ADD/ADHD- Ritalin Treatment | Self Testing

Overview: Article about ADHD and ADD, ADD ritalin treatment, self test, getting help, medications and more.

Early this week I was told that the likelihood that I had ADD was high. For most people they might be upset or think that something is wrong with them. When my doctor said, "I believe you have Attention Deficit Disorder" I was ecstatic. This may seem crazy to someone who doesn't have it, but let me tell you why.

Growing up I was a bright person, but never showed motivation. I never paid attention in school, unless it was a subject I enjoyed. I was consistently forgetful of time, dates, appointments etc. It seemed to only get worse with the more responsibility I had.

As I got older things got worse. Keeping a job was hard because I was always late, I always felt rushed so I spent minimal time on my hair, makeup the way I dressed because it only made me later. I had the hardest trouble keeping the house clean, doing normal things like putting mail out in my mail box, paying bills on time or attempting to plan ahead for anything.

When I got married, it seemed that I put a lot of the "responsibilities of life" on my husband, I think he just started doing the things because it always seemed like I was "so busy" with work and such. So my husband paid the bills, cleaned the house and cooked. I really felt like a lame human being. What a wife I am, I can't even do things normal women do everyday. If I tried really hard, I could get some things done, but never everything all at once. I thought I was a victim of extreme procrastination.

ADD Diagnosis/Self Test

I spent years trying to get my life organized. Every other month it would seem like I was saying, "Okay, it's time to get organized." Needless to say it never happened. I hired a maid, didn't matter. I hired a personal assistant, didn't matter. I hired employees to help me work, didn't matter. I spent thousands of dollars on organizational books, software and more.... it just didn't matter.

I went to a therapist in my late 20's, there they diagnosed me with depression. They put me on Zoloft to help with the symptoms of depression. Well I worried a lot less about what was wrong with me, it didn't help me get anything done and now with this medicine, I didn't care if I got it done or not. Now I didn't care if the roof fell in or the kitchen caught on fire, it was of no interest to me.

Okay well that didn't work for me and they took me off of it a few months later. I was frustrated going to a therapists office going on and on about what was wrong and her telling me things that I just didn't think worked. So I stopped going.

Lets fast forward to when I had children. Wow I loved my children dearly, I wanted to be the perfect mother. I was a stay at home mother who worked at home and wanted to dedicate all my time to my kids. Well that's great but the problem was that was just one more reason why I couldn't get the house cleaned, couldn't cook and now, I was lucky if I got a shower within a week because I was just pooped!

Well this went on for years and of course I got kicked out of my children's pediatrics office for missing too many appointments and I couldn't make dentist appointments or even make it out of the house. That's right, I now felt paralyzed. I felt like even if I wanted to run out to the store, I couldn't because I was so behind in "life" that I couldn't afford to leave.

Well after a divorce and a remarriage, I found myself in my 33rd year of life, still complaining of the same exact things I complained about since I was a child. I've tried to emulate success, I've tried to fill my surroundings with people who were doing it... living life to it's fullest, keeping up .... no, keeping ahead! Juggling family, work, marriage... but I just kept falling behind. I just couldn't understand how people make it look so easy.