Diagnosis: ADD

So yesterday I got my diagnosis. As I thought, it's ADD. The psychiatrist who diagnosed me recommended doing a group thing (it will be in Dutch) where people talk about their ADD/ADHD experiences as well as taking medication. Myr was so awesome and took some time off work so she could be with me, and then afterwards we cycled to the pharmacy to pick up my prescription. The drug is called Methylfenidaat in Dutch (no clue of it's English name) and I started taking it today. I have to take it three times a day at 8am, 12pm and 4pm. Some side effects may include headaches, feeling like a zombie, difficulty falling asleep. Probably more but those are the only ones I remember and anyway they will only be a problem for a week or so. The effect of the medication is that I will be able to think more clearly because it does something in your brain where it acts like a blanket between your nerve endings so that the information goes from one nerve to the other smoothly, unlike in the brain of an unmedicated person with ADD, the information can't go smoothly from one to the other because there is no blanket. Something like that. 

I thought I could blog more about ADD and how it affects me and how I will be feeling with the medication. I have been thinking about how it affected me in the past and I know from an early age I had so much difficulty concentrating and I was constantly daydreaming. But because I was very quiet, I think that's why it went undetected for so long. If I was hyperactive, it would have been a lot more noticeable! Also when someone with ADD is really enjoying something or very focused on something, then ADD isn't as big a problem. I think that when I worked in the bookstore, I really enjoyed it because books have always been my favourite thing, I loved talking about books and recommending books. And when people came back to thank me for my recommendation, that was awesome! So I think ADD wasn't so noticeable then. And it was awesome to hear that my ex-manager would want to work with me again! Whereas in all my other non-bookstore jobs, I was very unfocused, I missed a lot of things, forgot things, meant to do things and then got distracted by something else. Well. I hope that doesn't happen in my next job that starts on Monday but the good thing is is that with the new medication, an effect of it is that I will want to organise and clean a lot! So that can only be good. Another side effect i learned from my psychiatrist is that it will help me lose weight because it inhibits your feeling for hunger. So I will eat less. That can only be good too!

I'm very irritated by all the house flies buzzing around me at the moment. I'm going to go tidy up some more before Mariska gets here. 

Anyway day one of taking Methylfenidaat: I feel just the same!

I was so happy to get the diagnosis because it took eight months from my first appointment with my GP to get to this point. 

I have also been thinking about world of warcraft (Yes, i play almost every day!) and how if I didn't have Myrna sitting next to me and poking me when people talk about things in the guild chat, I would totally miss it either because I'm so focused on something I can't see the guild chat, or because I'm just in another world, that I would be so annoying to raid with. But the good news is, I at least pay attention to the sounds yelling at me that i'm standing in crap and could I please get out now? :D