- ADD, etc.

[Guest guest]

Hi :

Well, I'm very glad that you feel you've been diagnosed correctly.

Is the medication helping? And I'm sorry that you suffered in the

past and actually quit college a few times because of it. I had a

room mate in college who might have suffered from that, now that you

mention it -- AND her father is a psychiatrist!! So.... that was

before they discovered ADD I think! She was the type that didn't

like medicine -- and she is now an artist!! (Many people just have

different types of brains and do better with a more open,

unstructured, creative life style! They don't " have " to take

medicine to " fit in " !! See... how it's complicated?? )

I'm glad you discovered it BEFORE you had kids -- because after a

woman has kids, and while they're pregnant -- they actually are

affected by hormones and can't remember things, and can't focus on

things, etc. And this can last for YEARS! So... at least when

you're pregnant, you can check into whether it's safe to take the ADD

medicine, and after you have the baby, you have to check into whether

you can take the medicine for ADD when you breast feed -- At worst,

you can take it again after you stop breast feeding. Just remember

what I said -- ALL women go through this during pregnancy and

afterwards for at least a year -- so it's NOT ADD during that time!!

(Although it probably makes ADD worse.) I wouldn't let it stop me

from having kids though!! Having my son was the best thing I EVER

did!

In my childhood, I was foggy a lot. However, I had periods of being

very " sharp witted " . However, I was given NO encouragement to be

smart, to study -- NOTHING! I was a straight C student and my

parents thought I was stupid. I definitely don't have ADD, because I

did extremely well in college -- and very well Freshman Year -- which

is a really difficult year! However, my " sharp thinking " always went

in spurts. Then the emotional problems, and depression would make me

very FOGGY. (That's why I like the word they use in the books about

being in the " Fog " !! I really do go into a fog when I get

emotionally upset!)

I know that some kinds of depression also cause the symptoms you

describe. And I think I have those syptoms of not being able to

concentrate, etc. related to depression. Also, hormone shifts and

allergies bring on my lack of focus.

So... it's still a tough diagnosis I think. I guess they

have " tests " that they do to try to " verify " whether you have ADD or

not -- but you know how medical theories are always changing -- so I

take everything with a grain of salt!

Some specialists say that " bio-feedback " or other therapy can help --

like when you feel yourself stopping concentrating, then you do

certain things to try to focus. That's actually what I do myself --

I STOP -- take deep breaths, tell myself that I can do this. And

when I'm just too unfocused to function then I do something like

clean the house or go outside and do errands.

That's my experience, as boring (and irrelevant) as it might be!! LOL

Barb

> > .

> > >

> > > Craig:

> > > My dad feels bad that they did not pick up on the ADD or LD

which

> > could

> > > have spared me all the yelling & chaos, and understands my

seeking

> > > therapy.

> > >

> > > Edith:

> > > Hmmmm, you're 34 yo. They didn't know much about ADD/ADHD or LD

> > when you

> > > were a kid.

> > >

> > > Craig:

> > > He's a psychologist (retired) so I also resent him for not

> stepping

> > in

> > > to stop all the fighting that went on & not protecting us from

the

> > > " monster " (I remember telling him to make mom and sis stop

> fighting

> > but

> > > he did nothing)

> > >

> > > Edith:

> > > That's a pretty typical response -- ie, doing nothing -- for

bio

> > dads

> > > who stayed in the marriage to a BP. Its because our dads did

> > nothing to

> > > protect us from the verbal and emotional abuse, that we refer

to

> > them on

> > > this list as 'dishrag dadas'. KOs harbor righteous anger.

> > .