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I’m 31 and have ADHD (diagnosed in my teens) and I’m pretty sure NOBODY with ADHD is going to have the wherewithal to read this entire article! Unless it happen

I’m 31 and have ADHD (diagnosed in my teens) and I’m pretty sure NOBODY with ADHD is going to have the wherewithal to read this entire article! Unless it happens to magically coincide with their hyper-focus topic of the moment! In all seriousness, I skimmed parts of the article and kept scrolling and it just kept going and going and going... like the Energizer bunny. I guess the author found a doctor to prescribe stimulants; they do make it easy to write long rants. I can identify with some of his analogies, not all. The forgetfulness, standing at desk with power supply / getting “stuck”, lots of that sounds familiar. Some of the stuff he talks about is behavioral though and if it can be called lazy, it probably is at least partially lazy. I could never file TPS reports everyday, but I can do it occasionally. My brain’s capable of it. I just don’t like doing boring things. And yeah, I probably wouldn’t last if I had to do boring things everyday for a job. But the article makes it sound like he’s actually not capable of doing a boring thing. The more interesting parts of ADHD are the stuff that is lesser-known and often overlooked, like mood swings and anger/irritability issues. Ironically stimulants pretty much cured lifelong mood issues for me. I used to blow up on people all the time; now I’m easygoing.

