My name is Emily.
I am 19 years old, and I was diagnosed with ADHD in 1st grade. After meeting with a child psychologist for six weeks, my mother did extensive research on how to best raise a child with ADHD and how to best equip me to live my daily life. Lately, I have been feeling the need to share my personal experiences of living with ADHD.
First of all, what is it? What do all the letters stand for?
Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity
Disorder
I put the first two together because it is meant to read like that. (Really, it's supposed to read AD/HD) ADD is a lack or concentration and attention. ADHD has the added behavior of hyperactivity within the brain and nervous system. The Amen (Ah-men, not Ay-men) Brain Clinics have done extensive research on the brains of ADHD patients and have reconstructed the way it is studied, diagnosed, and treated. They have wonderful resources, including an online comprehensive test to help point out which type of ADHD someone has, as well as, the option of going through a 30 day plan that will guide someone through learning to cope with their personal type of ADD. I recently took the test, and I have a combination of Over Focused, Temporal Lobe, and Anxious ADHD.
"Over focused ADD is typified by cognitive inflexibility, trouble shifting attention, being stuck on negative thoughts or behaviors, worry, oppositional, argumentative, and a need for routines."
"Temporal lobe ADD is typified by a short fuse, misinterpretation of comments, periods of anxiety, headaches, and abdominal pain, as well as memory problems."
"Anxious ADD is typified by inattentiveness, distractibility, disorganization, anxiety, tension, nervousness, and a proneness to physical symptoms of stress, such as headaches and G.I. (Gastrointestinal) problems." All of these put together make a lot of sense now.
After I was diagnosed, my mother and my pediatrician decided to try flax seed oil pills to see if that had an effect on anything. I took those for about a year while my mother tried a new drug called Straterra to see how it worked and if there were any negative side effects associated with this new class of drugs. After a year of being on it and having great success with it, mom asked the pediatrician if we could try Straterra for me. I did very well on it, and I stayed on it for nearly 10 years. Last August, I stopped taking it (not because I wanted to, but because I kept forgetting, imagine that), however, I felt it was doing more harm than good on the days I did remember to take it.
After a few weeks, I had a really hard time breathing one night. We couldn't figure out what it was, and we thought maybe my asthma had resurfaced. I went to the doctor a few days later and she said everything sounded fine.Turns out I had my first anxiety attack. So on top of learning how to cope with no medication, I now had to learn how to cope with anxiety issues. It's been a...hard year and a half, but I think learning this all now in college is better than in the workforce where there is no sympathy for mental illness. I think this year and a half is just the beginning of my journey with this, and I already know so much more than I did.
I've learned how to describe ADHD to people without it. Think about your brain as a standard door. It opens one way to let things from the outside in, and the other way to let things from the inside out. For most people, this door closes appropriately; not so for people with ADHD. For people like me, the door never closes. There is a constant wave of stimuli flowing into our mind, and our mind is desperately trying to read it and react to it all while trying to focus on our own thoughts as well. Yes, this means our brain is working in what could be considered overdrive.
All the time.
Always. Forever.
And we can not make it stop.
ADHD is like have a Ferrari motor and bicycle brakes. Stopping just is not a thing.
This often leads to our brains working overtime while we are ready to go to sleep and be done for the day. Which means insomnia is quite normal. It could also mean that since the day has calmed down, our own personal, creative thoughts are able to thrive and we feel the need to work them out. I spent many nights awake writing, reading, and painting in high school. I did not have a regular sleep schedule until this semester, and even then there were some nights I didn't get to sleep until 3 am. And you know what? I was an absolute disaster those days. My inattentiveness was at an all time high on the days I didn't get much sleep. I am moody and much more susceptible to anxiety attacks when I am not rested.
People with ADHD also tend to jump from one project to the to the next without finishing the first project. Which means our work and living spaces may be a bit...cluttered. Or messy. Or it might just look like a disaster area. But please, please don't ever, and I mean EVER move something without telling us you are and where you are putting it. We remember where we put everything. Except our keys and ID's. We never remember where those go. If you find them, please tell us. And yes, we have every intention of completing every single project.
However, we also tend to hyper-focus on a single task. So while we may not work on just one project at a time, we will obsessively focus on one until we burn out and hit a wall with it. Then we will drift around trying to figure out what thing to do next. We might possibly get depressed at this point because we don't know why we can't make any more progress, and now we don't know what to do next. We start to feel a little lost. And that's okay. When I hit a wall, I get really tired and I become very lost and whiney. This is also where the anxious part comes in. If I am not doing something I see as productive, I get very, very anxious and worried that I have forgotten to do something. Which leads to an anxiety attack. This is not a problem for the majority of the people with ADHD, though.
Because our brain is constantly going, we will forget about a lot of things. And I mean, I will forget you answered my question literally three seconds after you answer me and I will ask you again. My poor roommate has reminded me to not forget the tea I made more times than I care to admit. My friends will remind me of what time we are meeting at least three times in a conversation so I only ask them again once. My mother reminds me of things I need to do a half dozen times and sometimes I still forget. I'll go to respond and my words will come out nonsense after I jumble up my actual response and my other thoughts. I get stuck on a word and stutter it until my words catch up and my mind slows down a hair. Sometimes I completely forget what our conversation is about...in the middle of the conversation.
