Passionate ADHD and Me

Looking back on the year of 2018 - bittersweet ... Last year this time, we had lost our business about a year ago, my husband had finally found a new job round about the middle of the year but I was still unemployed, and our situation was so bad that we couldn't even find a house to stay in - but thankfully we did eventually find one mid October 2017. I was off my medication now for almost a full year due to the financial constraints surrounding ADHD and ritalin/methylphenidate/concerta etc. When things were really difficult according to my standards I would pinch my children's extra Ritalin dose (remember they are being treated for free at the local state hospital) to try and cope or I would isolate myself - I would read, cry, write in my journal or listen to my music really loud.  It was a terrible time, I felt like I was riding an emotional roller coaster and I also felt alone and betrayed by those closest to me. Just after we moved into the new house I got a new jo...

When the dose isn’t right !! This wasn’t what I had in mind for my second blog post but this happens so often I just have to write about it – expect more on this subject in future. Recently, I was at our local state hospital ... Nightmare!! I resent having to take my children there.   But its either this or no medication at the moment, due to the financial dynamics of ADHD – Shocking and disgraceful when you read how AIDS patients – who get ill because of something they did get free medical care from experienced doctors AND the right dose of medication … The doctors are young, they have no real experience with ADHD and to make matters worse the pharmacists think they can “play boss.”   And with it being a state institution you get treated like you should be thankful they are helping you at all, it’s just horrible. I had explained my reasons for wanting my 13 year olds dosage increased from just 30mgs of Ritalin LA (long acting) to 90 mgs.   I had ...

I can remember growing up and hearing people saying, Hyperactive? ... "she should be in a special school, she is retarded, she is not like other children" ... Well I went through nursery school, then on to gr 1 through to the end of Matric and then on to college, without ever failing – with ADHD but because of Ritalin, because of a mother who believed in me and a doctor who knew what he was doing! When I started treatment for ADHD people even family stereotyped me and warned my mother about all the bad things regarding Ritalin – well thank goodness it supposedly stunted my growth.   I am a 1.85m tall blonde woman with blue eyes.   Addictive it is they would say – Really?!! then why would it only work for 3 hours at a time?   And WHY would I not bother to remember to drink my pills on my own?? ADHD shows up in real life in a vast number of ways, and it’s sometimes hard to recognise the symptoms myself because I was born this way its my “normal”  It has...