ADD or too smart for my own good?

Hello all,
First of all, I haven't ever been diagnosed with ADD by a doctor and have some questions. I am currently 30 years old.

If you have been diagnoses with ADD how did you know you had it?

I am not sure if I had the disorder but I seem to score very high on the 3 tests that I took.

I seem to fit the profiles of those inflicted with ADD from what I've read so far. Except I have been able to hold a job, so far. I've had the same job for about 11 years right out of technical school.

Throughout high school I remember not being able to pay attention to what the teacher was saying. I'd read the textbook to learn what needed to be learned or I'd totally tune out and slide by with usually a B grade. If I read the textbook I was actually reading the textbook while listening to the teacher teach I believe. I ended up going through high school with pretty decent grades though. In my senior year I skipped so many days of school that if I missed anymore days then I wouldn't have graduated.

I never really got into trouble with the law other than ton's of speeding tickets. There was quite a few occurences in my teen age years that would've been trouble with the law if I had gotten caught. I didn't seem to have a problem bending a rule(law) if I didn't see anyone get hurt.

Habits such as drinking, partying, etc seemed to be my youthfull pastime as I only seemed to like to do what was different and "new" to me.

I was smart enough and had good enough grades to go to most colleges but I didn't think that far enough ahead.
I ended up going to a technical school for electronics kinda by sheer luck because someone at a grocery store I worked at, at the time, was all excited about going there.
Most of the subjects were in the technical school were already covered in my high school because I was in the academic program in my school so I slid by without having to study at all. I ended up with a 3.7 grade point average, but I don't remember ever studying. I just never seemed to be able to sit down and study.

After I got out of technical school I ended up getting a good job at a major electronic manufacture and service company. I remember it was one of the first times in my life that I remember following through on something. The guy that hired me kept saying he had to be carefull about who he hired for this position. I kept calling him and asking him if he had made a decision. I saw it as a challenge to get the job and ended up with it I believe because of my ability to not give up.

This job ended up being a very high stress environment. As I think back this job seems to have been a drug for me. I was fixing computers and other business equipment onsite and was dealing directly with customers. I seemed to be getting a rush out of satisfying the customer and seeing how quickly I could respond to service calls. At first the job didn't require much planning really. I just got my service calls on my handheld gizmo(technical term lol) and I just ran the calls in the quickest way possible. I work on everything from cash registers to high end internet backbones. Much of the work required someone who could look at the whole picture and someone who was interested in almost everything thrived in that environment.
If I ended up with service calls left over at the end of the day, I would get perterbed and be grumpy when I got home. If I had everything done, then I'd be very fun to be around. Most of the time I got everything done, something my managers loved on their reports.
About 3 years into my carreer the company started providing laptops because of the email monster that was enabling companies to comunicate so much faster. The laptop was a new qizmo for me to play with and I took to it like flies to honey. Only problem was I was spending hours and hours reading and sending email.
I got promoted to Senior technician for my area. Thats when I really got frustrated. I feel like I am chained to my desk whenever I'm sitting reading email. I usually have at the very least 5 windows open and many times up to 15 windows open tabbing back and forth between them. I am very efficient switching between tasks, but many times never get anything done. I don't pass on responsibility to the guys I am supposed to manage very well either. I end up making any excuse I can to go back out and run service calls.
When I type up an email I end up taking up to an hour re--reading and editing it because I seem such a perfectionist. I also have trouble writing in a concise readable manner. What I mean is I have a huge problem keeping my emails short and to the point.
On emails that I recieve I tend to parse words and get mad over things that seem minor to most people. I seem to overcomplicate everything. I am currently frustrated enough at work to possibly one day give up and quit. Hopefully I'm to hard headed to quit.

I had a change in my life recently when my wife and I were blessed with a healthy baby boy a year ago. This wonderfull blessing has made my life more complicated as well as blessed. The biggest reason I'm currently questioning myself is I need to do whats best for my child. Currently I come home from work and never actually leave it. I am always thinking about what I didn't get done and its interfereing with how I am treating my wife verbally. I flip out over the littlest things. I have never harmed my wife or child, but I am very concerned about my short fuse.
For the past 2 weeks I have really been thinking about the possibility of me having ADD and my wife said something that struck me. She said she wants grumpy hubby back. She doesn't like to see the torment that I have been putting myself through lately and she wants the grumpy me back. Well I don't want the grumpy me back I want the happy me back. I'm just sure at this point when that was. In my head I feel happy but at the same time am always thinking about what I didn't get done, so I act grumpy.

I used to think that people were too lazy to think. Nowadays I wish I could stop thinking so damn much.

BTW, I took the adult ADD screening test on this website and my average score is from about 104-112 depending on the mood I'm in.
http://psychcentral.com/addquiz.htm

Hello all, I am a 31 yr old CPT in the Army who took ritalin as a child, but as I have gotten older I have noticed that certain times in my life the ADHD has been stronger and weaker. I am in Kuwait now and it is hitting me like a hammer. Just keep on having these sever up and down mood swings and inability to focus on anything (wonder if its the heat its 124 today)
Any way, I have had some luck with caffeine pills to cope with it. Helping a litte but I cant seem to really get it down here, Any one else had any luck with caffeine.

Thinking of over the counter medicine, any suggestions as the army doesnt like meds for such a dissorder.
Thanks in advance

This board isn't heavily traveled. For myself I take Meds. Here is a link to a very busy board that will have more info on alternative medication.

http://www.adhdnews.com/forum/default.asp

Good luck

Hello my friend in Kuwait...first of all thank you and all the soldiers who are there with you. Come home safe.

Believe it or not, I have been using Amino Acid. I find I can focus better and that I am less bombarded with stimulation. I get it from GNC. Multi-complex Amino Acid. It's in a blue bottle. I have to double the recommended dose though.