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“….a leg up” refers to mounting a horse. “I”ll give you a leg up”, or “it’ll give you a leg up” – an advantage when getting up on your horse.

(at least I believe that to be true)

This IS TRUE!

I ride and I need a ‘leg up’ when I ride bareback (no saddle) as my horse is quite a good size at 15.1 hands high

That reminds me of another interesting one…Horses are measured in ‘hands’ and aparently a hand is 4 inches wide. In the old days i suppose to see how tall a horse is they would just used their hands but now of course we use inches but still divide by 4. So for example my mare is 61 inches tall but we call her 15.1 hh.

For a horse to be considered a horse it has to measure 14. 2 or above. Anything under 14.2 is a Pony

You’re probably sick of all the horse trivia lol I could do on and on Actually riding my horse is the ONLY time I can ever acutally focus! Or being around her in general…she’s been my therapy and my angel.

Hey that reminds me has anyone seen the documentary about the Autistic boy and how horses helped him? I really want to see that! One of my freinds has mild autisim and her horse has helped her sooo much. I know that ADD and autisim are linked right? Maybe that’s why I’ve always had such a connection to them my whole life. I always felt like I belonged more with horses than people. And understood them much more.

Anways talk about drifting lol sorry Billd I think I drifted for you lol Fortunately I’m the original poster so we don’t have to worry about offending me lol

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Tiddler this part of your post totally resonated with me!!!

“I find that the busier I am the more able to cope I am. When things are slow, they get slower and when things are busy I can buzz along and do great. But I need to have that imposed on me somehow because I just can’t generate it for myself.”

Thank you for sharing that!

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Look up Russell Barkley’s videos and book excerpts where he talks about the executive funtioning of the brain, self regulation and the difference between knowing and acting, etc… He explains pretty clearly why…It made my husband realize I was telling the truth when I said I just can’t help it! Or I know you’ve told me how to do this 20 times but I just cant do it! etc…

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A PROBLEM with impulse buying? I think problem is an understatement!!! I no longer have any credit cards as I got rid of them when locking them in the Safety Deposit Box of my bank wasent enough and only have one debit card that is attached only to the acct with very little money in it and not to the one with the Line of Credit. My husband has the debit cards for the accounts with the money in them so he has to come with me to buy anything…even the grocery store or else I would buy them out of Shampoo, vitamins for everything under the sun, chips, pie, etc…

He knows not to let me get ANYWHERE NEAR the cosmetics department of any store!

When I worked in a mall I spend more than I made and when I got into modelling…YIKES! I really had a problem it was an addiction to buying beauty products. If you’ve hear of a brand of shampoo I’ve bought it if you’ve seen an ad for a lipgloss I’ve bought it! It got so bad that it was to the point that I would stash all my new shampoos and makeup in boxes and hide them under other stuff in the back of the closet and I would lie and say that I they were old shampoos I’ve had for months. Sometimes I would even pour some out and kind of scrape off some of the letters so that he would think they were old 😳

Talk about a problem!

One time when we were moving he ended up going through it all and was like WOW you really have a problem. We added everything up and it totalled thousands of dollars At this point we were using our Line of Credit for groceries. Needless to say I defenitley had a problem with impulse buying. Now I’m better because of the visa/debit inaccesibility however now I have a horse and do you have any idea how much saddles cost? What about hay? Ya so it’s been interesting learning to manage my money but I have to say that I’m doing really well now and my husband is quite proud of me!

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Maybe something that emphasizes the following points:

Think ADD has nothing to do with you?

Chances are you know someone with ADD…There could be someone you work with, are related to, are friends with that sufferes from ADD that may just not have revealed their diagnosis to you or they may not even be aware they have it and be struggling every day assuming that their character is somehow flawed and they are consistanty failing to live up to their potential in many aspects of their life.

There exists a huge stigma and yet ADD happens to be one of the most greatly scientifically understood disorders that exist

and it is highly treatable

There have been over 7,000 research studies carryied out regarding ADD some spanning over several decades

Results prove that there are actual neurobiological differences that certain people are born with that carry throughout their enitre lives

It involves the executive functioning and self regulating parts of the brain. This ‘difference’ is not only very real but also greatly impacts the lives of people born with this difference and those around them. This is not a matter of willing yourself to be able to do something a certain way or holding yourself back. It is a struggle everyday and those that suffer with this need our support and above all our UNDERSTANDING. Let’s abolish the stigma once and for all!

