AD/HD

Words cannot describe how often I hear someone claim that they have AD/HD when clearly they don't.

I absolutely hate  when I hear someone say "oh I could totally be diagnosed with AD/HD" just because they can't sit still for two seconds or stay on task. Like seriously? I think I've heard that from about 5 different people just by walking to and from classes.

Let me tell you something about AD/HD: I have it. According to my mom, I've been showing the symptoms of it since I was little, but unfortunately, I wasn't officially diagnosed with it until the end of my freshman year of high school. That really made me feel bitter. Something could've been done sooner; I could've done better in school if we caught it sooner than we did. Obviously we didn't, so I'm still struggling with the consequences.

Here are the symptoms of the Inattentive AD/HD according to Web MD:

• Not paying attention to detail
• Making careless mistakes
• Failing to pay attention and keep on task
• Not listening
• Being unable to follow or understand instructions
• Avoiding tasks that involve effort
• Being distracted or forgetful
• Losing things that are needed to complete tasks

If you know me personally, especially for a few years, you'll agree that I show these symptoms pretty fucking often (and I will admit that I'm writing this while I'm supposed to be finishing my Shakespeare paper due Thursday). Plus, my doctor told me that you definitely need to show these symptoms over the span of at least a few months in order to be properly diagnosed.

Just because you have a shot attention span for a day or can't sit still for two seconds one day doesn't mean you have AD/HD. It means that you're just having an off day. Everyone has off days when they can't sit still or pay attention. I would know. Every day is an off day for me.

It's really hard for people with Inattentive AD/HD to function in school. I hate school. I've never done well in school. Hell, I'm not really doing too great now. And somehow, all my friends, new and old, are the ridiculously smart ones. I never understood why. And I was really embarrassed about it, too. Now don't get me wrong, I fucking love all my friends and they fucking know it, but hearing them complain about getting B's or low A's while I was failing everything because I was struggling to pay attention and remember assignments was really difficult.

Right now is a great example of that, since instead of finishing my Shakespeare paper due in two days, I'm blogging about my mental disorder.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I wish people would think before carelessly claiming that they have symptoms of a disorder that they obviously didn't have the day before. I don't know about other people, but I get really offended when it happens.

With that being said, I'm gonna take an actual break and get some food.