[billd]

Great tips! Thanks. I guess I’d not really fully thought about the original containers, but planned on it anyway…… not for the reasons given. Those convince me definitely use the original containers with current prescription label intact.

I keep forgetting about my pocket knife and all the “junk” usually have in my pockets. In fact I get some looks when I have to go over to the judicial building or state capital building for meetings…….. it causes some delay as I empty my pockets.

Will leave all the stuff out starting this weekend as practice. I figured I’d not even bother shaving for the 5 days I’d be gone.

Great advice – for anyone, really – every bit of it. Thanks, all.

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[billd]

Yeah, don’t think you want to believe the grass is always greener, I know a few folks jumping the fence the other direction, too.

We each have our medical system issues…….. good and bad.

I would never rely on a GP for ADHD. Not after all the digging, research (the equiv of probably several weeks non-stop) and personal experiences this past 14 months. No way. Specialist only. (example, my doc wouldn’t prescribe ANYTHING but stratterra for ADHD in a middle-aged adult stating anything else was just way too dangerous and “not worth it”. HA, guess what – I’ve read the independent studies, and spoke with the specialists later, if I was a vindictive person I think I could have him for malpractice the way things went)

Anyway, the specialists I’ve seen, one the neuro-psyc person, the other works in a behavioral clinic/center AND the sleep specialist all agreed, I needed the stimulants.

The stratterra gave me bad side effects, and did pretty much nothing for me.

I started on adderall xr 20mg and for about 3 weeks it kept me awake through the day like I hoped, and did a bit for my ADHD – no “ahah moment” but it did a little. Then the effect waned. Now I’m on 40mg adderall xr, and it worked for guess what – yeah, about 3 weeks, now I get sleepy in the afternoon again, and feel the effects waning for the ADHD part as well. Back to the drawing board.

For one thing, too bad there’s not a really easy search here – I’d lead you to the posts where it shows that not all meds work for all people, some meds work for some and not others. some will control a, b and d, but not c, then in Jane over there, the same med, same dose works on c, d and l but not a and b. Then for some folks meds don’t do a lot, and for others, it does for a while………

http://www.womenwithadhd.com/forum/topics/medication-always-works-at

ADHD has different impacts on different people, and even slightly different causes it might appear, and like the specialists told me – each drug will have a different effect on each different person, there’s no one right drug, no one right dose, and when or if you do happen to get lucky and find a drug and dose that works, given time, weeks, months, maybe years, it will stop working in a lot of cases.

LOL – my prior family doctor knew that I was so good and knowledgeable on medical issues, at times he asked ME what was wrong. I often knew the problem when I walked in the door. Many times I saved him a bunch of time.

However, back in the 1990s, I had some very severe almost disastrous symptoms that landed me in the hospital multiple times – and baffled every doctor, and every specialist that examined me. I carried several “orders” and prescriptions around with me so that if the symptoms struck again, there were standing orders for certain tests. To this day, no one knew or knows what it was, it just suddenly stopped after a year or so. It was scary for me and for my wife.

Anyway, the doctor plain told me if I got any info, had any ideas, any clues, or found anything to let him know right away. He was in effect asking for my help I guess.

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[billd]

I was once told by a college professor – “sometimes the best course of action is no action”

It appears that is the course you took, and it was a wise one.

Not so sure I’d have followed that advice………….

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[billd]

dunno why reading this reminds me of these song lyrics……

When you wake up

You will find

That you’re not where you left yourself

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[billd]

Tiddler that is SOOO funny, sorry! I can relate, not with moose and dryers, but with other things.

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[billd]

If you look at what you – and they are saying – it’s pretty much that the trades or professions people with ADD are in, it pretty much matches what non-ADD people do.

In other words – ADD won’t make you a better sales person than if you didn’t have ADD unless it impacted the development of that side of your underlying personality – just like in some cases having ADD can cause you to go the other way.

>>I have never seen any study suggesting that ADD=inhibited/bad salesperson. ADDers are all sorts of things.<<

Exactly – and there is no study suggesting they are BETTER salespeople, they are indeed all sorts of things.

