[EMTastic]

I too have trouble with my memory in the workplace. I have been jokingly called 'dingdong' at work but people at work don't realize that it isn't carelessness, I am actually forcing myself to focus really hard and still having issues with my mind wandering! I'm such a hard worker they don't even think about it. Sometimes I wonder if becoming a PA is not a good thing to do... too much riding on doing things right and quickly, and not making mistakes. I know if I could overhaul my concentration though I could be a very good PA. My psychiatrist retired and I live in a different area now, but I didn't get much results from what he prescribed anyway. Sometimes I want to ask one of the nurses which psychiatrist to go to, but am afraid of what they will say, or if they will loose confidence in me, and since I'm newer this is not a good way to start a career. But I know I need to figure out a solution because I really want to be able to suceed!

[strawberry_bird]

Great to see there are nurses with ADD out there who are talking about it. I am now in Nursing School. I have worked in healthcare for 5+ years and expected to feel failrly comfortable in school and clinicals. I am feeling anxiety about my future as a nurse... I definetly can be a little spacey at times and am concerned with how I will make the transition from student to nurse. I am sure things will come together more as I go through school, but I am curious as to how nurses with ADD cope. Any suggestions for organization, cheat sheets, routines... I will be checking in and seeing how the conversation goes.
Thanks!

[proud2b1]

I have often thought I have one or the other or both.My son was dx with it.I am 40,I am good with work,but hme life is scattered.I can go from room to room and not stay on one thing.I have done this my whole adult life ..In school,I just went!I now take zoloft for pmd,it helps me,but I think it lays me back too much.I have always wondered though,and thought I was silly thinking I could have it all these years and not have ever really known.Has anybody ever been dx at such an older age?

[AmNorton84]

i am a month from graduating from nursing school and I was diagnosed with ADD yesterday...for a long time i thought it was depression and anxiety that was causing my grades to take a plunge ...but today i took a computerized test (and took my new medication this morning-concerta) and concentrated on the questions and material better than i have in a year and a half...
it feels good to know there's a reason for my difficulties but it does kinda seem like a bummer thinking about taking medication long term

[MisMatch]

Originally Posted by proud2b1

I have often thought I have one or the other or both.My son was dx with it.I am 40,I am good with work,but hme life is scattered.I can go from room to room and not stay on one thing.I have done this my whole adult life ..In school,I just went!I now take zoloft for pmd,it helps me,but I think it lays me back too much.I have always wondered though,and thought I was silly thinking I could have it all these years and not have ever really known.Has anybody ever been dx at such an older age?

I was diagnosed at the age of 37, am now 51 and in my first semester of NS.

[strawberry_bird]

I think it is a good idea to ask for referals from people you know in health care... nurses seem to have to scoop on the docs. But I do understand your concerns with being new to your department. If you want to go about it annonymously, you could call county health in your area. I would ask specifically for a Psychiatrist or Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner that has experience with ADD. Many practitioners in county health also have private practice elsewhere. It might be a good place to start.


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reply to post from EMtastic


I too have trouble with my memory in the workplace. I have been jokingly called 'dingdong' at work but people at work don't realize that it isn't carelessness, I am actually forcing myself to focus really hard and still having issues with my mind wandering! I'm such a hard worker they don't even think about it. Sometimes I wonder if becoming a PA is not a good thing to do... too much riding on doing things right and quickly, and not making mistakes. I know if I could overhaul my concentration though I could be a very good PA. My psychiatrist retired and I live in a different area now, but I didn't get much results from what he prescribed anyway. Sometimes I want to ask one of the nurses which psychiatrist to go to, but am afraid of what they will say, or if they will loose confidence in me, and since I'm newer this is not a good way to start a career. But I know I need to figure out a solution because I really want to be able to suceed!

