Hi. I just recently realized that I may have ADD. When I first stumbled upon it 2 months ago I couldn't believe my "luck". It was a perfect description of how I have felt for as long as I can remember. At the same time, it's a little too easy for me to just conclude that I have it, and blame all my "laziness" on this condition. There are lots of possible reasons for distractibility etc. and reaching a hasty conclusion is not the best thing. Before I go further I will mention that I have consulted a doctor, and will be further examined, but the follow-ups are at-least 1-2 months in the future, and I want to find out a little more before then. I've been in search of an explanation to these problems my whole life, but now that I might be close it's hard to wait another month!

I am now 21 years old. My parents has never described me as particularly distracted and unfocused in early childhood. Relatively normal. The only things that seemed out of the norm was (according to parents):

* Very active and "creative" in play and activities
* Took very long before I started talking
* Was extremely stubborn

I don't remember any clear symptoms from early childhood either, but then again, how much important tasks etc was there to procrastinate when one was 5 years old and had the whole world yet to discover.

From the first years in school I can remember being extremely impatient. I was always just waiting for the breaks, and the education was extremely boring. I hardly did any homework, and really did not focus at the education-part of school at all. I think this was never picked up, as I understood the classes easily, and never trailed when it came to performance on tests etc. The teacher have all described me as:

* Not living up to my potential
* Talks too much in class
* Asks too many questions (!)
* Forgetting papers and generally not structured

These things were never taken very seriously, as I performed well, and never did any harm. I was not mean or hyperactive at all. Never had to talk to the principle or anything that I hear many ADHD-kids go through. I was polite and "grown-up" so the teachers seldom got real angry when I made too much noise in class.

When I started high-school, it started to be a real problem for me personally.
I remember looking around the classroom and wondering how "everyone" was able to focus on the tasks at hand. I sat there, pretending to be solving equations while I was waiting for the pause/break(?). I was always irritated at myself for never following through on homework, tasks, appointments and the like. I started buying some books on how to get organized, get self-discipline etc. I started reading most of them, very enthusiastic, but didn't finish any of them (still haven't). I tried following the systems, exercising and the like, but I just didn't manage. This got me even more "down". I found it a little strange that I couldn't absorb any of it, since I usually learn stuff easily. And it was not any lack of motivation on my part.
After high-school I started my own company (web/programming), and it went pretty well. I earn a decent living, and believe that I am very talented/good at what I do. But that does not help when I can sit procrastinating at-least 95% of my workdays. If I have had to travel or stop working on a project for 1-2 days, it can take weeks before I start progressing again. I always pay my bills and fill in tax-forms etc much too late, and that is not because of financial trouble at all. I'm really a MESS.

People outside might not describe me at as I did above. I earn a good living, and seemly perform as well as other people in the field. At the same time, I curse myself over and over, thinking about how INSANELY much I could have accomplished by now if I could just "pull it together". I never get it together. Just yesterday I finished some work for a client that I had procrastinated two weeks over deadline. When I atlast HAD to do it, it took me exactly 26 minutes. I'm so ashamed of how I perform. I always accept work that I minutes later regret accepting.

After trying to measure it, I've found out that I do about 30 minutes of real focused work a-day on average. Still, it feels like I am working every hour of the day, week, month, and year. Sometimes I manage to stay extremely focused and work 10+ hours in a go, with extreme progress in projects. This seems similar to what I have read about "hyperfocus".

So here I am, maybe on the brink of discovering the reason behind all this mess, self-destruction and lack of self-discipline. Among the symptoms I recognize in myself are;

* Procrastination, distractibility and all that "usual" stuff
* Tapping my fingers, twitching my legs etc when sitting still.
* The need to walk when thinking. Often around-and-around table.
* Tending to not registering what others say to me. When doing something else, people can ask me something, and I just answer gibberish, minutes later realizing I was just asked about something.
* Sometimes zoning-out in conversations.
* Extremely bored in many everyday conversations. Daydreaming/Imagining taking the other person's head and just shake it excessively, and other inappropriate things while listening to them:P
* Often interrupting people when I have something to say. Extremely bad habit, and I hate doing it.
* Sometimes talking very much, and very fast. Very enthusiastic when its about a subject I'm interested in.
* Sometimes I think so much that it drives me crazy. hundreds of thoughts in my head at the same time, being unable to make sense of it, and unable to watch tv or anything when it is at its worst. This is mostly when I am stressed and pondering a solution to something work-related.
* Very perfectionist. Gets extremely frustrated when something does not turn out perfect etc.

From what I've read, it should be pretty reasonable to believe that I have ADD/ADHD. At the same time, I still suspect that my lack of focus etc is just an extremely bad habit I have gotten from early school-years, worsening every year. I managed everything in school the first 6-9 years easily, so I might have learned from early on that there was no need to pay attention etc.

