[shanin666]

Hello all,
I am new here. I'm not sure if this belongs in ADD or Anxiety. I have been living with ADD and ADHD for the most part of my life. I was diagnosed at a very young age 7 or 8 I think (I'm 34 now) and was put on all kinds of "experimental" drugs at the time, Dexadrine, Ritalin...etc. I have always had trouble remembering things, following through, focusing as well as comprehension especially if it is a subject that doesn't particularly interest me.

I also struggle with Anxiety as well (This is a more recent thing, in the past 10 years or so) Which definitely doesn't help with the ADD and the racing thoughts and all that.

Anyways, I never liked being on the medications, they gave me headaches among other problems and I actually read somewhere that they are bad for you.

I have been managing my ADD on my own with OK results as long as i write things down, set reminders for myself and take things one step at a time, stick to a routine and so forth.

I even have cut down on my sugar intake as well as Cut Caffeine completely out of my diet in the past 2 years or so. I would say I was doing pretty well managing may symptoms for the most part.

- That is, until I hit a bit of financial hard times, my father was diagnosed with Cancer and my parents and I decided it'd be a good idea to move back in with my parent just so I could spend some time with my father before he goes as well as help my mother out during this time.

Fast forward to now. And my ADD is off the charts, really bad, my anxiety is thru the roof and Im overall just finding myself frazzled most of the time to the point where my to-do lists just are piling up, not getting done and I forgetting everything. Not to mention the constant worry and racing thoughts.

I think Most of this can be attributed to my mother, honestly. I love my parents, but my mother and I never really got along so well. My mother has anxiety as well and for as long as I can remember has worried me more about the things happening in my life or even things that haven't happened yet!

I always heard things like "If you don't call this person Right now, A., B. and C. is going to happen!"
"If you don't do this, that or the other thing, right now....etc..."

With her, everything has to be done right this minute. Even the errands that I run for her.

I am a business owner and I work from home, I cant always get up and stop the tasks I am working on to do something else. It is causing me to be distracted, not able to stick to my system of getting things done. Overall just sending me and my ADD over the edge.

And after all this, my mother judges and screams at me that my ADD is so bad and she cant take it.

My mother has always been somewhat verbally abusive to me.

I am wondering what I can do to maybe block my mother out so I can concentrate on the things i need to do. Or at least try to drown her out so Im not struggling with so much anxiety or ADD issues. It has also been causing me to be depressed on top of it! UGH.

I really hate having to feel this way about my mother and about myself in general. Any advice anyone could offer would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[Skeezyks]

Hello shanin666: Honestly... I don't know what to tell you about this. But I noticed no one had replied to your post. So I thought I would.

I don't know if you have a space in the home which is set up to be your office. Many years ago I worked with a guy who had a cubicle that was his office. People were always poking their heads in. He used to have a little red flag he would set out. And when the red flag was up, it meant he was not to be disturbed.

Perhaps what you need to do is to establish some firm time periods during which you are considered to be at work & are not to be disturbed. Perhaps put out a red flag... or a "Do Not Disturb" sign as a reminder. Your mom probably won't like it. And she'll probably try to transgress it. You're going to have to be strict about enforcing it. What this comes down to, in my mind, is establishing & enforcing personal boundaries. At least these are my thoughts with regard to your dilemma. I wish you well...