Is It ADD/ADHD or Is It Me

[ZenWizdom]

Hi,

This is my first post on this forum.
I've been reading a lot of other posts and decided to post my own.

Anyways, I am not sure if my condition is ADD/ADHD or my own personal problems. Currently, I am not diagnosed with anything; I have not gone to the doctor in at least 2 years as well.

I am 20 years old (male), just dropped out of university in Toronto for Electrical Engineering. I messed up a year before as well, but that was because of partying / hanging around too much as a first year; at least that's what I blame it on.

Why I think I might have ADD/ADHD:

1] Time Management: I am horrible with it, and everyone around me thinks as well. Time and time again, I manage to leave projects/assignments/studying to the last minute and suffer the consequences. I tell myself I won't do it again, but it still happens somehow. In high school I had the same approach, but high school was just easy so I got out with a high 80 average.
2] Sleep Problems: I'm always telling my parents when I come home from residence that I am going to fix my sleeping problems, but my dad says "You have been saying that your entire life." Now I agree with him, I have been. I am a lot worst in school now. No one to wake me most of the time. I just lay in bed always restless, moving and thinking until I am too exhausted and I go to sleep, only to wake up late.
3]Paying Attention: In engineering, its essential to pay attention in class. I almost never do, even when I manage to get to the lecture on time. Always thinking about something else. And then have to teach myself most of the concepts. - Always forget things around the house, my friends tell me I am the most forgetful person they know. On some occasions this happens: I go to get a certain item, and return with something else. For example, yesterday I went to my room to get a calculator, came out with a textbook, only to realize when I got back to the study room that I got the wrong thing, haha. Happens a lot in around the house.
4] Listening: I'm not really impulsive and interrupt other people. But I don't listen with full engagement most of the time unless I have a personal interest in what the other person is saying. I'm sometimes caught off guard with saying "what" and the other person assumes I was thinking about something else, which sometimes I am, but my head manages to nod with the conversation. Haha
5] Organization: Really really really bad organization. With people, time, work, everything. I can't even begin to tell you about this one: hope you get the idea.
6] Meditation: I started to realize I may have ADD/ADHD after I started to meditate. I was able to think at a much deeper level, like I was smoking a ton of pot lol, but at the same time, feeling normal. My thoughts were organized as in I was not thinking about one thing and the next second thinking about something totally different. I began to feel like this was normal, only thing was, after meditating for about 30 minutes, this state would only last an hour or so in the real world.

There's more stuff too, just can't think of everything right now. Sorry for the long post, but if you do manage to read it, any feedback is greatly appreciated. Any questions are welcome as well.

Thank you,
Zen

[Ipsofacto]

Sounds like the real deal to me, but I'm a newbie at this.

On meditation, my experience is that the ability to control focus that is the core of meditation, takes time and practice. Increasingly this carries over to everyday life. It's like turning off the autopilot and taking the controls. My experience is also that if you don't keep up the meditation practice, the benefits will eventually fade.

[ZenWizdom]

True. On going meditation really helps in realization of a lot of things of life.
Calms down the mind, and you're right, as soon as I started to delay meditating, it showed in everyday life. The effects it has are truly brilliant, but hard to maintain, which is something I think I will have to continue working on. What type of meditation do you practice? I do Vipassana.

[ZenWizdom]

I have a question as well, I've done quite a bit of research and am still doing it, on the differences between ADD and ADHD.

If a am diagnosed with ADD, is there a difference in the medication that will be prescribed.

[Ipsofacto]

Just reading through the current threads in this section of the forum will give you a primer on the subtypes of ADHD.

Try a web search for ADHD mindfulness meditation. Mindfulness seems to really help many people with ADHD, me included, and is fast becoming a recognized therapy.

[sarahsweets]

There are many things that mimic adhd which is why a doctor can diagnose you and screen for other disorders.