Hi everyone, my *middle* name is Elizabeth and I am 25 years old.  I was diagnosed with ADD and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) my senior year of high school when I was 18.  Like many have already mentioned, I always felt a little bit different from a very young age.  School was a struggle from day one but thankfully I have one tenacious mother who is a school teacher and, as I like to call her, a loving drill sargent.  I know I would not have gotten through school without her helping and advocating on my behalf during my K-12 years. 

It was at the beginning of high school as my school work load and personal responsibilities increased that I really began struggling.  It became a usual occurrence for me to forget or lose very important items on a daily basis, often multiple times in a day.  I remember arriving home many times after school only to realize I had left my purse behind.  Frantically, I would drive twenty minutes back, attempt to retrace my steps and locate it.  Usually I would find it beside a desk, in my locker or with a kind friend or teacher who found it first.  One afternoon junior year I recall a, "frantic purse episode" (we can call it an F.P.E. for short) that ended underneath a tree I had mindlessly stopped at earlier. There my purse sat, unzipped at the top with an acorn or two resting inside.  Each time I found a missing item, be it my purse, my keys, my wallet, etc. the rush of relief was intense, as was the rush of self-disdain.  The two feelings coalesced becoming a new and very unpleasant emotion for me in those days. 

As you can imagine the constant fear of forgetting objects and the actual forgetting itself led to increased stress levels throughout the day.  Additionally, my day-dreamy mind that often came in handy during elementary school was a detriment in high school, especially as I clawed through difficult math & history courses.  My stress/anxiety levels continued to increase and by the end of my junior year I began having full blown panic attacks which led to minor depression.  I never recall feeling so low about myself or as hopeless about the future as I did back then. 

Shortly after the first panic attack, I began seeing a cognitive behavioral therapist which helped immensely.  Though I entered counseling believing I needed treatment only for anxiety, my therapist recommended testing me for ADD; the diagnosis finally brought me relief without self-disdain.  The realization that so many years of personal struggle, inside and outside of school, finally had more of an explanation and brought me a lot of peace.  

I still struggle on a daily basis with distraction and anxiety to some extent.  Fortunately I now take medication for the ADD and I'm finishing my masters degree in library science this year.  I feel a strong need to connect with others who are struggling with ADD and/or anxiety, and to keep cultivating personal awareness of my own ADD/anxiety issues so I can keep moving forward in life towards contentment.   

That's my story in a nutshell.  Last goal of the night - work out (just 20 minutes) starts now, bye!