What is Adult Attention Deficit Disorder ADD/ADHD ?

First what is ADD and ADHD?  How are they similar and how are they different.
Attention Deficit Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder are basicly the same.  Some people are hyperactive and some aren't.

People assume wrongly , you know what happens when people assume, that Add or ADHD are childhood disorders.   The fact is childhood is when most of it is diagnosed.  You don't grow out of it.  You either learn to deal with it, or you dont.

  Everyone always notices  the hyperactive child first.  The non hyperactive (child with ADD) is looked at as a daydreamer, slow learner, always angry, maybe over weight.

You don't grow out of Attention Deficit hyperactivity disorder. It is always there.  How you deal with it, like any other Disorder is key.  In most cases , not all, it is genetically hereditary.  Meaning there is a good chance all your child and or siblings have some form or degree of it.

Once you understand exactly what the disorder looks like in yourself or others, it's very easy to spot it in others.

So what is Add/ADHD in children and Adults.   It is a chemical imbalance that leaves the brain not fully awake.   That's why it's treated with stimulants.  That's why Mom has to drink coffee or tea all day long.

Imagine not getting enough sleep and going to work or school.  Now imagine not getting enough sleep every day of your life.  Your tired, your crabby can't focus on what people are saying.  You forget things easily.

Sleep apnoea has the same affect.  In some cases is the cause and can be fixed.

For me at over 50 it doesn't matter anymore I'm set in my ways.  I'd never follow through with wearing a sleep mask now.  But if I got used to it as a child maybe things would be different.

Elementary School Years

At an early age I was never diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or anything else.  I grew up the slow witted chubby boy who was always picked on.  I was the kid who was picked last when sides were drawn.  

I was always with the slow group in class.  I had to go to special math and reading classes.  I'm not stupid by any means I just learn at my own pace.  I'm the day dreamer.   When people are talking, I'm thinking about something else.  I'm very impulsive too.  When the teacher's would ask the class a question, I would just blurt out the wrong answer.  Which always made me look like a fool.

As a kid with Add, I was impulsive, impatient, and short tempered.  Add the fact that I was fat, slow, and a day dreamer it made it easy for everyone to make me the fool.   Yet, because I wasn't hyper active, no one checked me for Attention Deficit Disorder(ADD).

One the other hand my younger brother who was hyperactive was diagnosed with ADHD.   Today I can tell you it runs in the family.  Looking back at my family both my mothers and fathers side, everybody has Attention Deficit Disorder to some degree.   And yes our children have it too.  

I turned in to the shy quite guy who was afraid to open his mouth and be put down for saying the wrong thing.  On the other hand I had and still have a short temper.

I remember back in elementary school. We all had planned for weeks on having an end of year party.  But, teacher got sick and was out the last week of the year.  I don't remember what started it.  I just remember chasing the substitute teacher around the classroom with a chair over my head.   Maybe I was 9 - 10 years old.

I was sent to the school Psychologist.  Which you think would of turned up something.  Yeah Right!  My Mother took me to her Psychiatrist.   The man was useless, which explains why my mother was hooked on Valium.  

It wasn't until I was in my thirty's and saw a story on 20/20 with Barbara Walters about Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder(ADD) that I realized she was talking to me!

I'll write more about my dealing with my ADD in future blogs articles.

P.S.  Thank God for Spell check.  Please forgive my poor grammar.  I don't have the patients to proof read.

I have ADD !!!!

Long Island's Biggest Loser !

I've never been a winner, always a looser.  Sometimes I think of myself as Fred Flintstone or Ralph Cramden.  Trust me my life is no honeymoon and sometimes I feel like I'm in the stone-ages.  I lost my car because I didn't make the payments on time.  I lost my job as a salesman because I didn't have a car.   Here is why I'm the biggest loser.  I was getting reimbursement money from my company that paid for 70% of the cost of the car payment and insurance. 

Who am I?  I'm Long Island's biggest loser.  I'm over 50 years old, over weight, loud mouth with Attention Deficient Disorder (ADD).

I lose so often I thought the lottery machines were supposed to say "Sorry not a winner". 

At Seventeen the very first time I ever drove a car by myself, I got a flat tire without a jack!  Some guy pulls over to help me.  We put on the spare and it was flat too!   Loser !!

It only gets worst from there.  

Become a follower and read my blog of a 50 year old man with ADD.   Learn from my mistakes.

Don't believe everything you have been told.  For one thing Add / Adhd is not a children's Disease. You don't out grow it.  You either learn to live with it, or you don't!