I'm kind of hyperfoucsing on this at the moment (actually, I'm supposed to be doing a college assignment).

Well, trying to get to see someone is going really slowly (I didn't expect it to go quickly).

Anyway, I've written out the most important things about me which make me think I might have ADD (I'm certainly struggling at college too). If anyone could possibly read through this post and give me some advice and/or feedback, I would be extremely grateful. I know there's a lot there, but even if you only read some and gave only a little advice, that would still be great.

Thanks :)

Diagnostic criteria

Inattentive only (‘predominately inattentive’)

Often fails to give close attention to details or makes careless mistakes in schoolwork, work or other activities.

Sometimes, and sometimes, I get bogged down in the details and fail to see what I need to see.



Often has difficulty sustaining attention in tasks or play activities.

Yes. I can’t say for play activities – it was a while since I played a game, but on the whole, I think play activities were fine, because they were enjoyable. Tasks, though, yes.



Often does not seem to listen when spoken to directly.

I can’t really answer this one, as I do not speak to myself directly. I asked my friend this question a while ago and she said that I don’t seem to be listening a lot of the time, but that she knew I was (I’m glad she thought so!). Well, sometimes I am listening, but not looking at the person speaking, but too much of the time, I don’t think I am listening. I mean to, but my mind is elsewhere (damn it).



Often does not follow through on instructions and fails to finish schoolwork, chores or duties in the workplace (not due to oppositional behaviour or failure to understand activities).

Correct, pretty much. I don’t really need to say much more.



Often has difficulty organising tasks and activities.

Difficulty organising anything in fact. If I am organising activities, I:


Get bogged down in unnecessary details and miss the important points.
Get all mixed up and out of sequence (e.g. my friend phoned me to ask for a lift to judo and (being nervous in the phone didn’t help) I started talking through how it was going to work so that we would both have it worked out and I said something like ‘right, so you come here, and we’ll take you…’ and she interrupted and said ‘huh? How can I get there? If I could get there, I wouldn’t need a lift!’. Oh, yeah…
But it’s not just tasks and activities I find really difficult to organise, it’s pretty much everything.



Often avoids, dislikes or is reluctant to engage in tasks that require sustained mental effort (such as schoolwork or homework).

Yes. Well, I would have thought this was the same with everyone, but no, people seem to just be able to get on with it.



Often loses things necessary for tasks or activities (e.g. toys, school assignments, pencils, books or tools).

Yes and no. Toys – can’t remember. School assignments – more likely forgot to take them to school (or forgot to do it), rather than actually lost it, although I’d lose the information needed to complete it. Pencils, books, tools – not so much, but papers, gloves, hats, reminders etc. Hopeless – all in a mess on my floor, in my wardrobe, in my bookcase, on my desk, in drawers... Can’t remember where I’ve put them.



I wonder where all those (monthly? termly?) dinner money cheques went in reception class (actually, it was probably year 1 – I can’t remember)? I never knew. One minute I had it, the next minute I didn’t! I wasn’t trusted with dinner money again after the second or third lost cheque. I knew it was important, but…



Is often distracted by extraneous stimuli.

Yes, including by my own thoughts.



Is often forgetful in daily activities.

Yes.

General areas of difficulty

Hyperfocus/overfocus/underfocus

I tend to overfocus on a number of things, with many constant ‘ruminations’ of thoughts and worries. When it is thoughts, and not worries, I am overfocusing on, they are often streams of ideas I have but cannot get started on doing them (see getting started and keeping going). I can lose hours of sleep from both (worries and thoughts/ideas). Sometimes, I cannot let go of an idea, leading to the ‘you’re like a dog with a bone who won’t let go’. I can overfocus on researching interesting topics etc. or doing work if it’s fun or more interesting than other work (leading to loss of appropriate timing), but if it’s boring/uninteresting, my focus goes everywhere, even if I don’t want it to, I cannot focus and end up getting distracted.



The trouble is, overfocus also causes underfocus.



Underfocus is also a problem and I’ll start on a task and move onto several other things before one is finished even when I don’t want to – I ‘auto-pilot’ onto other things.



If it’s interesting or fun or will be of benefit in the short term, I can overfocus. Otherwise…



I also sometimes ‘hyperfocus’ where I don’t notice anything else going on around me because I am so absorbed in something. This isn’t a choice thing. I don’t get this very much though.

