Nurses with ADD/ADHD?

Bipley · Dec 13, 2005

I recently worked with a nurse who had ADHD.
Some of her traits were that she didn't or couldn't listen to things we had told her in the past, and could repeat the same mistake, because she just didn't "listen". I know it wasn't intentional....it's just part of her disability.
She also was very hyper, and also tended to interrupt alot when other people were talking to her and trying to explain something to her....it was like her mind was going 90 to nothing and the other person in the conversation can't keep up.
She was also a "people pleaser". She was constantly trying to do things for other people. Get you things, bring you food to eat that she had cooked at home, etc. I had to tell her to stop bringing me stuff to eat.
I also had to tell her to stop trying to "wait" on me. I could wait on myself and get my own drinks/food, etc. This type of thing can also get to be annoying for other people. It is nice for a time or two that someone does something for you, but having a co-worker who is constantly trying to wait on you gets old after awhile.
She also had a trait of telling me what I should be eating or drinking and what kind of medicines I should or shouldn't take.
She was always trying to please me in her own way, but yet, things I did for myself, in her opinion, were not what I should be doing.
She also spent money on me......she likes to go to yard sales, etc, and would pick up things she thought I might like. Well, that was nice, for a time or two, and if it didn't cost much, I didn't mind accepting it, but I don't want anyone spending their hard earned money on me. I do have enough junk already that I need to get rid of now, and more junk is just that..... junk.
These were just some of her personality traits. And I didn't know she was ADHD until after she didn't work there anymore, so now I understand more about her and why she did or felt the need to do the things she did.

Actually, most of those are not necessarily traits of AD/HD. Being a people pleaser is not really an AD/HD trait.

Bipley · Dec 13, 2005

I love my Mannerix. Works for me. I don't have the hyperactivity so my doc has taken a different approach.

What is Mannerix? I don't believe I have ever heard of this product before.

I do have the hyperactivity component. I'm like a little kid sitting through a boring movie with Mom. I have to fidget, twirl my hair, click my nails on a table (wayyyyy annoying to the rest of humanity!), swing my leg, SOMETHING. If I don't move something ALL the time I'm just sure I'll explode. If someone forced me to sit on my hands while I speak, I don't believe I could utter a word. I'd likely sound like a wild animal locked in a small cage.

Thank goodness for amphetamines. I can finally relax!!!!!

Bipley · Dec 13, 2005

...You're absolutely write LPN...however the article said "MAY become ardent people pleasers" So it's not a hard 7 fast rule.
I have ADD/ADHD. In fact I facilitate a diverse group of professionals who have ADD & none of them display THAT trait. Thats all I'm going to say on this subject.
The only reason I even wrote anything to begin with was to support my fellow nurse colleagues & ADD'ers NOT to get into a debate with you.
I wish u the best....let's agree to disagree.

Well, that may well be all you say on the topic but I'll add yet another $0.86 worth.

Most people that deal with AD/HDers know quite well that people pleasing isn't what we do. We are often times annoying. We have to have the same things explained to us repeatedly. We listen as best we can, we focus and we try to pay attention but we don't hear you. If we do hear you we forget what you said halfway through your sentence. We don't always recall what you said, but we are well aware there is missing information. We just feel too stupid to ask you to repeat it yet again. While I am trying my best to listen to what you have to say, you are distracted by my clicking my nails on the table next to me. All you hear are my nails clicking away, all I hear is .. nothing. I can't hear you because my mind is racing.

I cringe when I hear parents say that they don't want to medicate their kids. While I fully understand not wanting to feed children amphetamines, I also understand what I went through in school. I *TRIED* my best. I sat as still as I possibly could. I really really really tried all the right things. But I just plain and simply couldn't hear what was being said. Thank goodness my parents weren't the physically abusive type. While they were mentally abusive, at least they didn't beat the tar out of me while telling me to try harder.

When I was a kid AD/HD was considered minimal brain dysfunction. It's isn't that! Research shows it is a lack of blood and glucose to a specific (dime sized) area of the frontal lobe of the brain. Beat the tar out of your kids, it isn't going to increase blood flow to that part of the brain. Ground your kid, do it if you please. That isn't going to help. A *true* AD/HD'er isn't going to "just get into the right space" and think logically anymore than a diabetic will get "into the right space" and deal with BS issues.

I remember my parents sitting with me at night doing homework. I would try MY BEST and within seconds I forgot what they said. They were angry and told me I was smart and knew better. They were right, I did know better, I just didn't know how to CONTROL the issues.

I didn't know until a few short years ago that I have a photographic memory. I also didn't know how many forms of a photographic memory there are. My (then) doc asked me how I managed high school. I thought nothing of telling her that I read a chapter, aced a test. She laughed and told me that isn't how others do it. They have to read and reread the chapter, form study notes, and other assorted methods of study. I knew folks did that, I just thought they weren't really bright. I had no clue others could read a book one time and NOT know every bloody detail of the book by heart. ASSUMING they were interested in the topic!

