It means that the symptoms of ADHD are exhibited by nearly everyone at some point in their lives.

What distinguishes ADHD from other possibilities is that the symptoms create problems in major life activities; occurring across the life span of the ADHD personWe ADHD folks don't always accurately assess how much impact our ADHD has had on us. For one thing we forget a good bit of it, secondly our perception is sometimes off, and thirdly sometimes we're just plain lucky and have had a lot of near misses.

Before I started therapy I would have told you my high school and college years were just plain normal with no ADHD problems. What I've started to realize is that I had a lot of protective factors that insulated me from the worst of my ADHD traits. Mostly my parents' support, advice, money, and so forth created a safety net for me. Here's a few of my antics I've realized that definately showed ADHD impairment even during my "best" period.

* Getting on the back of a motorcycle with a perfect stranger
* Dropping out of college twice and changing major 5 times
* Having unprotected sex
* Drinking and driving
* Losing track of time and missing my group's bus leaving Leningrad
* Breaking college rules
* Starting on my term papers the night before they were due

Hmmmm -- this was my best -- self described non ADHD period!:faint: I could have:

* Been kidnapped or worse
* Been unable to finish college without parents who could afford my extended stay
* Gotten AIDS or gotten pregnant
* Been arrested for DUI or hurt someone
* Been left alone in a communist country trying to explain myself
* Been kicked out of college
* Flunked a class because I couldn't finish a paper on time

There's more of course, but you get the picture. Anybody else develop 20/20 hindsight about the impact their ADHD has had on their life which they didn't recognize at the time?

Scattered

Anybody else develop 20/20 hindsight about the impact their ADHD has had on their life which they didn't recognize at the time?


Yea I thought waiting to the last minutes to begin a project was some thing every one did. Mom always thought I procrastinated because I simply didn't want to do a science project book report ect....and she couldn't understand why I wouldn't just do it and get it over with.

Honestly I couldn't figure it out either, even when I tried to begin a project ahead of time it either didn't get completed until the last minute any way or if I did mange to get it done with weeks to spare it sucked because it lacked my creative flare.

This didn't make sense to me or my mother it seemed that the less hurried project would turn out better but this just wasn't the case. When I finally got diagnosis at 29 it all made prefect scenes. I used the impending dead-line to hyper focus and it was the hyper-focus that spawned the creativity.

One of the Executive Function deficits measured by the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function ( BRIEF) is "Monitor."

That refers to the ability to use internal or self-directed speech to check our own work, as well as monitor the impact of our behavior on others.

Ummmmm Scattered did we go to school together? Because, I swear I graduated from the same school of hard knocks that you did only I did get pregnant. lol

When I look back on my life I use my experiances to try and prevent my children from repeating my mistakes. My daughter is a classic case of "it'll never happen to me" just last year she was always talking about the rich man she was going to marry who would take care of her. After watching me try to raise a family, take care of a household gone nuts, work full time and go to college full time she has started talking more and more about her career choices~~~she's a smart cookie that one.

Other then using the past to make my future choices I rarely look back at the what ifs. Today is today and I cannot change what I've done so I may as well make the most of today.

*sigh* It was fun though!!!!

Other then using the past to make my future choices I rarely look back at the what ifs. Today is today and I cannot change what I've done so I may as well make the most of today.

*sigh* It was fun though!!!!Yeah -- never a dull moment! What more could an ADHD gal want!:p

I don't really do much what if-ing either -- it just amazes me how selective I was in what I remembered about myself and how I saw myself. Actually, it probably worked to my advantage. I might have gotten too discouraged otherwise. I also managed to share my rather positive picture of myself with most of the world around me -- I was always considered a "good, straight laced kid" by parents, teachers and deans. If we had gone to the same school, the girl's dean probably would have asked me to help you find the straight and narrow path!:rolleyes:
One of the Executive Function deficits measured by the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function ( BRIEF) is "Monitor."

That refers to the ability to use internal or self-directed speech to check our own work, as well as monitor the impact of our behavior on others.I always thought I was so self aware! When my husband and I were in marriage counseling, the counselor would ask us how things were and I'd give this glowing report. My husband's take was invariably the opposite -- I just remembered the good stuff, until he'd bring up the other junk.

I was reading recently that many ADHD folks didn't realize how bad things were -- maybe that's okay. If you can be happy, even though others don't see how, well it sure beats being unhappy!:cool:
This didn't make sense to me or my mother it seemed that the less hurried project would turn out better but this just wasn't the case. When I finally got diagnosis at 29 it all made prefect scenes. I used the impending dead-line to hyper focus and it was the hyper-focus that spawned the creativity.Yeah, that's me too. Even on meds, it's monumentally difficult to start early on anything -- I really need to work in more deadlines in my life!;)

Scattered

When I was 15 a scary-looking stranger approached me on the street. I thought to myself, "I'm gonna die! He's gonna kill me!". He stopped me and told me to close my eyes. I did. LUCKILY, he only read me a poem he had written and asked for my opinion. I hadn't heard a word of it as I braced for the impact, but I praised it as if it rang like angels singing.
I ran away from home when I was 16. I went to my friend's house and she took me to a party where I knew no one. My drink was spiked and I went home with a stranger and at his request gave him the go-ahead to have sex w/ me right before I passed out. He did.
While still a runaway (gone for months) I spotted my future mother-in-law in her car, she spotted me, she had been searching for me. I ran to the nearest door - an apartment building. I knocked on a door and two men answered. I asked if I could hide in there, they said yes.

I drove drunk. Didn't even know it until I was told later when I was sober.
I have used many drugs.
A man that had done terrible things to my life felt a twinge of drunken guilt and said I could hit him. I did. Over and over. In the face. We were outside. Cops showed up. I was arrested.
I've gotten myself into some dangerous and potentially lethal situations by playing the fetish circuit.
I opened the door to two strangers who came knocking. What they did cannot be spoken here.
10 years ago my boyfriend at the time and I went to another couple's house. My bf and the woman stepped out of the house to run an errand (big cookie to the first one who guesses that errand!). I sat in the room with the man, who was a complete stranger to me. Besides us, the house was empty. We didn't speak as I sat facing him. I figured he looked safe so I took a nap in that chair. 2 months later he was arrested. He was Conan Wayne Hale, now sitting on death row for the savage murder of 3 people, deranged sexual abuse, multiple burglaries, and attacks.


That's only a few. You get the idea.
Yes - I believe that my ADHD has had an impact on my decision making process. I just didn't think things through.

Chameleon, Sure glad you're still here to talk about it. It's hard when you don't even see the dangerous situation until after the fact.

You take gentle care,
Scattered

Chameleon, Sure glad you're still here to talk about it. It's hard when you don't even see the dangerous situation until after the fact.

You take gentle care,
Scattered
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