ADHD/ADD Victims

[LovelyxBlackLace]

Who suffers from ADHD/ADD here?

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The benefits of ADHD are often overlooked. However, there are many qualities of ADHD Children that are actually advantages of ADHD. As a matter of fact, many famous people with ADHD got there because of their disorder.

Full article: http://www.adhdchildparenting.com/th...ges-of-add.php

[carakitty]

I got dx'ed with ADD in high school, and again a few years ago.

Do you have a diagnosis, LovelyxBlack Lace? (Why is that 'x' in there by the way?)

I certainly can see how having ADD/ADHD can be a good thing. One with this 'disorder' must do their research and learn about it to use it to their best advantage though.

Will try to check out that link later, need to get my potential ADDer babybat from school now.

Thanks for posting.

[LovelyxBlackLace]

Hey. Yes, i've been diagnosed with ADHD and ADD since I was thirteen; school and normal life were generally pretty hard to get by, but I managed anyway.
I used to take Ritalin and Concerta. Now I've switched to Strattera.
Which meds do you take?
Thanks for posting in this thread; the article is really helpful btw.

[Solumina]

You can't be diagnosed with both (well these days you can only get diagnosed with ADHD as ADD is now under ADHD in the DSM but that is beside the point if we are talking about past diagnosis), you would have either been diagnosed with ADHD, ADD, or ADD with hyperactive tendencies but not ADD and ADHD unless your doctor was completely incompetent.


There are some advantaged to the disorder but most of what would have been an advantage in the past have been nullified by the education and corporate systems that we now.

[Not Tha Duckman]

Are you drunk?

[Solumina]

Me? Not at the moment, check back in an hour.

[Not Tha Duckman]

You're OK and all, but that post made very little sense. Or maybe I'm drunk?

[Mir]

[ face fucks Duck ]

Gag, bitch, GAG!

[Solumina]

Originally Posted by Not Tha Duckman

You're OK and all, but that post made very little sense. Or maybe I'm drunk?

Reading it over I left the word "have" out of the last bit which does make it completely nonsensical and I didn't really explain the why behind the statement but stick "have" before "now" and it should make sense.

[Not Tha Duckman]

Originally Posted by Mir

[ face fucks Duck ]

Gag, bitch, GAG!

Gobblety fucking gobble.

[Ben Lahnger]

I have ADD. You can have ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER. Or you can have ATTENTION DEFICIT with HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER, which is a subset of the range of disorders covered by ADD, not the other way around.

Also, the title of this thread annoys the hell out of me. Anyone who has ADD and wants to claim victim status should be criticized for leaning on the illness like a crutch.

Does it make my life difficult? Hell, yes! Does it make me mad, depressed, irritable, irrational and moody? Sure it does. And it makes many things in my life harder to do and/or accomplish. But once I was diagnosed, it became my responsibility to account for my illness and to adapt/adjust to meet the challenges of my life.

I've seen a man with one leg become an Olympic class downhill skier. I've seen quadriplegics play "knock the other guy out of his chair" basketball that made me want to cheer. I've seen a woman with MS reduced to getting around with leg braces and cuff canes, and yet she had more joie de vivre than many perfectly healthy people I know.

So don't call me a victim. And if anyone else here with ADD wants to claim they are a victim ... well, don't waste my time.

Do I think it helps in any way? Well, the general opinion is that people with ADD tend to be more intelligent and creative than the average person. I think there haven't really been enough empirical studies to determine that, and the disorder itself is still too much of a mystery to researchers.

But I would trade being a little less creative for being able to remember things better ... or being able to finish a project without losing focus.

[Solumina]

Originally Posted by Ben Lahnger

I have ADD. You can have ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER. Or you can have ATTENTION DEFICIT with HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER, which is a subset of the range of disorders covered by ADD, not the other way around.

Sorry Ben but that is not the case. First of all ADHD is Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, there is no "with", and the word "hyperactive" does not refer to the hyperactivity that the people with it frequently display but instead to the hyperactive brain functioning brain functioning. Originally ADD and ADHD were classified as different, but related, disorders, as they were better studied they were found to be different presentations of the same disorder. There are three different types of ADHD: predominantly inattentive type, predominantly hyperactive-impulsive tipe, and combined type, most people refer to the predominantly inattentive type of ADHD simply as ADD but the DSM IV does classify it this way.

Just read the Wiki, it is correct and rather informative.

[Ben Lahnger]

Well, I've been dealing with this since before DSM IV. The hyperactivity listed in the ADHD label originally did refer to hyperactive behavior, and it may have been re-defined, but that doesn't make me wrong.

