Hun, this is more than that... I was treated for depression, but I don't feel depressed but I am still having problems with concentration and running around in circles.

And this has been a pattern in my life... of disorganization, frustration with harder tasks, feeling guilty about procrastinating tasks... etc.

It didn't consider adult ADHD until my son's doctor suggested it as a possiblity. Upon researching more, women and girls often go undiagnosed and it isn't until high school, college, or in their career that they are diagnosed.

I hope you find some solution, tanya.
I was looking at the check-list and I fit most of them. Yikes.

There's stuff like behavioral cognitive therapy available, which is helpful whether or not you "have the condition." If you find your life being affected poorly by these experiences then being diagnosed is irrelevant.

Basically, I would just say exhaust all of the non-drug options... because the pharmaceuticals can mess you up a lot worse than the condition itself.

I have done all the non-meds options already at some point in my life. I have been in CBT... I know how to organize my life in five million ways (and I can spend hours doing so ... also a sign of adult ADHD). I have taught others about time management and organization.

It's about time to be on meds.... I have too much stress in my life and my life is too complicated at this point, not to get a little extra help (be it meds or not).


As for the checklist that you took, it depends on how much it affects your daily life/functioning.... So, if you see and others in your life see it as affecting negatively part of your life.... that is what leads to a diagnosis. As adults we generally have coping skills to deal with ADHD and choose professions and jobs more easily fit into our attibutes.

Thank you for your concern on the meds though!

You could check out C.H.A.D.D.

I don't but I have taken meds for it to treat side effects of other meds.

I already have.

nah, I enjoy meeting new people every day. I call it CRS myself. Personally, I think it's a good thing at times.

I have 2 sons that have ADHD and ADD...My son with ADHD is on medicine. My oldest son is also bi-polar and he is now on medicine also. I think YOU will know IF you need medicine. When I didn't have them on medicine...they said they like felt like they were going crazy and it was just a big chaotic mess. I put them on medicine and it seems to work really well,,now they both are very calm and mellow. I think you have to find what combination works right for you...that might take several tries..it is not an easy job to figure it out. And NO they do not act like Zombies...they actually do very well in school and they function like normal people!!!
Good luck

I have ADD and asburgers, because of it I have trouble with everyday things half the time. When I talked to a counselor in college, they said I shouldn't take certain classes, like math. But they were wrong, the biggest trouble I have is with anything social.
The way I deal with not focusing is by listening to whatever music I'm in the mood for at the time. As far as treatments, different doctors have tried different treatments since elementary school, nothing has worked. But everyone is different.

My son was diagnosed with ADHD. And it wasn't until his doctor made the suggestion of adult ADHD to me, did it make sense.

I can understand the going crazy and big chaotic mess.

2 of my 4 children where diagnosed with ADHD when they were in the second grade...the son, who will be 21 on Saturday refused medication once he graduated from high school, (meds are what abled him to graduate)...since high school he has struggled to keep a job and find his 'place' in the adult world, (I worry about him so). My daughter who is almost 31 has learned to manage her ADHD very well. She is very successful at her job...She isn't on any medications and learned to manage her ADHD...always stays busy.

ADHD is a life long diagnosis...you don't 'out grow' it...you learn to manage it as an adult whether with medication or not.

Ive got Adult DVDS

why is everyone scrambling to get their diagnoses made public? Is there a prize? Does the sickest person in the head get a free lay in the community?

Okay, I'm going to take a chance. I am weird; in my childhood I showed signs of Asperger's, but not ALL the signs. Around 14-15 I started to get depressed, and slowly but surely felt worse an worse, but it was masked because I come from a family of socially really clueless people. Nobody noticed, they chalked it up to my being too hard on myself. Then came the suicide attempt at 20. Then I was diagnosed with schizophrenia, but I had no psychosis. I kept wishing I was dead until I turned 28 and found a really nice girlfriend. Then at 44 I turned better again. I could never read a textbook, I could never study properly. My father was going bonkers about this, and now I know I have some sort of deficit of attention syndrome. My sister has it too, and my brother is a dyslexic. He is a genius, though. He came in first in his graduating class in the masters of engineering program at the school he attended.

I have some psychosexual problems, too, so I really hope to come first and get laid with this confession here.

I skimmed through the DSM, and gave special attention to borderline personality disorder. I am it. The most classic case. My medication works, which is the same as schizophrenics take, but I take extremely low doses. I thought I am a "good patient", but no, it's just that BPD people can sometimes manage on low doses of antipsychotics.

Okay, what else. In the mental/emotional disease department. I can't think of any more, but I have the nagging feeling there is something big and foreboding which I'm not remembering. A defense mechanism? I got a certificate at a community college as a defense mechanist.

How do I handle ADHD? By living on disability. It's welfare for the mentally ill. I get more money than to starve to death. I have quite a nice life, actually, because I'm low maintenance -- financially. Socially I make everyone walk on eggshells around me, I am unpredictable, my mood swings are severe and come on without warning. One day I'm an angel,my next day is full of anger. I rub people the wrong way. When I was 53, I started to see a new shrink, and during our second interview I made him cry in anger, shame, and frustration. I did not want to, these things come automatically to me.

Some of you, a woman, had better come through now that I spilled my beans. Maybe you ladies could draw a straw.

I want my prize, a sacrificial non-virgin.

i have it but they call it fragile x. addys work but u might have the urge to wash the car and clean house at 4 in the morning lol.

tanyaann.

avoid drugs for it if you can
1. use all of that energy in some activity
you enjoy.
2. get a microphone and talk alot into it.
3. by the time you get out around people
you will have used up all that energy.
and you will act more 'average'. you
will be calmer, cooler, more confident.

learn how to live with it.if you think alot and have racing thoughts you might be an inventor.try pot but not the kind laced with anything.
i just saw a show where they showed two masks one forward one backwards. if you could tell the difference it meant you were crazy.that makes no sense.thats like if everybody saw in black and white and some people saw in color that they would need medication. there are very crazy people out there that do better on meds.but for add no way.find others with this and learn to cope in this crazy world. soundproof a room and turn off the lights,put a light on what you want to do.put on some peaceful music.(i like ambient techno)(groove salad)(soma fm).you need to physically block out distractions.i am mostly a night person always have been it is so much more peaceful at night.they have people brainwashed that people that think alot need meds so you can be normal.
thats just bs.its because we think and notice stuff they dont want us too. next they will say if people can figure out how magic tricks work they need meds too be normal.