Odyshape

I recently discovered that I have ADD and was just today diagnosed. I am getting medication for it soon. I never realized I could have it but I realized now that almost all of my depression has been caused from not being able to focus. Like in almost every area of my life I have been affected but I always thought it was something that I was doing like not eating well enough or getting enough sleep, because it was so up and down (my focus). Socially I have been hugely affected because I often have had a hard time keeping interest in people for long lengths of time. I think I even made a thread about it. Everyone recommended I make new friends since I was getting bored of people and it worked... but only for so long. I am really really ecstatic about trying something to help me with this as I have been dealing with some serious depression the past few years and to have some recognition for it and a potential solution as well is just great.

Does anyone one else have any experience with ADD?

Dayvan Cowboy

I have ADHD, (I don't know where adhd and add begin) and I have it bad. I just read the wikipedia article on ADHD and it paints a perfect picture of me. I'm easily confused, a little "slow", I can't concentrate and I can be defiant, violent, angry and selfish because of it. I have a billion thoughts racing through my mind at every moment so I tend to slur words and mix up letters with other letters because I'm thinking about two things at the same time. If you've ever tried typing while you were talking at the same time it's a bit like that.

I was made fun of a lot in elementary. I was violent, did awful in school. I am Primarily the Hyperactive type. I act without thinking and fidget a lot and didn't hesitate to blow up when I was angry with something. When I finally found out I had ADHD when I was seven, I was ashamed of myself and thought of myself as some kind of retard incapable of properly functioning. I used to hide the fact that I had to take pills at lunch time. during my elementary school years, I was able to find ways to cope with it and manage it. I had to do behavioral therapy and had and accommodated education plans which made me still feel useless, but I did them anyways because I had no choice, which was for the better. I learned to control my anger and try my hardest to focus.

the hardest part about having adhd was seeing my parents stressed about my school performance. mom brought herself close to tears because of my defiant behavior and I felt awful about it afterwards because I didn't realize what I was doing until afterwards. My parents started believing that I had no sense of guilt and that I was a souless, inhuman brat. This actually led me to being even more ashamed of myself and because of the combination of pills (which can cause depression if you use them extensively) and shame, I became shy, irritable and withdrawn. In the sixth grade I hit a bit of a low point and was put into special ed. MY parents seemed to be even more disappointed in me.

I haven't touched on my focus problems yet. I used to be more interested in drawing dragons and pokemon than schoolwork. I would do my work for one minute and be completely distracted by something else. The slightest sounds would distract me from my work and it made my elementary teachers stop trying with me. they'd send me to a quiet place to do my work and I'd get distracted by something else. they'd put me in the office and I'd get distracted by the posters. they could put me wherever and I'd still not even care about my work.

As you may have noticed, most of my problems were in elementary. I actually managed to calm down quite a bit, and I usually joke about my ADHD and how I can sometimes forget things like my own name and phone number because of it. I no longer take pills because they were giving me heart problems (I had to go on a heart monitor a while back to see if everything was all right) and I ended up being really glum and depressed as a side effect. I still get distracted but I can manage it easier now because I know that there are consequences to my actions that I need to think about before doing something. As an effect of me being ashamed of my condition when I was younger, I still have really low self confidence and I don't really like myself all that much but I like to think that I've made it a long way since the days when I used throw screaming fits if something didn't go my way.

probably didn't help any but whatever. thought I'd post this.

Odyshape

No I am definitely glad you shared your experience. It does hit hard on your self esteem. For me for the most part the difficulty lied in my lapses in my social behavior. I could within a very short amount of time be absolutely focused on a person and absolutely enjoy being with them but be distracted onto another frame of thought and be absolutely completely sad within a half hour. I don't know what it is like to have to deal with the hyperactivity but it must be extremely hard to deal with. I have no idea how I would function if I had to deal with that aswell.

Btw I started my first day of university today! Very excited and extremely optimistic at the moment (starting of university if what really made me want to see if there was anything I could do to improve my focus).

