Personal Narrative: My Experience With ADD/ADHD

I am a PhD student in Comparative Literature Department at the University of Georgia. I have been struggling with the symptoms of ADD/ ADHD since I was a child. My grades did not reflect my attempts to study due to careless mistakes. In primary school it was more on spelling and final answers of math problems. In middle school, not only I had the same problem but also my GPA dropped in 7th grade due to disappointment form try and success process. In high school I used to talk a lot to my neighbors in class because sometimes it was really hard to focus on what the teacher was talking about. In undergrad I missed a couple of final exams as I forgot about them. Although that I think I am a hard working person, I could never finish my readings, never ever, from the first grade to the PhD program. I felt the burden of reading in M.A program and I tried to extent my focus time from 30 minutes to almost 2 hours which still depends on situational factors. Now in PhD program it is worse. It is not just reading. I cannot handle the shame and embarrassment of “is” and “are” and many spelling and grammatical errors that happen due to carelessness. Besides that, I have always been losing my stuff. When I was a child, it was pen, pencil, jacket ….now, it is car key, credit card, ring….I can never be organized even though that sometimes I really try. My family and people around me have accepted me as an irresponsible, awkward, clumsy person. But I am really tired of its shame and embarrassment which makes me to hide some events and feel more anxiety. I feel its consequence on my school performance, and sometimes on
We have a two year old child who goes to daycare. My husband takes care of household and I pay all my money to daycare. Then I have $16 in my pocket each month, which is the portion that I afford.
Many thanks for your generous support. I am exceedingly