Another thing worth mentioning is that I believe I'm fairly intelligent. I have a natural ability at math, physics etc. People describe me as creative. I learn things very fast when I really try to. Have not yet taken any real big IQ-test (intending to take the WAIS), but all the serious tests on the net end up around 135 +/-.

I don't know how much advice you can give me, but I just want to hear if this sounds familiar? What other possibilities are there? I'm a little embarrassed if I get examined and it turns out nothing is wrong except my f***ing self-discipline. I don't want to blame my inability to pull it together solely on a disorder. Writing this feels itself a little therapeutic :-) I have now sat at my desk for 8 hours without even opening any of my work-related apps/projects, and i HATE it.

Edit: sorry if the language is a little bad at times, not native-speaking.

Edit 2: I know this is already too long, but I had to add something;
I get the impression that many people are unfocused, lazy, and distracted. Therefore I'm not sure. The only difference seems to be that they don't care, while I HATE myself for not getting my act together. Many people seem to have no goals in life, but I do. They might be as unstructured as me, but while they "don't care", I am crushed by the fact..

* Procrastination, distractibility and all that "usual" stuff
* Tapping my fingers, twitching my legs etc when sitting still.
* The need to walk when thinking. Often around-and-around table.
* Tending to not registering what others say to me. When doing something else, people can ask me something, and I just answer gibberish, minutes later realizing I was just asked about something.
* Sometimes zoning-out in conversations.
* Extremely bored in many everyday conversations. Daydreaming/Imagining taking the other person's head and just shake it excessively, and other inappropriate things while listening to them:P
* Often interrupting people when I have something to say. Extremely bad habit, and I hate doing it.
* Sometimes talking very much, and very fast. Very enthusiastic when its about a subject I'm interested in.
* Sometimes I think so much that it drives me crazy. hundreds of thoughts in my head at the same time, being unable to make sense of it, and unable to watch tv or anything when it is at its worst. This is mostly when I am stressed and pondering a solution to something work-related.

All of these are ADHD traits, I experience all of these too, go see your doctor and see what they think :)


* Very perfectionist. Gets extremely frustrated when something does not turn out perfect etc.
I don't know if this is ADHD but I am also a perfectionist. Drives me crazy!


Good luck!

Superator, it really does sound like aspergers syndrome (autistic spectrum) cause I am 27 years old and most of the stuff you posted related to what I experience too, pretty odd cause I also owned my own internet business (multiple websites) and made very good money too, and know php too, and pretty much everything related to it, Have you done affiliate marketing? (also known as selling internet products) I'm on disability now. I would check with a nerologist and check the aspergers syndrome forum too for the symptoms, but sure does sound like you have Aspergers (which I believe Einstein) and nobel prize winners have,had. checkout my youtube channel, and the favorites, and watch the video "my brother james" also for an example of someone with aspergers. Anyway hope my information helps.
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Hi jc10101. I've read about aspergers too, but the symptoms / treats does not seem familiar to me. Are there any special things you were thinking about? Are there anything I describe that is typical aspergers and not ADD?

I even saw that one "criteria" for aspergers is "no significant delay in language development", and delay in language development was one of the three things my parents remember as out of the norm in my childhood.

superator, the difference is that those with aspergers are all different, I believe that the main symptoms of aspergers is the following:

Restricted repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests, and activities, as manifested by at least one of the following:

*encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus
*apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals
*stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g., hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole-body movements)
persistent preoccupation with parts of objects .

Meaning that they tend to stay mainly with 1 favorite activity most of there life and will keep on doing it over and over. example for me it's on the computer for 10+ hours a day, clueless on whats going on around me. I tend to listen to the same songs on my computer over and over. and usually it gets to the point, where I get very bored and go for a walk every couple hours. All very sinsitive to the senses: meaning sounds: hate dogs barking and or can hear a car park in your front yard before they actually are there... Alot of people dont understand that everyone is different who has aspergers, they may have some mild or no symptoms, however repetitive motor mannerisms (such as playing with your hair alot) and or hand movement is a major symptom a long with the repetive favorite activitys daily and will not usually do anything else (even lack of excersize) most of the time is a main symptom.

Asperger's seems highly unlikely. The only thing mentioned that wasn't really ADD was

* Took very long before I started talking

Then again, as a kid you also were

* Very active and "creative" in play and activities
* Talks too much in class

That's very ADHD and very NOT Asperger's.

Things like tapping fingers don't really indicate Asperger's as they can be hyperactivity related...

