Please do not speak of things you don’t understand. No, it’s not “hip” to have ADD or ADHD. It’s a daily, chronic struggle. Maybe you need to look into yourself and find some sensitivity to things other are going through that you cannot comprehend.

Best,

http://www.turnertoys.com/ADHD/APA_diagCriteria.htm

Great article! I started researching ADD about 4 days ago, and was starting to think I have it. Well, as I read more and more articles over the internet, it seems to describe me very well. I am turning 17 in a couple days, so I guess this is kinda like a birthday gift. Haha, “Happy Birthday! You have ADD!”

Anyway, at first I was hesitant to believe it, but it would explain a lot about me, particularly my short attention span, inability to draw out important information in conversations, my easily distracted and wandering mind, my inability to work without music playing, my disorganization, and my irritation at minor distractions.

At this point, I’m fully convinced I have ADD. Your article is the most helpful one that I’ve found thus far!

I don’t think I should tell my parents though that I have ADD. Knowing them, all they will do is simply blow me off, tell me that I don’t have it, it’s all in my head, and I’m just trying to make excuses. But I have several ADD friends who are going to help me. Now that I know that there is a problem, I can address it. I’ll stop writing now because I’ll just go on and on… maybe that’s another symptom?

Anyhow, great article man!

Thanks for writing, and I love your name by the way!

Meditation is what everyone studying ADD should be looking at. It’s quite amazing what it can do. You basically had one 10 day course and it affected your ability to focus. For me – it’s been some years and I’m able to pull it together now to write a 130,000 page book and many websites online. I wouldn’t say I’m cured, but it’s been a tremendous help. When I choose to I can focus as long as I need to. Just knowing what’s going on – why I’m getting angry as I’m hearing a plastic bag flap from the fan or the wind outside – is a great relief! Any extraneous noise is aggravating and must be stopped or recognized as unstoppable in order for me to continue focusing on something.

I think a regular meditation program is strongly indicated for anyone with ADD. Unfortunately it’d be hard to get kids to practice – which is when we really need it!

Thanks again for writing – yes, TV is a horrible thing!

Best of Life!

Vern

I really appreciate the article, as well as the responses. After years and years of being frustrated at myself for procrastinating, not following through with things and generally messing things up, I had an epiphany while lying awake in bed one night unable to sleep. I realized all these issues I had might be related to ADD. I got up right there and then, did some research on the internet and realized that I’ve been experiencing so many of the symptoms for so long. That happened recently and I’ve been trying to research ways in which to cope with ADD.

Like you I’m completely against medication, especially for a condition like this. I do believe that the modern fast-paced society we live in contributes tremendously to this disorder in many individuals. Never before in history has a society had so many distractions to deal with, so many messages coming in at the same time. In my opinion television is probably the worst thing for anyone with ADD and probably something I would not let my kids watch until a certain age.

Anyway, I too have been lucky enough to practice Vipassana. This was about a year and a half ago, in India before I even realized I had ADD. It was a 10 day course that involved no talking (that right, not a word for 10 days), no tv, no cell phones, not even exercise – except for walking. You were fed a vegetarian diet the whole time and you basically practiced meditation for hours on end. It was truly one of the most difficult and rewarding experiences of my life. After completing the course my girlfriend was astonished at how much it affected me. I was extremely focused and calm, unlike the perpetually distracted person I normally was. Unfortunately, I stopped practicing consistently afterward but plan on taking the course again and following through with the meditation. The course focuses on a lot more than just calming your mind and improving your attention, but the level of mental calmness I was able to gain as a result was amazing.

I’m now trying to incorporate many positive habits into my life to help me overcome this. I guess like many people with ADD the hardest part is having all these dreams and aspirations for yourself and feeling like there is an invisible elastic rope pulling you back.

Cheers!

Thanks for writing – I’m struggling with what to say since I don’t know the entire situation and don’t want to assume much.

My first question is – why is your son trying to complete college at all? I don’t understand trying to make kids with autism, adhd, dyslexia, and a hundred other things attend college at all. Apparently your family thought he could make it through and that it’s a worthwhile goal? Though my ADD/ADHD was / is profound the importance of hitting my goals was always primary and I could pull together in brief spurts to knock out whatever I had to knock out – even up through grad school. There were tests I couldn’t make myself study for because my mind was somewhere else, and then another place and another… but, I made it through college by killing myself really. Was it worth it? No, I’d say not.

