does everyone with add have hyperfocus

[jessica]

ok i am still in the process of finding out if i have add , i actually wrote my dr a note telling him i think i have it after recearching it and finding out all the symptoms that i have and some of them i didnt even know were symptoms, i do beleive i was hyperfocusing. but the problem is now that i know what it is and that there is a name for it i find myself doing it more and today at work i could barly consentrate on my work i was forgeting what i was suposed to be doing and doing things and forgeting that i did them because i was so hyperfocused on if this is what i have then maby my life is going to be better and its a big relief knowing that all these years when i was "daydreaming' and i got in trouble at school and the girls at work who thought i was wierd were wrong and that just maby i can use this to my advantage and all these wonderful thought that are going through my mind could be used for better things and maby make a difference in the world. now that i know what it is all i want to do is use the special fealing that has always been in me and i alway thought i was going to do something or be something better than what i am now and finally be someone, ok i have to stop now because if i keep going im shure i could go on for hours, hope to put some more of my wonderful thoughts on her and would love to hear from you on if you feal the same and your experiences.

[jessica]

oh yes, as far as my family having add . because i have been studing add i know alot of the symptoms and i can pick them out and see them in my family members, no one has actually been diagnosed with add. now i did tell my dr that my family shows sighns of add and he said well maby it could be add, and this was after he already diagnosed me with the symptoms with my mom, but he said it would just be a name to it and it wouldnt actually help me with my problems. i finnaly just gave up on him. i didn't want to talk him into a diagnosis, if this is really what i have (which i think is ) i want to know for shure.

[Dr. Catherine Avery]

Do you know anyone who has been treated and is happy with their doctor? Word of mouth from other AD/HDers is the best way to find a good treatment provider.

[Christine]

Cathy,
We have been looking for specialists in our area and have come up with 0 doctors, 0 psychologists, 0 therapists, and 1 coach which we cannot afford!! Especially having possibly 5 affected family members, it would be nice to find a REAL specialist. My son has had hallucinations as a side effect and I have hit walls, but we cannot find a doctor anywhere...even on Chadd.

[Dr. Catherine Avery]

I just sent you a message. I may be able to tap into my contacts to see if anyone knows of a specialist in your area.

[Sarah Christine Gogstetter]

find another doctor, he's full of it. I was exposed to prenatal toxicity, not my mother's fault, but I doesn't mean I don't get benefit from knowing I have it and treating it.

[Martha Thomas]

HI Jessica
I agree with Catherine. Go to a clinic or professional who deals specifically with adult ADHD. You are not alone in all the struggles you describe. House cleaning, dishes and yes shut off notices. I know exactly where the after hours pay stations are for the electric company, the phone company and the gas company, because I have made midnight runs to each of those places to keep my services on or sometimes reinstate them. I used to say that if I could just go to the store and buy a basket of electricity I would be so much happier because when it was empty I would just go buy more and no one would be sending me threatening letters if I didn't.
At this point in your life it really does not matter if your mother used any drugs or not. You are dealing with your life and with your issues not hers. I have always known I would not be able to manage owning my own house because of my poor organization and "scatteredness", and so I rent happily, because I know that is the best I can do.
If hiring someone to help out with the household stuff is not feasible for you, would there be someone you could trade favors with? You mention you have worked with kids, some of whom have special needs. What if you proposed a trade with someone who needs child care once in a while...you watch little 'whats his name' and they clean your kitchen up.
As for the bills, if you have a steady bank account most utility companies can do direct withdrawl so that you never have to write the check. It just comes out of your acount and you get a statement telling you how much it was. This has saved me from those midnight runs. If setting this up with each company seems too overwhelming, ask someone to help you with it. Maybe your unltra organized neighbor or your type A cousin. Heck we ADDers have better thing to do don't we.
Please try to locate a specialist in ADHD and listen to that person, not the egg head who told you it was all your mother's fault and you should learn to live with it. Even if the drugs did impact you in utero, there are medications which can help with this. I can tell you with all of my heart that these medication have changed my life. it may take a little while to get it right but stick with it girl. ADDers are nothing if not hopeful and mostly resiliant. Take good care Jessica.
One more thing. Hyperfocus is not always a bad thing. If you have a skill or talent that really floats your boat then you probably already know that you love doing that thing and that you are good at it. ADHD often makes people very creative people, like you describe with the boy who has Asperger's. And if you can look at daydreaming as brain storming instead, you may find yourself in demand, working as the idea person, you know the one people go to to figure out a problem. Don't sell yourself short. I am an occupational therapist. guess what I do. I get to solve problems. Good luck gal.

