[blackdog]

@jojosephine Good luck with the psychiatrist. I hope you got a good one. 🙂

Things have gotten “quite bad across all areas of my life” too, so I know how you feel.

Discuss your concerns about the medication with the psychiatrist. It will help him/her to choose something that you will feel comfortable trying. And don’t give up if it doesn’t work at first. Sometimes it takes awhile.

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[blackdog]

@Scattybird– Interesting. I wonder how many others here did? I didn’t actually do the sleep walking much. I just remember mom telling a story about finding me under the coffee table in the middle of the night. I can try asking her how many times it happened and how old I was but I don’t know if she’ll remember.

The talking I probably still do. I should set up a tape recorder sometime and see.  I never believed my family when they told me what I said in my sleep when I was a kid. I thought they were teasing me.

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[blackdog]

@jojosephine– Nice to know I’m not the only one who does that. Though I am better known for forgetting that it’s in the oven. Especially if it’s something that has a long baking time. I do better with cookies because I can just stand in the kitchen until they’re done. Although I have burned quite a few cookies over the years too.

For awhile every time I left the house Husband asked if I had my keys. And if I opened the door when we came home he checked to make sure I didn’t leave my key in it.

I had to call him several times from work to get him to bring my keys so I could lock up. Or send him home in the morning to get them so I could open up.

And when I lose my keys and spend an hour frantically searching the house, tearing the couch apart, checking every pocket…..9 times out of 10 they’re in my purse.

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[blackdog]

This is another chicken and egg question. Does the sleep disorder cause the ADHD symptoms, or does the ADHD cause the sleep disorder?

It makes perfect sense for people who are sleep deprived to have ADHD like symptoms. It’s something that should be ruled out before an ADHD diagnosis is made. Especially in the 24/7 world of the 21st century.

When I was growing up bed times were strictly adhered to and always before it was dark outside. But I kicked and screamed the whole way. Then usually snuck back out and sat at the top of the stairs listening to the TV. Or read a book by the hallway light or listened to the little radio I kept hidden under my pillow. And I never slept in the afternoon. I would dutifully follow mommy upstairs and climb into bed. Then climb right back out as soon as she went back downstairs and sit on the floor playing until I heard her coming up the stairs again. (which she knew all along. “Nap time” was really “Mommy time”)

So although I did have apnea and restless legs and walk and talk in my sleep and wake up several times a night or not sleep at all…..I think the egg came first for me.

Very interesting @Irish10. Thanks for posting the link.

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[blackdog]

Ooh, the colours are pretty.

I want to have my brain scanned. Can I? Please?

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[blackdog]

The short answer is that some illnesses are disorders and some disorders are illnesses. But not all disorders are illnesses and not all illnesses are disorders.

ADHD is not a mental illness because it is not an impairment of normal cognitive function. An ADHD brain works. It just works differently. People with ADHD have more difficulty doing some things but they are capable of doing all of those things, whereas someone with Bipolar Disorder has no control over the fact that they swing back and forth between mania and depression.

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[blackdog]

Hmm…Good question. I haven’t tried that yet. But I think I saw something somewhere….

 

Ok, I found it. From the main forum page, click on a forum. Then click on a topic and scroll down to the bottom of the  page. You will see a box that says create new topic.

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[blackdog]

I’m not too bad with knives now, if I’m careful. But every time I use the grater a little grated finger gets added to the recipe.

One time when I was working as a cashier a bottle of Coke fell off the counter and exploded. And I stood there watching the Coke shoot 6 feet in the air thinking about how cool it looked, like a water fountain. By the time I thought to pick the bottle up and toss it in the trash can there was Coke all over the counter, the floor, the cash register and me.

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[blackdog]

I don’t drive. I just kind of forgot to get my licence for a few years. Then I didn’t bother because I couldn’t afford a car. And then I started thinking maybe driving would be to dangerous for me, and everyone else. I have been planning to get my licence for a few years now just for convenience so that I can drive if I need to. But again, I keep putting it off.

Nevertheless, I have had my share of vehicular mishaps. Hitting my head when getting in and out of the car, slamming the door on my fingers, forgetting to lock the door or roll up the window etc. And I’m terrible at giving directions, telling people to turn right then realizing at the last minute that was wrong and shouting “no, left!” Or I get chatting and forget to tell them when to turn.

