Women w/ ADHD Inattentive Type – anyone out there?

[Scattybird]

Anniea – I LOVE your Mom’s saying. It’s so good.

She’s right – the happiest houses I have visited have been ‘homes’ not just ‘houses’. Those that are vibrant with activity and clutter and evidence of a life being led are homes. They are the comfortable ones. Some of my ‘linear’ colleagues have sterile ‘show house’ types of home and they are so lifeless and uncomfortable to visit.

I don’t use a med box because I only have to remember one pill four times a day (although that can be a challenge and I do need an alarm!). I use med boxes for my pets who have zillions of pills each twice a day. It takes me an hour each week to dispense them all, but the med boxes are great. If I get to that stage I would use one – but I wouldn’t show it off!!

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[kc5jck]

In order to avoid being TOO neat, we have UPS bring more clutter to our house once or twice a week . . . even though it is totally unnecessary. 😆

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[Geoduck]

Mt. Laundry here, too!

“i’m still breastfeeding(doing the extended bf/child-led weaning thing” Hey! You aren’t the lady we were talking with at softball practice, are you?

That whole AP thing was awesome for us, because it really fit in to my “spontaneity” aka, impulsiveness, rather nicely.

Methylphenidate puts me to sleep

I was gonna say something else….forgot my meds, so had to take the short release, and they haven’t kicked in…

Oh yeah, my one tip: Use the hell out of outlook and set it to remind you about stuff. Get an app that syncs with it (my favorite is 2do, or something like that). If that doesn’t work, get a calendar for the wall in the kitchen. ALWAYS tell doctor’s offices to give you reminder calls, and don’t erase them from your phone, if they leave a message, until you’ve made the appt. Remember to clear them from your phone, though. LOL!

Speaking of that AP stuff, Dr. Sears has a great ADD book out, one of his older ones, pre-The Baby Book, I think. It’s not as ADD friendly, ironically enough, as it has all those side picture boxes on the pages, LOL! Take meds before reading. Lots of good advice in it, though. The Sears’ website has good stuff, and links to this one and CHADD, I think, which means a lot to me (I like this site THAT much).

Okay, speaking of inattentiveness…I was supposed to leave for lunch 5 min. ago. Where the hell are my shoes, and keys, and purse…maybe the keys are in the purse…damn I hate purses…and where’s my phone, oh, and where are the kids???

Elusive things, those kids. LOL!

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[Bill]

The ADHD way to do laundry. I typically do the laundry over the weekend. My rule is that every time I walk by the laundry room, I have to move the laundry to the next step, i.e. fold it, transfer a load to the dryer and start the next load. Over the course of the weekend, the whole laundry gets done. I can’t tell you exactly when, but it all gets done. It does seem odd to others in the family that I will go to get something simple, like a light bulb, and not come back for 15 minutes, but they have gotten used to me.

I do my ironing while watching the TV. That way it’s fun, because I don’t allow myself much TV time.

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[Geoduck]

Ironing??? No, Bill. Wrinkles are sooo in!!! At least that’s what I’ve been telling myself for the last 20 years (or so), since I left home and don’t have a mom to notice them and make iron my clothes. LOL!

That, and I realized that there is a lot less ironing to do when you hang stuff up right from the dryer. That’s just for the nice clothes, though. Most of my t-shirts, etc, sport wrinkles

You know, I guess I’m kind of a slob. As long as it’s clean, though, right?

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[g.laiya]

i grew up with a mother who was constantly cleaning even though we had a live-in housekeeper. i always felt like mom was vacuuming in the morning just to annoy me . she knew i hated the sound of the vacuum cleaner – as a child i complained it hurt my ears, but as an adult i realize the sound just really grates on my nerves- and i like to sleep late in the morning. they are early birds, i am a nightowl. my parents were not only on time to all appointments/events, they were often early! ….which did not go well with my almost always late, last minute, procrastinating, losing track of time issues.i remember a lot of yelling growing up……a lot of tension….but fear of mom kept me on my toes for school. knew anything below a “b” was unacceptable, as was not enough “a”s. so even if it meant hiding in my closet finishing my work at 2,3,4 in the morning…the price i paid for procrastination….

not that it was all bad – they also were supportive for most interests i wanted to explore.i did a lot when i was young – dance classes, gymnastics, horseback riding, ice skating, snow and water skiing, scuba diving, tennis, acting classes, modeling classes….she also pushed me to be involved socially, which i largely resented when i was growing up (and even now), but i guess it kept me from being a total loner, and so maintained some semblance of normality.

my dad was in drycleaning biz so back then everything was well pressed – even sweats!

i don’t think i’ve owned an iron since college…it didn’t get much use then either. now most of my stuff i launder or hand wash. if you take stuff out of the dryer and hang the important-to-look-neat stuff right away they are usually fine – as long as you don’t overload the dryer. the other stuff like jeans and tshirts i’ll just hang up before i need them so i can shpritz them with a water bottle – ususally makes them presentable…..though if i wait too long to do it i leave still “damp”. we used to use a hand held steamer til it stopped working. for work the last few years i almost always wear scrubs, even though it’s not required in my current positions – it’s just so much easier to look presentable! and they’re usually pretty comfortable and very functional.

