My ADD / ADHD Blog

Men with ADHD - Jim's Story

I never fit in as a child in school. I was constantly beaten bullied and picked on. I asked for help over and over but nothing. My parents did not care that I was in the highest 1% in aptitude tests(verbal skills lagging behind, the only exception) and my grades were terrible all the way through high school.

College was a just as bad. Only one person ever stopped to really help me. It was already too late. Some tried a little but they did not or could not take enough time. At about the end of this I knew what was wrong but it was not bad enough to force me to get real help.

After finding a carreer(pays decent) I found the stress of what should be a normal happy life getting to me from time to time. Over a lond period of years I would seek help to find out nothing they prescribed worked. I found my best years working alone in a highly dynamic high stress situation where problems had to be solved fast and I knew how to do it quite well. I can break down and analyze complex systems rapidly, I can do it walking in cold.

Read the Rest of this ADD Story>>>

Parenting Strategies Series

I am excited to announce that I am going to be speaking in The ADHD Strategies Series that starts on this coming Monday at 8:30 pm EDT. It's a free series of calls to help parents who have children with ADHD. I will be speaking about ADHD resources and the Internet! I'm excited because this is one of my first talks related to children with ADHD. Most of my other talks have been related to Adult ADHD.

I'm not sure just yet what date I will be speaking but will be sure to let you know when I know! The line up of speakers also looks great! I know and have heard many of them speak!

Sign up now for The ADHD Strategies Series>>>>

How not to Get Lost

I have a tendency to either get lost or miss turns when I'm driving. Because of this I usually give myself a lot of extra time when going to some place new or that I haven't been to very often. Printing out directions and bringing them with me helped me somewhat but I usually needed to pull my car over to read the directions.

A few weeks ago I was complaining about getting lost and missing turns and people suggested that I get a GPS. I hadn't really thought about getting one before because I thought they cost several hundred dollars. After researching the different options I found one for under $150!

I purchased a GPS last Friday night and tested it out over the weekend when I went to a few places I knew how to get to. But the real test came yesterday when I went someplace I'd never been to before. I am amazed at how easy it was to not only get there but also return home from there. It almost seemed too easy!

Now I'm thinking about all the time and phone calls I'm going to save from now on. I'm sure that with gas prices like they are my GPS will end up paying for itself very soon!

Sometimes Reality Does Bite

This past weekend I attended and spoke at the ADD Coaches Conference. It was a great experience. I connected with people I hadn't seen in a while and made some great new connections. I left the conference both exhausted and energized at the same time.

Yesterday I was talking to my mother on the phone and she told a relative of mine has cancer. While I was on the phone I checked my email and also got news that one one of my friends who I thought was cancer free found out her cancer returned.

I am really saddened by this news. Though I'm thinking positively and hoping for the best, this situation still sucks! It breaks my heart that both these people who I care about have to deal with this awful illness.

The truth is that no matter how we try to look for the positives in life sometimes our situations just plain suck! Sometimes we need to accept and deal with these things before we can move forward. In this situation I need to allow myself to feel sad before trying to be there to support the people I care about.

Multitasking and Focusing

Right now I'm writing this blog post from a session at the ACO Conference. Part of the reason I'm writing is because later today I'm giving a presentation about Internet Marketing. Part of what I am going to talk about is the how important it is to make blog posts at least once per week. So, I want to practice what I preach.

I'm also writing because multitasking helps me stay focused. I tried sitting here in the session just listening and looking at the power point presentation. It was really hard for me to just sit here. Since I'm sitting in the back of the room I knew it was also socially acceptable for me to take out my Laptop and write. In this instance I was able to use a strategy that I know helps me focus and I was also able to observe the situation and make sure it was socially acceptable.

Are there situations when you have been able to do what works for you while at the same time thinking about how it may affect those around you?

Personal and Professional ADHD

I just got back today from 4 days of exhibiting at the Learning and the Brain Conference. People who attended the conference were mostly clinicians (psychologists, mental health counselors and social workers) and educators. So I thought it would be a great group of people to let know about the services ADDClasses.com offers.