But I'd be interested in reading the wiki. I see no links to it in this thread, except for the initial link which was to a questionable article with no credible sourcing, fact checking or even a listed author name.

If you could point me in the right direction, I'd appreciate it.

BTW, I think there is a cruel irony in redefining the terms associated with an illness, when people who have it have a difficult time paying attention and retaining information.

[Equivalence]

Originally Posted by Solumina

There are three different types of ADHD: predominantly inattentive type, predominantly hyperactive-impulsive tipe, and combined type, most people refer to the predominantly inattentive type of ADHD simply as ADD but the DSM IV does classify it this way.

Doesn't ICD still keep them separate?

Then again, the DSM is from the APA, so I guess the ICD is rather irrelevant.

[Solumina]

Originally Posted by Ben Lahnger

Well, I've been dealing with this since before DSM IV. The hyperactivity listed in the ADHD label originally did refer to hyperactive behavior, and it may have been re-defined, but that doesn't make me wrong.

BTW, I think there is a cruel irony in redefining the terms associated with an illness, when people who have it have a difficult time paying attention and retaining information.

I do agree that there is way too much redefining going on in the psychological community but the redefinition of ADHD is something that some people have always been fighting for (things were pretty unclear and the underlying processes weren't known when the diagnosis was first made)and it is more than just a redefinition for the sake of redefining since so much new information has been learned since the original definition was created.

Originally Posted by Ben Lahnger

But I'd be interested in reading the wiki. I see no links to it in this thread, except for the initial link which was to a questionable article with no credible sourcing, fact checking or even a listed author name.

Sorry, I suppose I should have linked it but something about this thread seems to be keeping me from thinking clearly so here you go: Wiki article


If you want further reading I highly recommend Dr. Larry Silver's Advice to Parents on ADHD, it focuses mainly on adolescents but the info does apply to adults as well and, in addition to being a widely respected expert on learning disorders, he was the only psychiatrist of the many I went to who ever seemed to really understand what I was going through, perhaps because he has ADHD himself. He also has a book called The Misunderstood Child that is on a variety of learning disorders and is also full of wonderful insight.

[Renatus]

Originally Posted by Solumina

There are some advantaged to the disorder but most of what would have been an advantage in the past have been nullified by the education and corporate systems that we now.

Autism I believe is going through the same sort of issues. Frankly I'm sick and tired of this cure everything that is different mentality that society is going through right now. I can only pray that society will see through the lies soon, and see the parallels to many previous issues before they wipe out any semblance of mental diversity.

[SweetJane]

Yeah, what's with this victim shit?

I was diagnosed with ADD in August, and my entire life has made sense after being treated with Vyvanse for Add and Seroquel for anxiety and depression. I was only able to get the diagnosis after having my anxiety and depression issues treated, becuase the three were so closely related. So, my advice to everyone since has been "Find a shrink". Regular docters aren't trained to deal with psychological issues, and the prescriptions I was prescribed by my family docter only made things worse, and I never would have guessed that I had ADD. Now that I have an actual psychologist who prescribes my medication and has an idea of how the brain works, I would never go back to the way I used to live.

The cycle was aweful. I couldn't concentrate to the point where I would have panic attacks from the anxiety, and then I'd feel really depressed and inadequate, and still unable to concentrate, and so on. As a result I've had shitty grades most of my life, but I always passed because I could write well (even if I had to get an extension on the dealine) and I scored well on tests. It was just really hard for me to study, and I really never did homework, no matter how hard I tried to sit down and do it.

But, now I know some coping skills and I'm properly medicated, so things are generally looking a lot better.

[Joker_in_the_Pack]

Victims of ADHD? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?

I was "diagnosed" by my drug dealer, erm, PSYCHIATRIST, when I was in grade school. Guess what happened? They tried every fucking drug in the book, they all made me depressed as hell, and one combination sent me to the hospital with a weird heart beat.

Then I learned the "cure" to ADHD.

GET THE FUCK OVER IT. Sure, you've got to bust your ass a little harder, push a little farther, buckle down and focus, but for fucks sake, take your lumps.

Of all fucking 'diseases' people are getting pumped full of meds with in this country, ADD/ADHD is the fucking worst. Seriously, I've met COUNTLESS people DIAGNOSED (YES BY A DOCTOR) and ALL OF THEM have felt better after they got OFF THE BLOODY MEDICATION.

[LovelyxBlackLace]

It's true that Ritalin can cause mood changes and make you less sociable, but it helps me a lot with school work and studying. Without my meds, I would be jumping around the house, inattentively wasting all my time.

