by Meghann

Created on: July 29, 2008

This article is written by an Adult Attention Deficit Hyper-activity Disorder sufferer. The way that this debate question was stated I didn't really know how to answer it. Is ADD 'Annoying'? Well, from the outside looking in - yeah, probably. Living with someone with A.D.D. has to be really annoying and frustrating at times, and loving someone with it is, from what I understand, hard to do as well. But from the inside looking out, it is so much more than annoying. It is a source of constant frustration. It's not something temporary that will eventually go away. It's not just an inconvenience. It's a life sentence. It's depressing. It's a feeling of constant inadequecy that even we adults who have it don't understand fully.

Here's the worst part about A.D.D.- It spawns all these other little 'issues' that seem so fixable to the average adult. Organization is so necessary in life and it's a basic concept that I personally just can't seem to get the hang of. Reading is difficult because I will have little or no obvious distractions around me, but when I start to read it takes a little while to figure out that I have no idea what I've just read. My eyes follow the words, I may actually recognize the words, but I didn't comprehend a thing. Instead, I was looking at the words and thinking, 'It's really quiet in here. Except for that fan. I need to fix that fan. It never used to buzz like that. It's not really so much a 'buzz' as it is a 'hum' but I bet fixing it would stop the noise. Noise. Noise. It's too quiet. I don't hear the - I have a load of clothes in the washer from yesterday! I forgot all about it! I hate when i do that. It probably stinks by now. I'll need to run the washer again and use more water and detergent. I have no detergent. I remember thinking I had to go to the store for more detergent and then I went and I didn't get any. I knew I should have written it down when I thought about it. I didn't have a pen and paper near me though. I really like that pen I got from the bank yesterday. What did I do with that pen? So let's regroup. I need to go to the store for laundry detergent and I need to find that pen. Was that all? I know I'm forgetting something. What was it! I hate when I forget stuff like that! I need to write stuff down when I think of it." Then when it comes time to turn the page I snap out of my thoughts and realize I know nothing about what I just read.

I once had a therapist that told me, "Don't think of A.D.D. as a bad thing. Your

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