What Life is Like with ADHD by Isabel D.

Note: If you have been diagnosed with ADHD by a medical professional and feel that this does not represent your own experience, remember everyone's life with ADHD is different.

Someone once told me they thought ADHD was a disease.

In reality, it is a learning disorder. ADHD stands for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It can be hard to focus sometimes, but it can also be super awesome.

What really bothers me is when people who don't have ADHD try to explain it. To be honest, the people who can actually tell you about it are the people who have it. There are so many things people say that get frustrating whether it's denying its existence or sharing false information. Many people think ADHD is just an excuse, so let me tell anyone who thinks that, you are very wrong.

People will say, "You can focus on legos for three hours, why not your school assignments?" or "You should really consider trying the medicine."

It gets annoying (to me at least), and there are people I really love and know they care about me, but even they sometimes don't understand. For example, when they think I will do well on a certain level, I just get annoyed.

Moving on, time to get to the facts. According to CHADD.org "The Science of ADHD," Structural and functional imaging research on the neurochemistry of ADHD implicates the catecholamine - rich frontal - subcortical systems in the pathophysiology of ADHD [...] Basic neuroimaging research is being conducted to further delineate the pathophysiology of ADHD, determine diagnostic utility of neuroimaging, and elucidate the physiological effects of treatment."

Although, I may not fully understand the science behind ADHD, I do have advice for people with ADHD.

With the learning disability often comes anxiety and sometimes the world becomes overwhelming, but with bad things come good things. With ADHD, your mind thinks differently. You see things that people would normally overlook. You perceive the world differently from your eyes, so always remember that just because you're different doesn't make you less smart than anyone else.