I have a mental health/counseling background and my husband is a physician. I have a child and a sister that have been diagnosed with ADHD. I have thought for years that I probably am also, but then again, if I was truly ADHD how could I have made it through grad school and have a successful career, right?

Let me tell you a little about my past two weeks. I am known for always losing things, like car keys, check books, purses etc....over the years I guess I have just gotten lucky and only had a few major problems with the things that I have lost. I spend a lot of time each day trying to find the items I have put up so that I wouldnt lose them, or backtracking my steps to figure out what I was planning to do next. I always have about 50 projects going. I work in public relations, so I have tons of energy and am quite successful at my job. However, rarely am I at work on time, you can never see the bottom of my desk, if it werent for my secretary I wouldn't remember my appointments....etc.....However, I have been able to function... for the most part....

Over the last few weeks I have had a lot going on...I have not been able to keep it together very well. On a trip to Colorado last week with my daughter, I locked my keys in my car, left my credit card at a restraunt, and lost my bill fold twice. Today I was an hour late for work, even though I got up an hour early. I forgot to give my child her medication. Left to go to the school to give it to her...got there, couldn't find the meds, went home, tore the house upside down looking for it, went back to the car, found it in the car, drove back to the school, forgot to stop at the school and was half way to work before I realized that I was on my way to the school instead of work and that I didnt even have my work cloths on yet....took the meds to school, went back home, finished getting ready, went to work, felt like a failure and looser, wondered why my boss keeps me around, wondered how I have such a hard time with day to day task.....looked down....OH MY GOD, I forgot to put on my bra......

I am just completely worn out today...I feel like a horrible mother...I am tired of being late to work...disorganized...you can't see the bottom of my desk...my car has no place to sit from the piles of papers....my house was clean today, until I ramsacked it looking for the meds...my laundry is piled sky high....my bills need paid....

I can't focus at work...I don't want to start on any of the projects at home...I usually just feel like escaping, I usually do...go on a trip....go to sleep....things pile up....I feel more and more overwhelmed.

I usually, in a frenzy, get it all back in order and swear I am going to keep it that way, but it never happens.....it's a vicious cycle and I am just sooooo tired....I want to feel normal....I want to be able to keep up with day to day things like normal people do....

I am ready to get help...I called a psychiatrist today and they can't see me for two months. I am so angry at myself. I just got back in the car...had to unlock my car with my keys, right....haven't been anywhere in the last few minutes except sitting in my car, but guess what...the keys are no where to be found again...look all through the piles of junk in my seat....look through the "crap" in my purse, nope not there either...holy sh*t...they are right here in my lap...just wasted 15 minutes....feel like a complete dumb ***....

most days aren't quite this bad, but everyday is without a few events similar to this.

I take Lexapro for anxiety and it seems to help, but I think the anxiety stems from always being in a rush, feeling overwhelmed by all the little task that have built up, feeling frustrated and irritable, and worn out by how much energy it takes to do simple day to day things...

I am the best planner in the world for big events....give me a few days and I could plan an entire wedding, put together a conference for 500 guest, etc...but getting my laundry done, my car cleaned out, getting to work on time, paying my bills, keeping up with daily paper work at work......forget it....I will put it off for 3 months and then do it all in a single night....

There has to be a better way to live...my husband doesn't understand me....thinks I just "don't listen to him". Doesn't understand how I could loose something as important as a checkbook, keys...thinks I just don't care. I wear him out with all of my projects....traveling....can't understand why I am on the go 24/7.....We have been married two months and I think we desperately need counseling....its so much easier to not to have to tell someone that you lost the checkbook again or forgot where you put your paycheck....ooops better check the trash for it....I threw something away...oh yeah, there it is, right underneath the barb Q ribs from last night....oh and there is my hairbrush, in the refrigerator, I wandered where I put that......I am laughing as I write this, unfortunately I have done everyone of these.....

can any one relate.....I am desperate...I will try about anything...

Been there and done that! Sounds very much like ADD. I am no expert though. I would take the list to your appt. I think it will give the psychaitrist a good idea about you and your symptoms. Keep us posted!

I'm not an expert either... Sometimes individuals can experience very similar symptoms to ADD, without actually having it. Such as a long period of job, or home related stress.

One of my former girlfriends, had Overfocused type of ADD. She didn't discover it until adulthood, upon visiting her doctor in regard to panic attacks. She'd also gotten through college, and held a Masters in Counseling from NYU. With her experience, it was more so a case of being singular minded. She was terrifically focused on her work, and task at hand...but the dailies would escape notice, etc. Some individuals are able to navigate daily living, with differing challenges...and I've never met anyone with ADD that was dumb. All very highly intelligent, and capable in their own way.

