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It just seems boring to me to do one thing at a time, not to mention a complete waste of precious time.

I had the exact same problem as I graduated high school and entered college as a freshman almost a year ago. My grades were on a steady decline through high school and I seemed to lack any motivation to study for my courses and complete my assignments. But I knew I was smart -- my IQ was 136.

I went into my university's office of disability services, thinking I might have dyslexia because of some difficulty in reading and hoping I could be testing. After a few interviews with myself and my parents, and several months of taking a variety of achievement, aptitude, and psychological tests, I was diagnosed as having Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and my doctor put me on a prescription for Strattera.

Since then, I feel like I've been reborn. With the medication, I have a renewed motivation to work hard on my studies and I'm able to keep better attention on my reading assignments and professor's long-winded lectures. You claim to have "unlimited attention span" when working on things you enjoy, but your grades seem to reflect otherwise -- I bet you had trouble getting your homework assignments done, didn't you? If I were you, I would look into getting tested for ADD.

On a somewhat related note, I'm an ENTJ.

Have you tried natural alternatives such as DPA/EPA (Omega3), 5-HTP (natural precursor to serotonin), and what were your results?

In your listing of drugs that are effective against ADD, you overlooked Strattera, which the FDA approved for sale in January, 2003. AFAIK, it's the first non-psychostimulant approved specifically for treating ADD. Other non-psychostimulants can be used to treat ADD (e.g., Wellbutrin, a/k/a Zyban or buproprion hydrocholride), but the FDA originally approved them for treating disorders other than ADD (in the case of Wellbutrin, depression).

I don't think I've ever seen so many posts on Slashdot to a non tech issue. Normally you only see 1000+ posts to stories about MS colluding with SCO to dominate the world.

Anyway, I am a clinical psychologist, and I obviously got in on this discussion too late.

I'm not sure where you're coming from, but attention problems are very real, and they're not something that we just concoct to pad our wallets.

Sure, there are problems with overdiagnosis. But it's not always entirely the psychologist or psychiatrist's fault. I see tons of parents in upper-middle-to-upper-class households come in with their kids who have IQs of about 100, placed in classrooms where the average IQ is 130, complaining about their kid being "behind", and demanding something to fix the problem "or else." I also see parents coming in with children with conduct problems, kids who really just need discipline and a bit of strong-arming, complaining about their kids attention problems. When you tell them it's a conduct problem, they just go to a psychiatrist, who gives them drugs. And finally, if the kids are old enough, they sometimes somaticize, and complain about their attention problems and "lack of memory for their entire life", and ask for attention medication, when they're really depressed and histrionic. Their parents are more comfortable with a neurocognitive problem than an a neuroemotional problem, so they encourage diagnosis of ADHD rather than depression or anxiety.

But, most of the time the ADHD is very real. These kids--and adults--just can't focus worth damn, and it's a real problem that affects their life. And it's not just like some mildly unusual kids--these kids literally can't sit still, are bouncing off the walls, always getting out of their chair, fiddling with every frickin thing in the testing room. They're not just a little different--they have a problem. And what's great is that you can usually treat it, helping these kids, without any side effects.

Someone else posted the DSM-IV criteria for ADHD. It's informative. I don't usually agree with the structuring of the DSM, but you think about it: can you meet 6 of those criteria in one category, honestly? Probably not. Maybe if you're biasing your self-report for the sake of argument, or maybe if you're depressed. But it's damn difficult to meet six of those nine criteria (without meeting criteria for other things like depression) with standardized measures, rating scales, observational scales, and computerized tests of performance. In other words, if you say you meet them, fine. But go to a good psychologist and see if you can meet them in a standardized way. It's not easy.

There's plenty of studies now on ADHD to validate its existence: fMRI studies, observational studies, longitudinal studies, molecular genetic studies, population genetic studies--you name it. It's not worth my time to go into it here. If you seriously believe it's bullshit, go look ADHD up in Medline or PsychINFO or your behavioral citation database of choice.

Now, I'll be the first person to admit the diagnosis has problems. The whole DSM has diagnostic criteria and structural problems. There are different types of ADHD, and some people aren't hyperactive at all, just inattentive. There's also issues with relationships with things like conduct disorder and general traits like impulsivity. But to say that the disorder is nonsense, is just nonsense.

Damn, I don't have time to get into a discussion of treatments now. The best thing, really, is probably medication. You have to try a few. There's a nonstimulant medication on the market now, Strattera, that might be interesting to try.

