I am new to this site, but I have had ADHD all my life. I was not diagnosed until I was an adult and after having 4 children. I am in my 40s now (feel younger though - maybe it's because when you have ADHD, you act younger). I know I had it as a child, because I was always talking in class and got in trouble right along with the boys. I wasn't a bad kid, so I didn't understand why I was alway "in trouble", but I just had this nervous energy. As I got to be a pre-teen, some of my friends (who ended out being the popular kids in high school, cheerleaders, etc.) told me I was too immature for them. It really hurt my feelings, because I didn't understand. Lucky for me, my parents had a few acres and I was always able to play off my excess energy, and then my best friend for life moved to town and we hit it off and were inseperable. We were always bike riding all over the place, so I think that helped me alot too. Just to be outdoors and active.
I say all this because you were talking about people being different, and when is a mood swing considered normal? Who is to say what is normal since we are all created different? I truly believe the reason we have sooo much ADD/ADHD diagnosed now is not because we have something "wrong with us". It is because society has changed, and the people who are "phycially inclined", those type of jobs aren't available anymore. Now everything is stuck in an office or at home on a computer. Kids hardly go outside to play, they are on the computer or on video games. So these "problem kids", who are not really "problem kids", but just made different because they were created to be something different on this earth. How boring it would be for everyone to be made alike, and that is what society is trying to do. And we and are ADD children are being pushed down because there is no place for us to focus our energy. There are no more outdoor type jobs, or they are hard to come by. 100 years ago, everyone worked outside from dawn to dusk doing hard physical labor, so you never heard of ADHD.
I didn't mean to get carried away, but that's my thoughts on it all. 
re: Being Different
Don K Potochny
Saturday, May 02, 2009 at 11:51 PM
Two excellent posts. I cannot, for the life of me, understand why ADHDers are considered "disabled." We are the ones who foment change via our creativity and high-octane energy. The last time I checked, ADHD was not the cause of the economic malaise that we currently suffer. We did not steal from taxpayers in order to afford lavish residences and large yachts.
The true disorder afflicting society is GREED. I am through being sick and tired of hearing and reading disparaging remarks about ADHDers.
Your posts give me reason to believe we can make a difference in changing the incorrect perceptions rampant in our society.
Don
Author, "Dear Mary: My Life with ADHD"
I am new to this site, but I have had ADHD all my life. I was not diagnosed until I was an adult and after having 4 children. I am in my 40s now (feel younger though - maybe it's because when you have ADHD, you act younger). I know I had it as a child, because I was always talking in class and got in trouble right along with the boys. I wasn't a bad kid, so I didn't understand why I was alway "in trouble", but I just had this nervous energy. As I got to be a pre-teen, some of my friends (who ended out being the popular kids in high school, cheerleaders, etc.) told me I was too immature for them. It really hurt my feelings, because I didn't understand. Lucky for me, my parents had a few acres and I was always able to play off my excess energy, and then my best friend for life moved to town and we hit it off and were inseperable. We were always bike riding all over the place, so I think that helped me alot too. Just to be outdoors and active.
I say all this because you were talking about people being different, and when is a mood swing considered normal? Who is to say what is normal since we are all created different? I truly believe the reason we have sooo much ADD/ADHD diagnosed now is not because we have something "wrong with us". It is because society has changed, and the people who are "phycially inclined", those type of jobs aren't available anymore. Now everything is stuck in an office or at home on a computer. Kids hardly go outside to play, they are on the computer or on video games. So these "problem kids", who are not really "problem kids", but just made different because they were created to be something different on this earth. How boring it would be for everyone to be made alike, and that is what society is trying to do. And we and are ADD children are being pushed down because there is no place for us to focus our energy. There are no more outdoor type jobs, or they are hard to come by. 100 years ago, everyone worked outside from dawn to dusk doing hard physical labor, so you never heard of ADHD.
I didn't mean to get carried away, but that's my thoughts on it all.