Join us in this revolution. Instead of assuming someone is lazy or selfish let’s recognize thier efforts no matter how small and realize their willpower and motivation is MEDICALLY impeded.

Instead of assuming someone is stupid, dumb, flighty, flakey, careless, inconsiderate, let’s realize that it might be hard for these people to carry out simple steps in sequential order, organize/prioritize or remember details and does not necessarily mean they do not care about you enough to do things to help out or to remember what you say. When they interrupt you over and over and blurt words out without thinking them through first please realize that you have a filter which allows you to think your words and actions through before carriying them out. Imagine if you did not? Imagine if every day your mouth and body acted reactively without any kind of regulating filter. Imagine getting dissapointed looks from those you love, respect and esteem on a daily basis your entire life. Maybe just consider this the next time you go to make an assumption about someone you know with ADD. You DO have a filter so why not use the education you do have on ADD and use your filter before assuming the worst.

Medical imepidements (or disorders if you preffer to call it that) are never an EXCUSE for behaviour that hurts others however when someone you know with ADD does something that inconvieniences you what if you give them the BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT before assuming the worst. Thank you from everyone affected by ADD (Yes that more than likely includes you) as you probably know someone with ADD whether you realize it or not and have become affected/ upset/frustrated/ etc… by something they have done.

So what do you think of this idea? Something along these lines? I’m no Doctor or expert by any means so it would have to be reviewed and polished by some experts for sure.

Let me know what you think? Maybe we can put a short video together and circulate it on Facebook. If each of us showed it to everyone on our friends lists imagine how many people that would reach?

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Yay! It’s so great to hear someone else think the way I do! We can do it!

I think the best way to get through to people or at least to try would be through technology as our society is completely enveloped in and intertwined with it. Also, the general public (95ish%) of which being non ADD don’t have the patience to sit through any kind of informational video unless it is very short and stimulating…How IRONIC!!! But this is the sad reality. That unless we can grab people’s attention (YES I said ATTENTION) and make it compelling and visually interesting and varied and above all consice it will probably be overpassed as unworthy of their click. I suggest a video because I think it’s the best way to infultrate the social awareness buble so to speak. Maybe a video could be created that could be circulated of Facebook?

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Thanks toofat! Ok here it is! Will people please respond to it now?

I only have to wait a week until my appointment with the Psyciatrist who is the only ADD specialist on the whole island on which I live. I’ve been struggling alot with people not believing that I could possibly have it.

Last night was the absolute worst of it. I went to see a Psycologist with my husband to work on marital issues and of course the only complaints he has about me are ADD related behaviours that impact housework, organization, remembering important tasks/appointments etc…, dropping things, misplacing things, burning food (waste), interrupting him, not being able to relax, being oversensitive and overreactive, not taking care of myself, getting hyperfocused for 8 hours solid or more and not remembering to eat, shower, go to the washroom etc.. Thses are all TOTALLY VALID things.

He is wonderful and amazing and I totally accept that he takes issue with these behaviours and I take responsiblity for them. I have seen a naturopath, changed my diet and started taking supplements and oils for the executive funtioning of the brain etc… After a month of this I have noticed a subtle improvement especially at work however this weekend I still managed to burn toast twice! Which fueled an argument in which he mentioned the word ‘rediculous’ and I regressed to my thinking I’m a sack of poo state in which I spent all of my childhood, adolesence and most of my adulthood SO FAR ( hopefully just so far lol). Anyways my point is (She has a point? YES I do lol) that even though I have noticed a little improvement in some of my behaviours the truth remains that no matter how much I try (which never worked my whole life), work on diet/supplements, educate myself etc.. I still do not function at a normal level and it takes my, as my husband says, 200% or more of effort to just keep myself from spinning around like the tazmanian devel (I mean this mostly figuratively and only slightly literally lol)

So going back to my story we saw that psycologist last night and I went with high hopes only to be completely crushed as usual. When he mentioned his issues with my behaviour she said that I just need to be more “MINDFUL” (this word has been my nemesis since I was about 5 or 6 and I’ve heard if from my Mom, teachers, coworkers, bosses etc… my entire life). We explained to her that we think I might have ADD and I’m going to see the specialist next week. She said that she doesn’t diagnose (I know that duh! that’s why Im seeing the actually specailist in it next week) because she doesnt like us to ‘label’ ourselves!

