This was my life before my 20s

[RFCalifornia]

I couldn't concentrate on anything

You know how those New Agers and Buddhists want to be aware of everything?

Well, this was ME

Aware of every little distraction in the universe

Not just aware of what was going around me, but what I thought about each element that distracted me

Then I discovered drugs

I swear, the best ADHD drug is nicotine

Don't smoke or vape

If you must use this, use the gum or patch

Even still

Anyway sometimes I would Hyperfocus

Like really get interested in this stupid thing that only I cared about, like the Beatles or potato bugs

THAT is what ADHD is like

I'm doing well, but when I was kid, it was HELL

Everyone wanted me to be something I wasn't

The school district required me to be on ritalin in order to attend (this was 1970s)

My "psychologist" 'Mister Beale' would pin me down on the floor while I screamed and cried

Eventually I would relent, and would take my seat

[blm]

1. ((RFC))

[RFCalifornia]

2. Request for Comment? nt

[blm]

3. Nope

Just a Saturday night hug.

[RFCalifornia]

12. Hugs back at you nt

[localroger]

4. Everyone wanted me to be something I wasn't

I feel your pain.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

5. I have adhd

Was diagnosed in the early 70's. It was hell dealing with school.
The bullies,the bullshit and the teachers who refused to understand.

I'm still on Adderall. Because my symptoms didnt go away when I grew up.

So I got back on Adderall and it has made a big difference.

What helped motivate me to get back on Adderall was the damn hyper focus.

I am artistic and I can lose hours on a project.

But I am also diabetic.

One time I got so hyper focused that I didnt feel my sugar levels dropping.I was lost in art again. I had forgotten to eat lunch and dinner.

When I finally felt it dropping I was so shaky and anxious and confused and I was getting tunnel vision. I could hardly work the gluconometer.. it was bad.

Checked my sugar it was, no shit,39.
Well that is seriously dangerously low.

I drank a bunch of orange juice with a shit load of sugar mixed in it hoping I wouldn't have to call 911.

Luckily it worked but I felt really shitty until it did.

So I take the damn Adderall.

[Ka-Dinh Oy]

6. I was diagnosed with ADHD in the very early 70's.

My mother would not let them "just" give me Ritalin. She made them do a lot of testing to make damn sure that that is what I needed. I never did do well in school. Though, I will say I have a learning disability and other things to go along with it.

I hated school. Both kids and faculty were not very nice. I only had a few nice teachers and a few friends. I could never sit and be quiet. Well, I did in school because I hoped that the kids and teachers would forget I was there.

Back then the school faculty had no training or patience for people like me. I was just considered a behavior problem and put on the classes for future criminals as they labeled others like me.

I still have ADHD but as I got older I learned to focus the energy better.

It is a fallacy that you outgrow ADHD. It is with you for the rest of your life. Some still need meds and some learn to focus their energy and some still need both.

I am lucky to have an awesome mother who made sure they did not just look at me and throw pills at me. She worked very hard to help me learn to direct my energy to something positive.

I am surprised however that she did not kill me and that she still has eyes because she was constantly rolling them at me.

[BigmanPigman]

7. When I started teaching

I taught a GATE (gifted and talented) class. Being Gifted is considered a learning disability, as much as being a very low performer or having a physical disability. ADHD fits into this group too. I had a student who was Gifted as well as ADHD (that is two distinct learning disabilities) and not on meds.

When the whole team met to discuss interventions the Kindergarten teacher was the most helpful. I asked her to come since I knew she had ADHD. She gave us the most useful information. Years later I was teaching 1st Grade with a Primary Spec Ed class next door. I learned different strategies from her as well.

The K teacher told us how to keep the students super organized with color coded supplies, etc. The Spec Ed teacher gave me a strip of Velcro to stick under the desk so the student could touch it to help him out. Touch, sight, sound are all considered since various students have different learning styles.

Classroom seating is also very important. Some teachers couldn't deal with students' "problems" so they seated students far, far away from them. I always had them up front and their seat partners would be the patient, kind students who would help and not hinder.

[Ka-Dinh Oy]

8. You sound like you are a really good teacher.

I had a few good teachers but they were far and few. I never thought of gifted as a learning disability. I know some genius people who can't interact with people well. People tend to think that ADHD is the learning disability. I also know ADHD people who aren't learning disabled.

For me colors could be a problem. Certain colors set me off. My mother worked at getting warm and soft but colorful colors. Bright reds oranges yellows, and neons set me off.

I had to learn by verbal direction, watching, doing it myself, and over and over.

What I found in my life that centered me the most was doing dressage.

[BigmanPigman]

9. I discovered after I had to go from teaching 6th Grade GATE

to regular 1st Grade that the younger students are a zillion times kinder than Middle School aged kids. That really does make a big difference. When I had 6th Grade the students were so mean and cruel. One student even told me she wondered why she was alive. That set me off all that weekend since she implied she was going to harm herself. I consulted experienced teacher friends and the principal and practiced a speech for the bullies. She had been bullied since she was unusual...on the autism spectrum. The other students were also jealous since she was so super smart and beautiful. I read the worst offenders the riot act on the following Monday amd some even cried. Their own parents thanked me since the meaner students were even belittling the special student to their own families during dinner. The bullying stopped ASAP!

I always stuck up for the under dogs in my classes. With 1st Grade this wasn't much of a problem. I think they learn to be mean bullies as they get older and care more about what their peers are doing and saying. That changes around the 3rd Grade.

One thing I did notice was that ADHD and OCD are often confused in that certain behaviors overlap. The brain is an amazingly complex puzzle.

[Ka-Dinh Oy]

10. I have always thought middle school kids were the worst.

I had always been a nice and kind kid but that was one of the many things that got me beaten up by the kids and I think the teachers thought it was because I was hiding something or doing something wrong.

If I had been able to make it through college to be a teacher or at least a teachers assistant I would have wanted to help teach adults who were trying to get their GED or high school diploma. They WANT to be there and that makes a difference.

[BigmanPigman]

11. Very true!

The desire in itself does make a big difference.