1 year ago I started on Provigil off-label ADD drug for fatique(I do not sleep.) It didn't speed mr up but kept me functioning for 1 year. Then my body just crashed and I had to stop taking it. I have an appt. with my psychiatrist next week. My son was diagnosed in July and it would explain alot about my childhood problems. I am 46.

I sound just like you - mentioned it to my doctor and she laughed and said she absolutely KNEW I did not have this. She really doesnt know me very well, having said that, I am a little worried about taking drugs....hmmmm

I got my Diag. at 35. I hope Doug sees your post. I am hoping to get DS to give us an ADULT ADD comunity. Go search around and see haw many members are in the ADD group. Also Yaho has several large adult ADD groups

I accept all freinds who have ADD. Keep in mind I don't really send hugs. (Whats that all about?)

I'm getting evaluated to point me in the right direction. I have mixed feelings as I come from a family that don't believe in mental disorders/illness - if you're crazy you just deal, fix it and not bother others with your problems?(I know weird but that's the way it is)

I've always felt off as a kid. I have a lot of interests and whims that it felt that people never seemed as hyper inside as I was and it was better to do things alone because it was just easier. Being shy helped mask it but still I was always the kooky weird kid who was saying, doing the weird stuff or walking off in the middle of something/class that I swear I didn't do to be noticed but because I had to do it.(i.g. age 8 at the end of school , I waved goodbye to my friends and walked home 9 miles because I felt like it.) My grade/behavior reports went up and down like a yo/yo - One semester excellent, the next so so. My parents never seemed bothered as long as I got good grades and was "good"....I did pretty much what I wanted

Presently, I have times where I can't focus or tend to focus too much on a task/on a person while they're talking and can't remember what they've said.

Have a hard time keeping friends because I feel so insecure of my communication, they do most of the work keeping the relationship going and I often feel that it's really difficult to connect with of course others(this is 80% all in my head but hard to talk about to people face to face because I feel awkard talking people about my faults. This worries me the most. I feel that having people around me who care for me helps a lot - It feels so difficult sometimes but I have faith I'll get better at being with others). I'm messy but cope because I make up games to clean up for home and work(Pick up a 100 things every night and put it in the right place/also vacuum if under 100). I keep notebooks of lists(have been doing it since I was a kid) - recently added one for voice mails which I hate to return.

I think I'm finally seeking help because I've realized that I can't keep doing the things I did as a kid which often was done alone - I need to learn to ask for help, it doesn't fell natural to me. I've coped well,felt my way through life in a satisfactory fashion, kept jobs and accomplished a good deal. It's hard to explain but I want to be a more complete me?

I apologize for the typos.
:-/ :)

my whole life id been a daydreamer and really absent minded. i couldnt give close attention to detail so school wasnt so hard but once i got a pretty fast paced job this was a huge problem. in my homeliife my parents would get on me for forgetting small stuff but at a job you get written up. all my life while people were talking at me id tend to drift off and daydream all the time and id also drift off durring tasks or down time.

i finally got fed up and went to a psychiatrist. the psychiatrist asked me if id ever been tested for add and i just laughed and said no that im not a hyper or impulsive person. he told me that what i was experiencing were symptoms. so i went out and got tested and turns out ive got it.

I grew up in the 60's and 70's, when there wasn't a diagnosis for ADHD. When I was younger, I was hyper, unfocused and isolated from most people. Always felt like an outcast.

As I got older, and had children, I had a son that just wouldn't talk. Eventually took him to speech class, that is where ADHD was introduced into my world, and it clicked that I had it as well.

I have never taken anything for my ADD (the hyperactivity part dropped off) but most/all the symtoms are still there. If I didn't have Crohn's and peri-menopause, I would take the medication to help with this, but for now I have enough to deal with.

Two of my three sons ended up having ADHD and the other one ADD. It is definately genetic and varying degrees in which it will affect your life.

For now, I'm aware and try to cope with it the best that I can, but I can even admit, there are days where it completely takes over.

I have not been diagnosed, however I have a family with many dysfunctional issues and illnesses. They are more aware of what I think is ADHD. Lets see mistakes at work, the last three employers have told me I make mistakes, however they have loved me and my work ethics other than this so I seem to stay around for a while, my sisters and mother now when they are talking to me the instant that I drift off, we have made a joke out of it by saying this the charlie brown cartoon whawhawhawha. Actually this is really not that funny cause it hurts and is so frustrating to have to stop and say start over just to not hear them anyway, However my memory computes things and I spend alot of time thinking and seem to know the whole conversation later. Or at least 90% of it. But even reading a book or watching a movie I cannot remember what it was about 20 minutes after ward I am so feeling like my head is going to burst. When I am ready to go somewhere I do not want to wait on people they seem to be so slow, I wake up so ready to go or dont sleep because I am always mentally on the go this is the hyper part of my life. These are all symptoms and what do you do when you dont have the money to see a professional helppppppp

I was diagnosed with ADD this past August of 07. I have been taking Concerta for about two or three months now. I have alwasy been a daydreamer, and I am noticing symtoms that I alwasy had but figured they were normal and everybody did them. Symptoms like; having to read paragraphs over again cause I just dazed out and was just reading words not taking any information in. I would interrupt people and I still have that problem. I procrastinate with everything and if something seems to be to hard or too much I avoid it. I forget so many things, but then I remember so many things too. Weird right? I have alwasy had the feeling that I was never as good as everyone else, but I also had this feeling that I am as smart and as good but for some reason I have to prove it all the time. I became a perfectionist and that fed my anxiety even more. I have anxiety and that is actually the reason i went to the doctor. I s just needed some peace, I needed my body to relax, I needed my mind to just slow down a second. I felt out of control and I hate to not be in control. I felt there was something going on but i didn't know what. I did not think ADD, I am not hyper, I sit still, and I can focus. Wrong, turns out that I did not know half of what ADD really is, all I knew was that hyper, little boy who could not stay out of trouble. Now I see myself do things that are so ADD and I felt was just normal. I began to think back, like at the office. I always felt like I needed to walk to the waiting area or I had to make copies, or get print outs, or just walk. Stop my work and just walk to the front for a minute. I began to worry that others would notice and say I can't sit still. I guess that was a red flag, huh. Now that i take my meds I can focus and read alot better. It was amazing to me the difference when I don't take it and when I do. But I still have anxiety and I will see the doctor to talk with him about it. So to answer your question I guess I realized it was time for help when I would worry myself literally sick with stomach pains when I had no apparent reason to. I just could not calm down, and I needed the world to stop so I could jump off and watch everyone else finish the ride. I still feel like that, but now I have some satisfaction knowing that I am able to do my job easier. I guess my question is when other people found out that they had ADD (mainly adults who were diagnosed as adults) how did it make you feel? In all the different books and articles everyone expresses relief, and happiness to know what is going on. Is there possibly something else wrong with me, cause I felt nothing but disbelief and well not good feelings. Am I the only one who felt that?

cjsaunt - i read your comment and I feel like i wrote it!! lol :) I started concerta going on 2 months and saw a difference immediately. I still dont feel 100% the symthoms are still there but not as deep as they were. How many mg are you taking?