Dealing with ADD

chivalryder · October 2014

Hey all,

My family has slowly been diagnosed with ADD one-by-one. Now, every one in my family but my father have been diagnosed with it. Over the weekend, I was talking to my mother, and she told me that a couple of weeks ago, she was diagnosed and we started talking about the symptoms. Well, I have all of the symptoms that she was talking about. I'm quite positive now that is I went to see someone about it, I would be diagnosed as well.

I've been thinking about it since, and I'm starting not notice how my life has been affected by it. I know my life would be a lot better if I managed to get control over it. That being said, I'm sure I only have mild ADD. I don't suffer from anxiety and I manage to get by fairly well. However, if given a task to do, I find it nearly impossibly to complete unless it's something I thoroughly enjoy doing.

Do any of you have any resources I could make use of to help deal with this? I don't want to get onto any medication as I despise drugs and I don't feel the side effects would be worth the benefits.

Hell_Flower · October 2014

Hello,

My husband has this and has had it since he was about 7.

It's been a learning curve of how to deal with it - he finds meditating very helpful in dealing with his anxiety, as is regular physical activity and just being outside. He also finds a line correlating poor diet to his short attention span (eg, if he has eaten processed foods everyday for a week, he's basically a bundle of nervous energy, vs eating fresh, homecooked meals everyday and he can maintain a level of concentration).

He's had to choose a career path to fit in with this and accepted it as his personality type. He had major issues with alcohol and has found that cutting that out entirely has helped no end.

Lesa_Sass · October 2014

My husband has it and it is very hard for ME to deal with, but I am the one that had to come to terms with it more than him. I have to bring him back to task many times or else he will be "off to see the wizard" before I know it. I have to remember he can not help it and that I need to be more understanding.

There is an ADD diet and I know lots of moms who have children with it that have used the diet and say that it helps a great deal, Now in saying that, its much easier to be a kid and have someone make all your dietary choices and place the plate of food in front of you. It could be something you want to look into.

If you are in a state that has medical marijuana, there are advantages of using it over the pharmacy stuff. I am not talking to use your diagnosis as a way to get weed, I am talking actually using it for only your add, it comes in various forms, some of which do not get you high. < i am not interested in getting into the MM debate, just offering it as a choice that I know some people get relief from>

amazongrl212 · October 2014

You don't need to get medicated. there is a surprisingly large group of people who manage without it. For me it really started to get bad when I got out into the real world and I didn't have my parents there to advocate for me or organize things. I was so scared to try the medication, I just kept looking at the long list of side effects and the fact that I may have to take it forever and it was upsetting, but the benefits outweighed them at the end. I decided to get medicated and it was one of the best decisions ever, for the first time I feel normal. Medication in combination with exercise and healthy eating has really helped me manage it. Some adults realize that they have it later because they developed coping mechanisms to cover it up.
Great sites are

totallyadd.com
www.additudemag.com
actuallyadhd.tumblr.com

FindingAmy77 · October 2014

my oldest son has add since he was a kid.. probably since birth. the more we leaned about it, I realized I may have been the one who gave it to him. he took the meds when he was younger but they gave him sleeping and eating troubles and for a athlete like he always has been that is not good. When he was around 14 and football was getting more intense for him not to mention puberty and normal teenage defiance he decided for himself that his parents and doctors "were all drug pushers" (his words, not mne UGG) and he refused to take any more meds. This is when we worked with this doctor and did lots of research of how to handle and cope without meds. There are certain foods and additives to avoid, getting good sleep and exercise is crucial and keeping lists and to do tasks daily helps too. We used the internet for most of our solutions. He is now almost 22 and still has add (believe me that boy has some energy) but he is not on meds and goes to school and works a full time job. I talk to him about it and he says its a daily struggle but these methods we learned still work for him. IT can be managed without drugs. Those are so harmful and my son was right to take control of his own body. I am proud of him for that. You just have to learn a new way of life similar to a lifelstyle change journey like weighloss and keeping it off. Good luck. its not going to be easy but drugs are bad so its worth it. A little tip for you that I use is caffeine works opposite on ADD people... its a calming thing for me. I know its a drug but its a minor one. also getting vitamin d and melanin (can come from sunshine or supplements) jhelps too. other than that just focus on a basic nonprocessd diet and regular exercise and time management skills and lots of searching on the internet to see what can work for you. you will never outgrow it. its usually a symptom of intelligence as well. the brain just keeps on working overtime. this is the case for my son and me anyways.

Autk79 · October 2014

I have ADD and I took medicine from 6th grade till my first year of college. It caused too many problems for me so I just quit on my own. Some days I wonder how I keep up with anything, including my 3 kids. Ive never once heard of a diet helping but I will look into that. For me personally, I have a lot of calendars and post its and alarms set on my phone. Even with that I forget things or get started on something and don't finish. But I still work a good job 40 hours a week, raise 3 boys on my own and haven't lost any kids yet lol. I think everyone has different levels of it so it might not work for everyone but I just prefer no meds.

Dealing with ADD

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