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No online diagnosis but...
There's no real way for anyone to diagnose you based on what you've said here, but I'd say it sounds enough like ADD to warrant a visit to a professional. I started out by going to an LISW (licensed social worker) who had experience with both children and adults with AD/HD; she confirmed what I had suspected for some time. Unfortunately, because she wasn't an MD, she wasn't able to prescribe any medication for me and wasn't even allowed to recommend anything specifically. She and I did discuss the benefits and drawbacks of several different meds, which helped me be specific and an "informed patient" when I went to my MD (with a letter in hand from the therapist stating that she had diagnosed me with ADD, Inattentive Type.) Some time later I switched MDs and the new doctor recommended a medication evaluation by a psychiatrist, to make sure what I was on was the best choice and at correct dosage. As a result of that, I'm on an increased dosage and doing extremely well.
A few pointers/caveats (based on having just done this over the past year and a half or so):
--) if you're in a metropolitan area, you're obviously going to have more options than someone in a smaller town; but wherever you end up, just be patient with your doctor. They're often no more informed on the ins and outs of ADD, esp. in an adult, than you are (and sometimes a good deal less, if you're someone who does a lot of research into something that interests them - as it sounds like you are.) It can be very frustrating, once you have a diagnosis, to be patient with the process of sorting out what you need and where to get it, but you need to remember that you've been dealing with this brain for a lifetime - it may take a little while to get it working right.
--) That said, don't let a doctor put you off and say "let's give [whatever medication] a little longer to work" - if they've tried you on a medication and it's not working, it's not apt to work better with more time. ADD meds are mostly short-acting, not like a lot of anti-depressants that need time to build up to the level that will help - with ADD meds, if it's going to work, it would work from the start. I feel like I wasted a lot of time by not being more insistent with my doctor about upping my meds. Sometimes you need more. Sometimes you need something different. There are lots of choices - and some of them involve behavioral therapy/dietary changes/lifestyle changes and no medication at all!
--) And here's the biggest thing I've learned: EVEN WITH MEDICATION, you're still dealing with a lifetime of learning things (or NOT) differently from most other adults, a lifetime of bad habits, a lifetime of messed up coping mechanisms. Once you're working on the ADD diagnosis, with or without meds, you may be more clear, more motivated, and god help you when you start perceiving what others notice routinely, but we usually miss because of "inattentional blindness" - but you didn't learn the executive functions (organization, etc.) that help you sort things out the way other people did, and you may well need some help. You can also drive yourself crazy trying to fix everything at once. Here, too, it's been a long process to get where you are - give yourself some time, explore outside resources to help you with whatever you need - not necessarily things that are presented as "ADD resources", because they're mostly not packaged that way - although if there's a good adult ADD support group locally, you should at least check it out and see what they have to offer.
Sorry for the novella. Your story just struck a nerve.
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Last edited by subversivegrrl : 29 Jul 2009 @ 3:58 PM.
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26 Jul 2009 @ 6:08 AM
26 Jul 2009 @ 6:20 AM