matheusmoreira 7y ago
> Unless it happens to magically coincide with their hyper-focus topic of the moment! It's funny. People with ADHD suffer from attention deficit but at the same time they display hyperattention when they encounter a subject they like. I've experienced it as well: once I start programming I have no problem doing it for 12 hours straight. I've found this trait in many ADHD patients. There's usually something that really turns them on and I always try to find it. I think of it as an signal/noise ratio problem. Very high signal is needed to grab their attention and there is very low tolerance for noise.
- mmanfrin 7y ago
  The way I've come to describe it with my therapist is that it feels like, internally, I have 12 different brains. All of them are constantly scanning around, interested in different things, making it very hard to focus on one thing, but conversely making me very good at understanding a thing as a whole. The other part of this analogy is that when there is something that grabs my interest, it grabs it with all 12 brains and I bury myself in that interest until I burn out after a few hours. I find that ADHD makes me a very good architect and a very bad regular programmer.
  - ashildr 7y ago
    You have no idea how much sense that last sense made to me :)
  - kitsune_ 7y ago
    I think as awful this sounds, it is also why often adhd people can synthesize a lot of information very quickly because their brains have this rapid association chain which can lead to absolutely lucid insights, downside is that it's hard for them to stay on topic and not go into rambling monologue mode.
    - bitexploder 7y ago
      I always had that. I can’t go as deep on subjects without force of will, hard. But I have always had a knack for integrating information and learning new things with a relatively high amount of new things but not a lot of density for each thing. This can add up, sneakily, to very dense knowledge on a subject and I have made that a part of how I learn. It’s great learning new frameworks, languages, and subjects. That surface scan and seeing the whole of something comes easily.
  - firethief 7y ago
    > I find that ADHD makes me a very good architect and a very bad regular programmer. I know what you mean. I think if I could click with someone who's really organized and good at execution we could turn one of my 9 billion potentially-pretty-good ideas into an awesome company (I have a pet theory that this pattern is often why it takes 2 to found), but I have never really been able to connect with neurotypicals. They can play along where I can't even tune in, and worse, they are content where I am passionate.
- vonseel 7y ago
  * There's usually something that really turns them on and I always try to find it.* Yep, and that something can drift over years, days, even minutes. I find code very conducive to hyperfocus, maybe more so than something like playing guitar - it's funny, because so much of coding can be mundane and repetitive, but that quality seems to help with getting started and finding a flow state. I rarely hyperfocus on writing music or playing instruments anymore, but I used to zone out and play for hours. I'm not sure what changes in a person that makes that more difficult one day than the next.
  - hinkley 7y ago
    If you think code can be repetitive, try learning to play an instrument. Playing the same chords over and over again, making fewer and fewer mistakes, all while this song you used to love, you are now beginning to have serious doubts about.
- zarmin 7y ago
  It's less of an attention deficit and more of an _intention_ deficit.
  - cbsmith 7y ago
    There's plenty of intent. Just no ability to connect that to outcomes.
    - zarmin 7y ago
      Yes, that's what I meant -- sorry if it was unclear. You know what you need to do, but you are unable to use that knowledge to do the thing.
- caleb-allen 7y ago
  My favorite explanation is that of a hunter. Those with ADHD spend 90% of their time imagining, thinking, doing everything and nothing. And to any observer they look stupid, or undisciplined, or lazy. Like the hunt, when somebody with ADHD encounters an situation with very high (perceived) consequences, they will lock into intense hyperfocus, completely singular in their goal. So the modes of operation are 1) philosophize and daydream or 2) hunt Is this real? I have no idea, probably not, but it helps me reason about myself better than feeling like a permanent victim
  - mckirk 7y ago
    You might be quite interested in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9LRSgxbQqM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9LRSgxbQqM
  - hinkley 7y ago
    There's a few theories out there around sensory processing difficulties, which I've been looking into a lot lately to pretty good effect. Check out The Highly Sensitive Person. (Seriously. get yourself a pair of earplugs and see how that alters your sense of focus on moderately interesting tasks, if it does anything, you should read the book). The TLDR is that when engaging in a task you have to reach the correct activation level to perform it, and it's a struggle for some people. Some people think that a lot of ADHD people or misdiagnosed, others that it's just another symptom of ADHD. Which is why some people have to fidget, or listen to music, or move around in order to get stuff done. Or why I'm a worse driver if I can't have the radio on. The pinnacle of this for me was about half a dozen years ago, I was slugging out some code for a personal project. But I was also feeling nostalgic for an old movie (can't recall which, but let's say it was The Princess Bride). So I put it on in the background. But this isn't quite getting me in The Zone, so this is the scene my partner walks into: I'm sitting on the couch typing. In all likelihood my knee is bouncing (makes laptops a bit tricky). There's 90's music coming out of my laptop, The Princess Bride is on the TV. Her head is about to explode. You would think I was killing kittens. She has an ADHD diagnosis, and this plan I have enacted is so anathema to her coping mechanisms that she can't even bear to witness it. Which is too bad because I was getting rather a lot done.
  - 7y ago
- cbsmith 7y ago
  Hyperfocus is a coping skill if you suffer ADHD. Everyone can do it, but people who suffer from ADHD learn to get very good at getting into that state, because without it they struggle to maintain focus.
- hinkley 7y ago
