In a message dated 8/9/2004 10:27:28 PM Central Daylight Time,
RPawlanCRC@... writes:

<<In my professional opinion, the combination of medication and working with
an
ADD coach is an excellent way to learn about your own ADD and to figure out
strategies that work best for your areas of challenge. >>


Well..... I have an unprofessional opinion.

Rhonda could not have been more accurate in her assessment.
I was diagnosed 10 years ago and went through an assortment of meds before I
found one that worked well with no unpleasant side effects (Desoxyn 5mg, 3
times a day). Certainly many positive things happened during those 10 years, but
only after I started meeting with a coach was there really an objective
improvement.
The meds gave me a door out of the ADD room, but once I went through that
door I was clueless as to where to go and how to accomplish many of the things I
felt necessary. It's one thing to be able to finally be able to focus but it's
quite another to turn that focusing into tangible productive and positive
action. That's where a coach comes in. To be honest, if my doctor didn't
threaten
to cut me off from the meds I would have, to this day, still resisted seeing
a coach. Look in any dictionary under the word "stubborn" and more than likely
there's a picture of me... It was very frustrating at first and I became very
defensive and combative. In many ways I felt like I was being treated like a
child (I'm 50 now, but I look 49...) but only upon looking back can I see that
every step, no matter how small or ridiculous sounding at the time, was
necessary to get to the place where I am today. In some ways I was a child, the
skills that are learned, in certain areas, for some reason just never got
planted
in my brain. Or maybe I never made the connection or maybe I just plain
forgot. It took a lot of trust to let someone else give me advice. It took even
more to take that advice. But along the way I found out that most people are
genuinely good and want to help. I would be disingenuous to say that my Faith
played no small part in the treatment equation.
Maybe I just needed some guidance or some positive feedback - I don't know,
but I have no doubt that my treatment with the medication alone would have
produced results nowhere near what I was looking for.
I think those of us with ADD have developed a lifetime (sometimes that
lifetime is 10 years, sometimes it's 50) of coping skill necessary for our
survival.
Unfortunately those skills that we adopted do not translate well in the non
ADD world. I literally had to relearn many of the behaviour patterns that I
thought served me well over the course of my life. And that's where a good coach
can make all the difference...
I just hope that those on this list will not have to wait as long as I did.
The reality is that my life is 2/3 over (the Gravediggers Union are gathering
outside my door even as I write this) but for many of you adulthood is just
beginning. You have the power to be and do ANYTHING you want, don't waste that
gift. Fight for it, it's a lot of effort and the road will be paved with many
frustrations and setbacks; But get the right medications in the right dosage
along with a good coach and you will soar to heights that you never would have
thought possible.
Kind Regards,

Ron Scoma