ADHD

[rabbit]

Anyone here ever been diagnosed with it? And/or are still struggling with it as an adult to the point it's negatively affecting your life?

[datachicane]

My wife swears I have it (as have a marriage counselor or two). At the risk of soapboxing, I feel pretty strongly that many loosely defined syndromes like ADHD are just cultural tools for pathologizing plain old normal personality variations. Might your life be smoother/easier/happier/whatever if you had a different personality? Maybe, but that's not the same as saying there's something objectively wrong with you that could and should be corrected.

The very traits my wife would point to are those to which I would ascribe whatever career success I've enjoyed, and probably a fair degree of my life satisfaction outside of work. Different isn't necessarily bad, and even things we wish could be different about ourselves have upsides.

[G.]

Yes.
Diagnosed as an older adult, but have always had it.
It's "predominantly inattentive type", which might mean something if I bothered to look it up. :)

I wish that I was diagnosed when I was in school. It would have made studying much easier for me (to be on speed).

I was always a voracious reader as a young kid, but it took me a long time to finish a novel, since I would have to re-read every-other sentence, as my mind drifted...

Try that with engineering textbooks. It sucked.

I hate taking drugs, but I use adderall when I know I need to focus. It helps a ton, but it is not a cure. (Sometimes it's worse to take it, since you can start to focus on the wrong things, like cat memes. Or racing boards. ;) )

As far as negativity, ADHD hurts me at work and learning new stuff, adderall can hurt me with interpersonal relations (will you just GET TO THE *(^&%$$# POINT?!?).

[rabbit]

I literally just realized I posted this thread and completely forgot about it. :shakehead: