I haven’t written much in the past two months, not because I have run out of things to say, but because I ran out of my ADD medicine.

I have been diagnosed with ADD for 9 years. Before my diagnosis I didn’t know why I would do the quirky things I did. Life was very stressful. I came across my diagnosis only because of my daughter.

My daughter was in second grade at the time. She was constantly getting reprimanded in class. Her teachers would send home note after note explaining to me how she didn’t pay attention, how she would speak out of order, how she would be told a lesson and forget 10 seconds after she was told, how she would do her assignments but forget them at home, or start an assignment but never finish it. School became so stressful to my daughter that she started to have an upset stomach every day for school. So I took her to our family doctor. Our doctor was not surprised by my daughters stomachache. She had been our doctor since my daughter was born.

We had talked about the fact that my daughter maybe ADD, but until it really became a problem we just dealt with it. After about a week of observation, filling out paperwork and questionnaires, and keeping a behavioral journal my daughter was formally diagnosed with ADD. I of course was not happy with this diagnosis, but the doctor prescribed her some medication and I was relieved to know that there was something that could ease my daughter’s pain and stress.

The first day I ever gave my daughter her medication, I didn’t tell her it was for ADD. I told her it was for her stomach pains. In the morning she took her medication and before school was over for the day I received an e-mail from her teacher, it said, “Oh my goodness…(my daughter) had a GREAT day.” I hadn’t told him anything about her diagnosis and that I had given her medication, but after his e-mail I knew that my daughter was truly ADD.

After going through the ADD diagnosis with my daughter I sat back and thought that I had the exact same symptoms she had. I had always thought ADD was something you grew out of, but I soon realized it would be something that was with me for life.

My daughter and I now know how to keep our ADD under control. We eventually ended up on the same medication, except mine was extended-release. We only took our medicine during the week and we would give our bodies of break on weekends. With the help of my medication I was able to finish college, write a blog, and start a new business. For those who are not familiar with ADD it is so much more than not being able to pay attention. I wish it was only my inability to pay attention. To truly explain the repercussions of living with ADD would take too long.

So why do I not have my medication today? It is because of the abuse of doctors writing prescriptions for people who do not have ADD and the black market sale of our pills. In November my daughter ran out of her pills and so I told her to take one of mine. Keep in mind we took the same medicine and the only difference was mine was extended-release. The next time we went into the doctor to get our prescriptions filled we told our doctor that my daughter had tried the extended-release and liked it better. Because I truly have ADD and my daughter truly has ADD, I did not think there was anything wrong with what we had done. In fact, I had told the doctor what we had done and at that time she told us not to do it again. She told us to only take medication that had our names on the bottle.

We agreed, but a week after our visit our family doctor of 17 years kicked us out of her practice.

It sounded fishy, so I did some research and found out that their practice was being investigated. What it really boiled down to was they didn’t want to write these types of prescriptions anymore and so they kicked us out. The ironic fact is that this doctor was the one who diagnosed my daughter and I with ADD and they were the ones who prescribed us the medicine. If they did not want to prescribe us the medicine they should not have done it in the first place.

We set out to search for a new doctor. The next doctor we visited did not believe in ADD. In fact his words were, “With spirituality and behavior modification you can overcome ADD”. And so I asked him “Are you saying that I can pray my way out of my ADD?” He wouldn’t say that directly but he definitely implied that I could think my way out of ADD.

The next doctor we visited lectured us for 20 minutes about selling our drugs and how patients come into his office and faked ADD so they can sell their pills at school. This doctor did not believe in ADD as well and he made us feel as if we only said we were ADD in order to get pills.

The next doctor we went to was a psychiatrist. He believed in ADD but wanted to charge us $2000 for an evaluation. I completely understand having to be reevaluated, and being that I was not hiding anything I was glad to be reevaluated, but not for $2000.

I have never felt so frustrated about my ADD before. Is it really that hard to find a doctor that believed in ADD. I started to feel guilty for asking for my medication. I decided to take a month off of my medication and see if I really needed it or I could think my way out of it. Unfortunately again I have come to the conclusion that I am very, very ADD.

Luckily, I found a doctor whom is the perfect fit. Not only does this doctor believe that ADD is a real disorder, they also are not being investigated by the police, and they are going to reevaluate me and my daughter for free. Come next month I shall be back to normal and writing new articles, blogs, and webinars in full force.