I was just curious and craving a discussion about ADHD.

Ive struggled with it for all my life. Primarily inattentive, but I'm hyper in that i fidget constantly. Being in college only makes it more of a problem than ever and I only recently got medication to help because my grades this semester went down the toilet (though I thankfully passed)

Being gifted as a child like I was only makes the problem worse because people see the problems less. Forgetting becomes just an excuse, and you're just told to try harder when you can't focus. "oh you 'forgot' to do your homework? you're just being lazy and didn't want to do it."

I also wasn't offered an ADHD accommodations in college because I had good grades in highschool... thats only because 1 all of school was a cakewalk pretty much and 2 my mother CONSTANTLY pushed me to do well anyway... college is hard even when you're smart...

sorry for the mass of text, I wont bombard you with more. But really I would love to hear(read?) some other people's experiences.

Belongs in chit chat

oops was unsure where to put it. but how can i move this then?

The minimod has to do it, and I already pinged them. Debate forums are for, you know, debates lol.

thanks. i actually wasnt paying much attention and didnt notice that this was debate. im more inclined to lock this right now anyway. i dont feel like anyone is going to care.

In the right forum, I'm sure plenty of people will respond to you. Just be patient :)

I don't have ADHD but I have a terrible focus. I always have a jiggling leg, even when I go to bed. If I want to sleep, I need to count backward and do some breathing exercices.

It is really hard to focus in college. My teachers are aware of my situation and I get to walk around a little since I'm in the back for a purpose lol. I tend to participate a lot in class since it helps me focus, otherwise I'm a goner after an hour .. I just can't :c

I have ADD, I was diagnosed when I was 13 but I didn't actually learn how to deal with it until I was in my 20's. Life is much easier now than it was when I was in school, but I still struggle with it some days. Medication has helped, and identifying the things I am good at the things I struggle with so I can learn how to manage them.

ADHD is even more difficult I believe, because with the learning problems you also have the hyperactivity. My brother and dad have ADHD, it's been a struggle all their lives to deal with it. If you can catch it early and learn coping skills early on, it makes life much easier for you as you get older. The hard part of course is learning the skills in the first place! Talking to other people with ADHD (like a support group) or receiving counseling from someone who specializes with ADD/ADHD people is a good start.

it sounds to me like you have restless leg syndrome, but thats just an observation. i know they have medications out there to help with that though.

ive never gotten counseling as far as i can recall. maybe when i was really young. idk i just remember seeing a a guy who asked me questions and gave me clay and magnets to play with.

and as far as problems with learning go everyone is different. as i said ive always been a bright student without trying. im not bragging about it. it made adhd a nightmare to deal with because no one will help with anything when it DOES cause a problem. as smart as i was my mother drove me back to my school nearly every day because i forgot my books in my desk and couldnt do my homework otherwise. in middle school and highschool i had to carry my whole dang locker on my back to not forget anything. (really didnt help my posture and scoliosis) the most one of my backpacks ever weighed was 35lbs. i could go on such a rant about how students problems get neglected in public schools UGH.

I have it. I have been diagnosed with it since I was arounddd maybe 7 or 8? I am now 23, I have stopped taking the medicine a longg time ago. Although it helped me be super focused and calm it also had its bad effects. I was getting so thin because on the medicine I was not hungry at all, they were worried about my weight, also I didnt like how I was a zombie. I was quiet most of the day and no personality really, also had a tough time sleeping!

Now I am a very wild/social person who I am mostly happy with. But boy my mind literally can never focus on one thing. I can even watch someone sit there and talk to me but my mind is in daydream mode and my bf gets so offended sometimes but he doesnt understand xD

I never stop moving or thinking. I suppose my case is more mild than others, but I wish I could focus more without having to be on medicine. I refuse to go back to that medicine because it literally changed the person I was.

I just try my best to make it mild. I have my good days and bad days. :)

Not being able to focus has nothing to do with my legs though.

I didn't get diagnosed until I was 20, but I have inattentive type. When I was being tested, I realized I probably should have done something about it a long time ago because I started showing signs when I hit puberty. I keep it internalized for the most part, and I'm not particularly hyper, or chatty, but my brain is usually going 100 miles an hour, haha! I struggled in grade school and college, especially with the 'let's sit and listen to the teach talk for an hour' part, but I did all right with hands-on things.

I mostly tend to fidget or play with things, and I find it really difficult just to sit in silence or when I don't have anything to play with, or occupy my focus.

no one ever said someone couldnt have more than one thing wrong with them shrug i have more problems than i care to admit or bother to get fixed. someone could say i chew my fingers ragged because of my adhd but even on the meds i still do it. stress or habit. either way im not quite how to fix it. if anything you may just have adhd unknowingly. if youre against meds they do have herbal remedies out there that are known to help combat the main issues such as fidgetyness and inability to focus.

its been the same for me. ive irritated people with my tapping a pen clicking a lot. the sound becomes meditative to me but not to everyone else. i remember once in either third or fourth grade my teacher took away my chair because i would fidget and lean back or forward on the legs of it. she basically forced me to stand the rest of the day... i learned a way to balance on one foot without kneeling because she scolded me for kneeling on the floor :|

anyway, i always felt kinda hazy most of the time like my head is trapped in a cloud filled with thought. lucky enough for me i was quick learner. convenient but inconvenient considering i now cant get help when i need help because i was always very smart. : college isnt anything like highschool... dont those dingbats who provide the 504 plans get that? plus i dont really have mommy hovering over my shoulder making sure my homework is done anymore XP i mean... i still live with her but she's too stressed to care.

