posted on Dec, 9 2013 @ 11:45 PM
It's certainly easy to dismiss something you are not personally afflicted with. It's akin to stars and athletes who are oblivious to charity or
health care issues until their own kin are afflicted, and suddenly, they are a poster-child for whatever it is their child has. Ignorance, meet
Bliss.
I had issues for years and years. No idea what it was. I felt it was me. Smart or clever that I was, I had symptoms I could not understand or
explain. Let me give you an example.
I'm a system engineer. I do computer networking, set up our firewalls for construction sites, am responsible for network security, etc. Perhaps not
brain surgery, but requires some modicum of intelligence I'd think. But on a daily basis.. for 20.. 30 years.. I've had to deal with issues
stemming from... I had no idea. Every.. single.. day.. I have to deal with this. I can literally be on the phone with someone saying they need "X
done.. and as soon as I hang up, I am finishing up something else I was doing.. and I forget entirely that that person called.. that I have to fix it.
It's just gone. I get distracted at a moments notice. I multi-task not only out of necessity, but because that's just how my brain works. I will
be literally working on something specific that needs done, and something else I needed to do pops in my head and I'll swap windows and start working
on that. It makes -no- sense, whatsoever. I can change tasks within moments.. over and over and over again.
Someone can talk to me directly, and I MUST forcibly concentrate on what they are saying. Because within moments otherwise, my mind is off thinking
about something else. That isn't an "oddity" - it's something different entirely. I can focus back and realize I just missed about 40 seconds of
a conversation, or more. I have an entire laundry-list of weird symptoms I had no idea what it meant. I assumed it was just my "personality." I
had heard of ADD before, but I dismissed it, and really didn't even know what it was about, until a few years ago.. and I am 47.
One day when I was talking with someone online, I was describing the things that afflict me on a daily basis. The person said "I have a relative
with ADHD.. you should check it out, seriously." I did. I took one of those online tests, answering as accurately as I could. I read the symptoms.
I read forums. And it correlated perfectly. Almost to a letter, exactly what I was experiencing were listed as ADD / ADHS symptoms. Light bulb
came on....
I have not had a professional diagnosis. I rarely go to doctors, and I really don't like taking meds. I am not taking anything for this.. but I am
seriously thinking about it. To here some of you so callously dismissing this as a mirage or a ploy by big pharm irks me. I have no doubt about
this.. call it whatever you want. ADD, ADHS, an imbalance of chemicals in the brain.. whatever. Something is wrong, it's not normal. You try
living with this.. every.. single.. day.. and tell me it's a phantom illness. It's not.
It makes my job twice as hard as it needs to be. I have had to make -extensive- notes, appointments, and have to force myself to concentrate on items
to get them done. I've had to alter my life to deal with this. It has nothing to do with IQ, or personality. Just a couple of days ago, I picked
up my lunch (which I forget about 80% of the time), and locked the front door.. and walked towards my car.. and tossed my lunch and the trash into the
bin and went to work, not realizing it until much later. Normal? No.. it's not.
You try dealing with this crap every single day and then we can talk. Otherwise, your obsessive hatred of big pharm (which I also loathe to some
degree) is clouding your opinion. There is no specific "thing" to hone in on. So.. like unicorns, it must be mythical? I wonder if a thousand or
two years about, people acted like you. No definitive proof of a disease or ailment.. so it must be imagined.
I literally have to work twice as hard to accomplish as much as someone with this ailment. Heck.. my boss thinks I'm amazing! I got an 18% raise my
first year with a new company. Yes, I get a lot done. But the reality is that I am doing twice as much to make up for what I forget.. or get
distracted from, etc.
From the movie UP.. the best analogy I can come up with for ADD or ADHS is.. SQUIRREL! That is EXACTLY how it is. Every hour.. of every day. It
must be nice to live without that.. and judge those who do suffer from it as quirky or odd individuals. I guess this is how folks long ago felt when
those around them thought they were warlocks or possessed with their own conditions. Fun times. Perhaps try to research it further.. realizing it
does not just affect children. It's real, it's debilitating, it's a real pain in the ass.
Just to reinforce this: I have a specific list of symptoms I have experienced over the years. Very constant and measurable. Once I looked up the
symptoms of ADD and ADHD, it matched up -perfectly.- Just the same as if you had a sore shoulder, or back pains. You say "Huh.. that's my issue!"
So you go to the doctor.. and they say "Yup.. that's your issue." You get treated.. you feel better. I can go down a list of symptoms for ADD or
ADHD and they match.. every single one. ALL of them. And significantly. I think some people think "Oh.. well.. everyone gets distracted now and
then.. or forgets something.. or whatever." And feel that folks with ADD are just suffering from whatever else does. No. It's significant. It's
highly measurable. It's MUCH more than a normal person would experience.
You sometimes zone someone out during a conversation? I do it EVERY time, without fail. I have to highly try to concentrate to listen and keep up
with what they are saying. You forget stuff every day? I forget stuff every few minutes. You have difficulty concentrating on dull or mundane
tasks? I am completing derailed by them, on a daily basis. Do you have to make extensive notes constantly so you don't forget something critical?
Do you forget to pay a bill EVERY month? Do you procrastinate to the point of ridiculousness? Do you have to turn OFF your radio in your car when
trying to find a place when driving, because the distraction will make it impossible? Do you forget something someone told you.. 2 minutes after they
told you.. on a daily basis? Do you change the oil in your car every 10,000 miles even though you know it needs to be done much sooner? Do you
procrastinate on very important tasks, because they seem overwhelming to you?
Such dismissive comments in this thread. You seriously have no idea. Don't dismiss ADD or ADHD because of your inherent hatred of the medical
pharmaceutical companies. Are they money-grubbing bastages? Yea.. but that doesn't mean people are not suffering from this. I am not a quirky,
weird, dumb, slow, or disturbed person. I am smart, grounded, have ambitions, drive, and know what I want to do. This issue with chemicals in my
brain.. or whatever it is.. call it ADD.. ADHD.. or whatever else, inhibits this. It's frustrating, stressful, very challenging.. and to hear some
of you say it's all in my head does not make it any easier.