Reddit reviews Answers to Distraction

It will not change who you are, it will just correct a chemical imbalance in your brain. Say someone is near-sighted, they would wear glasses to correct their vision. Yes, the world will look different, but it will help you function on the same wavelength as everyone else.

I would suggest giving it a chance. You can always stop taking the medication if you don't like the way it feels. Speaking from experience it has helped me tremendously, and even after going off the meds after taking it for an extended period, you will retain many good habits you built while taking them.

If you do decide to take the meds, its all or nothing. Don't go into it expecting it to change you, or it will.

And if you are really opposed to taking the meds I would suggest the Book answers to distraction, written by Doctors who specialize in ADD. Hollowell has ADD himself so he also has a lot of insight to offer.

http://www.amazon.com/Answers-Distraction-Edward-Hallowell-M-D/dp/0307456390

I literally read this passage this morning

>An important, and often overlooked part of both learning disabilities and ADD is the social consequence of having them. ADD can interfere with one's interpersonal life just as dramatically as it does with one's academic or job performance. To make friends, you have to be able to pay attention. To get along in a group, you have to be able to follow what is being said in the group. Social cues are often subtle: the narrowing of eyes, the raising of eyebrows, a slight change in tone of voice, a tilting of the head. Often the person with ADD doesn't pick up on these cues. This can lead to real social gaffes or a general sense of being out of it. Particularly in childhood, where social transactions happen so rapidly and the transgressor of norms is dealt with so pitilessly, a lapse in social awareness due to the distractibility or impulsivity of ADD can preclude acceptance by a group or deny understanding from a friend.^1

You're in high school right? high school is a difficult time to be introverted, because everyone demands you live your life a certain way and act a certain way, and anything else makes you an outcast. Get through it. It is difficult, but life isn't like high school. In the real world you won't be interacting only with people within 2 years of your age. you won't be interacting only with people who want to go do things or judge people all the time. There are lots of types of people out there and high school is not a good slice of them. Get through high school, and head to the rest of your life.

It took me a while to realize that being an introvert is fine. Mostly because my fiance is one too. We sat down one day and both said "It's annoying that everyone wants to do things with us, why can't we just be alone with ourselves?". we are both introverts, and we enjoy it this way. Other people may not understand it, but we have fun, we enjoy life, and we have friends. we just don't need to jump every time someone mentions a movie or thing. We just don't need people the way other people do. It is hard to accept, but we came to understand it and are happy with it. It is hard for other people to accept, but we don't really care about that anymore. WE are happy, and that's all that matters.


^1 Driven to Distraction by Edward M. Hallowell, MD and John J Ratey MD^2: i'm only a chapter in and its a great book. find it and read it.^3

^2 The authors are psychologists and also live with ADD (at least one does, I haven't gotten very far). But they are considered the defining accessible sources on living with ADD.

^3 If you can't focus on a book like this very well, get Answers to Distraction this one is made in a FAQ format in smaller pieces.

The distraction series by Dr. Edward M. Hallowell M.D. The first one is driven by distraction. I am going to list the amazon links and the order they were written in.

Driven to Distraction (Revised): Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder

Answers to Distraction

Delivered from Distraction: Getting the Most out of Life with Attention Deficit Disorder

I highly recommend those books

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I even more recommend listening to Dr Russel Barkley on youtube. He is a doctor who has been studying ADHD for over 30 years now, and he is a gifted public speaker and explainer of ADHD. You can watch the videos on your computer or media device. You will find more than a dozen of these videos on youtube, some a couple mins some 3 hours long. The essential idea for parents is the best one, it deals with 30 different parts about adhd such as what causes it and how best to treat it, and all the science behind it. It is not just for parents but anybody that wants to learn about adhd...Linky

Now I use a website called clipconvert cc Without using any software you can give this website a link and it will give you an option to download a youtube video as a video, or a music file of many various file types. All the work is done on their computers and servers. They do have software you can download that does the same thing, but please do not bother with this. Note if you do not read the directions they will automatically download (but not open) the software that allows you to do this on your computer, there's a checkbox you uncheck to make them do it on their computers. [b]They also do have a lot of pop ups on their website, close them and do not click on them.[/b] I do not know how safe the pop ups are but the website itself is safe.


Thus you can have a mp3 to listen to while driving, on the bus, exercising, cleaning up the house, etc.