This is my Mom’s favourite phrase along with the mindfulness word. But then she went on to say that I don’t have it and that I have anxiety and that is what causes my ‘lack of mindfulness’…Ok looking at this logically and objectively isn’t she being abhorantly contradictory there? I mean holy crap! What kind of professionalism is this?! Isn’t she labelling me with Anxiety and isn’t she actually DIAGNOSING me by saying I dont have ADD? First of all this woman doesn’t have a clue about the disorder which she says isn’t a disorder (*pulls hair out*). She said that I don’t have it because I have a job that I’ve had for a number of years even though it’s a multitasking job which is why I do well at it and all my reviews rave about my customer service but say I need more focus and concentraitino to details etc…and because I can sit through a movie without getting up that I don’t have it and because I can focus on my horseriding for 8 hours straight that I clearly don’t have it etc…

OMG! This woman is less educated about ADD than my husband who actually told her about hyperfocuing and the difference between ADD and ADHD and how although I’m not running aroung during a movie my mind is wandering and not really focusing on the details of the movie because I never can follow the details of the plot etc.. he even mentioned to her how a proff of mine at University got very upset with me because I never took notes and didn’t pay attention in two of her courses only to get A+ s in those very courses. I explained that if I had forced myself to stare at the proff and the board and to take notes I probably would have got Cs or even failed the courses. The Psycologist just said well clealy you are brilliant and an auditory learner but that doesn’t signal ADHD. GRRRRR!!!

Also my Mother was like this woman my whole life and to be honest I just can’t bare the selfdoubt anymore! With all my heart and soul and every fibre of my being I KNOW that I have it! And for the skeptics out there I will paraphrase this….I know that if ADD exists I have it! I don’t care what the heck you call it the fact is I know I have a neurological problem/disfuntion in the brain that contributes to everything I feel and my behaviours etc.. and its NOT something that will go away by “Being more MINDFUL!!!!”

Also on a sidenote my Bro is suffering in life despite having a genious IQ and being a brilliant composer and unbelievable creative and brilliant. He is struggling so much just to take basic care of himself, go to work, focus at work, and with his self esteem. I even found out he’s been taking tons of those redbull type energy drinks to get himself through the day. His body is obviously telling him to stimulate his brain but unfortunately because my Mom doesnt believe in labelling he’s not getting the help he needs. He’s honestly the most talented, gifted, smartest, wittiest person I have ever met and to think how much he’s suffering with severe anxiety and depression so that he doesnt have to be labeled makes me feel physically ill.

What the frig is so wrong about labelling ourselves if it gets us the help that we need??!!! I DONT GET IT!!!!

Thanks for any feedback! Luv u guys and I’m sooo thankful for this forum! don’t know where I’de be without it!

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I only have to wait a week until my appointment with the Psyciatrist who is the only ADD specialist on the whole island on which I live. I’ve been struggling alot with people not believing that I could possibly have it. Last night was the absolute worst of it. I went to see a Psycologist with my husband to work on marital issues and of course the only complaints he has about me are ADD related behaviours that impact housework, organization, remembering important tasks/appointments etc…, dropping things, misplacing things, burning food (waste), interrupting him, not being able to relax, being oversensitive and overreactive, not taking care of myself, getting hyperfocused for 8 hours solid or more and not remembering to eat, shower, go to the washroom etc.. Thses are all TOTALLY VALID things. He is wonderful and amazing and I totally accept that he takes issue with these behaviours and I take responsiblity for them. I have seen a naturopath, changed my diet and started taking supplements and oils for the executive funtioning of the brain etc… After a month of this I have noticed a subtle improvement especially at work however this weekend I still managed to burn toast twice! Which fueled an argument in which he mentioned the word ‘rediculous’ and I regressed to my thinking I’m a sack of poo state in which I spent all of my childhood, adolesence and most of my adulthood SO FAR ( hopefully just so far lol). Anyways my point is (She has a point? YES I do lol) that even though I have noticed a little improvement in some of my behaviours the truth remains that no matter how much I try (which never worked my whole life), work on diet/supplements, educate myself etc.. I still do not function at a normal level and it takes my, as my husband says, 200% or more of effort to just keep myself from spinning around like the tazmanian devel (I mean this mostly figuratively and only slightly literally lol)

