Ally, have you been to a doc yet? I'm interested in hearing about your diagnosis if you have been. What you described sounds so much like me.

I can't concentrate. My mind is always jumping from one thing to another and I get so frustrated because I feel like I can't do a good job of anything. I can't be in a room where a clock is ticking or else I won't be able to focus on anything else. I feel like I get sensory overload all the time. It seems to be getting worse as I get older. I can't sit still and watch a tv show or a film. I have to be doing something else at the same time. I can't just do one thing. It's helpful sometimes because I'm in a job where I have to multi-task and I'm pretty good at that. When I want to put all my focus on something, though, it's such a struggle and I get so frustrated... and then I get depressed because I know I'm not accomplishing everything I'm capable of accomplishing. If I could just calm down and focus, I would get so much more done. I waste so much time.

Once in a while, I'll find my focus and get really lost in a task -- and that feels great. It doesn't happen very often, though. When it does happen, I will stay up all night to get something done... just because it feels so good to finally get something done.

I'm being treated for anxiety and depression. I'm doing okay with those right now. A psychiatrist a couple of years ago told me I was bipolar -- because of my depression and because of the fact that I sometimes stay up all night when I'm writing or drawing something. My doctor and another psychiatrist disagree with that diagnosis, though.

Anyway, this is a long post. It had never occurred to me that I might have ADD. Last night, though, a friend told me that after he had known me for a couple of days he knew that I had ADD. He's a disabilities resource facilitator/councillor and works with lots of university students with ADD. He said he it in me almost right away and the more he has talked to me and talked to me about the way my mind works, the more he's positive that that's what's going on with me. He has it too. He said it's very common for people to get diagnosed with soft bipolar when what they really have is adult ADD.

Lack of focus didn't cause many problems for me when I was a child because I had a nearly photographic memory. It didn't matter that I couldn't sit still and focus long enough to study because I only had to scan a page once in order to memorize it. I also got my work done much more quickly than other kids and then would spend the rest of the class time daydreaming or drawing pictures or alphabetizing things in my head and counting down the minutes until I was allowed to get out of my chair.

It's bothering me now, though, because there are so many things in my life that require focus -- like editing a magazine, doing my taxes, cleaning my flat, etc. and I spend so much time just jumping around from one thing to another... I don't get much done... and then I get depressed because I feel like such a failure.

Does this sound like ADD to anyone? Could that be what's going on with me?