Being an "idea" person, Noll liked to research and explore theories. He began a search for information on ADHD and the more he read, the more he knew it described his life. During his school days, Noll had been diagnosed with a Learning Disorder, although he has no recollection of the name of the disorder. He was sent to a school that specialized in teaching children with learning problems. During that time, his parents were getting a divorce and they were told that his behaviors could well be a result of their separation, that he was acting out in an attempt to get them reunited.
The information he was reading now explained the problems he had had in school.
Noll could never sit still; he had trouble concentrating and suffered from insomnia all his life. For years, Noll had felt there was something "wrong" with him and now he saw that all of the behaviors had a name and a reason.
When I spoke with Noll, he had just been diagnosed with ADHD a few weeks before. He started medication and felt it a strange experience, although it helps. He has slowed down and is not always rushing from one thing to the next. Where he routinely drove around 80 miles an hour, he has noticed that his driving has slowed to around 65. He feels calmer and is getting tasks completed. Concentrating once took effort but now he is much more able to pay attention to what he is doing. Although it has only been a week with medication, Noll can see how the medication can help him improve his life.
Noll knows, however, that medication alone isn't going to change everything and plans on continuing some of the strategies he has used to compensate over the years. For example, he was always writing himself lists (although now he thinks maybe he won't always lose the lists); he sets himself deadlines and goals for completing work. (For example, when working on his basement at home, the start of the upcoming football season was his goal to be finished.) Noll uses a fan for white noise to help him sleep, and has actually recorded the sound to take with him on trips.
Noll is sure that understanding ADHD is the first step toward improving his life. He no longer needs to feel guilty about his behaviors, and although he does not plan to use them as an excuse, he does plan to understand them so that he can work around some and improve others. Noll thinks that lack of motivation is the biggest obstacle in his life right now and plans on tackling that before trying to change everything. One day at a time, one obstacle at a time. But now, Noll has hope for his future and looks on this as the beginning of a journey.
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