One of the biggest problems in the ADD community, IMHO, is the vast amount of misinformation published in magazines and newspapers by fairly clueless writers. People need facts and research, not hype. It's a huge, huge problem.
As for books, I've always heard that the definitive book is "Driven to Distraction" by Ratey and Hallowell. This is the book I give to people (I splurge for the approx. $12 USD) when I want to tell them about ADD, especially if I think they have it. There's a great 100-question list at the back of the book.
Another reasonable book is "You mean I'm not Lazy, Crazy, or Stupid?". I don't remember the names of the 2 authors.
BTW, I don't have any commercial interest in either book.
On another note: I am the only person I know who has not been diagnosed with having ADD or ADHD. What percentage of those tested come up positive?
In my experience, it seems like folks with ADD seem to be drawn to each other. We appreciate each other's creativity and can tolerate each other's quirks.
I've also noticed a staggering number of ADD folks in technical fields such as software development. Has anyone else noticed this?
it helps a lot if you've got the meds right
on
Working with ADHD?
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· Score: 1
First, let me preface: I'm the non-hyperactive type. I gave up trying to say "ADD" or "ADHD" long ago because the community kept reversing what they meant for a while. Does the H mean With or Without? It got rediculous for a while, so I always say "non-hyperactive ADD". Some of you are chuckling because you've seen this too. Obviously the people involved in the nomenclature had, shall we say, a self-interest in the field...
Now, had ADD helped my in my job? Yes, but it made life hard until I got the medication right. I'm a software engineer and a die-hard architect. I've found that I have a ability to be creative and intuitive in a way that baffles some people. I can think in a very small scale or a very large scale or somewhere in-between. In many cases I can switch between them with ease. I have to work hard to maintain consistency though. I wouldn't envy someone looking over my shoulder who was trying to follow my thought processes - I work in what must seem like (and sometimes IS) a random-order. And I'm still very oversensitive to people making a lot of noise around me when I'm working. But what I describe is the way I work now after many phases of meds and maybe 7 years of knowing about this little acronym.
When I was diagnosed in college (after failing more classes than I would like to remember), I first tried Ritalin. No effect at various doses. I tried Dexedrine. That worked, but had an enormous variability in effect from day to day. My mood was very unpredictable, but the Dexedrine helped me enough that I could re-take my failed classes and get my Bachelor's in CScience. I got through an internship and a couple of years of my first programming job. I could concentrate more, but the variability was very hard on me.
Along came Adderol (or however you spell it). It was a gigantic improvement. The effect is much more consistent from day to day. It's still not perfect, though, and lags a lot on some rainy/stormy days. Unfortunately, that's nothing that I've ever been able to pinpoint scientifically, so you might take that as my personal quirk. The combination of the amphetamine & dextroamphetimine seems to make a big difference in effect. One thing that was a pain was having to take pills in the middle of the day before the extended-release version came out. I'd realize that I was getting fairly air-headed and distractable and think "Hmm, it must be time for more meds." It even took a long time with Adderol to get the dosage right.
Two factors have been completely, vitally important in my trials with ADD: an *excellent* ADD doctor who had ADD himself (past tense because he sadly passed away last year), and fairly strict medication management. It takes a good year to really learn the latter - everyone that I've known that has control over their ADD basically seems to agree with that. It's not as easy as it sounds to take a medication every morning, keeping a mental note of when the medication will wear off based on how long it lasts for you. That's not as important with the extended release, but it was awefully important with the regular pills. As for a doctor, the importance can't be understated. Too many doctors misdiagnose, prescribe the wrong meds (and don't figure out that they're not right), and just generally don't have a clue. I've found that the good ones seem to have ADD themselves - it seems like no one without ADD quite understands what ADD means from the inside. The good ones also seem to be actively researching and writing papers.
This is getting long and I need to go to a meeting in 5, so I'll finish quickly with 2 more thoughts: the side effects for me are dry mouth/horrific breath and some appetite suppression. The latter is helpful, the former is unpleasant but a fairly small price for the benefits. I don't notice any lack of creativity when I'm on meds. YMMV. Also, I've found that I still need caffeine in the morning to give me a kickstart. Go figure.
