Personal Narrative: My Experience With ADHD

I have faced many different challenges in my life. The most significant and most difficult challenge is living with attention deficit disorder. I was diagnosed with ADD around the time I entered the fourth grade. I always knew I had the potential to do well like all the other kids, but for some reason I just couldn’t. After years of constantly getting distracted at every little thing, getting yelled at for being a distraction to the other children, and struggling to get through class everyday, I was given a little blue pill called Adderall to help me. It was like a light came on in my head. I still got distracted and lost all my energy sometimes, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as before. Being medicated helped me feel normal, but at the same time made me feel like I was different. As a kid I figured none of the other students had to take a pill to fix their brain like I did. I constantly put myself down

This research paper will discuss what ADHD is and why it is that there are those who think it was invented instead of discovered. It will also investigate the reasons why social construct theorists believe that the diagnosis of ADHD does more harm than good and actually diverts from the real issues that children face in their development in this day and age. Also explored will be the case against the social construct theory and why some who argue that the social construct theory is viable are ignoring a very real and possibly debilitating mental disorder.

I am currently a sophomore working towards a Psychology and Biology degree on a pre-health track. Following these degrees, I plan on attending medical school. Although I have not yet decided on a specialty I feel involvement in different disciplines will help me come to a decision. Having the opportunity to participate in a research lab will help me succeed in the direction I am headed towards through gaining exposure and insight on what a lab entails. Although I have not yet had experience in lab research I am eager to join one, especially one involving ADHD.

I was unable to check my e-mail because I have been sick and miserable. Please see the attached doctor's excuse. I apologize for the delayed response.

ADHD Does Not Exist, the words were written in big red letters against a glowing saffron background. The eye-catching colors and intentionally provocative title did their job in evoking my curiosity enough that I picked up the book. It was a Friday afternoon or more importantly the first inaugural afternoon of spring break and the start of a much needed week long break, and here I was pacing slowly up and down the book racks pointer finger trailing over creaking book binders, hunting for something that would peak my interest. As a child I used to devour multiple books in a day, not to brag but I was a bit of a prodigy. Some of my proudest moments to this day are related to the classroom. I still vividly remember the pride I felt after reading

I’d argue Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is the most well known mental health problem for children. It is estimated that 9% of children ages 3-17 have ADHD. Many students at an early age are in classes with students who have ADHD. Young children aren’t bothered by these fellow classmates, but teenagers with ADHD feel misunderstood. I do not have ADHD, so I decided to interview one of my friends who is diagnosed with ADHD to understand her perspective rather than learn from health website’s online. The interview was very eye opening for me and I hope it can be eye opening to you.

I wasn't used to not being able to float throughout school and still getting A’s as, not to toot my own horn, I am a fairly intelligent student and was able to put in minimal effort and still get the A’s that made my mom proud. When I go to high school things changed, I put in the same amount of effort and assumed that I would do just as good as I always had, however things didn't work out like that. I quickly saw a drop in my grades that I couldn't seem to fix. For two years I was told that I should just drop out of my honors classes and accept that I was just not smart enough, this occurred for my first two years of high school and I was terribly frustrated and my excuse became: hey, I can't control it, I have ADHD. This is what I told teachers, parents but most damaging,

Being a child with ADD I found school to be very challenging even at an early age. My first year of high school was a big leap from elementary and middle school. It was very hard for me to get use to the tests and work that were given to me. During that time I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do and that made it very difficult for me to really want to do well in school. Once freshmen year past I went on a trip to Europe which changed everything for me after that I knew I wanted to do something with international travel. I heard about a family friend who was involved in international business and how he got to travel everywhere and at that moment he was living in Brazil. To me that was everything and I had found my goal. I started to do better

Salt water droplets tickling my cheeks as they make their way down to my empty heart. I always knew something was off about me, but I didn’t know exactly what it was. That is until fourth grade when I found out that I had been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, ADHD for short. At first I didn’t want to accept that I had something wrong with me, even though it’s always been there. I would read a short passage fluently, but as soon as one of my teachers asked me what I just read, I totally forgot. You hear people being diagnosed with ADHD every year, and you may not think that it's a big deal, but when a disorder like this affects the way you learn and comprehend things, it turns into one.

As of today, I am much better in my academics and capability to control myself and actions in life. Although, I still struggle with my testing anxiety whenever given an academic test, but am capable of what to do in order to succeed in my academics. Nevertheless, I do not like for everybody to be aware of my disorder; it is to prevent myself from being bullied and judged by others. My preference is to not be reminded to take my medication; to avoid me feeling as if I am not the same person without my medication. Consequently, I never let having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder stop myself in achieving my goals. The disorder does not stop me from accomplishing many things; several people declared it would not occur, but I have proved those individuals wrong.

One of the most difficult things I have ever Experienced has been My ADHD and when I was younger I had a hard time controlling my bowels. This was the cause of a lot of ridicule throughout my life and had built up a lack of confidence. The Problems were even at home, although my parents were and are very supportive my siblings were not as kind. My older brother had made me feel almost worthless and when my younger brother started to mock me it destroyed me I didn't like feeling like I was lower than my younger brother I wanted to be his role model. There were also problems at school it had effected my school work I wasn't able to perform to the best of my ability which left me feeling dumb and when I had to constantly go to Doctors appointments

After being adopted at the age of 5, I had some behavioral issues that were hard to parent. My parents took me to be assessed, I was diagnosed with ADHD. Shortly after being given this diagnosis I was put on the strongest dose of Ritalin, which I responded to by having zero affect. After the dosage was figured out, I was seen by several psychiatrists to confirm the diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. It wasn’t until third grade when I went to see my doctor, that I was then given the diagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorder, which I took Adderall for until sixth grade as well as stopped taking the Ritalin. As far as being assessed, I haven’t been involved in any assessments directly, rather my mother would provide the

I have always had a problem paying attention; I can easily get distracted when someone is making the faintest noise. The sound of someone tapping a pencil, tapping their foot, someone enjoying their meal, even when someone else is talking while I am listening to another person talk. My mother noticed it when I came home one day from school when my teacher wrote her a note saying that I refused to take a test because the boy next to me was tapping his pencil.

I was privileged enough to have done my kindergarten and grade one at the now historic Primary School which closed when after my grade one year due to bat infestation, sounds safe. I then moved on to Peachland Elementary school where young Kitty wasn’t seen as the brightest bulb in the box. In grade 6 when graduation on to middle school and a new town of Westbank where the school was they told me I was going to struggle because of my ADHD. I look at that diagnostic and somewhat false and hurtful, because it made it seem like they had no lust to make me succeed. As the end of 7th grade came around I had worked hard to try and prove to my elementary school that I can

I have always struggled with school and following directions as long as I could remember. I was easily distracted, kind of energetic, daydreamed a lot, constantly through temper tantrums, and had trouble focusing. All of these adjectives describe ADHD; I was called “lazy” or “stupid” since my grades were inconsistent--getting terrible grades on tests, exams and school assignments.. I mostly scored C's on my schoolwork, but I would also get F’s, D’s, and A’s and B’s from time to time. Being concerned with my performance in school, my teachers often scheduled appointments with my parents and hoped to think of solutions to help me improve academically.