  I have a pet theory that it's much easier for ADHD people to enter Flow state. But also that Flow state is often a bad way to write code. One, virtually everyone has a tremendous case of Sunk Cost Fallacy around things done in Flow state. If someone spent 10 hours in a week working on code that you say is badly conceived in a code review, you'll get pushback and grumbling. Argue with someone who did the PR in a single sitting? They will fight you. Hard. This is the most amazing code ever written (because I felt amazing while I was writing it). The rush goes to their heads. Two, writing code for other people requires empathy. Rumination. Flow state is considerably absent of both of those. So the problems and gotchas you know about ahead of time get handled, but anything you find along the way is very likely to get ignored. The quantity of your code goes way, way up, the quality goes considerably in the other direction. I made a conscious decision a while back (making official an unconscious one I'd already made) to stop seeking out Flow state. I felt better, but objectively, it hasn't done me any huge favors professionally. From a practical standpoint, me writing less code means that people who write more baroque code than I do at my worst get to set the narrative for larger slices of the codebase. But I've also done something I hate: reason that if a lot of something is bad, none of it is better. I need a new plan, and I need it bad.
  - shrimp_emoji 7y ago
    >Two, writing code for other people requires empathy. Rumination. Flow state is considerably absent of both of those. So the problems and gotchas you know about ahead of time get handled, but anything you find along the way is very likely to get ignored. The quantity of your code goes way, way up, the quality goes considerably in the other direction. Yeah, I thought "flow" required extremely low resistance in the task (i.e., someone sewing, playing an instrument, or playing a relatively simple game competently and with no interruption of confusion, frustration, or distraction). I wish I could code like that. xD Constant typing to an ambient soundtrack. Instead, it's a minefield of "uh wait I have to Google this thing", "uh, what should happen here?", "oh no, an error with a complicated message I probably also have to Google". And I can only carry on the rubber ducking to competently deal with those with a FULL MARSHALLING of my mental resources, which seems too strenuous for "flow" and is exhausting after a few hours. But if you're sewing, you're just sewing.
- SmirkingRevenge 7y ago
  If anyone has ever tried pushing two strong magnets together at the spots where the same poles are facing one another, where the magnets repel instead of attract, they can understand a bit about what its like to try and focus on something that isn't very stimulating on ADHD. Each time you try, just as you get close, they slide off one another and all around, until they stick at a different spot. Those sticky spots, are all the very stimulating tasks.
- saulrh 7y ago
  Attention Deficit isn't an inability to focus, it's an inability to exert executive control over focus. When there's nothing interesting going on this manifests as wandering attention. When there's something interesting going on this manifests as a crippling inability to process background events like appointments and bedtime.
  - fasteo 7y ago
    This is a great definition of ADHD
  - siljon 7y ago
    I have had this problem through my whole life... My parents and I have never understood that this definition is ADHD and always assumed it was inability to focus. My mom have always been big about don't take pills unless you absolutely have too. However it isn't until older age I finally been able to force my exert executive control to focus. It has taken a lot of practice and challenging myself and it wasn't until the age of 26 I finally been able to go to college. I keep challenging myself and I feel it get easier and easier every year. So now I start to question the inability part. Or if it's something you can actually practice and get over.
    - kolinko 7y ago
      Practice helps, it’s just an uphill battle without meds. There are many books on the subject of good exercises, and some therapists that specialise in helping adhd people.
      - minhazm42333 7y ago
        Can u recommend any?
    - gremlinsinc 7y ago
      I went down into dark depression 2 years back. Wife just had our first baby. I was 38. I used my kid to draw me out of depression so I didn't do anything stupid to myself. Went to therapy over a year ago, was diagnosed with ADHD. At the same time I started doing crossfit and lost 90 pounds in 3 months. My PCP prescribed me Vyvanse, and just being able to focus a little better and see my life change for better and maybe some of the coping stuff I picked up from therapy and I've not had any depression really since day one of therapy. Honestly, I think therapy had the least effect except realization what was wrong. Drugs I think helped the most.. lately it feels like they're not as good though, or I feel like I'm in a funk. I don't know if that's just life or being overworked or just I need a dose change. Maybe if I cut it cold turkey a week, then get back on it'd reboot or something. TLDR: I just feel I'm getting off track a lot more lately than I was the previous 14 months. Not sure what I should do, maybe go back to therapy? Maybe focus more on mindfulness/stoicism? Up my dose of Vyvanse? Go back to the gym? All the above?
- anonsivalley652 7y ago
  It's can be a fleeting or an obsessive focus. Also, if you tack on depression, it's difficult (for me) to prioritize and proportionality/negative cognitive distortions get in the way of almost everything and depression makes everything seem and feel 1000x harder.
- gaspoweredcat 7y ago
  it becomes even stranger when you have both ADD and autism, sometimes i can be completely lost in something for long tracks of time to the point that it blocks out most everything else and other times the slightest thing will shift my focus entirely it makes it difficult to become good at things you naturally arent good at, once ive been knocked off my obsessive focus on something theres a solid chance ill likely never go back to it. at times i can become almost an expert at things in a very short space of time but as soon as something else takes my focus the new subject basically erases the previous one from my memory medication has helped greatly but i think i may need to either get my dose adjusted or shift to an alternative medication as im starting to fall back into getting easily distracted again
  - gaspoweredcat 7y ago
    addendum: crap i just noticed i spent so long reading and thinking about this that im now late for work, its this sort of thing that causes issues (and yet here i am wasting more time writing this!)
khalilravanna 7y ago
That's interesting to hear about ADHD causing mood swings/anger/irritability and the stimulants doing away with them. Is that a common trait of the illness? I only noticed that after I started taking stimulants my temper became a lot more short. It's to the point that I have to be really cognizant of it lest I inadvertently snap at someone due to some biological response (really not good as a leader in an organization).
- Gene_Parmesan 7y ago
