Understanding ADHD

[Mustachekitteh]

I was just randomly looking around on the internet. One question on GAG made me wonder if there are any movies based on people ADHD. Then I found this website that showed videos people made describing what it's like to have it and how it feels.Then how it seems around everyone else. Which I'm sure anyone who has seen me on gag already knows I have it along with another one. Still maybe this might help some of y'all understand it better and those who do have it you will laugh. Since you know you do it majority of the time as well.

One Cheetah's Fight Against ADHD

This one is using a cheetah as an example on how it feels to be restless. With ADHD you feel like your always on the move. That you can't stop even if you try.

Harlem Shake with my ADHD Support Group

During the video they try to do the harlem shake ADHD style. Sadly it doesn't go the way they were hoping.

ADHD: Setting the record straight

While watching this one, it gives more of an explanation about ADHD. So more facts about it and the different names it's had over time.

Bill's ADDventures - Distraction & Indecision

With ADHD you have a really hard time making descisions and you get distracted really easily. Even if nothing is moving you get distracted just by your own mind.

Those are all the videos I felt like hit some of the points with it. Plus they were funny and I was able to focus till the end. :D Still everyone will say that. "Oh I do the same thing sometimes. Maybe I have a little bit of it". To someone with it we are thinking, "Yeah no you not going completely crazy with them 24/7". Even more is when we do these things yet we like talking to the person we are with. Yet our brain drifts off and end up having to slap yourself back to listening. Even with video or other fun activities. With ADHD you still struggle to finish any of them. Since there are so many things you want to do and then you forget about the others. It's just a huge mess and even with medication for you. You end up being less of a mess but your like a clean messy room. Were your room looks kind of clean but also messy in certain corners. Still it's hard for most people to truly understand what it's like. If you are friends with someone who has it or dating someone. PLEASE look up info about it. Try to learn about it instead of getting mad at them and yelling, "WHY CAN'T YOU DO THIS!" That's not going to help anyone. So it's good to educate yourself more about it.

I hope y'all enjoy the videos and I honestly don't know what else I was going to say. The thought just went poof. :D Anways if you have ADHD/ADD explain your experience. If you don't have ADHD/ADD but are friends with or dating someone with it. Explain your experience with them.

[OpenClose]

I went through 5 psychiatrists to be diagnosed with ADD in the early stages before the outrageous blast of ADD diagnoses.

I'm also on SSRI's for anxiety/depression.

Basically as I experience it, it is a lack of dopamine or a lack of response to dopamine. The brain craves stimulus or else it get agitated, anxious, depressed.

Each person responds differently. They crave stimulus in different ways, and react in different ways to lack of said stimulus. Some become hyperactive. For me, I would spend hours with KNEX, Legos, C++ and hacking games, often forgetting to eat altogether. If I didn't, I didn't often become depressed, more like agitated, like everything becomes a pet peeve. Chewing drives me up a wall if I am off my SSRI's, to the point where I sometimes have to listen to music because the sound of my own chewing annoys me.

I'm quite sure this isn't a direct genetic neurological deformity. We don't evolve that quickly for it to explode like it is. Rather, I'm pretty sure it is giving kids a lack of solid, self-created stimulus. Everything kids do is planned, regulated, timed, monitored, and graded. Everything about how kids are judged is based on their ability to follow instructions. Humans are not meant to live like that.

Then they come home from a complete void of all mental activity, to feast on every bit of stimulus they can get. It's like diabetes for neurotransmitters.

[rthomas43]

This could definitely be an evolved trait. The need for constant stimulus would have been a great trait to have in the early days of human.

[Mustachekitteh]

@rthomas43 True something I read is like people with adhd are good in a crisis but non-adhd people freak out. But then when everything is calm people with adhd are in a crisis but everyone else is fine.

[OpenClose]

Yes, definitely our brains would have evolved to crave stimulus. I mean the recent surge of ADD/ADHD diagnoses could not be a result of genetics, because our brains could not have changed THAT quickly from genetics. That is, ADHD is not something "new" about our genes, it is something new about our environment.

[fondue]

I was diagnosed with add as a kid but my mom refused to believe it so I went without medication til like high school. I got on it for college and it was like my brain stopped leaking or something. I don't know like I don't mind it much since I've lived with it for most my life but what I don't like is that it makes people wary of being friends with you or something. Plus the times i fucked up shit by forgetting something important and made someone mad. I can't even make new friends cuz I'll like forget I'm even talking to someone or I'll forget to reply back cuz I went to go do something else and bam. Friendship terminated. Aiight.
I got Cortana though and its the best even though wp8 sucks ass. I tell her everything and she remembers for me. 👍

[AnOrdinaryGirl45]

I am sorry your Mom refused to believe it. I think perhaps she was afraid of admitting that her daughter might have ADD. Any who, I hope you have people who support you right now.

[Accipiter]

I was diagnosed with AD (H) D at the shockingly young age of 5 and was on pills of all kinds from age 9-29. One thing I learned after 20 years of being put on mood control substances and lots and lots of speed was that ADHD really stands for Another Doctor Handing-out Drugs. It's all bullshit.

