For Women with ADHD ADD Who Want to Connect

Feel like a fraud?

How do I get rid of these feelings of inadequacy? I'm forever afraid that people will "discover the real me" and find out I'm not all I'm cracked up to be. I know in my head that this is ridiculous. I'm good at what I do. I'm good at learning new things. But I always feel like I'm waiting for it all to blow up in my face. Is it a self worth issue? I hadn't connected it with my ADHD until just now when I read a post by someone who feels the same. Why do I feel like a fraud?

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Permalink Reply by Wendy Banner on March 15, 2010 at 1:12pm: Judy, do you feel like any of the medications that you have tried have helped any? I am not on anything right now, but feel like I need to be, but I couldn't tolerate the side effects of the ones I've tried so far.

Judy said:
I am the poster girl for ADHD...and the H is my hyper mind...not my body. Unless I have to sit through something. I don't like going to movies because I dread the thought of committing to 2-3 hours, but am usually entertained and glad I went. I am very creative and talented, but cannot be trusted to key data without triple checking it. I lose everything because I am usually thinking ahead and not focusing on what I am doing in the moment. I can't keep anything in a drawer folded. I can't keep my eye pencils separated from my lip pencils. I have baskets of collect-all things in every room. I start directions to assemble anything, and jump ahead before reading through carefully. Instead of living in an ordered, scheduled, rigid fashion, I am chaotic and frenetic. I've pretended that it is a "style"..."hey, I'm flexible..." for a long time. Actually, I am too lazy and self indulgent to stay on any schedule, and I am defiant with myself as well. I wait until the last minute to do everything, and am late to everything. And to make matters worse, my son (9 years old) is exactly like me, only 100 times worse.
And the world keeps telling me to impart structure on his day - and here I am, medicated with Concerta, Ritalin, Cymbalta, and still in the vortex of papers, toys, and tail chasing. Wow - I'm exhausted just thinking about it.
Whew. That felt good. Thanks for letting me unload.
Now - back to processing and accepting myself. I think I'll have a Cosmo Martini to help me along the way.... :); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Julie on March 22, 2010 at 8:34pm: I'm almost 62 and I have battled with the same behavior issues.....From all the posts that I've read, this is commonplace with those of us who have ADD..... It sure makes our lives complex, does it not?
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