Should I Seek Treatment/evaluation for ADHD?
Question by robert: Should I seek treatment/evaluation for ADHD?
When I was a kid, about 10 or so, I was diagnosed with ADHD. My parents never put me on medication as they didn’t believe in it.
Fast forward eleven years or so. I’m starting to take graduate level classes in college and I think I’m finally starting to have problems. I’ve never taken a page of notes in my life, I fill up pages with doodles. Over my three years of college I have made literally hundreds of pages covered in little lines, doodles, squiggles, etc. I also procrastinate endlessly and end up locking myself in the library for hours with energy drinks and get the amount of work done i could do in one hour if I focused in that time. It’s like I’m always at war with myself to do what I want to do. I have to get my roommate to hide my phone and laptop from me because they’re too much of a distraction. I’m bright, and was in the top 1% in SAT scores, and that’s the only way I think I’m able to get by. I ended up going to a college that was sort of below me academically and have made fairly good grades, but I think I’ve been underachieving.
I do fine on exams. When the pressure is on I can perform. I’m a physics major so most of the problems are puzzles which I like. But if I’m in a class which requires papers, or lots of tedious homework assignments, the difficulty increases exponentially.
I’ve gone through a million planners, calendars, and 10 step programs to get organized but always fail to. It’s really frustrating. My apartment is a wreck at the moment. I just want to know if I’m lazy and should just “try harder,” (like it’s that easy), or if I should try prescription meth route. It does seem like the easy way out, but I’m just tired of having to put so much effort into doing simple tasks. I’m just worried about becoming dependent on the drugs if I get them.
Any advice?
Best answer:
Answer by Robert Koenig
Go fishing once a week. Worked for jesus when he started losing it.
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Tags: Adhd, Seek, treatment/evaluation
5 Responses to “Should I Seek Treatment/evaluation for ADHD?”
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I’m a special education teacher, and I have college-age children who have ADHD. I think you should definitely look into it. One of my children is a very good student who is only able to do his best work when he takes prescription medicine for ADHD. My other son is also a good student. He prefers not to take medication.
Do a lot of reading about ADHD first, so that you can ask intelligent question. If a doctor decides that you do ahve ADHD and offers you a prescription, you can read all about the medication and see if you feel comfortable taking it.
ADHD is a real medical condition. How you decide to manage it, now that you are an adult, is your business. As a teacher, I found that many of my students had been accused for being “lazy” or “unmotivated” when that was very far from the truth.
Even if you decide not to take meds, if you have a diagnosis of ADHD you can speak to the Disabilities rights office at your college and discuss accommodations that may help you perform better. One might be a copy of class notes? Federal laws apply at the college level, so look into this.
I’ve put some great sites below that you should check out. Good luck.
See a doctor, explain all of the above and take the medication he prescribes. If you’ve managed this far without medication, just think of what you can do with some focus.
I know how you are feeling. There are a lot of people like us but not all deal good under pressure :/ But they have discovered that to draw doodles focus your mind to what you are listening to and makes you remember so keep on doodling
. If you haven’t stopped eating sugar do it now, you will have to go two weeks to get the result and you will have to start eating sugar again to notice so just trust me. My friends go nuts when I relapse and eat sugar. Have you tried yoga,Pilate’s, thaichi to help get focus and get rid of nervous energy in your muscles? It sounds ridiculous but the breathing and slow movements helps if you try. And exercise other ways to, it gives you more energy.
And don’t try harder but improve what you got. You are trying hard enough. To try harder means to use something you don’t have so take instead 5 minutes to clean, think of what you can write and so on when you have 5 minutes and especially your 5 minutes before you go to sleep . It seems little but a brick can make a house if you save enough
I wasn’t diagnosed until I was in my 40s. I’ve learned so much about ADHD including that many people including Doctors and Teachers misunderstand what it really is like to have. Recently we had a guest speaker at our support group who was an attorney for students with ADHD and LD. She said it is extremely important to have your diagnosis ON RECORD with the school. She spoke a few months too late for our group because a med student was just expelled for something related to his ADHD. Because it wasn’t in the records, he can’t become a doctor and has $ 100,000 in school loans to pay.
You are already “self-medicating” with energy drinks. Another way of “self-medicating” is with extreme exercise. I would NOT worry about becoming dependent on ADHD medications. I would strongly advise you to try them, especially in college and your first year in a “real job”. The are other things that will help such as eating right and cognitive training. What most people don’t understand is that Adderal and other ADHD medications work differently in someone with ADHD than someone without. Chances are you will notice an immediate difference for the better. You will spend months working on the right dose and right times to take them.
Hey man, I wouldn’t compare meth with a prescription medication for ADHD.
I would really consider looking into getting prescribed a med, (your not retarded or anything for taking one and dont let anyone make you think that way) meds work different for different people. sometimes they dont work well at all for some people. As for me I also have ADHD and reading this story here reminds me of what I used to be like in school before I started taking Dexedrine. Once you find the rite dose it can be a Godsend you actually dont crave energdrinks which have chemicals that are bad for you too. you dont get desrtacted when someone is doing something stupid, walks in the door, makes a noise, you just continue to get your work done and usually have better brainstorming skills and ideas as if the meds cleared the fog in your head.
I know alot of people want to be so called “Drug free” but you only have one chance when it comes to grades K-12 I wish I would have got diagnose with ADHD earlier on and put on meds for it. for me it wasn’t till the middle of 12th grade. then I was like a different person. I wish I could go back and tell the doctors at the beginning of 9th grade but it’s too late.
Just remember that these medications are not dangerous for individuals with ADD/ADHD like some people want you to think. Just take it as prescribed, dot take meth, dont smoke weed, and you should do well in not only school but outside of school too (work, friends, family etc.)