ADD/ADHD and this forum

[cornholio]

Good chunk of posters here are not in a related industry yet they have a irrationally strong interest in the niche subjects discussed here, and clearly invest allot of time on to this forum. Then there are a few posters who do work in the industry and even after spending their working hours on subjects being discussed here, they still find the desire to come here and discuss them even more.

So my question is how many of you, the *frequent* poster suffer and have been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD as a adult or child?

For those that havent, read these symptoms and answer if they relate to you(this is not a professional questionnaire).

-Often making careless mistakes when having to work on uninteresting or difficult projects
-Often having difficulty keeping attention during work, or holding down a job for a significant amount of time
-Often having difficulty concentrating on conversations
-Having trouble finishing projects that have already been started
-Often having difficulty organizing for the completion of tasks
-Avoiding or delaying in starting projects that require a lot of thought
-Often misplacing or having difficulty finding things at home or at work
-Disorganized personal items (sometimes old and useless to the individual) causing excessive "clutter" (in the home, car, etc.)
-Often distracted by activity or noise
-Often having problems remembering appointments or obligations, or inconveniently changing plans on a regular basis





Reason I ask is because I have a strong feeling that a vast majority of the frequent posters have ADD/ADHD, whether they know it or not.
I think it would be nice to atleast see the answers. It can turn some peoples lives around who view this on here as it will atleast get them to think about their situation and why they are where they are.

Other then that it can atleast be a interesting topic to discus on here, if everyone is upfront and honest. Im sure of it

[Whalleyboy]

should have made it a poll
i got told when i was little i had ADHD just so you have an answer

[cornholio]

Originally Posted by Whalleyboy

should have made it a poll
i got told when i was little i had ADHD just so you have an answer

Good idea, I added one. Yeah im just curious about the results on here.

[cornholio]

Personally I have ADD, and it most definitely is a real disorder for those who question it. Having said that its not a bad thing if you learn how to manage it, infact a majority of people who are better then everyone else at what they do have ADD/ADHD and were simply lucky enough to find their niche and have the tools to be good at it.

[cc85]

Yea I think I have some of those issues...I am very bad at procrastinating with assignments. ugh. I watch tv a lot because it keeps me interested with a ton of information processing, and yet I still like reading the paper. i'm just very weird, ADD or not.

[flight_from_kamakura]

thought this was an ironic poll about trofiren, etc

[Distill3d]

This is a great....oh look at that shiny elephant!

[mr.x]

-Often making careless mistakes when having to work on uninteresting or difficult projects....YES
-Often having difficulty keeping attention during work, or holding down a job for a significant amount of time.....YES
-Often having difficulty concentrating on conversations....YES
-Having trouble finishing projects that have already been started....YES
-Often having difficulty organizing for the completion of tasks.....YES
-Avoiding or delaying in starting projects that require a lot of thought.....YES
-Often misplacing or having difficulty finding things at home or at work.....YES
-Disorganized personal items (sometimes old and useless to the individual) causing excessive "clutter" (in the home, car, etc.)....YES
-Often distracted by activity or noise....OMG YES
-Often having problems remembering appointments or obligations, or inconveniently changing plans on a regular basis....YES



and here's just one of many online tests you can take, :p : http://psychcentral.com/addquiz.htm

[go_leafs_go02]

Nope.

I'm a transportation engineer, who has connections to working in Metro Vancouver in transportation planning.

Don't want to detail too much of my occupation, but I've always loved transportation, urban planning, etc. Drew maps for fun of roads, signs, signals on newspaper roles as a little kid. Always been in me.

I know I was a hyper kid growing up (2-6 or so) but never have been told I've had ADD or ADHD.

[cabotp]

I'd bet my life that I don't have ADD.

My beef with the whole ADD thing. Is that I feel people were diagnosed with it as a kids. As a quick and easy way to answer why they just didn't like to sit still in school.

While some people truly may have ADD. I just feel that too many people were diagnosed with and force fed pills.

