Nurses with ADD/ADHD?

[fascinoma]

Does anyone here have ADD/ADHD?

I'm a pre-nursing student.

Strangely, I don't have trouble in classes when the subject interests me. My ADHD however means I can seem a little rusty socially... not glaringly awkward, just the occasional thing blurted, or easily distracted.

I've tended to be employed way under my ability level.

I chose the medical field because (among other reasons) I need to interact with people in order to stay focused, and because I like "smart" work and I have always been interested in medicine and medical science. I can stay totally focused when I am doing work that involves people, and using my brain and my hands.

I didn't know I could even handle heavy academia (I could manage a courseload of maybe one class at a time) until trying medication.

I tried to do computers for a long time... never put a "hyper" person in their own cube with an internet connection, and expect to get any work done :)

I am wondering who here has a similar condition and how it works for you as a nursing student or nurse.

I thought I wanted to be a doctor for a long time, but I actually have a HUGE variety of interests and avocations (writing is my big one) and there would be no room for these in residency. I'm truly miserable without my outside interests, and without a lot of flexibility. I used to do work with similar hours to doctors, and it made me very unhappy... just waking up, feeding my face, going to work, then coming home to sleep, with no time for downtime, family, pets, etc.

And I still intend to get a degree in biology and more anthropology classes under my belt, in addition to nursing. What can a nurse do with an additional biology degree? It seems the route bio majors take, is usually the BS in Bio and THEN BSN, not the other way around.

[henryswife]

I have ADD and I take strattera.I definitely can relate to quitting jobs and convincing my self that"I need experience to do this position or that position or I will never get promoted because of lack of experience." So I have a question do you think tape recording lectures will be benefitul?

[crunchymomx3]

I don't know if I have ADD/ADHD or not but I can relate to what all you guys are saying. Recently I've been getting really annoyed because I just can't seem to focus. I find that I am slower in getting my work done and I'm usually the last ones to finish exams. I space out a lot in lectures and I have trouble studying. Sometimes it takes me HOURS to study a chapter where it takes others hardly even one hour. I do noticed that I space out like every other paragraph when I read and sometimes I would have to read a paragraph multiple times before I can actually understand it. It feels like only some of the words are registering in my brain or maybe it's because I'm not completely focused (it's really tough for me to focus).

I've always thought that I was having some kind of thought blocking process. So what made you guys go in to check up with your physician? Do you guys think I should have this checked out to see if I really have ADD/ADHD? I'm actually doing pretty well in my nursing courses, but I truly feel that I am different from others and that I have a disadvantage sometimes .

Thanks for letting me share.

EDIT: I also want to mention that I CANNOT sit still during lectures or when I'm studying. I tend to move and reposition myself like literally every 5-10 minutes. ahhhhh!

I actually haven't been to a Dr for ADD since I was a child, but since I knew I did have ADHD as a child and I knew I was exhibiting symptoms of adult ADD, I started looking into things. I also knew I wouldn't take prescription meds for it, so I guess I didn't see the need for a Dr lol.

What I did personally is I did some research into non-medical treatment for ADD/ADHD and started with that. After about 2 months of supplements I started to notice a HUGE difference in how much stress I could handle and how much better I could focus.

Aside from the supplements I also do things like use my ability to hyper focus on things to be organized in some things (i'm generally pretty unorganized lol) like passing meds at clinical. During class I have a horrible time focusing so I do things like play with my cell phone (I can IM and go online from it). It keeps me alert enough that I can listen and not space out which is what use to happen if I was just trying to sit and take notes.