I have trouble reading. Do i have ADD?

[Kuwait-cafe]

All my life i have had trouble reading. I did fairly well all through out my high school years. But when it came to book reports i had the hardest time. Growing up i hated reading even though i was not illiterate and did not have trouble reading out loud during a speech. Most recently i saw the preview for the up coming film "The girl with the dragon tattoo" and i remembered the title from the book i saw on amazon, but was not interested until now. So now that i have purchased the millennium series i'm having trouble reading due to:

Poor concentration. If I read something interesting my mind might wander from A to B, from B to C, from C to D, all the while I'm staring at the page in front of me, until I am thinking about something totally irrelevant to the reading.

Poor comprehension. Sometimes I'll read a sentence and it's like my mind doesn't decode the information in front of my eyes. I find myself rereading sentences several times until my mind makes sense of them. It's rare for me to read a sentence only once, especially if I am reading literature.

Poor memory. If I don't make mental notes it's unlikely I'd remember the stuff that I read a few pages ago. Having to make mental notes distracts me and slows down the reading.

More poor concentration. I find myself worrying about things that I shouldn't be worrying about. It's rare for me to not keep track of the number of pages left till I finish the book or a chapter.

That's what it's like when I read a book that I am interested in. If I'm forced to read a book about a subject that I am not interested in, I'm a total disaster.

Do I sound like I have ADD?

[archibaldcrane]

Poor comprehension. Sometimes I'll read a sentence and it's like my mind doesn't decode the information in front of my eyes. I find myself rereading sentences several times until my mind makes sense of them. It's rare for me to read a sentence only once, especially if I am reading literature.

This sounds possibly more like dyslexia, although you said you don't have a problem reading out loud? So maybe not.

[Isiolia]

It sounds more like you're used to TV/internet/etc pandering to a short attention span/low focus. Your mind needs to be trained just as much as your body.

To a point, you may just need to practice at it. Maybe start with something easier to read, like jr. fiction.

[Acturus]

Hey, how many kids with ADD does it take to change a light bulb?

[Acturus]

Wanna fly kites?

[Dimmauk]

I have ADD and didn't read the entire OP.

[Kuwait-cafe]

as i was writing this new thread my mind was focused on what crane flys eat as there was one flying around in my room, so i stoped what i was doing to do a google search. This is the type of shit that happens when i read novels, articles, or even newspapers lol.

[Alleya]

Do you notice not being able to focus on other things besides reading? Trouble concentrating in school, work, personal conversations? Setting and achieving goals? Going from one task to the next sporadically, forgetting arrangements, losing track of time?

If none of those, you may simply have some reading comprehension problems because you just haven't used the skill all that much, in which case all you need is practice. It could also be dyslexia or some other minor disorder, or you just might have a naturally short attention span, which is a learned behavior that you can work on. If you said yes to the things above, or if you think it might be a cognitive problem, tell your doctor about your symptoms and ask him to recommended a psychologist. Don't let him just give you medication, see a psychologist.

[Marihoki]

I have similar problems myself, unless things are very short and concise I have an extremely hard time reading anything, novels, textbooks, even something that's 10 pages long is really a challenge if I'm not totally into it. Only thing I really am able to read somewhat okay is comic books... In grade school early on I was always bunched in with the people who were pretty much illiterate, and I had to do a bunch of extra out of school classes to up my reading comprehension, ext. ext. They never helped much either~ I've never had myself tested for ADD or Dyslexia, but I'm pretty sure I may have a mild case of Dyslexia if I do D:

I've found ways to get around my total lack of reading ability, I've found trying practice makes me A. fall asleep, or B. get super distracted by something else, or I start thinking of something that has nothing to do with what I read like bunnies flying spaceships or something stupid like that. One thing that I found to make things easier is trying an audiobook or text to speech software for anything that you can find that has text (software doesn't help anything that's scanned, or really anything math and science oriented with a lot of symbols and numbers and formatted strangely) . It really helps me pay attention to what I'm reading, and has helped me significantly when I am able to do it.

I always figured I should get tested to see if I have some type form of dyslexia, so I could possibly get extra help or some extra time on tests... but meh, my grades since I started college haven't been horrible, even though I tend not to read anything in text books, and really its rare for me to even read more then 2 pages of anything.... and I have still managed to keep most of my grades above 3.0~4.0 most of the time.

[Tagus]

Do you notice not being able to focus on other things besides reading? Trouble concentrating in school, work, personal conversations? Setting and achieving goals? Going from one task to the next sporadically, forgetting arrangements, losing track of time?

If none of those, you may simply have some reading comprehension problems because you just haven't used the skill all that much, in which case all you need is practice. It could also be dyslexia or some other minor disorder, or you just might have a naturally short attention span, which is a learned behavior that you can work on. If you said yes to the things above, or if you think it might be a cognitive problem, tell your doctor about your symptoms and ask him to recommended a psychologist. Don't let him just give you medication, see a psychologist.

^^

This is pretty much the best possible answer you could get. Having trouble reading isn't a big deal in and of itself. For example, my roommate in college was a really smart guy who aced our engineering program, but he couldn't couldn't sit down and read a book to save his life. He seriously hated reading, but got straight A's. I have no idea how.