I know this is not a comprehensive list of things ADHD people deal with, but it is what I have dealt with from day to day, and what I have seen in my various family members. (Also, all of us that have been diagnosed have very large, outgoing personalities, it makes family get-togethers very interesting). ADHD is a very personal, moldable thing, while the main symptoms are the same in most diagnoses, the things people struggle with vary greatly and can be incredibly personal. How someone copes with ADHD is also very personalized and what helps one person could further mess up another.
I am still learning how to cope without medication even after a year and a half, but I have figured out some things that personally help me. First of all, before anything else, you have to have the mindset that ADHD is not a disorder or a learning disability, it is an abnormal wiring of neurons in your brain. You have to believe that there is nothing wrong with you, you aren't broken or messed up; you have a different way of viewing the world. You have to not think of ADHD negatively, and think of it positively. I think that is the number one most important thing you can do when you decide to start positively coping with it.
Secondly, put yourself on a consistent schedule. Your brain needs routine more than a non-ADHD person. This has been my biggest help this semester. The first half, I really struggled with keeping a clear schedule and it affected my ability to get everything done and my ability to get everything done and my ability to focus on my work.(*Editor's note: do you see what she means? I purposely left that error in her writing.) This cost me some serious grades in my classes. But once I started writing out everything I need to do for the week, the day, the morning, night, my grades went up, my anxiety levels went down, and my sleep improved.
Third, change your diet. This is something that I've known, but haven't done, and I really need to start focusing on it. It is (or at least should be) commonly known that the food you put into your body affects how your brain and body performs. With ADHD, it is imperative that you treat your body and brain right. Cut out refined and processed foods, sugary foods, up protein intakes, especially plant proteins. Also, I have heard that exercising daily helps as well. This sounds as it should be done in the morning before you start your day to get rid of any excess energy. Like I said, I absolutely need to start working on that aspect myself. Many times, the healthier your physical body is, the more likely your mind will be healthier.
Some of these things I have figured out on my own, some things my mother has shared with me, and others I have discovered through research. The past year and a half been all about discovery, and I have no doubt I still have much to learn. New research comes out all the time, and I am not in a constant state of being. But hopefully I've helped at least one person understand ADHD better, and maybe even understand themselves.
Constantly learning,
Emily E.
I am 19 years old, and I was diagnosed with ADHD in 1st grade. After meeting with a child psychologist for six weeks, my mother did extensive research on how to best raise a child with ADHD and how to best equip me to live my daily life. Lately, I have been feeling the need to share my personal experiences of living with ADHD.
First of all, what is it? What do all the letters stand for?
Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity
Disorder
I put the first two together because it is meant to read like that. (Really, it's supposed to read AD/HD) ADD is a lack or concentration and attention. ADHD has the added behavior of hyperactivity within the brain and nervous system. The Amen (Ah-men, not Ay-men) Brain Clinics have done extensive research on the brains of ADHD patients and have reconstructed the way it is studied, diagnosed, and treated. They have wonderful resources, including an online comprehensive test to help point out which type of ADHD someone has, as well as, the option of going through a 30 day plan that will guide someone through learning to cope with their personal type of ADD. I recently took the test, and I have a combination of Over Focused, Temporal Lobe, and Anxious ADHD.
"Over focused ADD is typified by cognitive inflexibility, trouble shifting attention, being stuck on negative thoughts or behaviors, worry, oppositional, argumentative, and a need for routines."
"Temporal lobe ADD is typified by a short fuse, misinterpretation of comments, periods of anxiety, headaches, and abdominal pain, as well as memory problems."
"Anxious ADD is typified by inattentiveness, distractibility, disorganization, anxiety, tension, nervousness, and a proneness to physical symptoms of stress, such as headaches and G.I. (Gastrointestinal) problems." All of these put together make a lot of sense now.
After I was diagnosed, my mother and my pediatrician decided to try flax seed oil pills to see if that had an effect on anything. I took those for about a year while my mother tried a new drug called Straterra to see how it worked and if there were any negative side effects associated with this new class of drugs. After a year of being on it and having great success with it, mom asked the pediatrician if we could try Straterra for me. I did very well on it, and I stayed on it for nearly 10 years. Last August, I stopped taking it (not because I wanted to, but because I kept forgetting, imagine that), however, I felt it was doing more harm than good on the days I did remember to take it.
After a few weeks, I had a really hard time breathing one night. We couldn't figure out what it was, and we thought maybe my asthma had resurfaced. I went to the doctor a few days later and she said everything sounded fine.Turns out I had my first anxiety attack. So on top of learning how to cope with no medication, I now had to learn how to cope with anxiety issues. It's been a...hard year and a half, but I think learning this all now in college is better than in the workforce where there is no sympathy for mental illness. I think this year and a half is just the beginning of my journey with this, and I already know so much more than I did.