So going back to my story we saw that psycologist last night and I went with high hopes only to be completely crushed as usual. When he mentioned his issues with my behaviour she said that I just need to be more “MINDFUL” (this word has been my nemesis since I was about 5 or 6 and I’ve heard if from my Mom, teachers, coworkers, bosses etc… my entire life). We explained to her that we think I might have ADD and I’m going to see the specialist next week. She said that she doesn’t diagnose (I know that duh! that’s why Im seeing the actually specailist in it next week) because she doesnt like us to ‘label’ ourselves! This is my Mom’s favourite phrase along with the mindfulness word. But then she went on to say that I don’t have it and that I have anxiety and that is what causes my ‘lack of mindfulness’…Ok looking at this logically and objectively isn’t she being abhorantly contradictory there? I mean holy crap! What kind of professionalism is this?! Isn’t she labelling me with Anxiety and isn’t she actually DIAGNOSING me by saying I dont have ADD? First of all this woman doesn’t have a clue about the disorder which she says isn’t a disorder (*pulls hair out*). She said that I don’t have it because I have a job that I’ve had for a number of years even though it’s a multitasking job which is why I do well at it and all my reviews rave about my customer service but say I need more focus and concentraitino to details etc…and because I can sit through a movie without getting up that I don’t have it and because I can focus on my horseriding for 8 hours straight that I clearly don’t have it etc… OMG! This woman is less educated about ADD than my husband who actually told her about hyperfocuing and the difference between ADD and ADHD and how although I’m not running aroung during a movie my mind is wandering and not really focusing on the details of the movie because I never can follow the details of the plot etc.. he even mentioned to her how a proff of mine at University got very upset with me because I never took notes and didn’t pay attention in two of her courses only to get A+ s in those very courses. I explained that if I had forced myself to stare at the proff and the board and to take notes I probably would have got Cs or even failed the courses. The Psycologist just said well clealy you are brilliant and an auditory learner but that doesn’t signal ADHD. GRRRRR!!!

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The first clue was when thinking I was dislexic started learning about learning disabilities and instead of checking off the dyslexia list checked off everysingle one of the ADD (non hyperactive) list without realizing. Scrolled up to the top and realized HOLY CRAP WOMAN that EXPLAINS YOU!!!! And all the assumptions people and yourself have made about you! Lazy, careless, clumsy, too sensitive, flakey, spacy, not living up to my potential, “Flappy birdy” just needing to calm down, just needing to focus, just needing to try harder, rude, inconsiderate, selfish, etc…

The truth is that growing up I was completely UNEDUCATED about ADD and just assumed all those things about me were personality flaws. I (like everyone I know) assumed that ADD was ADHD and my only expereince with that were the loud disruptive boys in my classes that would be running around like mad men turning over chairs and yelling for ‘no aparent reason’. Never would I have imagined myself in that category nor anyone around me which is why I never got diagnosed and suffered my entire youth and University years truly believing that I had enherited all the bad qualities of my sociopathic/alchoholic/abusive father. My mother assumed that because I, like him, appeared careless, and not willing to help/lazy, and verbally impulsive and cutting her off when speaking that this was attributed to me inheriting his evil genes. For some reason I believed this also even though I consistently demonstrated a natural stong sense of empathy, contrightness and compasion. Something that he lacks any trace of.

It was extrememly damaging to my sense of self to believe that I was like him for so many years. Fortunately God sent me my wonderful husband who has shown me what a warm, caring, thoughtful, loving, empathetic, compassionate person I truly am. It has taken years to unravel the false self image that envelops me and it’s still a work in progress.

I have to thank this site and EVERY PERSON dedicated to EDUCATING people about ADD!!! With out education I would still be in that same aweful sad place I was in mentally, emmotionally and even soulfully. There is not much worse in this life that to be made to doubt the pureness of your soul.

Currently I am struggling with her and others telling me not to ‘lablel’ myself. I fail to understand how having been born with a lower than normal production of dopamine the the brain that is a treatable condition could be considered by society as somehow WORSE than what I had thought about myself for my entire life!