  So I'm not a researcher, just a sufferer, but my understanding is that yes, emotional regulation issues are common with ADHD. Attention-deficit is kind of a misnomer; a lot of doctors now think "executive functioning disorder" would be a better name. Executive functioning is sort of the layer that sits on top of our underlying systems - whether they be behavioral or emotional - and allows us some level of conscious agency over that stuff. Poor executive functioning is why I could never make myself start writing a paper prior to the day or two before it was due, despite the rising sense of panic I would get for weeks. (This is key -- it's not laziness, because good lord did I wish I were able to do the work. To me, lazy ~= apathy, and what I felt was just about the polar opposite of apathy.) Poor executive functioning is also why, unmedicated, it was sometimes difficult to not let my initial emotional reactions just come flying out. It was like there was an express lane between my limbic system and my action system, totally bypassing my ability to control it. I would find myself snapping out something and as it was coming out of my mouth, I would be kicking myself and thinking "Why in god's name am I saying this right now?" Medication has helped with all of the above and more. What I will say is that stimulants also can have a tendency to put some people on edge and increase sympathetic nervous system activity, so shorter temper could be a side effect for sure. If it's affecting you that strongly, maybe speak with your doctor about a slightly lower dose? Or is there a possibility that you only became aware of your tendency to have a short temper once you became medicated? An interesting chicken/egg question; I'm just asking rhetorically, mind, because I have a lot of similar questions.
  - vonseel 7y ago
    Poor executive functioning is why I could never make myself start writing a paper prior to the day or two before it was due, despite the rising sense of panic I would get for weeks. (This is key -- it's not laziness, because good lord did I wish I were able to do the work. To me, lazy ~= apathy, and what I felt was just about the polar opposite of apathy.) That sounds like a good explanation for why I've been avoiding studying for something for weeks but feeling guilty, even sick, the whole time about it. I don't know though. It's hard for me to not call that lazy, and I don't think lazy denotes apathy. Isn't it possible to be lazy and still care about a thing? Poor executive functioning is also why, unmedicated, it was sometimes difficult to not let my initial emotional reactions just come flying out. It was like there was an express lane between my limbic system and my action system, totally bypassing my ability to control it. I would find myself snapping out something and as it was coming out of my mouth, I would be kicking myself and thinking "Why in god's name am I saying this right now?" I still struggle with emotional impulsivity anytime I take a few days off meds. Drug holidays can be surreal. Or sometimes they might not be special at all. But I've taken time off before and noticed everything - birds, wind in the air, music on the radio, and it felt so surreal that I broke down crying. Why in god's name am I saying this right now...
stuntkite 7y ago
Hah. I really liked parts and skipped and scrolled more than a few. It looks a lot like some very helpful reddit posts I've made in the past. I sent the article to my girlfriend though and she'll read all of it and ask me questions about it so I can cleverly get a proxy summary. ADHD Lifehack!
alerighi 7y ago
I never heard about this since reading two articles today (one here and one on Reddit). And I think that this thins explains perfectly every aspect of my personality. Yes, me too I didn't read all the article, as I skipped around parts in articles, books, and similar stuff.
ExtraServings 7y ago
So... TL;ADHD I'll admit, I skimmed it. But I bookmarked it!
- Fnoord 7y ago
  > But I bookmarked it! How many bookmarks do you have left to read?
  - ExtraServings 7y ago
    I can't count that high ;)
yonaguska 7y ago
I'm very fortunate that I learned how to read at a very very young age. As such, I'm an incredibly fast reader, when reading for comprehension, I'm close to 700 wpm. So reading to me is easy bc I can read faster than my mind can get distracted. I think that's the hardest part of ADHD, you'll always find some exceptions to the "rules" used to diagnose it.
- vonseel 7y ago
  Hmm, I have no idea what my wpm measure is, but I've never been able to identify with the perception of ADHD being something only low-IQ kids have. People I know with ADHD-symptoms are typically bright and creative, above-average humans.
  - aidenn0 7y ago
    I think this comment was a response to the implication that ADHD people won't be able to read long form content without hyperfocusing from your gp comment. "Long form" is at least partly a function of reading speed.
  - JohnBooty 7y ago
    This is my impression too, but I wonder how much is selection bias. I think a lot of times ADHD is spotted because a kid is bright, but underachieving. There's a glaring disconnect between potential and performance... could be many reasons, many of which aren't ADHD, but it grabs teachers' and parents' attention. But, what about a kid whose intelligence is not above average? If they are underperforming, would it be so obvious? I wonder if a lot of folks with ADHD in this category are more likely to go undiagnosed.
firecall 7y ago
Yep - goes on forever - I gave up LOL
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
mergoc 7y ago
who enjoys doing boring things?
thelittleone 7y ago
I was diagnosed with ADHD. I live in South East Asia (always hot and humid) and found that the stimulants made me just too hot. Ended up trying modafinil. I would take it first day of the week get the momentum going and usually didn't need it for the rest of the week until productivity waned. I found that getting started and momentum going is my biggest challenge. Maintaining it for several days after was not as hard.
anonsivalley652 7y ago
I'm homeless, live in a vehicle and can't hold a job (getting along with people). My parents insisted ADD was a fad and that I was normal, yet all of my peers said I was weird. Not many friends. Under-treated depression until 30. Lived withdrawn for several years. Finally on atomoxetine at 40, which helps some. Lots of plans but no sustained focus and execution to get anything done. I somehow slogged through getting a CS degree over 10 years, but went bankrupt and have $9k in undischargeable student loan debt. My cognition is declining, I sleep on a very odd schedule and don't really have any purpose or use because I'm too old. Intervention earlier and don't do as I did... because you can basically never recover from homelessness without help but there is no help.
gremlinsinc 7y ago
I agree, have ADHD this ran on so hard... I got bored so fast. Got some points here and there but skimmed all the h1 tags. When writing to us... maybe just try bullet points.... Don't run past the page fold - or I'm out.