Hey superator,

From the first years in school I can remember being extremely impatient. I was always just waiting for the breaks, and the education was extremely boring. I hardly did any homework, and really did not focus at the education-part of school at all. I think this was never picked up, as I understood the classes easily, and never trailed when it came to performance on tests etc.
I totally relate, except for the fact that I was extremely shy - and so was quiet in class. HATED school - so boring... I resented having to be there. I rarely paid attention, never participated, but as you say:


These things were never taken very seriously, as I performed well, and never did any harm. I was not mean or hyperactive at all. Never had to talk to the principle or anything that I hear many ADHD-kids go through. I was polite and "grown-up"
.........nothing but good grades and praise from teachers. Only an occasional "needs to participate more" or "needs to put in more effort"... nothing that anyone ever really considered a problem. It seems I only needed to pay attention for a minute or two to catch enough to get the good grades - - and all the rest was a maddening waste of time.

All the stuff in your adult life - ditto.


I'm a little embarrassed if I get examined and it turns out nothing is wrong except my f***ing self-discipline. I don't want to blame my inability to pull it together solely on a disorder.
Yes, I know that exact line of thought, and I was going to bring up THIS very idea until you said it yourself:

I get the impression that many people are unfocused, lazy, and distracted. Therefore I'm not sure. The only difference seems to be that they don't care, while I HATE myself for not getting my act together... They might be as unstructured as me, but while they "don't care", I am crushed by the fact..
I have suffered long enough. Tried and failed enough. Beat myself up day in and day out - to NO AVAIL - enough, to know that this is not just an excuse. How in the world can someone want so desperately to just do the things that seem so normal and natural to everyone else...and yet be unable to have even the slightest bit of self-discipline?! It is so easy to believe that I am just a lazy, no-good, pathetic, no-self-discipline, no-self-control, just-not-trying-hard-enough loser - and I have believed that for a long time. But I have wondered the same thing. Are there people out there who are procrastinating, watching TV, being "lazy" and enjoying it? Because I do these things but I'm tortured the entire time. There is truly something different about me than those around me - and I have come to believe that ADHD is quite likely. It explains so many of the great mysteries of my jacked-up life.

So please give yourself the benefit of the doubt. Tell the doctor how it really is, even if it's embarrassing - and see what happens. Reading what all these people have to say on this forum has had a huge impact on me as well. To hear that others have the same behaviors, feelings, thoughts - hard to explain, but it's altering my worldview profoundly.

This indeed sounds incredibly familiar...



I have always thought I was just lazy, just bad at studiying, just messy, just bad at anything and lacking will.

I've always been subborn, described as someone with alot of imagination, since I was a child.
I din't remeber much from primary school, except that I had good results, and I used to fight with boys (girls would cry after a single kick); at least from the second part of primary school my mother used to struggle to make me do my homeworks (could be 10 pm before I would do it).

From what came after, I remember an endless boredom, less and less work, still good results and teachers liked me, thinking I was a good student thanks to my results and as I was not disturbing the class. They also used to says about me that I was not living up to my potential and performing irregulary.
I used to forget and losing things, never had any sense of organisation.

I started to have problems in high school, my results went down, and my self esteem, too. I didn't try to focus on lessons any more, nor to do the homework, I just spent the whole day drawing or reading books or daydreaming, waiting for the break, as I would fail when I tried to be a good student anyway. I didn't manage to learn any lesson any more, though I used to find it so easy I didn't actually need to study it. I often didn't finish a lesson reading, or I just started daydreaming in the middle of it, so at the end of it I couldn't tell what it was about.

Contrary to you, I tried to continue studying after high school, but failed, and dropped out before the end. Twice.
Just like you,I can sit procrastinating at-least 95% of my workdays. Whitch means sometimes spending several days not doing anything, staying at home, and still having the feeling of being so busy that I don't have time to do anything. If I have had to travel or stop working on a project for 1-2 days, it can take weeks before I start progressing again. I always pay my bills and fill in tax-forms etc much too late, and that is not because of financial trouble at all. I'm really a MESS. I don't need to change anything to the sentence to fit my personal case. And you'd better not see my appartment (in fact, you can't, I can't let anyone come in, because of that :D )

I've felt the same way you describe in the rest of your message.
And I'm perfectionist, too, which may seem weird to say about someone who hardly finishes anything, and hardly do anything correctly.



And then, you're talking exactly about what I was about to tell you.


After living 22 years like I just described, I've discovered a few monthes ago something I didn't know anything about. It was not ADD (I didn't know about it yet), but giftedness.
I discovered why kids not challenged enough ended up failing school, as they never learned how to work and organise themselves, never learnt what "effort" meant, would find school boring as they would understand faster, wich explained that very often they don't have regular results (working only depending on wether they are interested in what is teached to them or not) or underachieve (not working enough.. erm at all..), sometimes because of not giving academic answers.

I've read that gifted children would often speak very late, because not speaking before they realy understood the language (no "baby speaking", and starting speaking with full sentences).
I also found out how perfectionism could lead to bad results, when you tend toavoid doing things rather than doing it badly.

