Frustrated

My back is hurting so I decided to take a break and come here for comfort. (call it what you want)
I can tell you one thing for sure. I and many others are in the same boat as you as I type this.
Anyway, you have a problem also and your main problem as you say is the procrastination and frustration. Some time I chalk it up to laziness with me. At least that is what I try to convince myself that it is. But I know better. But it’s really a challennge to myself. I can do it I can do it. No I can’t. I still need to make changes. I’m working at that but being fought by others every inch of the way.
But I also know that I too need dicipline as you say. I am trying to work on that, but the many mishaps in a persons day to day life makes it impossible for an ADD/ADHD person to finction properly. I’ll be posting within the week as to what I expierienced this week that brought me to tears many times.

LISTS….You need lists or that small recorder. Then you need to figure a way to use them and not loose them. AND you need to explain that you still are trying to find your way with the ADD.

All ADD/ADHD people so not share the same symptoms. If I were you right now, I would be working at my best which is under pressure. Providing no one else had put me in that situation. That is when I loose it.
Try to tell yourself and really understand that you are not going to die from this and you will be ok. You may have learned many ways to cope with things and as you find things that are difficult then jot it down on paper and ask yourself on a different day, what can I do to make this easier and better. Come on over here and ask for a solution. Even if it is just something as simple as finding the cap to the toothpaste..

You will be ok. I promise you. I am in frustration right now that I am screaming my head off to no matter who walks by me. Even my parrot is quiet today..cat also. I think the cat may have hidden. :) Also…do others around you understand? That is what I jist flipped out over. I felt that before you disrupt my life, favor or not, you need to understand what happens to me when you tip my life upside down. If I do it it is one thing, but for someone else to do it and then blatantly laugh because I am in a mess and has no clue as to why..I loose it. I finally gave two people in quesion my copies of my ADD/ADH books. Read them or leave me alone. That’s where I am at right now. You either have the respect to read and understand my disability or just don’t talk to me. Especially being that one of the people is in a wheelchair. I do know that hidden disabilities are hard to overcome and that’s why you are frustrated, not because the work isn’t done. Because you have that need to screem…You are frustrated at all of this and I need another way and I need you all to understand what is happening to me. I need you all to know that if you were in a wheelchair I would understand you are disabled and cannot walk.”

So where does that leave us???? You know when I have to use my cane (MS) I see a complete change in everyone.
WE’ll help you throught his. Promise we will :)

I know exactly how you feel. Believe me, you are not alone.I was just diagnosed a few months ago, I’m almost 38 yrs.old. First of all do not hate yourself! You are a special person. People with add. or adhd are highly intellegent people. To put it bluntly, the brain doesn’t work right. It’s like having a temporary secretary. The info goes in but doesn’t stay there. Anyway, you’ve got to deal with it, it’s not going to go away. I’ve read alot of good books about it and talked to alot of people with it. I’ve accepted it and learned how to deal with it. I’m on meds. and I’ve straightened out my life. D on’t worry about what other people think. you will find out who your real friends are and they will be there for you. Even though they might not totally understand they will stand by you. A great book to read is called “Driven to distraction” After I read that I felt better and understood myself. Good luck and don’t worry, you’ll be o.k. just give it time.
Sue