matheusmoreira 7y ago

> Unless it happens to magically coincide with their hyper-focus topic of the moment! It's funny. People with ADHD suffer from attention deficit but at the same time they display hyperattention when they encounter a subject they like. I've experienced it as well: once I start programming I have no problem doing it for 12 hours straight. I've found this trait in many ADHD patients. There's usually something that really turns them on and I always try to find it. I think of it as an signal/noise ratio problem. Very high signal is needed to grab their attention and there is very low tolerance for noise.

mmanfrin 7y ago
The way I've come to describe it with my therapist is that it feels like, internally, I have 12 different brains. All of them are constantly scanning around, interested in different things, making it very hard to focus on one thing, but conversely making me very good at understanding a thing as a whole. The other part of this analogy is that when there is something that grabs my interest, it grabs it with all 12 brains and I bury myself in that interest until I burn out after a few hours. I find that ADHD makes me a very good architect and a very bad regular programmer.
- ashildr 7y ago
  You have no idea how much sense that last sense made to me :)
- kitsune_ 7y ago
  I think as awful this sounds, it is also why often adhd people can synthesize a lot of information very quickly because their brains have this rapid association chain which can lead to absolutely lucid insights, downside is that it's hard for them to stay on topic and not go into rambling monologue mode.
  - bitexploder 7y ago
    I always had that. I can’t go as deep on subjects without force of will, hard. But I have always had a knack for integrating information and learning new things with a relatively high amount of new things but not a lot of density for each thing. This can add up, sneakily, to very dense knowledge on a subject and I have made that a part of how I learn. It’s great learning new frameworks, languages, and subjects. That surface scan and seeing the whole of something comes easily.
- firethief 7y ago
  > I find that ADHD makes me a very good architect and a very bad regular programmer. I know what you mean. I think if I could click with someone who's really organized and good at execution we could turn one of my 9 billion potentially-pretty-good ideas into an awesome company (I have a pet theory that this pattern is often why it takes 2 to found), but I have never really been able to connect with neurotypicals. They can play along where I can't even tune in, and worse, they are content where I am passionate.
vonseel 7y ago
* There's usually something that really turns them on and I always try to find it.* Yep, and that something can drift over years, days, even minutes. I find code very conducive to hyperfocus, maybe more so than something like playing guitar - it's funny, because so much of coding can be mundane and repetitive, but that quality seems to help with getting started and finding a flow state. I rarely hyperfocus on writing music or playing instruments anymore, but I used to zone out and play for hours. I'm not sure what changes in a person that makes that more difficult one day than the next.
- hinkley 7y ago
  If you think code can be repetitive, try learning to play an instrument. Playing the same chords over and over again, making fewer and fewer mistakes, all while this song you used to love, you are now beginning to have serious doubts about.
zarmin 7y ago
It's less of an attention deficit and more of an _intention_ deficit.
- cbsmith 7y ago
  There's plenty of intent. Just no ability to connect that to outcomes.
  - zarmin 7y ago
    Yes, that's what I meant -- sorry if it was unclear. You know what you need to do, but you are unable to use that knowledge to do the thing.
caleb-allen 7y ago
My favorite explanation is that of a hunter. Those with ADHD spend 90% of their time imagining, thinking, doing everything and nothing. And to any observer they look stupid, or undisciplined, or lazy. Like the hunt, when somebody with ADHD encounters an situation with very high (perceived) consequences, they will lock into intense hyperfocus, completely singular in their goal. So the modes of operation are 1) philosophize and daydream or 2) hunt Is this real? I have no idea, probably not, but it helps me reason about myself better than feeling like a permanent victim
- mckirk 7y ago
  You might be quite interested in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9LRSgxbQqM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9LRSgxbQqM
- hinkley 7y ago
  There's a few theories out there around sensory processing difficulties, which I've been looking into a lot lately to pretty good effect. Check out The Highly Sensitive Person. (Seriously. get yourself a pair of earplugs and see how that alters your sense of focus on moderately interesting tasks, if it does anything, you should read the book). The TLDR is that when engaging in a task you have to reach the correct activation level to perform it, and it's a struggle for some people. Some people think that a lot of ADHD people or misdiagnosed, others that it's just another symptom of ADHD. Which is why some people have to fidget, or listen to music, or move around in order to get stuff done. Or why I'm a worse driver if I can't have the radio on. The pinnacle of this for me was about half a dozen years ago, I was slugging out some code for a personal project. But I was also feeling nostalgic for an old movie (can't recall which, but let's say it was The Princess Bride). So I put it on in the background. But this isn't quite getting me in The Zone, so this is the scene my partner walks into: I'm sitting on the couch typing. In all likelihood my knee is bouncing (makes laptops a bit tricky). There's 90's music coming out of my laptop, The Princess Bride is on the TV. Her head is about to explode. You would think I was killing kittens. She has an ADHD diagnosis, and this plan I have enacted is so anathema to her coping mechanisms that she can't even bear to witness it. Which is too bad because I was getting rather a lot done.
- 7y ago
cbsmith 7y ago
Hyperfocus is a coping skill if you suffer ADHD. Everyone can do it, but people who suffer from ADHD learn to get very good at getting into that state, because without it they struggle to maintain focus.
hinkley 7y ago