[RN_Pursuit2b]

Has anyone tried the alternative, herbal ADD supplement called Focus ADDult? http://www.enaturalremedies.com/focu..._adult_add.htm

I took Adderall and felt fabulous, but hated the crash I experienced when it wore off. I felt weird! I can't figure out if I felt "not like me" or if I felt "more like me" on Adderall, since I've been this way my whole life. I'm undiagnosed, but have all the symptoms. Four counselors have told me I'm not ADD--but didn't test me, so now I'm looking for someone who will diagnose me. My GP gave me Adderall after asking me three questions, so I'm still not feeling quite "diagnosed." I'm in pre-nursing and won't go through with my career choice until I know I won't forget to do live-saving tasks for my patients.

[aubs]

Hello. I love that I found this thread. I was diagnosed with ADD when I was in elementary school. My mother has it and had been taking medicine for it for years. I don't really understand it because she's a total spaz and still can't concentrate. I think maybe she just isn't taking the right dose of it. Anyways, I grew up hearing about it and it always bugged me when my mom told me she would do something and then told me she didn't "because she has ADD." I grew up rejecting the idea of it just because I never wanted to use it as an excuse. Yes, it's a disability, but she didn't even seem to be trying to control hers. Anyways, I remember by the time I got to high school I had my school counselor very confused. She said she had never had another student like me because I was smart and always got into the accelerated classes, but then I didn't apply myself and ended up getting bad grades. I brushed it off. That was just who I was. I wanted to do something big. But when the work came around my mind shut off. I would be in math class and I would be so bored because I would understand it but then people would start asking questions, that to me sounded stupid. They went so slow! So next thing I know I'm not paying attention again and then I would fail the test. It was painful to me, because I always felt like I knew it, but I just couldn't express it in my tests.

Fast forward to last week. I am doing my pre-req's to get into nursing and I was taking a chemistry test. It was open book. Open notes. But I started feeling anxious. Then the girl next to me had her papers hanging over on to my desk. He gave us the equation to a question I had already answered and I knew I had it wrong but I could not redo it. I tried to calm myself and tell myself that I needed to do this because I so desperately want to get into nursing school. But I needed to get out of the room. I just flipped out a little. So I raced through my test and failed it. I felt like crying, but I felt so trapped in that room and I just could not concentrate. I asked my mom if she could get me an appointment with her psychiatrist to see if I could go on some meds (I took ridalin for about a week when I was younger but I couldn't remember to take it and my mom never remembered to get a refill) but when I explained it to her she told me it sounded like the same way she gets with her PMS disorder. Does anyone know if this sounds right? Or could it just be the ADD? Its not just panic attacks. I will be trying so hard to ingest the information but then I'll realize I'm thinking of something completely off topic. I think its time I did something about it. What do you think?

[funsizedliv]

Definitely sounds like ADD to me. I used to get the same way with all tests, I just did not have the ability to take my time and I felt the need to be the first one done. If someone passed in their test before me I would get nervous. I also have generalized anxiety which I knew about and was treated for years before the ADD diagnosis. But If you really want to know more about ADD and symptoms and get some tips, I greatly suggest the book "driven to distraction". It was given to me by the executive director of the nursing home I worked at when I graduated nursing school. He heard I was having trouble with my ADD and it turns out, He had been struggling with severe ADD for years, and he was very successful in life. He credits a lot of it to that book. It really explained a lot and gave me the answers I was looking for and more.

[aubs]

Thanks! I'll definitly read it. I saw a lot of members mention that they can't read books for very long because of their ADD, but I guess thats not me. I can read for days. But then again, that's books I'm interested in. It's reading my biology and chemistry book thats so hard. Any suggestions are good. I'm trying to get an appointment right now to get on some medication but I know my mom has a really hard time getting it because she says she has to be evaluated once a month, but of course since she's on the medicine she's not behaving as bad so then they don't want to give her more because she's acting so regular. Then she won't have her medicine for a week and all hell brakes loose until she gets back on them. A vicious cycle I'm not sure I want to deal with. But thanks so much for your input! I appreciate it. -Aubrey.