Adult ADD

[Exelia]

Hello, I am a 21-year-old university student of Medicine. I am in my third year in the university and so far every major exam or mid-term has been a horrendous struggle for me in terms of organization. I do consider myself to have quite good intellectual capacity, however, I have severe procrastination issues that have been slowly aggravating themselves for at least 5 years now. So far I have managed to pass all my exams with very high of even the highest grades possible, however at the expence of over-strenuous studies in the last days before each exam. I fear this will inevitably lead to a neurological disorder in the future if I do not improve my motivation and resolve my procrastination problems.
Through self-observation I have found that I am rather impatient. I also took up Medicine as my career choice due to a lack of better options and to use it as a staging ground for further development- in short, it was not my first and most favored choice. I consider myself to be more of a creative person than a person that enjoys memorizing infinite volumes of data(even though I am capable of this, I derive no pleasure from it).
I have made extensive research concerning adult ADD and ADD in general and I do believe that in my first 6 or 7 years of school I did not exhibit any of the symptoms of ADD. I do believe, however, that these symptoms started manifesting a short time after this period of my life.
I am looking for adequate psychoterapeutic techniques(behavioral or otherwise) to resolve my procrastination issues. Medication is completely out of the question. Can you please suggest some techniques which from your own observation and experience have proven to be with a high success rate?
I don't know how helpful it will be to mention this, but my father passed away a little over a year ago(I've had the procrastination issues before this, however, I believe they have intensified in the time after it), and my study environment consists of a small group of people. This group, me included, are so far known as our course's "overachievers". The up-side is, of course, the fact that I am somewhat motivated to study harder and keep up with the rest of my group. The down-side: my procrastination is making the preparation for every next exam into a small anxiety crisis- anxiety derived from an almost pathological fear of failure and humiliation.

[Best59]

I find, vegetable and fruit juicing help a lot too. I do every day, organic only. My son is 29 on the IT field and keep telling me, he has ADD too.
For me is very hard to accept, because he is a very smart guy. I keep telling him, he need to focus on SMALL goals only, not in the FUTURE.

[Exelia]

Thank you! :)

[Xiphoid77]

Hi Exelia,

May I ask why medication is out of the question?
I'm a medical student as well and I would not still be in medical school if it wasn't for my meds, I wouldn't have passed my exams or coped with the heavy course load.

Have you told your medical school about your ADD/ADHD? If you have then they should be able to offer you support of some sort. Mine let me have extra time in written exams (like someone with dyslexia) and I also have an educational supervisor that I meet up with to help me keep on track with organising my studying, giving me tips about study techniques etc...

If you want to go down the non-medication route then I agree with Margypops. High dose Vit B's are very helpful, both for energy, anxiety and to prevent neurotransmitter depletion. I take that in conjunction with my meds, and I'm much less anxious about exams.

Procrastination can usually be helped with life-coaching or if you want something more clinical; CBT. There's both the option of CBT self-help books/dvd's and of course if you can get ahold of it, a clinical psychologist can do CBT sessions.

Hope that helps...

[Exelia]

Thank you for the help! It is much appreciated!:)

[margypops]

I realise you state Medication is out of the question and I agree ,have you considered taking a Multiple vitamin-mineral supplement with antioxidants VitBComplex and Vit C experts have said that this treatment has the same effiacy as Ritalin,aslo some people say fish oil is good and if you have a good health food store near you, there is also something called 'Attend" by Vaxa I have heard good reports of this Homeopathic treatment,that works on a sub-molecular level to naturally improve Focus, concentration and memory. Attend ballances left/right brain activity and supports the central nervous system. Good luck to you