[Distill3d]

Originally Posted by cabotp

My beef with the whole ADD thing. Is that I feel people were diagnosed with it as a kids. As a quick and easy way to answer why they just didn't like to sit still in school.

While some people truly may have ADD. I just feel that too many people were diagnosed with and force fed pills.

I agree with you.

I was diagnosed with ADD when I was in Grade 7 because the doctors and psychologists just couldn't handle the fact that I learned faster than anyone else. I was rather bored of being in a classroom where my mind wasn't being challenged enough. I tended to get "destructive" when I was bored. It wasn't so much that I would wreck things, rather I would become a distraction for others. It wasn't until I "borrowed" some hand tools from the shop class and took a desk apart in homeroom that they did something about it. First they thought it was Aspergers because I was displaying symptoms of it, then they thought it was something else (can't remember what it was), but finally after a couple months they chalked it up to ADD. So, then they put me on the Ritalin, which I sold to my friends (I was bored, not stupid).

Finally in Grade 9, I found a teacher that decided that he wasn't going to buy the ADD diagnosis and actually challenged me. He went out of his way to tailor a lesson plan for me that challenged me, yet stayed within the curriculum. He then worked with other teachers in the school in order to do the same thing. Since that school ran from 7-12, it was easier to do than in other schools I'm sure.

I moved at the end of Grade 11 to a different city. Part of the move was so that I could take a program not offered in the school I was in. I ended up in a very challenging school, and never had any issues again. I also ended up being kicked out of the classroom a lot because I kept showing a teacher how she was wrong (but thats unrelated).

I don't know, but sometimes I can buy the ADD or ADHD in some people. I mean easily distracted or destructive behavior could mean a bunch of things. However, I think some professionals in the field don't always ask the right questions, and are quick to diagnose.

[johnjimbc]

I don't have ADD / ADHD, though I have a few of the symptoms. I'm more like the person interested in maps as a child. I've always loved urban designs or spatial designs. I love walking around large formal gardens or planned universities or cities. I think it's one of the reasons I ended up in Washington, DC.

When I was a very young kid, I used to create cities in the sand. Most kids build sand castles. I wasn't as interested in a single structure. I created roads in the sand, planning where the downtown would be and how it would sit next to the body of water or indicating where the farms or wilderness areas outside town would be. I can remember using my hands to "pave" the sand to show how the roads would run to connect all the different areas. Yes . . . strange .

With regard to ADD / ADHD, I do think it is far over-diagnosed. I have met people with ADD / ADHD. I also had a client once diagnosed with it. He told me in his first meeting, and explained I might need to "reel him in" sometimes so we'd stay on topic. He was incredibly intelligent, but he could be "all over the place" on unrelated matters sometimes when he really needed to consider one thing or make a single decision. When he got like that, I'd point it out to him and he'd refocus. He was absolutely right to point I would need to do so on occasion.

Working with him and spending a lot of time with him was what finally made me realize what actual ADD / ADHD was like. Ever since I've had lots of friends whose kids were diagnosed or "suspected" of having it, and I've thought (and sometimes said), "No way . . . he'd just being a kid."

[go_leafs_go02]

Originally Posted by johnjimbc

I don't have ADD / ADHD, though I have a few of the symptoms. I'm more like the person interested in maps as a child. I've always loved urban designs or spatial designs. I love walking around large formal gardens or planned universities or cities. I think it's one of the reasons I ended up in Washington, DC.

When I was a very young kid, I used to create cities in the sand. Most kids build sand castles. I wasn't as interested in a single structure. I created roads in the sand, planning where the downtown would be and how it would sit next to the body of water or indicating where the farms or wilderness areas outside town would be. I can remember using my hands to "pave" the sand to show how the roads would run to connect all the different areas. Yes . . . strange .

