CoJ Regulars (and regular lurkers)- ADD? (Page 3)

WOW...my hat is off to you if you are able to do that type of work with ADD...I can't even balance a checkbook.  Luckely I have a wonderful and very organized wife who after 1 husband and 3 children (now grown) and 1 grandchild with ADD has not gone out and jumped off of a bridge

One thing to remember about the disorder is that it is incorrect to say that we can't "focus"...problem is that we can "focus" on multiple things at once.  Now, if you are an IT guy/gal that is writing code then ADD is a problem but if, like me, you were a Fire Chief and you needed to watch 10-15 things at one time at the scene of an emergency and be able to process info at the speed of light...then that problem becomes as asset.

I wish I could find someone in the Atl. area to go and see about this.  My family Dr. will not write Rx for adult ADD and he doesn't have anyone to recommend.  I have gotten by to this point but since I retired I have promised the wife that I would seek medical attention to some issues (ADD, depression,etc) that as a testosterone filled fireman I wouldn't go near...so maybe I am not growing old...maybe I am growing UP. 

Edited to add:  BTW, I scored 94 on the test.

Cool quiz - I scored 67.

Lara, the book was mentioned just after my post.

My spouse DOES do 'the boring stuff'!! I am constantly amazed the stuff he remembers to do/follow-up on, etc. I am sure he is continually amazed by my astonishing scatter-brained-ness. He never criticizes though. Musta caught me a good un.

The way we shrinks are starting to think of this is that is a disorder of regulating attention.  So you can have problems with shifting attention, or screening out "distractions", or initiating attention, or sustaining attention to task completion (especially for boring things).  This is why you can have someone who can't seem to read a book, but can spend hours playing video games.  Or respond to the chaos of an emergency, but can't get through a TV show or movie.

BTW, it's not really "adult onset", more like adult-persisting, or adult-recognized.  Technically, you need to have had symptoms since early childhood in multiple settings.  (I was got a call from a young man whose girlfriend told him he must have ADD because he did not pay enough attention to her.  Since he didn't report any problems in childhood, and apart from the girlfriend had no current issues, I told him to save his money).