Getting started and keeping going

Definitely. I have put off or abandoned too many ideas and projects. Procrastination features strongly here. It’s like I’m stuck in first gear and really trying to change gears but I can’t and all the cars behind me are queuing up behind and beeping their horns at me. The more cars there are, the more horns that are beeping and the louder it is, but I can shift the gears and go somewhere – go where I need to get to. This often leads to panic and great stress in the cases of deadlines. Sometimes it doesn’t because for some reason I feel calm about it and just give up trying to shift the gears. Often, the enthusiasm and energy comes in bursts and then just disappears without a trace.



This probably fits under more headings than just this one, but I will write it here:



One maths lesson (bad subject, but still in top set), I was able to do the work. Huh? That sounds a bit strange. Well, I often could do the work, but I’d stop, start, drift off and work at a snail’s pace. I would be forcing myself to, well, start and keep going, but I couldn’t. I just couldn’t. However, on the day in question, it was amazing – I was granted a taster of what it felt like to be someone else – to just start the work and keep going. In fact it was so amazing, it felt like someone had slipped something into my drink at breakfast (actually, I’d probably forgotten to have a drink at breakfast). Basically, it showed up even more what I should be capable of doing but wasn’t. At the time, I thought maybe something had somehow miraculously gone ‘click’ in my brain and that I could suddenly do everything properly. Even the teacher said in an astonished voice something along the lines of, ‘goodness, what did you have for breakfast this morning?’ (I’d had what I normally did – a bowl of cereal). I was really pleased and worked really well until the end of the lesson. I left the lesson really happy and have never experienced such a clear, well-working head again. ‘You don’t know what you’ve got until you’ve lost it’, or rather in this case, ‘you don’t know what you haven’t got until you gain it’ (and lose it again).

Inattentive/distractible

External distractions

If there is some sight or sound, I can easily be distracted by it, including when I am talking – if there are other sounds around me, I find it difficult to talk at the same time. Once I was in a room so noisy and full of people talking etc. that when I tried to say something to my friend, I got so distracted, everything that came out of my mouth was utter rubbish! I didn’t realise it at first, but when I found she was looking at me with an expression of utter confusion, I realised that I hadn’t even been listening to what I had been saying and that none of it was making any sense whatsoever!



Minor irritations can be immensely distracting.



Often, I find I haven’t even been thinking about what I’ve been seeing/looking at, but it’s caused what I’m concentrating on/listening to etc. to ‘fade out’.



I don’t really need to say any more in this section.



A restless, circling brain/a busy mind

Yes. Poems, storyline ideas, what happened the day before, ‘I wonder…’, ‘what if…?’ thinking about just about everything and anything – round and round and branching off into loads more thoughts – even thinking about my own thoughts. If there’s nothing going on outside, it’ll be going on inside.



Also, all the thoughts just diverge off. For example, seeing some tiles at the swimming pool caused an instant switch (which would take to long to describe now) to trainers, which went on a whole seemingly random trail of thoughts.

Drifting and ‘spacing’

Drifting: most of the time, trying to listen to someone is like constantly trying to stop someone from turning the volume down, except it’s not the actual volume that keeps fading, but rather the meanings of the words as other thoughts come and go in my head. The trouble is, the harder I try to concentrate on what is being said, the more I am concentrating on concentrating and the less I can concentrate. Often, I really think I’m listening but afterwards, often when I’ve walked away, I realise that I haven’t actually heard what’s been said, and often I’ve gone ‘uh-huh’ and ‘yeah’ etc. all the way through, probably even in the required places, but realised I have not heard at all, but the person thinks I have listened and understood because I have responded in the correct places with ‘yeah’ and ‘uh-huh’ etc.



Sometimes it’s a matter of the concentration on the words going and therefore the words ‘fade’ into the background and other times I have to consciously force myself to think and ‘decode’ the words and make them make sense. A bit like the person who’s talking is speaking another language and my interpreter’s being too slow in the translations!



I keep drifting off in lessons even though I try not to. Sometimes, I don’t even get distracted by thoughts or thinking about things I can see, but just end up looking at something and forgetting to listen. I usually don’t realise until I ‘come back’.



I drifted off in the real French listening GCSE exam, for example and missed a fair bit of what they were saying.



‘Spacing’: slow moving and highly distracting from what I’m supposed to be doing/listening to. Sometimes referred to as ‘in a fog’, so I am told, it often feels similar to being in a dream (but not the same). It’s extremely hard to explain/describe but I’ll do my best:




You see and hear what’s going around you but it feels like just as it’s described – in a fog; everything is sort of unclear and it’s like you’re just sort of floating amongst it all, but in a mental sense, not in a physical sense.
It’s like your brain won’t quite work fast enough or on a sort of ‘auto-pilot’ with minimum input ability from you. You seem to reply/respond/act automatically while your brain is off somewhere else, trying to take in and think about too much and not succeeding.
It’s a bit like you’re ‘muddling through’ everything.
Sometimes it’s a bit like when the computer is playing a DVD and the picture goes jerky but the sound carries on and the picture has to catch up – they don’t go together properly for a bit – it’s like my brain goes jerky, but everything else carries on and I’ve got to catch up.
It feels like other things too, but I can’t put them into words because it’s too difficult.


