Forum Replies Created
-
AuthorPosts
-
April 7, 2010 at 3:19 pm in reply to: Took me long enough to figure this out! Thought maybe I was stupid or something #92702
@DogFather: See Videos/Bill’s ADDventures/If Bill Had a Hammer.
My mom broke the garage door 3 times. Two of them were partly due to the repairman’s failure to properly fix the door.
My dad may claim to need everything all neat and ship-shape (he races a boat), but you can’t walk to the back of the garage, becuse it’s so filled with stuff, and half of it is his. The other half is my mom’s, and includes all our old toys and clothes (which, someday, when my brother gets married and has kids, will go to his kids), preserving jars (unused for the past 15 years), gift-wrapping supplies, and other junk.
I have my own “garage story”. When I was taking driving lessons, Mom would let me back the car out of the garage every morning, before she drove us to high school. One morning, I felt a slight bump as I backed out. Then, I saw my brother jumping up and down and screaming & swearing. My first thought was, “Oh my god! I drove over his foot!” Then I saw him hold up his schoolbag. It had a large tire track on it, and it was dripping something. I’d driven over his schoolbag, and I’d burst the juice box that was in his lunchbag that was in his schoolbag.
Between that and the unfortunate incident with the flagpole, not to mention having the tester scream, “STOP!” and hit the brakes when I was about to make a left turn into the path of an oncoming car, I came to the realization that the world would be a much safer place if I weren’t a driver.
REPORT ABUSEI hated university too. Those long lectures were hell to sit through, struggling to concentrate, struggling to absorb what the Prof was saying AT us, while trying to organize and write it all down in notes so I could remember it, struggling to stay awake… However, the courses in which we actively discussed the subject were so stimulating and interesting, that I did extremely well in them. Unfortunately, the lecture-based classes far outnumbered the discussion-based ones. At that time, there was no such thing as ADHD—or at least, there was no name for it, and it hadn’t been formally defined. All I knew was, I’d been so brilliant in elementary school and high school, so why was I so completely out of my depth at university?
Today, many learning institutions now provide assistance for students with ADHD. In many cases, this involves providing a note-taker to sit in on lectures, thus freeing the student from the note-taking and organizational tasks (which are kryptonite to a person with ADHD) and allowing him/her to focus solely on absorbing what the Prof is saying. Unfortunately, you’ll still have to work to zone out the distractions of being in a huge room with a huge number of fellow students. Sitting in the centre of the very front row is a big help, because that way, you can’t see most of those other people in the room. Ever since I was a little kid in school, I’d sit in the front row. Now I know why.
Before going back to university, discuss these issues with your student services department, and with the faculty. Together, you can come up with accommodations like these to help you complete your degree. The world needs more nurses, and we can’t afford to lose even one, just because some institute of higher learning couldn’t bend a little to accommodate a legitimate medical condition.
REPORT ABUSEI’m still weaning off the Effexor XR, and dumping out most of the beads. I think I must be down to around 12mg or so. It’s such a tiny amount, but without it, I get all those nasty withdrawal symptoms. I’m going to my GP (since I’d have to wait a month to see my psych) to ask for a prescription of the smallest capsules. In Canada, I think that’s 37.5mg. I’ll also ask about getting some empty capsules, so I can dump the excess beads into them, so I can use them instead of just throwing them away.
Today is my second day taking a single 10mg tablet of the APO generic form of Ritalin in the morning. I haven’t noticed any difference, but it’s still really early, and the dosage is still rather small.
No trouble with sleeping at night, since I’m still taking 25mg of Seroquel a couple of hours before bedtime. I’ve been taking it for about 3 years now, and it’s really helped me stop the racing thoughts so I can drift off to sleep. It usually takes around 12 hours to fully wear off. I wonder if this means I should be taking the Ritalin a couple of hours later, so that the residual Seroquel doesn’t counteract the stimulant effect.
REPORT ABUSEMy mom has the same argument against seeking diagnosis and treatment of anxiety, ADHD, depression, etc. For years, she’s said, “I’m taking so many medications already, for high blood pressure, cholesterol… I don’t want to take anything else.”
My answer was always, “If you found out you had diabetes, would you refuse to take medicine for that, because you’re already taking enough medications for other things?”
A few years ago, she was diagnosed with type-2 diabetes, and has been taking Metformin ever since, without argument. But she still insists she doesn’t want to consider any medications for mental conditions.
At least she’s finally said that she thinks she has ADHD. Now, if only we can get her to get a formal diagnosis and seek treatment.
REPORT ABUSEMakes perfect sense to me, Dr. J., as this example will illustrate:
My mind is usually all over the place, and it especially was when I was a teenager. Back then, when my family and I were vacationing in the Bahamas, my mom and I were in a shop, and Mom gave her MasterCard to the shopkeeper, who took it, but then went to serve another customer, who didn’t buy anything. When the shopkeeper returned to us, she asked for Mom’s credit card. Mom said she’d already given it to her. The shopkeeper insisted she hadn’t, as did the shopkeeper’s friend, who had been there the whole time. The three of them started arguing and freaking out, and Mom was sure that the whole thing was just a scam to steal credit cards from tourists.