I have a pet theory that it's much easier for ADHD people to enter Flow state. But also that Flow state is often a bad way to write code. One, virtually everyone has a tremendous case of Sunk Cost Fallacy around things done in Flow state. If someone spent 10 hours in a week working on code that you say is badly conceived in a code review, you'll get pushback and grumbling. Argue with someone who did the PR in a single sitting? They will fight you. Hard. This is the most amazing code ever written (because I felt amazing while I was writing it). The rush goes to their heads. Two, writing code for other people requires empathy. Rumination. Flow state is considerably absent of both of those. So the problems and gotchas you know about ahead of time get handled, but anything you find along the way is very likely to get ignored. The quantity of your code goes way, way up, the quality goes considerably in the other direction. I made a conscious decision a while back (making official an unconscious one I'd already made) to stop seeking out Flow state. I felt better, but objectively, it hasn't done me any huge favors professionally. From a practical standpoint, me writing less code means that people who write more baroque code than I do at my worst get to set the narrative for larger slices of the codebase. But I've also done something I hate: reason that if a lot of something is bad, none of it is better. I need a new plan, and I need it bad.
- shrimp_emoji 7y ago
  >Two, writing code for other people requires empathy. Rumination. Flow state is considerably absent of both of those. So the problems and gotchas you know about ahead of time get handled, but anything you find along the way is very likely to get ignored. The quantity of your code goes way, way up, the quality goes considerably in the other direction. Yeah, I thought "flow" required extremely low resistance in the task (i.e., someone sewing, playing an instrument, or playing a relatively simple game competently and with no interruption of confusion, frustration, or distraction). I wish I could code like that. xD Constant typing to an ambient soundtrack. Instead, it's a minefield of "uh wait I have to Google this thing", "uh, what should happen here?", "oh no, an error with a complicated message I probably also have to Google". And I can only carry on the rubber ducking to competently deal with those with a FULL MARSHALLING of my mental resources, which seems too strenuous for "flow" and is exhausting after a few hours. But if you're sewing, you're just sewing.
SmirkingRevenge 7y ago
If anyone has ever tried pushing two strong magnets together at the spots where the same poles are facing one another, where the magnets repel instead of attract, they can understand a bit about what its like to try and focus on something that isn't very stimulating on ADHD. Each time you try, just as you get close, they slide off one another and all around, until they stick at a different spot. Those sticky spots, are all the very stimulating tasks.
saulrh 7y ago
Attention Deficit isn't an inability to focus, it's an inability to exert executive control over focus. When there's nothing interesting going on this manifests as wandering attention. When there's something interesting going on this manifests as a crippling inability to process background events like appointments and bedtime.
- fasteo 7y ago
  This is a great definition of ADHD
- siljon 7y ago
  I have had this problem through my whole life... My parents and I have never understood that this definition is ADHD and always assumed it was inability to focus. My mom have always been big about don't take pills unless you absolutely have too. However it isn't until older age I finally been able to force my exert executive control to focus. It has taken a lot of practice and challenging myself and it wasn't until the age of 26 I finally been able to go to college. I keep challenging myself and I feel it get easier and easier every year. So now I start to question the inability part. Or if it's something you can actually practice and get over.
  - kolinko 7y ago
    Practice helps, it’s just an uphill battle without meds. There are many books on the subject of good exercises, and some therapists that specialise in helping adhd people.
    - minhazm42333 7y ago
      Can u recommend any?
  - gremlinsinc 7y ago
    I went down into dark depression 2 years back. Wife just had our first baby. I was 38. I used my kid to draw me out of depression so I didn't do anything stupid to myself. Went to therapy over a year ago, was diagnosed with ADHD. At the same time I started doing crossfit and lost 90 pounds in 3 months. My PCP prescribed me Vyvanse, and just being able to focus a little better and see my life change for better and maybe some of the coping stuff I picked up from therapy and I've not had any depression really since day one of therapy. Honestly, I think therapy had the least effect except realization what was wrong. Drugs I think helped the most.. lately it feels like they're not as good though, or I feel like I'm in a funk. I don't know if that's just life or being overworked or just I need a dose change. Maybe if I cut it cold turkey a week, then get back on it'd reboot or something. TLDR: I just feel I'm getting off track a lot more lately than I was the previous 14 months. Not sure what I should do, maybe go back to therapy? Maybe focus more on mindfulness/stoicism? Up my dose of Vyvanse? Go back to the gym? All the above?
anonsivalley652 7y ago
It's can be a fleeting or an obsessive focus. Also, if you tack on depression, it's difficult (for me) to prioritize and proportionality/negative cognitive distortions get in the way of almost everything and depression makes everything seem and feel 1000x harder.
gaspoweredcat 7y ago
it becomes even stranger when you have both ADD and autism, sometimes i can be completely lost in something for long tracks of time to the point that it blocks out most everything else and other times the slightest thing will shift my focus entirely it makes it difficult to become good at things you naturally arent good at, once ive been knocked off my obsessive focus on something theres a solid chance ill likely never go back to it. at times i can become almost an expert at things in a very short space of time but as soon as something else takes my focus the new subject basically erases the previous one from my memory medication has helped greatly but i think i may need to either get my dose adjusted or shift to an alternative medication as im starting to fall back into getting easily distracted again
- gaspoweredcat 7y ago
  addendum: crap i just noticed i spent so long reading and thinking about this that im now late for work, its this sort of thing that causes issues (and yet here i am wasting more time writing this!)

