What made you get yourself checked for ADD as an adult? I'm 23 and I think I have ADD because of several things, but mostly I am just doing so badly at work. It is a recurring thing, which I thought would end when I finished school and got a job doing something I'm good at (administrative). Instead the same old little mistakes are happening and I can't seem to stop it! I am so depressed and I've pretty much lost my job (I will be there for another 47 days...and counting before I move back to BC). I feel stupid, incompetent and out of my league getting in trouble constantly. I was valedictorian of my class and now I'm worried that I will never have a job and keep it.

I want to get it checked out, but I'm also scared to. "If you don't know for sure, it's not reality" kind of idea I guess.

I went looking for a diagnosis in response to some reading than I did in the spring -- darned if I can remember what it was. It was probably an Internet news piece of some sort.

Up until that time I had known I was not working up to my potential, and had no idea why.

All of the things that I had blamed it on over the past few decades have slowly been removed from the equation. I got divorced, went through counseling, got a good grip on my self-esteem, took an apartment to myself and had all the free time I could use, later bought a house where I lived alone, later still retired from my job, retrained and moved to a field that I really love which I'm really well-suited to.

By all rights I should have an abundance of time to accomplish the things that I thought I should be accomplishing. Instead, I am frankly not accomplishing anything more than I had when I was still in my original profession 10 years ago.

It never occurred to me for 40 years or more that the problem might be ADHD. Instead it felt like some mysterious prankster was pulling the fog over my brain whenever I wanted to use it. If I had been a little less stable than I actually am, I suppose I might have thought I was under a curse. I also blamed myself, saying that I should care more and I should try harder, but nothing I tried would reliably allow me to exert the amount of care that I thought I should.

I realize that this is way beyond your original question, so I imagine it's time to stop. However, I envy the younger people here, in their late teens or early 20s, who are getting a grip on this condition now, instead of having to wait until they're middle-aged like me.

Ducky
~playing the smallest violin in the world ~

Originally I thought I had a thyroid problem, because of the forgetfulness. Then my mom told me to get checked for ADD which is what made me think of it. She said that the school recommended that I be tested when I was a child, but she didn't think I was so she decided not to. In school I was constantly told that I could have been top in my class if I "applied myself". I hate homework, I wouldn't do it and I would get distracted and forget about it, but I had top marks in my tests right up until college.

I was having problems in school yet once again. And as always, I was having some underlying family problems too.

The thing about school that was different this time was that I totally shut down. Normally I just keep chugging along, but it was like I hit some kind of wall. I could not produce any kind of work at all. I was supposed to submit a portfolio, and basically I handed my teacher a blank book.

I went in to get some personal counselling, thinking I was just going to talk to someone about my feelings. In the process, the student office asks you half a billion questions and a lot of them were about your academic performance.

To make a long story short, somewhere in between getting some personal counselling I was assessed and the term ADD came up. Went online and found myself going, 'oh yeah!' to the symptoms. Got diagnosed, went on meds and couldn't believe what a difference some medications made.

I want to get it checked out, but I'm also scared to. "If you don't know for sure, it's not reality" kind of idea I guess.
Any diagnosis can only describe what is going on physiologically. And that description hardly bears any impact on you as a human being. It's not like your family and friends say you're a great person because you have an awesome liver function! :p

Getting diagnosed is important because you need to know how to drive that car you call life to your choosen destination. Ignorance maybe bliss, but is bliss where you want to go? Or would you rather go to Vegas? :p I don't know if you do want to go there either, but wouldn't you like to decide that? ;)

My career was hanging by a thread, not because of performance but because I would snap at incompetent coworkers and give them a verbal asswhup.

I found a summary of a TV programme on the web when I was looking into trying to reduce my anxiety/stress levels to help my chest pain. Bit of a Eureka moment when I realised how much of myself could be ADHD related.

That was back in Dec/Jan 2007 and I'm still trying to get referred to someone who can diagnose Adult ADHD.

Its a long road

kilt

I initially went to counseling for depression. I should've been in counseling in 2000 (post-partum depression) and in 2003 (target of a female bully at work) but I trudged ahead. I finally sucked it up and made the call in August 2006 because my worklife was spiralling downward. I was so overwhelmed with bunches of crap.

At the parent-teacher conference for our son, his 1st grade teacher said his attention was wandering, he wasn't completing classwork in a timely matter, etc. I asked if it could be ADD. She said she couldn't make the diagnosis but that it couldn't hurt to have it checked out.

I talked to my therapist about this. I was troubled (luckily one of my best girlfriends already went through all the "am I a bad parent?" junk so I wasn't beating myself up over that part). Gary and I talked at length and he said the key words, "I could've told you you were ADD. I thought you knew."