Lastly, I'm always looking for new research/info in t
Slashdot Mirror
It sounds like they have more value while still in the cellophane... even if they *weren't* being discontinued. ;)
One of the biggest problems in the ADD community, IMHO, is the vast amount of misinformation published in magazines and newspapers by fairly clueless writers. People need facts and research, not hype. It's a huge, huge problem.
As for books, I've always heard that the definitive book is "Driven to Distraction" by Ratey and Hallowell. This is the book I give to people (I splurge for the approx. $12 USD) when I want to tell them about ADD, especially if I think they have it. There's a great 100-question list at the back of the book.
Another reasonable book is "You mean I'm not Lazy, Crazy, or Stupid?". I don't remember the names of the 2 authors.
BTW, I don't have any commercial interest in either book.
On another note: I am the only person I know who has not been diagnosed with having ADD or ADHD. What percentage of those tested come up positive?
In my experience, it seems like folks with ADD seem to be drawn to each other. We appreciate each other's creativity and can tolerate each other's quirks.
I've also noticed a staggering number of ADD folks in technical fields such as software development. Has anyone else noticed this?
First, let me preface: I'm the non-hyperactive type. I gave up trying to say "ADD" or "ADHD" long ago because the community kept reversing what they meant for a while. Does the H mean With or Without? It got rediculous for a while, so I always say "non-hyperactive ADD". Some of you are chuckling because you've seen this too. Obviously the people involved in the nomenclature had, shall we say, a self-interest in the field...
Now, had ADD helped my in my job? Yes, but it made life hard until I got the medication right. I'm a software engineer and a die-hard architect. I've found that I have a ability to be creative and intuitive in a way that baffles some people. I can think in a very small scale or a very large scale or somewhere in-between. In many cases I can switch between them with ease. I have to work hard to maintain consistency though. I wouldn't envy someone looking over my shoulder who was trying to follow my thought processes - I work in what must seem like (and sometimes IS) a random-order. And I'm still very oversensitive to people making a lot of noise around me when I'm working. But what I describe is the way I work now after many phases of meds and maybe 7 years of knowing about this little acronym.
When I was diagnosed in college (after failing more classes than I would like to remember), I first tried Ritalin. No effect at various doses. I tried Dexedrine. That worked, but had an enormous variability in effect from day to day. My mood was very unpredictable, but the Dexedrine helped me enough that I could re-take my failed classes and get my Bachelor's in CScience. I got through an internship and a couple of years of my first programming job. I could concentrate more, but the variability was very hard on me.
Along came Adderol (or however you spell it). It was a gigantic improvement. The effect is much more consistent from day to day. It's still not perfect, though, and lags a lot on some rainy/stormy days. Unfortunately, that's nothing that I've ever been able to pinpoint scientifically, so you might take that as my personal quirk. The combination of the amphetamine & dextroamphetimine seems to make a big difference in effect. One thing that was a pain was having to take pills in the middle of the day before the extended-release version came out. I'd realize that I was getting fairly air-headed and distractable and think "Hmm, it must be time for more meds." It even took a long time with Adderol to get the dosage right.
Two factors have been completely, vitally important in my trials with ADD: an *excellent* ADD doctor who had ADD himself (past tense because he sadly passed away last year), and fairly strict medication management. It takes a good year to really learn the latter - everyone that I've known that has control over their ADD basically seems to agree with that. It's not as easy as it sounds to take a medication every morning, keeping a mental note of when the medication will wear off based on how long it lasts for you. That's not as important with the extended release, but it was awefully important with the regular pills. As for a doctor, the importance can't be understated. Too many doctors misdiagnose, prescribe the wrong meds (and don't figure out that they're not right), and just generally don't have a clue. I've found that the good ones seem to have ADD themselves - it seems like no one without ADD quite understands what ADD means from the inside. The good ones also seem to be actively researching and writing papers.
This is getting long and I need to go to a meeting in 5, so I'll finish quickly with 2 more thoughts: the side effects for me are dry mouth/horrific breath and some appetite suppression. The latter is helpful, the former is unpleasant but a fairly small price for the benefits. I don't notice any lack of creativity when I'm on meds. YMMV. Also, I've found that I still need caffeine in the morning to give me a kickstart. Go figure.
Lastly, I'm always looking for new research/info in t