And as many others have posted, medication alone probably won't do it. You just have to figure out what's most distracting and learn to avoid it. For example, if you haven't already, get rid of distracting things in your room to do work. Occupational therapy does help a lot, although it usually helps more with people who have

Tell the doctor you want Wellbutrin

For many, the best drugs for ADD these days in neither the psychostimulants (e.g., Ritalin, Dexedrine) nor Wellbutrin, but Strattera (atomoxetine hydrochorlide), which received FDA approval for sale in January, 2003. For me, Strattera has been considerably better than the medication that I had been taking before, Edronax (reboxetine hydrochloride). The side effects are generally worse, but I have no choice -- I have to take it in order to maximize my ability to concentrate. I got some interesting information about Strattera from HealthBoards (a section of the site is devoted to ADD).

This non-stimulant based drug you speak of is called Straterra and is produced by Eli Lilly.

My doctor suggested it to me for focus issues and it make me feel like a corporate drone...must...work. I hated it decided coffee in high doses was a much better solution for avoiding my work.

The name of the non-amphetamine drug is "Strattera". Now I've tried this medication myself and it didn't help at all. In fact it made me worse because it made me sleep on an off thought out the entire day there by preventing me from getting my work done. So I decided to try and take it before I went to bed because I figured it would help me sleep. Boy was I ever wrong!!! I must have woken up atleast 12 times that night. When I would try to go back to sleep I became restless and irritated. After that I gave up on the medication especially because the doctor was planning on working me up to the highest dosage an at this point I was only taking 1/4 of that. I mean if the side effect were that bad already, what would happen when I took 4 times that amount.

There is a new drug released this year who's name escapes me, but it's a non-amphetamine drug that is much easier to deal with. Problems I have read, however, are some rare cases of folks finding they get odd violent tendencies or it can only make their ADHD symptoms worse. Just goes to show how much we truly understand this disease.

I believe you're referring to Strattera, by Eli Lilly. It's not a controlled substance, thereby getting around the triplicate form problem.

Correct - Strattera

I am also recently diagnosed with ADHD (or ADD, as many still like to refer to it - it's more accurate in my case, as I have no hyperactivity attributes), and I evaluated Strattera for a couple of months. It didn't seem to help me as much as the stimulants, but I did prefer it to the jitteryness & anxiety I experienced from some of the stimulants during titration. (It was also nice not being on quite as powerful of a "drug".) The only side-effect I had was noticable dry-mouth. My psychiatrist has had great results with most other patients, however.

Strattera is proving to be an effective drug for adult ADHD and a good alternative to Ritalin with very few side effects. It's also the only FDA approved drug for A-ADHD. Interestingly enough I just had a conversation with my physician about this topic today. I am 50 years old and have known for years that I have a number of "classic" A-ADHD symptoms but had no interest in all the traditional psychotropics and their fairly nasty side-effects, not to mention the social stigma associated with employers/peers finding out I was using them.

I have to agree with the poster who said that meds can make the difference between keeping a professional position and ending up on the public dole or worse. I find that as I get older the depression is getting worse as well as a growing difficulty multi-tasking. It isn't noticable to my employer or collegues yet (I hope) but it is to me and my family, hence the discussion with my PCP today.

Yeah, a lot of folks find it a joke, and it's an easy one. Posting about it on slash is just asking for cheap shots from the room temps out there, but I admire the original poster's courage putting it out there as a serious question in a professional community. It didn't even enter my mind to ask the slashdot crowd about this, but as soon as I saw it I felt a lot better. I'll bet I'm not the only one.

I hope he gets to see this posting, as atomoxetine seems to be a real alternative to the traditional medications.

And no, I'm not affiliated with the drug industry in any traditional way.

I am ADD... my son is ADHD... he started on Strattera last month.. I just started it today. Now, while I do tech support, and ADD does somewhat help, I decided to try Strattera. It is, IMHO, a LOT better than Ritalin. Ritalin is a controled substance... 2 or 3 steps away from street speed. It's an amphetamine. Doctors can not give out free samples, nor can they call in perscriptions. Strattera is a norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor. It is really brand new.. FDA approved for ADD/ADHD in February. From what I've seen (both in myself today, and my son), it works quite well. And unlike Amphetamines, it gets better over time... the Amphetamines tend to have highs and lows... you'll be fine for a few hours, then not, then be fine again... over time, with strattera, you'll get progressively less ADH.

No, I dont work for the company.. but their URL is: www.strattera.com