I am going to make this short—I had to take an English proficiency test yesterday, —IU was not accorded extende time as an accomadation, hence had to rush through—if I don’t pass this to get an exemption from this English requirement, I will Have to take a course, that is after I am already 10-15 credits over what I need—I think my retired advisor got a kickback for the extra money I had to shell out—but I have to consider now challanging the outcome if I don’t get a mark for the exemption—any thoughts???
My thought to Frustrated is that 1st you are not allone—I think we all have a propensity to be in the same boat as you—Also—something for all of us to think about—I saw a segment on CBS Sunday Morning abut Leonardo daVinci—as his work habits were being described, I understood perfectly why he has so many scetches, on so many broad topics, and so few finished paintings—why he was able to envision so many different contraptions that served particular purposes—I think that most of us would have an empathy for what he did—then I asked myself—how,or why was he able to contiunually come out with this stuff—BECAUSE HE WAS NOT CURTAILED BY HIS ENVIRONMENT—HE WASN’T BEING TOLD BY EVERYONE AROUND HIM THAT SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH HIM—he lived by himself—so I inagine that he was able to allow his ADD-GENIUS to fly—we on the otherhand have been getting a continuos message that we are out of step—or whatever with the mainstream—or however you want to put it—every one of us knows the verbage that is callously used to describe our actions—so in effect—we are not allowed our ADD-GENIUS to come to fruition—think about how you mind works—what if you could harness all that, instead of thinking something is wrong with the way we think etc.–Lets turn this BS around—we collecvtively need to start think of ourselves as ADD Geniuses—not in an egotistical way, but in a way that many of our ADD pedeccessors pushed the envelopes and made contributions to out culture—some spectacular, some mundane—but contributions that the “normal” mind would not be able to come up with—we have to stop thinking—as a result of those unsupportive “normal” people artound us, that we are skewed—lets turn the perception of ADD around—people don’t know what it entails anyway, and the media is not help putting out a true picure of our situation—so, we’ve got nothing to loose and everything to gain—but we really have to “organize”—isn’t that ironic—anyway that may be a little out there—but we at least have to support each other, and not let all the b..s…rds get us down!!!

Thank you all for your supportive and reassuring replies!
Now that the deadline is gone, I am back to square one…wasting my time away to glory! It’s a chore to see past the tip of my nose…everything around me grabs my attention and I cannot realize the importance of tasks and appointments that are due later. Medication does help me by clearing away the fuzz…it’s just like the sun coming out after a cloudy rainy morning…but I’ve also realized that I have to change my habit patterns. The most important thing to learn is to prioritize our time and do what is most important first. It is an extremely tough thing to learn especially for us - but I’m sure it will be well worth the effort.
Thanks so much for your support.

> I am going to make this short—I had to take an English proficiency test
> yesterday, —IU was not accorded extende time as an accomadation, hence had
> to rush through—if I don’t pass this to get an exemption from this English
> requirement, I will Have to take a course, that is after I am already 10-15
> credits over what I need—I think my retired advisor got a kickback for the
> extra money I had to shell out—but I have to consider now challanging the
> outcome if I don’t get a mark for the exemption—any thoughts???
> My thought to Frustrated is that 1st you are not allone—I think we all have
> a propensity to be in the same boat as you—Also—something for all of us to
> think about—I saw a segment on CBS Sunday Morning abut Leonardo daVinci—as
> his work habits were being described, I understood perfectly why he has so
> many scetches, on so many broad topics, and so few finished paintings—why
> he was able to envision so many different contraptions that served
> particular purposes—I think that most of us would have an empathy for what
> he did—then I asked myself—how,or why was he able to contiunually come out
> with this stuff—BECAUSE HE WAS NOT CURTAILED BY HIS ENVIRONMENT—HE WASN’T
> BEING TOLD BY EVERYONE AROUND HIM THAT SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH HIM—he lived
> by himself—so I inagine that he was able to allow his ADD-GENIUS to fly—we
> on the otherhand have been getting a continuos message that we are out of
> step—or whatever with the mainstream—or however you want to put it—every
> one of us knows the verbage that is callously used to describe our
> actions—so in effect—we are not allowed our ADD-GENIUS to come to
> fruition—think about how you mind works—what if you could harness all
> that, instead of thinking something is wrong with the way we think
> etc.–Lets turn this BS around—we collecvtively need to start think of
> ourselves as ADD Geniuses—not in an egotistical way, but in a way that many
> of our ADD pedeccessors pushed the envelopes and made contributions to out
> culture—some spectacular, some mundane—but contributions that the “normal”
> mind would not be able to come up with—we have to stop thinking—as a
> result of those unsupportive “normal” people artound us, that we are
> skewed—lets turn the perception of ADD around—people don’t know what it
> entails anyway, and the media is not help putting out a true picure of our
> situation—so, we’ve got nothing to loose and everything to gain—but we
> really have to “organize”—isn’t that ironic—anyway that may be a little
> out there—but we at least have to support each other, and not let all the
> b..s…rds get us down!!!
>
> Gosh. Am I glad to see this post re: Genius.
First let me talk about the first part of your post. Challenge challenge challenge. You have a disability and it should have been treated as such.