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Wow! I always just thought I was wierd! I was the only one of my friends who never even tried a cigarette, weed or anyother drugs. I also turned down dares and never did any of the bad stuff my friends did. That is not to say that I was a prude by any means lol I found alchohol but on my own meaning I drank because I discovered it and wanted to not because my friends presented it to me or encouraged me to. I was very careful with that because of my family’s history with alchohol and never got drunk and never drank emmotionally just socially. Any trouble I got into was my own ideas lol and we’re talking nothing bad at all really. Have you seen the wet paint video? More like that. Nothing that would cause anyone any harm or anything but a great deal of inconvienience 😈

It’s interesting that there seems to be a theme of this among us isn’t it. Especially considering we are renound for lacking impulse control. I wonder how that works then? Very interesting anyway. Especailly since it doesn’t sound like any of us are prudish or necessarlity against some of these things. Me for example, I would sit in the pot circle chatting with my friends out in our school’s field knowing that the teachers/principle could emmerge at any moment and didn’t really bat an eye. So it’s not that I had a problem with my friends doing it or was worried about getting in trouble at all it’s just that it’s not something I wanted for myself. I cared too much about the well being of my brain.

One time I lent a friend my car which my Mom and I shared and my friend returned it to our driveway and left when I wasn’t home. I didn’t tell me Mom I lent it cause she would be furious so when she assumed I had taken the car somewhere that afternoon I said yes. Well it turns out that when I was gone and my freind had returned the car my Mom decided to go to the store. When she got in the car it had been totally hot boxed and the radio was blaaaaaring a certain raunchy Ludacris song called Splash Waterfalls (I’m some of you of my age know this one lol) which was on my cd. Yes I love my some Luda lol) Anyway you can imagine her horror! 😆 Needless to say we had a big talk about peer pressure when she got home lol 🙄

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There are so many incurable diseases or mental disorders in this world many people suffer physically, mentally and emmotionally very much their whole lives with very little relief.

In the grand sceme of things having a neurophysiological condition that does not cause you any physical pain and the symptoms can be elimiated or at least greatly reduced with diet, supplements, coaching, applying techniques, educating those around you or medication and in most cases when the right combination of these factors are applied you can actually obtain funtionality and have a good quality of life overall should not be viewed as a bad thing.

If left undiagnosed and untreated and those around you are uneducated however people with ADD can suffer very much in life. What is the drawback of ‘labelling’ yourself and educating those around you so that you can funtion better and have a decent quality of life and be less predisposed to depression, low self esteem, anxiety, addiction issues, criminal involement, accidents, etc…?

So a label of having a disorder might limit your oppertunities in life you say? What about the oppertunities that would be limited by leaving your symptoms untreated (being percieved as careless, disrespectful, clumsy, don’t care enough to remember, not caring enought to listen/pay attention, not right for the job, not the kind of person you want to marry, a bad friend, withdrawn, etc…) and what about the amount of oppertunies that would abound should you get treament and education those around you? (Focused, on task, organized, multitasker, enthusiastic, involved, considerate, caring, thoughtful etc…) and has ADD. (Obviously persaverant, determined, couragous, person who is able to overcome obstacles).

Which person out of the above labels would you rather hire, marry, become friends with, etc..?

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Thank you i will look into that

I love fantasy and adventure!!! That’s my fave! Can you name some good ones?

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Dr. J

Can you please help me find a Doctor in my area that can diagnose? The only one my Doc could find is not taking on patients! Please please any names would be super helpful! I live on Vancouver Island, B.C.

Thank you!

Sherri

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I remembered my weekend to-do list and today’s to-do list with out having to write 5 million post its (then loosing them all), facebooking, texting, emailing myself or getting my husband to remind me!

But I think the biggest high five should go for the fact that I finally accepted myself for the scatterbrain that I am at 28 years old yes it took a while and am actually for the first time ever truly happy with myself! Despite, no including the fact that I locked my keys in my car while it was running last week 😯 and can never answer when my husband asks me where I put something and at work can never remember if i’ve done something already or not! Pretty frustrating and embarassing but I’m embrassing it!

Yay me!

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Wow thanks guys! This is very therapudic for me! I totally identify with that feeling of just knowing you are diffrent and assuming it must be in a bad way and having that rienforced by family, friends, professors, bosses, etc.. throughout life. It is soooo hard to get that shame feeling out of your brain it’s like a sinking feeling like you are always doing the wrong thing and not doing anything well enough as some of you have said. OMG I’m almost finished reading Gabor Mate’s book and it’s absolutely wonderful! It’s the first book I’ve ever been really able to follow with out having to re read lines and I haven’t got distracted when reading it I think he totally wrote it for us. The parts about that shame feeling ring so true with me and I’m working on it. It’s amazing how important our attunement is in infancy like one of you said we become so hyper alert …another thing I’m working on! lol

Thanks guys!

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