Do you think ADHD is real?

ADD and ADHD are real disorders. I was diagnosed with ADD loooooong before the doctors started using it as a blanket cure for hyper-activity, looooong before everyone just assumed that their excitable 3yr old MUST have ADHD, just because he/she can't concentrate on a full episode of Blue's Clues.

I was diagnosed when I was about 5yrs old. I went through screening upon screening, and from child psychologist to child psychologist, before the doctors were finally able to determine that I had ADD. I was acting out constantly and completely unable to finish even such basic tasks as writing my name or finishing a sentence, without being distracted. It was terrible. It frustrated the crap out of me, because I had(and still have) no control whatsoever over which direction my thoughts/and occasionally actions traveled. It hindered me from being able to function like a normal child. All the way from being able to sing the entire ABC's song in one shot, up to being able to complete most of my school assignments on time. It used to take me HOURS to finish my homework at night. Not because I didn't care or because I wasn't intelligent(I was involved in multiple E.C. Academic Leagues and such), just simply because I was never able to maintain enough focus to get it done quickly.

The only way I know how to describe Attention Deficit Disorder is like this:

Imagine you're in your living room, watching tv. Normally you settle on a program for a decent amount of time, right? When your favorite show is on, you typically don't change the channel until the show is over. Correct? Imagine having lost your remote, and now every 30 seconds, your tv scans through 5 different channels randomly and then rests on one channel for the next 30 seconds, and then just starts scanning again......Repeat, Repeat, Repeat.

Imagine only being able to watch that tv, day in and day out for the rest of your days. That would totally suck, right? That is exactly what having ADD is like.

So, the next time one of you skeptics decide to either make fun of someone for having ADD/ADHD, or just deny it's existence all-together, keep in mind how lucky you are to have your remote control.

 

When I was growing up no one even heard of ADD.Obviously it is real,I do however think there are many children that just are active,lively kids and now they are painted with an ADD label,and put on Ritalin etc. who do not have ADD.For those that do they should get proper treatment of course.

 

My son was on aderal..................it didnt zombie him out. It helped him to stay focused at school. Hes 22 now and does not take medication.............he still has trouble staying focused.

 

a

 

I would definitely agree that it is more of a "learning differently" issue and that focused learning is best. Especially faster paced, hands-on type of situations. Anything that can keep me interested and hold my attention and make good use of my hand-eye coordination always helps me to learn much faster than just staring at a piece of paper with a lesson on it.Videos help too, as long as they are semi-exciting/stimulating.


----Which would explain why I excelled at science and always came close to failing English and math.



Did I answer your question/did that make sense? It's late and I'm sleepy. If I've only confused you, I apologize.

 

a

 

happy to help.

 

It's real. I have it. I can tell I learn differently than other students. But, yea, it is overdiagnosed. Southpark said it prefectly on an episode I saw recently when the children were put on ritalin. I can't remember exactly how it was worded.

 

Every kid is somewhat hyper, but some more than others. It's just the way of life. People are different from eachother. So yes, I am pretty sure ADHD/ADD is real.

 

But is there someone who can tell me why kids have to be diagnosed, and why people can't just accept everyone like they are?
I bet most kids feel bad about having another behaviour then other kids because adult can't fucking accept it.. tolerance is the key, this world is damn insane you know.
Yes Yes, i too have been diagnosed for a whole lot of things by my psych when i was a kid, and during my whole school career only a few teachers would accept me as i really am, but most teachers would just look at that fucking label and judge me by that label instead of my true self.. just this whole discussion about wether or not add or adhd is real is so pointless.. sorry for me getting frustrated and all.. :/.

And for all these people whining about being other then other people, accept it as a positive thing, i know what add is like, i know that spacing out once in a while is a drag sometimes when people want you to pay attention.. but is it bad to be a daydreamer? I enjoy it.. there is nothing wrong with loosing concentration once in a while.. :/

It's all because of this damned prestation society, if you fail to score high in our society.. well.. then they try to fix it.. if that fails.. well.. then you just have bad luck.. so damned meaningless.

 

ADHD is not a disorder its a personality type and pharmaceutics are fucking up kids brains, even if they do "act better" or study better. Its not them.

 

wow. you're kind of an idiot.

 

ADHD is very real, even if overdiagnosed. When you or someone you love suffers from it, it is very frustrating and real. I think it's always been around.
Our son was diagnosed with ADHD at age 7. This was because the school insisted we have him put on medicine because he was too hyper and distractable to get anything done, and he disrupted class by getting up, moving around etc.
We put him on several different stimulants like Ritalin etc...the school would actually call me at work if I forgot his pill and have me bring it out there...it was not uncommon for him to be standing on a desk or sharpening a crayon in the pencil sharpener, etc.
He wasn't particularly naughty or defiant, just absolutely into everything all the time. When he was younger, I called him "Relentless". Even the school said he was likeable and not deliberately naughty...just...relentless.
We kept changing the meds as he would develop a tolerance to them...at the end he was on 40 mg of Focalin (the equivalent of 80 mg of Ritalin) twice a day. (for anyone who doesn't know, this is a MASSIVE dose). It didn't make him a zombie, but it did make him sit still, somewhat. This is when he was about 13. Out of curiousity, I tried his pill one day, and that was the LAST day I gave it to him. I realized that we were giving our child the rough equivalent of coke or meth (yes, I liked it myself, so I am not being an uppity anal retentive bitch about it).
We took him to a lady who did neurofeedback on him, and that is the ONLY thing that helped. She said when you have ADHD your brainwaves move slower than a normal person's, and that's why stimulants work. It speeds the brainwaves up to normal. Neurofeedback can help a person to "train" their brainwaves to move at a normal speed.
I am not some kind of neurofeedback machine salesman or anything, but I know that this is the only thing that helped our child, he did neurofeedback twice a week for 3 months, than once a week for a couple months, than monthly, and now he has not had neurofeedback for 2 years, and has been off medicine for about 2 1/2 years or so. FYI though, it isn't cheap; our insurance didn't consider it a "medical necessity" and didn't cover it (although his medicine was covered). It cost $100 for each 1 hour session for him. Totally worth the roughly $2000 cost, though.
I can remember spending 3-4 hours a night on homework with him in the 4th grade, and it was un-fucking real. He could lose his train of thought by dropping his pencil, or the dog walking by, or someone driving by on a motorcycle. It wasn't that he didn't like his schoolwork or wasn't interested in it, he was just TOTALLY INCAPABLE of paying attention to it. Sometimes I would get so frustrated I would just bawl, and then HE would bawl, and it just sucked. And it was EVERY night. Life is so much easier now, really.