Your dad is one example, I’m an example of acute/severe ADHD who could sell, but can’t survive the interaction and can’t deal woth cold calls. You’ll find threads on this very forum where you found what you did that shows a number of members here who say they have trouble making such phone calls.

In other words, for every ADD sales person, there will be as many or more NON-ADD sales people. and on the flip – for every ADD person who is and loves selling, there are as many who can’t, or hate it.

I’ve had more than one teacher and professor tell me I should have gone into teaching……… i’m really really good – however, i’d never survive it due to the add-connected factor the doc told me about (one can also have that same issue and not have ADD)

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[billd]

I’m afraid that now my body has “compensated” to the increase of Adderall XR. Started at 20, then after 3 weeks, I was sleepy and saw no effect. Went to 40, that was about 3 weeks ago, and guess what. I took it at 5:30am today and at about 6:30am, I was starting to fall asleep in the car on the way to work…… and I don’t feel anything when I take it.

I can’t say it really did a WOW for me, just a couple of subtle little things.

Oh, well, back to the drawing board in March at my next follow-up.

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[billd]

well said merrymac!

I don’t have the verbal filter at all, and I insist any friends or co-workers are always straight with me. Like I tell them, if I mess up, tell me straight up – and soon. Don’t stew, don’t assume, don’t guess. Talk it out.

I also miss social cues. Had I not been so bad at that, I’m afraid I’d have had a dozen girlfriends in highschool and gone to a lot of dances, instead of 1……….. looking back, I now realize what they were doing, what they were saying, and all those times that they were really hinting that they wanted ME to take them to whatever event……….

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[billd]

>>I’ve never seen an allegation that ADD negatively impacts sociability as it relates to salesmanship. <<

I have – and it’s me for one, and the doc that gave me the full report for another.

He said that”social anxiety often goes with ADD”.

I’ve further read on other forums that because of how ADD children are often treated, talked to, bullied, etc. that they develop personalities that would preclude being socially active, having many friends, or going into sales because of the people contact.

Frankly, I’d never work out as when I’m asked questions about something, I can’t answer at that moment. I have to get back to them. I can hardly ever answer a question when “put on the spot”, but give me a few minutes and I’ll have many details. (that’s one aspect of ADD in many folks)

There’s no way in heck I’d be a salesperson, I have tried, I absolutely hated it and i’d be unemployed for the rest of my life before I’d ever get into any sort of sales, ever.

Frankly, I in many ways tend question if some actually have ADD, or are just assuming they do, and if they were told they did – was it the family doctor? I’d never ever trust the family doctor for such a diagnosis! IMO, a lot of what we see and hear about things is probably skewed by misdiagnosis, no diagnosis, assumptions – OR, it could be their flavor or severity. You can have mild ADD, still be called “having ADD” and sell like a champion.

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[billd]

True story about a former boss I had (one of the BEST i’ve ever had)

He was about 60 I suppose, it was an auto parts store and repair business. I worked in the shop. Niel came back into the shop – he got a wrecker call and was about to take the tow truck out………. it was chilly weather if I recall. He was looking for his hat. He’d been looking for it for a while. (it was on his HEAD!) when he came back to us, we all sort of signaled each other with only glances that we’d not tell him….

We let him look through the shop and I think he spent another 5 minutes and asked us again if we were SURE we’d not seen his hat.

Finally we had to let the poor fellow know so he could take off…… I think it was the service manager who finally pointed to the top of his head – and he reached up and calmly said “you horses @%%’s)

No, he was not ADD at all.

Can’t tell you how many times I’ve looked for things that:

I had in my hand not 30 seconds ago,

I put in a safe place where I just KNEW I’d remember them, only to be unable to recall where that was less than a week, sometimes less than a day, later,

Put in the file cabinet, then a year later, wasn’t sure how I was filing things, or what I would have called it or categorized is when I filed it.

However, it’s truly not always my fault……

Sometimes, rarely, but it does happen, my wife puts it away as she’s tired of seeing it sitting around

and one of the funniest times – one of the cats had taken off with it – and it was among their toys in another room.

I also found an item in my shoe one morning, can’t recall what it was, but it was something of mine they’d found and put into my shoe.

