OH BOY, REPOST TIME! I just wrote this in another thread. Here we go...

not to bug you but this ADD thing is really itching my brain, I'd love to hear how you came about getting checked and prescribed.

I was officially diagnosed at eight years old. My parents always had trouble getting me to "listen" to them. When they would ask me to do something whilst on the computer, the situation would go something like this:

Mom walks in room

Delta, you need to go downstairs and wash the dishes while I run an errand. Okay?

I turn around in my chair

Okay mom, will do.

I go back to working on the computer and the conversation is immediately eliminated from my attention

Mom comes home hours later

Delta, why didn't you wash the dishes?

I remember the conversation

Oh...sorry. I guess I forgot.

---

It was things like this that happened on a regular basis that caused my parents to take me to a doctor. I was tested for ADD and ADHD. This involved tests to make sure it wasn't another condition, surveys for teachers, interviewing my parents (my father's opinion carries weight, he is a high school counselor), and questioning me. Everything came together to point to a conclusion: I have ADD, but not ADHD (no hyperactivity).

The doctor didn't give me any kind of medicine when I was first diagnosed. He instructed my parents to use psychology to attempt to manage it. They utilized physical contact to grab my attention so I wouldn't "pass them off." I think the technique had a minimal effect.

Fast-forward to years later--I'm having trouble with grades in school. This shouldn't be the case, and my parents know it. I tested into my school's gifted learning program in the third grade, and gifted kids normally make all "A" grades in elective classes. I was making low "B" grades. They knew something was up when I made a genuine effort to get good grades and couldn't. I told them what was going on--I just could not pay attention in class. It was more difficult in classes I didn't enjoy, but the difficulty was present in all of my classes.

I told my parents I wanted to know if I had ADD. They had been pretty enigmatic about the subject up until that point, an effort in which I assume was to keep me from making excuses for laziness. My parents took me to my general practitioner, who questioned me about why I wanted to be medicated for ADD. I explained some of the above to him. He told me I needed to see a psychiatrist first, to make sure I wasn't attempting to abuse amphetamines. I turned to my dad and asked him, "Was I diagnosed when when I was eight with all of those tests?" He responded with a yes, the doctor checked the records, nodded, and told us that it wouldn't be necessary to re-diagnose. He prescribed me with Adderall.

This stuff makes me feel like a genius. I can learn anything I want...get any grade I want. I can pay attention to anything. I'm by no means addicted (I haven't had a need to take meds over break and have not taken any), but it works wonders for me. I can pay attention in any class. I haven't dropped a single dish at my restaurant since I started the medication. My grades have improved significantly.

If you want a bit of evidence that I need it, then here you go. Normally when people take Adderall when they don't have an attention disorder, their heart races and they are jittery. I don't experience this. It has to do with the mind's stasis. My natural level of stimulation is lower than the average person's level. The Adderall brings me to a "normal" level because it is a stimulant. If someone with a normal level took the Adderall, their stasis would be above average, inducing the symptoms described above.

TL,DR: I love amphetamines.