Attention Disorders at work

[babette111]

I joined here a while ago and found this place fantastic although a little overwhelming. I need to find time to hang out here and just read but I feel guilty doing that because my job is very demanding, I have an "inflexible" boss, and I have to juggle lots of projects at once.

Needless to say, it's all hard if you have "attention issues".

Well, I'm back here because I want to talk to more people who understand and it looks like so many of you go thru the same things I do.

I like my job but I know I'll never be great it.
I'd like to go back to school but that's something that I've done before and had trouble with.

*sigh*

Sorry - just venting because ya'll sound so similar to me...

Happy Humpday everyone.

[weird genius]

HI. I'm new here. Have had ADD since childhood. Now 54, divorced, self-employed. I have held numerous jobs but never fit into the model employe mold. The only success I've had is in jobs where I am minimally supervised and compensated based on results - 100 percent commission sales. As long as I produced or exceeded my sales quota, the boss couldn't care less if I came into the office once a week to turn in my paperwork. No office politics.

About five years ago, another health problem prevented me from an outside sales career. I started an upholstery and furniture repair service. I learned it from square one. It's still a challenge - doing everything myself. I have dropped the ball a few times, but mostly customers are happy in the end.

Never mind that I have a BA in journalism and graduated in the top five percent of my class. That didn't get me hired. I am way too blunt with people (bosses) for my own good. Most of them are too stupid for words.

Anyway, I am looking at my ADD again and defining some realistic goals that will help me navigate personal relationships better, and to become better organized. Glad that I found this place. So much new to read after ignoring these issues for years. I find new hope here.

[number 2]

Originally Posted by metalmom

Hello fellow adders!

Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou... I was just diagnosed a month or so ago and I am 39. I have had so many job problems but my biggest problem is... okay one of many of my problems on the job is sticking with it when things get tough. I used to think that I just couldnt work in a political atmosphere or in places where manipulation and chos rule. I thought that it just wasnt healthy for me and my anxiety would become unmaneagable then i would quit thinking I need to work and want to, but maybe just not here. The problem was never me....
I have been putting off my 4th attempt at completing a basic college math class because of the teachers not doing there job right....well now that i know more about my disorder math wont be so difficult but the fear of failing in yet another job situation bothers me...

i think you should get a tutor. That is what worked for me.

[Wexder5]

Does anyone have times that when too much information if given to them, in a work invironment that they actualy zone out and fall alseep, resulting in lost productivity and and actualy being terminated from employment.

[Syrinx2112]

Babette, I also have to juggle many tasks at work and have a demanding, inflexible boss. He has commented that I cannot multi-task. He is right. I'll be working on something and he'll come into my office and want to know why I have not started something else. So I start that and then he wants to know why I have not started something else. Then to top it all off, he wants to know why I havn't finished anything!

[PopSwatter]

Originally Posted by wild*child*

just got my review at work--NEEDS TO PAY ATTENTION TO DETAIL--I TRY!! I SWEAR I TRY!!! UUUUGGGGH!!! BUT WHAT DO YOU SAY: "excuse me I have ADHD" employers DON"T want to hear IT!

I worked with someone and that is exactly what she said too. She was over 50, and had worked multiple jobs, being fired or let go for poor attitude and lack of attention. Customers did not like her. It would not have always been so bad except for 2 things...she had a nasty attitude, sneaky and sly-had the nerve to say she liked it when it was not busy, oh really, well we aren't making enough money to pay you when you are not busy so you should go home! and if you gave her helpful tips, like writing down things, or gave her a list to carry, she still wouldn't. Then she would walk around with a "woe is me" attitude. I swear the only time she would perk up and focus was when there was free food around! Some jobs just aren't for some people, especially if you have ADD/ADHD...this was in the medical field, where errors could cost lives! Come to find out, she had worked in a different area and should not even had been hired (rehired) again....

You have to know yourself. I don't have ADD/ADHD like that, but I stress easily, so I work on myself with negativity and burnout issues. Someone, somewhere, always has something.

[prelude31]

WowI can relate to your message. I am in the same boat. I have a degree in Accounting, I was such a poor student when I was in college as a teenager and in my 20's, I wound up going back to school in my 30's and going through an accounting certificate program and retook my accounting classes. I took 8 in a period of about 1.5 years and did well. It was after my divorce and I devoted practically all my spare time to classes and homework and studies. I then went on to pass the CPA exam (not in one sitting). That was 13 years ago. I never got certified because I was clearly different than all the other people I worked with. I couldn't sit still and be careful and do my work easily. After two attempts in public accounting I realized that something seemed to be wrong, and it was about that time that I went on ADHD medication. I have been mostly on stimulants, right now adderall XR 20. I finally last year decided that I needed a dose that would properly engage my brain and really let me sit still and think even when stuff was a bit harder.