What? Huh?

After that session I drove over to B&N and bought all three Hallowell books along with "123 Magic." Over the next week I read them all. 123 Magic is awesome for effective discipline for both child and parent. And as I read the Hallowell series I was in tears. How did this guy know me?

I'm not currently on any meds. I was on Prozac and Wellbutrin but since they didn't seem to really do anything for me, I went off them. But I see the change in my 2nd grader (he started Vyvanse last Friday, 9-21) and I think, "I want some!"

Dang, I wrote an essay, didn't I?

Thank you for the responses.

Kilt- What part of Scotland do you live in? My mom's side of the family (except for me and my mom) are from Glasgow.

I was going into my senior year of college and during my freshman, sophomore and junior years - i was melting down almost everyday because I couldn't "get" things. I'd study for hours and not remember a single thing. I'd take notes, re-write them hoping something would stick. I got tutors, also in hopes that I could learn and remember the various info of my studies.

Nothing worked. I was seeing a therapist at that time (summer before my senior year) for depression and she suggested a psychiatrist and said I should get tested for ADD. I got the testing, which said I was mild ADHD inattentive. I started Adderall right away - and got lucky that it works wonders for me!

That senior year- i made the Dean's list. I went from a GPA of 2.4 to 3.6.
(that was in 1999-2000)

I was diagnosed with it as a kid and couldn't manage the bipolar aspect of my illness so I had to treat the ADHD in order to stop losing my mind.

I had always prided myself on handling things logically, yet I was still going through this cycle of failure over and over again up to age 26, always thinking I could just "try harder" and make things work the next time. I guess I finally decided to stop fooling myself, and looked for help.

[QUOTE=Michiko74]Any diagnosis can only describe what is going on physiologically. And that description hardly bears any impact on you as a human being. It's not like your family and friends say you're a great person because you have an awesome liver function! :p

ROFL. This line should be in every initial ADD/ADHD counseling session. I love it!

Nightwing

The Eureka! moment didn't come for me until I was 56. I was sitting at work, at a job way under my potential, like I've always had, and got so fed up with myself for not getting things done that I type "procrastination" and "not finishing things" into Google. To my amazement, I pulled up all these sites on AD/HD. And as so many here say, I started reading the sites, and saw myself over and over and over again.

True North, you may think being diagnosed with AD/HD is the worst thing that can happen to you. It's not. NOT being diagnosed and watching the years drift by as you struggle just to hang on to a boring, unsatisfying job is a lot worse. Finding out at 56 that you could have had a life of purpose, achievement and satisfaction is a lot worse. Facing that 2/3s of your life is over, and you finally know what's been wrong all these years is worse.

But better -- is realizing you CAN do something to have that good life still, that you can lower the stress you've lived under all your life, that you can enjoy your work, and shine at it. Kiddo, you deserve all this and more. Get yourself tested.

Nightwing

Typical reason: underacheivement, etc. Surrounded by overacheivers. Thought I was smart enuf to go to Grad Skewl too. Didn't understand why I was brilliant verbally, but got sucky marks on written (particularly handwritten) assignments.

It all makes sense now. :S

I'd had trouble with depression all my life, on and off anti-depressants, and I read an article about chronic depression. I asked my doctor about it and we discussed options (meds) but I didn't pursue it.

A year or so later I read an article that listed the symptoms of ADD. They were the same as for depression, so I dismissed it at first. Then I got thinking, the symptoms I have are the ones that overlep ADD and depression. So I asked my doctor about it, she gave me a questionnaire, and referred me to a psychologist. She probably wanted to stop me from reading too - God knows what I'd come up with next time. *lol*

The psychologist referred me to an MD and I hesitated about taking meds at first, but eventually decided I had to do something.

Once I found out, it explained a lot. Now I understand a lot of things that happened, and still happen. Coming to this forum, I know I'm not alone.

I wasn't diagnosed till my wife convinced me that I should see what I could do about it. My marriage was falling apart and I couldn't do anything to improve it. My own doctor didn't dispute it, but wouldn't pursue it either, so my wife insisted I find a psychiatrist and do something NOW!!! Well I've come a long way since being diagnosed, but my marriage is still in the crapper.:eek:

I'm 23. I say do it! Don't waste another day of your life! It may not be ADD, no, but could be something else you could get help with perhaps.

The moment I got out of the structured environment of high school, I didn't know how to function. At 21, I had a baby and that's when everything went really crazy. I went to about 5 doctors in total along the way, then finally sent to a specialist. I've been misdiagnosed general anxiety, depression, and bipolar. Inattentive ADD is definitely what it is. The specialist couldn't believe I wasn't diagnosed earlier, because it is so obvious to him.

