[shutterbug55]

Both. Hopefully something close to Bellevue, because we live East of the lake. I don’t like driving into Seattle, nor do I like riding the buss. I try to avoid people, when I can. I want to finish the evaluation with the Councilor I am seeing right now, but getting to his office and back home makes for WAY too long of a day for me.

Now we are aware of the symptoms, and have ADHD to tag them, we noticed our son fits the pattern as well.

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[shutterbug55]

funny you should ask. My councilor asked me a similar question today. For me time went by FAST. I spent most of my childhood alone. I liked it that way, because I wasn’t getting teased and tormented by my “friends”. My favorite activity? Talking to people half way around the world on the HAM radio. Watching my fish swimming around in their tank. Playing with a microscope my parents got me for Christmas one year.

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[shutterbug55]

I avoid Social situations. Too much going on for me. Big meetings are a different thing alltogether. Big meetings usually bore me to tears and after 30min, I politely excuse myself and either stand in the back to daydream or just leave. As far as talking to people, at work I try to keep it to a minimum. At social situations, such as parties, church functions, or family get togethers, I pick an out of the way table and plant myself there. I let my wife do the talking and make polite listening sounds and nod my head. Most people think I am stupid, so this works very well for me. The ones I can’t fool are people who have known me for a while. I *NEVER* volunteer for *ANYTHING*. That way I don’t let anyone down.

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[shutterbug55]

LOL How do we exchange info?

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[shutterbug55]

Gia,

I can relate. I work for an employer as a project manager for software projects. Organization, timing, structures, protocols and meetings are my life here. I too survive on lists and schedules. Get me off schedule, or take away my “book of lists” and I am a goner.

I have been wrestling with telling my employer about my ADD. So, I wrote a list. (go figure). Pros vs Cons. I haven’t come up with many pro’s. In Washington State, they can fire you for the way you tie your shoes or for no reason at all.

I don’t know what your whole situation is, but one word caught my attention. “Bully”. HR does not like bullies in the workplace for any reason. Since you have made the decision to leave the company, you have nothing to loose by talking to them. You could help out someone else at the company or the next ADHD. You might even make the place livable while you look for your next gig.

I am so sorry about your work situation, but you have added another con to my list.

In an ideal world, we could work with our employers and compensate for our weaknesses, while working to our strengths. But this is far from being an ideal world. I don’t think I am ever going to let an employer know about my ADD.

Random thought: I wonder what company a bunch of ADD/ADHD’s could create? A fair number of normals would be needed.

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[shutterbug55]

OK so what programs are out there for Washington State? (please keep it short)

I can hardly wait till my wife gets back from her parents! I have a list of things for her to read as long as my arm.

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[shutterbug55]

Rebekkajm,

Your English is better than mine! and it’s my native language. I am new to this whole thing as well. I am being evaluated for ADHD so far I am passing with flying colors. On one hand, these are the tests I *WANT* to fail. On the other I want to know why I am the way I am. Does that make sense? What I have been reading from all the great people on this site, is knowledge is power. Knowing about ADHD and how it affects you, will give you tools to live with it. Eventually use it. If it means drugs, therapy, or what ever… go for it and get on with your life.

I am not to the point where I am working with this condition. I’m working on that. I still think I have a defective brain. in fact if my brain were a car, it would either be scrapped as a lemon or recalled by the manufacturer.

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[shutterbug55]

Ivriniel,

Let’s disregard the whole ADD thing. Yea… I know that’s a leap. Work with me.

It sounds like you have enough drama in your life without having to borrow drama from someone else. So why do it to yourself? Realisticly, after the wedding, this person will be a distant relative at best and a temporary one at that with whom you will have little or no direct contact. So who cares what she says? It has no effect on you or what you are trying to do with your life, right?

I don’t know about you, but I have always tried to surround myself with people who bring me peace and make me want to be better than I am. I avoid to the point of rudeness everyone else and that includes family. Its harsh, I know. But I still have friends and family. Thankfully, I am also lacking in a lot of drama from external sources.

I am working on the self-imposed drama, which is a WHOLE other subject!

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[shutterbug55]

Life after death… wow heavy subject…

I was raised as a christian, and I still hold on to those beliefs that there is something after death and that God exists.

Do we make our own heaven? Of course we do. By the choices we make here on earth determines what happens in the afterlife. I don’t believe we sit on our own cloud strumming harps. If I am wrong and that’s the case, I want no part of it because that would be my definition of #ell.

Hey! Duh.. ADD here.

Having said that, I am dealing with my own crisis of faith. I believe God does everything with a purpose and doesn’t make any mistakes, so why did he do this to me? Now that I am diagnosed with another condition, I haven’t been talking to God very much. I’m pretty mad at him for vexing me with what I believe to be an even more defective brain.

I view this as the equivalent to a cosmic “kick me” sign on my back. Sorry. but I am not at a place where I see any advantages to having dyslexia and ADD. That is where I am right now. Maybe, when I start to learn how to use these conditions to my benefit, I will change my mind. My councilor and I will be working on that, I guess.

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[shutterbug55]

Laffman,

The short answer is YES.

