Need ADD Study Tips

[Andrea82]

Medicated,
I'm very sorry to hear about your predicament. I'm sure the uncertainty of the future is also adding to the stress of it all, but hang in there.

I was just curious how you had been studying in the past as you had successfully 1) made it to PA school and 2) made it through over a year in the program. You must have been doing something right to make it that far.

You had mentioned that other things were going awry in your life at the time of the burnout...that has to be contributing to the inattention big time. Perhaps seeing someone about these issues and dealing with them first might help?

Also, I know this is cliche, but do you exercise? I've found that reading notes while walking on a treadmill helps me focus on the material. Also regular exercise can do wonders for dealing with anxiety, stress and depression. If you have a tendency to chew thoughts for too long, maybe you just need to blow some steam off? I've always found a good workout either takes my mind off things or just helps me vent. Either way there's only positives that can come from it..

Good luck with everything

[rmgiordano]

I'm familiar with those trying to study with ADD and it's not easy at all. However, they are certainly capable of being successful in life. In a seminar on ADD in children/adults I was told that those with this disorder are often in high ranking positions in various fields. That's because it seems that they HAVE to do multiple things at a time in order to get things accomplished. Therefore, they are able to get more work done than others. Many people can't do that.

Also, the previous post is correct. Exercise is a great way to go and research has been hinting and finally outright supporting that. Get up early and commit yourself to a regular exercise routine. It should help you focus throughout the day.

Try to keep distractions to a minimum when learning (ie. facebook, PA forum ) and don't forget to give yourself a breaks during your study sessions.

[Medicated]

Andrea82 -
I have been very blessed throughout my formal education insomuch as cramming for exams without any consistent studying has been sufficient to get me by. In all honesty, I was only semi-attentive in lectures, and I never looked at the exam materials until the night before (or morning of) the exam. Yes, I passed [most] of my exams and did fine through most of college by that method, but the problem with it - especially in PA school - is that I didn't retain much of what I "learned." I am still amazed that I survived the first year that way, but now I am suffering the consequences and have a crippling sense of inadequacy.

The other things going awry were concurrent and created a bit of a synergistic downfall. On their own, these weren't big things - no clean laundry, dishes fermenting in sink, bills long overdue, etc., - but the combined picture of all of that was I was simply not functioning on the home front. The reason I got behind on all of these was because I had already been depressed and had no motivation or energy to take care of these things, especially after spending the entire day every day trying to pretend to my psychiatrist preceptor that I was confident, competent, and had my life under control. The only issue I really see there is that I couldn't keep up... I'm not sure how one deals with that aside from hiring a maid.

Both -
Ah, yes... exercise. What's that, again? I actually was managing to go walking/jogging about 3 miles most mornings on a trail near where I live, but in the past couple weeks I seem to have developed a complete inability to get up in the morning (depressed vs. lazy?). It's hard for me to justify spending another hour when I already feel like I've wasted so much of the day being a slug in bed. Actually, when I consider my currently oh-so-rigorous schedule, it's a lame excuse, but in my fantasy world, I would be up, exercised, showered, dressed, and fed by 8 so that I can get moving on things like the studying that I keep planning to do...

*sigh* I know it's good for me though. It's high on my list of things to feel guilty about.

[okieday27]

While I"m sorry that you're going through this, I am SO happy to find a kindred spirit. First, a word of encouragement from 22 years of teaching. Hands down, the kids with ADD/ADHD were always the most creative, divergent problem solvers in the room - when given a chance to express their talent!.. If you're still in the studying mode, you might want to consider a focal point: it's kind of like an excess energy valve - its the reason some people bounce their knees or rock back in their chair and see if they can keep it balanced; some folks use a stress ball and squeeze it non-stop or rhythmicallly - it's the same thing as trying to read notes while jogging on the treadmill. I had one kid who refused to take his meds - didn't like the way they made him feel, either - his grandpa taught him how to sew keychains out of baseball covers and it was a great focal point for him - and he was very good at it --people with this condition also tend to have great hands.
Here's some of the stuff I've been working on. At first it was beastly hard because it was so time consuming, but I'm learning to use other people's resources and retrofit them to speak to my mind. You have to figure out what the mind needs to learn and feed it the right stuff. Little bites and a rapidly changing landscape works well for me. I've taken lectures on difficult concepts and made "storybooks"out of them using powerpoint slides and a narrative that uses the concepts from the lecture, but not the language (math-speak drives me crazy). I also make sheets of flashcards using the address label master in MS word: three questions across and their answers underneath. Each question deals with a discrete data point. Then I print them and mark out the answers I know cold - takes me about three times through before I've got it. What I really like about it is :1. it's not boring, 2. I can change the order of questions by going in a different direction, 3. I get to see how much I'm learning, and 4. I don't have to drag around lots of little white cards!
Treat your mind like a pt. w/ a difficult DX, and in many ways, like an undisciplined child; delay gratification, reward handsomely - and often, lengthening the time period as you go on. It takes a while to figure out how to shove such a large amount of information into your mind and it won't be the same for everyone. Overload could be part of the problem - too much, and no idea how to manage it. I agree that talking outloud helps.
However, you have to persevere because the problem child between your ears is precisely the solution to the problems that no one else can solve. Medicine needs creative, divergent thinkers who are not afraid to think out of the box - that's the "art" part. It's not fair that we have to do all the heavy lifting to go half as far as those to whom the teaching is targeted, but ultimately, I believe that we are responsible for more positive change than a whole mountain of gear-heads. Never, never, never give up!

[okieday27]

Whoops i posted it twice!

[depacote daran]

-experiment with gauging how focused you feel at different times since taking your meds and try to study when you are at your best. Usually folks with ADD are at their most attentive in the hour or two after taking their meds.

-Ritualize your study any way you can. For people who have trouble focusing and planning, HABIT and routine are often key.

-Google "mind mapping." There's a lot about it on the internet (avoid mind mapping software - it can become a time waster). Mind mapping is drawing a map of ideas and how they relate. It could help you focus on the big picture, since that's what gets lost when people are easily distracted.

-Experiment with doing other things while studying. I know this sounds crazy, but if the theory holds that restlessness comes from slower areas of your brain

Interesting stuff by everyone. I have a mild form of ADD and I have/take focalin as needed, and when I study I usually get some nice earbuds and play trance/house music. It not only keeps me occupied audibly, but gets me into a mode of bobbing my head to the rhythm and learning simultaneously.

Good luck this year.