althea
10-07-08, 01:48 AM
Hi there,
I just wanted to talk to some other women who have gone to their doctor and gotten a diagnosis after suspecting ADD for years. (Or haven't yet, for whatever reason.) I got a book on ADHD and took a brief screening quiz, which said that I should be evaluated for ADD (inattentive type).
I'm not fidgety, never bounce my leg or have to move around all the time, but I feel like I never quite accomplish my goals because I have so much difficulty focusing on the tasks to be done in time to do them right. I'm a horrible procrastinator, which makes it very hard to be successful in school and work (but I've almost always been a straight A student, I just push myself until the last minute and then suffer enormous stress and lack of self esteem when the task is done, because it's not 'good enough', and I'm not either).
I've self-medicated with over-the-counter herbs and whatnot (fish oil, dmae, bacopa+ginkgo, rhodiola rosea, tyrosine+dlpa) since my son stopped nursing. I've seen remarkable improvements off and on, but still not enough to really make a difference over a long period of time. So I'm thinking of trying to use an actual medication.
The impetus for all this is that I'm about to graduate and I've been offered a full time job to start right away after grad school. It's an amazing opportunity, and I can't see clearly how I'm going to succeed in it if I handle it the way I've handled school -- distractable, procrastinating, inefficient, and disorganized. I want to be as good as I know I can be if I can just harness my mind to the tasks at hand. On top of which I hope I can be a better mother.
I guess I'm looking for hope. I got the book because I met a young woman who said how much taking ADHD medicine had helped her get through high school, and I thought what a relief it would be to have less anxiety about getting things done (or started) and just achieve what I set out to achieve. Can anyone identify with my thoughts about this?
What did you do as your first step? What do you recommend?
I just wanted to talk to some other women who have gone to their doctor and gotten a diagnosis after suspecting ADD for years. (Or haven't yet, for whatever reason.) I got a book on ADHD and took a brief screening quiz, which said that I should be evaluated for ADD (inattentive type).
I'm not fidgety, never bounce my leg or have to move around all the time, but I feel like I never quite accomplish my goals because I have so much difficulty focusing on the tasks to be done in time to do them right. I'm a horrible procrastinator, which makes it very hard to be successful in school and work (but I've almost always been a straight A student, I just push myself until the last minute and then suffer enormous stress and lack of self esteem when the task is done, because it's not 'good enough', and I'm not either).
I've self-medicated with over-the-counter herbs and whatnot (fish oil, dmae, bacopa+ginkgo, rhodiola rosea, tyrosine+dlpa) since my son stopped nursing. I've seen remarkable improvements off and on, but still not enough to really make a difference over a long period of time. So I'm thinking of trying to use an actual medication.
The impetus for all this is that I'm about to graduate and I've been offered a full time job to start right away after grad school. It's an amazing opportunity, and I can't see clearly how I'm going to succeed in it if I handle it the way I've handled school -- distractable, procrastinating, inefficient, and disorganized. I want to be as good as I know I can be if I can just harness my mind to the tasks at hand. On top of which I hope I can be a better mother.
I guess I'm looking for hope. I got the book because I met a young woman who said how much taking ADHD medicine had helped her get through high school, and I thought what a relief it would be to have less anxiety about getting things done (or started) and just achieve what I set out to achieve. Can anyone identify with my thoughts about this?
What did you do as your first step? What do you recommend?