I didn’t have autism though. Your son has gotta be going through hell trying to get past college. I don’t see a reason for college if he’s going to be a writer. What he really needs is some structured environment that he can write in – however that might look. Writing is an amazing craft that one can just go with. Sure you have a lot to learn. Does one need to sit through 120 credits of college, 90 of which don’t relate directly to writing and improving his writing skills? No, I don’t think so.

Medication can work wonders. My brother, who also has ADD/ADHD, is brilliant with music. Composing music, playing many different instruments, writing songs – he’s brilliant beyond anyone I’ve met. He took medication a lot and is doing OK as a software tester currently. He’s not following his dream – but, he’s making it in life – supporting his family… he has told me he notices his creativity takes a hit when he’s on the medication.

Medication is definitely necessary in some cases, and by all means I should have gone to a psychiatrist and got on some pronto. My choice not to was because I was already 26 years old. I was finished with my BA and just starting my MA. I thought, “Ahh, I’ve already made it this far – just push it and you’ll make it through this too.” And I did. It was a period of high stress – but I made it through.

In hindsight there was no point in college at all. Upon graduation I’d been working in the mental health field for 6+ years already and decided to jump into IT – fixing computers, building them… and all that. This led to doing Search Engine Optimization, Web Development, and working as an Internet Marketing Consultant to companies that needed internet marketing plans and revamps of what they were doing online.

If your son wants to be a writer, seriously wants to be a writer, the door is wide open at this time. Start writing a blog, or write a book, or write online magazine type articles, travel articles, whatever he wants. The field is so wide open… I wrote a book two years ago. 120,000+ words. Do they call that an epic? Anyway, I wrote it because I really wanted to. Though my first attempt was not good enough to sell to a publisher, and I find errors in it all the time as I re-read some of the chapters – I got many compliments on it. Could I be a book writer? Maybe. It’s just not where my head is right now.

Writing as a career is great for someone with ADHD because they can focus as long as they can – bang out an article or a chapter… and then come back to it and do more later.

Writing is learned by doing. Writing, writing, and more of it.

If you’re applying any pressure to insist your son finish college I think that’s not right… I think if he wants to do it – he can at some point down the line. Instead, try to focus on the strengths he has. Being in school probably isn’t one. I don’t know any kid with ADD/ADHD/Autism that thrives in a school environment. I don’t know whether college was your idea or his – but, it’s probably not such a great idea in my opinion. Of course I don’t know the whole story – the big picture, just acting on what I can guess from what you’ve said.

Good luck to your son as he goes through life with this issue… Oh, there is hope for a major change…

In 1998 I started to meditate. Vipassana style… Just focusing on the breath.

In 1999 I had gone quite far down the path – experiencing the levels of jhana and a stillness of mind that was amazing – and virtually wiped out any trace of ADD/ADHD for a number of years. I didn’t meditate for years after that – and only recently started again. My current state is that I can hold my mind focused on whatever I want for as long as I want – I completed the book I mentioned in 2 months of writing. That was pushing it… but, it’s possible now – whereas before meditation I wouldn’t have been able to write more than 50 pages… and I’d done that multiple times on different books I’ve started over the years.

Meditation in this way – focusing on the breath is a really great way to moderate the ADD/ADHD. I should write more about it and what happens and post here when I get the time – or maybe just shoot a video as they’re easier and faster than writing. I just looked for some articles about meditation and the effect it had on my ADD but cannot find any good overview of what happened. I think I’ll post a video in the next week here – stay tuned.

As I look back on this response I realize I’ve not made it step-by-step or in much of a logical order. Hope you can follow this without your head spinning!

Good luck with everything! Please respond if you have time… if not, no worries…

I find it so hard to concentrate on things that aren’t extremely interesting to me, and the worst part is I know it. I was recently in an interview for a, in my opinion, not so interesting position. I kept zoning out on the guys company overview. Imagine a little me in my brain slapping my mind screaming “focus! this is for a job”, lol.

I’m 29, and just realized I may have ADHD. I’ll give the lifehacks a try, but it’s just nice to see I’m not alone or the spaciest person I know. Thanks!

A.

Good luck with getting your disability more stable than it seems to be.

:) Vern

For #2. Are you talking about when you write or speak? For me I lose my train of thought so often during speech… that hurts. But, when I write I don’t lose that much for some reason. Guess I can always type a quick note out of sequence in the middle of whatever I’m doing so I don’t forget it.

:) Thanks for writing! Best of Life! Vern