Do you have genuine "hyperactivity" as an adult?

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HeroOfHyrule
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16 Apr 2021, 9:36 pm

This is probably geared more towards people with ADHD, since I don't know if "hyperactivity" is an ASD symptom, but if you have just ASD and are "classically" hyperactive this topic still applies to you.

By genuine/classic hyperactivity I mean the restlessness and impulsivity that a stereotypical child with ADHD has. I've noticed a lot of ADHD criteria defines hyperactivity somewhat differently for adults, because they are supposed to be developed more and deal with it better, but I am still relatively restless and impulsive.

I don't have a total inability to hold still and focus on things like when I was a child, but just because I cope with those things better doesn't mean they still aren't a huge issue for me. Especially on certain days when I am more hyperactive, and almost cannot handle holding still and have so much energy that I am told by people that I seem "hyper".

Does anyone have issues with hyperactivity like this as an adult?



Edna3362
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16 Apr 2021, 11:01 pm

Apparently, whenever I'm high enough with sugar or ate certain foods. Or while at certain hormonal levels or sleep poorly.
Or worse, all of the above. Which can happen too often than I or everyone would like.

It can go from actual bouncing off the walls kind of hyperactivity, to mere restlessness, overeaction and carelessness.
Or at least that's what observation says.



Otherwise, hyperactivity isn't inherent to me.
I do not have ADHD.
However, I have certain sensitivities that can trigger into a form of hyperactivity.


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IsabellaLinton
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16 Apr 2021, 11:11 pm

Am I hyperactive?

"Um ... yes", she mutters, after scanning all these reports to double check, because she has hyperactive energy to burn and she hasn't fallen flat on her face from exhaustion yet tonight ...

:P

Seriously, yes I'm hyperactive. I didn't think I was. I thought I was only inattentive when I went for testing but apparently my racing mind and my constant stimming / physical movements count as hyperactivity. I also scored quite high on the tests for hyperactive or impulsive responses in the psychometric testing.

I'm on ADHD meds for the past year. I think they help my brain to be more linear, but I haven't noticed much change in my ability to execute tasks. Maybe a bit? I'm able to focus on reading better than I could after my stroke so that's a start. I'm also able to scan documents in the wee hours of the morning in response to simple questions. :P


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Last edited by IsabellaLinton on 16 Apr 2021, 11:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.

HeroOfHyrule
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16 Apr 2021, 11:19 pm

Edna3362 wrote:
Apparently, whenever I'm high enough with sugar or ate certain foods. Or while at certain hormonal levels or sleep poorly.
Or worse, all of the above. Which can happen too often than I or everyone would like.

It can go from actual bouncing off the walls kind of hyperactivity, to mere restlessness, overeaction and carelessness.
Or at least that's what observation says.



Otherwise, hyperactivity isn't inherent to me.
I do not have ADHD.
However, I have certain sensitivities that can trigger into a form of hyperactivity.

My hyperactivity feels like I have a lot of "pent up energy" and I end up stimming a lot, pacing, and being overall very restless (not wanting to stay still, jumping from topic to topic, etc.). Sometimes I have days where I am just like that, or caffeine/lack of sleep triggers it.

I can be much more impulsive like that and can do dumb things without thinking. I also get frustrated very easily, and because those are days were I have less control over my behaviour than normal people become very critical of my frustrations and act like I am choosing to act childish since I can't meet their usual expectations.



HeroOfHyrule
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16 Apr 2021, 11:48 pm

IsabellaLinton wrote:
Am I hyperactive?

"Um ... yes", she mutters, after scanning all these reports to double check, because she has hyperactive energy to burn and she hasn't fallen flat on her face from exhaustion yet tonight ...

:P

Seriously, yes I'm hyperactive. I didn't think I was. I thought I was only inattentive when I went for testing but apparently my racing mind and my constant stimming / physical movements count as hyperactivity. I also scored quite high on the tests for hyperactive or impulsive responses in the psychometric testing.

I'm on ADHD meds for the past year. I think they help my brain to be more linear, but I haven't noticed much change in my ability to execute tasks. Maybe a bit? I'm able to focus on reading better than I could after my stroke so that's a start. I'm also able to scan documents in the wee hours of the morning in response to simple questions. :P

I always knew I had ADHD/ADD as a kid, but I actually didn't know which one it was because my hyperactivity was normal to me. I did suspect ADHD, but it turned out to be just ADD which, excuse my language, is total BS... :lol:

I was diagnosed with "combined type ADHD" when I was assessed as a teenager though, which I guess fully settles that question. I honestly think my ADD diagnosis was another case of me being female and the assessor not wanting to diagnose me with anything else... I've heard other females say they have what is now combined type ADHD, but got diagnosed with ADD as kids, if they got any diagnosis at all.