I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was only five years old. The doctors I had told me that I wouldn't be able to function without medication and they made my mom give me Ritalin. The Ritalin only made me sit down, cry, and be all depressed. My Mom ended up taking me off the medication because of how I reacted to it. I started to cope with it when I was around 7 years old. Before then, my grades were terrible. After I got into middle school I was told in the 6th grade that my reading and writing skills were around college level so I got assigned different tasks to challenge me. My grades improved a lot during this time. I have found my toughest challenge in college is being able to study without getting bored or distracted. I get distracted a lot. I'm still managing a 3.0 now and I haven't taken any medicine for ADHD since I was five. Still show signs of ADHD, but my introverted personality makes it easier to blend in.

Im almost 30, And I still have problems with my ADHD. Im super inattentive, and i'll get these giant bouts of hyper activity when its completely inappropriate. a.k.a at 1 in the morning and im laying awake in bed.

I wish i could say i got good grades in school. but for the most part i was an average student.

I was diagnosed with ADD when I was about 8 years old (I'm 14 now)

I have it, not sure what to say about it though... xD

Psychiatrists generally are the ones to prescribe the medication, so I would assume you could make an appointment with one. Or a therapist, see if they would diagnose you. :] It does sound like you're ADHD-PI (primarily inattentive).

I do have ADHD-PI, and was diagnosed at a young age. I day-dreamed a lot in class, and truly tried to listen to my teachers, however no matter how good of a teacher they were, I could never focus. I was another of the children put on too high of a Ritalin dose, and it made me a complete zombie. I don't think I did any better in class really, and I didn't want to play with my friends. All I wanted to do was stare at a wall. My mother took me off of it, and I remained unmedicated for a long time, until I was about 12, then I was placed on Welbutrin. I was a bitch when that happened. Constantly fighting with my brother, and that was very out of character for me. I don't know what happened, or why my mother took me off of it, but she did at some point, and after that I remained unmedicated until I was about 22. When ADHD progresses into adult ADHD, medication reactions sometimes change. I was put on Welbutrin again. I didn't eat at all, and was a total bitch 24/7. I stopped taking it, because even my husband was afraid to speak to me. I tried to explain to my new doctor that Ritalin zombies me, however he didn't listen and put me on it. Since I had progressed by then from childhood ADHD to adult ADHD, my reactions to medications became different. Instead of turning me into a zombie, the Ritalin turned me into an absolute bitch. I hated everyone and myself. I talked to my doctor and he changed me to Adderall. I liked Adderall because it was the first medication that didn't turn me into a total zombie, however it did seem to sort of help my focus, though not enough. Unfortunately, Strattera is too expensive to take unless your insurance is insanely good, so I got stuck with Adderall until the beginning of this year, when Zenzedi came out. Zenzedi was a God-send for me, no joke. For my brother and father, it didn't help, but for me; I had an appetite when I needed it, and it still kept me from snacking so much. I was calm, attentive, kind, and my whole personality showed, and best of all? I'm not a bitch when I'm on it. It's the first medication that truly seems to help my ADHD. I don't get so badly overwhelmed around tons of people anymore, it's great. However, coming off any amphetamine is difficult, and the withdrawals are horrible. They thrust me back into bitch mode. I found out I'm pregnant in February, and my withdrawals from Zenzedi lasted a good month. Almost lost a friendship. :/ However, when the baby comes, and I finish nursing, I will be back on the Zenzedi again.

I guess my point of this super long post is an encouragement for people out there. If you have the ability, try different medications. Always give them about two months (of hell, sometimes) to work, and don't feel bad to tell your doctor that a medication simply isn't working for you. If you want, you can ask about Zenzedi, as it's a brand new drug and some doctors likely haven't heard of it yet. One medication won't work for everyone. Like I said, my brother and father hated the Zenzedi, my dad went back to Adderall and he's happy with that. My brother is still flip-flopping around, trying to find out what works.

Some people, no medication will help them, and that's alright too. Everyone is different. There are support groups, so I've heard, but I've never been to one. ADHD isn't taken very seriously as a mental illness or even a learning disability, which is super frustrating. Hell, tween girls like to joke that they had an 'ADD moment' and if they had ADHD/ADD they would know that it's not a moment, it's a lifetime of hell for a lot of us. Many of us are forced to learn to cop, which doesn't help those of us who can't cope, and truly need help with their ADHD. My best friend was trying to explain it to her grandmother who simply replied; "Everyone forgets things. Everyone gets overwhelmed at times. Everyone has trouble with school at some point." She doesn't even realize that it's an every day battle for us.

I should stop rambling now. My post is already a book.

I've struggled with ADHD for a long time. Always fidgeting and focus doesn't exist. Thankfully, the college I was attending does give accommodations accordingly. My mental illness, as well as ADHD, got pretty severe over the past year and I dropped out of school for a year. Hopefully, I can start back up again soon.