Nurses with ADD/ADHD?

Nurses Stress 101

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Hey all! I was wondering if there are any nurses with ADD/ADHD out there who want to comiserate and support each other? I know I need the help/advice. It might also be a place for "regular" people (I hate the word normal) to come and read and understand what its like for us. Or ask us ?'s.

I'll start with an intro:p I'm 29, and I've had an official diagnosis for less than 2 years, but have been trying to find the answer (for what's up with me) for MUCH longer than that:uhoh21: :) I currently work night shift at a drug rehab and on call at a nursing home. I have a lot of trouble in staff meetings - sitting through them, being treated like a brat because I actually show some emotion. I had much difficulty in school, (I didn't know back then), not with grades but with social stuff. I almost got kicked out of school because of the problems I was having.

But its not all bad. I'm funny and creative and often am able to connect with my patients in unique ways.

So we'll see how many of us there are out there?:)

My daughter has been on it for a since 1st grade, she's in 2nd now. If we forget to give it to her, she is constantly asking once she gets home to have her medicine. If it is after lunch we tell her she'll just have to wait until the next day, because we don't want it to affect her sleep that night by taking it to late. She has never complained that if makes her feel lousy. I talk with her alot about how it makes her feel.

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Specializes in ER.

Let's just say I spent many years in Alabama as a child. It was wrong to poke fun a Alabama:lol2: , but, it was equally as wrong to make blanket statements. :angryfire Many high functioning, successful people have ADHD and it already has a bad enough negative stigma without more fuel being added to the fire. You as a professional should be well aware that research has proven that it is a very real condition. I'm sure that the diagnosis is abused, but your statements wont change that!;)

and living in alabama has what to do with anything?? wow, how ignorant can you possibly be...... and where are you from, by the way?
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hello,

i have add, inattentive and impulsive type. i do take medication for it that is prescribed by my very knowledgeable np. i'm not addicted to it and honestly, i wish i didn't need it. i have heard stories of people taking stimulants to get better grades but i'm not one of them. i deal with the dirty looks for pharmacist because my medication helps me. could i get through school without it? probably but it would be much much hard. could i drive without my glasses? probably but i think everyone would prefer i don't.

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Let's just say I spent many years in Alabama as a child. It was wrong to poke fun a Alabama:lol2: , but, it was equally as wrong to make blanket statements. :angryfire Many high functioning, successful people have ADHD and it already has a bad enough negative stigma without more fuel being added to the fire. You as a professional should be well aware that research has proven that it is a very real condition. I'm sure that the diagnosis is abused, but your statements wont change that!;)

i didn't make blanket statements... i said in my experience, most people i knew used it for recreational purposes or for better grades, and it wasn't difficult for them, or ANYONE, to get prescriptions for these terribly abused drugs.. because ADD is so overdiagnosed. if everyone in the world went and got tested, probably half would be ADD.. that's just what i've seen, that all my friends who pursued it ended up with ADD that they never knew about. go figure. yes, adderall will get anyone better grades.. but sometimes you just have to quit making excuses for yourself.

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Specializes in ER.

I'll just sum it up like this. If ung the caveman, said to arg the caveman after inventing the wheel; your just lazy, you don't need that wheel, you can carry that pile of rocks..... Well where would we be?

i didn't make blanket statements... i said in my experience, most people i knew used it for recreational purposes or for better grades, and it wasn't difficult for them, or ANYONE, to get prescriptions for these terribly abused drugs.. because ADD is so overdiagnosed. if everyone in the world went and got tested, probably half would be ADD.. that's just what i've seen, that all my friends who pursued it ended up with ADD that they never knew about. go figure. yes, adderall will get anyone better grades.. but sometimes you just have to quit making excuses for yourself.
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I too was diagnosed as an adult (in my 40's). My son was dx'd when he was in second grade and he is now 21 yoa. I found out while taking Adipex to try to lose some weight that my head was clear for once in my life. I could actually concentrate on the small things. This was before going to nursing school. I am graduating from nursing school next friday! I have a 3.36 GPA and I am here to say I worked for every point. No, the adderal I take did not "get" the grade for me, I did! There seems to be a lot of talk about abuse. How many of the posters "abuse" nicotine, alcohol, ect.? Did the nay sayers skip compassion 101 while they were in school? The Dx of ADD is as true as any other learning disablity. But, like everything else out there, it is used by some people who do not need it. But the only one who knows is the person. It all comes down to 'walk a mile in my shoes".

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Specializes in Tele, Infectious Disease, OHN.

CLEANING! Aaarrrrgggghhhhhhh! I start off realizing a drawer needs to be organized. I go to put something from the drawer in the closet and I realize the closet needs to be cleaned and organized. I find a book from the closet that needs to be on the bookshelf and the bookshelf needs some serious work. By the end of the day my house is in chaos, I can't find a bloody thing, and my living room floor is up to the ceiling with all the stuff I'm organizing.

LOL- I have stacks and bags of stuff to look through. For example, I got a new car in June and I took everything out of the glove box and console, put it in a bag and have YET to go through it! I have had several careers at the age of 44- high school drop out, waitress, MLT, MT, environmental tech, environmental coordinstor, RN in a hospital and now public health. This last job so far has met my requirements to be able to get up and go to it most days:). As a child I got in trouble because I talked all the time, interrupted people and could not sit still. My father got so upset with me for not passing "citizenship"- defined as sitting still in my seat and listening to the teacher. I remember him asking how hard is it to sit still and I cried when I told him it was impossible for me to sit still. BTW love this thread. Good job OP.

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If an employee has a prescription for Adderall, can an employer legally refuse to hire?

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I was Diagnosed with ADD shortly before failing out of nursing school (the first time). I thought that I was having short term memory loss from my anti-axiety medications, but my doctor said it was ADD. I've probably had it my whole life, but when I was little and first started school it wasn't as widely diagnosed. I was surprised when my doctor was filling out my student disability forms and wrote that it is a severe case. For a long time I felt that "everyone has ADD" or that it is over diagnosed (I do feel that some children are wrongly diagnosed because kids in general can be "out-there"). But I, as many others, do rely on my adderal to actually stay awake (I didn't even know that was a symptom) during class and to keep organized.

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My user name includes my dx: 314 I have inattentive type.

I wish I had found this thread sooner because it is such a comfort to know there are others like me out there. I used to think I was stupid and lazy because I was never where I was suppose to be, never had what I needed, etc. If I had been diagnosed early in life, like when my teachers in grade school were telling my parents that I wasn't "applying" myself, and wasn't "working up to potential" things would be different. I wasn't diagnosed until my late 30's. I've been on Adderall then Adderall XR for the past 5 years and it makes a big difference.

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I didn't "apply myself either" during 6th through 12 grades...

I had been straight As until then...

I have since learned to adapt, without meds...

Am I better than you?

Of course not...

I am just saying that legalized speed (get real, that's what it is) will definitely help you, but at what cost??

Legalized hypocrisy...

The meth addict gets 10-20 years...

The adderal pt gets a raise!!!

do THAT math...

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Yes, amphetamines are speed, and many people abuse them, including patients who sell them off to drug abusers.

but some people really benefit from them, just like people who need a heavy dose of pain killers to make it through the day.

for instance, I had a patient at clinical yesterday who took amphetamine for narcolepsy. (which she told that an ecg of a patient with narcolepsy is very similar to one of a patient with ADD, just thought that was interesting to share)

I for instance am not a big fan of giving them to little kids, but as an adult I could not manage school without them. I used to get to class, begin to study, and fall asleep at my desk (a little known symptom).

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