:confused: Last night at our ADD group we had a Psych Dr. to talk about meds. He said the goal of treating ADD is remission as in no or very little symptoms of ADD. Maybe I am being a pessimist, but I do not ever see myself in total remission. I do think the meds help and so does counseling, but I still have ADD days and moments. What is your opinion on this subject? Do you see yourself in remission? If you do see yourself in remission how did you get there?

:confused:
How can it go into remission? Can the neurochemistry of the brain be permanently changed (for the better, anyway)?

I think his choice of words is unfortunate, but it should be possible to lessen the need for medications by learning a new set of coping skills. Although one would still have ADD, just be able to function more efficiently w/o the pills.

I think his meassage was remission with continued meds. I agree that new coping skills and understanding your weaknesses and strenths would help a lot. I do not see how you can make up for the lack of dopamine in the frontal lobes all the time.

If you have to keep taking the meds, it's not in remission. It's just stabilized, like the diabetic's blood glucose level when on insulin. So, yeah, you're right, and I'll shut up now!

I agree it is stabalized some what, but I know with myself that the meds have helped , but I still have some pretty big ADD moments. Is total stabilization possible? I just want to know if others have come to feel that there ADD is under control all the time.

If you find out, let us know. I am so sick of feeling like this, but the things that define ADD are the very things which make it so hard to overcome.

Hmmm I agree that the goal should be to treat ADD as to lower the severity and quantity of symptoms...but I'd also assume that unless someone came up with a "cure" (ack) then there would still be moments of "ADDness".

But it's just like anything, you either take meds, or use coaching/therapy, or whatever other coping mechanisms/diet, etc......or a combination of the above to get to that point.

I'd think that true remission would come after you've done all the above and can do away with them, and the symptoms (for the most part) go away. Like, think of a cancer patient. They aren't in remission until AFTER they finish with chemotherapy and then traces of the cancer are gone. And usually, they aren't considered "cured" until a significant amount of time has passed showing that the cancer is gone.

I think the choice of the word remission was probably with good intentions, but not exactly the best one. Personally, I just prefer to say the person's learned how to live in harmony with their ADD.

Personally, after I was dxed, I was placed on meds and started learning all I could and figured out ways I could structure myself and work with my ADD. I am now off meds, and am still using my coping mechanisms. I am much better than I was before all of the treatment, and have learned to work with my ADD...and am still learning. BUT I know that I will always have to work with it, or else it will work against me...and in that, I can say that there will never TRULY be a remission....unless, like you said, my brain decides to rewire itself....but I know no amount of meds or theraputic actions will do that.

IMHO, If I really wanted my brain to be rewired, PERSONALLY, I'd leave that to the man upstairs...but seeing as how this was how he decided to make me...I can learn to live with it. :D :p

Just my dos centos :p

IMHO, If I really wanted my brain to be rewired
Ok, now, tell me I'm not the only Star Trek geek who was reminded of the episode "Spock's Brain" when reading this... lol.

Anyway. I think it might be possible for some people to achieve a full remission, simply because there are degrees of ADD, and some people have milder versions than others. I'm reasonably certain it's possible for meds and therapy to reduce symptoms enough that one might not technically meet criteria for ADD (whatever those may be in adults -- Utah criteria, Hallowell & Ratey, whatever).

I don't ever see myself not having ADD symptoms. My hope is that I can reduce my "ADD moments" to more reasonable levels and gain a measure of control over the condition rather than letting it control me as it did before I was diagnosed.

"under control" is very different from "gone"

I'm looking for "manageable". If it were gone I don't think I'd be happy. There have been times when I felt OK with myself (brief as they may have been) and that's all I ask.

I think the choice of the word remission was probably with good intentions, but not exactly the best one. Personally, I just prefer to say the person's learned how to live in harmony with their ADD.



My meds help me greatly when I take them to act like a Linear Thinker ,but when the were of I go back to being ADD.

