they struggle with. I’d rather have ADD than be Bipolar like my mom and brother. My ADD combined with my husbands OCD about clutter was the battle of my marriage for 16+ years until it eventually ended in divorce. In the PBS movie they talked about how some ADDers will partner with someone like their 5th grade teacher. I did that. So much of my adult life was like my childhood. I was never good enough, never tried hard enough, and felt like a constant failure. But, we were together a long time and his military career gave us a vagabond lifestyle with me getting new home, new job, new everything except me every couple of years. It fit well with my ADD, but it was tough on my children. So when I divorced I settled down and have lived in the same town for over 5 years and have had the same job for 5 years as well.

My ADD symptoms seem to be worse than ever, and I’ve been at the same job long enough I’d love to have a promotion but don’t see that as a possibility without some help. So far I am noticing that I’m able to focus and not interrupt conversations like I used to. The focus is different than the hyperfocus I have naturally without meds. I’m also doing better in keeping up with the paperwork required to pay my bills, thus far.

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