Sometimes, drifting off and ‘spacing’ (being ‘in a fog’) is caused by mental tics or tics which require concentration to perform. This is not so in the majority of cases.



A lot of the time I feel sort of (I say ‘sort of’ because it’s not quite right, but it’s the only way I can explain it) as if I’m inside my head – like I’ve sort of ‘gone backwards’ into my head and the world’s there, but it’s like I’m not quite all there – I’m not making contact with what’s going on and what I should be doing and how I should be reacting and what I am, or rather should be, or maybe shouldn’t be doing. Or like all the reactions/perceptions etc. are sort of ‘blunted’. It’s almost as if I’m wasting time because, well, the best way I can think of describing it is ‘as if I’m not in the moment’ which sounds a bit strange really, because I don’t feel like I’m anywhere else in time or physically, but as if I’m not quite ‘in the moment’/’in the situation’ mentally. Actually, what now comes to mind is an expression I remember from somewhere: ‘the lights are on, but no one’s home’. Maybe this explains it a bit better.

Retaining and remembering

This is a tricky one. There is a test on the BBC website which requires you to remember a list of random nouns in order and then, once you’ve clicked on a button, they get scrambled up and you have to drag them back to their correct order. Before you start, you select from a list the number of words you want to play the game with. To start with, I could barely do ten words, but then I found a system of incorporating the items into bizarre stories and ended up able to ‘go freestyle’ with 45 words which I completed correctly (but didn’t try going further – I got bored). That’s not bad – 45 random nouns…so why am I so forgetful with other things?



I think one of the reasons for forgetting to do something is that I have to ‘remember to remember to do it’ – i.e. the thought doesn’t enter my head when it should do. The memory was there, but because I don’t remember that there is anything to remember, I don’t remember to do ad therefore do whatever it is I’m supposed to have remembered to do! (Which would explain when I can do well at a memory test but not other things in day-to-day life – because, when sitting in front of a memory test, you know what you’ve got to do and that you’ve got to remember something(s) – you don’t have to remember to remember something.)



Another reason is probably because I don’t listen properly to what I’ve just been told to do.



Sometimes, though, I think it just doesn’t go in properly (because of not concentrating when it was being said). An example of this is being asked, while standing at the bottom of the stairs, to close the curtains at the top of the stairs and then completely forgetting to do it as soon as I was less than half way up. I meant to do it, really I did, but it just does not go in (plus I got distracted by other thoughts). This and not remembering to remember leads to ‘you can’t be bothered to remember’ type phrases said to me.



Another example of things that seem to just not go in, is looking at my watch/checking the time – I look at it and read the time in my mind, but as soon as it’s gone from in front of my face, I have absolutely no idea at all what the time is. I can check my watch about five times in a row and still not know what the time is, even if I read it out loud.



Also, I can remember useless details from things I am interested in and things that happened a while ago, but not what I have just been told.



Also, there is so much people are expected to remember and to remember to do! I never understand it – are people constantly thinking about what they should be remembering to do?!



All I want to say is that if I could remember, I would, but the fact remains that I can’t help being this way.



I also get the ‘what did I come in here for?’ situations a lot and also getting stuck/’blocked’. I can be doing something and just ‘freeze’, not knowing what to do. This getting stuck/’blocked’ isn’t just to do with memory (see organisation).



The ‘what did I come in here for?’ occurrences don’t just happen in a physical ‘what did I come in here for?’ sense; for example, on the computer, I’ll open the start menu and then, in those few seconds, forget what I was about to do and what programs I was going to open.



A lot of the time, I’ll get a thought for a couple of seconds, and before I’ve ‘caught hold’ of it fully, it’s slipped away again (like trying to catch a fish!) and I’ll spend the next few seconds to minutes trying to remember what it was. Sometimes when I forget what I’m doing, I go into a sort of automatic mode where I do some useless actions which make it look and feel like I’m carrying on, but I’m not doing what I should be doing, a bit like saying ‘er’ when you get stuck for words. An example of this would be to knock up and down the wall until I switch back on and remember what I should be doing/was going to do – the knocking is automatic and I often don’t realise I’m doing it until I get ‘unstuck’ and remember what I was going to do. Another example would be to open the file menu on the computer and, because I’ve forgotten what I was going to do, carry on with a similar sequence by clicking in exit, where I was supposed to click on open.