The whole idea behind ADHD and not being able to focus when a boring teacher is giving a lecture applies to most people. It toys with people's insecurities. Sure you ought to be listening to the lecture, but children are energetic and most teachers teach with a one-size-fits-all approach. Some kids are good at learning in lectures, some are visual learners, I'm a hands-on learner who excels in arts physical projects. I didn't do so well with lectures. Not every learner is the same.

Also the side affects from ADHD medications were crippling me in ways I never realized until it was too late. Taking dexedrine makes you feel good and focused until you get the crash when the drugs wear off. Then you feel like crap. This impacted my athletic abilities after school. When I was on the medication it would supress my appetite and I wouldn't eat breakfast. I was also nervous and twitchy on the meds; I'd also get painful headaches whenever getting upset or frustrated. This meant I had no dating life in high school and most of college because I was so nervous, and I wanted to avoid these headaches from being hurt or rejected by girls I liked. If there was ever a day I missed or forgot to take these daily medications, it showed. This convinced me that I really had ADHD and I wouldn't be able to function in society without the pills. When in reality it was my withdrawal symptoms acting up. My body was so chemically dependent on these pills that I couldn't function without them. I told my psychiatrist I wanted off these pills and asked what he would suggest, he said "An ADHD patient without pills is like a diabetic without insulin! You have ADHD, sometimes we are dealt bad hands, now deal with it!"

I've done my research. This argument holds no water. A diabetic without insulin can faint, have seizures, or in extreme cases wind up dying. There is an accurate laboratory way to determine if a person has diabetes. ADHD people without pills is not a medical emergency, and there's no reliable way to prove someone has ADHD or not. It's a scam from the psychiatry community and big pharma. If anyone is a master of scams, they would be masters of psychology. Psychiatrists are masters of

[Accipiter]

psychology.

There are no solid studies that prove the medication makes young people more successful in academia. Medicated ADHD children fail classes and drop out at the same rate as the non medicated ones. I too had weak study and organizational habits. But I overcame those through cognitive behavior therapy courses and learned how to think more rationally about issues, as well as build my own self confidence. That helped me so much more than pills ever did. This is why I support the holistic approach to helping people out with distraction and poor study habits, rather than giving them a pill as a band-aid solution.

Also it's been proven that young people who are given psychiatric labels creates a placebo affect on them that often makes them fulfill that destiny. Wheras if they reject the labels of obsessive compuslive, ADHD, bi-polar, etc, they have higher self esteem and do better than those who accept it. A doctor tells you you have ADHD? Tell them to prove it and fuck off.

[Accipiter]

When I decided to stop taking the medication, I didn't stop all at once. I just took less and less each day so I could adapt to it and have easier withdrawals. Being off the medication felt like unloading a heavy rock off my back. It felt amazing to finally be free from it all. I have more real energy to work out, I don't have erratic peaks and valleys of focus and distraction throughout the day, and I'm eating breakfast now. I don't feel nervous or paranoid as much as I used to, and the headaches are gone. I don't fear being rejected by girls as much as I used to. And it makes me very mad that my family and I bought into this lie for 20 years.

[Mustachekitteh]

Yeah that's not the case with me at all. I was diagnosed when I was 4-5 years old as well. I wasn't put on medication till the 3rd grade when I was almost failing it. Then went to a tutor type place. Which both helped A LOT. I ended up ahead of everyone else. Then stopped taking the meds in 6th grade due to it making me depressed. Had shitty grades at the end of high school. Still passed. Failed everything in the first year of college so I dropped out. The medication really helps me out now.

I have never heard of those kinds of symptoms ever with adhd people. Though I also has Asperger. So i'm both adhd and aspie. I've never excepted my disorder and it made me have low self esteem because I couldn't keep up with everyone.

[Mustachekitteh]

you sound more like you became addicted to the medication. Then had addiction withdraws. Which there are adhd medication that keeps you from being addicted to it.

[Mustachekitteh]

If the medication did that to you I don't believe you have adhd at all. If you did that medication would have felt like a life saver. I think you were just being a normal kid at the time you were diagnosed and it was wrong.

I did a test of my own and gave my adhd meds to none adhd people. They went insane basically. They couldn't sleep, eat, heads hurt, and just went crazy. So again i don't believe you ever had it.

[rthomas43]

Those medications aren't physically addictive, only mentally.

[Mustachekitteh]

@rthomas43 Still it sounds like he didn't have adhd to begin with. So that the medication just made him go crazy. Like with most people that don't have it but try it. Hence why so many try to get high off that stuff and it's a controlled substance.

But i'm not a psychologist I'm just going by my own personal experience with medications I've tried. I know that on days that I forgot to take my meds. I would think I did but then notice how my focus lvl is so bad. So I know the medication doesn't do the placebo effect. Since like I said I truly thought I had taken it that but at night I noticed I didn't. Which explains why I felt so out of it that day.

[tony72722]

So when I chime in on these ADD/ADHD stories I always have to give my dear diary story.

I have ADD. Some people claim they do and are on medication but I REALLY do. For years I thought I was stupid. I remember I took a multiple of IQ test my junior year of high school.. I scored slightly above average on all. Thought something was wrong and I took even more. All around the same results.

