The great battle of ADHD is what to do about it. How do we thrive in a world not designed for our minds?
Mine is a tale of failure after failure, sprinkled with little bits of success. The most fruitful effort was actually made by my parents as I was growing up. It was a combination of a diet high in good stuff, regular exercise, and Ritalin three times per day.
To this day, I stand by this method of maintaining a healthy lifestyle and supplementing it with medication (if necessary). It is, in my experience, the most successful.
But Ritalin.
Easily the most bitter pill I’ve ever had to swallow, literally. Chalky and disgusting, if you don’t do it right, you’re likely to get this (or any other dry pill) lodged on the back of your tongue, left with no choice but to try to choke it down or cough it back up and try again. Imagine going through this twice a day as a five year old, three times a day in junior high and high school.
Now add to that the humiliation of going to the nurse’s office every school day to take your “hyper pill”.
Obviously I quit this the first chance I got. Being a cross country runner in high school, coming off meds wasn’t a complete failure. My grades dipped a bit but I maintained honor roll status. Once high school stopped, though, and I no longer had the structure of mandatory school, a regular class schedule, and no sports program, everything fell apart.
Pieces everywhere …
Fast forward from 17 to 21. I’m living in a single bedroom apt with two other guys, working three part time jobs to pay the bills. I’m blowing all my money on partying, and I’m an emotional wreck.
But, I have not hit rock bottom yet, nor do I want to.
Changes
We all go our separate ways, two of us moving home with parents and one of us sticking it out on his own. I went back on the Ritalin.
I went back to school for a bit before finding full time work that would provide better child support for my daughter. I was not doing great, but better than I ever had without treatment.
Still … Ritalin?
On Ritalin, I went from job to job for a few years before starting where I work now.
After being here for a year, I decided I’d had enough medication and stopped taking it, with oversight from my doctor. Ten years later I’m still with the same company.
But ADHD.
ADHD doesn’t just go away. Sometimes, however, we learn to live with it.
I had to set goals at work to motivate myself. I had to apply for every new pilot that came out, testing new work, keeping life interesting.
Things were ok. Still not great.
So …
I started reading up on ADHD life beyond meds. I began keeping track of my symptoms, my strengths and weaknesses.
And, I started blogging. Here things started to get better. Meds were off the table but I still needed something to treat my symptoms. The self awareness I found through blogging was a big help.
Finding a community of like minded individuals on social media was a huge help also.
I came to realize that even though I still often feel like there’s no one who understands me, there are a ton of people who feel the same way. They may not understand me, but they understand being misunderstood…
And what about all this energy?
The longest series of blogs I wrote was about using exercise as treatment. I wrote weekly about weight loss and how I felt after a morning run.
I have to say that regular exercise is the most rewarding way to manage my ADHD mind.
Unfortunately
It’s also the most challenging. If you can become obsessed with exercise, and especially if you can find work in the fitness field, you are set.
Exercise coupled with a diet high in protein and omegas is, I imagine, the closest I will ever get to feeling normal.
It’s not easy to get up early before work and run several miles or work out to an exercise video, but boy, is it rewarding. I literally feel better all over. I’m clear headed and high energy for the rest of the day.
Eventually, you can develop a routine and it becomes second nature. Until then it totally sucks getting up at the crack of dawn.
In the end
You have to find what works for you and operate within your comfort zone.
I am not comfortable taking medication. So I sacrifice a bit of sanity to stay within my comfort zone. Regardless, self awareness is key and the more I write the better. It took me three or four weeks to write this but it helps reinforce my own self awareness so I keep at it.
Now you …
Keep at it.
Eat. Live. Dream. ADD. Thoughts From Inside My Skull
My name is Andrew. I was diagnosed with ADD at the age of five, and have grown up with it. This is the window through which I discover more about ADHD. The pages on the newsfeed are my favorite ADHD related pages, so that I may, in turn, directly share with others those things which I find relevant, useful, or just plain goofy.
~ Andrew Wilcox