The thing I have noticed is that after they wear off The ADD is much more noticable to me (in my mind)

I feel like I have smoked a bunch of pot and am really high when all it really is , is me comparing how I feel now (after they have worn off) to how I felt when I was on the meds.

Once my brain readjusts to being ADD all is back to normal (a normal that I am familar with)


As Jamie Says
IMHO, If I really wanted my brain to be rewired, PERSONALLY, I'd leave that to the man upstairs...but seeing as how this was how he decided to make me...I can learn to live with it. :D :p


To me this is the way we were born, this is the way we are supposed to be,

and if we lived in a world were we were allowed to be and act the way we really are then we wouldn't have the problems we have.

It's just that society keeps trying to force us to be like them by conforming to there standards.

If you were out somewhere with 2 or 3 ADD friends were nobody critised and condemed you for having an ADD moment then the day would be a wonderful time were the thought of being ADD never crosses your mind as you are at peace with yourself. But the moment your friends go home you have to come back to the hustle bustle of every day life and that when the poop hits the fan again, and again ,and again and so on.

Now if your friends came back over you would slip back into the reallity of living an ADD life in an ADD reality and everything would be good again.

My 2 Can-ADD-ian cents worth

I remember a letter that my past psychiatrist wrote. She said that I was in remission. I was taking a combination of medications that seemed to work well on both my schizoaffective and my ADD. I did use to feel normal by that time.(That was before my new psychiatrist changed everything and started from the beginning again.)

New doc. changing meds Ahhhhh....That is why I will stick to the same doc I had when I was diagnosed even though I have to travel 400 miles one way for an appointment. I don't WANT to start all over.

The amount of time a cancer patient has to have no signs of cancer after chemo therphy has ended is five years. The analogy of ADD being like diabeties is closer as the medications only "keep the symptoms of ADD in check". People can get on medications and learn new coping methods and then go off and do better just using the new skills. Like there are wide ranges of type two diabetics (ie some type two diabetics can control thier symptoms with diet and exercise alone others take the pills, and insulin, plus diet and exercise) so it is with ADD. Some of us have A LOT of ADD traits that are severe others have just enought ADD symptoms to fit the criteria. How severe the "symptoms" will determine how "much treatment" is required, of coarse how compliant we are with treatment determines how sucessful any treatment is!!

I have noticed that ADD moments are not restricted to only those diagnosed with ADD. Non-ADD people also have thier moments they are just fewer, less severe, and farther apart. I try to not blame my ADD for every "great moment in Brain dead history" I have. I try to seperate what is ADD from what is being human. I truely believe ADD is only a part of the sum total of the being I call me. ADD is not the end all and be all of who I am as a person.

Well that's my two cents worth.

... I did use to feel normal by that time...

Define normal. If this is how I am, then THIS is normal, at least for me. I don't want to feel normal, I want to feel better, about my work, my relationships, myself, everything.

Ok, now, tell me I'm not the only Star Trek geek who was reminded of the episode "Spock's Brain" when reading this... lol.


"Brain and Brain, What is Brain?!"

I like what meadd823 said, about Non-ADD's having their moments too. I see those types of symptoms all the time, in people who's jobs are too stressful...and aren't taking good care of themselves with respect to balanced sleep, exercise and healthy diet. Afteral, the cars only going to run as good...as the quality of the maintenance it's given.

I see myself "in remission" with new challenges. As in I've accomplished, this, this and this? What's next? Sure, I still have my moments...but who on this earth does not? My biggest opportunity right now, is considering my emotional maturity. I read somewhere that for some ADD'ers it takes to around the age of 35; to reach the emotional maturity of a 21 year old. I always acted more mature than my age, but I still feel like a child in many ways. And probably hit 21, at 27. lol

What this dumb looser that was never going to amount to anything...has actually accomplished amazes me. My sister considers me infinately more successful, than all of our non-ADD relatives. To this day, we still can't figure out who my father was talking about? ; )