Is this a common trait or something else? | ADHD Information

Is it an ADD thing that you find you have to be almost obsessed with a subject to truly get into it?

Just curious if that's me or a typical ADD thing.

I've been diagnosed but not.........don't know if this will make sense but I'll try.

Two doctors have easily concluded that I'm ADD. A third that they both work with was the one in charge of giving that long list of tests that took me months to go thru. I think the conclusion was up in the air with him. Without either of my parents being alive, I think a big link to my past is just gone and I have to go by recollection, etc.

I would say I'm more of the inattentive ADD but I also have the squirmy aspects of the "hyper" side too. I guess that stuff just does not seriously affect my life the way the inattentiveness has. Then again, maybe it really is the combo. Feeling all revved up with no place to go. That's where the needing to always have an obsession in order to concentrate fully comes in.

I say "obsession" but that's not as dramatic and dire as it may sound. I simply mean obsessed in the sense that I do have to go totally overboard into a subject. Or should I say, that's always been my tendency. Looking back at my life, I see someone who has been in a fog or rut forever, never really growing up and accomplishing anything long lasting or solid. In some areas, I've got stories and memories others could only dream of. That would be due to both my "dreamy" and inattentive "obsessed or nothing" side as well as my impulsive side. As many of you, I suspect, can relate..........it's led me to do some stupid things but it's also allowed me to never be one of those adults who has lost touch with their inner child and just "gone for it." I've done that in some areas but in the areas that earn a living, have anything to do with responsibility and stability......forget it.

I'm almost lucky that I've always had someone or something around me to make sure I didn't starve or wind up on the street. I wouldn't know any better as I've ......apparently....always been blessed in that way. Of course, the older I got the more I suspected that I was indeed lucky and that I was absolutely NOT taking charge of my own life. Then I discovered that I could not figure out what I was "supposed to be when I grew up" even though I've been an adult for a few decades now.

Blah blah blah, this brings me back to my original question. Is it a common ADD/ADHD trait that we can't get activated and past the dreaming/thinking/daydreaming stage unless we continue to develop yet another thing we can obsessively enjoy?

This is one of the reasons, when first coming to this board and into the whole subject of ADD a few years ago (never suspected I had it before then, ever), that the term "hyperfocus" felt like I was finally finding other humans who were like me. Just the description of hyperfocus made me so relieved that there was a word you could attach to the way I am and do things in my life.

Is hyperfocus another way of saying you almost can't concentrate and/or focus long term on anything unless you can get yourself good and obsessive about it?

Long and windy..........Definitely ADD. lol
[QUOTE=Lee74]Is it an ADD thing that you find you have to be almost obsessed with a subject to truly get into it?

For me I have to have a major interest or the information "won't stick". Can't speak for everyone else, though...

Just curious if that's me or a typical ADD thing.

Pretty common around here from what I've seen. Kind of like Sherlock Holmes

I've been diagnosed but not.........don't know if this will make sense but I'll try.

Two doctors have easily concluded that I'm ADD. A third that they both work with was the one in charge of giving that long list of tests that took me months to go thru. I think the conclusion was up in the air with him. Without either of my parents being alive, I think a big link to my past is just gone and I have to go by recollection, etc.

Months of tests? That sounds like a pretty full assessment. Were you tested for everything?

Do you have any siblings or childhood friends who remember what you were like?

I would say I'm more of the inattentive ADD but I also have the squirmy aspects of the "hyper" side too. I guess that stuff just does not seriously affect my life the way the inattentiveness has. Then again, maybe it really is the combo. Feeling all revved up with no place to go.

That sounds common for ADHD too.

That's where the needing to always have an obsession in order to concentrate fully comes in.

I say "obsession" but that's not as dramatic and dire as it may sound. I simply mean obsessed in the sense that I do have to go totally overboard into a subject. Or should I say, that's always been my tendency. Looking back at my life, I see someone who has been in a fog or rut forever, never really growing up and accomplishing anything long lasting or solid. In some areas, I've got stories and memories others could only dream of. That would be due to both my "dreamy" and inattentive "obsessed or nothing" side as well as my impulsive side. As many of you, I suspect, can relate..........it's led me to do some stupid things but it's also allowed me to never be one of those adults who has lost touch with their inner child and just "gone for it." I've done that in some areas but in the areas that earn a living, have anything to do with responsibility and stability......forget it.

Many of us struggle with that. It's like we're playing with a can of Tinker Toys while the rest of the world has tidy, interlocking Legos...

I'm almost lucky that I've always had someone or something around me to make sure I didn't starve or wind up on the street. I wouldn't know any better as I've ......apparently....always been blessed in that way. Of course, the older I got the more I suspected that I was indeed lucky and that I was absolutely NOT taking charge of my own life. Then I discovered that I could not figure out what I was "supposed to be when I grew up" even though I've been an adult for a few decades now.