khalilravanna 7y ago

That's interesting to hear about ADHD causing mood swings/anger/irritability and the stimulants doing away with them. Is that a common trait of the illness? I only noticed that after I started taking stimulants my temper became a lot more short. It's to the point that I have to be really cognizant of it lest I inadvertently snap at someone due to some biological response (really not good as a leader in an organization).

Gene_Parmesan 7y ago
So I'm not a researcher, just a sufferer, but my understanding is that yes, emotional regulation issues are common with ADHD. Attention-deficit is kind of a misnomer; a lot of doctors now think "executive functioning disorder" would be a better name. Executive functioning is sort of the layer that sits on top of our underlying systems - whether they be behavioral or emotional - and allows us some level of conscious agency over that stuff. Poor executive functioning is why I could never make myself start writing a paper prior to the day or two before it was due, despite the rising sense of panic I would get for weeks. (This is key -- it's not laziness, because good lord did I wish I were able to do the work. To me, lazy ~= apathy, and what I felt was just about the polar opposite of apathy.) Poor executive functioning is also why, unmedicated, it was sometimes difficult to not let my initial emotional reactions just come flying out. It was like there was an express lane between my limbic system and my action system, totally bypassing my ability to control it. I would find myself snapping out something and as it was coming out of my mouth, I would be kicking myself and thinking "Why in god's name am I saying this right now?" Medication has helped with all of the above and more. What I will say is that stimulants also can have a tendency to put some people on edge and increase sympathetic nervous system activity, so shorter temper could be a side effect for sure. If it's affecting you that strongly, maybe speak with your doctor about a slightly lower dose? Or is there a possibility that you only became aware of your tendency to have a short temper once you became medicated? An interesting chicken/egg question; I'm just asking rhetorically, mind, because I have a lot of similar questions.
- vonseel 7y ago
  Poor executive functioning is why I could never make myself start writing a paper prior to the day or two before it was due, despite the rising sense of panic I would get for weeks. (This is key -- it's not laziness, because good lord did I wish I were able to do the work. To me, lazy ~= apathy, and what I felt was just about the polar opposite of apathy.) That sounds like a good explanation for why I've been avoiding studying for something for weeks but feeling guilty, even sick, the whole time about it. I don't know though. It's hard for me to not call that lazy, and I don't think lazy denotes apathy. Isn't it possible to be lazy and still care about a thing? Poor executive functioning is also why, unmedicated, it was sometimes difficult to not let my initial emotional reactions just come flying out. It was like there was an express lane between my limbic system and my action system, totally bypassing my ability to control it. I would find myself snapping out something and as it was coming out of my mouth, I would be kicking myself and thinking "Why in god's name am I saying this right now?" I still struggle with emotional impulsivity anytime I take a few days off meds. Drug holidays can be surreal. Or sometimes they might not be special at all. But I've taken time off before and noticed everything - birds, wind in the air, music on the radio, and it felt so surreal that I broke down crying. Why in god's name am I saying this right now...

