I have problems with sequences

General
,
1

hey ..

i'm 23 yo , i"m an interne and going to be a licenced doctor in 1 year, i never been dignosed with ADHD by a pshychiatrist, the closest i got to that was when my psychiatry professor noticed 'i quote " how couragous, active and frequently absent minded i was", i asked him if i could have ADHD, he told me that it was quite rare among adults and that if it was the case, i seemed to get quite along with it... i didn't bring yp again to him or to other people afterwards...,

though i am and always have always been struggling with attention problems and Learning difficulties , i started to make up for that by working much more than the others and by creating new and newer organizational system that never seem to work, nowr that i'm 1 year away from starting my specialty, i really i'm anxious about how i'm gonna survive it if i were yo chose my favorite field of study...

my 2 main problems are:

+ i'm messy, my brain can not follow a sequence,

+ when it comes to procedures that require motor skills ,i only think about the final result and don't care about the process, as a result of that, my room is chaos, my working area my daily squedual all are,

* when it comes to answering a question, i always jump from A to D and then remember C and then mention J and go back to E, a tutor who doesn't know me well always claims not to understand a word i say,

+ i have problems with auto generated motivation,

- i'm not capable of doing something just because i have to, i try hard not neglect tasks but the sooner they're not completly urgent, i seldom remeber them at all.

- i always manage to find it in an external source such as people encouragment, an idle to resemble, but as soon as i get hurt by people or i dosover that that person wasn't much of an idle i get quite dicouraged and getting back to th former state takes all my efforts, and i get back to square one.

i don't know if you guys have found some more conforting way to live with those to problems, have a nice evening you all,

NB: it took me forever to organize this text, if i was to talk to you in person, i'm afrain you would have understood nothing, i hope you i was clear anyhow :)

have a nice evening you all

2

I don’t know if you have ADD/ADHD either, but some of these things sound familiar.

I want to tell you about my sister, who is a bio-med? nurse and works mostly in the OR. She’s really smart and strong, impatient, quick, and outspoken, but she has feelings too and is a compassionate person and shows it when needed. She kept training in unfamiliar things to stay stimulated and finally found a job that was a great fit. I was told by a doctor who has worked with her that she is extraordinarily efficient. She has always been messy and that’s partly because she’s really focused on what’s important, which for her is staying active and doing a fabulous job at what matters. She sticks to a rigorous routine. She doesn’t write long e-mails, only short statements that are to the point. She has bad handwriting. I admire her even though she used to screw up sometimes. Now she’s more organized. She has been discouraged and disappointed but she’s been so determined that she has succeeded with ADD/ADHD.

I read instructions even though it takes longer sometimes because I try to get things right. I have to practice to learn sequences because some are important. Forgetting what isn’t urgent is one way of prioritizing without making a list, so it might be a strength you can utilize. Everyone is different, and you are aware of what is hard for you, so I hope you acknowledge your strengths, too. Maybe seeing a good doctor would help you feel that you have been thorough with your questioning, you could ask for a diagnosis if you need one, and some specialize in treating without medication if you’re wary about that.

Organization systems take a long time to develop and it’s aggravating when it doesn’t help for very long, but as someone else here recently said, it’s a work in progress. Please check in from time to time for encouragement!

3

Two things come to mind:

1) You have a learning disability separate from ADD, and

2) You have ADD.

I recommend you get an educational/functional evaluation by a neuropsychologist

BTW - your professor is wrong. Adult ADD is now recognized as occurring much more often than the thinking of years ago. Either your prof is old and not keeping up on information of the past decade or youger and only espousing what he was taught by an old prof.

4

ArtFish: telling me about an example of a person who can really live successfully with ADD is quite helpful, it comforts me to know that there is a possibility of surviving a very busy squaduale! seing some of the problems as bonuses is very interesting, know that i am trying my best now, but willing to try harder, thank you for your reply :)

DrMarc: i was anxious i wasn't going to find any significant functional neuropsychiatric help in my country, for that kind of specialties isn't quite developped around here i am afraid,

as for the diet controle supposition: i'm a huge coffe consumer, the only substance that keeps me alert and prevents me from getting completly difunctionnal when it comes to mondain activities... a part from that i'm very concerned about my diet and i insist on getting all the nutriments i need, with a calory count of course :)

however, are there any references about functional neuropsychiatric evaluation i could go back to? i would really like to try to know if i have ADD? and what other cognitive déficits could i have? i want to understand just how i could help every other,person struggling with this handicap like i do!

thank you Drmark for your proposition, you've allowed me a new perspective :)

5

What country are you located in?

The reason for my identifying a neuropsychological evaluation is because that would find or eliminate a learning disability and it just so happens in doing so it tends to shed light on probability of ADD/ADHD.

Medical doctors who are MDs or DOs are not trained in the testing and evaluations that a clinical psychologist with a specialty in neurology. A neurological evaluation tests various parts of the brain, systems within it and how they integrate (or not) with the body. There is not a simple do it yourself approach to this.

6

My brother is a non-medicated Chiropractor w/ ADHD who has been successful in most aspects of his life. His three main strategies are exercise, a stability ball to sit on whenever he needs to focus (paperwork/studying) and the calendar on his smart phone (if something isn't on the calendar it doesn't exist).

My son is medicated w/ ADD for whom exercise is torture but the stability ball works wonders.

The main thing is finding the things that work for you. You may need help finding them, but once you do you will be able to feel the difference.

Keep trying.

7

DrMark: i'm from morocco... i will try finding a licenced specialist to help me confirm it and go through with it... i will try my best to get it as soon as possible ... :)

kfwellman: i am working on my habits and patterns of thoughts, i am trying to find a much easier way to live with this, i wish i will find the help i need, i'm most thankful to you :)

8

I used to have relatives there. My aunt was French Moroccon and about 4-5 cousins born there.

I too doubt there is such a specialist in Morocco. That being the case you will have to make do with the best clinical psychologist you can find.

Good luck my friend,

9

Just wanted to send you good intentions as I feel you are going to achieve your dreams and aspirations. pa'lante as some of us Hispanos say...forge ahead.

10

DrMark: i'm still working on that , i'm going to try to find the closest thing to that :)

msmilawisc: thank you.

well, today i was thinking about this strategy of making our routines more normal-like,

i remember as a kid how, in the one hand, i used to have a lot of problems trying to " make décisions " about when to brush my teeth, to take care of my homework, when to take the garbage out: this severe intolerance to repetitive obligatory things, while in the other hand: when i used to get attached to a certain activity, i couldn't stop myself from doing that particular activity for hours, days sometimes weeks, as soon as i can get to it... it was my parents job to tell when it was time to do this or that... to stop doing this or cut down on that...

... i don't think i have changed since then, the only difference is that my parents think i can handle those things on myself... seriously: i can't spontaniously... it would help a lot to have a parental guidance. This idea particularly, made me think about all the heroic caracters in movies (batman, Spiderman, ninjaturtles even :D) , they all have this elderly person that knows exactly whether it's a heroic action or just the most foolish thing to do...

having blurred limits is the most lovable yet dangerous thing about ADHD... i think an ADHD person is an eternal child :)

have a nice evening :)