What do you do to control your ADHD symptoms, or to help yourself?? A combo of exercise, diet changes, omega-3's, using planners, a coach, etc--- what do you do???

I had a bad experience on Strattera, and before I try going on stim's, I wanted to clarify what it is, exactly, that drives me nuts about my ADHD (and what makes my family and friends crazy, too). Clarify that, and then look at my options-- like will meds (and which ones) really help what I have issues with.

Also, I think it is important for me to learn all I can about all the possible lifestyle changes I can make to help improve things for myself too (I am reading, reading, reading, have a good therapist, etc....)-- on or off meds.

Thanks for sharing what you do!!

~~Rachael in CT, Dx Nov. '04

Hi Rachael,

Im glad to share my experience with ADD so far.
I know about my ADD since almost a year now and due to moves and the long times it takes to get appointments etc I am stil running without meds.
More and more this starts to work out for me.
So heres what I did:
Like most people here I read everything I could get my hands on. The whole thing from Barkley (if you have the 12 out of 18 from DSM IV list, we starting throwing meds at you until you laugh) to the indigo children (we are all divine aliens, here to save the world)
Most things that I found appealing and productive was with the Thom Hartmann line of thinking.
I don't subscribe to the Hunter/Farmer theory, simply because I don't care where it comes from at large, but to the more profound idea that you can make ADD work for you if you see it in a positive light.
*Gives his best Hartmann impression: "It's the stories that we tell ourselfs that count"*

Anywho, over time I am developing a feeling for what is ADD and what is not.
Take procrastination for example. Theres a vicious circle where you're simply not good at starting things, you're falling at that, people are telling you that you're not good at it, which you then believe and the whole thing gets worse then it should.

Identifying these circles and breaking them helps to look at the what is really your weakness and what has just grown to become one.

If you do that, you learn a lot about yourself too. ;)

Beyond that, anything that helps normal people to be well, helps us too.
To get more organized I use a palm at the moment and I am doing pretty well with it.
It's my short time memory and reminder.
Anything that makes you feel good, also makes you feel better about ADHD and helps you tackle it. That is sports, healthy food, not too much TV etc.

Specialy these things that are well for my mind work good for me. These little things, like having a "go to bed" ritual, where I just drink some tea on my sofa.

Try to find a job that suits your style of thinking, and help people around you understand where you're at. If they (and you) accept that you are just a certain way, things will be much easier and you will progress with exactly these issues.

It's a good thing that you want to have clarity on your ADD and how it affects you and the ones around you.

hmm, what else. Besides that, I liked the "rules" from Stabile here on the forums. "We are never as bad as we think it's ok to beat ourselfs up" and "Always look for the good in things, specialy yourself".

Over time, when you start feeling more positive about your ADD, this will also reflect on others. It makes me smile now when I get into these circles where I get up from my desk to do one thing and I end up doing tons of others, forgetting about the first. The moment I realize this, it puts a good natured smile on my face, cause doing that was just me being me.

People will pick up that feeling and see you in a different light aswell. (At least from my experience)

Be more conscious about other things that you do in general. The amount of coffee you drink and when, the cigarettes you smoke, what type of movies you watch etc and find out whats really good for YOU.

Again, whatever helps other people, can help us even more.

Oh and to get better leverage on working with yourself, try reading up a little on NLP. I am not to fond of "real" NLPers, but I there are some helpfull ideas in there that can help you with things.

One book I highly recommend is "Healing ADD" from Thom Hartmann. A lot of things in there can also help you with dealing with the damage you suffered from by growing up as an ADDer.

Hmm, thats it for the moment.

I hope you can take something out of this.

Thorsten

Actually, I think that the techniques for dealing with ADD are the same, whether or not one takes medications. (I do take meds.)

For me, there are four essential things. They are not just for dealing with ADHD; they are for everything, or every aspect of my life.
1. Sleep. I need a minimum of 7-8 hours of actual sleep.
2. Exercise. Vigorous exercise for at least an hour 5-6 times a week.
3. Nutrition. Low sugar and refined foods, lots of fresh fruits and vegetables.
4. Stress. Keep my life as simple and stress-free as I possibly can.

If I don't keep on top of these 4 items, anything else I try to do is wasted effort. These are the foundation everything else is built on.

Then, after this comes order and organization: simply keeping everything in perspective, doing what I need to do.

Learning about what ADHD is and how it affects me is sort of like learning where the potholes and sharp corners are in a road. I don't have to stress out over them, or berate myself because of them--I just go around the pot holes and slow down for the corners. :)

Sounds easier than it is. ;)

Yes to all of the above. I am unmedicated because of a negative experience initially. After listening to everyone here, I think I was started on too high a dose by someone unexperienced with ADDults, but that is for a different thread!
For me one of the most important things is keeping the things I need to use daily organized and in the same place always. Things like keys, wallet, backpack I keep together and always hang them in the same place. Religiously. If I relax this rule for a moment, I lose them. I am trying to spread this technique to other aspects of my life. Mitts always go in coat pockets. Scissors always go in the second drawer. Worn out or broken items go immediatley to the trash bin/recycling.
It is starting to work. This makes me happy.

One thing I've learned to do recently is never set myself up with a schedule that eats up all of the time in the day. There are always distractions. It's impossible to avoid them entirely, but it is possible to accomodate for them to some degree. A planner is good, but do not expect yourself to be able to fill your day with planned activity like the regular folks. I'd say no more than 10-12 hours of planned/scheduled activity each day. Most of that will be work, with the rest being maybe a shopping errand or a lawn mowing. People like us need a certain amount of unplanned activity. You have no way to be sure of what will be on your mind by the time you get home from work, so don't fill up your schedule and pretend you won't feel like doing anything else. There will be distractions-- if you don't make time to attend to them, they'll mess up the rest of your day.

Hurrah! Stay off the meds. There to hard to quit worse than cigs I must say. After five years I can quit cigs. I've been smoke free for about 6 months. But I've only been adderall free for 2 days been on it for about 5 years and I'm going back tommorow I have to I'm going to work. I need them to function.