How do you handle your ADD/ADHD?

[ChainsawEnima]

Earlier today I had a book I needed to read for school, however when I sat down and started to read my mind was quite literally playing music loudly by itself in my brain, it was at the point where I reading each word but not getting any of it and reached the point where it felt like I was shouting over the thoughts in my head WITH other thoughts in my head. So I went and took my Aderol pills and 5 minutes later I had no trouble concentrating.

So I ask you the escapist forum, if you have ADD/ADHD when the time comes that something needs to be done. Other then popping some pills what methods do you use to handle it and stay on task?

(For those who don't know, ADD = Attention Dephosit Disorder / ADHD = Attention Dephosit Hyperactivity Disorder)

 

[VitalSigns]

I've just learned to get it under control, was on Meds for a while when i was a teenager but last few years ive been ok.

 

[lordsandro]

Willpower - a lot cheaper and healthier than any meds.
Try studying while listening to music, not loud but just enough to keep you subcontious bisy.

 

[sarahvait]

Still take pills, but mostly cause I get bad headaches if I don't. I am weaning off them; I'm now down to half the dosage I use to take.

But hey, if the pills help, there's nothing wrong with that. I think you learn to control the ADD better when you get older.

I suppose when I need to work and still can't get going, I like to change locations. If I'm in my room, I might go downstairs to the living room couch, or go outside. Finding a good work location usually helps me out a bit. Changing position seems to help too, like sitting instead of lying down.

Oh yeah, familiar music too, that helps. I like singing along to something when working. Or a movie that I've seen already that I can put in and have as background noise.

 

[Frungy]

Just for the record it's "deficit", not dephosit.

ADD and ADHD both can be discussed in terms of brain chemistry. Particularly in teenagers your brain is subjected to a barrage of hormones and these disrupt the normal balance. Balance is the key word here.

There are two ways to restore the balance.
1. Take a pill that instantly introduces or suppresses some of your neurotransmitters (brain hormones). This seems like the right way to go, until you realise that 5 years down the track you can't function without the pills since your brain has "learned" to expect them, and now can't regulate itself without them.

2. Regulate yourself. Take the pills when you REALLY need them, but also go without when it isn't critical. Practice meditation, or other tricks to focus. This way you stimulate the brain's natural process for controlling it's hormone levels, and in 5 years time you aren't still pill-popping with a massive pharmacy bill.

I hope this helps.

 

[Vrex360]

I realise that everyone else is the idiot not me. I have a nice mix of ADHD, Autism and Asperger's syndrome but that doesn't hold me back, seeing the world through a different perspective to the rest is the key to being a great writer.

 

[Yoshimota]

So I ask you the escapist forum, if you have ADD/ADHD when the time comes that something needs to be done. Other then popping some pills what methods do you use to handle it and stay on task?

I don't have it but my brother does, and he just smokes weed.

I don't know if it works well, because he's never around, he's always somewhere else smokin' weed.

 

[lonercs]

I'm forced a pill everyday but, I know of a cure for ADHD. It's a very strict diet of fish and organic foods. Noting processed, no sugars, wheat, dairy, meat, etc. It was created by Gary Null and is very use fully for all types of things. However, I don't have a store that sell organic food near me so I'm not on it.

 

[traceur_]

If I really need to get something done then I close the escapist and take it off my bookmark bar, it's too distracting. I take meds everyday because I get hypo without them when I'm in public and it really sucks when I realise what a dick I was being once I get back on them. I can bring myself under control most of the time but it's so much easiers with meds