You know you are ADD when..... going shopping takes 3 attempts. I normally leave my shopping list behind and have to go home and fetch it, on returning home I then put my handbag down to pick up my list, and then arrive at the shops with my list and no bag!

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You know your ADHD when...well, my best stories were the two I sent to Terry Matlen when she was gathering material for her new book, Survival Tips for Women with ADHD. Mine are signed "Mary Kay L., Batavia, IL."

So I rush to school, needing to be early for a staff meeting. I ducked everyone in the library, threw my coat and things in my office and snuck into the meeting.

When I went home that night I put on my off-white Eddie Bauer down coat, and lo and behold there was a BRA DANGLING DOWN THE FRONT OF IT!! I had whipped my coat out of the dryer that morning as I rushed to leave. A bra had stuck to the velcro on the front of the coat...AND I HADN'T EVEN NOTICED!! Of course I was talking to a colleague as I pulled my coat one... well the story continues to circle even though I left that school district 6 years ago!! LOL

Story #2 - It was at that same school where I arrived and realized I had NO SHOES. My sandals had been in my hand as I rushed out to the car, but I turned around and went back in to grab something from the fridge for my lunch. I took a plastic store bag and threw a yogurt and apple into it and left for work. Ok well, I'd set my sandals down to do that. I had to walk into school bare-footed, and of course, my principal was giving some new parents a TOUR OF THE SCHOOL! I kind of ducked into a classroom and one of the teachers had a spare pair of sandals under her desk....so I was saved for the rest of the day. But I'll never forget that feeling as my principal looked down at my bare feet.... ARRGGGGGGG!!!!!!

Mary Kay

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You Know You're ADD When... you have enough money in the bank to pay bills yet simply forget to! My credit is horrible because of this.

I have so many more: going to work with my polo shirt inside out; having a pr of glasses on my head, a pr hanging from my necklace and still looking for my glasses; buying a PDA to schedule appts and bill due dates and forgetting to input the data; showing up for work on the first day of my vacation... geeeesh!

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How many ADDers does it take to change a lightbulb?

So how's about a bike ride then?

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When you're thinking about the task at hand, and something else that should be attended to grabs your attention, and you don't even realized you've switched tasks...until later on when you come back across the first one and it was like six attention changes ago.

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my favorite has always been you know you're add when you look like you're on drugs, but you're not. . .but you should be, and if you were-you wouldn't look like you were.

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you know you're a.d.d when you're talking on the phone and have a moment of panic where you ask 'WHERE IS MY PHONE!" and tell the person on the other end of the line that you've lost your phone

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She was in the car with me as I rushed to and from many small errands, went home twice to get other things I'd forgotten...Got to the home improvement store, told her to stay in the car and be a good girl, was gone 5 minutes, came back to find her gone. I yelled all over the parking lot for her, called the local police and informed them in case they saw my large German Shepard. Wandered the neighborhoods near the store asking people if they'd seen her. Handed out my phone number to anyone I saw and asked them to call if they saw her. In tears, I finally drove home, knowing that I'd have to tell the kids that their beloved dog was lost. Got out my key, opened the door to the house and there she was. Not only had she managed to get home, but she'd even gone in the house and locked the door...what a good dog!! Of course, I'd forgotten that I'd left her home on one of my many trips in and out of the house. This is one of the stories I told the doctor when she asked me, "What makes you think you have ADD?"

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Here's the other story I use to demonstrate to doctors who don't believe I have ADD...Again, running a zillion little errands and all excited because we are going on vacation in the morning. I decide to gas up the car. While I'm filling the tank, I decide to check the oil, and then I wash all the windows with that squeegee thing. Then I get in my car and start to drive away. A loud metal scraping noise makes me slam on the brakes. I look in the side mirror and see the gas hose stretched much further than anyone would think it could stretch. Gas is spraying out of the coupler connectors on the hose...there's pretty much a big puddle starting to collect under my car. I pull out the hose, returning it to the pump. I enter the gas station and say to the high school aged clerk, "Oh my God, I've just squirted gas all over out there. I'm so sorry. What can I do? Isn't there something I need to do?" He responds slowly and thoughtfully, "No, I think you've already done enough! Go home!" And I did. The week the kids come home from school and say, "Ma, some guy at school says that you are a real piece of work! He says you drove away with the hose attached to the car. Says it cost his boss about $500!" I assured the kids that it must have been some other crazy lady. It really was a different lady...it was me before I got on meds!

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You're always getting told to stop and listen, and you turn around and add your two cents in anyways, just because you couldn't get your words across because someone was interupting you for not listening to them.

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Your wife changes the cellar door from opening in to opening out, and the door knob is on the opposite side, you go into the basement, and return from the basement using the door and never notice anything is different. You know that you son is too, when he does the exact same thing later on.

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You can TOTALLY relate to the mouse in the book "If you take a mouse to school."