I, on the other hand, immediately thought of my bank account card—on the back of which was the bank’s toll-free emergency number. (I always had that card with me, despite this being pre-Interac days, and the fact that my balance was usually less than $50, and on that day was only $3.) I asked to use the shop’s phone, and I called the bank collect. I explained the situation, and said that I was reporting a stolen MasterCard to them, since I didn’t have the MasterCard emergency number. The bank person took down my mom’s name, address, phone number, time & place of theft, etc., then said, “I guess you don’t have the card number.”
I said, “Oh, I have it memorized”—which I did, since I was the one who always booked theatre tickets for my parents, and this involved giving the MasterCard number over the phone. The bank person took down the information, and said, “We’ll cancel this card immediately, and a new one will be waiting when you get home.” I thanked her and hung up.
It’s a funny thing, but during all this, the shopkeeper and her friend were looking DAGGERS at me. And as Mom and I left the shop, they continued to give us the evil eye. So I suspect that Mom was right about it being a scam to steal tourists’ credit cards. No wonder they were so pissed-off. After all that effort to work the scam, they didn’t even get to use the stolen card once. But how were they to know that this time, the victim would have a kid who memorized credit card numbers, and knew exactly how to report a stolen card? In that crisis, I’d been cool as a cucumber.
And yet, “normal” office jobs make me so anxious—as I struggle to ensure I don’t miss any little details, while making sure I keep my creative, bubbly personality and “alternative methods and thought processes” completely under-wraps, lest anyone discover just how square this little peg is that’s trying so hard to fit into that round hole of the corporate world—that I simply can’t do them any more. The last one I tried was a temp job doing data entry. It lasted 2 days. That was 3 years ago.
Today, I do a mix of freelance voice work, acting, & singing; costume & clothing design; and (my “real” job) ushering in a theatre. I’m making WAY less money, but I’m a hell of a lot happier than I ever was in an office. And my “alternative methods and thought processes” that were such a hindrance in an office, are a positive boon in the theatre!
But I’m terrified of roller coasters and any other wild rides, because of the feeling of not being in control and having no escape. And it’s not just wild rides. The last time I went on a merry-go-round, I had a panic attack and had to keep my eyes closed as the horsey went up and down. I was only 37.
REPORT ABUSE@chips, “1mg/kg/day” means “1 mg for each kg you weigh, per day”. So if you weigh 75 kg, you should be taking 75 mg per day.
To calculate your weight in kg, divide your weight in pounds by 2.2.
REPORT ABUSEAh, rubbing alcohol…
Here’s a trick I learned from a wardrobe mistress, when I worked on a show with very fancy costumes that could only be dry-cleaned once a week:
If you want to prolong the time between taking suits and things to the cleaners, keep a spray-bottle of 99% alcohol (either rubbing alcohol from the drug store, or the cheapest vodka you can find) handy, and spray the inside of your clothes with the alcohol before you hang them up each night. The alcohol will kill any bacteria and will freshen the garments as it evaporates. It’s much cheaper than Febreze, and it leaves no scent whatsoever.
REPORT ABUSEWell, there is a lingual variant of the V-sign, which is so exceedingly rude that I hesitate to describe it in further detail, to such refined persons as those who read this forum…
REPORT ABUSEI’ve heard that there’s quite a problem with false 911 calls coming from cellphones, especially from Blackberries, due to the set-up of the one-button-911 option.
When the phone is locked, you click any key and it asks you if you want to unlock or make emergency call. With those tiny buttons, and the screen’s tendency on some models to suddenly rotate to landscape (or vice versa), its way too easy to accidentally select “emergency call”, and with no “Are you sure?” option, the phone immediately dials 911. According to a 911 operator in Canada, this set-up is ILLEGAL in most parts of North America. Kind of makes you wonder how the phones got approved for use here, when they have this illegal design flaw.
If your phone (whether cell or landline or even fax machine) accidentally dials 911, DO NOT HANG UP! Stay on the line and explain to the operator that the call was made in error. The 911 system is designed to call back any hang ups, and, in many cases, to automatically dispatch Police, Fire, and Ambulance. That’s far more costly and embarrassing than just apologizing to the 911 operator.
http://forums.crackberry.com/f132/bell-storm-update-201265/index13.html
REPORT ABUSEAfter a couple of days of brain zaps & other unpleasantness, I turned to dumping out some of the beads in the Effexor XR capsules, thus reducing the dosage significantly, but not completely stopping it. This is working very well. I’m getting just enough medication to keep the brain zaps, vertigo, and teariness at bay, but still wean myself off the stuff. It may take another few weeks to totally finish the process.
