[theoriginaldave]

I've struggled with ADHD my whole life. And based on my behavior, you'd think it was obvious. I have the inattentive flavor. When I'm "locked-in" on a task or subject, I can focus on it completely, and be completely inattentive to the rest of the world: the house might be on fire, but I've only got one more piece of code to finish.

Also, if I did manage to interrupt my fugue, it was almost impossible to finish the task: for a fossil collection that was half of my natural science semester grade, I spent a weekend walking a creek and limestone quarry and collected 500 fossils, twice the required, but after going home, I never sorted and labeled them, even though I knew what they were when I collected them. I ended up failing the class because of lack of 1 hour of cataloging.

This continued through the rest of school. I entered university with 29 credits due to testing (I can ace any test), but dropped out after two semesters because projects and self-study just didn't happen.

I got lucky in a job as a troubleshooter. Fly into a factory with a software problem, work 18 hour days to find and fix it, and leave a hero. Great for the career, but I would lose a fortune, because I would wait so long to do expense reports and pay credit cards.

This type of ignoring things that you desperately need to do, in lieu of the current easy to focus things is one of the major diagnostic distinctions between being lazy or unmotivated, and ADHD.

I was formally diagnosed with ADHD at age 42, and prescribed Adderall. And it was like shining a light on the world.

I'm 53 now and still taking Adderall.

There was definitely an Adderall honeymoon, but the lasting effects are also apparent.

I now 100% pay my bills on time, I maintain my car on schedule, I keep the house clean. My credit score went from about 500 (poor) to about 800 (excellent).

I still accrue debt and then have to work to pay it off, and lose money on interest, when had I planned I could have just paid cash.

And I'm still constantly harassed (good naturedly) by my Managers to do expense reports (they know I have an issue and accept it and are willing to work with me).

Probably with the right coaching, methods and strict oversight I could have done all these things without drugs, but I would have hated it.

I think the drugs improve my quality of life, and reduce the stress in my life immeasurably (I could probably measure it by stop using them for a year, but I'm not gonna!)

So I think the test needs to be:

1. Does ignoring the things you need to do make you miserable and feel like a failure?

2. Is your quality of life suffering?

3. Do you lose jobs,Relationships, because of these failures?

4. Does it prevent you from doing the things that would make you happy in life?