ADHD: What to do?

[Kochanie]

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So I'm posting on this site like crazy because I am literally... lost.

I know I can be good at school, but when it comes to the outside learning (doing it myself/not lectured), I feel like I want to, but my body/mind won't allow me. The only classes I tend to get A's in are those that only really require lecture material or memorization (Math/Political Science/Spanish/Etc).

Everyone I seem to talk to think I would be a good candidate for medication. I have my first psychiatrist appointment and am nervous..

I have so many classes I want to take and next year (junior) will be HELL if I don't get help (9 science classes + more).

Will medication really make a positive difference?

 

[Reckoner]

You shouldn't ask for medical advice on this site (especially in the pre-allo forum). Good luck with your appointment, hopefully you get the help you need!

 

[Womb Raider]

I know I can be good at school, but when it comes to the outside learning (doing it myself/not lectured), I feel like I want to, but my body/mind won't allow me. The only classes I tend to get A's in are those that only really require lecture material or memorization (Math/Political Science/Spanish/Etc).

Don't get sucked into taking drugs to fix your problems. Although this is pathetically common in America, it's not a solution to your problem. Taking the "easy way out" (e.g. Adderall) only serves to manage your problem without actually fixing it. This path also makes you dependent on a drug, and a dangerous one at that.

As far as I'm concerned ADHD is a myth and everyone has it to some degree. How do you think our parents, and their parents got through school without stimulants to fix their "ADHD?" It's called manning up. Realize that if you don't start doing well in school you're more than likely going to be working a blue-collar job for your career and you have no one to blame but yourself.

Do you honestly believe that some people just happen to be lucky enough to enjoy studying? Think again. It takes a lot of effort to create these good study habits that allow for tolerable studying.

Things that might help you:

- Make sure you are working towards a goal that YOU want (e.g. don't try to be a doctor if it's just something your parents want).
- Study subjects / a field that you enjoy.
- Make a map of your goals (include what are you willing to change / not change & how striving for the goal will fit into your life)
- Create a schedule and stick to it
- Track your progress
- Make sure you include free-time in your schedule

 

[Boolean]

- Make a map of your goals (include what are you willing to change / not change & how striving for the goal will fit into your life)
- Create a schedule and stick to it

I'm not a Doctor (yet), so I can't give medical advice, but I recommend that ANYONE who feels they need some guidance or direction in their life follow these steps. Life becomes so much easier when you have a clear idea of what you need to do, when it needs to be done, and how you should act accordingly.

 

[knv2u]

...

Don't get sucked into taking drugs to fix your problems. Although this is pathetically common in America, it's not a solution to your problem. Taking the "easy way out" (e.g. Adderall) only serves to manage your problem without actually fixing it. This path also makes you dependent on a drug, and a dangerous one at that.

As far as I'm concerned ADHD is a myth and everyone has it to some degree. How do you think our parents, and their parents got through school without stimulants to fix their "ADHD?" It's called manning up. Realize that if you don't start doing well in school you're more than likely going to be working a blue-collar job for your career and you have no one to blame but yourself.

Do you honestly believe that some people just happen to be lucky enough to enjoy studying? Think again. It takes a lot of effort to create these good study habits that allow for tolerable studying.

Things that might help you:

- Make sure you are working towards a goal that YOU want (e.g. don't try to be a doctor if it's just something your parents want).
- Study subjects / a field that you enjoy.
- Make a map of your goals (include what are you willing to change / not change & how striving for the goal will fit into your life)
- Create a schedule and stick to it
- Track your progress
- Make sure you include free-time in your schedule

I'll agree that there is a trend to diagnose/over-diagnose things in the United States (and this is particularly true for ADHD), but ADHD is a real medical condition. There are some that would truly benefit from medication.

 

[Ace-Co-A]

Don't get sucked into taking drugs to fix your problems. Although this is pathetically common in America, it's not a solution to your problem. Taking the "easy way out" (e.g. Adderall) only serves to manage your problem without actually fixing it. This path also makes you dependent on a drug, and a dangerous one at that.

As far as I'm concerned ADHD is a myth and everyone has it to some degree. How do you think our parents, and their parents got through school without stimulants to fix their "ADHD?" It's called manning up. Realize that if you don't start doing well in school you're more than likely going to be working a blue-collar job for your career and you have no one to blame but yourself.

@Womb Raider ... I think you should be careful; you are making these claims without qualification.

 

[Great White Buffalo]

Discuss getting learning testing with your psychiatrist. That may narrow down where you have difficulties. There are strategies that can help you succeed in learning differently. It helped my sister just graduate with a 3.94 GPA.

 

[zachdwphoto]

I personally have been diagnosed with ADHd at an early age. I took medication from 2nd grade to high school. Once I reached a certain age the medication made me feel off and suppressed. I then knew that I needed to learn to control myself and mature a little 🙂. I personally have learned to control my hyperactivity and, through maturity have learned to do things that I might not necessarily be interested in. Part of growing up right. I don't think medication will help much. It helped me when I was a young child with little self control and immaturity. As an adult I believe it is simply an issue of learning to do what you don't want to do in the moment, so that in the future you can be happy.

 

[pietachok]

So I'm posting on this site like crazy because I am literally... lost.