If it is ADD, there are six subtypes? But in association with Panic, my girlfriend had a lot of success with St. John's Wort, L-tryptophan, and 5-HTP as a supplement in addition to her medication. She was taking Zoloft and a few other things. I think gymsocks "list" suggestion and an appointment with a professional is good advise.

OMG, are you my long lost twin??!! Don't mean to make light of your post, but I can SOOOO relate!! I found myself having to take a couple of breaths while reading your post...much like I have to do during MY day. I find myself hyperventilating on and off during stressful days....or actually holding my breath, altho I don't realize at the time I'm doing it. Usually the pounding of my heart will alert me to take a "time out" and BREATH..in and out...in and out.
I'm new here too, so don't feel qualified to give any advice, but just thought I'd post so you didn't feel so alone. For me, finding a place like this forum, was a God-send...suddenly I didn't feel like I was the only one bearing this burden. That was such a relief!!!

I am quite disciplined at my job (I work for a funeral home) but it's the only place in my life that I am. I can function quite well under excrutiating deadlines, co-ordinating clergy, musicians, cemeteries, luncheons, what have you, in a matter of days, to help a family through a very tough time, but in no way shape or form can I carry that focus over into my own life. But knowing that I'm not alone helps me to deal with it day to day. Meds may never be an option for me as I have compromised liver functions due to a different health issue, but I will keep putting one foot in front of the other in my personal life....and checking in here regularily for support when I crumble.
Hang in there, P_J...hope you find something that works for you and that you'll let us know how it goes with your appointment.

Welcome to your peers. I laughed and cried reading about your day.
ian

Well, just try & tune into the energy of us as we empathize while reading your heartfelt rant. We're behind you & cheering for you passion. Part of it is just accepting that's the way things are sometimes. We went out on an errand last weekend & spent 45 figgin minutes lost going back & forth, totally disoriented & I actually handled it pretty well with a bit of a laugh even! It took that to calm down & study the map & eventually figure out which way was north & where we needed to go. And it was better that I wasn't alone. I've done that alone & really felt awful. It's amazing what you can get away with... what people will forgive if the intentions are right.

I was diagnosed in July and am waiting to see a psychiatrist (Oct 6). I am an attorney, so your grad degree doesn't rule out the possibility of ADD. I chose law school instead of grad school because I knew I would never actually finish a dissertation.

Just today, I was frantically looking through my briefcase for a file with a document that needed to be filed today - last minute, of course. I swear that I looked through my entire briefcase, couldn't find it, so I drove 20 miles back to my office. Went through every pile on my desk, couldn't find it, looked through my active files to make sure I hadn't stuck it in the wrong file, not there, so I looked in my briefcase again. There it was staring me in the face. Flew back to the courthouse (praying that the state trooper would not be on the road today - she wasn't), and filed the document just before they closed.

Did I mention that two of the kids were home sick, and I felt like a lousy mother because instead of leaving them for only an hour (14yo and 12 yo), it was more like three hours. Welcome! Susan

hi there,
well, i left skewl at 14 years old but then when i got to 29 i decided that not completing high skewl was a bit of a handicap so i went down to the closest uni and got straight in based on my art portfolio, they let me in to my surprise and not only that..i loved it there!! Six years of work followed by my degree and then later found out i was ADD. so YES you can have ADD and still study but i guess its the hyperfocus thing happening i.e. it has to be something that you are REALLY interested in or the ADD person will just wander off looking for something else. I later enrolled to study a dip.ed bad mistake! It brought back all the terrible memories of skewl and i was a total wreck..hated the place and decided that the majority of the lecturers were stupid..in fact it was people like them that made me hate skewl..so now i can say I dropped out of uni thus maintaining my street cred! Its all good!!:)

I swore I'd never go back to school but when I did, I did very well. I did a three year full time course at college in two years and aced it. I was a lame high school student but had never studied anything I loved until I went to college.
ian

I can relate too, I tend to have things pretty well together to the outside world but inside I am a mile a minute. I don't have the hyperactive kind and most people would say I am incredibly laid back, but I am always so anxious. In June I came to the conclusion that I may have ADD (I am very intuitive, why didn't it ever occur to me before??) and went to see my doctor the next day and discussed it with him, I was lucky enough to walk out the door with a prescription for Adderall. I would have been nuts if I had to wait....guess I am a little bit impatient...

I feel your pain. My bf and mom gets so frustrated with me at times. I have this bad habit of snapping back at them when they make a comment like, "What were you thinking?" or "How could you forget again?" They won't even finish their sentence when I yell back because I know what they're going to say already. Then I think Im stupid because Ive been through this ever since I was old enough to be "responsible" for anything. Why haven't I learned by now?