What really surprised was how many of the attendees were personally affected by ADHD. I was really only expecting these people to be interested in ADDClasses.com from a professional perspective. I was amazed the all the different ADHD stories people coming by my exhibit table shared with me. Some had or suspected they had ADHD themselves. Many were parents of children, teens and adults with ADHD. Some had spouses and other relatives with ADHD too.

I guess I'm always amazed at just how many people are affected by ADHD!

In Case You Missed It...

Wow, I was quite busy this past week!

On Wednesday's Living with Adult ADD/ ADHD Radio Show I interviewed Bryan Hutchinson author of the book One Boy's Struggle. If you missed the live show you can listen to it here.

On Tuesday night Nancy Ratey gave the free Teleseminar The Disorganized Mind at ADDClasses.com. Even though we had a record sign up and a record turn out I've decided to put the class up as free ADHD Audio Class for the next week. There was another ADHD related teleseminar being offered at the same time and some people weren't able attend Nancy Ratey's Teleseminar

On Wednesday afternoon Judi Jerome gave the free Teleseminar ADHD and Mindfulness. Since Judi is a new instructor at ADDClasses.com and because we've received excellent feedback about ADHD and Mindfulness I decided to also offer it as a free ADHD Audio Class for the next week.

I've also decided to extend the Early Bird Bird discount for the May 7th Adult ADD BootCamp until April 30th at 11:59 pm EDT. I interviewed Linda Hillger on the Living with Adult ADD/ADHD Radio show a couple weeks ago and we talked about the Adult ADD BootCamp. If you missed it you can listen to it here!

Penis Size and ADHD

Yes, you read the title right! I'm writing about ADHD and Penis size!! Somebody actually found my blog by searching for ADHD and Penis Size. So, this may solve the mystery about why somebody was doing a search a while back for ADHD Penis. I also discovered that some men over at ADD Forums are claiming that ADHD medications like Adderall decrease Penis size.

So it got me wondering if there have been any actual studies about ADHD and Penis size or ADHD Medications and Penis size. It also got me wondering how one would go about collecting such data. Do they have some type of technician doing the actual measurements? That sounds like a stimulating job!

Hey, at least I didn't add a picture to this post. Believe me, it did cross my ADHD mind!

Forgetting Birthdays?

Yesterday was my sister's birthday and I know that April 20th is her birthday. On Saturday I asked my husband to remind me on Sunday to call her or email her to wish her a happy birthday. Luckily for me my sister isn't into mailing out birthday cards so both of us are fine with emails or phone calls. I knew all day yesterday was her birthday yet I didn't end up calling her or emailing her.

I kind of tricked myself into thinking I didn't need to write down her birthday or set up a reminder. The thing is that I don't forget people's birthdays. I am great about remembering people's birthdays and can tell you the birthdays of people I haven't talked to in over 10 years. What does challenge me is taking the next step and wishing somebody a happy birthday.

When I woke up this morning I emailed my sister an email wishing her a happy birthday. I'm sure she won't be upset that I sent it this morning instead of yesterday. But, I think from now on setting up reminders about people's birthdays might be helpful to me. I also think I need to remind myself to take action not just that it is somebody's birthday.

So instead of writing down "Amy's Birthday", I could write down "Call Amy and wish her a happy birthday". Having the phone number written down or in a reminder I'm sure would also be quite helpful to me too. Wow, that seems so simple too! Too bad I didn't think of it on Saturday....lol

Money Talk

Last night on the Living ADD / ADHD Radio Show I interviewed John MacKenzie author of the blog Adult ADD and Money. We had a really great conversation about how ADHD affects finances and money.  If you missed it you can listen to it here.

One of the things we discussed is the fact that some people try and take advantage of the weaknesses of adults with ADHD and try to make money off them. Impulsive decision making and not paying close attention to detail can get people with ADHD into trouble financially. Before you make an important financial decision or give out any financial information make sure you understand what you are agreeing to.