Amazing, isn't it, that the question, "Is this a real disorder?" is asked or thought by so many who do not have to live with it. I have lived with ADHD all my life, but not diagnosed and treated until age 56. What a tangled mess of debris left from which to climb out. Feel so bad for children whose parents refuse to or only periodically allow their children to be medicated. Now 63, I shutter to imagine how I would be functioning now without medication. But the saddest thing to have dealt with has been the cruel comments & lack of support & understanding from family, friends & many professionals who think your using it as an excuse and there's no such thing. If they only knew.