Too much information at one time.

[TAJB]

I'm wondering if anyone else has this problem. When I go to do something about 3 other things enter my thoughts and inevitably I get clumsy and something goes wrong, or I end up doing something other than the primary thing I was meant to do. I'm probably not explaining this very well but it's the rapidity of thoughts that seem to collide when I'm endeavouring to do one simple task.

[Hidden]

Yes, I definitely understand what you are saying. Perhaps not the best example, but when I go into the supermarket, for example, it is nearly impossible for me to buy one thing or stick to a list of things that I will buy. Self-compassionate attention and repetitive reminders and extra checks definitely do help. For example, I sometimes will write two duplicative grocery lists and make my daughter go to the store with me with one of the lists and only allow me to buy things on the list, but, yes, it is still a struggle so I am not that hard on myself when I end up with an extra item or twenty. But, I once for example, offered my daughter $20 if I bought anything not on the list, and then like magic, I was able to only buy what was on the list. Yes, it makes me feel pathetic, but I am working on that one, and as long as I keep doing better, even if sometimes are worse, I can't be too hard on myself.

[Gettingittogether]

all the time ... sometimes I think that's because my life can be disorganized, so in order to do x, I first need to do Y ...

[STEM_Dad]

Yes, that's how I've been pretty much all my life. Unless I'm doing something that I get completely hyperfocused on, I would get random thoughts interrupting what I was trying to focus on.

Since I got diagnosed and started on ADHD meds, I couldn't help it. Now that I'm on effective meds, it's much easier for me to put those interrupting thoughts aside and hold the subject of the moment in my mind. My brain still goes way faster thanI am able to do what needs doing or to write down what I need to write down.

* Sometimes I lose those other thoughts. Sometimes I can pull them back into focus once I'm done with whatever I was doing.

* There are some times that the interrupting thought is important or urgent enough that I have to stop was I'm doing and take care of it first. Thankfully, with my medication-assisted mind, I can usually get back to the main thing once I'm done with the interruption. That's something that I could never have done before.

I only have the Inattentive presentation of ADHD. My working memory used to be very limited, and my distractibility through the roof. I'm glad I got diagnosed, and I'm glad it took only a few months to get on the meds I'm on. It's not as effective as it was too start with but I've had a stressful year and have been way too short on sleep. Soon, I'll have a change of life routine, and so I aim to work on my stress management, my sleep schedule, and also focus on making improvements to my diet and exercise habits. I'm hoping that helps me to respond better to the meds again. (If not, since I'm on the lowest adult dose for my medication, I can talk to my doctor about increasing my dosage.)

[Poemwriter in reply to STEM_Dad]

Thank you for sharing. What drugs help you best please? I'm coaching my adult daughter through a rough time and we could use some help. She's got inattentive adhd, raising thoughts. Many thanks.

[STEM_Dad in reply to Poemwriter]

I am currently taking atomoxetine, 40mg. (The brand name is Strattera, but I'm on a generic.)

My doctor originally prescribed me Adderall, tried me on 10mg, then 20mg, then off for a time, then 5mg. The initial 10mg helped me somewhat, 20mg didn't help me any more and gave me the side effect of tachycardia (elevated heart rate), then the 5mg dose did almost nothing to help me.

Atomoxetine is twice as effective as Adderall ever was at best. It treats my primary ADHD traits of inattentiveness, distractibility, time-blindness, and working memory issues very well.

*Medication alone can't fix all my ADHD issues. My secondary traits are issues with procrastination, time management, organization, and task-initiation. These are learned traits (skills or habits). I do better at these than I used to, thanks to what the medication does for me, but I know that I need to work on them consciously. (I will probably have to get ADHD coaching, in order to improve faster.) --- In short, "Pills don't teach skills."

On atomoxetine, I feel like I have a fully functional brain, almost what I imagine is like a neurotypical brain. The one trait I value that seems to be diminished a little bit is creativity. I used to feel like I was more creative, probably due to more frequent spontaneous ideas, but like I said, this is only diminished a little. On the plus side, it's now easier to manage my attention and actually have intentional creative time. So, I am probably more productively creative, because I can actually follow through.

------

Statistically, more people are helped by stimulant medications (such as Adderall or Ritalin) than are helped by Strattera (atomoxetine). It's a factor of over-90% for the former, vs about 70% for the latter.

[TAJB in reply to STEM_Dad]

You probably have described better the way my mind works than I did. it's not simply a matter of forgetting. It's having thoughts that compete with each other for attention. It's like having a brood of crying children all making demands of me at the same time. When that happens, I can't remember what I started doing. The meds help but not enough to stop me from being caught between thoughts that rapidly intersect. Invariably, what happens is that I get clumsy and either drop something or walk into something because I'm trying to appease two different things at the one time.

[STEM_Dad in reply to TAJB]

I hadn't made note of it, but I realize that I AM less clumsy than I used to be. Undoubtedly due to less distractibility.

[STEM_Dad in reply to TAJB]

At the same time that I started on atomoxetine, I also became more physically active. I know from articles that I've read that physical activity that involves coordination is beneficial for people with ADHD

My job changed from a desk job to one in which I get to move around, so I use my arms and legs a lot more each day. (I work in tech support for a hospital. I used to just sit all day long, and now I get to walk all over, including up and down stairs. I don't just use a keyboard and mouse, I pick things up, open and close computer cases. Lots of big movements and lots of small movements.)

I've noticed that not only am I less clumsy, but I'm also a lot more coordinated. For instance, in the last couple of weeks, when something was falling off a desk or table, I made flawless catches. It used to be that I would bobble the item or fumble & sometimes drop the item.

[writer35]

You're explaining it very well! It happens all the time to me.

It is hardest for me when it happens in work conversations. I feel like I don't think linearly - my brain sees the problem, three paths to the solution, and a vision for the outcome all at once. I feel like all the thoughts were like in a cartoon, where all the characters try to fit through a doorway at once and they get stuck and it's just a pile of limbs and bodies.

And so I either freeze and it feels like my head empties out completely and it's just empty space up there, or I try to pick a direction and overexplain and confuse the hell out of my colleagues, then the rejection sensitivity and shame pop in and I just kinda trail off.

But it also happens when I have a flexible / free day with no obligations and I want to do six different projects and I can't sequence or prioritize them. I just freeze and play games on my ipad until my brain gets unstuck.

I'm learning to recognize it, stop trying to "power through" the brain freeze, and give myself time to process internally. Sometimes I say, I have a lot of thoughts and I need a moment to organize them, and folks seem to be okay with this and it feels authentic to me rather than masking.