What was I just doing?

Friday, October 18, 2013

It was probably the late 80's or early '90's when I first heard of ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) in children and I thought it was just another label for parents to slap on their lazy and/or ill behaved children to excuse their behavior. Put them on meds to control it? Even better. You get the Parent of the Year Award.
 
Then I became friends with a woman whose child had the latter diagnosis and I was tempted to keep a bottle of Ritalin in my purse in case she ever forgot to refill said child's prescription. Okay, so maybe it was a real thing.
 
Later in my professional life, I heard the term thrown about in terms of employees with productivity issues. ADD in adults? Are you kidding me? It just sounds like a lame attempt by an employee with no motivation to not work as hard as his co-workers. As IF!
 
I'm now eating my words (and thoughts) because I'm pretty sure that I have ADD. Certainly not ADHD because God knows I don't get hyper or overly excited about anything. Yay. Another mental illness to add to my already case study worthy psyche.
 
At first, I thought that my lack of concentration was just a product of my stressful job. But that job is but a memory now and yet, I still find myself unable to focus on one thing for any period of time. I have a load of projects that I want to pursue and I'll start one but get sidetracked and never finish.
 
And it's not like I'm getting sidetracked by a significant life altering event. It can be something as simple as a squirrel outside the window. It  goes something like this:
 
BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK!
 
"Will you dogs please stop barking! It's just a squirrel!" Then I think to myself, Maybe it isn't just a squirrel. Maybe there's a prowler. Then I think, Do people still say prowler? Is burglar a better term? But if they're not trying to break in, then they can't really be a burglar. How about stalker? No, that would indicate that someone was keeping tabs of me for some period of time.

A wanderer? Oh, that's a good song! He's a wanderer, yes a wanderer, he roams around and round and round...Or is it, they call ME the wanderer? I better look up the lyrics on Google. I was wrong the first time. It is They call me the wanderer...
 
BARK! BARK! BARK!
 
I go into the family room and sure enough, the dogs are barking at a squirrel but it's not a brown squirrel like we usually have around here, it's a black squirrel. I remember seeing black squirrels down in Kent but I've never seen one around here. I think I'll go Google black squirrels.
 
And so it goes...
 
I don't want to go on any more medication than I'm already taking so I looked into some natural remedies for ADD in adults and I found this.


 
 
It touts itself as being "a 100% natural supplement suitable for children and adults which promotes focus, concentration, memory and stable mood. The recently enhanced formula is great tasting  (UM, no it's not) and comes in a dropper bottle, making dispensing easy and accurate. This remedy is formulated to the highest therapeutic standards and manufactured under strict pharmaceutical conditions, using ingredients specially chosen for their safety and effectiveness."

I figured for twenty bucks, I could give it a shot. So far, I'm not seeing much change but I've only recently been able to see the proper dosage with my new reading glasses so I'll let you know how I do.
 

11 comments

  1. That first part aint ADD, Thats just plain paranoia. LOL

    Paranoia + ADD = ParADDnoia?

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  2. @Simply Suthern,
    HA HA! Hey, my very own mental illness!

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  3. Good for you, Chrissy! As you know, I am TOTALLY into natural/homeopathic remedies more so than medical medicine. And I have to say that for me, they work brilliantly. They may take a bit longer to kick in, but that's because they work slowly in rebalancing your body. Over a period of time they restore wholeness, they just don't 'band aid' what's wrong. So keep at it.

    Note: Just make sure that whatever you're taking "medically" doesn't interfere with the natural stuff. And visa versa. Because even though the natural stuff is natural, it can still conflict with the medical stuff because it's powerful. Just read the labels to be sure.

    Have a faaaaaabulous weekend, girl!

    X

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  5. Hell-o Kickie,

    Second, first. There is a normal range of behaviour. Certain people are party to certain aspects of behaviour. So far you agree with me. Now, some of us are more self-conscious, and self analysing than others; again you agree. Now, we are individuals. You dear Kickie, have a psyche, and just because you (or other people) recognise traits it is stretching to see them [traits or people] as being a pathology of jargon described mental illness. We simply are, or as Keillor says of Lake Wobegon Minnesota, "sumus quod sumus" (we are what we are).

    Now, the other thing: ritalin. I didn't know what that was, until my first (and really last) teaching job after university. Since, i had no record as a winning coach, and no connections and not a teaching specialty in demand, i could not find a position. [Aside, never get a job from the newspaper.] In the very plain dealer, from an unidentified school, i got a teaching job in a boarding school in Ashtabula. Within hours i realised i was lied to. Many of the students were on 'ritalin'. I felt like an inmate.

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  6. I used to think the same thing about ADHD in children and adults until my son (aka The Boy), whose almost 22 was diagnosed with it last year. He didn't experience any of the symptoms as a child, but they started in his late teens - struggled to stay focused, keep motivated, etc. We chalked it up to him being a lazy teenager, until he sat as down and suggested that he go to the Doctor to be tested because he perceived he did have a problem.

    Well, now I'm eating my words. He's got it full blown, but with medication I've noticed a HUGE improvement to a problem I didn't think he had. Yeah, I'm not winning any mom of the year awards.

    So long story short - his specialst (yup) says it is quite common in adults. That could just be the money talking - after all it did cost us a pretty penny for his diagnosis. So, keep taking the drops - it could save you alot a dough!

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  7. It might not be ADD. Some of us (and by that I mean me, too) are just thinking a whole lot more than everyone else, and the brain can only handle so many conscious thoughts at once. Come to think of it, pretty much all of the creative people I know could probably quality as ADD...

    It also could be too much caffeine.

    Either way, I hope the supplement works well for you. Natural alternatives to medication are the way to go I think.

    xo

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  8. I find Jack Daniels works for me...but then I fall asleep in the Lazy Boy after to many...

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  9. I was going to give you the real answer to your problems... but I seem to have gotten distracted by the TV and now I can't remember...

    Hmmm...

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  10. @Ron,
    Good to heard that you've had such success. I hear what you're saying about the interaction with prescription meds but sometimes you just can't get that info. I guess this will be trial and error.

    @S,
    Ahhh....so you're saying, maybe I'm not really crazy??

    Sounds like a dream job you had. You know, if that dream was a nightmare.

    @Travel,
    That's interesting about your son. I wondered what the diagnosis process might be, too, so I figured this would be the best route to take. Glad to hear he's doing well on meds.

    @Mich,
    I guess I never thought of it that way. Thanks, that makes me feel better! I was consuming uber amounts of caffeine but my concentration hasn't gotten better since I cut back.

    @Robert Bourne,
    Maybe I'll have to try that. No prescription required. :-)

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  11. @LL,
    HA HA! Oh good, it's not just me!

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