I think I may have ADD

[dulcie harris]

First off i'm 18.
I have very little ability to pay attention in class and at home studying. I often find myself starring out the window or fiddling with my pen and not actually soaking up anything said. I will often just stare at the teacher and not adsorb any of the material.
At home is the same. I have incredible difficulty begining study/homework, and will rarely be able to acheive a satisfactory level of concentration. I will usually stop studying after about 10 minutes.
I don't, however get any of the hyperactivity symptoms that are normally associated with ADD.
This is my final year of school and I desperately want to do well to get into the uni course i want to study.
I'm living in australia, and i was wondering what i should do about this.
If i just see my doctor and explain my symptoms what can he do for me? will he need to do further investigation/tests?
any help would be highly appreciated.

 

[lazygit]

ADD is without hyperactivity, ADHD with

 

[mrs_mia_wallace]

you will have to get tested and its a long process. Not being able to pay attention is not a sure sign you have ADD or ADHD, nor is only being able to study for ten minutes. the symptoms go beyond difficulty paying attention.

here is more info:

http://www.helpguide.org/mental/adhd_add_diagnosis.htm

ADD/ADHD also doesn't come on in your late teens. It's usually brought to attention much younger; symptoms have to have been present before the age of 7 for you to meet the DSM criteria. (I was diagnosed in grade school).

But what are you hoping for, drugs or behavior modifications/counseling, or both? You can easily get counseling/behavior modification therapy. Your school probably has some help you can get. From my experience docs are cracking down on prescribing stims because so many people are abusing them, most of my friends who used to get adderall can't get it anymore unless they have a diagnosis. and then you have to go through the whole ladder of stims starting at the bottom. And honestly, the drugs will help you but they will only help you have the abiltiy to use the coping mechanisms you learn, they aren't magic (though I wish they were).

 

[sssssssssss]

you dont need medicine to get over your add.
you can train your brain yourself.
unless you just want the adderall ha.

i have add, but when i took medicine all the time it made me real dull, so i stopped.
you just gotta find other ways around learning besides listning to a lecture.
if you take notes the whole time hes talking its easier cause you see it, and hear it. its hard to not focus when you do that, but with just one of the other it seems almost impossible for me to obtain it.