Talking to my doctor about ADD/ADHD

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For a very long time I've had serious problems with my attention span. Nothing can keep my attention unless I'm doing multiple things at once otherwise I just get fed up and have to go do something else and then after a while I get bored of doing that too and move onto the next thing and then the next thing. I like playing computer games as it's my way of relaxing and so on. I'm a pretty big gamer nerd and I enjoy playing them a lot and in the past I'd play them for several hours straight after college but now I can barely keep playing a game for 30 minutes before I have to suddenly get up from my seat and do something else for a moment to 'refresh' myself and even then I can only continue for probably about 10-15 more minutes or not even at all because my attention to the game goes right out of the window.

When I was at college I had huge attention issues then and when lectures were going on I was just there trying to pay attention but was too busy wriggling around in my seat or doodling on my notebook so I could try and concentrate. Any time a tutor would talk for a prolonged period of time I'd feel my eyes dropping into the land of sleep and especially if I couldn't fidget or do something practical.

When people like family and friends are talking to me face to face I have to fidget and play with something so I can try and listen to them properly because of I can't fidget or constantly do something with my hands I end up switching off or don't listen to them at all. Sometimes I can also be really impatient in talking to someone and half way through the conversation I'll either just finish their sentences for them or when I've asked them a question I'll interrupt them.

I suffer a lot of issues with my motivation and I have a rough time in trying to motivate myself to do anything. Anything that also involves a lot of focus and mental concentration such as when I had to do homework while I was at college, it was so hard to doand I'd constantly keep putting it off from completing it until the very last minute especially because my motivation levels would sink to the bottom of the ocean.

I don't know whether or not this is to do with depression or if it's that I have ADD or something similar. I managed to get an appointment with a doctor for next Wednesday but here's the thing, I've told my mum that I have this appointment but not what it's about because she can be very critical and will only shoot me down telling me I just have an overactive mind, maybe I do but I'd rather go see a doctor to make sure but the biggest problem for me is, how can I talk to my doctor about these thigns without revealing that I think it may be ADD/ADHD? If I'm wrong I'll feel quite daft if I suddenly go up to her and say, "I think I have ADD what do I do?" and then after everything it turns out that I don't. I want to find a way that I can just start up a conversation with her about it without actually mentioning that I think I may have ADD/ADHD. Any ideas? And has anyone had a problem like this before?

Any help would be appreciated.

[Not_here]

Hey Sarah,
It's interesting because I thought I had ADHD too since I have all the things you describe and other things too and went through similar thoughts. I still haven't went to the doctor because I'm afaid (and I don't have insurance just yet) so I can't tell you how it will go. But I can tell you that you should bring up the focus problem and describe it with examples if you can. I'm not sure how it is in your country but here you have to have symptoms since age 7 (I did research on ADHD :P) Also, that might have changed with the new diagnosis book. I think it's best if you speak to your doctor and discuss your concerns. They'll tell you what they think it is and work with you. Good luck!

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My problem is that I don't know if I've had these symptoms since I was little or whether or not these problems are due to something else entirely. I guess I could try and say I have problems with my attention and give her examples but my problem is that I don't remember a lot of my childhood between 5-10 years old and involving my mum would only end up having her say the same things as usual, that I simply have an overactive mind and so on. Maybe it's just something to do with the depression I've suffered but again I can't remember a lot of my childhood before I was 11.

[Always *]

I actually do have ADHD and I don't have problems with things like motivation. If I find something boring it might take me a while to sit down and do it but that's more a problem of having to fight harder to focus on it longer then 5 seconds, but if I want something done I do it.

You might have some attention problems but there might be other significant issues going on too. And it might be something as simple as lacking direction in your life or something else to cause you to be restless as opposed to something more permanent like ADHD.

I know you don't have to have symptoms since 7. Usually things like ADHD don't just spring out of the wood work. Like you can be stressed out or bored and show symptoms but that's a result of your life events not your brains chemistry know what I mean, so for something to truly be psychologically classified, yes, it will have persisted over time BUT some people, especially girls, are harder to identify at a young age because they tend to be day dreamers. Like i wasn't diagnosed till grade 11 (though i started suspecting it by end of grade 9 to early grade 10) and for me some of the huge marking factors were things like that I was a quiet day dreamer during class, I'd do things like hiding novels under my desk if a teacher was failing to stimulate me enough to keep my attention on them and no one thought that was significant because i wasn't being disruptive and I did good in school. I fidgeted a lot, I got distracted easily and skipped class a lot by grade 11 (or I'd just ask the teacher to let me leave which is how I avoided suspension). But it was harder to see for me because I was quieter and reserved. But I could pop out with lots of energy too. But i've done good in school, my grades are good enough to apply for masters programs, I work hard to keep everything organized and i get my work done. I watch TV while doing my work a lot. And i keep busy with several different activities (usually some sort of mixture of school, volunteering, sports/exercise and jobs)
That might help to hear what it's like for someone who has been diagnosed. Talking to your doctor more will help, (s)he might have more insight to what's going on with you

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Yeah I had thought that maybe it could be to do with something else. This is why I want to raise these problems without mentioning the ADD/ADHD idea because if I'm wrong then, well I'd feel a right wally.

I want to find a way to try and hint towards them asking me questions related to ADD/ADHD and I think that'll make it easier for me.

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Not long come back from my doctor. She prescribed me some anti-depressants. Hopefully they'll help kick my attention problems away!