Life With ADD

Having Attention Deficit Disorder has been both fun and exhausting. Life is challenging enough but with a minor yet slightly annoying disorder everything takes longer to do. You may wonder how in the world is that fun? Well, daydreaming is fun. Being creative is fun, always in your own little world is actually healthy for the mind and very enjoyable.

I’ve run into a lot of people, specifically worried parents, that have a lot of questions and concerns about the disorder. So I have some info for anyone who is wondering how to handle this.

Don't Panic!

It’s all going to okay. Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (Or non-hyperactive) is a minor brain disorder caused by an imbalance of chemicals in the brain. It is not caused by TV, deli meat, sugar intake or vaccines. No brain disorder is caused by vaccines...whoever says that most likely believe that Morgellons is a form of population control.

If it helps, picture two children sitting on a chair. One child is constantly fidgeting as if they’re suffering from an atomic wedgie while the other is running around the chair like hyper chihuahua. No matter how many times you strictly tell the kids to stay still they both seem to be unable to control themselves. It’s not that they’re deliberately disobeying you, they just can’t seem to contain themselves. Both are clearly distracted so it appears they’re not listening but they are trying to. The child running around represents ADHD while the squeamish one shows signs of ADD.

But don’t go diagnosing every child who can’t calm down with ADHD. If you’re wondering if your child has the disorder please go to a professional.

Life with ADHD

Imagine being in a school gym and you’re playing dodgeball, except you have no teammates and everyone you know is throwing the hard rubber balls at you. It’s a chaotic scene and it’s hard enough doing just that alone. Now imagine someone is yelling at you because you need to remember something. But before you can answer you have to dodge or catch one of those balls that are flying at you.

Every bounce makes you jump thinking you were hit so you can barely concentrate on one task. Then you’re expected to go throughout a school day with this stupid, unfair dodgeball game going on. So while you're running around trying to avoid injuries you have to work on mind-numbing tasks and focus on one thing only. But how are you suppose to do that if you have 5,000 different things going on all at once? Imagine living every day like that. Welcome to the life of ADHD.

Is it that awful? Okay sometimes you get your head in the game and you are on top of the world. Suddenly you’re the world’s best athlete and you might win the game....but that is a rare occasion and guess what? No trophy. No one thinks that what you accomplished mentally is worth praise. Not even a pat on the back. It feels like you have no one to cheer for you and after a while, you stop trying as hard. The worst part is you can’t tell anyone about this because it’s not easy to understand.

That is my experience with ADD. Everyone has a different way of describing it but for me, that is the best metaphor. It’s why when I’m not medicated I can barely function. Everyone gets frustrated with me because it seems I’m doing everything on purpose. I know that I’m working slowly on a project, I know I need to pick up the pace and I know that it’s irritating. It’s not like I’m trying to procrastinate, I just can’t fight the battle alone.

It is mentally exhausting without help. And it takes a toll on everything. Half the time I just needed a hug from someone who would let me know that I’m doing alright. That even though it may not seem like I’ve accomplished a lot that they know I’m trying to overcome a mental struggle.

Medications...

Not everyone loves their medicine. For me though, I love it. Remember that chaotic dodgeball scenario? Each medication has a different effect on that game. Sometimes the medication provides teammates to help take on the game. Other medications make it easier to plan a better strategy. It’s not perfect and it doesn’t eliminate the issues but for me, the medicine that I truly love makes the game a lot easier to handle. It’s a nice break from constantly running around like a lunatic.

Not everyone reacts well with medicine and its okay. For parents, my advice is to talk to that grumpy teenager who pretends to be taking their medicine but really aren’t. I know teenagers suck but talk to them about how it feels to have ADHD and whether or not they like their medicine. Their comfort zone is more important because the medications are going into their system. And like most teenagers, they don’t want to take any pills that will make them “normal” so don’t use that phrase. Best to say, they will help not fix, your kid isn’t broken. They’re just tired.

Misunderstood

Everyone feels misunderstood at some point. And it does not help if you actually have a misunderstood disorder. The qualifications of ADHD will always change. So my best advice is to talk about it. Talk about your findings, your experiences and your worries. There are a lot of groups for ADHD, tons of websites, books, blogs, videos and articles all over the place about the disorder. It’s super common because almost everyone is diagnosed with it. (They went a little nuts in the 80s). Doctors are slowly narrowing the symptoms of ADHD down.

Please know that ADHD can bring on Anxiety and Depression disorders.

My hope is to help reassure everyone that everything is going to be okay. I also hope I was able to provide a little insight on the mental state of having the disorder.