Koko is OCD, but I can’t really say that he’s ADD – I think his brother might be ADD…….hyper son of a gun, bounces off the walls.

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[billd]

both of ya – good posts/points.In fact I just read a post that was onlyminutes old, but it was in response to one many months old. I see that in our own forum – a question was asked a year ago, then someone suddenly digs it up and replies………. and the person who posted originally got the problem solved if the last poster would have just read the whole thing. I mean – over a year old……

Peter, I’ve met a few folks I thought were unreal…….. ha.

Prank calls – my father told me about all the old ones they did…….. seems that he was quite good at it and he and his friends did it a lot.

But then I think of this movies I saw many years ago back in the 60’s – I saw what you did and I know who you are………………

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[billd]

>Some of us are extremely high functioning. Some, not so much.<<

BINGO!! And I’d add that even among the “ADHD GROUP” there are those for whom some symptoms cause real issues, others not so much, then another person sitting next to them might have trouble with other symptoms of the condition, but do well in the areas the first person has trouble with. Then there’s degrees………. Again, like chronic pain – it can be severe, it might be mild. It might be in your leg, it might be in the arm for another. It might prevent you from standing, it might prevent your neighbor from sitting, and yet it’s all chronic pain, isn’t it? We can’t lump all folks with ADHD in the same pool – or say they will all have the same roadblocks, or be able to deal with them in the same way even if they did.

it’s like other “issues” humans deal with, all the disabilities. (and being disabled does not mean total, does not mean they gave up – not sure what PC doctor that came from…….. or what PC classroom is teaching that…… I deal with folks with disabilities DAILY (myself included) and none of us has given up. On the contrary, I’m more determined now than ever since I NOW know what’s causing it, and can approach it properly)

How about a person with autism who is highly functioning? We had one such person work in our helpdesk area for a while… WOW, what a bright and fun young man. He was very smart, knew how to follow directions, was polite, a doer.

HOWEVER, he could not look you in the eye, he had trouble with face-to-face verbal communications – you could tell he was almost afraid of it (but did his level best) – but work with him via email, he was one of the best i’d ever worked with. His disability allowed him to get help from our agency, and to move forward. But he’d certainly not quit or given up. He worked around it, with it, dealt with it. Facing the fact of a handicap or disability head on, accepting it, that’s the first step of moving forward, of improving, of saying “ok, I now know I have this, let’s deal with it and get on with life”

Those who give up, who quit, have a different handicap………..

Like I said – I’ve lived and worked with people who have disabilities for many years. I have taken many classes. i’ve seen, dealt with, and worked in areas all the way from intiial treatment, various areas of therapy, to where I am now – education and placement in the workforce. I grew up in a family where some members had psychological “issues”, my mother ADHD, depression (SEVERE), her brother has been “institutionalized” for most of his adult life.

Besides working in the field, I live with disabilities and handicaps daily.. myself, ADHD, hearing loss, meniere’s (this is a condition that can disable, and can prevent certain employment) and vision loss (blind right eye……. another area that could preclude certain employment) Besides me, My wife was born with deformaties – no thumbs, 3 fingers on each hand, no elbow in right arm (which is also much shorter), the fingers on her right hand don’t work – she can’t grip except for 1 finger Her left arm is more normal but the elbow won’t straighten. The fingers on her left all work. A doctor was attempting to test her for carpal tunnel and finally gave up, saying he had no idea how the muscles or nerve structure was laid out in her.

She can drive (with electric locks, power windows, automatic transmission and power steering – even though she had driven my tractor (hand brakes!!) and my Jeep pickup which was a stick)

Now get this – short right arm, no elbow, and only one finger she can control – left hand only 3 fingers…. the lady is a secretary for the department adminstrator and can type 100 words a minute. Can you? with all 10 digits?

She sews and quilts – and the lady from whom she learned to run a long-arm quilting machine said my wife was her best student. The quilting she does have won blue ribbons. Her cross-stitch has won blue ribbons, people say her “stipple” quilting is the best they’ve seen. Her work is precise. Yet for some things, her birth “defect” would be a handicap, a disability, literally because it prevents her from doing some of the things we take for granted. HOWEVER, has she given up? Heck no! If anything, she’s probably MORE determined. I learned the first week I met her, don’t say that she can’t do something……….

