Hey everybody-

Super-psyched about finding this place. I've just recently been diagnosed with ADD I think.

Let me explain what I mean when I say "think" i've diagnosed.

I'm 34 years old. And recently decided to get my life together so I'm going back to school again, which relates to my discovery of ADD.

Last Spring, as I started college again after an absence of 9 years, I was very nervous. I am, by my own reckoning, "a terrible student". Looking back, I see that I managed to keep up with my classes only by running at a furious pace in every aspect of my life: I was working nights waiting tables, doing school full time, arguing constantly with my wife, doing a million things with my friends. Perhaps the constant stimulation from this provided me with enough adrenaline to focus me at the crucial times enough to get my work done. The last month of classes was an absolutely agonizing experience for me, I felt as if I were going to lose my mind, but in the end I managed to pull it off.

After this horrible experience, I resolved to do things differently for the Fall. I quit my job, and worked on simplifying various aspects of my life in order to devote more time and energy to my studies. Unfortunately, and very surprisingly to me, it completely backfired. I found myself wasting all of my free time, procrastinating, and getting nothing done except getting further and further behind in my classes. I was nearing what I saw as some sort of a breakdown, and began considering quitting school.Thinking yet again that I just was a screw-up, and that I should move to Alaska where no one would know me. There I would live in an ice house and be miserable for the remainder of days.

My wife, bless her, described my state to a co-worker with whom she car-pooled to work with, who in turn related that a very similar thing happened to one of her daughters in college, but that she had been spared the fate of Arctic Doom by being diagnosed with ADD. I listened, and began to do some research, and found that the more I read about it, the more I found I fit the bill.

I now think that I have the condition that is commonly known as ADD. Now I don't necessarily agree with the negative language of calling it a "Disorder", but more rather I am accepting of the fact that I am possessed with a brain, which for whatever reason, works in patterns which are different than the types that "we" call "Normal". One of large differences that I am beginning to notice in myself in particular, is my own elastic sense of time and how it needs to be very closely monitored and checked against the real world and its rigid nature.

Far from despairing this posibility, I am finding it quite liberating. I feel like I finally have a better explanation for many aspects of myself which have been problematic for me in the past, and whose results are troubling me now. Armed with this knowledge, I look forward to approaching my future and my decision making process with a better understanding of how my individual brain works, its strengths and limitations.

In doing so I have been seeing a doctor or two, I tried Strattera which did me no good at all, and now am taking Adderal LA and monitoring how that is affecting me. I am seeing that it is indeed helping, but now I need to find the correct dose and schedule for it. In addition, I have been researching the possibility of "ADD Coaching" and seeing how that might help me. So I am hopeful about the future.

Which brings us back to the present, and my concern. I still feel like I haven't been "properly" diagnosed. My therapist went down the DSM IV TR guidelines with me and said "OK Fred, sounds like ADD, let's get back to what we were talking about before this interuption."

The next was a Nurse Practitioner who gave me one of those 6 question lists and gave me the Strattera.

The First Doctor listened to me and changed to Strattera to 10mg of the Ritalin LA, and told me to come back in a month.

After I complained to him that I'd prefer a little more questioning and attention he essentially told me that he wasn't really going to do that so I asked around and went to the next Doctor. He asked some questions and had me fill out a 20 question questionaire. After this he said that I have "Classic ADD", upped my meds and told me to come back in a month.

Now I can't escape the nagging feeling that there should be something more. Is it just me being neurotic?

Thanks in advance for any advice/suggestions. Hopefully I didn't remble on too much!

Fred aka Melvin

welcome, Fred!!

Did you go to a general physician or a psychiatrist?

Something you can do is call that last doc back and ask if it was an official diagnosis.

It seems like general physicians tend to ask just a few questions then prescribe, whereas psychiatrists evaluate then prescribe.

Maybe you could see a child psychiatrist or a psychiatrist who specializes in ADD. My health insurance had a list of psychiatrists and their specialities, so I picked a doctor who specialized in ADD.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. My psychiatrist didn't do anymore than talk to me for a good 2 hours and gave me some meds. Even with the history of bipolar running in my family...*shrugs* it has worked for me so far. I was just diagnosed back in Sept.

I've heard there are tests, and I've heard there aren't tests, so I figure I was so distracted in his office he could tell just from looking at me and talking with me. I guess the big question is...has it helped? If it is working, don't break it lol...if it isn't..try someone else.

Hey everybody-

Super-psyched about finding this place. I've just recently been diagnosed with ADD I think.

Let me explain what I mean when I say "think" i've diagnosed.

I'm 34 years old. And recently decided to get my life together so I'm going back to school again, which relates to my discovery of ADD.

Last Spring, as I started college again after an absence of 9 years, I was very nervous. I am, by my own reckoning, "a terrible student". Looking back, I see that I managed to keep up with my classes only by running at a furious pace in every aspect of my life: I was working nights waiting tables, doing school full time, arguing constantly with my wife, doing a million things with my friends. Perhaps the constant stimulation from this provided me with enough adrenaline to focus me at the crucial times enough to get my work done. The last month of classes was an absolutely agonizing experience for me, I felt as if I were going to lose my mind, but in the end I managed to pull it off.