I know I can be good at school, but when it comes to the outside learning (doing it myself/not lectured), I feel like I want to, but my body/mind won't allow me. The only classes I tend to get A's in are those that only really require lecture material or memorization (Math/Political Science/Spanish/Etc).

Everyone I seem to talk to think I would be a good candidate for medication. I have my first psychiatrist appointment and am nervous..

I have so many classes I want to take and next year (junior) will be HELL if I don't get help (9 science classes + more).

Will medication really make a positive difference?

Don't look to SDN for advice on something that may be a medical or psychological problem. Avail yourself of the help that you are able to get through health services at your school. Listen to them, not anybody here. Taking care of your own health needs to be done before you can up the stakes academically. Taking more time to get to med school is no big deal. And honestly, more time to cope with your own problems will not just mean better performance academically, it will mean better interpersonal performance with peers, instructors, and patients during your training. As someone who was not in a good place at 21, I can honestly say I am 1000 fold happier as a non-trad than I would have been if I'd gone straight through. You seem to think it's awful to do this slow, steady, and well if it means you take an extra year or two, but it's absolutely not.

Right now, you sound like someone who is planning to run a marathon knowing s/he has a broken foot -- it's really ill advised, and yet you're *nervous* about going to the doctor to try to get the injury fixed . . . think about your psychological/emotional wellbeing as seriously as you would that of a body part, and then maybe you can come to peace with how counterproductive and absurd it is to be preoccupied with not getting down this path as quickly as possible.

 

[IslandStyle808]

Don't get sucked into taking drugs to fix your problems. Although this is pathetically common in America, it's not a solution to your problem. Taking the "easy way out" (e.g. Adderall) only serves to manage your problem without actually fixing it. This path also makes you dependent on a drug, and a dangerous one at that.

As far as I'm concerned ADHD is a myth and everyone has it to some degree. How do you think our parents, and their parents got through school without stimulants to fix their "ADHD?" It's called manning up. Realize that if you don't start doing well in school you're more than likely going to be working a blue-collar job for your career and you have no one to blame but yourself.

Do you honestly believe that some people just happen to be lucky enough to enjoy studying? Think again. It takes a lot of effort to create these good study habits that allow for tolerable studying.

Things that might help you:

- Make sure you are working towards a goal that YOU want (e.g. don't try to be a doctor if it's just something your parents want).
- Study subjects / a field that you enjoy.
- Make a map of your goals (include what are you willing to change / not change & how striving for the goal will fit into your life)
- Create a schedule and stick to it
- Track your progress
- Make sure you include free-time in your schedule

You have to realize something here. There are some conditions that can be handled with exercise and diet alone, but there are degrees of ADHD and other psychological diseases that can't. The reason why our parents did not need medication was because it was not an option back then, it was either ignore the problem or be put in a mental institution.

I have seen people who probably don't need this medication, and some who had their lives completely turned around by it. It is not for us to judge.

 

[masaraksh]

Don't get sucked into taking drugs to fix your problems. Although this is pathetically common in America, it's not a solution to your problem. Taking the "easy way out" (e.g. Adderall) only serves to manage your problem without actually fixing it. This path also makes you dependent on a drug, and a dangerous one at that.

As far as I'm concerned ADHD is a myth and everyone has it to some degree. How do you think our parents, and their parents got through school without stimulants to fix their "ADHD?" It's called manning up. Realize that if you don't start doing well in school you're more than likely going to be working a blue-collar job for your career and you have no one to blame but yourself.

Do you honestly believe that some people just happen to be lucky enough to enjoy studying? Think again. It takes a lot of effort to create these good study habits that allow for tolerable studying.

Things that might help you:

- Make sure you are working towards a goal that YOU want (e.g. don't try to be a doctor if it's just something your parents want).
- Study subjects / a field that you enjoy.
- Make a map of your goals (include what are you willing to change / not change & how striving for the goal will fit into your life)
- Create a schedule and stick to it
- Track your progress
- Make sure you include free-time in your schedule

Womb Raider....

perfect name for an Abortion Clinic

 

[Womb Raider]

The reason why our parents did not need medication was because it was not an option back then, it was either ignore the problem or be put in a mental institution.

People go to mental institutions for ADHD? Since when? I'd love to meet that person. What do they do for them? Give them a human-sized hamster wheel and unlimited power bars?

Assuming that there IS a VERY SMALL portion of people who actually need amphetamines to function normally in life (I still don't buy it, though) the chance that this person (OP) is one of them is very small. You should exhaust ALL other options before resorting to getting yourself addicted to speed just to "function normally" and by the sound of it, he's making a bee-line straight to drugs. This is what I have a problem with. Literally every person I know prescribed to Adderall is no more "ADHD" than I am, I just chose not to take the easy way out.

I have seen people who probably don't need this medication, and some who had their lives completely turned around by it. It is not for us to judge.

By "turned around" do you mean developing cardiac arrhythmias prematurely? Or perhaps they take solace in the fact that they are dependent on a drug and are powerless without it?

 

[Mt Kilimanjaro]

Will medication really make a positive difference?

Sounds like a great question for your physician.

 

[ksmi117]

SDN is not for medical advice. Please discuss these issues with your physician. Closing thread.