My sis can read a brochure and while she may not recall the details of the brochure, she can open it up in her mind and reread what the brochure said. She is like a copy machine, she doesn't absorb the material however she can bring it up at will. My other sis can hear a phone number one time and it is in her memory for life. She remembers her friend's phone numbers from elementary school. Yet she is 49 years old. A friend of mine works in a bank. She can't remember a person's name but she knows their bank account number. She knows EVERY customers bank account number. She sees it once and it is in her brain for eternity.

No research proves this one way or another but it is purely my opinion that AD/HDers typically have another trait they can rely upon. I can read a drug insert and 5 years later someone is discussing "X" drug and I know they are wrong. That isn't what the insert said. I can tell them details of what the literature states. I don't even realize I know this information.

People can believe what they choose but being a people pleaser isn't indicative of AD/HD. What it IS indicative of is a person who feels they fail at every bloody thing they attempt. When they fail time and time again they attempt to make up for it in other ways. IOW, don't be mad at me for "X," I just brought you coffee with the exact number of lumps of sugar!

LPN1974, LPN · Dec 13, 2005

...You're absolutely write LPN...however the article said "MAY become ardent people pleasers" So it's not a hard 7 fast rule.
I have ADD/ADHD. In fact I facilitate a diverse group of professionals who have ADD & none of them display THAT trait. Thats all I'm going to say on this subject.
The only reason I even wrote anything to begin with was to support my fellow nurse colleagues & ADD'ers NOT to get into a debate with you.
I wish u the best....let's agree to disagree.

Not debating at all.

As I said earlier, I was just looking up for information on this disorder.

Let me say my statement another way......"people pleasing" may not necessarily be a specific trait in people with this particular disorder......ONLY that some people MIGHT develope that characteristic.

I thought it was interesting that my co-worker had that certain characteristic about her personality, which in itself is not a bad trait to have.....{I'm not saying that}, and then I found the article with traits listed and "people pleasing" was also listed.

I was only thinking of her particular personality, and not ALL people develope every single trait anyway. Some will have a percentage, but probably not all of them.

I, myself, am a procastinator. I think that article also listed procastination might as a possible trait in SOME people with ADD/ADHD,

but I'm not ADD. So even there, people without the diagnosis can have a trait or two, I'm sure.

So I'm not debating, and there's no disagreement here from me.

chris_at_lucas_RN, RN · Dec 13, 2005

I hope you weren't referring to my post.
Just to be clear, IF you were, I didn't diagnose anyone nor make any assumptions about anyone.
The co-worker nurse that I mentioned in my post told others at my job that she had ADD/ADHD.
I searched for information on this disorder to try and understand it better.
I could see some of the characteristics listed on that web site in this nurse, but that by no means is a DIAGNOSIS. I don't diagnose. I'm not an MD.

I'm pretty sure he or she was referring to my post. I answered the question "how can dyslexia make a nurse dangerous." I didn't diagnose anybody either, but the poster himself or herself stated that they were dyslexic and had ADD.

All I did was answer the question as clearly and as objectively as I could.....

chris_at_lucas_RN, RN · Dec 13, 2005

What is Mannerix? I don't believe I have ever heard of this product before.
I do have the hyperactivity component. I'm like a little kid sitting through a boring movie with Mom. I have to fidget, twirl my hair, click my nails on a table (wayyyyy annoying to the rest of humanity!), swing my leg, SOMETHING. If I don't move something ALL the time I'm just sure I'll explode. If someone forced me to sit on my hands while I speak, I don't believe I could utter a word. I'd likely sound like a wild animal locked in a small cage.
Thank goodness for amphetamines. I can finally relax!!!!!

It looks like it is similar to an MAOI, an antidepressant involved with inhibiting monoamine oxidase reception, except some of the sites I found said it was first in a new class of antidepressants because it is selective in which of the MAO's it inhibited and something about its being "reversible."

Anyway, it appears to be available only in Canada.

Here's a place you can get some general info (I just googled for it):

http://www.drugs.com/cons/Manerix.html

Hairstylingnurse · Dec 15, 2005

Look if you are truely ADD you need to get on the Meds. They have changed my life. Got on when I was 21, was a B/C/D student non motivated, going down the wrong trail for sure. Got on the Meds, graduated with onutstanding grad honors 3.5 years later and am non in CRNA school. yOU THE meds to your advantage, I am a big advocate, not saying they dont have side effects, and post school I will attempt to kinck them but cant now, to much going on. I take adderall, titrate my own dose, somedays take 20mg/d, sometime 60mg, depends on whats going on and how long I want to stay up. Dont let that hold you back man, the meds are there for a reason take them. And get out the freaking psyc hospital that will drive you crazy and make you feel weird in itself.