I also have issues with visual processing, (would have been better off having chosen to be a speech therapist way back when. I am 50 now). I actually took a cognitive test on the computer at my neurologist's office. I passed the CPA exam and am good at math especially basic math yet I could not see and process simple math problems quickly on a computer. It's not my eye sight, I can see with contacts and glasses, it's the amount of time that it takes to register in my brain. (I started playing games on a nintendo ds, like brain age, flash focus, brain age 2, brain challenge ). They help in that I am more used to seeing info quickly and reacting to it, and it wakes up my brain in the morning. One of the games even tells me whether I am reacting slow or quick. According to the games my brain age is about 15 years older than I am on most of the games. My eyes cannot focus at all without at least 15mg of adderall, need 20 or more really but I doubt that my doctor's will ever let me take more again. Great for my brain but I had issues with raynaud's disease last year, and got told that if by my next visit to the rheumatologist if things were not different that changes would be made in medication and that might affect the adderall dose.

I currently work part time in retail, and I am also working at H & R Block part-time as a tax preparer. Last year I was a receptionist there because I had no tax background or experience, and it was good because I was forced to reduce my medication from 54mg of concerta to 10 mg of adderall. There was a major difference in me. I walked around feeling like an idiot. The simplest tasks took forever.

Now I am thinking about full time work, and need to find a good fit for me. I'm the one in 100 or 1000 that verbally can interview for a job and will perform at a speed so much less than expected.

I am also one of those people who with a high enough dose of medication can find something to like about any job and want to learn what I need to. I don't even tell people that I passed the CPA exam because I get so sick of the question why didn't you or why aren't you working as one.

I support myself so I would like to choose something that I can succeed in. My brother and his family have no understanding of how I feel about not being able to be an accountant, and of being sick of getting fired from jobs like A/P because I cannot do data entry quick enough based on what is probably reasonable expectations. I have no clue how my vision issues will impact me on a job, and how to discuss them with an employer or recruiter. I never have before. In the last few years I have done better with employers who did not interview me before I started working as a temp. I am thinking of asking agencies to send me out for stuff that I will be overqualified for and tell them not to tell the employer that I have an accounting degree.

Please help.

I currently work part-time in retail

[NCNow]

Hi I am new here and I apologize if I am not doing this correctly. I feel quite discouraged as I can't find anything that I am good and make a survivable living. I am an expert at interviewing because at 45 I must have interviewed at least 50 times. I am now working temp to perm in an inside sales position which couldn't be a worse fit. Fast paced, extreme multi-tasking in a corporate environment. My guess is I won't be asked to go permanent because I can't go fast enough. My mind just blanks out with all the different options in the database, website, etc. At my age does anyone have any suggestions on what I could do? I do like to see things accomplished, things that allow me to get up and move around. I wondered if I should go back to school to be a Radiology Tech. I just would like to be good at something.

[QueensU_girl]

re: 38

First thing that comes to mind about someone in your shoes vocationally, is: "know your strengths".

For me, that meant "getting Tested".

[compart23]

one of the things doctors look for when they diagnose a adult with ADD is if they had a history of ADD- like symptoms growing up. Once i knew what ADD was, my childhood was a textbook example. not only that, but i have a family history of depression, abuse, etc. so i think that made my ADD even worse as a kid. I'm 25 and i was diagnosed only a few months ago, so i'm still figuring all this out. get this though: when i told my parents that i had ADD, they said "oh, we knew that already, since you were in 7th grade.... and we told you about it , so why are you surprised?' i was so shocked and angry that i couldn't talk. first of all, no one told me anything about ADD, i didn't even really know what it was untill i was diagnosed. second, i'm sure most of you can imagine how frustrated and hurt i was to find out that i had suffered with this disorder, not knowing why i had no freinds, why i was teased and tormented through school, why i was made fun of because of how i did things, etc- and my parents knew about it all along. well, I got my school records and past mental health records, and NOTHING was mentioned about ADD,ADHD.. so, i'm figuring my dad was one of those parents that was in denial and didn't have me tested and just ignored it. it's a hard pill to swallow, but now that i know what's going on with me, i feel better knowing there was a reason for my behavior, and that i wasn't just another "bad kid" . ..

ok so i probably went off the subject a little but, hey, that's ADD for ya!

