2. Symptoms

I found out I had ADD when a friend of mine introduced me to a teacher of children with learning difficulties. She knew I had ADD before she told me! She was very diplomatic in that she didn't tell me; she gave me several resources to look at and to ensure I would do, she said she'd ask me what I thought the following week.

Of course I didn't know the significance at all. I just wanted to endear myself to her by becoming interested in a subject she taught! She gave me several books to read and several websites.

I did what was easiest and looked at the websites, then studied the list of symptoms on each. One site claimed that if you had 10 out of 12 symptoms, you almost certainly had ADD or ADHD.

I had all 12. And I had all symptoms on ALL the websites. Here are some:

Disturbed sleep
Inability to concentrate
Impulsive
forgetfulness
poor academic performance
difficulty completing tasks
being easily distracted
anti-social behaviour
mood swings
lack of organizational skills
tendencies to have allergies
interrupts others
impatience
indecisiveness
fidgets
loses things

"ATTENTION DEFECIT DISORDER ROBS MANY YOUNGSTERS OF THEIR CHILDHOOD. UNDIAGNOSED IT CAN LEAD TO A LIFE OF CRIME". Amanda Doherty, Sunday Mirror. February 13, 2000.
(she must have it - she can't spell deficit!)

But my favourite of all:

Being Late all the time - Hooray! "It's not my fault!" (in my best Applemac voice) Wish I could tell all my former teachers and employers that one!

I'm told there is no definitive diagnosis, as other things can cause the same symptoms; head injuries for one. And I wouldn't at all be surprised to learn that I was dropped on my head as a baby! Seriously. I had malnutrition when I was eight months old.

"Anyway, only thick, backwards people have Attention Deficit Disorder, right?" I thought (my ignorance knew no bounds). Maybe the list of high achievers at http://www.adhdrelief.com/famous.html will put that myth to sleep.

Winston Churchill?
Dustin Hoffman?
JFK?
Robin Williams?
Cher?
Albert Einstein?

I suddenly felt I was in good company!