I'm 50 and I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. My interests are wide and varied and I seem to be good at a lot of things. I'm just never satisfied with them, if that strikes a chord for you.

Blah blah blah, this brings me back to my original question. Is it a common ADD/ADHD trait that we can't get activated and past the dreaming/thinking/daydreaming stage unless we continue to develop yet another thing we can obsessively enjoy?

For many of us, that IS a struggle in a world that really doesn't appreciate it. It's a goal centered world.

This is one of the reasons, when first coming to this board and into the whole subject of ADD a few years ago (never suspected I had it before then, ever), that the term "hyperfocus" felt like I was finally finding other humans who were like me. Just the description of hyperfocus made me so relieved that there was a word you could attach to the way I am and do things in my life.

Is hyperfocus another way of saying you almost can't concentrate and/or focus long term on anything unless you can get yourself good and obsessive about it?

Let's clarify. ADHD isn't just about a 'deficit'. It's about attention inconsistency.

Meaning, that although many of us have the ability to hyperfocus, we can't just do it when we want to, or need to. It's like a gift we can rarely predict. Sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't

Long and windy..........Definitely ADD. lol
[/QUOTE]

Well that's "normal" around here

well

lets say its not obsessive compulsive

but a priortity .

suddenly like falling in love and not being able to think of anything else - type of feeling?

where the hyper focus becomes disorder is a difference in time

so focussed that yes you have complete attention control

but that you keep at it beyond the point of acceptable amoun of time.

it has so much priority that that you easily dump you routine and /or stucture

were an "out of the box" group.

when were in the structure and routine of NTers-(Normal Thinkers) we have some difficulties staying there but we thrive in their routines because their community keeps prompting us with expectations.

but were not NTers

were ADDers

we loose track of time

we allow priority to out rank structure

under the right conditions

we can only pay attention to whats most stimulating ie easily distracted

hyper focus in my opinion is when we are so stimulated by a priority that nothing distracts us from that priority for long

--------

so its a good practice to

navigate your goals to completion.

as with most life paths we all take

somethings along the path are more intresting than other

so it takes practice to act on a path of goals even if some are mundane to complete more than just what were obsessed with.

----------

inattentves thrive in structue and routine

so it tnds to hurt our esteem when we dont fit in the stucure and routine box

mmmm my keyboard is missing strokes agian

we sometime forsee that routine wont help us find the finish line

at any moment we can get priority in our mind

and wonder why oh why dint i do what i was supposed to do.

but when we look deeper we were distracted by out sense of priorities.

dont get me started on attenion span

i just try to be aware of what attention span is.

if it goes below 2 minutes i lean on an itenerary

not that the itenerary fixes anything but it keeps me front and center of my stucture and routine

like right now looking down at what ive typed its so easy for me to how an iteneray bridges stucter and routine

but it doesnt fit distraction changing prioriy& ; ;nbs p; , loss of time , tiredness. poor recall details fluxing routine into ADD thinking

--------------------

so if youre trying to learn something that youre not into -

manage youre environment , quiet place,no phon or visitors. no phone or music if distracting plot out achievable goals in steps sometimes as scheduled time or by chapters completed have a real physical method of review there are many review techniques

re reading re writing study group review flash cards --- paper or electonic writing summary of every page and reviewing summaries

school work is different than real life but can be parallel

i use to-do software

Ive learned that i do get bored with obssession after awhile.

keeping a to-do check list helps me navigate and evaluate

i can see what needs doing and what has stopped me

with that information i can then get people to help me .

support is valueable

im so attention seeking that at times i get people to watch me finnish something as if theyre going to clap or something.

thing is after trying to see people around me as helpers or distractors

i really get much further my projects.

---------

I once got so into vhs tranfere so intently that i started a business

i so good at it that i rented a shop and took on a photographer as a photo shop and dvd studio

I gave up on gettting the place ready , but my nieghbor kid was 17 and getting into stuggles with people in the nieghborhood .

so he started helping me .

mainly he just sat there doing nothing.

while i was focussed on finding him things to do .

within a week the shop looked like a business and i opened the door to the public to whaever they could throw at me.

i was open for 19 month

after a a big order was laced i choked and was left to do the photograghers job by myself-

well i just let it go

in hindsight i know it was because i was bored while alone . working photograghic miracles was no longer a passion

what i needed was a boss or a co-worker

i needed someone to stay with me until i finnished.

sad

i think back and say damn i wish i wasnt like that

well so i set off to determine what avenues of support affect me and to what degrees.

