My mom simply HAS to have ADD. My brother and I both do, and my mom has some classic characteristics.

But she would never even entertain the idea that she might have this.

Some of her characteristics:

Extremely disorganized. Piles of paper hidden in all kinds of cabinets, etc. She is fortunate to have a very large house and I think this is how she disguised her disorganization over the years: just having lots and lots of space to store her piles, so stuff was not spilling over.

She interrupts ALL THE TIME!!!!! It is incredible. It is so blatant! Example:

Me: So, I was starting to think about...
Her: Did you ever pay those taxes?
Me: What? Oh.. umm, yeah I called...
Her: Did you get your hair cut?

That is how conversations go. If they can be called a conversation... :rolleyes:

All my life she has gotten SO irritated if she ever hears you chewing. I mean, she will be across the room and you will be chewing perhaps... pudding. And she will practically shout, "Quit chomping in my ear!!!!!"

:confused:

She has to turn off the radio when she parallel parks.


Stuff like that. Stuff that now seems very clearly ADD as I explore my own personality and understand the ADD brain.

Sometimes I want to slip her half an adderall and just see what happens. I promise though... I wouldn't do that. But it is tempting!

LOL..I LOVE your Mum :-) she sounds EXACTLY like me..

I wouldn't even bother to entertain the idea of ADHD with my parents ;-) They think I am perfect...

ps...I can't listen to the radio when I am unsure of my directions...I can hear somone tapping, or clicking, or chewing across the room too :-)

ps...I can't listen to the radio when I am unsure of my directions...I can hear somone tapping, or clicking, or chewing across the room too :-)


Same here. My mom and I are alike in so many ways! Except for the fact that I accept I have ADD and she would never!!!! Which is ok. Really. It just is humorous to me now, knowing that ADD is a part of both our personalities. So when I see her do these things it cracks me up she would never entertain the idea of ADD in herself.

Dude...I thought I was the only one...that's a relief. Anyway, yes I think my mom had ADD, but she'll never admit it. I don't even bring it up...cause it will just be a fightps...I can't listen to the radio when I am unsure of my directions...I can hear somone tapping, or clicking, or chewing across the room too :-)

my mother is LAZY and she never listens at all, tuned out completely. She's a psychiatrist and I have called her an inattentive ADHDer and her rationale is that sleep apnea causes her to have those symptoms, but before the sleep apnea, she was the same way so I would say she's a "Classic Inattentive" but my mother's denial is to such an extent to which she calls her depression, "Life Experience Depression".

I think my father has it but he only shows mild symptoms of it. One if the largest is right after he comes home from work he lays on the couch and just eats all night until he falls asleep there watching TV. Irritates my mom to death... irritates me too because I have to do the 'manly' chores he doesn't do but whatever I'll be out of the house in a few years.

One if the largest is right after he comes home from work he lays on the couch and just eats all night until he falls asleep there watching TV.

Hmm. *trying to figure out a way to say this nicely*

Lots of men do that. That's all I'll say...
:D

(not saying he doesn't have ADD... but that symptom alone could just be a gender stereotype.. sorry!)

Actually, I've had the opposite. At first my father was wary of my diagnosis but when he saw how my mood and attention improved and he was convert. I gave my folks a couple of articles to read, one laudatory, one not so. He read both and said, "I have ADD."

That explained so much. Alcoholism, job changes every year, some of the really unthinking things he blurts out, inability to hold a conversation unless it's about something that interests him and then he takes over, inability to handle noise, sensitivity to criticism.

That chewing thing, though, that bugs me so much. That and tapping, spoons clacking against teeth, throat clearing, crunching, humming, singing, too many "ing's" close together ;o), background t.v., canned elevator music, people who walk too loudly, those who scrape their shoes along the pavement, any verbal tic.....

she will be across the room and you will be chewing perhaps... pudding.
whoa... thats an add thing? thats new to me. i get up and leave the room, never yell. i seriously never thought it could be an add thing. hmmm will have to try some breathing excercises next time.

whoa... thats an add thing? thats new to me. i get up and leave the room, never yell. i seriously never thought it could be an add thing. hmmm will have to try some breathing excercises next time.

I get incredibly distracted and annoyed by noises like this. I have no idea if everyone with ADD does, but for me it is definitely a symptom. Not being able to block out distracting noises.

I have these exact same symptoms as well. My nephew refers to me as the 'chewing police' because I can hear someone chew with their mouth open in the next room. Nothing is more irritating than the girl who smacks her gum next to me incessantly throughout class! Anyway, it took me until my second year in law school to realize that studying in places like loud coffee houses, as opposed to quiet libraries, is my best study environment b/c all of the distracting noises form a type of 'white noise' that miraculously doesnt distract me, and I can (somewhat) focus! I highly recommend trying it!

Hi folks

I'm in the opposite camp....my discovery of ADHD has opened my fathers eyes to why he has struggled all his life. He's over 70 so its a bit late for him....and he's got a huge amount of mental baggage that has destroyed his self esteem over the past decades, but now slowly the light is coming on that all the difficulties were not his fault..a big step forward.

kilt

Anyway, it took me until my second year in law school to realize that studying in places like loud coffee houses, as opposed to quiet libraries, is my best study environment b/c all of the distracting noises form a type of 'white noise' that miraculously doesnt distract me, and I can (somewhat) focus! I highly recommend trying it!

I agree!!! I can't read if the clock is ticking.. yet a really busy mall is a GREAT place. Very odd.