Being diagnosed and having something is possibly two different things. You have known that you have had this for quite some time is my initial guess. You are now trying to use this as a crutch to coast through life is my other guess.
Buck up and do what you have to do, sleep, study, go to school and try not to get into any conflicts which might impede any progress you have made so far.
Many times a person gets in too deep and then they panic and they want to find a easy way out.
The easiest way out is to drop the hardest class you have and take it over again next semester.
Maybe take a semester off to get your life in order and try to cope with the problems that you have and not make more problems by trying to do things that you cannot accomplish.
ADHD is nothing but a cop out these days for most psychiatrists because they are too lazy to look hard enough to really see what the problem is.
AS looks just like ADHD because the symptoms are the same.
Medication would probably do things to take care of the ADHD - but they might not do the things that you want them to do.
How can I put this.
I tried Prozac because I thought that I was depressed.
I was depressed because of my situation, but not because I suffered from depression.
Prozac did absolutely nothing for me.
My friends had Ritalin and I tried some of their medication and it didn't do anything either for me.
I found that the one thing that did work for me was some type of positive reinforcement such as rewarding myself for doing good things and having good days. When you are poor, even just a hamburger at McDonalds or buying something that you need but couldn't afford - just because you had a good week, works better for me then the best drugs in the world.
Here is a example.
I know that I have problems.
I know that I have to work harder, just to do the same things that others do without any thought at all.
I know that I am not going to get along with everyone everyday and I know that my actions can get my into trouble.
I also know if I find a job, go to work every day, do a good job, don't get sick or hurt, at the end of the week, I will get paid.
Because I am not accustomed to having extra money, when I do work, the money that I make is not blown on casual every day items such as drinking, partying, going out to eat, buying myself even simple everyday items.
So it makes it real easy for me to save money.
When I got involved with Amateur Radio, a person whom I have known for 35 years told me that Amateur Radio was very expensive and that I could not afford to do it.
So I took a job that normally I would never accept,
I worked harder then I ever worked before.
I didn't complain and I didn't find a reason to quit.
After two months of working really hard and saving every dollar I could, I managed to save $1800.00 - the price of a brand new Kenwood transceiver.
That is a lot of money for someone making $8.25 a hour.
In the meantime - the little odd jobs that I was doing on the side nights, weekends, and holidays earned me enough money to purchase several antenna's and power supplies, and I now have a station just as good as the person who said that I couldn't afford it,
That person has a good job and makes $60,000.00 a year - hence he had a disposable income and could buy anything he wanted.
This is comparing apples to apples.
The other side of the coin is - when I was not working,
I was reading everything that I could find which was Ham Radio related.
I self taught myself most subjects pertaining transceivers, antenna's, feed lines, how electronics works, how communications works, physic's, algebra, and I even got my Amateur Extra class license in 2 months.
I went from nothing to Amateur Extra - and this other person who has been a " HAM " for 7 years, is still a General Class License Holder.
I basically passed up everyone around me.
I got to the point of where they had nothing more to offer me or to teach me because they were not real HAMS - just someone with a license that checked into nets once a week and said No Traffic and their call sign.
So I went one step further and I started my own club.
Now I am the boss.
If people wants to do amateur radio related things with me - fine
If they do not - they cannot tell me to leave!
It's my house and I make the rules!
If you don't like it - get the heck out!
That is how it has to be for a person with A.S.!
You cannot always live by other peoples standards.
But at the same time - anything in life that you want to accomplish - you have to put your mind to it that you want to do it and then you have to get up and do it.
You can't cop out and say I can't do it because it is too hard and I was not successful the first time I tried to do it.
Even Thomas Edison failed 1000 times in trying to perfect the light bulb. When is the last time you walked into a room and thought about how much technology it took to make a single light bulb and how we take it for granted today that it works without any thought.
The same with computers, cell phones, telephones, radio, television, a microwave oven etc... Even a door bell had to be thought of and created by someone. If a person would have given up the first time they tried to make it and failed - where would we be today?
If I was to take medicine to make me act like everyone else, I wouldn't be MEE...
Furthermore - a light does not shine when you put a bushel basket over it. I wouldn't shine the way I do if drugs was dragging me down and making me act sedentary.
16 Feb 2012, 8:37 am