I wish I had been diagnosed earlier. My entire life would have been different for the better.

Funny you should say that Kimmy. I was sort of coping until kids came along. OK I had periods of depression and impulsive spending but I was surviving OK. I'd got a lifestyle sorted out that suited me and provided a steady flow of stimulating company.

Surprisingly getting married didn't mess things up, usually relationships went south after about 6 months to a year but I found someone with the patience of a saint who seemed to enjoy the rollercoaster of my life.

Then kids happened, entirely planned and what I now think of as my ADD went from being a neutral to being a decidedly negative force in my life.

Withing a few years my life had collapsed to such an extent that the only thing keeping me from suicide was the children.

Many therapists later I stumbled upon Adult ADHD myself and am now trying to get an offical diagnosis. That would mean alot to me as I would then be able to hold my head up and say that I am a success because I have battled this thing quite successfully all my life and there ARE things that I find extremely difficult that others cannot conceive of being in any way shape or form an issue.

I'm 46 now and as long as I can get myself sorted, either mentally or pharmaceutically before I run out of cash then I'll count myself lucky.

kilt

I'm sorry kilt--big hugs.

I got tested because I knew I was smart, there was just a brick wall that prevented me from doing things that I knew I should be able to do. Of course I blamed it on just being lazy, and my mom blamed it on PTSD that I had when I was a child. Teachers always talked about their concern about my impulsiveness but my mom would always go back and blame the traumatic event, which to be honest I don't even remember or feel traumatized about. So I went untested, making A's and B's and the ocassionaly C in AP high school classes.

Then in college I just seemed like I was falling apart and became extremely depressed because I couldn't keep up. I kept falling behind, not because I didn't know it, but because of that wall again.

I had always thought I had ADD, so I went and got tested for it. I was diagnosed with ADHD and after going through a period of trying to understand what this meant, I've never been happier with my life. Medication is a god-send, although not the only answer. I still have to use a planner constantly to remind myself of things I have to do, but life is a lot easier now.

You should get tested, if you have it then you can start on the road to recovery, if not then you know you need to work better on time management or they could find something other than ADD that you might have. Either way it's better to know than live in the dark and go "What if?"

I always though ADD might be an issue as I have always had the symptoms, but I always did well in high school and college so I never cared to see a doctor.

Then I went to medical school and barely passed by first term and failed the second. Thought I might have sleep apnea and not ADD so I went that route. Was failing my third term when I got the diagnosis of OSA. I ended up, in the very end, doing EXACTLY what I needed to do to pass and nothing more or less. I retook the class I failed and passed it as well.

I finally got a successful treatment for my OSA in the summer. My second year of school started and my grades were just as bad as before, prompting me to return to the sleep clinic complaining it wasn't working. It was, so they referred me to a shrink.

I don't know how this first term is going to turn out for me, but I have the meds and the diagnosis.

It's always hard to accept that it isn't totally my fault.

Some of the interesting consequences of having ADD are kinda neat. I can't retain a lot of the stupid minute facts they make us learn, but I instantly understand the concepts quite well. I also found myself figuring out a diagnosis we're presented within the first few minutes, before all the data is presented, without really knowing how I got there.

The enhanced skills/cognitive function granted by ADD really pay off in the third and fourth year of school, as that is when you are more oriented to solving problems and connecting the dots. The first two years are just memorizing crap out of books, which unfortunately was insurmountably difficult for me to do.

My symptoms seemed to get worse after my apnea was treated. Not sure why.

I always thought I was a daydreamy distracted unorganized person that was self centered because I never listened to anything anyone else was saying, I was just too busy thinking about things. I was given nortriptyline for nerve pain, off label, and suddenly, I felt like a cloud had lifted, it was great, though the side effects were terrible.

Then about 3 months later I decided I needed to seek out a diagnosis.

I was having problems with sensory and attention issues and I went to a doctor who diagnosed me with "add-like symptoms".
From there I realized that I had to take the initiative to do something about it.
I had a syndrome and I wanted to beat it, to defeat it. If felt that if I did not do so that it was going to beat me, so I declared war on my adhd. I got informed, I got diagnosed, and I got it treated, and things got better.

ME :D

My diagnosis was arrived at by way of the domino effect. I had many, many problems throughout my life. I had always felt that whatever happened to me was just bad luck or I’d tell myself the reason I wasn’t successful was because I was working on the social side of life and I’d develop the career thing later. Later came and went, then I began taking care of both of my elderly parents, Mom with COPD and slight dementia and Dad with Alzheimer’s. I finally had to place Dad in a home and Mom was in and out of hospitals. I tried to split my time between both of them, doing the best I could to make sure they both were getting the best care. Additionally I was attempting to work and make ends meet. I became so overwhelmed I made an appointment with my family doctor. He started me on antidepressants and xanax. The drugs didn’t help much. After months of trying many different antidepressants he wanted me to see a psychologist he new. After a very short time she told me I had ADD, sent me to a psychiatrist and the rest is history. Only problem was my age. I was 56. Also, now all of my Why questions start with How instead.

