What do you know about ADD?

[[wcip]Angel]

All my life, I've had trouble with "reading"-subjects at
school, meaning science, social studies, history, etc,
where you have to absorb a lot of written material, in
contrast to math and language which deal more with
rules and not so much large volumes of text; at least at
the beginning of school. During the last couple of years
at college, I've noticed a disturbing trend in my
studies.

1. I can't seem to read books. Obviously I can read the
words and sentences of a text, but unless I cram the
material, there is no way it's sticking with me. I have a
tendency to forget too easily.

2. Reading takes forever. I'm not a slow-reader, but
when I count how many pages I've read in the last
hour, the number is always the same: 10. Ten pages in
1 hour. How is that even possible? I should be reading
3-4 times as many pages within that timeframe.

3. Lately, I find I'm having difficulties concentrating and
focusing on the work at hand. I have an exam in late
Norwegian history tomorrow (Thursday), and I've been
studying all morning. Once every minute I tend to slip
away into some sort of dream-like condition. I stop
reading and daydream about a topic only vaguely
connected to a word I just read.

An example:
I was reading about how the Norwegian economy
changed in the 1980s and how people started
demonstrating their wealth by having "low cars and tall
steaks." At the sight of the word "steaks", I drifted far,
far away into the future, where I imagined myself 10
years from now making my lunch for work (I was a
teacher at a high school). I was making a roast beef
sandwich (the steak-reference) and I was thinking if I
should bring my own fork and knife from home, or
borrow the utensils from the school cafeteria.

This is typical. One single word will trigger some sort of
daydreaming which I have no control over, and when I
"return" I am aggrevated and irritated because I know
it's disturbing my studies, and because I fear it may
become a more serious problem than what it already is.

I've suspected ADD for a while now. I also have the
memory span of a goldfish, and I seem to lack a
fundamental Norwegian vocabulary (I tend to use
English words where the Norwegian counterpart is lost
to me), all signs of Alzheimers. I can remember things
that happened 10 years ago, but I sometimes find
myself getting up from my chair for no apparrent
reason. Apparently the reason was forgotten between
the time I decided to get up, and when I actually got
up. ADD, Alzheimers, or something else?

I found a websitewhich dumbs it down pretty conveniently for me:

ADHD is a diagnosis applied to children and adults who
consistently display certain characteristic behaviors
over a period of time. The most common core features
include:

1. distractibility (poor sustained attention to tasks)
2. impulsivity (impaired impulse control and delay of
gratification)
3. hyperactivity (excessive activity and physical
restlessness)

I know I suffer from the first problem; as do you know.
I don't know about impulsivity. I'm the type of person
who has to think everything through 4-5 times in order
to make sure everything runs smoothly. Not exactly
impulsive. As for #3, I am quite certain I'm not
hyperactive.

"In order to meet diagnostic criteria, these behaviors
must be excessive, long-term, and pervasive."

So it may not be ADD after all then?

"These criteria set ADHD apart from the "normal"
distractibility and impulsive behavior of childhood, or
the effects of the hectic and overstressed lifestyle
prevalent in our society."

"Normal distractability". What do I know what's normal?
I only have myself as base of reference. I guess that's
where you come in. Would you say I have a serious
problem, or is this kind of thing prevalent among
"normal" people?

[Kevin]

I say it's normal. Education is stressful. Stessors induce defense mechanisms. Escapism is a defense mechanism. Everything you've said seems to indicate that you are under stress (note that stress and distress while sharing a root are not synonyms) and your mind is dealing with it. There are also a lot of people who are not visual learners (reading). It is not something that comes naturally to them and it is work everytime to do it. You indicate this has been a lifelong issue for you, and since it is becoming more prevelant in your studies, it is yet another stressor.

Admittedly I only minored in psych, but from what you have stated, I would not say it's ADD.

[[wcip]Angel]

Thank you. That's reassuring. I just need to cope and deal with the stress. Alternatatively, I could vary my studying.

[Fragbait]

Hi [wcip]Angel,

The answer is: next to nothing.
I just wanted to jump on board to tell you that I sympathize with you and that you are not alone:

I seem to lack a
fundamental Norwegian vocabulary (I tend to use
English words where the Norwegian counterpart is lost
to me)

That happens to me frequently! I even gave way to building in English parts in my German sentences. When this started a few years ago (entering sophisticated English class), people wondered. Nowadays they kinda live with it and it's nothing special anymore.
Back to you: I agree that you simply might not be the type of 'learning by reading', I know of several people that aren't. And speaking good English isn't exactly bad for your later career either, see it that way ;) .
In any case I wish you luck for your exam!

Greetings, Fragbait


PS: The truth is out there...

[Bun-Bun]

First, I'm not a doctor. Second, see a doctor.