I did it almost 30 years ago and I was on the dean’s list for 3 years running. Since I have only been recently diagnosed with ADD, I did all that without any help. First realize this: You are probably smarter than most of your professors. They have hundreds of students to teach and will fall into two categories: The ones that teach and test from the book, and the ones that teach and test from their class notes. Figure out which works best for you. Are you an auditory learner or a visual learner? Then find the prof that fits your learning style.

I am an auditory learner, because of my dyslexia. So I chose professors that use class notes. Since I was an older student, professors didn’t scare me at all. I just walked into their offices before the next enrollment and interviewed them. Got the info I needed and made sure I signed up for the one that fit my needs.

I also like community colleges for the first couple years. The class sizes are very small and profs are more interested in teaching you. So they might make allowances for your ADD. Once you have a couple years of college under your belt, transfer to a larger school, where in your 3rd and 4th years the class sizes will be smaller any way.

You are far ahead of where I was 30 years ago.

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[shutterbug55]

I am very new to this whole ADD thing, but I have been dealing with Dyslexia as long as I can remember. I would never tell them about either. I’m too fearful I may be fired over it and it is tough enough for me to just hang on as it is.

For the most part people wander through life in a half wakeful state. Why? Because they can. I would love to breeze through life like that. Even if it were for just a few weeks. It would be a fantastic vacation. Most people don’t have to concentrate on the most simple of tasks, or fight off distraction, or any of the other myriad of things people with ADD do. Heck. I do all that on my way to the bathroom in the morning. The only thing keeping me on track is a full bladder.

To me the workplace is a hostile environment, full of distractions and situations I have difficulty adjusting to or dealing with. It is set up for people without ADD by people without ADD. The places I have worked just want things to get done quickly and accurately. Sometimes, for me, that is an either/or situation. They can have one but not both. So I work extra hours, I take work home, and I still can’t quite “get it”. My IQ pretty high and yet I am made to feel stupid on a daily basis. I understand what they want at work and I know it is well within my capabilities to deliver, but I keep missing the mark.

It’s frustrating, Prunty. I know. I am an Inattentive ADD.

LOL I should start selling these things out of my house! Try a LiveScribe pen . This is becoming my best friend, because no matter what I am doodling on my pad, this thing is recording the conversation/meeting or what ever. When I replay the meeting, the pen is filling in the gaps I missed. I will let you know how it goes in a couple weeks.

Don’t give up.

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[shutterbug55]

Islandgirl,

Being fired/laid off and most recently, having my contracts end early. That is my work history and it is very hard for me to pick up and do it again. I am currently employed at a job your average Chimpanzee could do blind folded and one hand tied behind it’s back. I’ll give it another few months and I’ll be looking for another job. My mistakes are causing me to be noticed, but not in a good way.

I saw the TV special and my wife and I looked at each other at the same time and exclaimed “THAT is why!!!” Hopefully I will last long enough at this job for me to make some progress and get the next one with a few new tools and make it last a year. Then the next one… and the next one… until I finally have one long enough where *I* get to decide if I want to stay or not.

Hang in there.

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[shutterbug55]

I don’t know about inspirational, but I did a multimedia presentation on sunken wrecks in the Puget Sound, using this music as a back drop. Deep Sea Orchestra

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[shutterbug55]

The zoning is what scares me the most. Sometimes I miss an hour or more and have nothing to show for it.

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[shutterbug55]

One of my biggest problems is staying focused and on task.

For everyday things, I have to break tasks down to their smallest pieces and put them on a list. I start running my checklists or things don’t get done. I put break times in the lists, because I know if I don’t, I get bored. Timers are my friends too. They bring me back to the present and tell me when break time is over.

It started with shopping lists, because I would find myself wandering the isles, desperately trying to remember what it was I was supposed to get. One time I was so focused on not forgetting a 4 item list of groceries, I made it all the way into Seattle, before I remembered I was supposed to pick my wife up in Bellevue. “Oh yea! That was the first item on the list”. My GPS in the car has eliminated the problem of where I go first. I love technology!

That is one of the things that I have a BIG problem with at work as well, and my supervisors and peers talk to me about it constantly. I finally bought a LiveScribe pen. Check them out. You write on a pad, made for the pen, while it records the conversations. Later, it associates the recordings with the notes you have on the pad. For me, it’s like having a partner at the meeting who is watching out for me.

This works for me, because I cannot pay attention for very long. I try. I really try. But I just can’t. I first skip ahead and wait for everyone to catch up, then after a few times of that routine, I get bored and I daydream or mentally wander while waiting for them, and find I have missed something important.

The pen does not miss a thing. So when I am reviewing instructions or any kind of information, there are times when it’s like I have heard the conversation for the first time! It was amazing! I could not believe what I was missing. Especially when I “KNEW” I was not zoning out. Technology is my friend!

I am very new to this whole thing. I am 51and I finally put a label on this thing that has dominated my whole life. I am hoping I find the right combination of counselor/coping mechanisms/medications that will help. in the mean time, that is one trick I have figured out. Hope it helps you.

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