I am one of 15 million

In light of CHADD's #oneof15M campaign, which is to give names and faces to many of the 15 million individuals in the United States that deal with ADHD, I have decided to add my story to the many that have been shown on Facebook. I am an adult woman with ADHD. I am a Darn Hardy Dame. I am one of 15 million.

Wordle!

So I made this wordle of the words used most often on this blog. I thought it'd be kind of cool. Click on the picture to see it in full size. (^_^)

This Darn Hardy Dame Is Now a Mom!!

Yes, you read that right--I'm a mom! I'm going to use that as my excuse for abandoning the blog for over a year now, and not just say that I lost interest in it like any person with ADHD would do... *ahem*. Anyways, since you last heard from me, I've gotten pregnant and dealt with gestational diabetes, a breech baby, an emergency C-section, and five days in the NICU, along with a month of toting around oxygen tanks and tripping over cords and waking up to the beeping of an oxygen monitor. So I suppose my excuse for not blogging is pretty acceptable. It also doesn't help that I couldn't take my medication while I was pregnant.

One interesting thing I learned, though, is that the pregnancy hormones somehow managed to keep my ADHD in check. Weird, right? So now that I've given birth and no longer have those hormones, my ADHD has gone on the fritz. Add that to taking care of a 3-month-old baby, and well, you can imagine. Needless to say my life has been pretty hectic, and writing of any sort has been buried in the back of the closet with all the junk from my old life. (Not literally, although I do have a few hard copies of old stories and stuff that are with all of my college stuff. But I digress).

One thing I do want to talk about is my new job. And, yes, being a stay-at-home mom is a job. I'm sure you've heard all sorts of things about how stay-at-home moms have the hardest job ever with never any thanks and all that jazz, so I'm going to skip that little spiel and talk about being a mom...with ADHD.

A word of wisdom from Winnie-the-Pooh

Some Darn Hardy Dames and Dudes

I stumbled across this article today about 19 different celebrities who had ADHD, and I was rather surprised to see really famous people such as Michael Phelps or Paris Hilton on the list. Who would've known? I certainly didn't. But something like this gives people like me a lot of hope. ADHD isn't a curse--it's merely a way of life. These people didn't try to hide or control their ADHD--they embraced it. By using the good aspects of their ADHD, they were able to find success in more ways than one. I applaud these people who have risen above social stigmas and accomplished the things they are passionate for. Each one of them is A Darn Hardy Dame (or Dude)!!

Here's a list of the celebrities:

1. Justin Timberlake
2. Jamie Oliver
3. Karina Smirnoff
4. Will Smith
5. Michael Phelps
6. Jim Carrey
7. Ty Pennington (my jaw dropped on this one. Go Ty!)
8. Sir Richard Branson
9. Paris Hilton
10. Christopher Knight
11. Howie Mandel
12. Terry Bradshaw
13. James Carville
14. Paul Orfalea (founder of Kinko's)
15. Pete Rose
16. Michelle Rodriguez
17. David Neelman (founder of JetBlue)
18. Bruce Jenner
19. Solange Knowles

Check out the original article to learn their stories.

Adult Women + ADHD = ???

First, I have to say I apologize for not posting. My last semester of college was even crazier than Fall semester, with me taking twenty-one credits in attempt to finish up my degree. It made it very difficult to keep up with blogging. Besides, that's what you get when you have an ADHD blogger...

Anyways, I found this article on WebMD about how ADHD affects women, and I thought it would be worth sharing. I know from experience that life with ADHD can be difficult, especially when you aren't diagnosed until college. This article expands on how women are affected by ADHD, and how they are affected differently than women. It's definitely an article worth reading.

Autism and other Learning Disabilities

I know this is a blog about ADHD, but I saw this video by What You Ought To Know, and I was really impressed with it. ADHD is typically accompanied by learning disabilities, and I have a brother with Down Syndrome, so this is a very sensitive topic for me. I was very pleased to have found a video that emphasizes that people with Learning Disabilities (LD) are not dumb. My little brother is only three and already knows the entire alphabet. Retarded? I think not!

Similarly, people with ADHD are not lazy, stupid, or crazy (I borrowed that from an actual book:  You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?! by Kate Kelly). Instead, as Jed pointed out in the video, people with ADHD have their brains mapped differently from everybody else. It's not as drastically obvious as it is with people with Autism, so it frequently seems like the person with ADHD just isn't trying hard enough, isn't interested, or isn't all that smart. But I can assure you, that isn't the case. Take me, for instance. Last time I checked, my IQ was somewhere around 120 (I'm not sure how accurate that was, since it was using free online IQ tests). But, despite this, I still struggle to keep up in school. Why? It's not because I don't get the material. In fact, I usually get the material faster than my classmates. The problem is that I have trouble paying attention, and I frequently forget about assignments that are due. My ADHD also makes it difficult for me to fall asleep, and, once I am asleep, I have difficulty waking up. This interferes with my schooling as well, especially when I have a 7:45 a.m. class.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the next time you meet someone with an LD, please refrain from using labels such as retarded, dumb, stupid, lazy, etc. Nine times out of ten you don't know the person well enough to give them such a label. Remember:  "I am 100% original. No label needed."