I've learned how to describe ADHD to people without it. Think about your brain as a standard door. It opens one way to let things from the outside in, and the other way to let things from the inside out. For most people, this door closes appropriately; not so for people with ADHD. For people like me, the door never closes. There is a constant wave of stimuli flowing into our mind, and our mind is desperately trying to read it and react to it all while trying to focus on our own thoughts as well. Yes, this means our brain is working in what could be considered overdrive.
All the time.
Always. Forever.
And we can not make it stop.
ADHD is like have a Ferrari motor and bicycle brakes. Stopping just is not a thing.
This often leads to our brains working overtime while we are ready to go to sleep and be done for the day. Which means insomnia is quite normal. It could also mean that since the day has calmed down, our own personal, creative thoughts are able to thrive and we feel the need to work them out. I spent many nights awake writing, reading, and painting in high school. I did not have a regular sleep schedule until this semester, and even then there were some nights I didn't get to sleep until 3 am. And you know what? I was an absolute disaster those days. My inattentiveness was at an all time high on the days I didn't get much sleep. I am moody and much more susceptible to anxiety attacks when I am not rested.
People with ADHD also tend to jump from one project to the to the next without finishing the first project. Which means our work and living spaces may be a bit...cluttered. Or messy. Or it might just look like a disaster area. But please, please don't ever, and I mean EVER move something without telling us you are and where you are putting it. We remember where we put everything. Except our keys and ID's. We never remember where those go. If you find them, please tell us. And yes, we have every intention of completing every single project.
However, we also tend to hyper-focus on a single task. So while we may not work on just one project at a time, we will obsessively focus on one until we burn out and hit a wall with it. Then we will drift around trying to figure out what thing to do next. We might possibly get depressed at this point because we don't know why we can't make any more progress, and now we don't know what to do next. We start to feel a little lost. And that's okay. When I hit a wall, I get really tired and I become very lost and whiney. This is also where the anxious part comes in. If I am not doing something I see as productive, I get very, very anxious and worried that I have forgotten to do something. Which leads to an anxiety attack. This is not a problem for the majority of the people with ADHD, though.
Because our brain is constantly going, we will forget about a lot of things. And I mean, I will forget you answered my question literally three seconds after you answer me and I will ask you again. My poor roommate has reminded me to not forget the tea I made more times than I care to admit. My friends will remind me of what time we are meeting at least three times in a conversation so I only ask them again once. My mother reminds me of things I need to do a half dozen times and sometimes I still forget. I'll go to respond and my words will come out nonsense after I jumble up my actual response and my other thoughts. I get stuck on a word and stutter it until my words catch up and my mind slows down a hair. Sometimes I completely forget what our conversation is about...in the middle of the conversation.
I know this is not a comprehensive list of things ADHD people deal with, but it is what I have dealt with from day to day, and what I have seen in my various family members. (Also, all of us that have been diagnosed have very large, outgoing personalities, it makes family get-togethers very interesting). ADHD is a very personal, moldable thing, while the main symptoms are the same in most diagnoses, the things people struggle with vary greatly and can be incredibly personal. How someone copes with ADHD is also very personalized and what helps one person could further mess up another.
I am still learning how to cope without medication even after a year and a half, but I have figured out some things that personally help me. First of all, before anything else, you have to have the mindset that ADHD is not a disorder or a learning disability, it is an abnormal wiring of neurons in your brain. You have to believe that there is nothing wrong with you, you aren't broken or messed up; you have a different way of viewing the world. You have to not think of ADHD negatively, and think of it positively. I think that is the number one most important thing you can do when you decide to start positively coping with it.
Secondly, put yourself on a consistent schedule. Your brain needs routine more than a non-ADHD person. This has been my biggest help this semester. The first half, I really struggled with keeping a clear schedule and it affected my ability to get everything done and my ability to get everything done and my ability to focus on my work.(*Editor's note: do you see what she means? I purposely left that error in her writing.) This cost me some serious grades in my classes. But once I started writing out everything I need to do for the week, the day, the morning, night, my grades went up, my anxiety levels went down, and my sleep improved.
Third, change your diet. This is something that I've known, but haven't done, and I really need to start focusing on it. It is (or at least should be) commonly known that the food you put into your body affects how your brain and body performs. With ADHD, it is imperative that you treat your body and brain right. Cut out refined and processed foods, sugary foods, up protein intakes, especially plant proteins. Also, I have heard that exercising daily helps as well. This sounds as it should be done in the morning before you start your day to get rid of any excess energy. Like I said, I absolutely need to start working on that aspect myself. Many times, the healthier your physical body is, the more likely your mind will be healthier.
Some of these things I have figured out on my own, some things my mother has shared with me, and others I have discovered through research. The past year and a half been all about discovery, and I have no doubt I still have much to learn. New research comes out all the time, and I am not in a constant state of being. But hopefully I've helped at least one person understand ADHD better, and maybe even understand themselves.
Constantly learning,
Emily E.
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