how bad is your adhd?

[dolanpls]

Originally Posted by fracturedstory

I'm going to go easy on you because you seem to be new here. There's no cure for ADHD. Meds are like a bandaid, a very advanced bandaid that gives you mental abilities you never thought possible.
As for ADHD being caused by another disorder, we don't know that much yet. Some have tried to connect it to autism, but so far we know it's a separate neurological disorder that forms in the womb and they may be environmental factors.

I wouldn't go so far as to say mental disorders are not curable. There is no evidence for that statement. There are success stories of people being cured from anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, and even addiction taking unconventional drugs like psychedelics. However, you won't hear of those stories being common, because of the illegality of there use and the effectiveness of there use. There is no money in cures so Big Pharma who lobby's the government and with the spread of propaganda against psychedelics research is set back and psychoanalytical propaganda is pushed.

I am not advocating the use of psychedelics at all and I am aware they can have adverse effects or may even make the current condition of the individual worse but I hear a lot more positive things about them than negative. They have been used for thousands of years after all.

How much do we really know about these chemicals or the mechanism of action and how they interact with our body? We don't know much about pharmaceuticals and we don't know much about the effects of prolonged use of stimulant medication either. These pharmaceuticals are designed to keep the patient a life long patient hence the motivations from the companies become clear.

The DSM is designed to diagnose behaviors not diseases. By classifying certain behaviors as diseases without any scientific evidence to back up these claims certain assumptions are being made.

The number of cases in which ADHD has been diagnosed in people has increased when television became even more popular in the 50s-60s. Coincidence? Don't know.

Maybe it's a behavior and society thing. Perhaps there are many factors in someone's health and happiness. I remember reading a book in which a family that was homeschooling there kids got infinitely better results than when there kids got education from the schools. It's known that a school education is far less superior due to terrible reading material that was designed to brainwash students.

I'm not saying I know anything about what causes changes in behavior or changes in thinking. I just think that there is more to this than meets the eye and I don't buy that behavior and thinking cant be modified. Knowledge is always growing.

[sarahsweets]

Originally Posted by dolanpls

I wouldn't go so far as to say mental disorders are not curable. There is no evidence for that statement. There are success stories of people being cured from anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, and even addiction taking unconventional drugs like psychedelics. However, you won't hear of those stories being common, because of the illegality of there use and the effectiveness of there use. There is no money in cures so Big Pharma who lobby's the government and with the spread of propaganda against psychedelics research is set back and psychoanalytical propaganda is pushed.

I am not advocating the use of psychedelics at all and I am aware they can have adverse effects or may even make the current condition of the individual worse but I hear a lot more positive things about them than negative. They have been used for thousands of years after all.

How much do we really know about these chemicals or the mechanism of action and how they interact with our body? We don't know much about pharmaceuticals and we don't know much about the effects of prolonged use of stimulant medication either. These pharmaceuticals are designed to keep the patient a life long patient hence the motivations from the companies become clear.

The DSM is designed to diagnose behaviors not diseases. By classifying certain behaviors as diseases without any scientific evidence to back up these claims certain assumptions are being made.

The number of cases in which ADHD has been diagnosed in people has increased when television became even more popular in the 50s-60s. Coincidence? Don't know.

Maybe it's a behavior and society thing. Perhaps there are many factors in someone's health and happiness. I remember reading a book in which a family that was homeschooling there kids got infinitely better results than when there kids got education from the schools. It's known that a school education is far less superior due to terrible reading material that was designed to brainwash students.

I'm not saying I know anything about what causes changes in behavior or changes in thinking. I just think that there is more to this than meets the eye and I don't buy that behavior and thinking cant be modified. Knowledge is always growing.

The dsm IS used to diagnose diseases. (Alcoholism, addiction) . A chronic condition that is treated is not the same as cured. If someone takes bees for depression they are being treated. If they stop the meds the symptoms return so they are not cured. Same with adhd.

[fracturedstory]

Originally Posted by dolanpls

I wouldn't go so far as to say mental disorders are not curable. There is no evidence for that statement. There are success stories of people being cured from anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, and even addiction taking unconventional drugs like psychedelics. However, you won't hear of those stories being common, because of the illegality of there use and the effectiveness of there use. There is no money in cures so Big Pharma who lobby's the government and with the spread of propaganda against psychedelics research is set back and psychoanalytical propaganda is pushed.

I am not advocating the use of psychedelics at all and I am aware they can have adverse effects or may even make the current condition of the individual worse but I hear a lot more positive things about them than negative. They have been used for thousands of years after all.

How much do we really know about these chemicals or the mechanism of action and how they interact with our body? We don't know much about pharmaceuticals and we don't know much about the effects of prolonged use of stimulant medication either. These pharmaceuticals are designed to keep the patient a life long patient hence the motivations from the companies become clear.

