My spouse is a medical student. She is in her first semester of medical school. I discovered she had ADD when she was failing her classes while I was helping her study. I am third year medical student. I later found out she got through college literally studying 12 hours a day, including weekends to COMPENSATE for her ADD. She cries all the time for not being able to remember anything that she reads sometimes. Now that we know, we have an appt with a psychiatrist next week. I think medications should help. I never believed in ADD/ADHD, until I met someone and loved someone that had ADD. A lot of times, people including myself would always think people with ADD/ADHD are lazy, or not studying, or plain "stupid". Iam ashamed of that. My spouse as vowed that if medications help and she is fully diagnosed with ADD. She would help others who have it. She is 26 years old. In the past she was always diagnosed of either having anxiety or being depressed because she is an. One way I am helping her succeed is how she copes with ADD/ADHD. I found myself as a coach. I think the best way is to sleep, and excercise. She always studies better with adequate sleep, and excercise. If you are in lab, go at times where others are not there, so you won't be distracted. Also, find someone who is willling to be your coach, because it will be tremendously helpfull. Develop a rigid schedule. I hope this helps.

Quote

First off, welcome to the profession! I've been a dentist for 8 years, first in private practice and now with the US Public Health Service as a commissioned officer. I can tell you that yes, it is worth all the tears and the headaches! You are going into a profession that is tailor made for us. You sit down, chat for a minute, hyperfocus on a procedure for 20-30 min, and then you're off again doing something else. You wear multiple hats during the day - clinician, artist, business manager, accountant, and even a good bit of psychologist - so there's always something different going on. Being able to redirect trains of thought and having multiple streams going is a huge strength in practice. You just have to make it through the four years of boot camp they call dental school to get here.

Some things that worked for me, but YMMV: 1) See if they will let you wear headphones in lab. I put techno on my MP3 player because I'm one of those oddballs that finds it soothing. 2) Sit on the front row. People tend to talk less closer to the prof. I also found I didn't daydream as much with him or her staring right at me, and my notes didn't get quite as doodled up. 3) Start a note coop. Ask some friends if they would like to duplicate everyone's notes and exchange them to make sure you don't miss anything important. Chances are there are others who feel like they might miss something, even without ADD. Our whole class ended up doing that. 4) Lists lists lists. It was really hard for me to keep track of who needed to sign off on what, and when. I started out with a Palm, but of course lost it. I ended up switching to a Blackberry so I could at least call it when it went disappearing into the chaos of my house. I always made sure to clip my keys to it so I could find them faster too.

But back to the lists - breaking the tasks down into smaller steps was really helpful, especially when I found myself wanting to skip steps. Allow yourself to build clinical rituals. For example, I always wash my hands, greet the patient as I'm drying them, sit down and ask them how their day is going, go over medical history changes and pain level, and then discuss what I'm going to do. By going over what I am going to do, I reiterate to myself the steps of the procedure and do a mental check to make sure I'm not forgetting anything. 5) Don't sweat the everyone's looking at me bit. I think I'm still in touch with maybe 4 of my classmates out of 80+. In a couple years, you won't even remember their names (if you learned them in the first place!). 6) See if you have after hours access to the school labs, and if so, make use of it. I found that it was a great place to study (away from my PC and my electrodrug of choice at the time, EverQuest beta). I also found that it was easy to get lab work done at that time with fewer people around. 7) Get involved in a student organization such as a dental fraternity. I was involved in Delta Sigma Delta, and found the upper class members to be more than ready to mentor me. I also found that mentoring some of the lower students helped me organize the information in my brain by having to explain it.

One last thing worth considering.... One of the downsides to having ADD and being a dentist is that we tend to have less than stellar accounting and PR skills due to our social differences. While you may thrive in private practice (especially if you can find the right office manager), you may find yourself doing better in public service. Now that I can sit down and do dentistry for the sake of doing dentistry without the distraction of financial issues, personal income issues, and the need to up-sell esthetic procedures (would you like veneers with that?), my job is better than ever. I don't know what the current guidelines concerning dentists with ADD are for the military so you may or may not be able to go that route. However, you can work for the Indian Health Service, the VA, or state/local public health facilities while you're getting your first experiences as a dentist. You might like it, or you might not, but either way you would be able to build your speed and skills while having a steady income and fewer distractions.

