You sound a lot like me. I have always been a bookworm. When I get into a good book, I don't want to do anything else. I would read nonfiction for fun because I loved learning things. But I have a lot of trouble sticking with things and getting them finished. When something is boring, or when there is a brief moment of not doing something (like waiting for a web page to load), I am constantly moving to something else. I can't judge time, either. I either feel like something is a huge burden on my time that turns out to be a 5 minute task (putting dishes in the dishwasher, making a phone call) or I think I can finish a research project in a couple hours before going home.

Dr Hallowel talks about the concept of time for people with ADD as "now" and "not now" in his book Delivered from Distraction. And there are great posts about the concept of time on Jeff's A.D.D. Mind: http://jeffsaddmind.com/category/time

I never suspected ADD until a therapist suggested it several months ago. The diagnosis has made a huge difference already, even if it's not a cure or solution. If you suspect you may have ADD, get evaluated. It is worth it!

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Oh gosh, the more I read, the more I feel like this explains so much about my life. My mom is always sort of despairing over my ability to remember to do things that she has no trouble remembering to do. Do the dishes? Take out the trash? Do the laundry? It's like I don't see it or like I see it and then it just sort of flitters away out of my mind. I do this CONSTANTLY. "Do [simple task,] will you?" "Sure!" An hour later, "Did you do [simple task]?" "......Whoops. But I read something really fascinating on a blog?" I keep wanting to work with my friends on projects or something -- my friend and I were writing a story together -- but I always forget to pick up my half. And it's not that I don't mean to work on my half? It's just that... well.... it flitters away. Mom's like, "You're thirty-one, how can you not realize the trash needs to go out?" and it's not that I don't know, I just didn't look, or I looked and I forgot, or I looked and I went down into the front hall to put on my shoes but then I saw that coats needed to be hung up and I should take those books I left on the dresser back up to my room and now I'm back in my room and maybe I'll just check my e-mail....

Like I said, maybe I'm looking for excuses, but the more I look into this, the more I sort of think, "My gosh, it really could be."

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Hi everstar,

Well, I'm 26, and when my Aunt picked me up to take me to the airport a week and a half ago, she commented -- "If someone robbed the place, you would never know!". The bit about getting lost in tasks describes most of my attempts to clean my room or do research (I start to read one thing, and then get bored and switch projects, or see a new source in the footnotes, which makes me think of a new search parameter, and then I'm off making a new list for the library). And the hyperfocus on the internet (and tv, and video games, and books, and the newspaper, and contemplating hypothetical conversations) drives my Mom nuts -- she has to repeat requests to everyone else in the family ALL THE TIME!

As for whether you can be a bookworm w/ADD--well, my brother is an even more severe case than me, and he would read ALL the time as a kid (unfortunately not much useful). As for me, my family joked about me having ADD for years, and I was apparently diagnosed as a kid but never realized it, since I no longer qualified for accomodations going into Middle School b/c my performance was still strong. It wasn't until graduate school that it dawned on me that I had a learning difference (I was always described as "gifted" and got by largely on intelligence). I do like reading and cultural activities, although my true nerd comes out in languages (how many people do you know who bother to read the preface to the New Oxford American Dictionary?). My Dad, who also is most likely ADD (although undiagnosed), is an avid reader as well. So my answer is a hearty YES!

Definitely talk to a health-care professional! Even if you do want to / don't need to / can't take meds, just knowing what it is a HUGE help. Not to mention how cool it is to learn about how your brain works!

Best of luck!! FC

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The more I read....well - the more I think BOTH I and my daughter have the inattentive-type ADD. I hadn't read a description like yours even though I do read through here every once in a while (when I get an email and go off on my distracted reading tangents!). My daughter is doing great in school, except all her teachers feel she's got SO much more potential, if she could only just focus, blah, blah, not forget, etc, etc, be more specific, and so on, and not be so "enthusiastic" after everyone's settled down already. Have you ever heard such a thing? Well she's in high school now, and she could be a superstar, but she has said herself that she thinks she might have ADD. I am almost certain I have it, just need the diagnosis, because of the distraction, lack of motivation (I have so many things I want to do) and the same thing I read here - small tasks seeming monumental for example. I got through college doing all my papers the night before and acing them! If I don't see it, I filter it out until "it" becomes urgent.

I hope I don't forget to do this before the time is upon me, but I am working on finding health professionals that can diagnose each one of us, and which my insurance covers. I don't think that exists as I've made some calls before, but I will try again. Hopefully it won't just fade into the background as it's done before.

Wish me focus (instead of luck)! Cheeki's mom

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