……Before diagnosis ………….

*bright straight A student till 10th grade when puberty hit
child hood to end of freshman year of high school…no problems
*freshman year GPA….3.7 out of 4.0

problems began

*sophomore year of high school GPA…1.2 out of 4.0
dropped out of public high school, forced into to private school…
with MORE downs then ups ….luckily got a 1340 on SAT to be admitted into a mediocre state university. graduated high school with a 2.3 out of 4.0 and this was VERY VERY HARD FOR ME (trust me when i mean lucky..i meant lucky)

freshman year of college GPA……..1.5 out of 4.0
placed in academic probation after first semester of college then dropped after second semester of freshman year…
kicked out of college after freshman year.

frustrated parents from sophomore year of high school to end of freshman year of college…….FINALLY took me to see a therapist as a LAST RESORT (at this point i was mildly depressed/extremely frustrated, didnt know what the hell was goign on, what was wrong with me, i came to a point where i thought i was just plain stupid and had a below average IQ…… i hated having to argue with my parents about grades and other family issues)

referred to some famous adolescent/adult psychiatrist who had countless number of varying learning disability degrees. who made me go thru 8 hours of intense testing spread out into 2 days (didnt enjoy it) consisted of various surveys, IQ tests, questionnaires, interview with 2 other colleagues of that specialist, had to sit in a room and click a button for a certain period of time and a bunch of other weird S*$&$.

final results: in a 10 page typed up document
#1.i had an above average IQ
#2.lack of organizational skills
#3.extreme inattentiveness/prone to be sidetracked very easily

final diagnosis: A.D.D.
treatment: adderall daily 20mg IR and had to take a organizational/study plan classes for 2 weeks everyday for 2 hours.

…………AFTER DIAGNOSIS………….

went to a community college for 5 semesters straight.
cumulative gpa for 60 semester hours ……………3.7 out of 4.0

transferred to the SAME state university which i was kicked out of from…….graduated with a major in chemisty ……cumulative GPA…3.75 out of 4.0!!!!!!!!!!

considering the fact that i had already messed up to the greatest extent one can possibly achieve in the lowest form during college…i didnt even TRY to apply for med school in the United states. applied to st. georges med school, got accepted(barely) and finished my first two years honoring in most …not all…of my classes!

currently studying for usmle step 1.

*for those who dont believe that medicine CAN help and that ADD/ADHD is TRULY a problem……i am one example out of MANYYYYY. its easier to judge and criticize those who have this problem as saying “yea your just faking it” or “everyone has some form of it” however….my past is my true testament to the actual disability. and its treatment is a GODSEND. for me and my parents both. one can ONLY IMAGINE how it MUST HAVE been for someone like me…..from attaining good grades at one point to dropping on the bottom of the academic ladder….and the personal and familial problems associated with it that were entailed for YEARS….the constant struggle and battle to figure out what truly was wrong with me. to being labeled as a dumb kid, with no future, and personally believing it at many points in my life….i am a true example of how this pathology can effect ones life…and how its treatment has changed my life and those around me for the better….

i ask you………….isnt that what medicine is about?…..isnt that what we try to achieve as physicians…..we take the Hippocratic oath….do we not understand it and abide by it personally and carefully? to try to aide the person with a certain ailment the best we can so he or she can prosper and live life to its fullest…..

I take Omega-3 supplements everyday. Studies show that fish oil can boost brain power. So am I cheating too?

(It’s not an exact comparison, but I feel the message can be recieved)

Since PsychMD has obviously not been reading the literature, here are just a few recent articles that you can get started on…that is if this person can even read:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19200423?ordinalpos=11&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18206857?ordinalpos=9&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18179783?ordinalpos=10&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19482264?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

And then he says this: “Worse, nobody is reading the literature. They are basing choices on observation of one. Very poor practice.”

You were right on until you started spilling the pscychobabble in the first quote. If YOU would read the literature, you would know that IQ doesn’t really show a lot, and it is a VERY poor predictor of success in ANY field (essentially no better than chance). Maybe if YOU would stop basing YOUR choices on the observation of one, you wouldn’t be practicing so poorly.

This just illustrates the poor amount of training we receive in behavioral science in our medical training. I’m glad I majored in behavioral science before medical school so I am not as uninformed as other doctors.

Personally, I would rather perform at a lower level and know that the successes are mine, rather than become dependent on a pill or any other sort of a substance. Will that make me a less-competitive doctor? Maybe. I’m not becoming a doctor to run a race against other doctors, like a hamster on a wheel. I am naive enough to believe that I can build a career on collaboration instead of competition. My drive to succeed is based on being good enough to be a contributing member of a team. Will I be able to provide a “miracle” when patients demand it? Maybe not. But when did fallible humans become responsible for the inevitable fact that death stalks us all? Everyone gets sick and eventually we all die. Medicine is a powerful tool, but it has limits.

You only live once and I would prefer to perform at my natural peak for my career and not burn out because of stress. If that means that I make less money than my peers, then that is the price I will gladly pay for peace of mind. Pushing yourself to achieve is one thing, but we all have natural limitations. My older brother was a lineman on a division I NCAA football team. Even on our freshman football team in high school, I was never a starter. As a patient or a professional, I would rather interact with someone who accepts their limitations and finds healthy ways to cope with them, rather than someone who covers them up. I could have taken steroids to bulk up and earn a spot on the line. Instead, I decided to run track and I discovered that I am a great medium distance runner. I still go running several times a week and I love it. There is this dangerous culture in medicine sometimes that encourages students to annihilate themselves as they pursue someone else’s ideal. If your dream is to pop pills to live in an altered state of consciousness, then I hope you find happiness in what you are doing.

I guess there are consequences either way, so as long as no one is doing anything illegal, then to each his or her own. I hope that we can all be mature enough to let people decide how to live their own lives.