adhd epitome of incomprehensibility The Diane_Van_Deren story resonated with me somewhat: I seem to have been born with less of a sense of time (timing rather than time, maybe) than many people, but other parts of my brain mitigate that. It must be harder to have a part of the brain totally cut out. Brain cells can grow, yes, but remove a chunk from their network of associations and things will be messed up somehow. Part A won't be able to communicate with Part B. I guess for both people like her and people like me there's life experience. I've learned better how to be on time for appointments, though I still struggle with long-term deadlines. So, if it's mainly about time, it's weird how something like that gets called attention deficit disorder and furthermore gets prescribed stimulant meds, of all things; I bet in another generation neurologists will find something more targeted. The short-lasting drugs like Ritalin seem to work well enough for younger people, though they have side effects, but I'm not sure if the longer-release ones like Vyvanse do more good than harm yet. That's the one I took for a few months. I didn't really need the appetite loss, the dry mouth, or the anxiety, and I can get the same stimulant effect by drinking tea. I'm glad the second doctor at the university decided I don't need that stuff. (Well, I never "needed" it. But it was something that helps some people focus.) Brains are so different from each other. What works for one person doesn't work for another. The same ability or disorder manifests in different ways in different people. Now if only we could stop Alzheimer's. That one's scary. It's progressive degeneration that will kill you on its own if something else doesn't kill you first. My mother has a friend whose husband doesn't recognize her anymore because of it, and he's under sixty. So yes, focus on that before we get to the neurological aberrations (are they even disorders?), even more serious ones like autism. Oh, but then you can argue that people struggle with those all their lives and it's (usually) only old people who get Alzheimer's. I don't know. So I'll leave the medical research advice to people who actually do the stuff. And yes, get back to preparing for the craft show that's tomorrow. Ha, there's evidence of my easy distractibility right here: I spent half an hour typing something up instead of actually working. But how much of that is personality? What is personality? 150815 ... epitome of incomprehensibility Just one more blathe before bed (pinky_swear). I just read ovenbird's August list on current_worries and I relate at least tangentially to so many... but about #2 in particular, I wanted to say... It can be tough, but in my experience with ADHD, it's more like an attention *regulation* problem than a deficit of attention. Sometimes the attention attaches itself to irrelevant stuff...but sometimes "distractions" = useful and meaningful things that other people might be overlooking. Then again, it's hard to predict what it will be like for any given person. But I can sort-of-confidently say a) the early diagnosis is good; he'll learn more targeted coping strategies earlier on than I did and b) it will probably be frustrating at times for both of you; some things will probably take him longer than they would for other people, but that doesn't mean he's less intelligent or friendly or worthy than his peers (as you know, but sometimes I need to tell myself this!) Oh, and personally, I find defined schedules to be a help rather than a hindrance. In high school and my summer camp job, I didn't have many problems going from class to class or activity to activity because it was already clearly spelled out. It was stuff like essay deadlines that I struggled with throughout high school and university - things that have to be done by a certain point but are somewhat undefined in their steps. 250925 ... ovenbird Thank you for sharing your experience! It's really helpful to know what has made things easier for other people. It's a work in progress navigating everything. 250926 what's it to you? who go blather from