So then I just thought I was lazy and had terrible work ethic. So what did I do? Went into the Marine Corps lol. Being 22 years old now and being officially diagnosed it's honestly a lot of weight off my shoulders. When I take my medication I can sit down and read a book for hours. It's incredible. NEVER thought I could go to college. Now I'm sitting at a 3.2 GPA as an engineering major. Being diagnosed literally changed my life.

Thing is I don't know if I want to stay on the medication for the rest of my life. I'm going to college and I have a free ride but I don't think I would want to work for a big corporation or company and be dependent off adderal. I'm getting the degree because I enjoy what I study and I will always have it under my belt. I think after graduation I am just going to do free lance work and really get into fitness world. Not just a nobody personal trainer but I want to be nationally recognized and train with the best. I don't need medication for that and I genuinely love it.

[ThatJarHead]

I was diagnosed when I was really young and medicated for it until about 16. When I finally said enough of being a walking pez dispenser having small candy like objects shoved into me my life got a lot better. They had me on really high doses of Aderall and Rispiridone. When I told the pills to get stuffed and stopped taking them I largely saw a turn around in my weight management, attitude, alert fullness, wakefulness, and focus. Sadly once I stopped taking them I started to experience severe sleep problems. I couldn't and still can't sleep without being completely exhausted. Personal I'd rather be a alert and cognitive good person that can't sleep very well than a drowsy and illiterate bad person.

[Mustachekitteh]

lol for me I think I could sleep better without the medication. Though i can't function without it. With the medication i'm able to think more clearly than I can without it.

[Anonymous]

I was diagnosed with ADHD, inattentive type as an adult. If not for my school counselor suspecting I had it, I would have never known. Though, growing up, I always felt "different" from other kids. Since the diagnosis came so late in life, I'm sometimes in denial whether I have it or not. But after having worked in intense office environments, I've been more inclined to think I actually have it.

So for the first time ever, I'm taking medication. I just started. Time will tell if it'll help me feel and act "normal."

[infp_libra_78]

How are the meds going? Which symptoms did you have, and how do you feel now?

[ClariceOwen23]

I can relate. I was under medication until high school and it was hard getting work done. I even had trouble paying attention to people when they were talking and that made me socially anxious. Even when I was living with roommates, I would annoy them sometimes even though it was unintentional.

I've feel like I've grown out of it now but I still experience the symptoms now and then. Or rather, I'd say I've learned to use them to my advantage.

[ClariceOwen23]

It also helps that I had supporting parents. They did what they could to help me out.

[Anonymous]

I have ADHD. I can go from can't sit still to crashed in a split second. Always been impulsive and my attention span has always been all over the place. But I've noticed coffee helps with the energy. Keeps me calm and I can actually focus long enough to get through things.

[Waffles731]

I have ADHD and my girlfriend does,
When I was young and before I started medication I would literally forget where I was and what I was doing when I was at school. I would literally get up out of class and wander into the hallway. The teacher had to fetch me sometimes once an hour

[TheGamingOne]

I have ADD myself, but they also found out i very intellegent cuasing my ADD to be hidden very well
they didn't find out untill my 17th and got the diagonse on my 18th
If only knew it earlier :(
but my ADD is rather bad since i get severe headaces when im in croweded places

futher i would have to grab some of my friends to be able to tell how its like to hang out with people who hav ADD :P

[Mustachekitteh]

The headaches are caused by being over stimulated by all the sights, sounds, movement, etc.

[Anonymous]

I have ADHD

not to mention that the bad self esteem
- nxiety
-depression
- sense of not being to your own standard
- troubled relationships
- trouble in school/college/work
- getiing bullied at a young age for your "weirdness"

[OpenClose]

More specifically, it is the lack of dopamine that causes to brain to crave stimulus else it become depressed.

[Opinion Owner]

whatever it is it sucks balls

[Mustachekitteh]

Yeah it does :( though the bully part wasn't an issue for me. I would attack them like a cat if they tried. :D

I wonder if there is just more to it. Since I've learned the brain waves of people with adhd is the same ones people have between sleeping and waking up. So in away people with adhd are always half asleep. :D

[Opinion Owner]

I didn't know that that is interestig

[Mustachekitteh]

Yeah but it sucks how they don't have much research on women with adhd. It's mostly done on males. :(
psychcentral.com/.../60724.html

centerforadd-az.com/.../understanding-brainwaves

[Opinion Owner]

I think for women might be worse cause of hormone changes

[Mustachekitteh]

Just the emotional part. I know without my adhd medication I feel irritated by EVERYTHING. Even still I have to try at times to not let my emotions run crazy. Since there isn't a middle ground either i'm going extreme emotional or i'm not.

[Opinion Owner]

Me I keep tame but I cantget anything done AT all

[Maxemeister]

I have ADHD. And it's not hard living like this, it's just that I have to be interested in what I'm listening to, else I'll focus on something else.

With ADHD it's helped my creativity along quite a bit

[Alexious]

I have ADHD, when I don't take my pills I'm just full of energy and I can be really aggressive.

[Entity]

Sounds a lot like mania.