According to the Attention Deficit Disorder Association, there are over 10 million adults with ADHD.
Now, I know a lot of people get confused by the terms AD/HD and ADHD. The first (with the slash) means attention deficit disorder WITHOUT hyperactivity. The second is WITH hyperactivity.
When children are young and they seem a little more active than usual, it’s not really too much of a problem.
All you have to do is send them outside to play with other children, organize a playdate, or go play with them. But when you’re an adult, it’s not that simple is it?
Working for myself, I certainly have times when I feel distracted and can’t get anything done…
…but those times are rare. That’s the only reason I didn’t ask my doctor if I had ADHD. Simply by dialing in my diet and sleeping better at night, I feel less distracted during the day.
But if you’re like me and are wondering what’s up with your brain, maybe I can help you out a little bit today.
These are the symptoms of ADHD…
Are you or a loved one experiencing these symptoms? (Remember…ADHD is attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity.)
- Disorganization – you leave a trail behind you or rarely have a clean room, work space, car, or anything else.
- Impulsiveness – you make decisions quickly, without much advance thought or planning.
- Not being able to manage one’s time – You run late almost everywhere and can’t seem to plan to arrive most places early or on time.
- Difficulty with multitasking – You can only do and think of one thing at a time, or else you forget or make lots of mistakes.
- Restlessness – you have to be doing something. All the time. People always get tired when they run with you.
- Problems with focus – it’s hard to keep your mind on one thing for very long.
- Poor planning skills – you plan events and schedules and projects, but you tend to discover along the way that you usually leave out very important (sometimes critical) details
- Mood swings – you cycle through lots of different moods throughout the week. Yo tend to be affected by things and have difficulty balancing your emotions.
- A difficulty with follow through and completion of tasks – if you look back at what you had planned and started in the past 12 months, you feel sad. There’s so much left undone. You feel like you can’t finish anything while your peers are succeeding.
- Difficulty coping with “normal” stress – things that others seems to be able to take with a grain of salt stress you out to the max. You’re more likely to cry, yell, fuss, or withdraw than your peers.
On top of this, you might find that people frequently walk on eggshells around you because of your emotions, they encourage you to relax because your schedule is hectic when compared to most people, and they seem concerned that things aren’t going well for you in life.
You might find yourself defensive about this.
So I’d like to encourage you to take a moment and breathe. If you do have ADHD, you should give yourself a break.
Your brain has been working overtime for a while.
And you’re probably exhausted emotionally and mentally.
The first thing you should do is find space to just relax.
And then…make an appointment to see a Psychologist or Therapist who can make good recommendations based on your unique circumstances and health concerns.
One Thing You Should Know About ADHD…
…is that it’s often confused for Bipolar Disorder. The reason for this are the high and low mood swings.
In a person with ADHD, you might have more energy than most of us do on a normal day; however, you still need to sleep.
And when you do, you probably crash. On the outside looking in, that can look
like a “crash” when it’s actually just a well-deserved and much-needed nap.
Talk to your doctor if you don’t feel better with treatment or if you think he or she may have gotten your diagnosis wrong. Remember that doctors are just people, too.
As important as they are in the world, they don’t know everything, and they aren’t perfect.
Warning: Don’t Leave Adult ADHD Untreated!
Left undiagnosed and treated, Adult ADHD can lead to sub-par job performance and lower-than-average income.
Young people with ADHD are more likely to use drugs or start smoking than others.
And if you have it, you probably lose things all the time and feel like your life is out of control when it’s really not.
What’s missing or unregulated in your system is whatever you need that helps you regulate your emotions, plan well, and stay focused on tasks.
If you don’t get this sorted, it can affect everything from your marriage to your parenting to your job. People have gotten fired for undiagnosed ADHD…
…and bosses frequently think they let go of an unproductive, lazy worker when they actually just fired a person with little control over their brain.
IMPORTANT: ADHD is serious…and it can wreck your life if left untreated. I went to the doctor for help. If you suspect you have Adult ADHD, you should go to your doctor, too.
Hope this helped!