Writing down things I have to remember to do later is of little help, because then I have to:


Remember that I have written it down
Remember where I have put the list
And if I put all my reminders in the same place, you can almost guarantee that I wont be anywhere near that place when I write it or I’ll forget to put it there, or to look there at the right time!



I’ve tried the lists, I’ve tried the post-it notes and I’ve tried the electronic personal organiser (including the watch with schedule). I’m still working at the diary, but even if, by some miracle, I remember to write in it, I won’t remember to look in it again.

Poor time management

There is little to say to this one except ‘yes’.



When I started college, I was amazed and really happy to find that I could start each piece of coursework on the day it was set, continue it at a good pace and be able, for once, to ‘feel’ where the deadlines were so that I was able to manage the time it took to complete the assignments relatively well.



Now I have fallen back to the old situation of not being able to ‘feel’ where the deadlines are. What I mean by this is that when you are given deadlines, you are supposed to, I believe, be able to sense the distance/the amount of time both between each deadline and between where you are, time wise, and where each deadline is. I don’t seem to be able to do this, not properly, anyway – not consistently, although I got a taste of it in September, possibly because the course was fresh and new and, because of that, particularly interesting and exciting.



Because of this and problems with getting started, I procrastinate a lot, not only with work but also with putting ideas into practice.

Disorganisation

Definitely. I think this is a combination of distractibility, forgetfulness and poor time management but I think also there’s something in my brain which can’t sort things properly. Not only that, but when I try and sort out the stuff in accumulating piles on my bedroom floor, desk and shelves, I get kind of ‘mind blocks’ and I end up staring at individual pieces of paper, not being able to think what to do with them. This getting blocked thing can apparently be seen from the outside when it happens. My mum first noticed this fairly recently – we were out somewhere and I was holding a bag and we picked up a leaflet with some information on to take home and when she told me to put it in the bag, I got completely stuck and she said she could actually see it. Sometimes I don’t even know why I get stuck – sometimes it’s mental tics or tics I have to concentrate on, but usually it’s like there’s a thought there, but it can’t ‘get through’ so that I can carry it out or think about it. Sometimes (or maybe every time) this could be to do with having to many thoughts or having half drifted off and not coming back fast enough. I don’t really know.



When I do manage to put things into logical places/folders etc., I can usually find them even less easily than when they weren’t ‘organised’. I often wonder how people do it – be organised, that is. How do they sort things and how do they remember where they’ve put it all.

Circular speech

I’m pretty sure I do this, but I can’t say for certain. I keep adding, correcting and sidetracking, going back and adding bits as I go along and stopping mid sentence to start on another topic before I’ve finished the first, possibly going back to the original topic(s) afterwards. I’m not sure, but I think I’m better that I was, with less digressions, but I don’t usually listen to myself that much when I talk so I don’t know.



Sometimes, I find it hard what sentence to say, getting stuck because I’m trying to get two sentences out at once. Other times, I say the end of what I want to say before I’ve finished saying the bit which was supposed to come before – sometimes with the punch line of a joke, so the joke is a bit messed up and spoiled.



I also talk too much, so my parents say, although, I don’t know about at college. I’m sure I don’t speak all the time, but my parents say that I do.



I also speak out of a compulsion to a lot of the time; reading signs which really do not need to be read and saying random thoughts which I just have a compulsion to say, with a feeling of tension, ranging from mild to fairly intense, building up until I say it, or sometimes I just say it without saying it at all, without meaning to – especially with reading out things I’ve read such as signs.

Social clumsiness

I can read body language and facial expressions just like the next man (or woman as the case may be), but when it comes to social settings, I end up offending people by using the wrong tones of voice, or reacting wrongly, for example laughing when my friend gets told off (we always used to do it in my old school, why is it suddenly wrong to do it now at college? Why are people so difficult, so different?). There are too many times when I just haven’t picked up on what they were feeling and behaved or spoken inappropriately, much to the intense annoyance of the person/people.



Also, if someone doesn’t say something how they mean it, I won’t always know until I realise it later, or when someone tells me later, by which time it’s too late. An example:

At college, a small group of us were told to saw a piece of wood. Someone started to saw it and then someone else had a go. Then it was my turn and we all found that I could cut it quicker than them so I carried on so we could get the job done. After a while, someone who had already had a turn said, ‘do you want me to do some now?’ Well, I thought she thought I was getting tired and was offering to help me by taking over the sawing, but I wanted to carry on, so I said, ‘no thanks’ and carried on.



