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firemonkey
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18 May 2024, 4:41 am

It's been suggested as a result of a thread I started on a FB high IQ group that I may have attention deficit disorder. The thing is I can focus intensely on things that interest me. That's made me believe that ADD wouldn't be something I have. Reasons for thinking I may have are centred round difficulties with organising and planning. Alongside that difficulty prioritising when it comes to multistep tasks. I find doing high IQ tests quite a lot easier than the daily living tasks most people take in their stride. Sometimes it's like there are 20 TV channels switched on in my brain each showing a different programme.

I'd welcome feedback on this issue.



Edna3362
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18 May 2024, 5:10 am

AD(H)D symptoms can came from many sources.
Ranging from innate neurodivergence, chronic health issues, to trauma related symptoms around executive dysfunction.


In my own case -- yeah, I considered if I did have it myself due to high incidence, overlaps, and my life so far.

But I had high doubts because I never had such symptoms in childhood.
I did had like several tabs open in my head.
It was in a form of maladaptive daydreaming that's been going on for about 20 years now.

It gave me this addiction in consuming entertainment media as some sort of imaginary material, making so many fan theories and fictions in my head.

It was intrusive, very distracting, made me pull into different directions I did not willingly went, and spent my mental resources.
I never planned nor want to be a writer, be in any fandom, etc. :?

And just recently, I managed to luck myself out on a DIY impromptu self therapy and ended up closing, like, 10+ opened tabs all the sudden in my head.

The addictions, the overconsuming 'urge' to consume countless medias, the disruptive 'reading habit' in my daily living that consumed so much of my time -- the 'habits' I struggled to stop and get rid of -- all gone.

It uncovered some sort hidden of trauma underneath right after.
My mind became so quiet, it's quite a contrast.
My loudest thoughts now is random music shuffle.

At least I did not became a music addict or made me lean towards music inclined activities.
Worst thing it made me is made me not sleep sooner than I like. :lol:

Now I have a chance and a head space to learn new things for good.



I don't know if it's the same with you.
If that needs some form of therapy or looking your life back and self reflection, you can try.

It's also possible to rule out or include sleep disorders; but in case of ADHD, it's a chicken or egg question.

And then there's the common AD(H)D traits overlap with autism. That can be also that case.
ADHD can be overdiagnosed and underdiagnosed.


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LittleBeach
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18 May 2024, 6:15 am

Hyper focus is actually a recognised symptom of ADD, I only learned this quite recently



firemonkey
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18 May 2024, 7:31 am

^ ^^ Thank you both.



firemonkey
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20 May 2024, 2:26 pm

Very few replies :( Hopefully it's because hardly anyone on this forum has ADD. I'd rather that than it's because I'm disliked.



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20 May 2024, 2:52 pm

I thought LittleBeach nailed it.

(For instance, see "2 of 7 / Symptoms" here.)

P.S. I'm ASD-1, not ADHD. My bride is ADHD, not ASD, and sometimes lingers long times on things...


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MatchboxVagabond
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20 May 2024, 3:12 pm

firemonkey wrote:
It's been suggested as a result of a thread I started on a FB high IQ group that I may have attention deficit disorder. The thing is I can focus intensely on things that interest me. That's made me believe that ADD wouldn't be something I have. Reasons for thinking I may have are centred round difficulties with organising and planning. Alongside that difficulty prioritising when it comes to multistep tasks. I find doing high IQ tests quite a lot easier than the daily living tasks most people take in their stride. Sometimes it's like there are 20 TV channels switched on in my brain each showing a different programme.

I'd welcome feedback on this issue.

That's reasonable normal for ADHD. There is no attention deficit, it's an attention control deficit. And from my perspective most IQ tests are much too easy to require any real effort.



firemonkey
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20 May 2024, 7:09 pm

^ ^ I was thinking that there was more to ADD than hyper/hypo focussing. ^ You're about as intelligent as I am.



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20 May 2024, 7:18 pm

It's very common for autistic people to also have ADD and/or ADHD.
I'm diagnosed with all three.

Hyperfocus is part of ASD but we can also have attention deficits.
The problem is that we can't control which things get our attention.

When I'm engrossed in hyperfocus my house could catch fire and I wouldn't know.
Other times I can't focus on anything.


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MatchboxVagabond
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21 May 2024, 6:17 am

firemonkey wrote:
^ ^ I was thinking that there was more to ADD than hyper/hypo focussing. ^ You're about as intelligent as I am.

One of the quirks of ADHD is that often the less focused you are, the more focused you are. Trying to focus just makes the focusing worse, which can lead to odd things happening like being overwhelmed by information in the environment and a false sense of how smart you are.



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21 May 2024, 10:29 am

MatchboxVagabond wrote:
firemonkey wrote:
^ ^ I was thinking that there was more to ADD than hyper/hypo focussing. ^ You're about as intelligent as I am.

One of the quirks of ADHD is that often the less focused you are, the more focused you are. Trying to focus just makes the focusing worse, which can lead to odd things happening like being overwhelmed by information in the environment and a false sense of how smart you are.

That's very much how it happened to me.

The seemingly inconsistent control over focus then made me used to be so confused about it that it frustrated me to no end.
Because I've been working with autism only, not autism plus something else.

Now I don't have the 'plus something else' and only the autism... Made a world of difference.


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MatchboxVagabond
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21 May 2024, 12:39 pm

Edna3362 wrote:
MatchboxVagabond wrote:
firemonkey wrote:
^ ^ I was thinking that there was more to ADD than hyper/hypo focussing. ^ You're about as intelligent as I am.