 

Give people the space to be as they are. SOrry but i don't get you people, even if you are frustrated by your kid, isn't it selfish to put him on meds so that he would frustrate you less? There are things that are way more important then getting good school results, or atleast functioning in this society like everyone else. Being unique is one of them.

I'm just really sorry that you people just don't seem to understand that.

ps: I have to agree with goofydrummer, it's not just soley a "disorder" it is way more then just that, it is how those people are. It makes me sad when people speak in terms of "disorders", and how to want to fix "disorders".

 

It's OK to be different, but not different to the point where you are unable to learn or get along with others because of it. Our son was more than a "daydreamer" or "free spirit". He misplaced EVERYTHING, sometimes would take a bath and forget to wash his hair, was unable to play sports which he loved because (example) he would be playing softball and just walk off in the outfield because he saw a bird over there or something else. His ADHD was causing him a lot of stress and causing problems in his relationships with peers and his sister. He still exhibits some ADHD symptoms but it is NOTHING like it once was. He is able to function normally in school, hold a part time job, have normal friendships, etc. And he doesn't have to take medicine.
Not only is he easier to get along with, he is much happier now. That's the important thing.

 

Wow. You're kind of an idiot, too.

ADD and ADHD are most definitely DISORDERS. ADD and ADHD cause the person who suffers from it to have a completely DISORDERly way of thinking and processing information.

You clearly have never been a parent(obviously, because you're only 18 and thus, probably the reason you seem to think you know everything on the subject)of a child with the DISORDER, nor do you or have you ever suffered from it yourself. Only a person who has experienced the effects of ADD/ADHD personally or has been the parent of a diagnosed child can truly have any real, logical opinion on the matter.

But, eh, i can't really blame you for thinking you know everything about everything...people typically don't grow out of that until they're about 20 or 21. Looks like you've got a few years to go. You enjoy that pseudo feeling of wisdom while it lasts. Lord knows it won't last long.........

 

Maybe i'm just ignorant, that could be very true.
I've knew people who had adhd, one of my closest friends had sever adhd, yes, i got frustrated on many many occasions by him, but i learned to accept him how he is and looked to who he really was behind the curtain of physical expression. But i believe strongly that it is wrong to call it a disorder, a disorder means in the term of the word, that ones brain is dis-ordered, i believe that people with adhd or add have their strong points, while other points are rather weak, one of these weak points is concentration, however, they can be really insightfull in other things, ones brain is always in balance, if someone is weak in one thing then he is probably strong in something else to create a balance, in that way i cannot accept that those people need to be rebalanced by the use of meds, because inducing balance is not healty and unnatural. But yes, i'm probably just a stupid 18 year old with stupid believes. So forgive me for being an idiot.

 

But do you believe that is because of meds? that he improved, wouldn't aging, growing older, be the most important factor? Crossing to barrier between acting unconsciously and become more aware? I'm just guessing.

edit: I too had been diagnosed for add, i took relatine for 2 years, why? because i couldn't pay attention during lessons and i never studied. Back then, when i took relatine my brain litteraly went into crash drive, even to the dose wasn't high. I became isolated, had no intrests in socialising anymore, i lost most of my feel for emotions, had alot of depressions, had very very aggresive outbursts.. but yes.. my school result where great.. maybe i was misdiagnosed and maybe i should have never taken relatine.. but if i see how unbalanced it made my mind go.. i don't think it is a healthy med for anyone... i also have experiemented with meth (those days are long over now), and the effects of meth on my brain were exactly the same as i had with relatine.. my brain litterlay went in overdrive.

 

pellinore,

i get what you are saying about it being a blessing and a curse, i would deff agree with you on that one. because it is. i can't concentrate worth a shit, but i'm a really good artist because my creativity never shuts off, because my thoughts are constantly flowing. and sometimes i can zone in on something so hard that i don't hear or see the world around me, it usually lasts a good 7 minutes or so, but i don't always get to choose what that "something" is, or at what time i become fascinated by this "something".

and more on the curse side:

it gets hard to keep a good job when your boss incessantly has to keep you on track. and it makes me irritable a lot because i get frustrated with my own brain. not to mention how hard my add makes it to drive a car. i can't tell you how many near-misses i've had because i can't keep my thoughts on the task at hand, aka THE ROAD. it can be quite horrible at times. i wish everyone in the world could have ADD for just one day, so that they would understand what it's like and realize it's not b.s.

 

I believe that it must be hard for you, but on the other hand i believe it's because society isn't made for people who are different then other people, so why not blame society instead of add?

edit: My moto : don't let society change you, change society . (but that's probably a ignorant thingy from a 18 year old)