ADHD

I was in 3rd grade when I was diagnosed with ADHD. 

I was not a crazy wild kid. How could they say that I had ADHD? 

I was not like Ben who jumped up and down all day. I was nothing like David who couldn’t even finish a puzzle. Why were my parents making me take pills every day just to go to school?  I didn’t get it. 

Yes, I was the only kid in my class who still could not read. Yes, I was always frustrated with my teachers. Yes, I had begun stuttering when I couldn’t express myself. Yes, my mother was constantly telling me the same things over and over. Yes, I was always fighting with my sister and brother…but ADHD? Medication? No, I was not that kid!

I started taking the medication but I kept it a secret. No one would ever know. They won’t figure out I’m that kid. 

But you know what? I started to feel great. It was as if a shadow had been lifted. Within weeks I was reading. I was acing my tests and I was getting along better with my friends and family. Even I had to admit the transformation. 

When I was older and ready to go to sleep away camp my parents gave me the choice. Do I want to take my medication? If I did, my friends and councilors would know. My secret would be out. What should I do? I decided that since I really felt better on the medication I would take it but we would tell just my councilors. None of my friends could know my terrible secret. They would not label me that kid.

On the first day of camp I made a new friend. We hit it off right away and had lots in common. The next morning, as I was sneaking out of my bunk to the infirmary to take my medication, I noticed my new friend standing outside the nurse’s office. How was I going to take my meds without him seeing? I started panicking and decided I would leave before he saw me. Just as I turned to go back, he saw me and called me over.

“Hey!” he yelled, “I just have to take my ADHD medication and then we can go get breakfast together”

I was speechless! He had ADHD? He was so honest and upfront, how was he not embarrassed about his condition? 

After I confided in him the reason I too was at the infirmary we had a great discussion. He told me that he has been on medication since he was 7 and he was ok with being a little different. It made him unique. He could outsmart his siblings in so many things because he thought outside the box, he wasn’t a square! And then he said something to me that I will never forget and changed my whole perception of my diagnosis. He said:

“If the Doctor tells you that you need glasses; would you be embarrassed to wear them because your eyes don’t work the same as everyone else's? Same thing with ADHD. Our brains are wired differently and we just need the medication in order to help us process”.

Since that day I have no longer hidden the fact that I have ADHD. It makes me who I am, and it has gotten me where I am today. I have to work a little bit harder at things than my friends, but I’m ok with that!