Hi, I have found these forums really interesting. You all are a great resource.

Here is my question: I am a PhD student and started seeing a therapist a few months ago for anxiety, substance, and organization issues.

Earlier this week my therapist suggested that we should get me looked at for ADD. I must admit I was amazed at this. I didn't think that someone could get to my level of schooling and still possibly have ADD that was undaignosed!

I am on the fence about this. I took a friend's Ritalin once in HS and I remember going in front of my physics class solving problems on the board and everyone looking at me like "what got into this guy?"-but since its speedy wouldn't it do that for most people?

Here are what I would call my symptoms:

constantly losing things-I can't tell you how many mornings have started off badly because I can't find my keys/wallet/shoes/book etc and I end up being late

massively disorganized-to me it is a miracle that I actually do get to places on time. I write things on my hand,put stickies on the bathroom mirror etc in order to remind me

talking to myself and running through scenarios- I have seen the symptom of chatter on some sites.I am not sure this is the same. I tend to miss or forget things because I go off onto these little flights of fancy where I am thinking about what I would say to X if he said Y etc etc and the next thing I know I am standing somewhere and can't remember why I went there or what I was doing.

Inability to see things that are in front of me- I will look for something for 10 minutes only to discover that it is in my hand or right in the middle of the table. I just couldn't see it there the first 10 times I looked there

Miss details: this one used to be terrible in one of my old jobs. I would check and doublecheck these reports and then still get them sent back to me for errors. My boss would get annoyed thinking i was lazy or careless.

Anger and irritability: I tend to get angry at little things very easily-like someone's driivng etc. Where most all of my friends would agree that the person is ajerk, but not get all bent out of shape about it.

Difficulty concentrating when reading-but only really with exteremly high level academic type things

Massive procrastination: I leave everything for the last minute. It's like I need a threat of failure to motivate me to do things.

High caffeine intake: This is what made my thereapist want to get me checked. I can not work or concentrate unless I have had a large dose of caffeine. I can do simpler tasks, but I cannot do anything that I can't all ready kind of do on auto-pilot.


I should note that my father has all of these as well and that the detail and organizational and self-talk have been the way they are all my life.

I guess my question to you all is not to diagnose me, that is coming up next week with the doctor, but to ask-aren't some of these things common to a lot of people? Don't a lot of people experience these things? How does one know the difference?

I had never really found these things to impair my ability until I started my PhD-although my whole life I have been harassed,lectured and teased about them by superiors,co-workers and family. Here things like paying attention to detail, focusing for long periods, self starting, and staying organized are key...and I am terrible at them. I feel like I am just amnaging to keep it together, but barely thus the anxiety and substane abuse are also fed.

Hmm, sure sounds ADDish to me. Best bet is to get the testing and find out for sure. Many ADDers are very intelligent and there are many successful undiagnosed or untreated people out there.

True dat. You also may have symptoms you don't even recognize yet. In my case, I just figured falling asleep in boring situations, like class lectures, was normal.

I guess my question to you all is not to diagnose me, that is coming up next week with the doctor, but to ask-aren't some of these things common to a lot of people? Don't a lot of people experience these things? How does one know the difference?

First of all everything you have said really does sound like ADD (IMO).
And yes all of these can be seen in almost everybody but it comes down to the consistencey or the symtoms and how much impairment they cause in daily life. However someone can have these symtoms to a much higher degree then the average person and still do very well at school as they have learned to get around their ADD-ish ways and use them positively. Theres alot of people on here who were and still are straight A students with ADD/ADHD and some like me who don't do so well.

I think it's definatly worth looking into, a diagnosis could make your life a whole lot easier.

I don't know what else that could possibly be having ADHD myself. I have problems with every one of those things except for caffeine and also have done well in school over the years (97 average in high school)... As boone1 mentioned, some of us do learn to deal with it in a very positive manner and it's not readily apparent that we do have ADHD because it has become synonymous with bad grades, underachieving, and the like.

Aren't some of these things common to a lot of people? Don't a lot of people experience these things? How does one know the difference?
These traits are common, and a lot of people experience them, and once you start looking you'll see them everywhere.
But it's the combination and severity and resulting impairment that make the disorder.
There's no "magic switch" that makes someone ADHD.

Personally, I made it up to Masters level, until I just couldn't keep up anymore.

Well, ADD gets in the way... but you may also have other gifts and talents that compensate. I did pretty well in school based on innate smarts - not bragging, since I'm referencing something I didn't work for, it's just circumstance, lucky or not, born smart enough to hide the ADD until I was 45. Disorganized and distracted and daydreamy and"impatient" and other issues that didn't flag ADD to anyone because they were looking for little boys jumping off furniture.

But sure, hon. You rise as high as you can, compensating for disorganization and all that goes along with ADD, until you reach the pressure point where you can't compensate anymore. Sure you could have it. ADD doesn't mean you're so crippled you can't accomplish anything. It just makes it harder than it needs to be.

I'm reading through your symptoms and going "oh you too?" to most of what you listed! *lol*

Plenty of room in this forum! :)

Ability in school stuff doesn't determine ADD, as many who have ADD do quiet well in school. If the symptoms listed are a problem making life harder for you than most the checking into ADD is more than likely a worth while pursuit.