i’ve had a much better time with my keys since i put up a key hook by the front door. and i try to repeat a mantra as i’m getting ready to go out of the important things to bring with me such as “keys, phone,purse,water”- whatever is important that time. sometimes i’ll post reminders on the bathroom mirror and front door “remember sunscreen and lunches”. when i’m really worried about remembering to bring things i’ll put whatever i can in the car or in front of the front door the night before, and post sticky notes for the rest.

i also try to have good protein every meal, though i don’t eat at regular times.if i’m working early though i almost always get in a solid breakfast- otherwise i’ll wind up miserable and cranky from hunger cause i may not get another chance to eat until 2 or 3:00 – sometimes later. sometimes i’ll bring protein bars that i can quickly sneak in. mostly i get by with my beverages though until i pick up the kids after work. i do try to keep plenty of healthy snacks around for all of us. it’s diificult in our home – i’m a lacto-ova vegetarian, my dd doesn’t like most dairy but does love fresh fruit and vegetables(which is great!) and is generally more open to trying new things, but ds is super super picky, does not like a wide variety of foods, often not willing to try new things, very sensitive to different textures and smells as well as taste and visual factors.

i enjoyed other dr sears books – will have to look for the add one.

i’m still trying to figure out what calender system will work best – i’m trying out 1 on my phone, but think need 1 at home to integrate with husbands…..hmmm, maybe a google one would be best….

gotta run-the natives are restless….

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[yari]

I ‘m a women of the age 29 . I got diagnosed with ADD and dyslexia a week ago . I’m unable to take meds at the moment because I’m breast feeding my Four month baby. my oldest son is 7 years old He diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 5.

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[yari]

I’m a women of the age 29 . I got diagnosed with ADD and dyslexia a week ago . I’m unable to take meds at the moment because I’m breast feeding my Four month baby. my oldest son is 7 years old He diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 5.

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[yari]

I’m a women of the age 29 . I got diagnosed with ADD and dyslexia a week ago . I’m unable to take meds at the moment because I’m breast feeding my Four month baby. my oldest son is 7 years old He got diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 5.

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[davidsrichardson]

Hi,

You’re not alone in this situation, My son is diagnosed with ADHD when he was 5 yrs. old. As a parent, it’s not easy to cope with the situation we decided to stop the medication because he’s getting better. I and my wife is also active in reading blogs and articles about children and ADHD. It helps us to understand, manage and cope with my son’s ADHD.

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[jillz]

Hey all,
I think I have ADD – the inattentive type. But how does diagnosis work? Does your life have to be falling apart at the seams before you get diagnosed? I am just massively disorganised and life admin drains me and takes up ALL of my time and still never gets done properly. I’m hugely forgetful and and have an awful memory. But I am a happily married mother of 2 and a part-time teacher. I get on well at work but I work REALLY hard at staying on top of things and I think I work way harder than my colleagues to achieve the same outcome. I would never go for promotion despite being eligible. I couldn’t cope with the added responsibility/paperwork Please tell me about your diagnosis experiences? I’m trying to work out if I have a case or if I’ll be laughed out of the surgery and told I’m ‘just flakey’.
Thanks, Jill x

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[sugarintheskye]

@Jill, this sounds a lot like me ^^; I got diagnosed very recently, and my life isn’t exactly falling apart at the seams either 🙂

For me, the diagnostic process was easy once I complained to my GP and she set it in motion. I was referred to a neuropsychologist; she assessed me with a number of tests (took about 2 hours) and concluded that I was a textbook case of ADD. She said she had many patients who weren’t diagnosed as children but were like me: in their twenties or older, especially educated women, who ran into a number of issues and decided to seek help.

I then went to a neurologist for an eeg (an eeg of a person with ADHD looks perfectly normal; they do this to make sure you don’t have any underlying conditions that are causing your symptoms) and she then prescribed me meds. I’m not taking them to see if they make a difference 🙂

So based on my experience: no one will laugh at you. Worst case, you’ll have wasted some money & time if the test results don’t indicate ADHD.

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[checksy]

Hi! I’m 41 and was also just diagnosed. I’ve been tor taking antidepressants on and off for the past 10 years because my family doctor thought my exhaustion and inability to concentrate was postpartum depression.

My son has autism and was recently diagnosed with ADHD. The more I read about it, I thought it sounded like me. ADHD inattentive. I finally understand my childhood of daydreaming through school, hiding dirty dishes/clothes under my bed and never being able to find anything ever!

I’m seeing a psychiatrist who specializes in ADHD and mood disorders who added Ritalin to the 20 mg Prozac I’m taking. It’s just the first week but I already noticed an improvement and hope to continue to see more of it as we adjust the dose.

My coach/therapist helped me set some goals for managing the massive laundry piles and my overflowing dresser drawers which were seriously impacting my marriage. My husband thinks it’s a miracle that my drawers open and close now. 🤣

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