The DSM is designed to diagnose behaviors not diseases. By classifying certain behaviors as diseases without any scientific evidence to back up these claims certain assumptions are being made.

The number of cases in which ADHD has been diagnosed in people has increased when television became even more popular in the 50s-60s. Coincidence? Don't know.

Maybe it's a behavior and society thing. Perhaps there are many factors in someone's health and happiness. I remember reading a book in which a family that was homeschooling there kids got infinitely better results than when there kids got education from the schools. It's known that a school education is far less superior due to terrible reading material that was designed to brainwash students.

I'm not saying I know anything about what causes changes in behavior or changes in thinking. I just think that there is more to this than meets the eye and I don't buy that behavior and thinking cant be modified. Knowledge is always growing.

I gave you one chance dude. Now I say 'neh.'

ADHD isn't just a mental disorder. It's a neurological disorder with a strong genetic cause.

I would love for there to be a cure. I avidly read research into future science. I know that autism is treated early can massively decrease the symptoms. I'm not sure about ADHD though.

I have got the skills to deal with ADHD but my symptoms are in a constant state of flux so it's difficult to get complete control over them.

I'm thankful Big Pharma have given me this quick and easy 'bandaid' solution, so I can be both productive whenever I want (minus days of solar storm activity) and work on controlling my ADHD without the medication.

I'm 26, soon to be 27. If there's a cure for ADHD that is non-medical, non-surgical, then it better work pretty damn well with this brain damaged by my early 20s foray into alcohol and drugs and banging it against the wall as a child, where none of that stuff they tried to teach me in school was stored. It also got a pelted with a cricket ball when I was eight and kicked in by a crowd surfer (in my early 20s). Not to mention the epilepsy I've recently developed.

On home school, I was homeschool. My mum couldn't teach me. The information just wasn't getting through to me. She gave up on me and I didn't have any education after that. At 14 I felt like the world had given up on me. Between 22-24 I started educating myself and that was helped massively in the later half by Ritalin.

TV causing ADHD? Are you a troll? I could never focus on TV for it to affect me.

For what it's worth, I think the overuse of digital media and the way the media gives us information quickly can affect the brain, mimicking ADHD symptoms. It's not ADHD and Dr Hallowell says that giving these people meds is the worst possible option. We with ADHD have it more severe than that though. I've tried training myself to have better focus and a better memory. I've had tempory success. I even got a new app called Rewire. It's all temporary stuff, much like what medication says.

I've had depression and I'm certainly not cured. It just isn't as severe as before, after I came off anti-depressants. I've had many forms of anxiety at different stages of my life. I've never taken meds and I keep ending up with a different form of anxiety. It's really severe these days I just may have to.

At this stage of my life if I take psychedelics I'll drop dead. I get an LSD experience from sensory stimuli anyway. I just have to wait for a temporal lobe seizure to come instead of dropping acid. Most drugs give me seizures.

[sarek]

I mentally and psychologically experience my ADD as mild. Yet, as far as its effects on my life go it has been and still is crippling. I am getting so tired of going from one crisis to the next near catastrophe.
If I can get a third done of the things I should be getting done, that's a good day.

[Zevispaz]

Depends on the situation.

Driving: Severe
Socially: Mild-Moderate
Art/work: Mild
Housework: Moderate

[SquarePeg]

Severity of symptoms is relative.

My son is a student, he needs to cover 13 subjects so needs to concentrate for a long time each day, understand and remember stuff etc. Without meds this has proven extremely difficult, even with the help of a great tutor. So he is severely affected by his adhd.

His needs will change as he grows older and he may or may not be able to cope without meds. I can imagine if he still lived at home (where I organised more or less everything) and he had a job doing something that he really loved and was motivated, something to do with taekwondo or working outdoors with nature or animals, it would be feasible that his adhd may not effect his day to day life as much as it does now.

On the other hand should he go on to develop anxiety or depression or have job he found very stressful then this could worsen his adhd symptoms.

Unless a cure is found or is made public, he will always have adhd, how much it will affect his life is yet unknown, there are to many ifs and buts.

[sarahsweets]

Originally Posted by sarahsweets

The dsm IS used to diagnose diseases. (Alcoholism, addiction) . A chronic condition that is treated is not the same as cured. If someone takes bees for depression they are being treated. If they stop the meds the symptoms return so they are not cured. Same with adhd.

Late Edit ...not bees ....meds! If someone takes meds ....I hate autocorrect.

[SpaceBaby]

My ADD is so bad, the title of forum threads remind me of something funny I remember seeing on youtube somewhere and I end up trying to look for it...

