Dear Everyone
This is for those of you who think that ADHD isn’t real and is simple a cop out for bad parents or some way to gain financial benefits.
Let me say firstly that I am certain there are too many children wrongly diagnosed with ADHD and I think there should be more time taken in testing before dishing out what I believe to be potentially harmful medication. This does by no means mean that ADHD isn’t ‘real’.
I was diagnosed with ADhD as an adult (I put a small ‘h’ because I’m not all that hyperactive so am an inattentive sub-type). My childhood was good and my parents were too. I wasn’t a bad kid at all and I’m sure not all kids with ADHD are totally unruly. So to blame parenting is ludicrous. I did well in school though did struggle to focus all of the time and potentially could have done better, but who can’t say that. Luckily for me I was an intelligent kid so the things I was good at and those which grabbed my attention I was very good at. I mean I definitely talked too much and made plenty of mistakes when I shouldn’t have but knowing what I know now about the medication I’m very happy I wasn’t diagnosed sooner!
I left school and went on to have a thousand jobs which bored me quickly and I struggled to stick at them. Then after finding a job I enjoyed enough to stick at finally I noticed more and more my memory problems and focus issues.
After my diagnosis I started on the medication. To cut a long story short I have tried the lot of them. I have quite bad ADhD so needed the maximum dose of any of the meds but the negative side effects are just way too severe. I’m also pretty sure if I was to take any of the medication for the rest of my life I’d die about 10 years earlier then I would without them. So because of that I have stopped taking them. I am now trying out Omega-3 and Vitamins and as much as it’s nowhere near as effective it is working a little and has no side effects what so ever. Win win I guess!
Now as to the benefits of having ADHD, there are none! I have no idea where people get this notion that people would make it up because they get something out of it somehow. If forgetting literally everything, having erratic mood swings, losing track of conversations, losing focus constantly, struggling to keep a job down, feeling irritable all day long at work, feeling restless all the time, having a clouded mind and feeling lost so often are benefits then please tell me how they are. I haven’t even scratched the surface with that list either. The way I feel a lot of the time because of my ADhD is not a good thing. The only tiny thing that could be a benefit is that if there’s something I really enjoy I can lock in on it (hyperfocus is what ‘they’ call it) so I can block out everything else and focus solely on that one thing for hours and hours. Beyond the usual tolerances for such a thing. But I’d do away with that in an instant if I could get rid of all the negative effects it brings.
I also get no financial help even though some people seem to think you can claim benefits for having ADHD. Of course you can’t, that’s ridiculous. I have a great job so it’s not like we’re disabled and to liken ADHD to a disability is an insult to anyone really struggling. ADHD is just a crappy thing to have to deal with.
Now lastly to those who think ADHD doesn’t exist. Please take my word for it, I have no reason to lie about having ADHD. It has given me nothing good so far in my life. If you could spend one day with it you’d know it wasn’t only real but really not great at all. If my word isn’t good enough then please take a look at these links http://www.aboutkidshealth.ca/en/resourcecentres/adhd/aboutadhd/whatcausesadhd/pages/brain-differences-in-adhd.aspx & http://mcgovern.mit.edu/news/news/inside-the-adult-adhd-brain/. These are websites showing the scientific studies of how it is proven to exist. Brain activity scans cannot lie after all. This link is simply to a google search for brain activity scan ADHD https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=brain+activit+scans+adhd&rlz=1C1QJDB_enGB622GB628&oq=brain+activit+scans+adhd&aqs=chrome..69i57.1805119j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8, there’s plenty to read. There is a lot more to ADHD then most realise and it isn’t just some behavioural problem and if more people took the time to educate themselves about it before spouting rubbish then maybe they would understand a little more.
