ADHD & Memory | ADHD Information
Does anyone have the same problems as I am about to explain:
I can be hyper for hours on end,talk non-stop, but the memory is the worst.Sometimes I will be in mid-sentence & say to the other person''What did I just say''as I cannot remember,I often go upstairs to get something but have to go up & down the stairs as what I was looking for had gone from my head it can be so annoying.I will be 18 next month,but my sleep pattern is slowing down as I often get tired before 12.30am latley before I could be up untill 4am in the morning & still be hyper next day! I don't see any advantages of ADHD as I live everyday through a condition.
There will be things I say or do which I know if I didn't have ADHD I would not say or do so such things.But I've come to realise this is me for my life just the way it goes I guess, theres people worse off than US, some have Cancer & only have months to live so I guess we can thank ADHD for not being a life threatening illness
Mel17herts,
I too have short term memory snag. people spot it, some comment, "you have a head like a sive", some don't or don't say it. On being an ADHDer i'll say this, I love to travel and being the way i am it has meant i have met and talked to the most amazing people. Yes we are lucky that what we are does mean we can change faster then "Averagers" Our endless curiosity is the envy of many.
"Laugh" Yesterday i left my door key out of my hand while rapping with a friend who called to drop something off. Maybe a minute, well put hand down for key ring on belt, Aahh! not there, where the --- is it, searched all over could'nt find it. Found it? o yea! in the pocket of jacket i was going to wear to go out just as friend called.
Mel, I am 53 and have got this far, so you are right , ADHD is a bumer at times but it is not a serious threat.
I finally found them when I looked in the mirror.. perched on my nose, right where they should be...
;)
I can forget things with in less then a minute, definite time killer having to stop to look for things, or remember where I was going, or what I was going to do.
Usually I think when I get preoccupied thinking and just following my thoughts... is when I become forgetfull.
I am a slow thinker too, I have to work things out step by step if someone asks me something. Quite often humor just passes me right by.
Sometimes I think I come off less friendly because I react to my thoughts more then the situations around me, kind of in my own little world most of the time.
I also am Bi-Polar (manic / depression) with high aggitation, I am 32 years old. This problem really was at its worse when I was your age, but have since developed more of an acceptance, or more tricks for couping a bit better then back then.
NightStar38158.2894097222i search for things daily that still have their imprint on my hands so to speak. i've lost keys that i 'had just used, seen , put down' pens pencils my laptop
shirts shoes pants socks earrings wallets purses books you name
it i've even misplaced a sandwich i was eating while i was at work in the office one day.
never found it. i was sooo angry. not even b/c i was hungry just b/c it was maddening to not even KNOW what the hell i was doing with myself the majority of times.
yes ryan, i have an insatiable curiousity..and passion..i do find that ppl are attracted to that when they themselves seem to be very sedentary mentally...which i am not.
i know that i'm so 'mentally' oriented..so many things going on my mind at once that i don't keep track of the physical by any means. i can have three convos at once ..being on the phone , putting my customer on mute while they ramble uselessly..respond to queries from my boss and engage in debate with my coworkers..and get right back into my call.
dont ask me where my hands were..where my paper that i was writing notes is..etc.
my life is a string of forgotten moments it seems! my conciousness during an act that is physical..like doing my laundry etc..if i have managed to be 'concious' when i'm doing this instead of just talking to someone on the phone or my son or my spouse or to myself and wandering mentally, its like a very rare moment.
bubbles in time.
yet when i drive ( and i've read abou this 'global' observation thing) or i'm in someone's home..i absorb minutea like a video recorder. my husband and friends are somewhat shocked sometimes when that memory pops up ..yet i focus like the computer or my book is the only thing in the world. nothing touches with me..its like a trance with my words flowing or my mind moving in unison with a book..so deeply that i've mentioned books accidentally as 'movies' b/c i see them soo deeply and clearly..its like if writing or reading ..communicating i have a strong and powerful flow and connection that cannot be broken. and everything else is lost.
yeah i've locked my keys in my car while its running countless times. lets just say that i depend on triple aaa..i never find out that this has happened til i'm walking away from my car..or done with my errand at a store..or lunch with a friend as i mentioned in an earlier post. this is so amazing to my coworkers..that i could let my car run 45 minutes in the parking lot , locked ,and not even know it..i just shut the door and forgot my car.
my memory is quixotic to say the least. bothersome sometimes irritating when i forget a whole idea in a conversation (particularly in a DEBATE i freaking hate that! i have many good points lining up and then i go blank and look like an idiot) yet other times
my memory soaks something up deeply and i bet better than most of the ppl i know.
sumi
Oh Sumi, you are just like me, have 2 or 3 conversations at once, and just work in zombie mode never paying attention to where I am moving things on the desk, or the notes that I just wrote in haste just don't make any sense after I look at them.
Though, I have to admit that I forget peoples NAMES all the time, and feel terrible having a conversation, suppose to fax, mail, or e-mail something and forgot to ask something as important as their name so I can send it to their attention!
Though to me this is not a walk in the park, cause the more people calling in, the less I remember of the conversation just prior - and I get anywhere from 5 to 20 maybe more a day - and them people can't ever have the same issues one to the next.
My boss, keeps giving me projects - his own creation of check lists that I am suppose to stop and fill in every call, or some other project, just more and more paperwork to "keep me orgainized" he is loosing this battle, cause I get so hectic that they go unattended, I just file them in a pile off of my desk since they just get in the way of the immediate pile I am stressing over.
It is not the same for me, I hate multi-tasking with a passion.
Just replying back to some of your answers that you have sent in. Your right I don't really have many people to talk about my ADHD, My family is always arguing over other things, my boyfriend of nearly 2yrs would never understand just says I never shut up chatting! But I'm stronger than I look. Like I say Im not really me I'm living through ADHD everyday some days I will try & be me ''Normal Mel'' but usually Im ''ADHD Mel''
I am grateful too all that are trying to help its just a case of no-one close by in my country or local to me. Im not going to see my psycharist as he never believed I have ADHD untill I told him myself when I was 13yrs old that I do have ADHD.
I was dianosed when I was 6yrs old but always taken authority years to admit Im more than a brat I do have a behavioural problems. Many Thanks Mel
please don't feel bad about your loss of memory. i don't think we were designed to memorize details. we are designed to remember and compare concepts and ideas and to relate them to other concepts and ideas. its sort of like comparing a ferrari and a kia. the kia can drive in traffic and commute through potholes and do just fine. now we come along in our ferrari and he overheat and bottom out. let that kia try to keep up with us on the open highway though! we are just very different, and that is a good thing which in time the world (and us) will come to know. it just isn't going to happen during our lifetime :( as evolution takes it's course we will learn control. have faith and try to keep a positive attitude, and try not to let people rush you for answers (guess this may be hard at work though). also, i find it helpful to declutter my mind every couple of years. i usually take about a month in a row where i do relaxing lower brain functions (like fishing, camping, nature, etc). while i do these things i can systematically pull most of the unfinished business out of my head and finally put it to rest. these are just my own observations about myself, hopefully something may be of help to you. and yes, i know i'm a nut
Wile E38159.436099537