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Please Share Your ADHD Experiences!

Tell Us Which ADHD Trait You Turned From a Negative Into a Positive!

From the lens GrADDitude ADDitude for Attention Deficit Disorder.

Did you, your spouse, or your child, learn to Master ADHD by turning problematic ADHD traits into positive ones? If so, how did the problem trait originally present itself? What was the most important factor in turning that trait around, into a positive attribute? How does that trait present as a positive now? Let us know!

  • John G. May 14, 2011 @ 9:22 pm | delete
    Mu impatience and inability to wait in lines comes in handy when there's a traffic jam, or delay at one of New York's many bridges. I always get off and find my way around the side streets, coming out ahead 9 out of 10 times!
  • Irene May 2, 2011 @ 7:02 am | delete
    I was always told I talked too much and too fast. With medication and therapy, I've been able to slow down and give others a chance to talk! And I became a speech writer, which is a great outlet for all the stuff in my head!
  • gregofaspen May 1, 2011 @ 5:19 pm | delete
    I'm ADD from head to toe. was diagnosed in 1987 at the age of 43. there hasn't been much professional lit or research on ADD and the gray gen.
    I like your insight on how ADD impacts older folks.
    Also. I struggle mightily with the beloved (NOT) insurance bureaucrats. I am denied Rx coverage for VYVANSE (Shire). The insurance gurus say Shire never tested Vyvanse for adults. [Do these paper-pushers believe an ADD cure magicallly happens on everyone's 20th birthday?] . Once an ADDer, always an ADDer.
  • Dan T. May 1, 2011 @ 3:37 pm | delete
    True story! When I was a teen, I fell in with the wrong crowd. I quickly joined my "friends" in picking locks and breaking into our neighbors houses when they weren't home. The second time we got caught, my parents dragged me to a therapist. He figured out I'm ADHD. I got meds, therapy, and a coach. It's 10 years later and now I'm a locksmith!
  • Tim R. Apr 27, 2011 @ 7:44 pm | delete
    I channeled my need for a constant adrenaline rush from my risky behavior as a kid into my profession as a fireman! Love you ADHD & fireman info! Thanks!
  • Mike D. Apr 25, 2011 @ 11:42 pm | delete
    I was a hyper kid so my parents put me in every sport they could. Unfortunately, I sucked at sports! Competitive sports that is! As an adult, I discovered the gym and working out. I quickly made the connection between how I felt and whether or not I worked out. Now I don't miss a day if I can help it. When I work out my brain fog lifts. I am more focused and my wife tells me, much more pleasant!
  • Sue T. Apr 21, 2011 @ 8:56 pm | delete
    I was constantly getting called up to my kids school for one thing or another. This one forgot his homework, again. That one was crying because he was bullied on the playground. If the teachers weren't calling me, my kids were. They forgot the money for the field trip. They forgot their lunch, their sneakers for gym, their library book. They forgot everything! I finally gave in to the suggestion they have ADHD and got them help. With medication my boys hardly ever forget anything now! I haven't had a call from the school for months! Without all the reminders and corrections my boys are much happier!
  • Donna P. Apr 19, 2011 @ 3:09 pm | delete
    Disorganized my entire life, I was able to hide it until I had children. With the birth of each of my children, it became more difficult to hide my disorganization behind closed doors! First it spilled out of the closets onto the floor. Then it crept from the bedroom floors, out into the hall. Eventually the piles I told myself I would get to "later", spread down the stairs, and throughout the house. When my husband couldn't take it anymore he insisted I get help. I had taken medication for ADHD for years. I had been to numerous therapists. Much was better, but nothing really helped my disorganization. Then I found an ADHD Coach who diligently worked with me to find a way I could organize that made sense to me! My house will never be one of those pristine, sparse, showcase homes but now everything has a place, that makes sense to me, so things usually wind up where they belong. We no longer trip over things as we go down the hall and I don't waste time going from room to room, searching through piles, looking for things because now I at least know which room and pile it is in!
  • Jack Z. Apr 18, 2011 @ 1:10 am | delete
    I was the annoying kid who disrupted the classroom when I was bored, was the life of the party in high school and college. In my mind I was exuberant, funny, clever and outgoing. Once out of college and into the real world, I began to have trouble at work because I wasn't consider exuberant and outgoing but loud and obnoxious. As I moved into my 30's, I began to realize I was the only one laughing at my jokes. I was the recipient of many negative reactions to my innocent shenanigans. Then a friend mentioned I might have ADHD. Long story, short. Vyvanse helped me turn my life
    around! I no longer talk too much, laugh too loud and long or get myself in awkward situations due to speaking without thinking! I'm stiil outgoing and funny but am much more appropriate about it.
  • Thomas P. Apr 15, 2011 @ 8:41 am | delete
    I've always been known as one of the most negative people you ever met! I was a seriously hard core negative, brooding, angry, depressed dude! Years, of twice weekly ADD Coaching has finally turned me around! I wasted the first year by responding to every thing Coach Regina said with, "Yes, but..." followed by a negative rebuttal discounting her advice! Despite my obstinate, contrary attitude, and self sabotaging refusal to cooperate with medication adjustments, Regina patiently kept chiseling away at my thick negative shell. Early into my second year of coaching the first crack appeared in my hard shell and Regina began to get through to me. It took that full year to get the right ADHD meds and dose for me, but was it ever worth it! My meds give me a clarity and focus I NEVER had. With that I finally feel in control of my life AND ADHD! Am I all Polyanna now? Of course not! But I've stopped self sabotaging and am no longer angry 24/7! Now I'm able to process and hold onto all the coaching tips, advice and suggestions Regina provides. I am WAY less negative! Even better, now I almost always catch my negative statements before I spout them and turn them around into a positive comment! Everyone in my life is amazed at the change! For the first time in my life my family relationships are good. I'm attracting new, healthier people into my life. After years of my business floundering it is now slowly, but consistently, growing! I wasted a lot of time thinking Regina was trying to sell me an impossible bill of goods. I was SO wrong! My life isn't ideal, but whose is? The bottom line is my life is a million times better than I ever knew it could be because of the right meds and Regina's ADD Coaching!
  • ADDCoach Apr 15, 2011 @ 8:51 am | delete
    Tom, Thank you for such a kind and generous endorsement! Truth be told, you deserve all of the credit. You had a lifetime of undiagnosed, misunderstood ADD, and the painful experiences which accompany that, to overcome. Despite not believing/understanding my messages in those early days of our work, you found the inner strength to keep your appointments and continue listening to me. You worked very hard to move forward in your life and deserve every good thing that comes your way! Congratulations!

by

ADDCoach

Regina Cashman is an ADD/ADHD Life Coach  in private practice  for over 25 years. Regina previously worked as a Social Worker and a Medical Psychotherapist.... more »

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