"Suspected Bank Robber's Pants Explode"

[cleolinda]

Lamictal, Day 7: It's weird--I don't feel like I'm "on drugs" at all, which is a sign that it's a good fit, but at the same time, I could definitely feel an effect earlier in the week that's fading now. So I have another week on 25 mg before we go up to 50 mg, at which point I'll probably feel it again. In the meantime, though, I keep forgetting

Comments

[rebel_waltz]

they didn't figure out that i was ADD until my junior year of high school because i wasn't hyperactive. it also took them that long to figure out i had a learning disorder in math and an extremely above average IQ, and should have been in their "talented and gifted" program. it sucks 'cause i barely made it through school and i could have been excelling. my mom was really angry 'cause apparently every year she'd tell my teachers there was something wrong and they would just tell her i was lazy and wouldn't apply myself, which so wasn't it, and would never tell her what she could do to find out.

[annlarimer]

I rarely paid attention in class; I was usually writing, in a notebook half-hidden in my lap, or under the cover of taking "notes," but there were a lot of classes where I was listening to the lecture with one ear and composing bad poetry with the other.

Wait. Wait. What?

That's not right?

Oh, damn.

[metonymy]

Those dolls are amazing. I want a bloody Caesar and Agrippina the Younger to decorate my office someday!

However, I showed it to my sister and told her I want one for Christmas, and she is grossed out. Darn.

[txvoodoo]

"(Which deserves a sidenote unto itself: I was the last person, literally the last person in the world, ever, that you would have suspected of being ADD, if your idea of ADD was "hyperactive." I was hypoactive. I spent my entire childhood in a book. It turns out, however, that a lot of girls manifest attention disorders as being very dreamy--not being hyper, per se. I rarely paid attention in class; I was usually writing, in a notebook half-hidden in my lap, or under the cover of taking "notes," but there were a lot of classes where I was listening to the lecture with one ear and composing bad poetry with the other. If that makes any sense, which it... kind of doesn't."

STOP STEALING MY MANIFESTATIONS OF DISORDERS, KTHNXBAI ;)

You just wrote a perfect profile of my youth.

[cleolinda]

See, this is why I keep talking about this kind of thing, because so many people seem to recognize it. : )

[txvoodoo]

One thing I've discovered - girls with ADD seem to be VERY creative. Not always very focused, but imaginative.

I think we discussed this before, but do/did you experience 'hyperfocus' as well? Where you'll just be so into doing something, to the exclusion of anything else? It's almost the exact opposite of the *definition* ADD, where everything distracts you, but is a very common thing in girls/women with ADD (without the H).

I get that a lot - I don't hear music, tv, whatever, if I"m in that mode.

[cleolinda]

I definitely get that--which is why suddenly not being able to pay attention at all now is really, really disconcerting. I don't know which is the cause and which is the effect, but I do think that hyperfocus and creativity are linked somehow--either because you can focus like that you can tap into your imagination better, or if you have a good imagination, maybe that causes hyperfocus. I don't know.

[bibliotech]

It turns out, however, that a lot of girls manifest attention disorders as being very dreamy--not being hyper, per se.

...really? I have to ask my doctor about that--one of the reasons I'm putting off going back to school is because I have so much trouble paying attention during lectures...I tend to start writing, reading a book, even falling asleep when I'm not even tired. I can do that and still pass English and Science-related courses, but there's no way I can sleep through Math.

[cleolinda]

I'm not a big advocate for "Go get drugged up every time you're less than perfect," but... if it's actually getting in the way of you doing something, yeah, definitely go talk to someone about that.

[bibliotech]

Oh, me neither--I hate it when any doctor responds to everything with "Here, try this pill and see if you'll like it". But I always thought I was just really bad at paying attention--if there's some way I can work past that/overcome it, I'd be thrilled.