Farfisa

I may not have ADD or ADHD, but when I was in kindergarten I was misdiagnosed with ADD. Well, my doctors aren't sure what I have anymore. At first it was ADD, then Bi-polar disorder, and now anxiety depression. At least you know what you have as with me, I'm just a mess of problems. I can't focus, I get so depressed I start to hate everything and lay in bed, and I spend my time avoiding people for the sake of sparing them my bullshit.

I feel like I have some symptoms of ADD as I constantly forget about what I'm thinking, can't focus, and I can't stay on one thing for very long.

Sansa Stark

I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was younger but I'm pretty sure it was just my bipolar disorder manifesting itself. I still take the meds

I think that's an issue with ADHD/ADD, it can often actually be bipolar, which usually doesn't fully manifest until 18/19 (it may have been 20 for me). However, depression is not usually associated with ADHD/ADD. What you're describing, such as not sleeping/eating well sounds more like mania to me, that coupled with depression sounds more like manic depression. Not that I'm a doctor or anything, just someone who has it (and is studying psych mind you ), and didn't realise it until I did some research and started to track my mood/behaviour over a span of several months. Just something to look into, because if you're going into university it may not really be easy to make yourself focus on things.

Hope that helps.

CanwllCorfe

Yeah I definitely do. It's very hard or even impossible to finish movies, I go to sleep around 2 hours after I go to bed, I have a hard time focusing on what's at hand (and rather think about absolutely everything else), I'll think up an idea for a design but get hung up on something and can't seem to get past it, and I'll just never be able to sit still. I think I may have something else a long with it, unless ADHD can give you a constant sense of anxiety. There was also a stint when I was around 17 and didn't care about anything. Literally.

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Your eyes were never yet let in to see the majesty and riches of the mind, but dwell in darkness; for your God is blind.

Mykonos

If it counts, I've self-diagnosed myself with cyclothymia. Obviously a self-diagnosis is down to your opinion of yourself though, so it may not be true.

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'Not that Becktionary, the Rhyming Becktionary!'- Bender Bending Rodriguez

Sansa Stark

I think a lot of that is bull**** though. It's one thing to be browsing WebMD and giving yourself all these "illnesses" but if you seriously suspect you have a specific one and really do match up with the symptoms and have for quite some time, you just may have it. Any type of mood affective disorder is really difficult to diagnose and can often be misdiagnosed. Like in the case of bipolar, the patient will only go to the doctor in a depressive episode and write off mania as happiness/productivity or whatever and they'll be given depression meds which in a lot of cases isn't all that great, and can often trigger or exacerbate mania. If not that, it won't take care of the manic side of it. A doctor isn't with you everyday, they don't know how you function and only know what you tell them.

CanwllCorfe

I talked to a doctor about whatever it is I have. I've never been to him before, and the only reason I went to him was because the one I usually go to was booked for months. He prescribed me L-Theanine. I intend on trying it, but I'm not sure how effective it's going to be. I think he might be an all natural doctor because he was talking about how eating a lot of preservatives can affect your mood. I can see that, but I can't believe that all my issues are because of how I eat. He also gave me information to see a neurologist, but I don't know if that will be covered by my insurance. I intend on going when I have more time.

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Your eyes were never yet let in to see the majesty and riches of the mind, but dwell in darkness; for your God is blind.

Thom Yorke

I was diagnosed with ADD last year. I never suffered from depression, but ADD was always a question my whole life. I never bothered to look into it because I could do well in school without having to concentrate too much or exert too much effort. Second year university my marks started slipping though and I realized I couldn't keep dealing with it (I actually prided myself on being able to do so well with so much procrastination and so little effort). I was put on adderall between 2nd and 3rd year. One warning I have that I personally experienced was a big increase in anxiety going from 10mg to 20mg. I balanced it with ativan, but actually became addicted to that and felt like I needed it when I didn't really need it. I was able to overcome that and the anxiety completely subsided. Of course everyone reacts differently but just be weary about that as increased anxiety is a main side effect for all ADD medication.

Also, you should never diagnose yourself. It's natural to convince yourself you have something just by reading too much into something you're worried about.