Limbo

I wasn't diagnosed till my wife convinced me that I should see what I could do about it. My marriage was falling apart and I couldn't do anything to improve it. My own doctor didn't dispute it, but wouldn't pursue it either, so my wife insisted I find a psychiatrist and do something NOW!!! Well I've come a long way since being diagnosed, but my marriage is still in the crapper.:eek: I know that's not funny, but the last line made me smile :D IT's good to see you have a sense of humour about it ...you were being light weren't you??? :eek:

I knew it for a good 10 years or so...what finally made me go to the Doc, was a customer at work, who asked something like this
"Do you have ADHD?"
I have it too , and you talk exactly like me! I retorted with "no" but in my heart I knew he was correct ;-)
So, off I went, and now it all makes sense :-)

I wasn't given much of a choice for them to give me a diagnosis being that I was already in a metal hospital at the time when they started to suspect the ADHD, and really I had no idea they were testing me at all at the time, I thought it was just more psyc B.S. good thing, I got to do the good ole Ink Blot...Boy did I have fun with that hehe! I lost count how many I referred to the devil ...I glad they didn't committ me for life lol

I just thought that I was depressed, perimenopausal, scatterbrained and lazy.
I went to a Psychiatric nurce practitioner because all the different SSRI's I had taken over the years had no effect. I thought she would know more than a GP. Twenty minutes into the first appointment, she told me that I probably had adhd. It was a complete shock, until we started going through my history. It has only been a few weeks, but now so many of the problems I have had make sense. I had a short period of almost euphoria over just knowing what has been wrong with me all these years. I thought that meds would solve it all. They do help a lot, but I still forget stuff and get hyper focussed on things when I should be doing something else.
The one real gift that I can finally see is that although the way I think is way different from the norm, and sometimes causes problems, it at other times allows me to arrive at creative solutions. I just can suddenly "see" a different and better way to do things. Too bad I can't communicate how I get to the solutions....I don't know how it happens, and can't control it, but when it happens, it's magic!

I had terrible insomnia and read on the internet that it's common among ADD'ers. My desire to sleep spurred me to seek treatment for insomnia.

I got into trouble at work because I wasn't doing certain parts of my job.

My mother, a book, and lucky break.

Probably because I couldn't sit down and shut up at the same time. I had a tendency to be overly honest at times, and I was about as organized as a barrel of monkeys on beer.

Mom gave me a book titled "adult ADD" I read the first few pages twenty times but couldn't sit down and shut up long enough to read it. I did however carry back and forth with me to work in an attempt to read it on breaks.

Well I never did get to read it on my break but it was spotted by a nurse relieving me. She pulled me aside and told me she has just been referred to a psychiatrist by her son's pediatrician. by the end of the conversation I had the name and number of the doctor who was evaluating her and I was even able to schedule my appointment right after hers so we could drive to his office in another town together.

If ya ever been in Hy 153 between San Angelo and Midland Texas then you already know why a driving companion is a wonderful thing. I saw the doc got diagnosed in 1993. . . been going to him every sense. I had no way of knowing that doctor patent relationship was going to out last my marriage.

oh and I finally did read that book titled "adult ADD" about a month after I began treatment. It wasn't bad I fit the male version better than the female ADD version{still do} . In the end I actually got more use out of carrying it around. I am not a dyslexic ADHDer my life is.

Welp, I haven't gone to the doctors to find out officially if I have it yet...I'm still in the process of deciding if I should go.

But! What made me think to visit the docs for ADD is because I just started college, and I just can't handle it all. I can't focus on homework to save my life, I can't remember anything in general (chores, etc), which has been a looong time problem. My procrastination in everything from homework to getting a job and even getting to class is horrible! I've always daydreamed A LOT, easily sidetracked. Normally, I would sit there and hate myself because of how I'm acting. But at the same time, no matter what I do, I can't seem to get myself on track.
I told my dad, and he suggested I "re-wire my brain" by punishing myself. He said he'd help with punishments like...taking away my car, cracking down on me about school work,taking away other freedoms, etc. But I totally disagree with the punishments to "re-wire my brain" because I ALREADY beat myself up over all of it.
Er..anyway, I'm rambling.
But yes, not to mention my siblings and close friends have no doubt that I have ADD.
Now to just get over the fear of visiting the doctors! :eek: