Do I have........?

Question

Sometimes I think I have undiagnosed ADD or ADHD, but I have no clue of the difference. I am a smart young lady, but I have a horrible attention span, never watch movies- and if I do I have little retention of what the movie was about. I can remember important things, like birthdays, and I pay attention to detail. But, I go crazy at work sitting in front of the computer, in my car I have to have music I can sing along to as I drive. I hate being bored, or sitting for too long, or being in one place for too long. Do you think I have either ADD or ADHD? It feels like it!

Answer 1

I am a 53 yr. old woman and I feel like that a lot. I don't like to sit and have to be always doing something. My mind seems to never rest. A lot of what you've described sounds perfectly normal, so unless it's really effecting your life in a negative way, like not being able to work or keeping you up all night, I wouldn't worry about it too much. However if it's causing you a lot of distress you might want to talk to your doctor. Generally the treatment is a drug like Ritalin or Adderal, which are stimulants but in people with true Adhd it calms them down and helps them concentrate. My life is very stressful right now(my youngest has a mental illness) so I believe my inability to concentrate has a lot to do with that. What you are feeling may just be a reaction to any kind of stress. Again however, if you're not experiencing too many problems you are obviously handling your life pretty well and probably don't need to go the meds route.

Answer 2

ADD and ADHD are very common. My nephew is a brillant 10 year old, but he's ADHD. If you feel that you may be either, its time to talk to someone about it. There are medications that you can be prescribed, and at times, they're wonderful. Just ask your regular doctor and take it from there. BTW, ADHD, has the HYPERACTIVITY part, fidits a lot, cant stay still, ADD, just day dream alot, and don't pay attention.

Answer 3

I don't think you have ADD or ADHD. You've got enough attention span to log in to Yahoo Answers and type a sensible question.

Perhaps you do have a short attention span, but you may just need to find work that lets you flit about from place to place.

You must have some rudimentary planning skills to have answered 245 questions and give sensible answers and get a few best answers!

You might do well in a troubleshooting position.

I myself suffer from a short attention span and get bored quickly, but I fill my life with a ton of things and now I don't have enough hours in the day to get everything done. I don't get bored :)

I'm in Emergency Medicine, again it doesn't let me get bored.

Find some creative outlets. Write poetry, draw or paint or sculpt or sing...

or dance

I'm sure you'll find a nice level to cruise at.

Answer 4

I think we all have ADD to some degree and i learned years ago how to handle it. When i was in school it was horrible for me to learn anything and i wish i was on medication growing up but they didnt know anything about ADD/ADHD then..when my son was younger i had to get him some help because i didnt want him to go thru what i did...hes 17 now and still on meds.and me i quit school and never lokked back..perhaps you can get some meds now.good luck

Answer 5

i would go to a Doctor to be diagnosed, but one thing you can do to check, is try caffeine, such as mountain dew, coffee etc. it reacts the opposite in people with add, it has a calming affect. my nephew has it, and in the summer he wont take his meds, because they take away his appetite, and he doesn't grow. so he lives on mountain dew instead of his meds. it doesn't last as long but it gets him thru the hard times during the day.

Answer 6

if you can compose this Q, and A no you do not have add or adhd, This on apprears at the minmal age of 7 of having add o adhd.....

Answer 7

you probably have add since your not hyper all the time, you just can't pay attention