ADD and what i'm going to do to beat it.

Gista369
Wed, 13 Dec 2006 15:07:23 +0000

Hi, i’m 18 years old and am presently a freshman at community college. I was diagnosed with ADD in my senior year of high school. I basically relied on my inuition and osmosis to pass tests. I was in AP/Honors classes, but i was definetely unprepared for it. I could never sit down and study, i also had exhibited the hallmark symptoms for ADD, which are: distractibility, restlessness, and impulsivity. I was always trying to be the class clown and neglecting my studies. I went to a psychologist for an assessment. He diagnosed me with ADD.I was stubborn about having ADD. i didn’t believe it. Then, i read a book called “Driven to Distraction.” That whole book was me in a nutshell. Well an extremely long nutshell. So now i believe i have ADD. The psychologist suggested that i go see a psychiatrist for medicine. The psychiatrist prescribed Adderall for me. It worked but i suffered from its side effects so i didn’t avoided taking it for the remainder of my senior year. I just barely passed my senior year and almost didn’t graduate. Adderall made me hyperfocused. It definetely had affected me in a good way, but i decided not to make my self suffer sleepless nights.
Right now, i’m in community college. I needed to work on study habits and give myself motivation that i could succeed at the next level. I took adderall during my fall semester, but still i have bad study habits. The drug doesn’t alter your lifestyle, but only regulates your neurotransmitters. I could definetely think clearer and be less distractd on it. But there were times when i would get distracted with something thought-provoking during class and just dwell on that one thought while not absorbing the lecture. I also had the sleeping problems. So my psychiatrist prescribed a drug called “lamictal.” Its an off-label drug primarily used to treat patients with epilepsy and bi-polar disorder. As you can probably predict, i was very skeptical about it. I’m taking it right now and have took 4 consecutive days. It slows me down and allows me to sleep, but guess what!, it doesn’t work well with enhancing my concentration. And here’s a knee-slapper. I’m getting a 4.0 in school right now. But i find community college way easier than high school. No small assignments to bog you down and intersting classes. These classes are thought to be hard and only for students that have advanced reading skills. I don’t want to sound like i’m bragging, but they were easy. But, they weren’t easy because of innate intelligence, they were easy because i practice reading and writing during my senior year to prepare myself for college. I basically wasted my senior year on trying to get my reading comprehension, vocab, and math up to par. I really want to do well in college and i want to get into one of the top 10 law schools in the nation. I know its going to require hardwork, and i know i need to make some dramatic changes in my lifestyle. But, mainly i think its just because i’m very lazy. I am my own biggest enemy. Thats why i need to think of a way where i can avoid taking medicine.
I believe being incredibly patient and having these little slogans can keep me motivated. That is my problem, i have short spurts of ambition and then my internal pep rally gets rained on. So i think i need to put extreme emphasis on Patience. That is what is going to help me. It sucks when i study though. I always have to reread what i just read. Plus, i need to play my strengths. I have a very good memory. So i need to do studying way in advance before the test. That has proven me well on occasions.
Does anybody have any tips to cope with ADD without using medication?