I discovered NTers in control of the world

aaaghhhh aaaaaaahg!

say it aint so.

but there it was

if stay to myself too much the world just keeps going without me .

but if i get out there and buddy up . as a teacher or a learner i have support or attention.

i continue to journal wether these coping stragies involving NTers in my structure makes any difference

so far i have to say yes they do

they have to be people that expect things from me.

i find them exhausting to be with

NTers that expect me to do things but have compassion when i faulter that they encourage me to finnish.

you know like the ms.moms out there that ask you to do things differently rather than just the ms.moms that snatch at you - that youre wrong.

positve support with expectations time and empathy

not many of those around

but ill never fnd those people if im not out there for them to encourage me.

its a clusterpuck

im sorry my psycho babble is so smurf like .

la laa le lala laa la la lal la le la.

hunkering down and getting into something

hmmmmm

nothing better than elbow grease

except getting someone else to do it for you

ommas39774.296087963I was just diagnosed yesterday with ADHD-I when I went in for my getting-out-of-the-army mental evaluation...And...dude, what you're describing is like a mirror image of my own life...I dunno if it's a normal trait or not, but there's at least two of us that are like that. :) Pony, stick around [ommas is our resident dub-poet-excellent-advice dude

] and you'll find out this board is FULL of people, just like you! It's true, I wandered in here a day or two after being diagnosed and I literally bawled like a baby after reading some of the stories -- it was like being presented with echoes of my own life. There ya go. Although we all experience in different ways, if you wander off to the forum about all the crazy stuff ADHD'ers have done--you'll realize just how "normal" you are around here

Everything from forgetting to put pants on before taking out the garbage to sticking both feet in our mouths and falling on our heads in front of the big boss

I'm obsessed with everything I do, so far as to set unachievable standards and punish myself for failing, do you do that too?RJ03739786.710162037

"You're a bumpy road, but at least you're going somewhere"
- Anonymous

imabout to make youre day or atleast get a laugh I joined nasa today. I explained how to create an atmosphere on the moon. for only 0,000,000 I'm still waiting for a response! I mean come on . we have too much co2 the moon has non huh huh the bloggers all say im crazy and i say so what i know im crazy and i figured it out whats youre excuse looking into youre blackhole too long. anyway when i was seven i realized that the only reason i didnt get stung by a disurbed hornets nest and 40 other children did was because i was present in an alternate universe. where i happened to the only one not stung. and when i was ten i realized i was gifted in thought concepts by realizing that he bee incident was a message that if i understood the signifcance of other realms of existence that the universe im in is in real trouble but that people like me could change things by not being in step with everyone else. no matter how much i grew no matter how much imatured . i kept expecting that really big day when all my ideas would be acknologed. life goes on and world keeps getting more polluted. Its all so clear to me . but i cant anyone to what i see . this life isnt what i wanted either. sometimes i feel like one stiches cousin's i just have to find the right place. the crazy visionary on the nasa suggestion boards well see daddy at home with comfort and joy i think thats important in any universe. i kept searching for many years for the right system the right itenerary the right list the right routine the right feelings the right information the right drug the right things every elation of grandios met with neglect or abandonment i saw myself as an ADDer 10years ago then i saw it in my family i can now see it in the community and at work we are vast in numbers our cons keep us out of high society our pros define society. Im inattentive i do well on my own but i need love to live after all i have gained and forgotten i know this goals are the doorways to all my paths navigating my personal obstacles is my stumbbling rock how do i stand out while speaking out a say clearly . lets all go to the moon and to the other places damned NTers just dont think big enough im just being clear so ill try to put into numerics 10 nters = ten people 10 adders = 50 nters worth of ideas 1 idea can equal an alternate future 7,000,000,000 people on 1 planet now thats crazy no wants to patent lightning by which to power launch capabilities i do no knows how to solve climate change i do no one knows how to find overunity i do i just dont know how to say it . sounds like a cope out "i know the answer but its in a language you cant undersand. not in short time of 20 lifetimes but in 500 . our childrens decendants could open the universe and see beyond the few. hunger, cold all past into paths amongst the stars forever and ever all balanced from my mind at this moment to you. lightning can power a magnetic coil gun called a quench gun. its a magnetic pulse that can accelerate an object of 5 tons into space at twice the speed of escape velocity. there is a mechinism for which inter planteary supplies can offer climate change to all worlds big and small. imagine oxygen atmospheres on all 96 moons in our solar system thats almost 1 for each country on this planet. these technologies exist today only thing keeping them from practice is vision. no need to look else where or to another time . it would cost a fraction of whats already being spent. the $ the technology lets go!! oh man shes yelling at me about the basement again gotta go i can never figure out what im truly distracted by my wife or the universe its ok to be this way but its very important to know whom you be this way with........... shoot if i start writing science fiction i can come up with some twisted realities but im just shooting for the moon. oooh Iphone ok forget the space crap im moving to new cell phone technologies for a new obsession only a hundred bucks and easier to relate with nters so i dont feel so crazy or stupid when im around them woo hooo ommas

Look up string theory. That ought to feed your obsession although the basement will stay messy

Maybe our brains are a gazillioneth shifted over into an alternate reality.