[SteveAlejandro]

I have had/do exemplify a lot of the tendencies on these forums. My family has a long history of these as well. My story will sound exactly the same as most people's, with the only exception being, I've never been on medication.

I will ask this question without going into a ton of detail. Is it possible through self realization, willpower, and discipline to recognize our gifts/failings and use/beat them?

[lil_bit]

absolutely YES. I was told I have ADHD..oh..about 3 years ago and have never taken any medication for it. I am still an honors student in school (and always have been), i still have a job, and friends...so basically my life is still normal. My ADHD is a a pretty mild case though...so things might be different with a more severe case..I'm not sure.

Don't get me wrong, I have my randomly annoying moments, like I know I'm "acting up" but can't really stop it. But my friends have learned to deal with it, they just kind of tune me out haha.

Okay so to wrap up my novel here lol...yes it is possible.

yes...but only by learning how to control it while on meds.
then once you get good at recognizing and controlling it on meds, you can learn to do the same thing off meds.
without them, i personally don't think it's possible.

[Milou]

I don't know about "beating" it...it's the way your brain is wired. There's good along with the bad.

Also, what do you mean by "on your own?" I'm assuming you mean without meds, but maybe you mean without meds or therapy or anything?

Sometimes there are pretty compelling reasons not to use meds. For instance you may want to serve in the armed forces, or you or someone you live with may have addiction issues.

Other than that, though, I disagree strongly that meds are as evil as many advocacy groups would like you to believe. When my son was diagnosed we puttered around with reward charts for several months. They made his behavior at home tolerable, but he still wasn't accomplishing squat at school. He was basically learning to hate school and no amount of health food and exercise was going to change that. After I read that not giving meds can actually *increase* an ADD kid's chance of turning to illegal drugs to self-medicate later on, we put him on Ritalin and haven't looked back. I now regret the amount of propaganda and guilt tripping that society puts on parents of ADD kids and adults with ADD. There are people shooting off about ADD who really have no idea, and our treatment choices are none of their business. I don't know if that was your concern, so forgive me, and thank you for indulging my vent.

I was diagnosed when my son was, and I take Adderal when I have to have my frontal lobes working on all cylinders, such as when I have bills, organizing to do, or work. I don't even feel the meds and I certainly don't feel high from them. I do feel like, for the 3 hours that the meds are working, I'm close to "normal." I've had problems with my self-esteem that sometimes escalate into depression because of going through most of my life for "screwing up" and not accomplishing what I feel like I should have, and not knowing why, and whereas knowing about ADD helps, knowledge alone doesn't help me function any better. Of course meds aren't the only form of assistance out there but as far as they go they're quite effective in my experience. Personally, I'll take all the help I can get from whatever quarter. Just my 2 cents.

[AAAAA]

Steve you do not say how old you are. My son, now 20 has ADHD along with a handful of learning disabilities. He was always on the smallest dose possible of medication and never in the summer.

Each year he would start the school year without meds to see if he was able to succeed without them. 9th grade was the magic year. He has been able to be without the meds since then. It took some allowances such as the more complicated classes being in the morning because he was more focused then.

Also he had, and I do not know if this was unique to him, a "superfocus" mode. When something was interesting to him he was able to tune everything else out. He was fortunate to have teachers that really loved the subjects they taught and made the material interesting. His disabilities prevented him from taking notes and his tests were given to him orally, but he excelled in mainstream classes.

I think the key is finding something that catches your interest. My brother was diagnosed in the early 80s and at that time it was a "rare brain disease that only affected boys". And I highly suspect my father had it as well because also had that intent focus. Both are highly successful in their carrers, both have jobs they really enjoy doing.

[livingwithadd]

AD/HD affects each person differently some people can thrive on their own. But many people really benefit from help and support from medical and mental health professionals.

[embarassed]

Are you SURE you have ADHD? It doesn't sound like you have it. It sounds like you were misdiagnosed. I don't mean to sound rude but I get really offended when people claim that they "beat" ADHD. It's insulting to the people who actually have it. You can't just "beat" it.

Some can, some can't. Depends on how much it is disrupting one's life, how long its been a problem, and how difficult it is for him/her to make the changes needed to cope with the effects of the condition.

Diagnosis of course is itself a tricky business. Tendencies, characteristics, symptoms do not a diagnosis make yet that's about all they really have with which to assess a person. No blood levels or brain wave activity that can be examined to provide conclusive results. So either way one looks at it the treatment for ADD like so many other mental disorders is at best treating symptoms. Not a specific 'illness' per say.

Without the ability of science to provide me an unqualified diagnosis my preference is to deal with symptoms rather than labels. Making changes to how I do things, how I think about things and respond to things.... in ways that help reduce the negative impacts of this or that disorder.

While some people's symptoms may be so severe as to require long term medication I think the majority of us can learn to cope without medication or at least without long term use of medication.

I think coping as a kid.... being in school has to be the worst possible environment. It is no surprise to me that medication would be of benefit in helping a child adjust. I just wish the environment could change a little more... alot more.... to accomodate the kids better and reduce the need for medications in the classroom. That's the part that breaks my heart. Needing to medicate our kids rather than having school systems more accommodating to them. I'd venture to bet even the 'normal' kids would prefer a more stimulating, faster pass, hands on, open learning environment.

It broke my heart to watch as my son's spirit was being squashed in kindergarten getting him to sit still and pay attention. This wonderful little ball of energy and excitment told repeatedly to stay focused. As he went through the system hearing over and over.... your son needs to take responsibility for his education. Year after year the building of demands and expectations; disappointments and failings. By the time he hit grade 9 he'd learned how to zone out in the classroom. Teachers said nothing till it was time to report he wasn't doing any work. They'd notice him getting up and down a lot and starting and stopping his work but he was quiet and polite and they had other behavioural problems so he was soon just left by the wayside.

I finally elected to homeschool my son. He now takes 50% of classes -- the academic course, on-line from home. It matches his learning style better. He can move from one subject to another as it suits him. He communicates online with his teachers and can have one-on-one consultation by request. He does 50% of his classes at school. All arts and trades course that are active and engaging. He gets enough time in school to socialize and enough time at home to keep up with the rest of the course work.

I know a number of families with kids with ADD who are opting for homeschooling. For me it has been a big challenge adjusting to having him home more and staying on schedule and on time given my own ADD issues. But we are getting better at it with practise and he is learning more and pulling off better grades. His self esteem and general outlook on life have also improved since being home half time.

It's much tougher on kids that's for sure.