If this is bugging you that much, it's worth a checkup. It doesn't sound like it matches up with ADHD. It could be stress. It could be sleep apnea or some other brand of sleep disturbance. It could be a mild form of reading difficulty or dyslexia. It could be something much worse (unlikely, but you never know). My wild guess would be sleep problems, since that's pretty common.

So go let a professional sort out things. Any problem that's affecting your life materially is worth a look-see.

[Artega]

I'm still against the idea that ADHD/ADD can even be considered a true affliction. I personally think it's just a ploy by the pharmaceutical companies to make themselves rich off of mind-altering drugs. Then again, if major national and international health organizations are listing it, maybe it is a true disease. Either way, I just think it's a convienient way of making pharmaceutical companies richer, and getting rambunctious children to stop acting like children.

But I digress.

I suffer from much the same problems when it comes to studying. I typically try to space out the "sessions" of studying over several days (depending on how far in advance I learn of the test or final), and then cram for a couple of hours on the day of the test/final. It's not fool-proof, but it's helped me counter my short-term memory loss :)

[[wcip]Angel]

.. the symptoms are the same; thus the problem is the same, whether one would categorize ADD as a disease or not.

In trying not to panic completely, I tried a new form of studying. Instead of just reading page after page, not remembering a damn thing, for each section I noted down a question, and after each paragraph I listed an answer to the question. It was quite effective. Not only did I *not* wander off in Never-Never-land, I also seem to remember some of the stuff I read.

I now moved back to the computer to do this electronically instead of by hand. I guess this post is in it of itself escapism made manifest ;) (or just plain lazyness on my part).

[--Pete]

Hi,

Let me echo Fragbait, "The answer is: next to nothing."

And I agree with Bun-Bun, "Second, see a doctor." (I didn't quote the first part, because I *am* a doctor, just not an MD :) ) However, problems like dyslexia can make reading difficult to impossible and are sometimes mis-diagnosed as ADD. Happened to the sister of a friend of mine.

That said, let me remind you that there is no "normal". As long as you are a rational, functional human, you're doing good enough in my book.

I don't know if it is impulse control or something else, but I am a "binary" learner. If something interests me, I focus on it completely, almost compulsively, to the detriment of everything else (and that includes eating and sleeping sometimes). If something bores me, I ignore it. And subjects have crossed the interests/bores line continuously throughout my life. And yet, I've managed to get a good education, get good jobs (I have only had to apply for two jobs in my life, all the rest were offered to me), and a good life.

So, do get it checked out, but don't obsess about it. In all probability, it will work itself out.

And the best of luck with it.

--Pete

[Bun-Bun]

I'm still against the idea that ADHD/ADD can even be considered a true affliction. I personally think it's just a ploy by the pharmaceutical companies to make themselves rich off of mind-altering drugs.

I find this a terribly uninformed opinion. While it's easy to overdiagnose and overprescribe medication for ADHD, the condition is very real, and the scientific studies supporting the effectiveness of medication are numerous and convincing. The attitude you present is dangerous in that it leads to people who could be helped dramatically not getting the help they need.

What we need are tighter controls on who can diagnose and how we diagnose the problem.

[Artega]

I can't say I have medical proof or an informed opinion, but when compared to a "classic" disease (one that is obvious or life-threatening, like diabetes or cystic fibrosis), ADHD seems kinda trivial. Then again, autism is a disease, and I guess ADHD is similar to autism in some ways.

I do agree that medications are over-prescribed here in the US; I haven't seen a doctor in eight years, and I've had no need to. I had pneumonia (well, that's what the symptoms said, though it could have been a severe case of the flu, too, since I didn't see a doctor and get it officially diagnosed), and all I did was rest and take OTC medications like Advil and Tylenol to combat it. I was fine within a week's time.

The last time I went to a doctor (when I was ten), he prescribed antibiotics for a viral infection. At the time, I didn't really know the difference between a viral infection and a bacterial infection (and, hence, didn't really see anything wrong with being given antibiotics for a virus), so I didn't think anything of it. Now I realize that we basically paid the man $85 for him to tell me that I was sick and prescribe medicine that was absolutely useless (though it came in handy when my sister got a bacterial infection a few weeks later ^_^ ) for my particular illness. The doctor may have been giving me it to prevent possible bacterial infections while my immune system was killing the virii, but he could have just as easily told me to take OTC medications and ingest lots of zinc and vitamin C.

[kandrathe]

I agree with Pete's assessment. I would add; only to encourage you to continue to explore different ways of digesting the material. Some people do better by highlighting the important parts, or writing them on note cards for future memorization. I used to outline the chapters I would read. I could read it and forget it as you seem to do, but when I would write it down, then I had a better chance of remembering it. Cramming works only if done the day you need the information and relies on short term memory. During sleep, the brain transfers short term memory into long term memories. So, sleep disorders or lack of quality sleep can disrupt your brains processes.

