Luke's Page

Can ADD be seen as a dopamine deficiency that limits pattern recognition and ultimately a feeling of god, a higher power, or religiosity in general?

A lot of current research shows ADD as having low levels of dopamine in certain brain areas. Most stimulants used to treat symptoms of ADD act as dopamine reuptake inhibitors – increasing the amount of extra-cellular dopamine available for synaptic transmission in neuronal communication. Other research shows the normal role of dopamine as regulatin… Continue

A large part of my struggle in dealing with an alcoholic family and my ADD has been learning to live my own life. This involves pursuing my own goals and finding ways to enjoy my free time. My co-dependant coping mechanisms meant that my goals and motivations are based entirely on what other people think and what I believe they expect of me. My ADD especially convinced me that all my natural desires were wrong and that I needed to learn how to live by mimicing others. So when I finally stopped t… Continue

I am unsure where or how to start the story of my ADHD because it only occurred to me as a possibility when I was 23 (about 18 months ago). There is so much I am still learning about it even though my dad and sister were diagnosed almost 10 years ago. It never really interfered with my grades – until college – for a few reasons:

1. I have a good deal of natural intelligence. I don’t say this to boast only to try and explain that building conceptual models in my mind for how the world works has… Continue

One time I remember sitting in the library and watching a guy read a page in a textbook straight through. His eyes started at the top of the page and moved progressively along each line to the bottom. HOW IS HE DOING THAT!! There was no flipping back and forth to other pages or nervous fidgeting. I tried to imitate him but by the time I read the first sentence I could feel my skin start to crawl. My eyes began to search the page for an illustration or equation or other object to focus my attenti… Continue

Just over the last few weeks I have been trying to develop more of a sense of self while making sure that it is a positive sense of self. I feel very successful and credit a lot of that to my writing and also to trying to feel my emotions. I also have been able to stop – temporarily at least – thinking that at certain points of the day I “should” be doing something more constructive. I don’t know if I was criticizing myself but I never took any time to consider what I wanted. Part of my learning… Continue