Hi everyone,

I am an 17 (about to turn 18) high school student. Sorry if my English skills are poor, I have been learning the language for a couple of years only and this is my first year in an American high school. I recently came to wonder whether or not I had ADD/ADHD: I never heard of it before but many people asked me if I had ADD since I came to my new American high school. I never got a diagnosis but during my whole life it was pretty obvious to me and everyone around me that I had some kind of concentration problem. Since I was in 7th grade many people thought I was taking drugs and did not believed me when I told them I did not take anything (marijuana, etc.). I scored extremely high on the ADHD test on this website (I answered Very much to most questions), I scored high on the OCD test, and I also scored moderately high on the bipolar and schizophrenia tests.

Since I was very little, I never did well at any school subjects (although I won national awards in mathematics contests, I was probably the only participant who was failing his maths class!). I was always lazy and I never did my homeworks. Usually, a school year went like this: at the beginning of the year, I felt extremely motivated and wanted to get a near-perfect score on everything. This feeling of motivation usually lasted 2-3 weeks and then it went away. I got addicted to many things ranging from video games to the internet and this is where I spent most of my time. I never had any friends until this year and I was beaten up quite often (this stopped when I came in my new American school). Right now, as before, it is extremely difficult for me to concentrate in class, even though I want to. When the teacher speaks, I can usually listen for a few minutes (sometimes a few seconds) and then my mind starts to wander. I come back to class a few minutes later, having missed a big part of the class. I then tell myself "stop thinking about random unrelated things" but it starts again after a few minutes and the class ends without me having learned anything. This happens in most classes. When I try to read a textbook for a homework assignment, I cannot concentrate on it and I always feel I have to do something else, which is why I usually don't do my readings. This also happens when I watch a movie: my mind wanders and I come back to the movie 10 minutes later and I just think "damn, I just missed 10 minutes of the movie, what happened?". It doesn't seem to happen when I play computer games.

Anyway, here is what I need: I recently got a conditional offer from the College I want to attend but I need to get outstanding grades in some specific exams (AP exams). I am completely behind in a specific class that consist mostly of textbook reading. I cannot get myself to read the textbook: I always procrastinate and when I do read it I cannot find a way to concentrate, it's the same as in class. I sometimes wander for 50 consecutive minutes and I only get back to reality once the bell rings (but it usually happens in 'chunks')!

Please note that I do not really want to take medication because I have heard many bad things about it and I do not want to screw up my brain. I just want a way to stop procrastinating and to help me concentrate better. The stop procrastinating part is the most important, I always have positive thoughts during the day thinking "today I will start studying X and Y" but when I get back home I don't. When I find some time to do so, I stop after a few minutes. I am sorry if this post is not very clear and organised, I was just trying to express how I feel but it is very hard to do so.

theguyonline

Results of your
Attention Deficit Disorder Quiz

You scored a total of 112

It is highly likely that you are presently suffering from adult attention deficit disorder, according to your responses on this self-report questionnaire. You should not take this as a diagnosis of any sort, or a recommendation for treatment. However, it would be advisable and likely beneficial for you to seek further diagnosis from a trained mental health professional immediately.

70 & up Adult ADHD
50 - 69 Moderate ADHD
35 - 49 Mild ADHD
25 - 34 Borderline ADHD
0 - 24 No ADHD likely