Best of luck to you!

Quote

I am so impressed with the determination and "can do attitude" I have read in this thread. While I am often reminded by my family's therapist that I shouldn't worry so much about my daughter's adult future since she is currently only 10 (as I should save my energy for the more immediate future, especially since we have so many energy draining issues), I can't help but worry. It has been encouraging to read messages from adults who are finding a way to succeed. I really appreciate the specifics provided by the public health care dentist. I am so impressed with how well you have worked through your challenges and even turned some of them into advantages. You all give me hope - not just for my daughter, but also for the future of our society.

Quote

I’m so glad I found this page and was able to read the posted replies-thank you so much for sharing your stories! I am a senior dental student struggling now and have been worried that I shouldn’t be in dentistry because of my ADD. I am having such a hard time meeting requirements to graduate and notoriously bad with paperwork-they are constantly telling me to” try harder” and am constantly frustrated when unable to meet goals. I am a people person and like to connect and build relationships with my patients (who all really like me) but it seems like none of my positive attributes and strengths are helping me now in dental school. I waste too much time talking to people, don’t like waiting in long lines, don’t like filling out numerous paperwork and evaluations…I feel so unsuccessful and like I’m going to be a horrible dentist. I’m smart and was able to develop successful coping strategies similar to what was suggested in an earlier post such as listening to an ipod during clinical exams, sitting closer to the teacher (or even better sitting around students who would “shush” others when talking in class so I wouldn’t have to!) I have tried to do everything they tell me to do but my frustrations constantly turn to disappointment and negative self image about myself when goals are not achieved. I found adderall has really helped me with studying and when I’m doing dentistry it’s really helpful as it makes me concentrate and I’m really good! My attention to detail and recollection of facts are usually superior, but it’s in no means a wonder drug meant to solve all your problems. The worst part for me though is the fact I love teeth and find this so fun and rewarding for me. Always getting told how horrible I'm doing because of my disorganization and lack of motivation is discouraging. I am now trying to get my act together with a life coach and found a mentor who brings out my best traits and given me hope. I hate the misconception of ADD though and hide from it because when I’ve told people before I’ve gotten treated like a delinquent and labeled as a “special needs/learning disability” that requires too much help. I just wanted to wish others reading this encouragement as I know how hard it is.

Quote

Hey Guys,

I could really use some help. I am in a graduate degree program and I am starting dental school this year. I recently stopped taking my medications (3 months ago) and my grades are slipping a little bit. However, I am MUCH happier person. I have tried every medication under the sun and I don't respond well to them. They make me VERY anxious, depressed, anti-social, and I basically forget everything I study. I am concerned because in grad school I have 3-4 classes right now and I am making B's and I don't want to flunk out of dental school. Sometimes, I wonder am I in the wrong field?

I could please really use some help, mentor, or coping strategies from people that understand. I am pretty secretive about ADHD since I know the stigma that is attached to it. Thanks in advance. feel free to pm me.

Quote

anyone?

Quote

Trust me when I say I understand your struggles. Going back to school is challenging, especially with ADHD. You mentoined that you have some accomidations when it comes to taking tests and that's great to hear. As difficult as it can be, the best thing to do is not to focus on your classmates. Find someone you can trust who can be your coach and help you with organizing your lessons. I hope everything works out for you and good luck.

Quote

I am in my second semester of nursing school. Although, I have always had a passion for helping the sick and disabled, I'm afraid that I'm just not cutting it in nursing school. No matter how hard I try it never seems to be enough studying. Often, I find myself just studying everything. I'm just not sure what I should focus on when studying. After getting a 67%, 72%, 73% & a 53% on my last exams, myself esteem is at an all time low. It is now mid-semester and when I study a little voice in my head screams "What's the point? Your gonna fail anyway!" At my school a grade of 72% or 73% isn't even passing. My quality of life is at zero. When I'm not studying I feel guilty and when I am studying I feel overwhelmed.

I need a study strategy that works for someone with ADHD and I need to find a way to de-clutter my mind and study materials. I have an undergraduate degree, I know there's a brain in there somewhere, but I'm starting to be on the side of the little voice in my head, "what's the point, you're going to fail anyway."

Quote