The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves)

Macha · Jul 3, 2019, 3:38 AM

Walmart pick up has saved me a lot of food waste for less impulse buys. I still waste more food than I would like. But without it, if I need to go to the other stores for things? I need to psyche myself up AND rest after.
I can not sit in my work chair without leaning back which lets me swing my feet (it's a chair for a tall person, and I am so very much not one).
The so bored it hurts has happened more than I care to.
I am either multi-tasking master or single task Sally. I can not control that switch.

Kanye Qwest · Jul 4, 2019, 3:07 PM

things i have RECENTLY become obsessed with during hyperfocus holes, to the point i have read and watched dozens of hours of content about them:

tiny homes
van life
arctic foxes
the history of Hollywood (did you know it was bought and named by racist prohibitionists who wanted a sober, white town?)
the neuroscience of sleep
misogyny and witchcraft and satanism
hikikomori

Sparks · Jul 4, 2019, 7:44 PM

@Kanye-Qwest said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

things i have RECENTLY become obsessed with during hyperfocus holes, to the point i have read and watched dozens of hours of content about them:

arctic foxes

(It seemed the appropriate gif.)

Auspice · Jul 8, 2019, 6:03 PM

First day of new job. Went from getting situated (ish... I have no desk yet) right into meetings.

Four hours of meetings.
By the last hour and a half I was really glad I keep my fidget cube in my bag because it was becoming a (panic inducing) struggle to focus.

Hopefully after lunch things will be.... Easier? Less panicky? Less imposter syndrome inducing?

help

Rinel · Jul 9, 2019, 1:05 AM

Ha ha ha guess who underwent a test battery and might have both OCD and adult ADHD

Fuck. I really hope these new meds help.

Wretched · Jul 9, 2019, 1:19 AM

@Rinel welcome to at least one club.

Sparks · Jul 9, 2019, 2:41 AM

@Rinel - Indeed, welcome to the club; we have cookies! (They come in several flavors, too: levoamphetamine, dextroamphetamine, a combination of both...)

Macha · Jul 9, 2019, 2:47 AM

anotherweekanotherweekanotherweek

Rinel · Jul 9, 2019, 3:25 AM

@Sparks said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

@Rinel - Indeed, welcome to the club; we have cookies! (They come in several flavors, too: levoamphetamine, dextroamphetamine, a combination of both...)

My flavor is currently duloxetine, because we don't know if my executive function issues arise out of OCD or ADHD or both. Turns out, giving amphetamines to someone with deep-seated obsessive issues is really not good. So we're going with Cymbalta to deal with depression and anxiety, because it can sometimes treat OCD.

If I really honestly have both OCD and ADHD, I'm sort of fucked, pharmacologically speaking.

Auspice · Jul 22, 2019, 2:24 AM

ADHD as a Difference In Cognition, Not a Disorder

Kanye Qwest · Jul 22, 2019, 3:29 PM

IDK. Feels a lot like a disorder to me.

Auspice · Jul 22, 2019, 3:31 PM

@Kanye-Qwest said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

IDK. Feels a lot like a disorder to me.

I don't disagree. I also am not 100% on his claim that meds aren't necessary; just coping mechanisms.

What I did like, however, was how big a point he put on the importance of support from teachers and families. How vital education (and it's having room people with ADD/ADHD) is.

surreality · Jul 22, 2019, 4:13 PM

@Auspice I don't actually take anything currently for it, and deal with it through coping strategies.

I have in the past, when I was in college or working outside 'self-employed artist working from home', and it made an important difference: it allowed me to better manage in an environment structured by others and on their timetables.

In current circumstances, it's not as vital. Adaptability is definitely something of a perk, and while there are sometimes hiccups and problems, they're the kind that would hit in any environment (illness, etc.). While my hours range all over the map, following my own pace has been a huge help, and I can do it without medication, because I'm following my own (changeable) structure as it unfolds.

faraday · Jul 22, 2019, 4:14 PM

@Kanye-Qwest said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

IDK. Feels a lot like a disorder to me.

I get where the guy is coming from, but I think he's downplaying the negatives too much. I tell my kids (both of whom have ADHD, one mixed with OCD) that their challenge is also their superpower. Multi-tasking, trying new things, boundless energy, hyper-focus... there are aspects of ADHD that are definitely advantages in some situations. But much of our society (work/school/etc.) is centered around situations where those things are liabilities. That's why it's recognized as a disorder.

Macha · Jul 22, 2019, 4:22 PM

I wish someone had tried to help me figure out how to cope, when I was a kid. But 'girls don't get ADHD' was basically how I was treated. I didn't understand the harm I was doing to my grades when I would get hyperfocused on something that would do me no good scholastically. I'm sure my father's notion that it was that I was lazy and undisciplined and his 'solution' to that didn't help, either.

Auspice · Jul 22, 2019, 4:25 PM

@faraday said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

@Kanye-Qwest said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

IDK. Feels a lot like a disorder to me.

