Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences - This topic has 12 replies, 13 voices, and was last updated 20 years ago by
.
- Posts
Does anyone know how to significantly combat adult ADD without drugs?? They make me into a different person and block my access to creativity.
User Detail :
Name : Daniel A., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Age : 27, City : San Francisco, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : Musician, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower class,You might consider looking into yoga. Focus on the postures and breathing has helped some people regain focus in the midst of struggling with ADD.
User Detail :
Name : Chandele19167, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Pagan, Age : 28, City : Fort Collins, State : CO, Country : United States, Occupation : graduate student, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I am not a professional, just someone who has always been accused of having too much going on at any one time. What has worked for me is a pursuit of change until I found what really engaged me relative to work, friends, etc. No more making what doesn’t work fit into my life. Prior to this change, I found I didn’t want to focus on what was in front of me, because it wasn’t right for me. It is a simple suggestion to what seems to be a more frequently diagnosed syndrome these days.
User Detail :
Name : Matthew, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 45, City : New York, State : NY, Country : United States,Try a little self-discipline, and take responsibility for your own actions. ADD is something doctors made up to relieve you of those responsibilities.
User Detail :
Name : Todd24656, Gender : M, Age : 38, City : Gastonia, State : NC, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Apparently, various preservatives and additives in food can exacerbate ADD – so you should probably avoid processed food. There is a doctor in New York named Ronald Hoffman who does therapy that is supposed to help ADD. The treatment was discovered by accident whilet administering other treatment for something else. He has a holistic approach to medicine, so he is unlikely to prescribe drugs.
User Detail :
Name : Jay31356, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, City : New York, State : NY, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,What did they make up to relieve you of the responsibility of actually having a clue what you’re talking about? Many of us have accomplished a great deal despite of and sometimes because of our Attention Deficit Disorder. Try going to a web site and reading something about it. Even getting your hands on a DSM IV and reading about it might help. Not that you actually care.
User Detail :
Name : Ken-B, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Pentecostal, Age : 53, City : Waycross, State : GA, Country : United States, Occupation : VR Counselor, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Whoever informed you that ADD is ‘something doctors made up to relieve you of those responsibilities’ was ignorant of what ADD is. ADD is an inability to concentrate at a normal level. It can be mild, which takes only extra effort to concentrate, to severe, which makes it nearly impossible to concentrate. Ritalin, the most common treatment, is actually a chemical stimulant that in a ‘normal’ person would actually increase hyperactivity, not decrease it. Doctors aren’t yet sure of what exactly causes ADD, as they aren’t sure with many other disabilities. I agree that too many people are being diagnosed with ADD. I feel that undermines the real people who are ADD. But ADD is real, and not just a made up disability.
User Detail :
Name : Linda22702, Gender : F, Age : 21, City : Indianapolis, State : IN, Country : United States, Occupation : student, Education level : 4 Years of College,Whoever says ADD is invented by doctors clearly doesn’t know what he is talking about. There is too much physical evidence to suggest otherwise. Drugs are just part of the recommended treatment. A really good book on the subject, for those not bothered by facts, is Driven to Distraction by Edward M. Hallowell, M.D.
User Detail :
Name : Ken-R, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 47, City : Milwaukee, State : WI, Country : United States, Occupation : business consultant, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper class,I would like to say that ADD is not a ‘made-up’ disease, as some would say. You cannot just ‘take responsibility’ for your actions and move on with your life when your mind is constantly in motion. I will agree, however, that the diagnosis is given too freely, and there are other alternatives to Ritalin and medication. I would try yoga, as someone else suggested. The focusing excercises and relaxation techniques really helped me.
User Detail :
Name : Chalena, Gender : F, City : Brooklyn, State : NY, Country : United States,I can’t understand why so many people don’t believe in mental illness. Would you tell someone who is paralyzed to ‘try a little self-discipline?’ Mental illness is real, even if you can’t see it when you look at someone. Try living with a person with ADD or bipolar disorder and then ask yourself if you really think it’s something doctors make up.
User Detail :
Name : Cat32425, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 20, City : Tampa, State : FL, Country : United States,Daniel: I, also, struggle with ADD. I’ll tell you a technique which has worked for me. I find that I often have great difficulty staying on task, and flit from thing to thing. I am very impulsive and have trouble keeping that under control. As a result, I often find I’ve been active all day, but not very productive. I sat down and made a list of some of the tasks and goals I have, identified which ones are most important, then ‘swiss-cheesed’ them. That is, I poked holes in them until they were a bunch of short and quick little tasks. Then I scheduled them into my pocket computer with an alarm that goes off at a set time every day and a reminder of what I’m supposed to work on. I have another reminder alarm set for 15 minutes later to stop working on that project. I schedule a 15-minute ‘break’ or free time between scheduled times, so I have time to read email, get coffee, see what the cat is doing, or any of the 1001 things that pop into my head that I should run off to look into. That way, during my 15-minute project time, when those thoughts try to interupt me, I can put them off since I know that in less than 15 minutes, I’ll have time to go do that. In the meantime, I’ll just go back to the task at hand. What I’ve found out of this technique is that even if I only work on a project for 15 minutes a day, at the end of a week, I’ve gotten a lot more done than I did before using this technique. And I sometimes find I will work right on through my break time and do 20 or 25 minutes on that task. It takes extra work, but the externalality of the schedule imposes a discipline that I can’t do for myself at this time. You don’t need a pocket computer, a simple kitchen timer would do the same thing. 15 minutes is my time…your’s might be 30 minutes or it might be 5, whatever works. It’s similar to the AA techique of quitting drinking one day at a time…and if that’s too hard to do, then quit for the next five minutes. Good luck! Chris
User Detail :
Name : Chris, Gender : M, Age : 48, City : Seattle, State : WA, Country : United States,ADD is definately not a ‘made-up’ disease. I had ADD as a child that has now manifested into adult ADD. I, however, have never taken drugs for the problem. In middle and high school, I figured out I could pay attention and stay on task in class by taking notes on 3/4 of the page of paper and writing other notes or drawing pictures on the other 1/4. It gave me an outlet to distract myself for a few seconds and yet stay connected to what was going on. I still do that today in college. Something I’ve found that helps now is to give myself breaks throughout the day. It breaks having to focus on one thing lets my brain go off on any wild tangent it wants for a while before I make myself focus again.
User Detail :
Name : Lacey26187, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 21, City : Lincoln, State : NE, Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,My adult ADD responds well to drug treatment (I take Concerta), so the issue is perhaps not as pressing for me as for you, but I do know that there are also a lot of non-drug options for behavior modification, etc., that have been shown to be effective. When I was first diagnosed a few years ago, I read a book called OUT OF THE FOG by Kevin R. Murphy, Ph.D., which contains a pretty good general discussion of the disorder as well as tips and strategies for treatment and coping. I’ve also found (much to my surprise) that nuts help. It sounds crazy, but if I eat a handful of nuts (peanuts, cashews, almonds, whatever), I find myself a little better able to concentrate for maybe an hour. That may be totally psychosomatic, or it may be just me, but it might be worth a shot…
User Detail :
Name : Andrew, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 26, City : Brooklyn, State : NY, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College,
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.