Is it just my ADD or is it normal that...

**hkay1** · January 26th, 2012

So I have a question that is kind of awkward (and very personal) to ask, but here goes.

I am an avid reader (although my pages per week changes depending on what my kids are doing for activities and how much HW they have). I also think I am a relatively careful reader. Sometimes I get so excited about what is going to happen I rush through parts too fast and then I am sorry, but that doesn't happen too often.

That said, I am also VERY ADD. Since I am on medication I am not nearly as bad, and I also meditate daily (30 minutes at a sitting) to help me stay in the present and that has helped enormously. That said, I don't often find myself daydreaming while I read, nor do I find myself at the end of a chapter and wonder 'whahahpend' unless I am fighting sleep. I used to have that problem a lot when I was younger but not anymore.

I find books "delicious" and work carefully to savor them, enjoying the characters, the journey and immersing myself in the world the author has created. Something I have started doing religiously in the past two years is that EVERY time I pick up a book, I run through in my mind where I was in the story when I last read it. Before I put a book down, I review in my mind what transpired in the book for that reading sitting. This has been exceptionally helpful if I have to put a book down for a week to make sure I had good comprehension.

All THAT said, I still find that a few months out after reading a book, I can't always tell someone exactly what it was about. Yeah of course I can say the basic gist but I can rarely remember how it might have ended exactly. What does last for me was my general impression of it. LOVED IT, It was OK, couldn't stand it, couldn't get through it, found it wordy, stupid, asinine, etc... I will have to pick it up and read the back or a summary on Amazon to remember some of it.

I may be opening myself up here for ridicule, but the bottom line question is..does anyone else have this problem?? Its kind of embarrassing!

**Becks19** · January 26th, 2012

No, I don't think it's just you.

I think it depends on your surroundings. When I have kids, dogs, phones, doorbells all going on I sometimes have to re-read whole chapters. Because, even though I read it, it didn't sink in enough to catch every detail. I think that happens to us all, and when it does it is extremely hard to recall every detail. ( especially, if you end a book like that)

**Spideyman** · January 26th, 2012

No ridicule from me. I tend to have that problem too, and attribute it to getting older. Books stay clear in my mind, but I'll lose details. Often, during a re read all the content will come following back to me as I'm reading.

**GNTLGNT** · January 26th, 2012

Don't give it a second thought! What you're experiencing seems perfectly normal given what you struggle with-same goes for those of my family who suffer the identical affliction...hell, life gets in the way as well-could just be normal hustle & bustle that fogs memory, in combination with the ADD...you have developed some great techniques for yourself...and I say forge ahead! You are doing wonderfully....

**J.T. Adams** · January 26th, 2012

Not wierd at all, actually. I know a lot of people who think about the same way, I do too. That's why I spend a lot of time re-reading the ones I 'remember' being great.

**cat in a bag** · January 26th, 2012

I forget things a lot anymore...I blame it on my wacko thyroid gland. It is upsetting to me, when my husband will say, Remember when (insert a kid's name here) did/said this? And I don't. I should write stuff down, but never seem to find the time to actually do it.

It does happen to me as well with books, but I try to look at it as a positive--if it was a book I remember really enjoying, then on a reread, it's almost like getting to read it again for the first time.

**blunthead** · January 26th, 2012

Originally Posted by hkay1

...All THAT said, I still find that a few months out after reading a book, I can't always tell someone exactly what it was about. Yeah of course I can say the basic gist but I can rarely remember how it might have ended exactly. What does last for me was my general impression of it. LOVED IT, It was OK, couldn't stand it, couldn't get through it, found it wordy, stupid, asinine, etc... I will have to pick it up and read the back or a summary on Amazon to remember some of it.

I may be opening myself up here for ridicule, but the bottom line question is..does anyone else have this problem?? Its kind of embarrassing!

Imho, your experience is normal. It's my experience, anyway. I think your meds are working. I think you're normal. When I was younger my memory was a thing to behold, which isn't an easy thing to do with a memory. But easier with a young memory. Now, I can't remember like I used to. My hypothesis is with age comes wisdom [

], and with wisdom comes the brain's ability to know what probably matters and what probably doesn't, so older people don't remember as well as younger ones, not due to senility, rather, due to being wiser.

Now for the I forgot what the thread is about joke.

**Haunted** · January 26th, 2012

You read a lot, you have children with HW and you say this:

Yeah of course I can say the basic gist but I can rarely remember how it might have ended exactly. What does last for me was my general impression of it. LOVED IT, It was OK, couldn't stand it, couldn't get through it, found it wordy, stupid, asinine, etc... I will have to pick it up and read the back or a summary on Amazon to remember some of it.

The above proves to me you are just like the rest of us avid readers. Ain't nothin' wrong with us!!

And there's always the re-read.