📝Let's quickly run through my life and see how ADHD has effected it.
I talk about suicide and depression in this post.
1. The Beginning
I was 6 years old, in first grade. My teacher told my mom that I couldn't sit still and was disruptive. My mom is
a special educator and takes me to the doctor at which point I am diagnosed with ADHD
and put on Ritalin.
ADHD stands for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It is a medical condition. A person with ADHD has
differences in brain development and brain activity that affect attention, the ability to sit still, and self-control.
ADHD can affect a child at school, at home, and in friendships.
- KidsHealth
The Ritalin helps with the focus and gives me a lot of energy! Being 6 years old, I don't really understand what this
ADHD is all about, I just want to play outside and run around with all this energy. I mean sure, I have to go to the
principal's office every day at 2pm to get another Ritalin, but I feel like I'm a normal kid.
My mom, being the special educator that she is and knowing the system like she does, gets my school to carve out little
accommodations for me. At the time, I didn't think things like taking standardized tests outside of the normal classroom
was helpful. I feel like I would have been fine taking those tests in the classroom, but whatever, I'm told that people
with ADHD have trouble taking tests if things like doors open unexpectedly?
Every couple of years, I switch medications. Ritalin was fine through elementary school but we switched to Adderall (I
think that gave me some weird heart beats), back to an extended release Ritalin (longer release means I don't need
a pick me up in the afternoon), before settling on Concerta (extended release and no heart issues).
In middle school, I'm at Boy Scout camp. There is an older kid in my camp that has ADHD but he proudly proclaims that he
went off medication and distraction is something that can be conquered with will power. He's a cool guy and
I internalize that my ADHD can't be blamed for anything and that I need to power through it.
It goes on like this through high school. I'm told that I'm smart and put in the gifted classes but my GPA is always
around 3.0. I get a computer when I'm 15 and it's off to the races. I could sit in front of that box for hours devouring
information. Tech blogs, gaming sites, and the old StumbleUpon extension opened my mind to so many possibilities in the
world. I end up going to a vocational school to learn how to do video editing / graphic design / web design and fall in
love with making websites.