[Dawn Leahy]

I know exactly what you are talking about. I have had the same issues plus I have depression and anxiety to boot. And PTSD. There is help. You don't have to deal with it all yourself.

What I have done to get the financial stuff under control is get a CashPass card at http://www.cashpass.com/ . There is a small fee but it is more than worth it. There is never an overdraft fee and you can have all your bills automatically paid by them. You can check your balance on line. If you go to the store and use your card, as soon as you get home you can check that it went through.

Solving the mess in your house is a whole nother task. I have a lot of difficulty with that. However, you can go to flylady for help. http://flylady.net/
"Are YOU living in CHAOS?
(Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome)
Do you feel overwhelmed, overextended, and overdrawn?
Hopeless and you don't know where to start?
Don't worry friend, we've been there, too."

Also, I have a letter box, a big one, hanging by my door so that I can put the bills in it when they come. That way I always know where they are. I use gmail.com which has a calendar so I can post things and it will send me 2 reminders when it comes time to do something or go somewhere.

I hope this helps you.

Take care

[Sabrina A]

FLYLADY!!!!

I had post-partum depression after I had my son. Just before getting diagnosed, a friend told me abot Flylady. OMG - was a life saver! Still use it from time to time. Just moved, and de-cluttering via the trashcan and my local Freecycle.org group have soooo helped my ADD-hyperfocus tendancy (i'm here mostly for my son, but looks like several in my family have various types of ADHD).

Now I'm almost anal about putting things back in their place. Ironically, searching for a roommate has given me a focus - anyone else find an external focus/reason for GYST helps?

Hyperfocus can be good when used accordingly, as I'm sure you've found. But yeah, it can bit us hard in the butt when it happens at the wrong time/wrong place.

[Eileen]

Ok, I know on an intellectual level that the Flylady is the goddess of organization and most ADDers swear by her. But that site annoys the garbage out of me! I can't find anything and it confuses and overwhelms me.

Figures. LOL!

[Kathryn]

Yiperee Sir. Hyper focusing sometimes is the only way I get things done. Only wish I could control it and use it to my advantage instead of losing hours focusing on one thing when I need to be doing something else.

[Lizard (aka, Butthead)]

When I am in my element at work I can get my game on, but it has to be a highly charged situation for me, it becomes a natural thing for me, with very little brain power and thought needed to fuel the machine, I believe all ADHD'ers have some form of hyper focus!

[Paula Thompson]

Hiya Jessica, are you in the UK? I'm in Yorkshire; I first started looking up about ADHD two weeks ago and have seen my doctor, who thinks I'm just depressed and am looking for something better than the meds I'm on (Citalopram); I told him I could go through a list of symptoms, both childhood and adult, and give several examples for each of them. So I'm going back on Weds to do just that. Like you, I'm wondering whether I am hyperfocusing on the whole thing; I can't stop thinking about it, my house is a wreck because all I'm doing is wandering from task to task imagining conversations with my doctor where I point out all the things I think show that I ought to be diagnosed with ADHD. I'm also wearing my own brain out overanalysing my every thought process - "Is that it?" "is this it?" - it's driving me mad! Have you seen your doctor yet? I'm thinking I might start a blog to get all my witterings out and maybe figure some stuff out in the process : )