Wow I love this forum. I feel like I have finally found my family after being put up for adoption..... I am curremtly working with 2 different docs and have been diagnosed for ADHD. I have had this since I was a child, although I don't think they had a diagnosis for it then. I think it is getting worse as I'm getting older. Or maybe I'm just less able to deal with it since I'm getting older(I'm 36). I have always been loud, unable to sit still, classclown and life of the party. I only interrupt because if I don't I'll forgoet what my point was that I wanted to make and everyone (those unafflicted with adhd talk way too slow:rotfl:

). By the time they finsh what thier saying, I've already had 15 other thoughts and about 8 things I could be doing:rotfl: :chuckle .

My doctors are trying to figure out what to put me on. I have type 1 diabetes, hypothyroidism and take an anti-depressant. The goal is to keep me from being too tired(thyroid already causes that) and keep my bloodsugar somewhat normal. I'm hopefully getting a pump in april of the coming year because everything runs my sugar either extremely high or extremely low. It is nice to have an adhd nurse family to come connect with.:)

PsychNurseWannaBe, BSN, RN · Dec 16, 2005

Hello, Everyone
I think it is funny, how people can diagnosis others and know about a learning disability as they have it.
I believe that some people who are not learning disabled or physical disabled make a lot of assumptions. The assumptions are derived by ignorance....period.
I wish the nursing schools and other medical facilities would send everyone to sensitivity classes and a 100 hours of clinicals working with the learning and physical disabled individuals. Because it will eliminate the ignorance and myths about the functions and abilities of those individuals who are disabled.
I am dyslexic and I did not ever had a medication error as one poster claims that all dyslexic people would do. However, those who are not dyslexic made errors and I guess that is acceptable...NOT.
I choose to disagree respectively to those posters who states learning disables can function as a nurse.
Have a great evening, lol
Buttons

Ditto... not to mention rather disgusting. Apparently someone mentions ADD/ADHD, dyslexia, etc.. and EVERYONE is an expert. It is one thing to discuss, support and offer information but it is a completely different thing when it starts to get into a mudslinging... he said she said... battle between people so that they can prove that they are right and the other is wrong.

I just want to read how it personally affects each person, how they cope and if they take meds... then everyone can learn more together. How the disorder affects one person may or may not be the same way it affects another. In other words.... drop the "We...we...we" because it is generalizing and thus starts the debating.

Be more empathetic when responding. Nursing is about treating the person and their response to a disease. It's about validation. In the beginning someone mentioned that they didn't like taking the meds because it made them "dull". So being a responsible person I opened some books and researched a little and posted my reply which validated what they said. My point... I didn't spout off at the mouth and refute what they said just because I personally never experienced it.

The signs and symptoms vary but when one tells their experience it may be quite possible that they have other undiagnosed illnessess such as Bipolar, personality disorders, etc... and those symptoms are getting "thrown" into the mix. So if someone states something that doesn't seem to "fit" the ADD/ADHD mold... first open a credible text and read and then tactfully reply. And while you are replying remember what you are. A nursing professional who should do everything they can to support one another and remember that nurses are educators. And never forget that anyone can read these posts... including a layperson who is very vulnerable...who is seeking guidance and help. And look at what they have read so far. WOW!

~Psych

sms · Dec 16, 2005

.....why can't we just all get along!!!!!:) :) :)

PsychNurseWannaBe, BSN, RN · Dec 16, 2005

.....why can't we just all get along!!!!!:) :) :)

Amen! That is all I am asking for. :icon_hug: Share the love... :redbeathe

~ Psych

chris_at_lucas_RN, RN · Dec 16, 2005

.....have been diagnosed for ADHD. I have had this since I was a child, although I don't think they had a diagnosis for it then. I think it is getting worse as I'm getting older. Or maybe I'm just less able to deal with it since I'm getting older(I'm 36). I have always been loud, unable to sit still, classclown and life of the party. I only interrupt because if I don't I'll forgoet what my point was that I wanted to make and everyone (those unafflicted with adhd talk way too slow:rotfl: ). By the time they finsh what thier saying, I've already had 15 other thoughts and about 8 things I could be doing:rotfl: :chuckle .

By definition, one must have had ADD or ADHD (or ADD-H as it is called now) prior to age 7 whether or not there has been a diagnosis made by that time.

There was a name for it when you were a child, although I don't know what it may have been. There have been lots of names for it along the way.

When I was a child (I'm 52) it was called "minimal brain dysfunction," which is a pretty accurate description, I think most would agree who have it. My mother, then an RN, thought that was pretty horrible, hated psych nursing in her training, and maintained a personal level of denial that kept me from being diagnosed. Personally, I have mixed feelings about that. If I had known I was disabled, I probably would not have achieved what I have achieved.