stuntkite 7y ago

Hah. I really liked parts and skipped and scrolled more than a few. It looks a lot like some very helpful reddit posts I've made in the past. I sent the article to my girlfriend though and she'll read all of it and ask me questions about it so I can cleverly get a proxy summary. ADHD Lifehack!

alerighi 7y ago

I never heard about this since reading two articles today (one here and one on Reddit). And I think that this thins explains perfectly every aspect of my personality. Yes, me too I didn't read all the article, as I skipped around parts in articles, books, and similar stuff.

ExtraServings 7y ago

So... TL;ADHD I'll admit, I skimmed it. But I bookmarked it!

Fnoord 7y ago
> But I bookmarked it! How many bookmarks do you have left to read?
- ExtraServings 7y ago
  I can't count that high ;)

yonaguska 7y ago

I'm very fortunate that I learned how to read at a very very young age. As such, I'm an incredibly fast reader, when reading for comprehension, I'm close to 700 wpm. So reading to me is easy bc I can read faster than my mind can get distracted. I think that's the hardest part of ADHD, you'll always find some exceptions to the "rules" used to diagnose it.

vonseel 7y ago
Hmm, I have no idea what my wpm measure is, but I've never been able to identify with the perception of ADHD being something only low-IQ kids have. People I know with ADHD-symptoms are typically bright and creative, above-average humans.
- aidenn0 7y ago
  I think this comment was a response to the implication that ADHD people won't be able to read long form content without hyperfocusing from your gp comment. "Long form" is at least partly a function of reading speed.
- JohnBooty 7y ago
  This is my impression too, but I wonder how much is selection bias. I think a lot of times ADHD is spotted because a kid is bright, but underachieving. There's a glaring disconnect between potential and performance... could be many reasons, many of which aren't ADHD, but it grabs teachers' and parents' attention. But, what about a kid whose intelligence is not above average? If they are underperforming, would it be so obvious? I wonder if a lot of folks with ADHD in this category are more likely to go undiagnosed.

firecall 7y ago

Yep - goes on forever - I gave up LOL

deleted 7y ago

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mergoc 7y ago

who enjoys doing boring things?

thelittleone 7y ago

I was diagnosed with ADHD. I live in South East Asia (always hot and humid) and found that the stimulants made me just too hot. Ended up trying modafinil. I would take it first day of the week get the momentum going and usually didn't need it for the rest of the week until productivity waned. I found that getting started and momentum going is my biggest challenge. Maintaining it for several days after was not as hard.

anonsivalley652 7y ago

I'm homeless, live in a vehicle and can't hold a job (getting along with people). My parents insisted ADD was a fad and that I was normal, yet all of my peers said I was weird. Not many friends. Under-treated depression until 30. Lived withdrawn for several years. Finally on atomoxetine at 40, which helps some. Lots of plans but no sustained focus and execution to get anything done. I somehow slogged through getting a CS degree over 10 years, but went bankrupt and have $9k in undischargeable student loan debt. My cognition is declining, I sleep on a very odd schedule and don't really have any purpose or use because I'm too old. Intervention earlier and don't do as I did... because you can basically never recover from homelessness without help but there is no help.

gremlinsinc 7y ago

I agree, have ADHD this ran on so hard... I got bored so fast. Got some points here and there but skimmed all the h1 tags. When writing to us... maybe just try bullet points.... Don't run past the page fold - or I'm out.