Then you owe it to your kid to read my ADHD story.
Every morning when I wake up, I go to the kitchen and take my Lexapro, Abilify, and Vyvanse. I have been doing this every day for 15 years although the meds have changed alot in those 15 years.
I walk to class where I know that I will be asking questions that have already been talked about. So I prepare for the lashing out that I know I will receive. Although I don’t ever receive it. I did when I was a child but not anymore now that I am an adult with a bit of bass and authority in my voice.
When I get back to my apartment here on campus, I immediately plop down in front of tthe Xbox 360 or PS3 or Wii depending on which big blockbuster game I will be playing. Currently it is Mass Effect 2. Last week it was Uncharted 2 and I am waiting for Bioshock 2 to come out this February.
Homework has always been a bitch. I always put things off until the last minute. Even if I KNOW that it is a bad idea, I still procrastinate. I have been to the workshops, I have been to my psychologist, Nobody has ever been able to help me and there is no way that I can help myself, so I have decided that I will procrastinate until something bad happens, which happen all the time, but my ADHD dictates that I will still follow the old routine.
In the afternoons I get very hungry because one of the side effects of the Vyvanse is that I am not hungry for about 3 hours after I take it. And the afternoons are the first time since breakfast that I can eat.
I never had a girlfriend before. I know, 24 years old and never had a girlfriend. I am too embarassed about my symptoms to talk to girls. I have facial tics, and sometimes I look away when I am talking to people because there is… oh a squirrel or… oh that car went by fast. Also I tend to dominate conversations and I interrupt people. This has made me but heads with a couple of people. So why talk to people if they are only going to reject me anyways? I know people say “Just be yourself and they will like you for that.” These people have never dealt with ADHD symptoms and the hurt of having the world try to de-legitimize ADHD by saying things like it is over-diagnosed or that it is funny or a conspiracy or whatever they say. The church of Scientology has pissed me off more than a few times.
Also when I talk or write I tend to get off topic, so let me get back on topic. Girls. I cant stand being around them because I keep thinking that I am around someone I can never have. she will never have sex with me, I will never be cuddling with her, we will never hold hands. Never. I blame my ADHD for many of my problems that I have. My looks are not great and I have ADHD. That is a bad combo.
Back to my schooling, last semester I blurted out “Oh that’s gay” I think during my sexuality class. I am not sure what I said as I don’t remember, but my teacher came down hard on me and claimed that is what I said. I cried pretty roughly after I got back to the apartment because the entire class backed her up and I was against a wall. Even though my working memory (the memory controlled by the prefrontal cortex of the brain that allows you to sit through a lecture and not get distracted and remember everything that was said) is not working properly due to the ADHD.
My life has been miserable because of my ADHD. I am about to give up in a few years if this whole college thing doesn’t work out.
I am an honors student because of good grades. I am on academic probation because of bad grades. I make up white lies because I don’t want to go to meetings because I am scared that my ADHD symptoms will come out. And they are boring as all hell.
Ok well that is about it. If you don’t want to put your kids on stimulant medication then maybe my story will make you think otherwise. Stimulant medication is the safest drug for ADHD as long as it is administered properly and in the right dosage. Because of my parents refusal to put me on medication, my childhood was friendless, and it was constant trips to the principal’s office.
adhd makes people procrastinate. it has been proven in the lab… report this guy calling me a moron
lisa you are a good parent for pursuing the treatment. but remember ADHD meds sometimes are a must. they give kids normalcy in their life. but bravo and dont let anyone tell you that you are a lazy or bad parent. my parents had to go through that crap with people judging them too
i meant to say i was diagnosed at 9 and i started taking meds a few years later when my parents finally came around
