Inattentive and Intuitive, A mixed Bag of ADHD Gifts

I recently read an ADD blog where the blogger stated "If Add is a gift, can I return it and get something else?”  I find this line very funny and often feel very much the same way with the exception of one gift that I think most people with ADHD possess.   It is the gift of intuition.  It is the ability to just sense or understand something that is not explicitly obvious or explained.  My partner calls it "the big K, know".  When I know something, beyond a doubt, but cannot explain why or how I know this.   

Neurologist say we only use a small portion of our brain.  I believe that in people with ADHD, the portion of the brain that controls intuition is more developed than in people without this condition.

I will give you an example of a time when my intuition helped me a work.  Several months ago I saw a young man in the emergency room.  He reported that for the last week he had been feeling awful.  He said that he had fever and chills, that his body ached, that he had lost his appetite, and that he was really tired.   All his lab studies and his chest x-ray looked fine.  His temperature and vital signs were normal.  I did a complete physical exam which was totally negative except that he appeared ill.  I called the attending physician in to see him.  The attending examined him, looked at all the studies and said, "Ok, so he has a virus, give him some IV fluids and send him home."  I thought we should do a lumbar pucture.  The attending physician disagreed.   He argued that we had no firm basis on which to justify sticking a needle into this guy’s spine.  I spoke to the family at length and it was agreed that they would bring him back immediately at the slightest sign of worsening.   He returned the next morning and a lumbar puncture was performed.  He was eventually diagnosed with St Louis Encephalitis and stayed in the hospital for over 2 months.  From the moment I walked into that patient's room, I 'big K knew' there was something seriously wrong with this man. 

I have had this 'gift' of intuition all my life and it has served me well.  My sons have it as well and I have learned not to argue with my younger son when he gets a 'gut' feeling about something. He is always right.  Some people call this gift "EQ" for 'emotion quotient’; some people call it being perceptive.  Whatever you call it, it is a unique gift and I would not give it away for anything!

Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another you have only an extemporaneous half possession.
Ralph Waldo Emerson