Yes peoples, this post is about ADHD. My husband has a delightful way of putting it when people ask what is ADHD. He tells them "you know that movie 50 First Dates? Living with her is like that movie, but it's not funny and she isn't Drew Barrymore"
I laugh every time, it's true, except the funny part, I think it's hilarious and Drew Barrymore wishes she had my Big Mama Boobies!
The day my kids saw the Disney Movie Finding Nemo, they started calling me Dory. That's when I knew it was BAD, I mean really bad. When an 11 year old states that you are comparable to a fish who is distracted by shiny objects and can barley remember her name, you know it's bad. Before then I just thought I was a scatterbrain, chatterbox, cockamamie, spaz.
Oh, ADHD stands for Attention Defecit Hyper Active Disorder. The Hyper part kind of fades when you are an adult, and become more fidgety, restlessness stuff. Like the time I was asked to go home and not server on Jury Duty because I couldn't sit still and had to go to the bathroom all the time.
I did realize that I have an odd behavior steming from being an ADHD child, I sit on my hands all the time, sometimes I sit on one hand and type with the other. It took me a while to figure out why I sit on my hands all the time, then one day it hit me. Teachers used to make me sit on my hands all day long, so that I wasn't Miss Fidgety.
The impulse control gets me all the time, I think it is one of the things I have worked the hardest on, I am pretty sure I am much better. I no longer blurt things out as much as I used to. They would be like verbal regurgitation, just BLAH, out there in the world, before my brain was able to make a judgment on weather it was appropriate or should be worded in another way. I don't take medication (it made me sick) but I made tons of modifications and use little tricks that help a lot (see CHADD.ORG for more info)
I know tons of people out there think they have ADD or ADHD, or their kids do, see a professional (a psychologist or psychiatrist can diagnose you) and go see a Neurologist. They can run a scan and you will actually see where the misfiring are in you brain, it's cool, it looks like some one sliced you down the middle and you can see inside. If you are diagnosed there at plenty of tools and not all of them require medication. Also, keep in mind that people with ADHD are 6 times more likely to have: learning disabilities, Tourettes Syndrome, Bi-Polar, Anxiety, and Depression. Scary huh? 25% of people who have ADHD parents do as well.
It's not all bad, this is a list complied of traits common to people with ADHD
1) Unlimited energy
2) Will try any thing
3) Good conversationalist
4) Needs less sleep
5) Good sense of humor
6) Very caring
7) Do Spontaneous things
8) Notice things that other people don't
9) Understanding of other kids
10) Can think of new ways of doing things
11) Likes to help others
12) Happy and enthusiastic
13) Imaginative - creative
14) Sensitive - compassionate
15) Eager to make new friends Great
16) Long-term memory
17) Life and soul of any party
18) Charming
19) Warm and loving
20) Protective about families
21) Inquisitive
22) Doesn't hold a grudge
23) Quick to forgive
24) Genuine
25) Never boring
26) Perceptive ways to do things
27) Playful
28) Honest
29) Optimistic
30) Inventive
Just thought I would run a PSA today...
I'm ADHD.
ReplyDeleteZibbs, I suspect many bloggers are. It's a creative outlet, a free form of expression and I do it in hopes that if I write enough I might stop talking as much in person..it never works.
ReplyDeleteYeah, ADHD can be... oh look a chicken.
ReplyDeleteLOL. JUST JOKING!!!
My brother has ADHD and those 30 things sum him up exactly.
You forgot to add: likes chocolate.
ReplyDeleteLove, me (through FB again)
I try and tell people it's not a bad thing to have ADHD (and I consider it something to "have" not "be") yes, I had to learn around it and learn to deal with it but I think it makes me that much more interesting.
ReplyDeleteI also liken it to having my brain in a perpetual state of "channel surfing" where it changes every 3-5 seconds and anything can trigger it.
Oddly, it makes me awesome at multitasking.
Ok this is funny to a point and then not in the other direction, We, my sister, my father and I have this, yet no medication or anything is preferred by any of us. I can explain more in depth but I'd rather just give dad as an example. A conversation with my father is like watching a 40 car pile up in slow mo and then fast forward randomly. Ask a question: Mine How to do something to a car, changing the spark plug(must also add since have stopped asking him questions unless mom has no idea-this taught me that), First he starts out with visuals,"open the hood look for, your remember when we were at the car show with that baby blue car you loved so much, yeah, the one with the big block motor, yeah, remember how I pointed to the top of the motor where the pistons are located, ok now look at the motor your looking for something round, HEY BABY! HOW YOU DOIN', sorry some hot little brunette just walked by with a short skirt on very nice, not as nice as your mother, you know I still love her even though shes with bob now" "uh huh yeah I know, yeah I know, yeah I see it, huh lovely clayton. Dad I need to get this done before night falls." "Oh yeah, the round thing with wires coming off, looks like a squid." This conversation ended with me finding my grandpa and asking his help, I found that damn thing but it took 20 minutes to get the description. As my uncle has said, you get the answer but you must go on the trip around the world to get there but eventually he'll come back and you'll get the answer.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes the family, my mom my sister and I have all gotten so used to this type of conversation that its scary that we can actually follow him through this.
2) Will try any thing- yeah not always a good thing
3) Good conversationalist- my father has scared away Jehovah Witnesses after holding them captive for 2 hours just talking to them
4) Needs less sleep- my father sleeps 4 hours
5) Good sense of humor- all of us
6) Very caring- all of us
7) Do Spontaneous things- this has gotten better
8) Notice things that other people don't- oh god this makes interesting conversation when its just us- me and my sister in the car "OMG did you see that?"
9) Understanding of other kids- us girls
10) Can think of new ways of doing things-us
11) Likes to help others- us
12) Happy and enthusiastic-sis
13) Imaginative - creative- me
14) Sensitive - compassionate- Me PUPPIES!
15) Eager to make new friends Great
16) Long-term memory
1
19) Warm and loving me and my sis
20) Protective about families- all of us
21) Inquisitive- all of us girls
24) Genuine-ha!
25) Never boring- have you met my father?
26) Perceptive ways to do things- me! & math, i get the answer in my own way
27) Playful- all of us
28) Honest- all of us, sometimes painfully
29) Optimistic- me
30) Inventive- my mom
come to think of it, if you want to feel comfortable and at home come visit us and embrace your spaz moments... we do...