[SlowRunner]

Originally Posted by sarek

I mentally and psychologically experience my ADD as mild. Yet, as far as its effects on my life go it has been and still is crippling. I am getting so tired of going from one crisis to the next near catastrophe.
If I can get a third done of the things I should be getting done, that's a good day.

Thanks, for me a good day is when I am able to read something that is at least 15 pages worth or watch TV/Video 15 minutes in length without a break or few breaks in between, imagine my plight :| I can't watch a movie start to finish continuously, have to take a break or pause if its a dvd. My Wife is mostly upset on me, because I break her flow and mod very often :|

It's the repetition of same old, same old story again and again, "Wanting to do something, have strong urge to do so, but unable to accomplish the task in the end. This depresses the hell out of me.

[stef]

Originally Posted by sarek

I mentally and psychologically experience my ADD as mild. Yet, as far as its effects on my life go it has been and still is crippling. I am getting so tired of going from one crisis to the next near catastrophe.
If I can get a third done of the things I should be getting done, that's a good day.

same here i just couldnt find the right words this morning!

i am not diagnosed,
i did well in school and dont have trouble concentrating to read, ihave an admin job.i cannot do a lot of retail jobs like cashier, waitress...
but my life was a foggy unorganised train wreck, until just
a few years ago.

[SquarePeg]

Originally Posted by stef

same here i just couldnt find the right words this morning!

i am not diagnosed,
i did well in school and dont have trouble concentrating to read, ihave an admin job.i cannot do a lot of retail jobs like cashier, waitress...
but my life was a foggy unorganised train wreck, until just
a few years ago.

Stef, so are you not diagnosed yet? Do you take any meds, how to you get rid of the fog??

[stef]

Originally Posted by SquarePeg

Stef, so are you not diagnosed yet? Do you take any meds, how to you get rid of the fog??

i never have gotten rid of the fog,
i stopped fighting it. so it takes me like 10 years to do certain tasks, voila.
list at work, list for home
cook and do chores with a timer
lots of rest because focusing all day is exhausting.
small rewards, all of the time

these last 2 are just in the past 2 months. i was so tired before august holidays i could barely function.

[Thales]

A lot of your replies seem very familiar to me.

As to the subject: we cannot look in each other's heads saying 'oh, my ADD is worse than yours'. Everyone is struggling on different aspects of his life.

Personally, some aspects of my ADD make me realize it is quite severe, whereas at other moments I cannot imagine having ADD at all. (It's a weird character trait of mine that also holds when it comes to chronic pain: sometimes I realize that I am severely impaired, and at other moments I cannot even imagine at all how bad I felt the day/hour before. Therefore seriously underestimating the impact. Even though I am aware of this odd perception, I cannot change my way of thinking.)

If I were to say anything, I would say that my ADD is probably moderate. It severely affects me, but despite that I can still function reasonably. I have a lot of compensating skills (fortunately...).

[Joker_Girl]

I have no idea if mine is mild or severe, but it is bad enough that they give me drugs for it, and they help. When i dont take them, i do not function well. I go from project to project and make a mess and cant sit still. Usually i take them.

As the spectrum of things go, i would say mine is probably about typical of most peoples, but I am further to the side of being hyperactive than being inattentive. Although i have issues with that, too. Unmedicated, i am CONSTANTLY on the move.

After i had knee surgery, i couldnt walk. So i had to lay around and could not be at work or up and about. At first i saw no need to take my meds, because if i am not being productive, why bother. But eventually, i ended up taking them...not as much as normal, but at least enough so i could sit still. I felt like i was crawling out of my skin when i had to just lay in the chair and watch tv. I still slept quite a lot, because i was on pain meds and also because i was just physically drained from it.

The second or third day i was home, i tried to paint the back door, using one crutch. It was pathetic. I knew we needed to get stuff for our daughters graduation, several weeks away, and i couldnt really go shop for it, so i took to ordering things off the computer. I got new lawn furniture cushions, somehow sanded and painted the furniture (neon yellow...and the cushions are neon orange and yellow...it is AWESOME) because it is really nice patio furniture and would have cost a fortune to replace. I also called the local flower shop and had TONS of neon pink, yellow, and orange flowers delivered, and planted them in planters around the deck. I had to do this by using crutches and then dragging the planter over by the chair and sitting in it to pot them. Then i ordered a bunch of more crap til my husband took away my charge card.

But most housekeeping and cooking were impossible, and i couldnt work, and it was awful. I did make about 500 cream cheese mints though, because i could sit in the living room and press them out. We had cookie sheet upon cookie sheet full. We ate mints for a week after the graduation.

[Conman]

in my youth it was bad (as bad as it could get for a kid through gradeschool). in highschool it got better and more manageable. now it's manageable, but i do still struggle and have difficulties in some areas, including ones that have been as difficult as long as i can remember