Yes, she also worked for voc rehab, and was qualified to be a client………….. she applied for work there back in the 1970s and was hired right away. Her last review was better than perfect – she was marked as “exceeds expectations” in all areas, and the written comments were all about how cheerful, helpful, and what a hard worker she was, and how she got along well with everyone, and volunteered to help if she heard others were having trouble keeping up………

Disabled, yes, gave up? No. Remember – legally and medically, there’s partial disability, and fully disabled……….. and it may depend on the work you do, etc.

I have a medical disability, however, with reasonable accommodations, I can not only do my work, but do it better than a lot of other folks.

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[billd]

sdwa = in answer to the last question………….. I struggle VERY VERY VERY hard, daily, multiple times a day.

Since I’ve started the meds, I’ve gotten a LOT done – things organized and cleaned up, things put away, a coupel of things done – there’s only one (BBBIIIGGG) problem with all of that.

I did the wrong stuff – I did stuff that can wait, that wasn’t really important, that has no deadlines, things that won’t impact other people. The projects I SHOULD have been doing are still undone – some unstarted, and now folks are beginning to ask “uh, have any idea when it will be done?”

Dang! And it’s not stuff I don’t like doing…… I just can’t break down that wall. I get a LOT done since the adderall upped, just the wrong stuff!

I was warned yesterday that i’d best get off my bu…. and line up my plane tickets for a trip to AZ on the 18th……. and guess what, I JUST now did that, just now – at the last moment I pushed REALLY hard and got it done – with only 6 seats left on the plane.

Geo – I do well at IQ and skills tests pretty much all the time. IQ very hight, the “tests of basic skills” they had when I was in school, I was always in the top 10% in all areas nationally and state-wise. I was often in the top 10% in our own school system as well. It was the class-room work, the homework,etc that killed me and I got low grades. Sort of a contradiction – I tested among the very best in the country, I had the ability, but nearly failed some classes (unless it was science, shop, etc. which held my interest intensly)

When I went to the specialist doc, even his testing had me in the “superior” range in speach, writing, math and some other areas. He basically said I was among the top to take it, yet I struggled in math class (perhaps because I could find an answer, but not explain how I got there?)

When I was unemployed, I took tests at John Deere and Bridgestone/Firestone looking for any work I could get. When we were “graded” and called back into the room, I’d gotten the tests nearly perfect (interesting, even for basic factory work, nearly 1/3 of those in the room failed the tests – and they were simple, adding two fractions like 1/2 + 3/8, reading a tape measure, that sort of thing…)

When I applied with the state for jobs years ago, I even got good scores on tests about things I’d not actually ever done!

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[billd]

Wow – generalizations and prejudices and stereotypes….. and I see some hate in there, too. Anti-big-government does NOT mean anto-poor. You are listening to the media and talking points from the other side. That’s the problem today, IMO – people take only the easy talking points, believe it, and don’t dig deeper.

Me a rightwinger? Frankly, I only fit into parts of that bucket…………..

Unfortunately, folks tend to equate each side only with the radical bits they hear about. Neither side is what is reported or heard – but the radical branches of each have tended to define what each is the last few years. They are simply the most vocal minority, and everyone I know on BOTH sides of the aisle frankly don’t care for the extremes in their groups….. and yet that’s what some people tend to define them by.

Too bad the occupy movement doesn’t really know what they are occupying or for what. Ask a few what they are doing, why and what’s the goal.

IMO – it’s another group listening only to media and talking points, some say they are against the very things that founded this country, and if some carried out their wishes, the very constitution would go away.

BTW – I supported Hillary Clinton last time around.

Please don’t pretend to know my “politics”……………….. you won’t get it right.

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[billd]

I’ve been telling folks – I let them know that it’s still my issues to deal with and I’d rather it not be excused – but instead, I ask that they help me work in the issues – nag me, smack me, keep reminding me, don’t let me slack off, don’t say “oh, it’s ok…….”

I tell them that I’m telling them only to assure them it’s not on purpose, I’m not ignoring them, and it’s not that I don’t find them important.

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