Then I've seen a psychologist, and passed the WAIS III. And found out I was one.



I've met with other people in the same case, since then, and when I told them about all of my procrastination, attention, etc... problems, one of them being ADD told me she was exactly like that, and the others told me they though of ADD, too, when they heard what I told them.
So maybe giftedness didn't explained everything.

So you asked us what other possibilities there was, this is the only other one that I know about. But, still I'm here, on an ADD forum, trying to find out wether I have it or not. In case. I've explained the reasons why I have doubts in my first post on this forum.


I still don't know if I have ADD or not (I just started to see how I could get a diagnosis), and I feel exactly as you do: I find myself quite ridiculous for trying to put the blame on a disorder, like runing away from the evidence I'm damn lazy, trying not to face this fact.

Then I remember one thing: I'm not looking for an excuse, I'm looking for a solution.
As you said, you hate being like this. Maybe that makes a difference.

I hope you will find out soon. I am, as you can imagine, very interested in what you will find out.
Good luck.

Thanks for the great replies.

I've read that gifted children would often speak very late, because not speaking before they realy understood the language (no "baby speaking", and starting speaking with full sentences).
This is interesting, as this was my mothers exact description when she told about how late i startet talking ("but when you first started, it was fluent and articulate like no other"). I've also read that extreme stubbornness is a common treat in gifted children.

But then again, I just can't see why giftedness should/could explain something like this?

It doesn't necessary explains everything. As I said, I'm here for a reason :p but it can explain some things.

About the childhood:
It is very common that gifted children who are not recognised are bored at school, because they understand after the teacher explained once, and get bored of studiying something simple for so long. Then they may daydream or disturbing class, witch can look similar to adhd. But nobody think of helping a child who have good results. I've heard so many parents who were told, when asking for more advanced studies for their children: "but if he learns this now, what will he do next year? He will be bored"
Asking "too many" questions is often said about gifted children (though I don't understand how a child may asks to many questions: it is proof of curiosity and reflection, but some teachers just don't like it when a child wants more than what he's told)

When a gifted child doesn't recieve specific education (i.e. larger or faster, going to better courses than his age, for example), what happens very often is that he manages, at the beguining, to have average or good results without working, nor make any effort. Then, when his classmates start to learn how to organise their work, and how when something is hard, effort can make them succeed in the end, he is just giving the answers that seem evident to him (that's for the "giving answers, but not being able to explain how you know" that is told about adhd). Homeworks are just as boring as repetitive exercices in class, on subjects he already understood.
When things become more difficult (often in middle hight school, for some people it's even after hight school) they cannot rely only on their potential anymore, and while their classmates continue to work and organise as they have learned, the gifted ones may find it difficult because they don't understand while suddenly, it's not working anymore. They just don't know what "effort" means, and when they are told to work, they are waiting for something like a magic recipe; they have never learnt how to get organise and how to work, so they are overwhelmed.

- Perfectionism is a very common caracteristic.
- Also about you head not stopping thinking.
- Many (at least all of those I know and I've heard of :p) people also say they have always feel inadapted to their environment, with social problems sometimes, because they feel like "E.T.", not interested in the things people around them are interested in, and vice versa, etc... this is for your "bored in daily conversation". It's just a different way of running the thoughts/brain, that make it harder to find people to get along with, as there are less probability to meet people who work the same way you do.
- About the hyperfocusing, I'm not as sure, though.

Emotional hypersensitivity is also an extremely common caracteristic in gifted people.

Now, it wouldn't explain the restlessness, the difficulty to focus attention, and other stuff. That's why I am not saying that you may not be add. As I said, I wouldn't be here on this forum, if I was sure about it. Ans that is why you should probably ask for a diagnosis.

I've heard/read that giftedness could hide ADD as it could allow the person to compensate come of the ADD problems. And also that ADD could mask giftedness by making the person having lower results than they would be able to do if they were not. And that would make the diagnosis more difficult.
Anyway, I think an IQ test is part of the tests that are used for the ADHD diagnosis, isn't it?


i'm very new to ADD, so all I'm saying is to read with this in mind, I may have said some wrong/stupid things.

Sounds identical to what I have been ging through my whole life. I am going to get a real diagnosis on friday. Hopefully it won't be an all day appointment.

Thanks for the great replies.


This is interesting, as this was my mothers exact description when she told about how late i startet talking ("but when you first started, it was fluent and articulate like no other"). I've also read that extreme stubbornness is a common treat in gifted children.

But then again, I just can't see why giftedness should/could explain something like this?
That's funny. The way my mom describes me is that I started out with baby talk, seemingly normal - but after being corrected a time or two, realized I wasn't doing it right and simply stopped talking for another two years. When I resumed, it was in perfect sentences. I always attributed that to my unreasonable perfectionism and fear of criticism.