I will say that there were many, many times when I was expected to know things I didn't know, be aware of stuff I was clueless about, and that I was a quiet, somewhat depressed child who never felt like I fit in. How much of that was the ADD-H and how much of it was other stuff, no one will ever know. (Which brings up another very valid point. It is probably not likely that all of anyone's problems or personality quirks can be blamed on any one factor, even if it is ADD.)

I worked hard to get passed all that stuff. It still nips at me at times. I am triple, quadruple careful, for example, when doling out meds, and I am soooo grateful for the EMAR which keeps me from making errors. It may send me back to the pyxis at times, but I don't make med errors.

Be that as it may.....

I was not diagnosed until age 42.

So my experience is both personal and professional.

Before I was diagnosed, I graduated from college with tremendous grades, got my master's, was licensed as a therapist. I was a wife and a mother of two. I had friends, a crazy family of origin, was very active in my community, had strong feelings about what was right and how I wanted to live my life within the context of my family and community. I was (and am) a high achiever, and generally a very happy person.

Different people react and respond to the condition in different ways.

Medication can be helpful for those symptoms which are out of one's control. I have tried various and sundry medications and, when I can remember to take them, I have had mixed results. For me, the best combo has been purposeful awareness of those characteristics that are my ADD-H and working them so they don't work me; and Adderall (preferably generic) at those times when I know I am not well enough rested, not well enough centered, or going to be in a new, or overwhelming, or anxiety-producing situation, and I therefore know that parts of me will not be as easily managed/controlled.

Counseling and behavior modification are the best thing generally, because they do not further screw with your body's (and your brain's) chemistry.

As I wrote, let me reiterate, different people react and respond in different ways. And some of the ADD and ADD-H qualities actually enhance performance. I credit my "condition" with my ability to ram through my nursing program with incredible efficiency, not just speed.

So just because you have it, doesn't mean you necessarily have to take meds, or even that your life will be better if you take meds.

The only other thing I'd like to mention, which I have not seen here (might have missed it, and if so, apologies) is that whether or not a person has one condition or another, it is wrong (yes, wrong) to make assumptions about that person or their work habits or their personalities, based upon that diagnosis. We are all over other people for not labeling patients ("the appy in 401B") and then we do it to ourselves and each other.

So let's not do that, okay? :)

CrystalClear75, BSN, RN · Dec 23, 2005

Hi,

My case is way different than the above poster. I always thought that NOT being able to achieve higher grades was a definite component to ADD/ADHD no matter what. My case is the typical young little girl who went unoticed in elementary school. I was considered a "daydreamer" and a tad bit slower at reading and writing which led me into the reading and math "Vans" which were special areas for the "slower" kids. WHich was a pretty embarassing concept if you ask me....in 3rd through whatever grade, they would come to the class and call me and 3 others to go to this thing out in the play ground that looked like a trailer for one on one tutoring. :mad: I used to hate the feeling when they would come to my classroom and say my name to come to that van, along with about 4 others. I know that was long sorry, but I figured I'd get to the "root" of it because it only makes sense to start from the beginning. BY the way, nice thread, it's comforting to know that there are others who are successfully managing nursing school with this condition.:)

I'm currently taking Ritalin right now and it has been a life saver. I started the meds in the middle of my first semester of nursing because the course facilitator would not allow anyone to tape record the classes, in which taping the "pre reqs" got me through all of those tough "biology's". I was in the failing zone during mid term with a D and was so upset that I said, "That's it!" I always suspected that I had add because I am 29 years old without a degree, who has attempted a degree over 4 or 5 times without success. I kept dropping out cause it was too overwhelming. So, I waitressed and bartendended for years, which I loved because your never bored. My symptoms?

Well, nursing requires ALOT of long periods of concentration which is something I always stuggled with. After going on the meds, my grades went from a D to almost a B the first semester. And I just completed the second semester and ended with an 82%, and this semester was TOUGH! And believe me, I was evaluated by a psych and tested MYSELF and like another poster said if I don't have ADD, I don't know who has. I will admit I could be in denial about it sometimes, but I'm starting to accept it more and more as time goes on. So, yes I need meds, and no I don't want to have to take this stuff the rest of my life but If I have to I will. Good luck to all of you struggling with ADD(and those who aren't), I know it could bring you down at times (maybe not) because we have to resort to meds in order to funtion "normally" but I'm also very thankful that I don't need insulin or have any other problems.

Other symptoms I forgot to mention,

Blanking out on tests and forgetting everything

Forgetting appointments

Misplacing things

Saying things that I don't mean on impulse

Feel like I'm driven by a motor, etc etc.

Here's the good part, when i'm under pressure, I function better, that's why I know I'll be a good nurse. :nurse: I need to be busy. Plus, the meds help emensly!