Adult ADHD?

[MonzaRacer]

Tried to tell me I had ADD then doc did a EEG and told me my brain was working like one of his autism patients, 900 miles a minute of the regular persons brain running in the fast lane of 65 to 70.
wanted to stick me on a downer UH no.
Another doctor agreed and then had my IQ tested, again, as it wasdone in high school as I got bored too easy. Well it coinsides with that rating. HS 189 then 191.
Got tons of calls from different schools to go into testing regimes to verify and clinical studies and such.
Heck I tookan MIT math course amny moons ago and got the highest grade ever inthe class AND had to take a proctored exam to prove I didnt cheat,,and beat my first score by 12 points.
So as I am a normal operating functional person ,,but diagnosed as autistic.
Heck I got called to put my child in an autism institute (uh not a child and none here )its me thats got this rare issue (its not listed as a problem or a disability, just in my official med records haha).
They did a EEG test when I was back in 8th grade as they thought I had a brain tumor (just acute sinsitus) ans kept waking me up as when I started dreaming my mind would speed up as I wasnt processing any outside information (I now sleep better with a radio on). I can work better/faster and more organized if I listen to some good old rock and roll.
Come to find out if I was a lead guitarist I would be great as a good guitar solo or riff really focuses me.
Used to crank one song when I drag raced. When the starter got tired of it ,he told me to shut off radio and couldnt cut lights for crap.
Oh well gotta go work on car.
Good luck to all who have some type of problem.
Lee

[bookends]

I was on adderall when I was in my early twenties. but now I pretty much just use good old fashioned caffene. I still have days that I can't get anything done but it's not as bad as the side effects I got from the meds, i.e. dry mouth, nervous jitters, ect.

[67velle]

Ocd for me ..........celexa,and before lexapro, I get less done , but I,m much better to be around.My ten year old daughter is adhd and on concerta.. much better grades but I,m not to sure about these doctors.........

[1badchevelle]

I had to take my son to the Doc and he was diagnosed with adhd. What made it Funny was so was I. Mid way into th session the Doc started asking me ? By the time we walked out it all kind of made sense.
He is also a car nut and he's only 4.

[6'9"Witha69]

He is also a car nut and he's only 4.

Ahhhh, the sicknesses we pass on to our children!!

I could swear, and so can my wife, that I have some form of ADD. I start one thing. THen, while doing it, realize there is something else that needs to be done. 1/2 hour later, I have started 5 things and maybe 2 are done. Drives the wife nuts. I always called it multitasking.

[Samckitt]

I started a project last week & actually got it ALL done without starting something else. Well I guess I didn't start it last week, actually about a year ago I stripped the wall paper off of our half bath to paint. Then on Monday I went to take the tank off the toilet to get the rest of the paper off the wall & in the process broke the tank. So off to Home Depot for a new toilet. Hey while that is off I should rip up the vinyl flooring & put tile down, so off to Menards for that. So now I/we have a new bathroom. All new except for the sink top. But I will change that too when we find one we like.

[trapin]

I have a wife for my ADD. Works wonders.

[BonzoHansen]

Old thread from the ashes! Since it is back up I'm happy to report my son is now 8 and in 3rd grade and off the Focalin. He grew out of some of his issues and is learning to control himself better (he is still one bouncy ramped up kid when he gets going). I think part of the key was we started him on a low dose and only gave it to him before school and when he was doing something where it might help (like little league games) – so we never experienced the ‘dependencies’ or need to up the dosage that some report. We eventually stopped it on all but school days and at the end of 2nd grade started weaning him off it for school. We had the teacher report back to us how he was doing. So for you with kids with these issues there is hope. And we found caring teachers was the biggest key since they are a big part of the child’s life.

Little guy totally reminds me of me. He rips through math with ease to the point of boredom; they pushed him into the advanced math program. He just gets it. He barely studies, takes once glance at his spelling words and he is done. I never had to study either it all just sank in (until AP Calc, lol). His last report card was straight A’s. And he overdoes his involved work, like a report he had to do – totally over the top of the requirement, with pictures and everything. I do that too. I call it the ‘while I’m there’ syndrome.

[MonzaRacer]

Wow. I found this thread again.

Seriously. As a child... it was an experiment with Ritalin. My feelings (and findings from some years ago, when I recieved all of the transcripts/medical records of this time period (1971-1976) back in 1990) was that the med's really had no effect. Their medical opinion was formed long before they coined the term ADD or ADHD years later... as it was a new study, so none the less it was an interesting read. Mainly because I remember everything I was tested for. Sleep disorders, hyperactivity, deprivation testing, I had multiple EEG's, multiple IQ test's... etc, etc. And all of this was observed between the age's of 3-5.

Their finding's were... that quickly I lost interest in things that were not considered an "over-riding challenge", mentally... coupled with an IQ of 174. At the ripe age of 4.

So like many here, I understand when someone says they have 10 things going on at once. I am the same way, with the only difference being.... I'm at that level but, with a multiplier of 10. No meds beyond age 4-5. I figured out that I just needed to keep myself busy with things that peak my interest and are a constant challenge... or I get bored with it... and it then falls to the way side, rarely or never to be delt with again or if it was it was not with the same enthusiasm.

Now, I work in the edge of chaos, of "chaos management"... as it keeps me quite busy.

Ok my non attention to things has been diagnosed as the ADD/ADHD with a touch of autism(very slight, I forget the actual term) these together with an IQ test of 189 but focusing on the problem at hand is hard.
Now give me mechanical things and i can do wonders with them, my brother who learned all he needed in nuke school in nave, and is probably one of 5 or 6 people in his field of nondestructive testing (he can work CT scanning miracles with crap equipment) can figure out how I can in my mind "design" then take raw metal/parts and make some pretty incredible parts.
My first few cars were built with my hand tools, dads elcheapo 6"in bench grinder, a 4" makita grinder, a 10 dollar tap and die set, and few other small tools.
I Can fix just about anything, I has what is equal to a Masters Degree in figuring out these things the new engineers call cars.
My focus is hard to believe when I can get it pointed right.
Building cars is a passion, and working on cars is what I like to do.
I cant figure it out but cars focus me, and a doctor saw what I had been told, agreed with the diag and cant figure out how i can focus so well, then I fixed his cars, he was delirious.
Just dont ask me to do large math problems, I get bored.
Now if you do a search for natural and homeopathic treatments and look for the mental exercises some use to get OFF the meds due to adverse reactions.
If it doesnt work you have lost nothing.
Good Luck