Later, a friend of the girl who had asked me the question told me that I had taken over with sawing the wood and that the others weren’t that happy. I was confused because they had all said how well I cut the wood and how I may as well do it and I hadn’t refused anyone a go with the wood. Then I realised that ‘do you want me to do some now?’ meant ‘can I do some now?’. If only she’d said!



I don’t like big social gatherings much. I always feel like people are scrutinising my every action and judging me and I’m rubbish with the whole ‘keep the conversation going’ thing. I never know what to talk about and it’s hard to think and talk when there’s so much noise and movement going on. Also, if there’s food, I’ll get preoccupied with it and concentrate on getting and eating that instead of talking. Except, sometimes I talk too much, and often, a part of my brain tells me to stop talking because I suspect the other person is getting bored, but it’s like it’s not getting through enough to actually stop the part of the brain actually controlling the talking, and it’s like I’m programmed to finish the whole load of what I’m saying, no matter what. And if the conversation topic is steered away from something I’m really interested in, even if I’ve talked for too long on it, I’ll just steer it back again, which is the wrong thing, really, but if the conversation gets steered away before the programmed sequence of speech, I have to steer it back.



I don’t like group work, I prefer to work on my own, where I can use my ideas at my own pace without having to tell the group about them first and wait for their approval and keep the social skills going at the same time. But group work can sometimes help me keep on track and keep going, but often, I’ll either stay ‘at the bottom’ and say and do very little, or go right ‘to the top’ and be overpoweringly bossy. This, however, is when the group falls apart a bit – lack of organisation and planning makes one a bad group leader and organiser. Also, in a group, I’ll persist with one or two ideas and keep contributing them and try to fit them in even when the group has rejected them or doesn’t want to know, or if the ideas don’t fit at all.



Apart from all this, I have got some friends and can get on with people, I just find it very hard and I constantly try not to let my guard down – as soon as I let my guard down, I say something stupid or hurtful without thinking. A lot of the time, I just like to be left alone to think or do what I want to, or just sit and watch what’s going on. This doesn’t mean I don’t want friends – it just means I don’t want to be with and talk with them all the time.

Interrupting

There is one impulsive symptom which springs to mind – interrupting people. I don’t mean to be rude, but if I think of something to tell the other person, I’ll just start saying it, even if they’re still talking. I’m impatient and I can’t keep it in, I’ve got to say it. If I don’t, I’ll also forget what I was going to say really soon.

Other

There are probably other things too, but I can’t remember them now and I probably don’t need to write them.

:) :) :) Thanks again :) :) :)

A very interesting post!

Of course no one here will be able to tell you if you have ADD or not, but to me it certainly seems like a possibility.


"A lot of the time I feel sort of (I say ‘sort of’ because it’s not quite right, but it’s the only way I can explain it) as if I’m inside my head – like I’ve sort of ‘gone backwards’ into my head and the world’s there, but it’s like I’m not quite all there – I’m not making contact with what’s going on and what I should be doing and how I should be reacting and what I am, or rather should be, or maybe shouldn’t be doing. Or like all the reactions/perceptions etc. are sort of ‘blunted’. It’s almost as if I’m wasting time because, well, the best way I can think of describing it is ‘as if I’m not in the moment’ which sounds a bit strange really, because I don’t feel like I’m anywhere else in time or physically, but as if I’m not quite ‘in the moment’/’in the situation’ mentally. Actually, what now comes to mind is an expression I remember from somewhere: ‘the lights are on, but no one’s home’. Maybe this explains it a bit better."
I recognise this.


I think one of the reasons for forgetting to do something is that I have to ‘remember to remember to do it’ – i.e. the thought doesn’t enter my head when it should do. The memory was there, but because I don’t remember that there is anything to remember, I don’t remember to do ad therefore do whatever it is I’m supposed to have remembered to do! (Which would explain when I can do well at a memory test but not other things in day-to-day life – because, when sitting in front of a memory test, you know what you’ve got to do and that you’ve got to remember something(s) – you don’t have to remember to remember something.)
Oh, you explain it so well!



Are you waiting to get diagnosed?

I'm in the middle of the process myself.

A very interesting post!

Oh, you explain it so well!
Thanks :) It was hard, but I managed to get my words down in the end :)

Are you waiting to get diagnosed?
Well, I can't talk to my mum about it as she'd probably deny it ('everyone has their little problems, we'd know all about it if you had ADD - you'd never be able to keep still' er, ever heard of 'inattentive only' type?) :mad:

Anyway, I am going through a v-e-r-y slow process through college which might lead nowhere, but I'm trying...

