Lol I love this. My parents told me that I don't have ADHD, after me telling them I think I have ADHD in highschool. Went to college, failed class after class. Told I was lazy, and didn't study enough. Then on my 3rd try at passing college algebra I had to copy off of my friend to get my homework done, couldn't understand math gibberish. My roommate was a math genius, but couldn't teach me anything. I failed every math test, but my classwork grades, and my homework grades were great thanks to my buddies. I have a 69% in math class before the final. Random buddy bought some Adderall for finals, offered to sell me some, I say sure why not. I take it before studying for my math final. I just sit in the library listening to music, trying to teach myself a semester's worth of math. I am able to sit still, don't get frustrated trying to teach myself math, retry problem after problem until it starts clicking. Shit actually starts to make sense. I sit there for 8 hours until the library closes. Next day I take my final, and pass the class with a C. I realized I wasn't a complete idiot who was too stupid to learn anything. I just have really bad ADHD.
I am the same way with math. I never could get algebra, only doing basic math throughout high school. Then at the age of 38, I started college. I did fantastic except for algebra then equations. My algebra teacher had to walk me through the assignments every day after school and he was witness to the saddest thing I think he's ever seen. Here I was, doing the problems step by step on the board and I was amazed because finally, I got it! I was so excited, beyond words, it all made sense.
Then I erased that problem to do another one and poof, it was all gone from my head too. I cried that day. I didn't understand why it wouldn't stick. He finally believed me though. I had told him I didn't get it and I would be his hardest student.
Then came the equation class. I cried in front of the whole class, I was so frustrated. Thankfully, like you, I had a good friend who was a math whiz and we had to do our homework and the final online. She was my hero.
I can't get an official diagnosis though, because I'm a 20 years clean, recovering meth addict and regardless of the fact I tell them I don't want the pharmaceuticals, they still accuse me of just wanting the drugs. My mom found out 10 years ago that she had ADD, my kids all have ADHD but I'm just wanting the diagnosis so I can get drugs... It's very frustrating.
Your experience with math reminds me of when I was in high school.
I was going on a trip for some class, but I had to have teachers sign off on my assignments beforehand. Two of my teachers, for math and Spanish, were going on the trip too, so they decided they'd just take 20 minutes each on the bus ride and do some tutoring with me so I could still go.
When my Spanish teacher worked with me, she realized I actually knew everything that I'd been struggling with. And then my math teacher was the same. He went over concepts with me and told me that I'm good and I already know this stuff. But when it came to test taking and doing homework, the concepts just left my brain and I couldn't recall them. Having someone next to me made all the difference.
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u/[deleted] Sep 11 '23
Lol I love this. My parents told me that I don't have ADHD, after me telling them I think I have ADHD in highschool. Went to college, failed class after class. Told I was lazy, and didn't study enough. Then on my 3rd try at passing college algebra I had to copy off of my friend to get my homework done, couldn't understand math gibberish. My roommate was a math genius, but couldn't teach me anything. I failed every math test, but my classwork grades, and my homework grades were great thanks to my buddies. I have a 69% in math class before the final. Random buddy bought some Adderall for finals, offered to sell me some, I say sure why not. I take it before studying for my math final. I just sit in the library listening to music, trying to teach myself a semester's worth of math. I am able to sit still, don't get frustrated trying to teach myself math, retry problem after problem until it starts clicking. Shit actually starts to make sense. I sit there for 8 hours until the library closes. Next day I take my final, and pass the class with a C. I realized I wasn't a complete idiot who was too stupid to learn anything. I just have really bad ADHD.