[Elesirdur]

Your doctor may also be able to refer you to registered therapists that specialize in learning-type disorders. They can help you with behavioural changes to improve your cognitive abilities (also a wise solution if one does get diagnosed with ADD, medication is not enough, behavioural therapy goes a long way and may provide greater results in the long run).

If you have a GP, go talk to him/her first and ask for a referral to somewhere you can get an assessment done. If you don't have a regular doctor, a drop-in clinician or even public health nurse would be a good place to start. They probably have contacts for individuals/organizations you can get in touch with.

On a more personal note, what's your diet and activity level like. It's not just kids that suffer from poor concentration and cognitive impairment with poor diet and lack of regular, vigorous exercise. Reducing the level of sugar and fat in your diet may help, as well as increased levels of vigorous exercise (like running, swimming, or team sports like soccer or basketball) might help too. Aside from the nutrition/physiological benefits, adding a little discipline into one's life often has beneficial results in their ability to concentrate on work/school.

This might seem pretty flaky in light of things like drug treatments, but my gf is a youth counsellor who works with kids who have learning disorders and serious behavioural issues. Getting the kids out to regularly exercise has shown some pretty marked increases in the kids' ability to stick to their work during class time when they would otherwise be acting out or bouncing off the walls and not being able to concentrate on their work.

I'll close by saying that I encourage you to seek out the advice of a doctor, as well as some form of therapist or counsellor. Many medical practitioners are very quick to prescribe pharmaceuticals as an easy (and often personally profitable) solution to a problem that would likely be better solved using therapy and counselling. Good on you for recognizing that this behaviour has become a stumbling point in your life, now is the time to take the next step and seek the advice of professionals to get you on a track to a healthier life.

[Syntex]

Well are you addicted to high stimulus activities?

CoD/MW2/FFXI/WoW or anything/game/hobbie that requires you to multi-task to even do it? Also how good is your driving record and how well do you drive. Answer there with a little substance and I may have an answer for you.

[Chun Liroy]

Autism.

[StareDownTheBarrel]

Might all be in your head (and I don't mean that in a "you're crazy" way either.) When I was in HS I had all the same symptoms as you when it came to reading. Hell, I still do sometimes. All I know is that even though I couldn't read on my own time, when it came to tests and such I always shined. Even the most boring tests like FCAT and the like. It's obvious that my problem was just that I didn't feel like reading when I was having problems. You can't FORCE yourself to enjoy something when you really don't want to.

[Kuwait-cafe]

Well are you addicted to high stimulus activities?

CoD/MW2/FFXI/WoW or anything/game/hobbie that requires you to multi-task to even do it? Also how good is your driving record and how well do you drive. Answer there with a little substance and I may have an answer for you.

omg yes! i go from mw2 to blackops to ffxi constantly through out the day. i get frustrated with one so i jump to the next.

[solanis]

you might, go see a therapist and get a professional diagnosis. remember that only therapy + medication is proper treatment for ADD/ADHD, not medication alone.

[Syntex]

omg yes! i go from mw2 to blackops to ffxi constantly through out the day. i get frustrated with one so i jump to the next.

And let me guess when you are at work/school you can't stop thinking about them and the newest items you got to get and the new strat you want to use on the next FFA match ect right?

I am going to say you do have ADD as this was me EXACTLY about 3 weeks ago.

I have a horrible fucking time in college trying to focus and same problems you describe to a T. I can't take any class and get a decent grade if it requires homework of some extent because I have the same problem but also have a hard time focusing on homework as well.

I saw a doctor and told her my problems and she perscribed adderall(sp) which I been taking for a little over 2 weeks. Needless to say I have dropped FFXI like a bad habit, 2 weeks and have not logged in once and nor do I feel the need to. My addiction to games in general has gone away completely and the ball and chain which use to be my computer is now collecting dust for the most part. I find myself that I am able to read things and retain their info easier but I might need a slightly stronger dose as I take 10mg twice a day but I can see a drastic difference. I suggest making an appointment ASAP as it is awesome to be able to focus and not be tied down to the games any more. Side effects are actually quite nice. Suppressed appetite is helping me with getting healthy and in shape.

[Pikarya]

Definitely lupus, you're fucked.

[Lucavi]

I have ADHD and I love reading, was the Editor-in-Chief of my University paper, was a reporter and eventual editor at the local paper, and now read lots and lots of reports for my current job outside of the journalism field. I'd say you don't have ADD if you have trouble reading. I'd say you simply have trouble reading.

ADD/ADHD doesn't allow you to focus on anything you don't want to focus on. If you literally -cannot- focus, then you have something far worse than what you think you might have.

[Silenka]

A PhD student friend of mine says she has ADHD (which I was not able to tell at all until she told me). She described to me her symptoms when she's off her medication (a name brand adderall derivative) and she basically said exactly what you did about reading and her mind wandering unchecked.

I think everyone has some degree of attention span problems; I for one usually can't do something like studying or writing without getting majorly distracted from it (causing distractions for myself, as opposed to something else causing a distraction). I do not have ADD though, but your specific symptoms might be those of ADD.