ADHD / ADD Support Group

Paisly. You're better off without the meds. I've taken them since I was little and quit taking Aderral last month and decided to finish college without it. They make you feel all cracked out and just out of it. I have no helpful advice for you though haha sorry good luck.

my city has a public mental health department. it has very low cost services and free or low cost meds. look into it in your city/state. i find that the meds help me a lot so research and find what works best for you.

hmm... I think I have came up with an idea. I guess I will keep you guys posted on how it comes along. I am going to listen to music and then look up the lyrics later. Then listen to the song again. Maybe my brain will adapt LOL. But yeah for meds I think I am just going to stick with taking fish oil to keep depression at bay and iron to keep my anemia from increasing my attention deficientcies. ( I found out I was anemic when I went to donate plasma)

I have trouble listening as well. It's like I'm so excited someone is talking with me, that I'm already thinking about what I want to say before they are done speaking. I think they call it "waiting to talk."

I have become so aware of this, that I have thought of things I can do to listen better, I have found that if I keep my attention on one of the person's eyes, I can concentrate on what they are saying, or if I repeat their words in my head while they are talking, I can remember what they said.

I still have trouble finishing peoples sentences etc...

and I'm taking Vyvanse, 140mg a day. I guess it's the ADD, I don't know. Maybe it's just a bad habit I learned from my family. No one listens to each other.

Oh, by the way, not all ADD meds make you feel cracked out. If you are taking the right drug and the correct amount, you should not feel the speedy feeling. People with true ADD don't notice the crack like effects like those that might use it as a recreational drug. Just my opinion.

I have been told that I ned to be an "active" listener. I wasn't really sure what that meant. I did some research and part of it is repeating back what the person just told you. My question is what if the person keep going on an on and you can't get a word in? Then you are expected to repeat back what they just said. Tough. My wife gets really frustrated with me because she wants to talk after the kids are in bed and I am tired from work and have a really hard time staying awake and concentrating on the conversation. I felt great on Adderall and Staterra. It actualy did help me to focus and listen better.

Howevere,, I do hae to agree with pennyphone that poor listening make be atributed to habit/lifestyle, etc.

It's pretty tough. I like to do things by phone so I use my computer while I am on the phone and therefore interrupt people less.

On the phone, when I type and summarize, my comprehension is better. Reviewing notes is good.

try meditation..

What I found is that I can't expect my attention to always be the same. So when the conversation is unimportant, I let myself focus out, so when I need to be in, my brain is less tired and I'm more able to concentrate.
When I have no choice, as in school, I try to write down everything that the teacher says...
I find it easier to focus on a one on one conversation than in a group discussion, because my attention goes out to one person instead of jumping from one to the other, trying to read body language of everyone, thus losing sight of the conversation...

Just a few tricks... hope it helps...

1. Keep a pen and paper and try to organize the matarial on your pad.

2. Try to rephrase what was said and ask if you have it down correctly.

3. Divide what was said into particular topics- things,to do, obsrvations, feeling and ask about each.

4. Again, in rephasing material, try to understand the speaker's method or organization.

In casual conversation I often have to ask people to repeat what they just said if I got distracted, but I'd rather ask them to say it again than miss what was said. Most people are very understanding. I don't it's just people with ADD that accidentally tune others out occasionally, my friends seem to understand when I do it and they don't all have ADD.

Also, Adderall went generic about 2 months ago, so it should be a lot cheaper now.