[carakitty]

Well Joker, there is also a high tendency for ADD to be mis-diagnosed. So, it is highly likely that those people who you know that didn't have a good result with the meds don't have ADD in the first place. Or maybe they were on the wrong med.

ADD is known to be co-morbid with many other disorders like SweetJane mentioned. If someone has ADD but also a side order of anxiety, depression, or what ever else on the menu and only the ADD gets 'fixed' but not the other issues then problems will still present themselves. Me, I've probably got mild Bi-Polar with my ADD. I found that when I was on a mood stabilizer along with my ADD med I had noticeably better results.

Some people really CANNOT just "GET THE FUCK OVER IT." Trust me, I tried. I resorted to doing illegal drugs for a while even. Then the light bulb went off that there were things that could help me without risking jail time for me and misery for my family.

Just curious to know how old you are Joker, and if you've always lived in the US.

[SweetJane]

Carakitty brings up a good point about bi-polar- the chemical imbalances that cause AD(h)D are so similar to manic-depression that it's sometimes very hard to tell the difference.

Joker,I know what I'm like without my meds. I whent 19 years without them, so I DID suck it for WAY too long. If I had diabetes, would you advise me to stop taking my insulin? I am a danger to myself and others without my medication at worst, and unproductive at the best.

[Ben Lahnger]

Originally Posted by Solumina

If you want further reading I highly recommend Dr. Larry Silver's Advice to Parents on ADHD, it focuses mainly on adolescents but the info does apply to adults as well and, in addition to being a widely respected expert on learning disorders, he was the only psychiatrist of the many I went to who ever seemed to really understand what I was going through, perhaps because he has ADHD himself. He also has a book called The Misunderstood Child that is on a variety of learning disorders and is also full of wonderful insight.

Thanks for the link. I prefer "Adult ADD: A Reader Friendly Guide to Identifying, Understanding, and Treating Adult Attention Deficit Disorder" by Dr. Thomas A. Whiteman and Dr. Michele Novotni. Tom has a mild case of ADD himself and Dr. Novotni has a son and father who suffer the condition. In addition to being very empathetic to an adult sufferer's perspective, the book is written in a very ADD friendly manner, with larger than average print and an easy to navigate organizational style which I very much appreciate. I can also personally endorse "Living With ADD: A Workbook for Adults With Attention Deficit Disorder".


*** WaRnInG *** <REPOSTING BULLSHIT> *** WaRnInG ***

Originally Posted by Joker_in_the_Pack

Of all fucking 'diseases' people are getting pumped full of meds with in this country, ADD/ADHD is the fucking worst. Seriously, I've met COUNTLESS people DIAGNOSED (YES BY A DOCTOR) and ALL OF THEM have felt better after they got OFF THE BLOODY MEDICATION.

</BULLSHIT>

I was initially diagnosed with ADD when I was 40, and have had the diagnosis confirmed by 2 other unrelated doctors on other occasions. It explained much of the difficulties I have had in my life. I absolutely find that the right medications can help me navigate the complexities of a job and daily life more effectively than I can without them. I am currently off the medications as I am out of work, uninsured and cannot afford them. And I do not feel "better", you jackass!

You should not speak for everyone, asshat! That rant was ignorant and ill conceived. And you DO NOT want to go toe to toe with me on this one, motherfucker, because I've been looking for someone to vent my anger on about the constant public dismissal of this condition as if it was something made up by the pharmacology machine!

[Priestly]

Originally Posted by Ben Lahnger

But I would trade being a little less creative for being able to remember things better ... or being able to finish a project without losing focus.

Sometimes, I feel the same way. Sigh. :|

[ShadowxMakerZ]

Does it make my life difficult? Hell, yes! Does it make me mad, depressed, irritable, irrational and moody? Sure it does. And it makes many things in my life harder to do and/or accomplish.

You are what I consider 'awesome'.

~Idol...

[SweetJane]

Originally Posted by Ben Lahnger

I absolutely find that the right medications can help me navigate the complexities of a job and daily life more effectively than I can without them. I am currently off the medications as I am out of work, uninsured and cannot afford them. And I do not feel "better", you jackass!

You should not speak for everyone, asshat! That rant was ignorant and ill conceived. And you DO NOT want to go toe to toe with me on this one, motherfucker, because I've been looking for someone to vent my anger on about the constant public dismissal of this condition as if it was something made up by the pharmacology machine!

Aw, man, good luck with the unemployment and everything. I hope you can get that together soon... I'd be pissed if I couldn't get my meds. I completely agree with you on this.