ADHD / ADD Support Group
Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and attention deficit disorder (ADD) are more common than you might think. It is a syndrome that exhibits symptoms such as hyperactivity, forgetfulness, mood shifts, poor impulse control, and distractibility. Join others who suffer from these conditions and share your experiences.
Hello everyone. I guess I found my way here because I have finally stopped self-denial and realized just how bad my ADHD is affecting my adult life. I feel like it has gotten worse the older I become. My mind is literally my worst enemy and to sum it up- it sucks! I act on impulse and make decisions I regret. I do things I know are bad and keep them secret from my loved ones because I literally act before I think about the consequences and reget the actions later. My mind always thinks about at least 3 things at once and I have the worst time concentrating when people are speaking to me. I am very hypersensitive and I think it will be the death of me one of these days.
I recently started going to the doctor again and because I have such high anxiety I was put on anxiety meds but not anything for ADHD because my doctor said it often causes depression. I haven't been on ADHD medication in about ten years. I was diagnosed at 17 after an overdose I had and ended up with a stay at the local mental health hospital. I remember stopping my meds then because I had to see a therapist to get them and I hated going to therapy. I wish I would have stayed, I could use a therapist now.
I decided it was time to get help again because I am terrible at 'adulting.' One minute I have all my ducks in a row and then the next day I throw it all to the wind without a care only to once again land in a puddle of remorse. I am so tired of feeling like a crap person because I can't even control my own behavior!! I sound so immature even as I type this but I guess it would be nice to know if anyone has dealth with these ADHD issues and how you overcame the struggle. Because I am seriously struggling right now and need help.
I live with ADHD, and I have ever since I was diagnosed when I was 3, I am now 27, and the one biggest thing I learned about ADHD is finding that one productive outlet to focus all of your attention on. Growing up, I was on 30mg of Ritalin a day. I couldn't focus, could not hold my attention on much of anything for longer than a few seconds (I do still have that problem today), I was jittery, anxious, couldn't sit still, always disobeying teachers, babysitters, etc... and none of it got any better. School? Yeah, school never went over well for me, I was always in the principals office, detention, ISS (in-school suspension); it even got to the point where the principal had to give me a special recess time just to get me to focus enough to finish out the rest of the day, and the culprit was/still is the one thing that makes [my] ADHD so difficult to manage to this day; that culprit is boredom.
I was not interested in much of any information presented to me, because it never piqued my curiosity, so my brain just fed it "in one ear, and out the other" because I didn't know how to relate that information to something that actually did interest me, and it wasn't until very recently that I figured out HOW to best manage my ADHD and its symptoms. There are three characteristics, I've found, that make coping with ADHD hard and coming up with creative ways to tackle them, makes ADHD, at least, more manageable.
The first characteristic, and probably most important, is boredom. Contrary to what the name implies, ADHD is not the lack of attention but the lack of interest. What are your interests or most passionate about? For me, it's technology, games and fitness. I spend countless hours looking up new tech, playing games that challenge my mind and thought process(es), and break my body down in the gym everyday. I take those same passions and figure out ways to relate them to topics I am learning about, or discussing. I've found that I'm less likely to lose interest and end up "daydreaming" or catching myself aimlessly in thought.
The second characteristic is hyperactivity. The human body was never meant to be sedentary; we have muscles and bones for a reason. Another important organ that thrives on physical activity is the brain. What disorder affects the brain? You guessed it, ADHD. I'm not saying you need to do like me and spend hours a day in the gym, but it is absolutely important that you spend SOME time using your body; whether it's running, walking, lifting, wrestling, martial arts, hell even sex would be a great way of exercising. I found that exercise was the key to "tiring" out my brain enough so that I could focus and actually listen to people when they were talking to me. Before? I lost concentration VERY easily and would catch myself randomly thinking about, well, anything, and it would take me much longer to get back on track.
The last characteristic is the nature of impulse. Because our brains don't comprehend information the same way as other's, our brains use impulse to try and justify, or make sense, of how we make decisions. Have you ever gone to the store to try and buy something, just to stand there for an hour because your brain keeps coming up with new points to try and make those decisions for you, but with each new point you've gotten lost on 30 different thoughts because they've each reminded you of something? Hence, the impulse decision. I'd hate to say it, but I've found that impulse decisions heavily tie into the hyperactive characteristic of ADHD and can best be managed with two things. One, the obvious, exercise and two, take a breath and think. Now I'm not saying that I don't still have impulses - I still am driven by impulse; that's just the nature of ADHD - but I don't let those impulses be the determining factor for my decisions. I use those impulses to tell me what I want, and then use that information to determine what decision works in my best interests. I also started implementing a "sleep on it" mentality. Instead of buying/doing something, just because I want it, I find a reason why I need to have/do it, and then sleep on it.
Now this only really works on insignificant decisions, but it helps build a constructive mindset that governs how you handle your decision making for every decision; it's like building a habit, but for how you make decisions about your life
With all that being said, this is not the end-all-be-all for managing ADHD. I still have bouts of loss of concentration, hyperactivity, boredom, and all the other symptoms of ADHD - that's just the nature of the beast - but this is how I've found to best manage my ADHD symptoms without the need for prescription narcotics. I've been off my Ritalin since I started this change 18 months ago and I've noticed that I'm more productive and less symptomatic now, than when I was on prescriptions and not being active. Therapy? YES, therapy can also a great tool to help you talk about your struggles. However, I was in therapy, briefly, when I was a teenager but I couldn't relate my struggles to the therapist so I always left feeling like they didn't understand me and what I was going through. So, I would suggest finding one that specializes in mental disorders! I hope this helps guides you in a direction that you are happy with!