<p>Hi Parents of CC,
(skip to the last sentences if you just want to get straight to the question)</p>
<p>Recently I’ve become convinced that I have impulsive ADD. I’m seventeen. It’s really messing with my life and affecting my relationship with my parents, my performance at school, and social interactions. My mind runs at a million miles per minute and gets nowhere as a result. There’s so much running through it I freeze up and can’t prioritize or rationalize very well. I make a lot of impulsive decisions without thinking things through. I. Can. Not. Focus. On. Schoolwork. I try really, really hard, I really do, and just can’t make myself sit down for several hours to work on school. I can study really hard for a about three days, and after that I just can’t force myself to sit and study one more minute. </p>
<p>These are just a few of my problems. I’ve read a lot of books on the subject and with each reading, I grow more convinced that I have ADD. I went to get tested by a specialist in the area when I was 15, but at the time I was mad/embarrassed and purposefully answered test questions to indicate the exact opposite of ADD. I have no problem focusing on something new and passed the computer test he administered with flying colors. At the end of multiple diagnostic tests, he gave me a 3% chance of having ADD. I regret trying to trick up the test, but now that I’m sure I have it, my mom absolutely refuses to let me take Adderall or Ritalin, or any of the other common ADD medications. While they sound like nice quick fixes, I’ve also researched these and several other drugs extensively and am pretty sure they’ll mess me up in the long run so I guess I don’t really want them either. </p>
<p>I’m an extremely effective crammer and can get an A on a test after 30 minutes of studying, but as I take harder and harder classes (I’m taking classes at a local university) this works less and less often and I’m really worried about what will happen once I transfer to a more rigorous university. I want to go to med school and maintaining a 4.0 GPA is one of my college goals (halfway through so far). I don’t have a problem with focusing during 3 hour lecture, I just can’t make myself self study. I’m also driving my parents nuts because they are sick of having to remind me a million times to get simple tasks done or help out around the house…I have all the good intentions in the world, I just forget so quickly because my mind is quickly moving on to ten other things. I’ve annoyed some people because I forget to get back to them or get overwhelmed by the million of other things I have to do and procrastinate/avoid. It’s really becoming a handicap, and I need to do something about it. </p>
<p>Does anyone have any experience with medication alternatives? Even if you’ve just heard of some alternative, please let me know. I’d really like to investigate different options.</p>