After this horrible experience, I resolved to do things differently for the Fall. I quit my job, and worked on simplifying various aspects of my life in order to devote more time and energy to my studies. Unfortunately, and very surprisingly to me, it completely backfired. I found myself wasting all of my free time, procrastinating, and getting nothing done except getting further and further behind in my classes. I was nearing what I saw as some sort of a breakdown, and began considering quitting school.Thinking yet again that I just was a screw-up, and that I should move to Alaska where no one would know me. There I would live in an ice house and be miserable for the remainder of days.

My wife, bless her, described my state to a co-worker with whom she car-pooled to work with, who in turn related that a very similar thing happened to one of her daughters in college, but that she had been spared the fate of Arctic Doom by being diagnosed with ADD. I listened, and began to do some research, and found that the more I read about it, the more I found I fit the bill.

I now think that I have the condition that is commonly known as ADD. Now I don't necessarily agree with the negative language of calling it a "Disorder", but more rather I am accepting of the fact that I am possessed with a brain, which for whatever reason, works in patterns which are different than the types that "we" call "Normal". One of large differences that I am beginning to notice in myself in particular, is my own elastic sense of time and how it needs to be very closely monitored and checked against the real world and its rigid nature.

Far from despairing this posibility, I am finding it quite liberating. I feel like I finally have a better explanation for many aspects of myself which have been problematic for me in the past, and whose results are troubling me now. Armed with this knowledge, I look forward to approaching my future and my decision making process with a better understanding of how my individual brain works, its strengths and limitations.

In doing so I have been seeing a doctor or two, I tried Strattera which did me no good at all, and now am taking Adderal LA and monitoring how that is affecting me. I am seeing that it is indeed helping, but now I need to find the correct dose and schedule for it. In addition, I have been researching the possibility of "ADD Coaching" and seeing how that might help me. So I am hopeful about the future.

Which brings us back to the present, and my concern. I still feel like I haven't been "properly" diagnosed. My therapist went down the DSM IV TR guidelines with me and said "OK Fred, sounds like ADD, let's get back to what we were talking about before this interuption."

The next was a Nurse Practitioner who gave me one of those 6 question lists and gave me the Strattera.

The First Doctor listened to me and changed to Strattera to 10mg of the Ritalin LA, and told me to come back in a month.

After I complained to him that I'd prefer a little more questioning and attention he essentially told me that he wasn't really going to do that so I asked around and went to the next Doctor. He asked some questions and had me fill out a 20 question questionaire. After this he said that I have "Classic ADD", upped my meds and told me to come back in a month.

Now I can't escape the nagging feeling that there should be something more. Is it just me being neurotic?

Thanks in advance for any advice/suggestions. Hopefully I didn't remble on too much!

Fred aka Melvin

I'm 34 years old. And recently decided to get my life together so I'm going back to school again, which relates to my discovery of ADD.

After this horrible experience, I resolved to do things differently for the Fall. I quit my job, and worked on simplifying various aspects of my life in order to devote more time and energy to my studies. Unfortunately, and very surprisingly to me, it completely backfired. I found myself wasting all of my free time, procrastinating, and getting nothing done except getting further and further behind in my classes.
Like yourself I started back to school last spring at the age of 42, years back I was never a great student..all the usual statements made "if only he applied himself".."daydreams alot"..."has potential". Since I started back at college I've been pulling basically a 4.0 but its been painful to say the least. I know exactly what you mean about wasting time, procrastinating,(right now I'm still working on a take home exam..(maybe that is why I get good grades..I'd hate to think of what I would get if I had to take it in class). You would think that with two small kids, working on average 60 hours a week as a computer analyst and working for a CPA, (accounting, thats my next degree) that I would cherish any time I had to study and what not..instead I find myself wasting time when I_know I should be studying...thats the frustrating part.

I always had a hunch what I was dealing with in my life was ADD but it wasn't until a couple years back that it was confirmed for me, at the time I was prescribed meds but they didn't agree with me and I never went back as at the time I felt that the ADD wasn't that much of a problem. Fast foward to now and I can tell you that it is a problem, in the sense that as I've been researching information on ADD to help me understand it, (in the last 6-8 months), I've learned how much it has effected my life. Now I realize the opposite, that ADD runs much deeper than I had thought. I used to get frustrated and would wonder why my brain didn't work like everyone else's..now I understand motr eof "why" but that doesn't help when I am reading a problem and find myself re-reading it over, and over, and over and finding that it just doesn't register which then makes me get angry...with myself.
I am making an appointment with my doctor to revisit the medication end of things. The more I've learned about ADD I've found I've actually felt better about myself, even if I can't control it at the moment. Plus, this site which I've only been here a short while makes me realize that I'm not as alone as I thought.



The next was a Nurse Practitioner who gave me one of those 6 question lists and gave me the Strattera.

Thats what I was given which did nothing for me..outside of disagree with me...

Thanks for sharing Melvin(Fred), as well as letting me vent. :( Welcome to the group.:)

Most post secondary places want you to get full testing done, should you request accommodations at your school.

I think testing is a good idea, b/c then you know your weaknesses AND strengths.