I’ll take the kick back theory with no problem. But kick back or anything falls into the cattegory or what goes around comes around. Each person with ADD/ADHD has got to take it upon themselves or as a group to see to it that this does not go on. Becuse if it does, two things can happen.
1, we could be treated inferior…(not far from the truth right now)
2.
we could be expected to do TOO much. From one extreme to the other it will affect us.

I would start at the Deans office with a notification of your intentions…UNLESS of course he would like to settle things from behind his desk or go it the hard way. The hard way will be the easy way for you..hard for him.

It totaly disgusts me that things like that are happening and please keep us posted from day to day as to how you are doing.

As far as rhe rest of your post you are correct. If your smart, no one believes something is wrong with you. And I’ll add one more thing to that frustration. I think I will scream the next time a person says to me., “Oh I do that all the time” or “No nothings wrong with you, you’re so smart.” I am still angry over my past week and the disruption that my neighbors added to the already existing disruption. Then they half hazzardly laughed as to say well you can put it back together again, what’s the big deal. I just wanted to screem and still do. But your right. All the way.

Sue, I love your little discription. “it’s like having a temporary secretary.” That is neat. Such truth and so simple to explain. :)

If your smart, no one believes something is wrong with you. And I’ll add one more thing to that frustration. I think I will scream the next time a person says to me., “Oh I do that all the time” or “No nothings wrong with you, you’re so smart.”

Thank you for saying the above!!!!!! Please read below, it’s long, but it’s my first post and it’s my discovery and I would love to hear back something from those of you who have been there…reading your posts have really pushed toward a cathartic moment!

Today has been a BIG day for me. I’ve struggled for years with ALL the symptoms you’ve described my whole life. I did poorly in High school because my mind was always going everywhere, I believe I also made some not so good choices during my 20’s - Never finished my BA. Now that I’m 37 and have met a wonderful man and married, my daughter has started college, I went back to school myself to pursue my graduate degree in physician’s assistant.

The past 3 semesters while getting my pre reqs. I’ve always had great grades, but I HAVE NEVER HAD SO MUCH TROUBLE IN MY LIFE GETTING THROUGH SCHOOL! I have a lot of reading to do, and it’s all scientific, and I find myself procrastinating, trying to read and suddenly looking at my hands, nails, out the window, petting the dog, cat, making a phone call and all the while panicking because I can’t study and feel I’m going to flunk - right NOW for example, I should be studying and not typing this, but I feel I’m truly in a moment of self discovery here which can actually help my whole life, so I’m going with it. Perhaps I’m having a “genius” moment, where everything is clear. : )

Two weeks ago I was in a deep depression (have been taking celexa for 2 years and doc. decited to give me welbutrin as well) and I felt I was going into a deep hole. Called my health insurance and asked about a psychiatrist referral. Have gone 3 times in the past 3 weeks, and he has just prescribed me Ritalin - I’m so excited, not so much because of feeling I have a “magic pill” but because I’m finally finding out that there are many people out there who feel exactly like I do, with the same difficulties. Maybe I”m not lazy, abnormal, or crazy!
I”m so tired of everyone saying I’m so smart and I”ll just get through the biochemistry class and neuroscience no problem, everyone has “faith” in me. To stop being negative, etc. That is great, but they do not realize the pain I’m in all the time trying to keep it all together and to truly study. I finally feel validated that the dr. seems to acknowledge my inability to concentrate and is willing to try something. I read symptoms of ADHD in adults and I have all of them! No wonder I was always a multitasker at work! (who always failed during review time because of my inatention to detail and excelled at my ability to work under pressure and my creativity!)
My friends and family always think I’m cute because I misplace things, they laugh at my confusion sometimes and when I’ve said that I was ADD they laughed and dismissed it. Everyone is the way I am they replied. I’m just not focused - HELLO!!!!!!!! Anyway, because finally the desire to succeed in school got the best of me, and by researching ADHD and seeking professional help, I see a light at the end of the tunnel. I hope this works, because if it does, I think not only will I feel more “normal” I’ll feel like I belong somewhere, and that I’m not as screwed up as I’ve often felt.

Sorry for the vent. I’d love to hear about books to read, tips for school, ritalin experiences and side effects, if you’ve taken them with SSRI’s, etc.

I appreciate all your help and “attention” : )

Claudia