People with ADHD sometimes feel dazed, stupid, overloaded with information, lost and frustrated. For some patients, living with ADHD feels like being put in a dark room with things to trip over all around you. You don’t get a flashlight… but everyone else does. You stumble around the room, bumping into things, until you finally figure out the layout of the room. Then someone moves you to a new room and the process starts again.’ Some people have compared the feeling to watching television while someone changes the channel every few seconds. You get a general impression of what it’s about, but you miss most of the content. It’s like a whirlwind going through your mind. Everything seems to swirl around and nothing stays in the same place.
Brothers and sisters
ADHD is a condition that is difficult for the child itself, but also for parents and teachers, and brothers and sisters. Jenny has a younger brother with ADHD , She says: It’s not fair. All attention is always focused on him. We have to keep telling him how well he’s doing, even when he’s acting like a complete idiot. Mom put a lock on my door because he used to always come in and destroy things and make a mess.
People with ADHD sometimes feel angry, misunderstood, left out, a scapegoat and just different. Annelies is twelve years old and suffers from ADHD. She says she didn’t want to be diagnosed with ADHD and hates having the condition. She says: I don’t like being treated differently from others, but that does happen. My advice to other children with ADHD is to set yourself goals and have a dream, don’t give up, you can do it too!
And now the good news…
ADHD can also have a positive influence. People with ADHD can be curious, sensitive, creative, artistic, enthusiastic, athletic, imaginative, loving, funny and energetic. ADHD patients can have as much imagination as other people, and some produce ideas and images that are highly original. The curiosity and boundless energy that come with hyperactivity can also be an asset when directed toward constructive activities. For example, there are successful business people and entrepreneurs who exhibit the symptoms of ADHD, although they usually have a team of people around them to compensate for the limitations resulting from their condition.
ADHD patients express their creativity in many ways. Maybe they will paint or play the guitar, or become a music producer, actor or farmer. Communicating with words is often more difficult for them. An exception is Bob Seay from Colorado Springs (United States). He started writing at school and is now a successful writer. In the passage below, which is both original and chaotic, he vividly describes some of the many positive aspects of living with ADHD: Seeing all your worldly possessions at a glance… because they are all over the floor. (You are) ENTHUSIASTIC; Willing to Take a Risk…constantly surprised by finding clothes you forgot. Able to connect seemingly unrelated ideas…Always voted Most Entertaining in classroom popularity contests; Explodes, but usually recovers quickly; An unstoppable dynamo of human energy… Guarantees employment for spell check program writers…’
Nicky’s story
Nicky lives in Lincolnshire, England. As a young child he was hyperactive and impulsive, but it wasn’t until he started school that he was diagnosed with ADHD. He was prescribed stimulants, which helped control his symptoms, but Nicky still had trouble with his schoolwork. Things calmed down, his father Gerry says, but he would never become a college professor. But then Nicky discovered gardening. Plants, soil types, small animals, climate and breeding opened the door for him to study. At the age of eighteen he was accepted to an agricultural college.
Jamie’s story
Jamie is the youngest of three boys in a family from Sussex, England, and he was always in the shadow of his older, smarter brothers. When asked a question, they were quick to answer, so Jamie didn’t bother. He was not interested in school work, had difficulty reading and writing, and was diagnosed with mild dyslexia. When he was about 12, he was diagnosed with ADHD. Jamie’s mother, Sarah, says: He was always getting into trouble, both at
school like at home, He didn’t walk from one room to another, he jumped, ran, tumbled or rolled on the floor, He picked things up and threw them around, If there were pebbles outside, he picked up a handful and threw them them away, without thinking of the consequences. A lot of windows were broken. At school he lost things, forgot what he was doing and couldn’t concentrate for five minutes. He seemed absent – in his own world. While watching a favorite television program, he would be completely focused, but as soon as it was over, all hell would break loose again.
Eventually, the school’s educational psychologist diagnosed Jamie with ADHD, and with some difficulty we persuaded him to start taking Ritalin.
I was skeptical of fashionable designer drugs and didn’t believe it would work. But to our great surprise, he had a complete change in behavior. He could concentrate, he walked normally and he was no longer antisocial. Of course, he often forgot to take his pills – a common symptom of ADHD – and I always knew right away because his old behavior would resurface.
For Jamie and all of us it was a godsend. He is now 21, has a nice job in construction and he is a real perfectionist – a craftsman in the making.
Jamie says:
I hated school, I was in a group for children with special needs. I was taken out of class for special lessons, This made me feel different, When I took my Ritalin tablets it was humiliating as I had to go and get them from the school secretary – if I remembered! Ritalin helped me concentrate on what the teacher was saying. I also felt calmer. For me, school was a waste of time. Everything I know, I learned from my family, friends and just living. I just love being outdoors – sea fishing is great and you don’t learn that at school!
