Wondering if I have ADD

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone, this is my first post here…

Some years ago I started to believe I have ADD. I was depressed at the time (from since I was 12 until I was 27) and went to see a psychiatrist. I told him I believe I have ADD. At first he didn’t get what disorder I was talking about and when he got it he immediatly said he doesn’t believe I had it. This was on our first appointment. I suppose he just didn’t believe in the disorder because he didn’t know me yet to be able to state I don’t have it. Anyway, he gave me medication for depression, and after a couple of months I started feeling better. However my moods fluctuated quite a bit and after seeing him for more than a year I mentioned that I sometimes feel obsessed with things. This made him diagnose me as bipolar. It made sense to me at the time. However I didn’t have many of the hypomanic symptoms. I was put on a mood stabilizer and it made me feel a bit better. After two months I stopped my medications all together because I believed I didn’t need them. Well guess what. I’ve been fine since then, and it has been a year. My “bipolarity” used to be rapid cycle, so being stable for a year was something that shouldn’t happen to me.

Anyway, I’m still having problems with attention, memory and so on. The one thing that has helped me tremendously is Flylady.net. It’s a website and mailing list for people who are living in CHAOS (can’t have anyone over syndrome). Flylady herself has said she has ADD and she found the skills to keep herself organized. Her main method is doing things only 15 min at a time.

A little bit of my history. I have never graduated from a school. I’ve always been a good student, until senior high where I actually would have needed to start studying for my grades. I’ve been in 2 school after senior high (where I didn’t graduate from) but first decided to move to another country before graduating and in my 2nd school was living hundreds of miles away from my husband and that almost destroyed our marriage, so moved back. At the moment I’m applying to yet another school because I want to have an education for crying out loud. I’m 29 years old and have no kids.

My attention symptoms include: I’m ALWAYS late, always in a hurry, don’t seem to have a sense of time, find it difficult to pay attention when people are talking to me, constantly lose things, go into a room and don’t know why I went there, I zone out quite easily, have trouble concentrating in anything for more than 30 min though sometimes hyperconcentrate for hours without even realizing it etc. I did the test on this site and got 9/9 of the inattentivity part.

BUT with Flylady’s method my symptoms are under control. I feel like I’m finally living a more or less normal life. I still have trouble with finishing things and procrastinating though, but at least I feel there’s hope. I’m wondering if I should get a diagnosis, and do I have to be medicated? I have enjoyed so much being without medication… and I don’t know where I could find a doctor who believes in ADD. I live in the south of France.

Thankful for any comments.

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[veronica]

just by what symptoms you listed… you seem to be describing add. i mean i’m no doc, so don’t take my word for it.

flylady is a great site! i’m glad to hear that she’s helped you so much.

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[Rick Green – Founder of TotallyADD]

Adult ADHD wasn’t recognized until 1989. That’s when the first follow up studies of the ‘Ritalin Kids’ of the 60’s and 70’s showed that up to two-thirds of them were still struggling with the same damn symptoms in adulthood!

Until five years ago Adult ADHD wasn’t even taught at the medical schools in this province. (A reason to see a younger Doctor. They can be more open minded and informed!)

So the level of ignorance about ADHD amongst Doctors is profound, and that’s why Dr. J and other set up CADDRA. To get the word out.

If your Doctor doesn’t know about it, or believe it, show them the documentary

http://news.globaltv.com/Loving/2009300/story.html

or wait a few months and you can buy the extended version (50% longer!) from our E store. (Coming soon!)

And send them to CADDRA.ca. It’s designed for Doctors.

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[Anonymous]

Thanks for your replies. Rick, unfortunately my doctor is French and doesn’t speak English, so that video (which is wonderful!) would not help him. I’m not even sure if he doesn’t believe in ADD. I’m about to write him an email and ask. I haven’t had a good day today. I’m totally sidetracked and just can’t seem to function like a human-being should. So frustrated and angry… I think I need to do something about this.

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[Anonymous]

Well, I sent an email to my psychiatrist and described by symptoms. He said he has no doubt I have ADD. I’m gonna post a new topic about some medication questions I have. I will try to see him this week or in two weeks (travelling in the middle).

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[Monika]

If your Doctor doesn’t know about it, or believe it, show them the documentary

http://news.globaltv.com/Loving/2009300/story.html

or wait a few months and you can buy the extended version (50% longer!) from our E store. (Coming soon!)

Rick?

Can you offer both versions? The 45min and the more thorough one?

I tried to show a friend on Sunday the documentary on Global but halfway through the video stopped although we could still hear the sound.

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[Rick Green – Founder of TotallyADD]

Dunno what’s happening with the documentary online. I think Global may have taken it down.

The new longer version of the documentary is now for sale in our E-Store. We didn’t bother with the shorter version because the longer one has so much more, and it’s easier to watch for non-ADDers cause we were able to slow down the pace a touch. (Ha ha!)

Highly recommend it as a teaching tool. After you watch it you may want to nominate Janis McKenna for some kind of award.

As for figuring out whether you have it, the Virtual Doctor is a great place to send people. (Even people who don’t have it, and are at the opposite end of the spectrum. They score 2 out of 18 and then you explain you scored 15 out of 18. It gives them pause. Also, hearing the symptoms and how they show up, often has Non-ADDers or Skeptics going, “You know what, that does sound like you.”)

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