2nd year Comp Sci student that just now figured out I have ADD
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Re: 2nd year Comp Sci student that just now figured out I have ADD
#2It could be food-related. Look into an elimination diet ... Also, look into innerchild / regression therapy. There's usually an underlying reason why our behaviours lead to procrastination. Good luck.
Edit: Oh, and yoga's good too. You can train the mind to be more focused. Everything takes practice to get good at it ... focus isn't any different - though with computers and multi-tasking, we sometimes think we're "focused" because we're working, but really we're not focused on any one thing.
Re: 2nd year Comp Sci student that just now figured out I have ADD
#3I went through this myself a couple of years ago. I had managed to make it all the way through school but once I entered professional life, I realized that people actually had conversations that I couldn't keep focused for. Using urgency to complete projects no longer worked with the time frames I was looking at.
The best thing in the world I ever did was go see a psychiatrist to get tested to see if I was ADD. After the test came back positive, he prescribed meds, and after finding one that worked for me, I was simply blown away.
I never knew that you could actually think about one thing at a time before. I never really understood what it was to have a conversation and not be thinking about a billion things. I never, ever, knew what it meant to focus on something. It's entirely changed my world.
Wish you well my friend. At least go get tested. If you decide to take meds or follow some other avenue, it's better to know what you're working with.
Re: 2nd year Comp Sci student that just now figured out I have ADD
#4It could be food-related. Look into an elimination diet ... Also, look into innerchild / regression therapy. There's usually an underlying reason why our behaviours lead to procrastination. Good luck. Edit: Oh, and yoga's good too. You can train the mind to be more focused. Everything takes practice to get good at it ... focus isn't any different - though with computers and multi-tasking, we sometimes think we're "fo…
I'll grant you that for the most part that's true, but for someone that actually has attention or hyperactivity disorders, telling them to "train the mind to be more focused" is equivalent to telling a depressed person to "train to be more happy". It's good advice, but positive willpower isn't always capable of battling the chemical/receptor imbalances that are the root cause of the issue.
Re: 2nd year Comp Sci student that just now figured out I have ADD
#5I went through this myself a couple of years ago. I had managed to make it all the way through school but once I entered professional life, I realized that people actually had conversations that I couldn't keep focused for. Using urgency to complete projects no longer worked with the time frames I was looking at. The best thing in the world I ever did was go see a psychiatrist to get tested to see if I was ADD. After…
++plus for this.
I definitely agree that you should see a specialist. Please don't be reluctant about it.
The tests that are done to determine whether someone has these disorders are non-trivial and are accurate.
At your age, you decide what kind of treatment is best. You can definitely start with diet and move on to medication.
Re: 2nd year Comp Sci student that just now figured out I have ADD
#6A thing which I find works well for my ADD is to talk (out loud, yes) to myself when I'm doing something. I think people have a harder time getting distracted from conversations, and there's also a 'rubber duck debugging' effect in that your own thoughts become clearer.
Unfortunately this usually requires you to be in an empty room, which isn't always possible. And this is more of a micro thing, not a macro one.
Re: 2nd year Comp Sci student that just now figured out I have ADD
#7I went through this myself a couple of years ago. I had managed to make it all the way through school but once I entered professional life, I realized that people actually had conversations that I couldn't keep focused for. Using urgency to complete projects no longer worked with the time frames I was looking at. The best thing in the world I ever did was go see a psychiatrist to get tested to see if I was ADD. After…
There's a stigma about the meds in a lot of places, but I still remember how much they helped me through middle school. I literally got math-related work done 10 times faster that way.
Unfortunately the stuff that worked for me (Adderall) is basically just meth, and I can't get a hold of it in Japan on account of it being illegal. I think it's not even very possible to get a hold of ADD-related meds outside of the US (France classifies it as a children's disorder, so after 18 tough luck).
Re: 2nd year Comp Sci student that just now figured out I have ADD
#8Exact same situation. I'm switching majors.
Edit: Another thought: Computer Science is boring as hell. Even the tiniest bit of ADD makes it impossible. Even a person without ADD will probably show some symptoms of it. Rather than figuring out ways to just "get through it", I think avoiding this situation altogether is a better solution.
Re: 2nd year Comp Sci student that just now figured out I have ADD
#9As someone who also was recently diagnosed I highly recommend seeking out a counselor and speaking with your doctor. After getting treatment for ADD I am much happier and productive at school and work. In general, I'm less stressed as well.
A therapist almost diagnosed me a couple years ago but I was biased against the idea of accepting that I had ADD. Of course, now I realize how much wasted time, money, and effort I might have saved if I had been willing to seek treatment the first time a psychologist suggested it to me. Counseling and medication have all been very helpful.
It's tough because it isn't well understood and the public has many wrong and negative impressions of ADD/ADHD. One of the toughest is of course that many people don't think it is real. However, personally, after a year of treatment looking at my life before and after being treated for ADD, it is clear that treatment worked for me. That really dispels that notion for me. If it walks like a duck and quacks like duck... My university also had a lot of great resources to help learn about ADD so check in with them as well.
Re: 2nd year Comp Sci student that just now figured out I have ADD
#10Young people nowadays have so many things to cause distraction. When I was younger, we didn't have cellphones and the numerous electronic related items that cause you to lose focus. Try eliminating everything but the necessities, and then focusing on one thing at a time. Even if you get distracted, set a goal of going back to it even if it is for a very short amount of time. Just like a tree, keep chipping away at it, and eventually you will make it fall. You can go for medication, however, they can cause dependency, and can cause more issues in the long run.