| How many people just don't believe that there is such | | | | knowing where I'm strong and where I'm weak. I have |
| a thing as "AD/HD"? | | | | a great ability to come up with ideas and I use that to |
| Usually, they blame bad parents with no disciplining skills | | | | make my living. It works! You need to find out what |
| for the hyperactivity. Some of them just say that | | | | you're good at and exploit those areas of your |
| teachers can't control their classrooms anymore | | | | personality. |
| because there's no longer corporal punishment. Others | | | | Just don't mope around thinking that AD/HD makes |
| point to too much sugar in our diets as the culprit. | | | | you "disabled." You're probably highly intelligent, and you |
| Surely it's sugar that makes AD/HD kids behave the | | | | have the ability to do many things at the same time. |
| way they do! In fact, all these things in combination are | | | | Plus, you're probably very creative. Your exuberance |
| probably the root cause. Right? | | | | for projects even tends to drive people around you |
| Hogwash. | | | | because you're just so inspired. You're awesome and |
| Oh, and you may have also heard the one about being | | | | don't even know it. |
| dropped on your head as a baby or having some | | | | When you're in grade school and all the kids think of |
| other jarring trauma to your skull causing your AD/HD. | | | | you as "the boy who's always getting punished" or the |
| Yet, they can't account for the fact that the majority | | | | girl who "can't sit still," it's very difficult to have a great |
| of people with AD/HD cannot point to any injuries of | | | | self-image. And if you have adult AD/HD, you're one |
| this type at all. | | | | of the lucky 15% that continue to have AD/HD for the |
| What's the deal? | | | | rest of your life. If you don't get to work on realizing |
| Scientists have seen a decreased activity in regions of | | | | what you're good at, you probably have crappy |
| the brain that control attention and activity through PET | | | | relationships, problems at work, and spend a lot of |
| (positron emission tomography) scans, and linked it to | | | | money that you shouldn't be spending. Whatever |
| an inability to process glucose properly, but they have | | | | negative behaviors that AD/HD causes in you have to |
| also studied the correlation between AD/HD and | | | | be addressed. You need to figure out how to cope |
| genetics. You didn't have bad parents. Your teachers | | | | with them so that you can move on and be a happier |
| weren't all spineless wimps, and your head probably | | | | person. Find people that will support you, and they |
| never met concrete or any other immovable object. | | | | might be online or offline. |
| Twenty-five to thirty-five percent of AD/HD people | | | | Other people who have AD/HD will understand what |
| have parents with AD/HD. In the general population, | | | | you're going through because they've been there |
| only 4 to 6% of people with AD/HD developed it with | | | | themselves. They may be able to give you a whole |
| no genetic correlation. Maybe it was a very distant | | | | host of solutions that you'd never think of on your own. |
| ancestor that barely even shows up in their genes | | | | When there's a good mix of people who have |
| anymore. Who knows? You just got it, and you | | | | controlled their symptoms with others who are just |
| shouldn't hate yourself for it. In fact, you should | | | | learning to will help. That's not to say that you shouldn't |
| consider yourself fortunate. As I see it, AD/HD actually | | | | also seek professional help and medication, if it's right |
| gives you an advantage. You're just smarter, faster, | | | | for you. But you need to feel better---about yourself |
| and your brain may be the human brain's next | | | | and the whole world around you. Stop being down on |
| evolution. At least, that's what some scientists think. | | | | yourself. It's probably the worst thing you can do! |
| You're ahead of the game, not behind it. | | | | Remember, you had nothing to do with AD/HD. You |
| Some AD/HD people find that medication helps them, | | | | didn't ask for it. It just found you. Work with it, and see |
| though I personally don't use it and I'm ADHD. Coming | | | | how you can make it the best thing that ever |
| up with ADD-friendly systems helps me, as does | | | | happened in your life. |