21 year old with ADHD

[Jacky1897]

I'm 21 and I'm currently in college and honestly I hate how slow I can be when learning new things. I get accommodations for test, but I still fucking hate it. Any advice on how deal with ADHD. I don't want to pills, but I'm considering it.

[kaa615]

Hi, Jacky. It is most frustrating. The right medicines will help a lot. Don't feel guilty about taking meds. We take them because of a medical condition, like people with diabetes. Our body is lacking something and your body tells you, listen to your body. If you decide to go this route ask your doctor lots of questions and don't give up. Of course, you have to do what is right for you and feel good about your decision.

[Bynddrvn in reply to kaa615]

Agree, I don't even take asprin but medication was absolutely necessary for me. Off Ritalin I was either a good student or a horrible one depending on my interest in the class and I thought it was a good idea to get into a high speed chase with the police. On Ritalin I graduated for college with high honors and I have a safe driver discount. It is like which person do you want? Jekyll or Hyde?

[kaa615 in reply to Bynddrvn]

Funny but not funny.

[Bynddrvn in reply to kaa615]

Agree. Most experts agree that especially for those of us with severe symptoms medication is absolutely necessary and probably a good thing for society overall.

[Bynddrvn]

For some reason bicycling really helped to lessen my symptoms but I have severe inattentive ADHD so I also need Ritalin to get me the rest of the way to normal. The Specialized is run by an individual with ADHD and the company is working with Stanford Medical school to study the effects of cycling on ADHD. You can do an internet search to find out more.

Before Ritalin I would find myself reading the same thing again and again before it would "stick." On the flip side if I was interested in the material I would read the chapter we were supposed to read and then read the rest of the book which was completely unnecessary and I had other things should have been doing.

My doctor tried multiple medications but Ritalin worked best for me. Adderall made me feel as though my heart was going to explode, and non stimulants didn't work at all. There are a lot of medications for ADHD so it might take a while to find the right one. Find a doctor who understands ADHD and find what works for you.

Good luck.

[kaa615 in reply to Bynddrvn]

Seems like the excercise would help because of the hyper part of ADHD and gets your blood and neurons moving. My husband rides mountain and road, guess I should ask him.

[ChronicllyAGeminii]

Hello Jacky,

I am in college as well at 49 years old & in a BSN program. I was diagnosed with ADHD when I started college at 47. I can’t take Adderall or Ritalin because of having to take blood pressure medicine. They prescribed Bupropion XL150 daily and it helps me keep my scatter brain at bay. It also helped me focus and recall what I learned for exams. I will not ever be without my Bupropion. I also learned what my learning style was. Google learning styles and you can take tests. I am Kinesthetic-Visual learner. I use colored pens and paper and I love to learn hands-on. I also do better hand-writing my notes out and watch lots of videos and also use an app called quizlet for my flash cards. I love quizlet because I can use it on my phone put it on in the car while I am driving and listen to the app over my speakers. I wish you luck sweetie, on finding things that work for you.

[Lovinit]

I would try the pills, tell your doctors concerns about pills and go from there

[iBusyBrain]

The trick is learning how "you" learn best! Not everyone learns the same way...but the world presents this idea that if you cannot learn the way we teach you, then there must be something wrong with you? Nothing could be further from the truth.

I have a Nerf gun with a small toolbox with 100 suction cup darts. I also have a world map poster in a plexi-glass frame--the map shows all the countries and major landmarks across the globe.

Let's just say... I know the continents, countries, oceans, and more.

[cjnolet]

Mindfulness training.

Start meditating. Look @ the things that appear to be holding you back and fix them. I'm in grad school and it wasn't until my mid-30's that I really started looking around me and changing things that didn't work for me. One is that I can't concentrate in areas of clutter. So I de-cluttered my house and my life is much different. Check out the book by Mari Kono.

Also there's a really good book on meditation and mindfulness called "Wherever you go, there you are". It's a book on presence and trying to center your focus so that you don't get whisked away in la la land when you are trying to maintain focus.

I ended up getting on medications myself because, on top of grad school, I also have a full time job and I'm the sole income for a soon-to-be house of 5 (I've got 2 sons and a wife and a daughter on the way).

My psychiatrist informed me that the anxiety in people with ADHD grows like rings on a tree as they age. I started waking up with these nasty uncontrollable ruminations in the middle of the night and I figured something was wrong. I think it's related to the dopamine production- when I'm half asleep, I start to lose control over my ability to focus so when anxiety gets bad, it becomes haunting.

I digress, but I hope this helps.