As for ADHD meds, they have helped my hyperactivity. I have noticed they don't help me with starting/finishing tasks much either, though. I'm actually glad you brought that up because I've been wondering if my Strattera "doesn't work", but maybe it works just fine?



IsabellaLinton
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16 Apr 2021, 11:59 pm

HeroOfHyrule wrote:
As for ADHD meds, they have helped my hyperactivity. I have noticed they don't help me with starting/finishing tasks much either, though. I'm actually glad you brought that up because I've been wondering if my Strattera "doesn't work", but maybe it works just fine?


They haven't helped me to stop stimming. If anything it's worse, and I'm back in a pattern of self-injurious harm with my stims. It's out of control really. It could be the meds, or maybe it's unrelated, but the meds certainly didn't control it during the past year. This last week has been crazy for my stims and I'm literally bleeding from some of them.

My mind and emotions feel more calm and less scattered. I write wonderful to-do lists and have a very thorough dayplanner. I wouldn't have been able to be that organised without the meds. You also know I sorted those 4000 photos like a pro, and I completed the task. Those are all good. But I still struggle with basic daily motivation, and starting things. I think I'm better at finishing, but not at starting. I'm on WP a lot more because my mind is busy and I need to reach out for conversations or I have nothing else to do because of lockdown and quarantine measures. I'm quite restless and trying to burn off excess mental and physical energy by night's end.

I always think my meds aren't working until I happen to skip a day. Then, WOW - I feel the difference like a ton of bricks. On days without my ADHD meds I'm almost entirely nonfunctional in a shutdown type of way. Almost comatose. Nothing gets done. I barely even feed MD. (Good thing she can cook LOL).

I wasn't assessed as a child so your observations about ADD / ADHD and gender are interesting to me. I wonder how common that is? I never ran in circles like a little boy, but my brain is always on fire, I can't hold a thought or watch a movie for more than 1-2 minutes, and I stim or fidget so much I needed medication. It's interesting that was never addressed at all in my childhood although the teachers' reports are quite blunt about it. Some are downright funny in their descriptions of my behaviour and personality being ... atypical.



HeroOfHyrule
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17 Apr 2021, 12:19 am

IsabellaLinton wrote:
They haven't helped me to stop stimming. If anything it's worse, and I'm back in a pattern of self-injurious harm with my stims. It's out of control really. It could be the meds, or maybe it's unrelated, but the meds certainly didn't control it during the past year. This last week has been crazy for my stims and I'm literally bleeding from some of them.

I still stim after meds, but it's lessened because I am more hyposensitive now, somehow. When I get overwhelmed I still do very damaging stims though, and I still have that hair-pulling OCD related thing that I actually think Strattera has made worse. 8O

Quote:
My mind and emotions feel more calm and less scattered. I write wonderful to-do lists and have a very thorough dayplanner. I wouldn't have been able to be that organised without the meds. You also know I sorted those 4000 photos like a pro, and I completed the task. Those are all good. But I still struggle with basic daily motivation, and starting things. I think I'm better at finishing, but not at starting. I'm on WP a lot more because my mind is busy and I need to reach out for conversations or I have nothing else to do because of lockdown and quarantine measures. I'm quite restless and trying to burn off excess mental and physical energy by night's end.

I started Strattera when I was 16 and didn't notice a lot of change regarding these things. There is an aspect of actual skill development you need to focus on with ADHD, but that never changed much either. Though I've noticed I've done better since I've been less depressed lately, so maybe depression was affecting my motivation and preventing me from improving all of my symptoms? ADHD is very hard to deal with, and I never know what is the ADHD or just another issue...

Quote:
I always think my meds aren't working until I happen to skip a day. Then, WOW - I feel the difference like a ton of bricks. On days without my ADHD meds I'm almost entirely nonfunctional in a shutdown type of way. Almost comatose. Nothing gets done. I barely even feed MD. (Good thing she can cook LOL).

I think the same thing until I don't take Strattera for a few days (it builds up in people's blood so it takes a bit). Then my old hypersensitivities and hyperactivity hits me like bricks, and I am amazed by the changes. I don't know how I coped without any meds from the ages of 10/11 to 16...

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I wasn't assessed as a child so your observations about ADD / ADHD and gender are interesting to me. I wonder how common that is? I never ran in circles like a little boy, but my brain is always on fire, I can't hold a thought or watch a movie for more than 1-2 minutes, and I stim or fidget so much I needed medication. It's interesting that was never addressed at all in my childhood although the teachers' reports are quite blunt about it. Some are downright funny in their descriptions of my behaviour and personality being ... atypical.