I know that to make a proper diagnosis they have to hear your history from your parents, don't they? So, if the clollege think I do/might have ADD, then it will be much easier to explain it all to my parents.

I'm in the middle of the process myself.
Good luck :)

And thank you VERY much for reading my post :) :) :) :) :)

I will concede after about 1/2 to 2/3 of your post, I was convinced you were a very likely candidate for ADD and couldn't bring myself to finish it. I will reread the rest later, but I hope the next month or so is a wonderful period of discovery and better acceptance of yourself. So glad you stopped by here, you'll love it!

It was a little long for me too... read through most of it and skimmed the rest.

It sounds to me like you're a lot like I am, but I couldn't do well at memory tests (the kind where you get a list of words, numbers, letters, etc and have to repeat them back). Although it's not way below average, it's below my average on other abilities.

I think each university is different in their procedure, but it took a long time for me as well. The process for me was...
Meet first with a counselor to discuss my problems. The counselor then referred my to the psychiatrist because it sounded to her like what I was describing resembled ADD enough to check it out. I met with the psychiatrist and she asked me questions about history as well. Then back with the counselor I had to fill out a couple of questionnaires. Then, the psychiatrist, counselor, and the coordinator of psychological services got together to review all of the information they had at that point and agreed that it was consistent enough with ADD to warrant doing some psychological testing for additional support. After 8hrs worth of psych testing, I had to wait for the psychologists who administered those tests to score them and prepare a summary report.
Once that was ready, the counselor, psychiatrist, and coordinator got together again to review those. They had to all agree that all the pieces fit and individually they all pointed to ADD. They then made the diagnosis and I could finally meet with the psychiatrist at that point to get medication. :faint:

Do you know why it's taking them so long? Have they told you what they're going to need to do?

It was incredibly hard to wait when I was struggling so much and in my mind I already knew what was wrong. I just wanted someone to help me fix it! I felt like I was going to mess things up (academically) beyond fixing before I'd ever get through my university's procedure for a diagnosis. I finally got through it and I'm doing much much better now.

Just do what you can to get by and as you find out more about their process, if you see a way to speed it up, don't be shy about asking.

Can I nominate Naomi for the longest post award? I think that's like 6or7 hits of the "PgDn" key~!

Thanks all of you for reading as much as you did. I know it's a long, hard read, so a big, big thank you to you all.

Anilyze, that is one hell of a long procedure! :faint: I have to do the first few stages without my parents knowing, so it's probably going to very difficult (and my parents might not accept that I do have it at the end of it all. Even if they do, they probably would say no to meds, but a diagnosis would still help loads).

At the moment, I am at the very first stage, in fact before the very first stage - a very helpful tutor at my college has 'started the ball rolling' for me by emailing some department somewhere in the college. I really appreciate what she's doing for me - if it was left in my hands, it wouldn't get done. I am just relying on her practically 100% to help me, which I feel a bit bad about, but, as I said before, it wouldn't get done if left to me.

Can I nominate Naomi for the longest post award? I think that's like 6or7 hits of the "PgDn" key~!
Sorry about it being sooo long! :o :p :)

Is there really an award for the longest post?


And anyone else who happens to come across this post, please put your comment in too if you can. Thanks :) :) :) :) :) :)

Sounds like you fit alott of the criteria and you could go for an official diagnosis...
What does "an officiall diagnosis really mean:confused:
Like, do have to take some test and get a certificate or something, or do 5 psych's telling you they think you have it count?

What does "an officiall diagnosis really mean:confused:
Like, do have to take some test and get a certificate or something, or do 5 psych's telling you they think you have it count?
Am I right in thinking you haven't got ADD yoursef then? :)

An official diagnosis is where you consult two or more (I think) professionals and they ask you loads of questions, do tests and ask family members about your history, etc. and if they agree you do have the disorder, then you have been 'officially diagnosed'. You can then be prescribed medication and/or they offer you help. In my case, I am at college doing a course equivalent to A Levels so I am struggling with that, so I am hoping that if I received a diagnosis they could help me somehow.

It is also, depending on the person, immensely helpful and comforting knowing:

there are others like you
you are not mad, stupid or lazy
there are reasons for your behaviour etc.
you can get help
you can explain it to others more easily
Thanks again for your response and thanks for reading such an excruciatingly long post.

I'd also like say that I am looking to get as many opinions on this as possible, so if there's anyone else readin this, please do read as much as you can and leave a post (long or short) with your opinion. Thank you.