I get where the guy is coming from, but I think he's downplaying the negatives too much. I tell my kids (both of whom have ADHD, one mixed with OCD) that their challenge is also their superpower. Multi-tasking, trying new things, boundless energy, hyper-focus... there are aspects of ADHD that are definitely advantages in some situations. But much of our society (work/school/etc.) is centered around situations where those things are liabilities. That's why it's recognized as a disorder.

I'm not saying this guy is 100% accurate, I promise. But I think he has some very valid points (such as what Fara references here with the endless ability to try new things, the power to dive into something with an especial focus, etc) and I feel that his optimism can actually be really beneficial for someone struggling.

I know I'd be better in the workspace with meds. But I also never framed my ADD in the light of how I can flow from thing to thing so fluidly and how it's opened me to that willingness to always try new things. I'm adaptable and that's a good thing!

My main takeaway from his talk is the need for education and understanding and he was on point there. That he got rejected from a school for being ADD is something that should never happen: it's awesome he got put in one that understands and supports kids like he was (as opposed to, in the talk, when he references his roommate who struggled in a school that wasn't supportive).

silverfox · Jul 22, 2019, 5:52 PM

The thing that stuck out the most to me was that his teachers and doctors communicated.

Hell, I wish parents communicated more with schools when they're doing things with kids meds. Then I can be a partner in it. If they don't tell me though all I can do is react to the behaviors. "X put a pencil in the wall socket today." "Y was sitting upside down in his chair and kicked another student." "Z decided to go to b room instead of a room to calm down today and we couldn't find him for a half hour." All of these things happened and I only found out after that they'd been doing things with their meds after - sometimes not until WEEKS or MONTHS after when they casually mention something in parent teacher conferences or an email.

If I'd KNOWN what was happening I could have changed procedures, been more lenient on consequences, whatever the kiddo needed.

Partner with your teachers parents. Please. If there's a coping mechanism that you use - SHARE IT WITH US. If you're going to do stuff with meds, let the teachers know. Also, teachers are busy. If you've started a new med, about a week later, EMAIL US or CALL US. Ask, "Hey, how is X doing since he started the meds? Have you noticed anything?" We are with your kids 6-7 hours a day in the structured environments where we're going to notice the biggest changes.

Also. #rantcontinues - If your home life is crazy (five kids, husband works the early morning shift and can't help you so you rely on your 12 year old to get the four younger kiddos ready, and each of them has unique special needs and thus the meds get taken super sporadically) please god, bring the meds to school and let our nurse give them to the kids in the morning. There is zero shame in this and it'll protect your kids from some ill effects if they're not getting bounced on and off meds because the 12 year old forgot to badger their five year old brother to remember because he is a twelve year old and can barely remember what HE is suppose to be doing. We want to help. We won't ostracize your kiddo for needing meds.

The BEST relationships I've had with parents are when they are open with me. I had one boy who literally couldn't function without his meds. His parents were really good about making sure he had them and kept me in the loop every time something change (he grew like 5 inches and 20 pounds that year.) I appreciated SO MUCH when I got that text in the morning going, "X happend! He didn't get his med and I can't come in, I'm so sorry!" When he walked in I was prepared to help him. When he kicked a classmate on accident because his brain had suddenly decided he had to get up RIGHT THEN and do a cartwheel he didn't end up suspended, in the office, anything. He wasn't even penalized for it. We had a restorative conversation with him and the girl and it was FINE.

TL;DR: Please communicate with teachers about your kiddos needs, especially when meds come into the equation.

Auspice · Jul 22, 2019, 6:03 PM

@silverfox

I'm working on alternative certification to teach right now and the courses I'm on at the moment are about these things. How to identify behavior, what methodologies work best for which kids, etc etc. It's how the video came up.

But that is a thread that goes through it all: how important parental involvement is (and ways to encourage it since, well, no one can make the parents engage if they don't want to).

silverfox · Jul 22, 2019, 6:58 PM

@Auspice

You are lucky to get that kind of training. Most traditional programs don't mention it at all. Everything I have learned about working with parents has been trial and error, and if nothing works, I begin to only communicate though email and cc my principal on everything.

Auspice · Jul 22, 2019, 7:09 PM

@silverfox said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

@Auspice

You are lucky to get that kind of training. Most traditional programs don't mention it at all. Everything I have learned about working with parents has been trial and error, and if nothing works, I begin to only communicate though email and cc my principal on everything.

The funny thing is that I'm already applying things I'm learning in my current job. There's a lot in teaching for children that can carry over into developing documentation and training materials in a business environment.

I discussed in a meeting last week that (IMO) the reason people keep just disappearing into their laptops and tuning out during workshops (meant to introduce them to and begin teaching them the software) is because we're providing lectures only that gloss over the details and then giving them open-ended free time for the 'hands on.' I recommended we start giving them guided tasks that will apply what was in the presentation.

And as soon as this was suggested to the users as a route to begin taking, they were 100% on board and admitted they'd been having trouble grasping everything.