Another idea; One of my old girlfriends went to pharmacy school, and became a pharmacist. She did quite a bit of research on diet and it's impact on brain function. She turned me on to many supplements as simple as an adequate dose of vitamin C to boost short term and long term memory capabilities. So review your diet and see if you are giving yourself a chance. Here is a link on the effect of diet on brain function. {Link}

[Griselda]

It took a lot of shopping around, but I was finally able to locate a doctor in my area that usually doesn't write prescriptions when we go in. Instead, he'll tell us what he sees, describe the differences in symptoms between viral and bacterial infections, and send us on our way. We do get prescriptions, some of the time, but more often than not we'll get a detailed explanation and our questions answered.

I believe that our doctor has quite a few patients get upset with him, because they go in expecting a prescription and don't get one. So, I try to let him know that we appreciate his perspective! :)

If you feel your doctor is prescription-happy, shop around. You may be happier seeing someone else.

[Artega]

Good advice, but I'm told that our selection of doctors is constrained by our health insurance company.

Like I said, I've haven't seen a doctor in eight years, and I'm fine now (unless I have some sleeper virus in my system that will erupt five years from now, and infect and kill half of the life on this planet; or something like that ^_^), so I have to concede that I find doctors and health care to be overrated :P

[Griselda]

Yeah, insurance too often makes the choice for you. Now that I finally get a choice of insurance plans, I chose the kind that would pay anywhere. :)

I probably wouldn't have made the effort if it was just for me, either. But, my daughter has to go in often enough for the random things kids pick up. So, it was worth it.

[Malakar]

I don't know if it is impulse control or something else, but I am a "binary" learner. If something interests me, I focus on it completely, almost compulsively, to the detriment of everything else (and that includes eating and sleeping sometimes).

I'm the same way. When I work on something that has my interest, I'm incredibly more productive. When I try to force myself to focus on something I'm uninterested in, I find it very difficult and my mind tends to wander a lot.

I tried Aderal (it's very easy to get it prescribed to you, which is a bad thing, I'll get to why later). It helped me concentrate on everything better. However, taken every day, the effects subsided, eventually just making me normal when I took it. After a while of getting used to it, at night when I came down off of it, I got really depressed, and it got worse and worse. The weird thing is that it took me a while to realize it was the medication causing it, despite the fact that it happened every night at the same time and got progressively worse. It worked on my mind in the background, twisting my thoughts and perceptions, and really had me tricked. Anyway, it got so bad that I started having suicidal thoughts, which is WAY beyond my normal mental scope. It would've been nice if I had been told this was a possible side effect. So you see, it's dangerous to prescribe these mind-altering drugs so loosely, and not even give out warnings of possible detrimental side effects.

[Raz]

I'm the same way. When I work on something that has my interest, I'm incredibly more productive. When I try to force myself to focus on something I'm uninterested in, I find it very difficult and my mind tends to wander a lot.

I tried Aderal (it's very easy to get it prescribed to you, which is a bad thing, I'll get to why later).  It helped me concentrate on everything better. However, taken every day, the effects subsided, eventually just making me normal when I took it. After a while of getting used to it, at night when I came down off of it, I got really depressed, and it got worse and worse. The weird thing is that it took me a while to realize it was the medication causing it, despite the fact that it happened every night at the same time and got progressively worse. It worked on my mind in the background, twisting my thoughts and perceptions, and really had me tricked. Anyway, it got so bad that I started having suicidal thoughts, which is WAY beyond my normal mental scope. It would've been nice if I had been told this was a possible side effect. So you see, it's dangerous to prescribe these mind-altering drugs so loosely, and not even give out warnings of possible detrimental side effects.

Sad that most doctors prescribe this drugs to everyone :( This type of medicine should be reserved for only some cases and should be carefully monitorized because of the risks the drug may have; you just probably enounced all the adverse effects of aderal :) (tolerance, depression, dependence on the drug, etc).

All antidepressive or neuroleptic drugs should be used with caution and the doctor is responsible of whatever will happen because of them if he did not inform the patient of its side effects or put the patient on vigilance.

[Rinnhart]

All antidepressive or neuroleptic drugs should be used with caution and the doctor is responsible of whatever will happen because of them if he did not inform the patient of its side effects or put the patient on vigilance.

So far from how they're really handled, in my experience, it's not even funny.

[Vandiablo]

All my life, I've had trouble with "reading"-subjects at
school, meaning science, social studies, history, etc,
where you have to absorb a lot of written material

That's as far as I got.

-V

BTW, Rinnhart is NOT me, just has the same idea about .. uh .. those little picture thingies. (see, I do look at the pictures for the whole thread.)

(edit: misspelled R's name)