I’m also taking extra Vitamin D (yummy chocolate soft-chews, which are like little rectangular Tootsie Rolls) and several Flax Oil capsules (rich in Omega 3s) a day. These also seem to be helping.
REPORT ABUSEI’ve always bitten my nails, except when I’m forking out a small fortune on getting & maintaining acrylic ones. For this reason, Girl Guides was always rather unpleasant for me, because the Inspection at the top of each meeting involved checking to see if you were in full uniform with hair neatly done—and if your nails were clean and unbitten. Every week, I’d get told, “Stop biting your nails”. This was tremendously helpful, particularly with my self-esteem issues. The fact that the Guide Leader was so concerned about my nail-biting, but did nothing to stop the other girls from bullying me at meetings, especially after their bullying in school had caused me to be transferred out of that school, meant that my stay in Girl Guides was a short one.
As for your question…
Compared to other compulsive behaviours like hair-pulling or cutting, popping zits is fairly benign. But it will lead to infection and scarring. Besides which, it really slows down the healing process. If you must pop, thoroughly wash your hands first, then use a sterilized pin and a sterilized warm washcloth. When you’re done, swab the area with alcohol to further sterilize it. Ideally, you shouldn’t pop at all, but it’s tough to remember that when you’re compelled to pop.
Have you thought of substitution?
Get yourself a roll of bubble wrap. When you feel the urge to pop zits, cut off a piece of bubble wrap, and pop away until you’ve popped every bubble on the piece. Even “normal” people feel the urge to pop bubble wrap, and get tremendous satisfaction from doing it. Maybe it’ll work for you.
REPORT ABUSEI see myself more as becoming a lecturer or monologist, presenting useless but entertaining information. Sort of like Cliff on “Cheers”, but with a more dynamic personality and a flashier wardrobe.
Incidentally, a gesture isn’t the only rude thing to which the Battle of Agincourt is relevant. When I studied Shakespeare’s “Henry V” (which involves the Battle of Agincourt) in university, the prof explained something that my high school teacher hadn’t. Namely, that the scene in which the French princess, to prepare for marriage with King Henry, has a bit of an English lesson with her maid, is FILTHY!
When I first studied the play in high school, the scene seemed completely pointless. Why were the princess and her maid getting so giggly and embarrassed over such common words as “foot”, “neck”, and “gown”?
But in university, we learned that “foot”, “neck”, and “gown” sound a lot like several extremely vulgar French words. Audiences at the time would have been familiar with these vulgar words, and would have laughed uproariously at the scene.
(You see? It pays to know another language!)
REPORT ABUSENo, despite the near-total cultural dominance of the world’s entertainment industries by Hollywood, “the finger” isn’t quite universal.
The sentiment expressed with “the finger” in North America, is expressed with “the V-sign” (AKA “the forks”) in the United Kingdom and many of its former colonies. Unlike the “V-for-victory” (AKA “the peace sign”), which is done with the palm towards the recipient, the rude gesture is done with the opisthinar (the BACK of the hand) facing the recipient, often with a slight upward thrust—though the thrust is optional.
This subtle difference is very important, as George Bush Sr. discovered on an official visit to Australia, when he gave what he THOUGHT was the Victory sign to the crowds lining the motorcade route. It caused a minor international kerfuffle, and gave those of us who knew the difference, a damn good laugh when we saw the photographs in the newspaper. It also gave the writers of the first Mr. Bean movie the idea for the scenes of Bean driving through L.A., smiling and giving the finger (which he thinks is a gesture of friendship) to the people he passes.
As most North Americans still don’t recognize the rudeness of the gesture, I make a point of using it whenever I’m gesturing to indicate the number 2. I used it a lot when I was in the audience of “Let’s Make a Deal”, and we were telling the contestants which box or curtain they should choose. (Ain’t I a stinker?)
The origins of “the V-sign” may have been covered in an episode of “History Bites”. Or if not, they should have been…
The gesture has its origins in the Battle of Agincourt, when the French soldiers bragged that not only would they defeat the English soldiers (most of whom were armed with longbows), but they’d cut off the archers’ shooting fingers (the index & middle fingers) as trophies. Though the English were outnumbered, they managed to soundly defeat the French, and taunted them by raising their index & middle fingers at them, just to rub it in. “Look! We still have our fingers!”
I wonder if there’s much of a market for people who can explain the cultural differences of rim-shots and rude gestures, as used in different countries…
REPORT ABUSEOr, for those in England—boom-boom!
Yes, rim-shots differ by country. So do rude gestures.
REPORT ABUSEI just note down anything important I need to do, on the side of my hand, between my thumb and wrist. The information is there at a glance, and the chances of my accidentally losing this “device” are pretty slim.
If there are a lot of things to do (or details to cover), I’ll write them out on a neon Post-It note, but I’ll also make a note on my hand to check the Post-It in my pocket…and that note is sufficiently detailed that if I lose the Post-It, I’ll at least still have some idea of what was on it, so I’m not totally rudderless.
REPORT ABUSE -
AuthorPosts