I think one of the reasons for forgetting to do something is that I have to ‘remember to remember to do it’ – i.e. the thought doesn’t enter my head when it should do. The memory was there, but because I don’t remember that there is anything to remember, I don’t remember to do ad therefore do whatever it is I’m supposed to have remembered to do! (Which would explain when I can do well at a memory test but not other things in day-to-day life – because, when sitting in front of a memory test, you know what you’ve got to do and that you’ve got to remember something(s) – you don’t have to remember to remember something.)
Oh, you explain it so well![/quote]
I meant to ask - is it just this aspect I explain well and that you identify with or are there other things I wrote like this?

I need to know, because if there are loads of things I worte/described that you (and others) with ADD really identify with, then that's good because I'm not talking a load of (possibly non-ADD) nonsense.

Almost every section had something that rang true as being potentially ADD-related. I think you're very much on the right track, but your doctors will tell you more. If you met someone who knew very little about ADD and told you that, since you're not hyper, you cannot be ADD, I would be concerned that he was a nut-job! Otherwise, a qualified professional will help guide you through your mindstyle. Best wishes.

Thank you very much - that was very helpful :)

:) Of course, any more opinions will be greatly appreciated :)

I think the length of your post may have made it a little challenging for many of our members to read. :)

I think that you probably have enough going on to be seeking a diagnosis. I hope the process is going well. It might help to print all that out and bring it in and/or email it to them.

Before going in for my diagnosis, I started on a list that was somewhat similar, but I gave up after it reached three pages, and decided to just go in there and wing it. Kind of let my ADHD side shine, so to speak.

I had thought that I was more of the inattentive type as well, but I was diagnosed as combined. Never was good at being just one thing, I guess. :D

By the other way, my mother didn't know a lot about ADHD at first (neither did I), but when I sent her a copy of "Driven to Distraction," she agreed that I probably have it, and so does she, and lots of others in our family. You should see us at family gatherings -- total madhouse. :)

I think the length of your post may have made it a little challenging for many of our members to read. :)I know sorry about that :o :)

I think that you probably have enough going on to be seeking a diagnosis.Okay. Thanks.

I hope the process is going well.Thank you :) I haven't heard anything further yet.

It might help to print all that out and bring it in and/or email it to them.
I did finally get around to it, before your post even - yay! (I told you I'm overfocussing on this! :)

Before going in for my diagnosis, I started on a list that was somewhat similar, but I gave up after it reached three pages, and decided to just go in there and wing it.I find I can't do that because if I did, I would get stuck (might get mentally 'blocked' and give them a rather innacurate description). I find that there are so many things that could happen in all sorts of situations, I have to have a plan and make it go the way I want to go, otherwise I might get lost. (I hpe that makes sense).

I had thought that I was more of the inattentive type as well, but I was diagnosed as combined. Never was good at being just one thing, I guess. :DI'm definately not combined - if I fit any hyperactive-impulsive criteria at all, it won't be more than two, I don't think.

By the other way, my mother didn't know a lot about ADHD at first (neither did I), but when I sent her a copy of "Driven to Distraction," she agreed that I probably have it, and so does she, and lots of others in our family. You should see us at family gatherings -- total madhouse. :)'Driven to distraction'? I'll try to remember that.

Thanks :)


--> And anyone else reading this, please give your views too! The more the merrier I always say :D (Basically, I want something to fall back on if my mum says I definately don't have ADD - I can show her what you lot have written :) - I'm just worring so much about how I can talk to her about all this :( )

Noticed you were from England....your in luck happen to be having a UK special .....

I have just came from another post also in this area of the forums and the person also happens to live in the UK. I did some searching for places that will hopefully be of help for those who live out side the US.

I saved the sites in my favorites so I would be able to have information for people who are out side the US. Often things are very different in other countries so information from the US may be of little use. I do know the medical system is a lot different.....


Offers info by counrty, good for non-English as well as english (http://www.pavilion.co.uk/add/)

psychnet-UK (http://www.psychnet-uk.com/dsm_iv/attention_deficit_disorder.htm)

netdoctor co.UK (http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/)

I do hope these site will be of some assistance as I do not know if the diagnosis criteria will be the same for your country as they are here in the US. I believe you may get a better idea by accessing information from people who are more familiar....

Fisrt of all, thanks a lot to all who have posted in this thread - you have been a great help to me.

I have seen someone at college about ADD and I'm going to meet her again soon although I have to see my GP for a diagnosis :( (more appointments :rolleyes: )

I have tried to bring such things as drifting off/blanking out etc. in a conversation with my mum (and my brother) and all they said (in rather an annoyed (if not cross) way) were things like 'everyone does that', 'that's nothing to worry about' etc. etc. etc. and I'm really doubting what I have even though I'm pretty sure I have ADD. (My mum and my brother can't have ADD too - they are organised).