I think I actually had very typical "boy" type ADHD which is why I think my ADD diagnosis was bull. I have a Kindergarten school assessment I found before my actual Asperger's/ADHD assessment, that just reeks of ASD and ADHD symptoms, down to not being able to sit down for more than a minute and not making eye contact.



Joe90
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17 Apr 2021, 4:30 am

I have ADHD and I'm very hyperactive. I was hyper as a child, as in messing about a lot, jumping and leaping about, and being loud and excitable, but also having frequent tantrums as well (I read tantrums can be a form of hyperactivity in older children). I also had trouble paying attention in class and would daydream and fidget.

I'm hyperactive as an adult too. I sometimes talk excessively, have impulsive urges to talk and share my thoughts and feelings too much, find it hard to sit still for too long, have a short attention span, can be overly excitable, have anxiety and depression caused by overthinking, hypersensitive to criticism and other people's thoughts and feelings, easily distracted, and my brain can feel like it's on fast-forward.

My ADHD has gotten worse as I've gotten older, and I'd like to get officially diagnosed but I don't think I'd be able to if I've already got a diagnosis of ASD, because they'd put all my ADHD symptoms down to the ASD I suppose. :roll:
Yes, I am not officially diagnosed with ADHD like it says in my signature, I'm just self-diagnosed.


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IsabellaLinton
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17 Apr 2021, 9:07 am

Joe90 wrote:
My ADHD has gotten worse as I've gotten older, and I'd like to get officially diagnosed but I don't think I'd be able to if I've already got a diagnosis of ASD, because they'd put all my ADHD symptoms down to the ASD I suppose. :roll:


I was diagnosed ADHD two years after my ASD diagnosis. The doctor said it's very common to have both. I gave them a copy of my ASD report so they could decide which tests might overlap. They said there were a couple of tests which would have been redundant to redo, but they replaced them with other tests and I still did a full panel of ADHD diagnostics which took 20+ hours over four days.

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They made mention of my ASD as a previous diagnosis, but I still got the ADHD identification and meds. If you are interested in an ADHD assessment it's possible that the medication might be a benefit. I take mine along with my SSRI and they seem to work well together.



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17 Apr 2021, 11:58 am

Thanks. Does it need to mention the ASD diagnosis I already have though? If I did get assessed I'd like to show it to my boyfriend because I'd like him to understand what ADHD is (but not ASD, as I'm embarrassed about that).


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IsabellaLinton
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17 Apr 2021, 12:11 pm

Joe90 wrote:
Thanks. Does it need to mention the ASD diagnosis I already have though? If I did get assessed I'd like to show it to my boyfriend because I'd like him to understand what ADHD is (but not ASD, as I'm embarrassed about that).


I don't know for sure, Joe. They might not know you are ASD unless you tell them. Is it listed in your NHS records? In my case I had nothing to hide. They wanted all my school reports and previous psych reports prior to the first meeting so I sent it all along. If I hadn't sent the ASD I don't think they would have known. In the testing I spent many hours doing a verbal psychiatric conversation / assessment with the neuropsychiatrist, on top of the standardised computer tests. The verbal testing conversations screened for other possible mental health conditions like schizophrenia etc., but I didn't have those. I wonder if there were verbal questions designed to look for ASD? I can't remember, or maybe they skipped those questions since I was already confirmed ASD. I also did some self-questionnaires similar to what people do during ASD assessments but the questions were more geared toward my difficulties with attention and executive function. My daughter also had to do the questionnaires about me but she did them online from home, on a secure server.



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17 Apr 2021, 12:58 pm

Indeed I do.

In my case I've been diagnosed with ADD as a child, bipolar as a young adult and ASD further into adulthood.


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17 Apr 2021, 12:59 pm

People used to wonder whether I was on “speed.”

I can be very hyperactive when I’m not motivated, and want to get something over with.



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17 Apr 2021, 1:08 pm

kraftiekortie wrote:
People used to wonder whether I was on “speed.”


I've been charged with impaired driving because of how I came off during the stop. Tox report didn't show anything incriminating, I was just wound up.

>$12k in court costs for being a weirdo.


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kraftiekortie
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17 Apr 2021, 1:10 pm

That really sucks! That’s not fair.



IsabellaLinton
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17 Apr 2021, 1:27 pm

funeralxempire wrote:
kraftiekortie wrote:
People used to wonder whether I was on “speed.”


I've been charged with impaired driving because of how I came off during the stop. Tox report didn't show anything incriminating, I was just wound up.

>$12k in court costs for being a weirdo.


That's awful but I believe it. When I had my stroke the doctor tried to send me home thinking I was drunk or high and his first course of action was to order tox screens. His opinion was based on prejudice after reading my previous medical and psych records, which must have said I was a weirdo. It was a nurse who demanded I be scanned for my stroke. Without her I likely would have been denied treatment, sent home, and left to die with a blood clot.