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two of the biggest challenges in life with ADHD - lost items. I lose everything - some things I like to think of as being 'misplaced' because some are found - weeks or months later - I just forgot where I put them or did not even realize I had it in my hand and put it in the shelf in the closet or under the bed looking for something else. If kept within the house - chances are I will find it ..... someday (unless it was put in the trash - and I have spent many days sifting thru the trash). I walk around from room to room with items in my hand doing 10 different things putting things down in a spot that it will take me days to find later on.

when your brain is so far ahead of the words you are speaking - jumping subject to subject - people that do not know you looking at you as if you are nuts (and you thought you just had an incredible enlightenment but you cannot get people to understand). Sometimes I talk in mid-conversation because my brain is so far ahead that I think people know where I am coming from......and they are not even talking about what I am because they said one thing that sent me on 8 different tangents. Or maybe it is just me that feels this way...

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You got ADD when you continue driving around cloverleafs why you should be getting on the highway. Done this many times.

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graciejones said: when your brain is so far ahead of the words you are speaking - jumping subject to subject - people that do not know you looking at you as if you are nuts (and you thought you just had an incredible enlightenment but you cannot get people to understand). Sometimes I talk in mid-conversation because my brain is so far ahead that I think people know where I am coming from......and they are not even talking about what I am because they said one thing that sent me on 8 different tangents. Or maybe it is just me that feels this way...

Oh I can REALLY relate to that!!!! Something like that happened a couple weeks ago to me. I was feeling upset and confused about something that happened between my husband and me. As I was talking about the situation with someone who knows me reasonably well--another ADD person, actually--with a totally overwhelmed expression on his face he goes, "you know, Amy, when you're talking... I'M getting confused!"

At first I was a bit stunned, but now as I think about it it's actually pretty amusing, even though this kind of thing can be somewhat frustrating for me as well as the poor person who is trying so hard to follow my train of thought!

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Since my mom passed away 10 years ago (another classic ADHD person) I have felt that no one understands and felt so alone - I always knew I was different - but never knew why. When a doctor recently diagnosed me I felt a weight was lifted off my shoulders - finally a reason to "why" I feel this way - and it has opened doors ever since. It is so good to know you are not alone and others understand. Thank you!

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...and laugh yourself silly, but can't remember any of your own boo-boos at the moment. Though they are multiple and public every single day.

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Persistent said: ...and laugh yourself silly, but can't remember any of your own boo-boos at the moment. Though they are multiple and public every single day.

This happens to me, I genrally don't think of examples when I can share them.

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I must really be ADD since I can relate to every one of your stories. You know you're ADD when you lose something you need....and you haven't moved from your seat. You know you're ADD when you get to work and realize you forgot to take your son to school.

My train of thought is a roller coaster.

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Oops . . . I forgot but I'll be sure to remember to write you right away when I remember if I jot it down on a post-it with the pen that was just here a minute ago by my papers which have been moved by someone and obviously I need to put them in a folder that's over there so that won't happen again, ouch, what the heck is this laundry basket doing in the middle of the hallway and why doesn't anybody put stuff away where it belongs (I'll be good and just walk this over to the laundry room right away this time), well at least there's some coin there at the bottom of the washer. Is that the doorbell? No, that's my cell phone ... "oh that haircut appointment wasn't for tomorrow??" I better brush my hair in a hurry, that's where the pen was . . . ummm . . . I'm glad I remembered to go buy those post-it notes on the way back from the appointment but I have to get cash from the bank for gas and a treat for the receptionist as I'm running very late . . . . Sure I'll make it to the gas station as the last time I ran out on the road I was in school .... what was the name of that God-forsaken highway where I got stuck in ice-cold weather? Boy did I have to go then too ..... relief ..... oh yeah Google that gas station that charged me $4 for a quart container plus the gas while It's filling up. . . oh there's my Favorites, ADDitude, Forums, Log in, back to Forums, who posted that last one I was reading, no that's the name of who started the thread but the time for whoever posted last except for (boy I wish they made this easier like maybe I should write them a letter, no better yet I'll learn to do Web Design (I wonder what language I should learn HTML or C++ or A+ is that one a language or a test, well skip that, but maybe that tech guy who really owes me can help me build the web's unique, universal (and highest Google ranked?? how do you get there without $$$$??) I'll call it the "SUGGESTION BOX FOR EVERYTHING"? Cool idea. I won't forget that, but how many web pages should it have and what functionality? So what am I doing with this pen on my laptop at the airport b/c I promised myself to type all my reminders and notes onto Outlook?

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A one liner becomes 3 rambled paragraphs about your dog, keys, driving habbits and how your forgot you had a keyboard... even the one you type on.

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Guilty as charged!

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Just laughed my a$$ off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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.......your son has been diagnosed with ADD...and you behave the same way he does..

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SPROCKET: with the only difference between you and your son being that your memory, hearing, sight, tolerance and bladder are not improving any! Don't YOU wish you could get your hands on my dark wrap-around sunglasses, walker and custom liquid baggie??? Now where did my ride go . . . and where the %$@ was it going? Best wishes to you sprocket - - your fellow traveler way down the road I have no idea how I got on.

HARCOUTO: every once in a while i can still hide by posing as the class clown or punching bag! chat on . . .

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