I mean, I know everyone drifts off etc. but all the time? And completely, I mean completely blanking out and also feeling 'in a fog' like being in a dream (as described in first post above)?

Please someone advise me before I go mad completely!

Also, how do I get to explain it to my mum? :confused:

I meant to ask - is it just this aspect I explain well and that you identify with or are there other things I wrote like this?

I need to know, because if there are loads of things I worte/described that you (and others) with ADD really identify with, then that's good because I'm not talking a load of (possibly non-ADD) nonsense. I'm sorry I'm answering so late.

No, it wasn't the only thing I identified with. There were loads of other things I recognised either from myself or from other members' descriptions of their issues. It was just that the part with 'remember to remember' really struck a cord in me. I thought it was so spot on! I've thought a lot about how I always seem to remember things at the wrong time myself; e.g. when I can't do anything about it like remembering that I'd planned to call a friend I haven't talked to for ages at 3 a.m.

I see. Thanks :)

And don't worry about answering late :)

Thanks again.

I didn't realize there was a combined type. I guess I am, then, since I have traits of both. Most people see me as calm, but there's really a tornado in my head. I get stressed out really easily. I do 10 things simultaneously and fast, but never really accurately. I can't even sit still to watch tv. I can't talk on the phone without pacing. I have a horrible time with instructions of any kind, to the point where I will even take a test back-a#%wards and almost finish before I notice I've done everything wrong! I have absolutely no patience. If I can even bring myself to start a project I dislike, I get bored in a nano second.

But, I have so many bad memories of my adolescence from being teased unmercifully about being "stupid" and just different in general. I am sometimes painfully shy and unassertive and have no self-esteem. I was always critized for being lazy and for just not paying attention. Lately, I hesitate before speaking since it seems I have been saying more silly things than usual. I can hardly pay attention to my husband or my daughter! I can recognize the numbers 2 + 2, but I can't manage to get 4 out of them without a whole lot of thought. I can see the main objective, and even the steps of how to get there, but I can't seem to get the sequence down.

Is there any special treatment for combined? I don't see my therapist for a few weeks and I have a million questions. So, I'll make a list of the questions, then put it in a safe place, and then forget where I put it when it's time to go! :confused:

I saw someone for the second time today (college additional needs coordinator). She cannot diagnose me with anything but she said what I have could possibly be dyslexia or dyspraxia. I don't understand this as:

(dyslexia) while I have bad handwriting and note taking, I can spell very well and can read well (except what I read often just comes out as sounds which don't make sense unless I read it several times and force myself) - I could read before nursery and I can write well too and have a good vocabulary. Also, dyslexia means 'word dysfunction'
(dyspraxia) I don't have coordination problems as far as I am aware (apart from some jerky, unbalanced movement when I am nervous or self-conscious) and dyspraxia means 'movement dysfunction'
So I am a bit confused altogether. If someone could enlighten/advise me etc. that would be great.

PS
I am going to see this additional needs coordinator every week from now (hopefully) and she said she will try to get some one in to do tests etc. on me in September - that's a LONG time to wait! :eek:

Anyway, please leave some helpful comments below. Thanks :) ...

Have you managed to reduce your "brain circling" - or do memebers have any tips

No, sorry.

Good post!

I can defintely identify with loads of the things said on there, especialy the 'Drifting and spacing' part! Sometimes feels like I'm in a hazey dream where I'm on auto pilot and cant really control the things I'm doing, which I havent seen as much of a common symptom with ADHD....But, your not the only one :p

Anyway good luck with the DX And such!

I also suffer from inattentive add but mine is much more intense and im not very functional because of it. Most of the points you posted ring true with me but others dont as i've found little ways to deal with them. I imagine im a bit older than you though so its natural that i've adapted some coping mechanisms.

I've been misdiagnosed with all sorts of depressive disorders which isnt suprising if you look at some of the major symptoms of IADD they mimic depression in various forms (tired, unmotivated, bored easily). I had never considered any form of ADD though as i thought i was able to focus on things when in reality i was just hyperfocusing on whatever was most stimulating and forgetting about everything else in life. Unfortunately, when it comes to doing any sort of productive tasks i become bored and tired very quickly to the point that i can no longer focus on whatever im doing and have to quit. Next week im seeing my doctor and hopefully he'll help me out and i can become at least semi functional.

Im not sure what the point of my post is but i thought i'd chime in.