And I can’t count the number of times I’ve  nearly been run over crossing the street at the wrong time or walking across a parking lot oblivious to the cars around me. It doesn’t happen as much now as when I was younger because I have learned to stop and give my full attention to my surroundings when I am in danger of being road kill.

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[blackdog]

@kc5jck– I would take an earthquake over a tornado any day. Well, at least in a place where they have a strict building code, which I assume Alaska does have.

We get earthquakes in Ontario too. But on a much smaller scale. Most are too small to even feel. But we get a little shake every now and then that is enough to get everyone excited. I personally have never felt one. I have always been outside or in a large, solid structure at the time. Except one time when I was asleep on the couch and I was awakened by the sound of dishes rattling in the kitchen. Thought it was a mouse, went back to sleep.

I love cats but I can’t imagine having 12 of them! Too much work. Hate cleaning litter boxes. We always had strays when I was growing up- cats, dogs, a rabbit, a lost budgie, an injured baby squirrel….the rabbit wasn’t stray but we took him because his owner had to get rid of him.

My husband was also a cat in a former life. There isn’t a cat in the neighbourhood that won’t come up to him when he’s outside. Even my sister-in-law’s cat who hated people and never let anyone pick her up or touch her would go straight up to him and start rubbing against his leg asking to be petted. Since cats are excellent judges of character I always took that as a good sign. 🙂

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[blackdog]

LOL 🙂 Well, if  no one can die until they have finished everything they have to do ADDers should all have very, very long lives.

Im in  Ontario. And it’s true, Torontonians think they are the centre of the universe. And Alberta does have 9 months of winter and 3 months of pre-winter. Northern Ontario has a similar climate, with maybe one or two months of spring in the middle. Southern Ontario has 6 months of winter and 6 months of construction.

I couldn’t agree more that a “miscellaneous” category is essential to a forum for people with ADD. Of course, every category is miscellaneous when you have ADD.

Oh, BTW, that reminds me……;)

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[blackdog]

@achelois– I think what kc5jkc is saying is that it would be good to have a med that you could take that would not start working for 8 hours. That way it would automatically wake you up in the morning.

I almost died from a bad reaction to an antidepressant once so I can relate to your experience. I have been much more wary of medications ever since then. If you have to take the IR meds then the trick that might work for you is taking it half an hour before you get up, or however long it takes for it to kick in.

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[blackdog]

The last psychiatrist I saw blew off the subject of ADD without even taking a second to consider it. He says the symptoms are all being caused by depression. He also says I can’t have ADD because I graduated from high school. Which shows how little he knows.

So far the new antidepressant he put me on hasn’t done anything but make me really sleepy. And a little fuzzier than usual. But it hasn’t been long enough to really tell if it is going to work.

I’m not normally the most compliant patient and have never really tried to get better. So I am going along with it for now and focusing on trying to do my best instead of wallowing in my misery like I usually do.

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[blackdog]

Not really sure what I did but….um…..You’re welcome?

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[blackdog]

@wanderquest, when I took a more fast acting medication I found that trick would work. After about half an hour of snoozing I would suddenly get a surge and feel awake.

i am finding it harder and harder to get out of bed in the morning. I used to set my alarm 10 minutes early so I could hit snooze once. Now I am doing the same thing as you, hitting the snooze button for an hour.

I used to be very sensitive to sound as well. But it didn’t help me to get up in the morning because the sound of the alarm was so annoying I just wanted it to go away.

I smashed the first alarm clock my mom ever gave me. It went off and without even waking up I picked it up and whipped it across the room. Hearing it hit the wall and break apart woke me up and I rushed to grab the pieces and put it back together before my mother saw it. And never let on that I knew anything about why it had stopped working.

i had a couple more beeping clocks after that but they never worked because I just shut them off automatically and kept right on sleeping.

Then I got my first clock radio. I loved music and would wake up so that I could listen to it. It didn’t get me out of bed because I just wanted to lay there and listen to the music. But I was awake and would eventually get up after being yelled at enough times.

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