With regard to ADD / ADHD, I do think it is far over-diagnosed. I have met people with ADD / ADHD. I also had a client once diagnosed with it. He told me in his first meeting, and explained I might need to "reel him in" sometimes so we'd stay on topic. He was incredibly intelligent, but he could be "all over the place" on unrelated matters sometimes when he really needed to consider one thing or make a single decision. When he got like that, I'd point it out to him and he'd refocus. He was absolutely right to point I would need to do so on occasion.

Working with him and spending a lot of time with him was what finally made me realize what actual ADD / ADHD was like. Ever since I've had lots of friends whose kids were diagnosed or "suspected" of having it, and I've thought (and sometimes said), "No way . . . he'd just being a kid."

I did that too.

I also memorized the entire drivers handbook of roads, signs, and traffic lights by the age of 4. Even at the age of 3, I was able to give my parents directions to places I had been a year before. When we moved to a new city when I was 5, my mom purposefully took me on a tour of the whole city, so I could memorize it and allow her to get directions based on my memory.

Like I said before, my biggest hobby was drawing fantasy road maps. They were messy, but by the age of 9-10, they started to neaten up. Around that time I got into SimCity and stuff so I deviated from that.

Still never had ADHD. I'm now happily been with a wonderful girl for the last year and a half, and definitely don't feel like I am at any disadvantage compared to anyone else.

[Distill3d]

SimCity must've been a dream video game for Go Leafs and johnjimbc!

[cornholio]

Originally Posted by cabotp

I'd bet my life that I don't have ADD.

My beef with the whole ADD thing. Is that I feel people were diagnosed with it as a kids. As a quick and easy way to answer why they just didn't like to sit still in school.

While some people truly may have ADD. I just feel that too many people were diagnosed with and force fed pills.

I most certainly wasnt diagnosed as a kid, though I wish I was as it would have changed my life incredibly. The problem with me was that I dont have adhd so im not overly hyper, and im not stupid so I managed to get through highschool and elementary without putting in a ounce of effort or ever as far as I remember doing any sort of work outside of the class room. The problem with that is as a adult as the responsibilities mount you simply cant do that, but with add it becomes sometimes absolutely impossible to focus your mind on a single task, yet alone complete it. Normal people will say just do it, but a person with add will want to do it more then anything yet they will not be able to do it, no matter how hard they try sometimes as their focus just shifts away.

In any case im not surprised one bit that 25% of the respondents so far have been diagnosed and a further 25% exhibit signs of it, so either their just not diagnosed or their borderline.

By the way add/adhd affects approximately 4.6% of adults, so far here its between 25% and 50%.

[cornholio]

Originally Posted by mr.x

-Often making careless mistakes when having to work on uninteresting or difficult projects....YES
-Often having difficulty keeping attention during work, or holding down a job for a significant amount of time.....YES
-Often having difficulty concentrating on conversations....YES
-Having trouble finishing projects that have already been started....YES
-Often having difficulty organizing for the completion of tasks.....YES
-Avoiding or delaying in starting projects that require a lot of thought.....YES
-Often misplacing or having difficulty finding things at home or at work.....YES
-Disorganized personal items (sometimes old and useless to the individual) causing excessive "clutter" (in the home, car, etc.)....YES
-Often distracted by activity or noise....OMG YES
-Often having problems remembering appointments or obligations, or inconveniently changing plans on a regular basis....YES



and here's just one of many online tests you can take, :p : http://psychcentral.com/addquiz.htm

Rule number one dont look to hard at online tests, if you have these problems and they severely impact your life go out and see a doctor and get referred to a good psychiatrist. I know that with these symptoms it can actually be even hard to do this as a person can postpone indefinitely.

Regardless if you serious problems, and you will know if you have serious problems, go see someone. Once and if you get some medicine prescribed(anyone diagnosed should go this route first), you take it and you will likely feel amazed at what a person with a bit of focus can accomplish. At that point you know your position and can then decided your self what the next step is.

[Phil McAvity]

Cornholio, I answered no to the question of whether or not I have ADD/ADHD but I'm curious as to what you're academic credentials are on the subject.