I have been researching Adult ADD via the internet lately and I have come to find that when reading up on some of the situations and symptoms of people with Adult ADD it’s been like reading an autobiography. I don’t know where to go from here, I am 20 years old with no health insurance working for $7 an hour, and I already have a high medical bill that I have to pay from when I got sick a few months ago and had to go to the ER.

I am a pretty normal guy in the aspect that I am (or so I’m told) attractive, have a very nice girlfriend who I have a very good relationship with (both emotionally and intimately), am able to socialize well with others, I perform well at jobs, get complimented by my mangers all the time, ect. Ect. I could go on, but I’m just pointing out that I don’t have the anti-social or intimacy problems that I have seen pointed out as common symptoms of Adult ADD.

However, when it comes to certain aspects of my life, I feel like a total failure. In school I constantly was told by my teachers I was never living up to my potential, that I was so intelligent but I never did anything about it. I appeared and felt lazy. But the truth was, I scored very well on tests (I’m an excellent test taker) but no matter how hard I tried, and for a while I tried hard, I could never complete class work, home work or projects. I just couldn’t concentrate on them because I felt like I had already learned the material and this was just boring as heck.

When something does intrigue me I give it my full attention, and I learn extremely quick, much quicker than most of my class mates in high school. I remember being accused of cheating by my class mates in high school chemistry because I slept in class and then got a 110% on my chemistry mid term. (Every question right and the bonus questions right)

I dropped out shortly after. I’ve tried to run my own business and have failed miserably because I can’t concentrate long enough to do the tasks I need to do. Like going out and self promoting myself, talking to people, advertising, calling sales leads back. My mind literally jumps around like a bouncy ball from one thing to the next constantly, and it often takes me over an hour to fall asleep, all because the voices in my head will not shut up. People often call me crazy or lazy.

I’ve always felt like I never “quite fit in” and I think very badly of myself and very negatively. I don’t know where to go from here, but I came across this forum and thought maybe I could ask for help.

Not only do I not have the money for tests and prescriptions, I don’t want drugs in me (I’m a very naturalistic person) and I don’t want something like this going on my record and holding me back, I am only 20 years old and have a lot of doors open right now. I don’t want ADD to close them.

What can I do? What should I do?

First off, you sound a lot like me.

What should you do? Start on the path of getting professional help.

You say you don't want this on your record, but I say, go through another, say, 8 years, of struggling and failing and you won't care what goes on "your record", you'll just be desperate to start living a normal life.

What can you do? That's entirely up to you. Read up as much as you can. See how other people's problems relate to yours. See how other people deal with things.
Medication isn't the whole or only solution.

Not only do I not have the money for tests and prescriptions, I don’t want drugs in me (I’m a very naturalistic person) and I don’t want something like this going on my record and holding me back, I am only 20 years old and have a lot of doors open right now. I don’t want ADD to close them.

What can I do? What should I do?

If you're really ADD then yes, you may have all these door open to you, but you also sense that you need some help walking through.
Facing the facts will enable you to go on walking and making the best out of the ADD that you have already in the first place.
Wasting time will close you those doors, not ADD.

Cheers,
T, still wishing he would have known about ADD when those doors were still open