[AndyK]

Attention to detail can be a real killer in ADHD, especially if you are an emergency department physician! Even worse is its behavioural therapy antidote. Years of meticulous crosschecking can leave you drained and humourless-with no postitive energy for anything or anyone.
As has been said before motivation is vital. If you work in some position doing tasks that are well separated from the goal of the job it is so hard to get motivated. In my position the job involves direct contact with the clients that work through the door and problem solving on their behalf (Iam a family physician) I find that engaging with my clients and empathising with their situation is a huge motivator for me so that is not a problem. Being relentlessly thorough is draining, and often makes it harder to engage- you can end up running a mental script that sounds like a space mission countdown!
In short I would say bring yourself close to the coalface and find a way you can care about, and take pleasure in what you do. Learn to do your safety checks with a minimum of effort. Be your own boss if possible. Remember many workplaces are asking tasks of their employees that are frankly impossible in the allotted tim. If you cant do it it may well NOT be your fault. Downsizing and forcing the maximum productivity out of each worker rule. The greed of the employer and shareholder, and the insecurity of the employee rule workplace relationships tday. This is the way of the world andit has nothing to do with ADHD.

Oh- and learn to pace yourself- take weekends, proper holidays, and tea breaks and meal breaks. Remember your outside life has a right to exist too.

[pADDyjay]

Im an xray tech and an excellent one if I may say/ but its the other part of my job that reduces me to a quiverring mass of jello is paper work and forms that are ever changing and in hosp computer work , but I have to remember that thats not my strength/

[badcat]

Originally Posted by Binabik

This too is my biggest issue. I guess it is with most Add'ers. I have hundreds of ideas a day, notebooks full of plots, scripts, art, you name it.
I started writing a novel, which i took to a writing workshop, brilliant, they said it was fantastic and i should be a writer. It went in the drawer, never looked at it again.
I took up the clarinet. First lesson, teacher told me i played like someone who had been at it for 3 years. In the draw it went, forgotten.
and so on down the list.
I'm 29 now, and my daily stress is that I will never be able to have a job longer than 12 months, and that i will never get out of this 'permanent poverty' that all my little projects put me into. It seems once my brain is happy that it can do whatever my latest fad is, I lose interest in it. I'm good at everything, but great at nothing. Even medication doesn't seem to solve the issue, although it helps focus on certain tasks.
Is there a way out of this trap?

Wow!! i have dealt with this exact same issue for so long now!! and i've gone through school only to be back where i started from, only with student loan debt!!! what is the answer? i keep trying to find out what careers are good for people with ADHD and no one seems to have the answer!! i, too, could probably be a professional student because the material and work changes all the time, but the skills stay pretty much the same, which works perfectly for me. but there is no job really like that, is there? right now i am a secretary (even though i have a masters degree) and i doubt even that will last very long.

[badcat]

Originally Posted by Laniard

I got fired in June and have been on unemployment ever since. I don't want to practice or do anything in the legal field, now, because I realize law is all about DETAILS. I don't want to put myself in a position to feel like an idiot, again. Unfortunately, I have no experience in any other field. The only reason I have experience in law is because I always held temporary positions, and even though I made clerical errors, I think my bosses knew I wouldn't be around long enough for it to matter. I am also very creative, though, and I am trying to find a career that will allow me to take advantage of that aspect, but an entry-level position won't allow me to pay off my enormous law school loans!! I am glad to have the law degree, but sometimes I wish I knew about the ADD before so I could have spent my time more wisely pursing a career that I would be good at and that would make me feel better about myself, rather than making me feel like an idiot.

i feel so similarly--i just got my masters in social work and was diagnosed with adhd at the same time. 60-70 hour work weeks? endless paperwork? vital and minute details that people's lives depend on? strict deadlines and protocol? setting myself up for disaster? yes indeed---ha ha ha!! now i have all these school loans and no idea where to go from here--it seems like there aren't any jobs that work with adhd--i really need a flexible schedule, a variety of tasks, creative outlets, and some structure but not too much. wish i knew the magical answer to this dilemma!

[Goofycook]

The last 2 jobs I had before I took this job were horrible fit for my ADD. I just did not fit in and for nine years (4 years on one job and 5 years) on the I almost destroyed myself trying to fit in. I had continuous anxiety attacks and fought off the feeling that everyone was out to get me. It was a visious cycle. Although I didnt I know anything about adult ADD my symptons got out of controll and I grew very depressed but I always refused meds.
The wierd thing was was that I had the feeling my behavior had something to with my childhood ADD that they had told I would outgrow( I was diagnosed in 1967). But I didnt conpletely connect the dots. I just felt lonelier and lonelier as I knew that most of my co-workers really didn't care for me although I am very talented in my profession. One boss told me I was a dictator and I had no poeple skills. Looking back that was part of the ADD not just the disorganization and the tendency to do messy paperwork.
One thing I did do on those jobs was to give two weeks notice and leave on fairly good terms. The job I have know is perfect for me. I have been here six years.
The first time I heard about adult ADD was when my first boss told that her husband had ADD and coffee helped keep him focused. I knew right then that that was also me because I also hit the caffien pretty hard. So for six year I have done great on this job. Just recently I started taking meds so that I can focus in other areas off my life. I tend to hyperfocus on my job while everthing else in my life goes to hell.
This web site has been my therapy. Thanks everyon
Goofcook from Waukesha