One of the quirks of ADHD is that often the less focused you are, the more focused you are. Trying to focus just makes the focusing worse, which can lead to odd things happening like being overwhelmed by information in the environment and a false sense of how smart you are.

That's very much how it happened to me.

The seemingly inconsistent control over focus then made me used to be so confused about it that it frustrated me to no end.
Because I've been working with autism only, not autism plus something else.

Now I don't have the 'plus something else' and only the autism... Made a world of difference.

That wouldn't surprise me, the lines that have been drawn have always been a bit arbitrary. IMHO, they should have added a few diagnoses to cover the edge cases as it's not like you go from ASD to NT just because you're slightly over the line like I though. (I feel kind of dumb saying it, but it took 15 years for me to realize that even if I was technically just autism adjacent, that didn't necessarily mean that the traits were any less severe)

I'm definitely OCD+ADHD and every time I take an autism questionnaire it comes back with a "Who are you trying to fool here, we both know you are."

I do think that when it comes to focus related issues there are a fair amount of bits in common between ASD and ADHD, it's one of the main reasons I lack the official diagnosis.



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21 May 2024, 10:10 pm

MatchboxVagabond wrote:
Edna3362 wrote:
MatchboxVagabond wrote:
firemonkey wrote:
^ ^ I was thinking that there was more to ADD than hyper/hypo focussing. ^ You're about as intelligent as I am.

One of the quirks of ADHD is that often the less focused you are, the more focused you are. Trying to focus just makes the focusing worse, which can lead to odd things happening like being overwhelmed by information in the environment and a false sense of how smart you are.

That's very much how it happened to me.

The seemingly inconsistent control over focus then made me used to be so confused about it that it frustrated me to no end.
Because I've been working with autism only, not autism plus something else.

Now I don't have the 'plus something else' and only the autism... Made a world of difference.

That wouldn't surprise me, the lines that have been drawn have always been a bit arbitrary. IMHO, they should have added a few diagnoses to cover the edge cases as it's not like you go from ASD to NT just because you're slightly over the line like I though. (I feel kind of dumb saying it, but it took 15 years for me to realize that even if I was technically just autism adjacent, that didn't necessarily mean that the traits were any less severe)

I'm definitely OCD+ADHD and every time I take an autism questionnaire it comes back with a "Who are you trying to fool here, we both know you are."

I do think that when it comes to focus related issues there are a fair amount of bits in common between ASD and ADHD, it's one of the main reasons I lack the official diagnosis.

I can distinguish between ADD/ADHD and ASD myself.

Because I don't have ADD/ADHD, just symptoms that mimics it.
And it was one of the many possible causes of ADD/ADHD like I mentioned.

It's likely overdiagnosed due to some heightening standards, technology or certain issues that got nothing to do with the ND person.


Constant daydreaming is classic ADD. It's usually behaviorally different with ADHD.
Dopamine seeking all the same. But the constant pull towards the particular 'like' can be mistaken for special interests or even an unwanted obsession.

I don't know.
Ever since I healed the trauma hidden by maladaptive daydreaming -- I'm still monotropic yet with way less friction or inertia involved when I stop; even with all the momentum gained.


And balancing my hormones changed my sensory profile over interoception. It used to overwhelm me constantly despite the outside stimuli is peaceful -- I still have a distraction which happened to be my body.

Now I don't have that. I don't need heavy workouts to take breaks from it anymore. It can mistake me for ADHD for moving a lot -- and all the inattention due to the lack of internal filter.


It made me have voluntary task switching became easier...
Also mindfulness became effortless. It used to be an effort that I had to exert and it can lead to headaches of I did it for hours.

Or this irritation that looked like emotional dysregulation, low frustration tolerance, or the classic 'fleeing into different interests'.


But the years I spent was more spent on coping with ADHD-like symptoms, not building up skills with it.
So it's quite an adjustment -- even if it's a pleasant one, I need to break old habits and mindsets.

It did not meant I have all the best EF abilities now that I overcame ADHD like symptoms.

I had to learn how to actually organize, plan, executive now that I have a space for it.
I still don't have an adequate time sense -- which is very important... Need to figure how to.

:lol: I still have short term memory issues that can definately mimic inattention despite having greater than average focus.
I still have my cognitive interferences around verbal processing even if I have focus great enough to filter external sensory interferences that can make me look like I have a learning disability that can be associated with ADD or ADHD.


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firemonkey
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22 May 2024, 1:27 am

MatchboxVagabond wrote:
and a false sense of how smart you are.
Well that certainly put me in my place. If I had a strong sense of self it wouldn't matter, but because I don't the wide ranging views of how intelligent/smart I am aren't easy to cope with. Some see me as no more than a fool. Others see me as a person with 'huge potential'.



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22 May 2024, 9:48 am

firemonkey wrote:
MatchboxVagabond wrote:
and a false sense of how smart you are.
Well that certainly put me in my place. If I had a strong sense of self it wouldn't matter, but because I don't the wide ranging views of how intelligent/smart I am aren't easy to cope with. Some see me as no more than a fool. Others see me as a person with 'huge potential'.

I didn't mean it quite like that. It's more that I know a lot about a lot of things, but I do have a few gaps here and there that are completely unexpected and because of the disorganized mess that my mind is in, I don't always know what I know until I try to use it and either it works or not. Sometimes I'll come back to something I used to struggle with and suddenly I know how because I can apply a set of skills from something else to it.



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22 May 2024, 9:55 am

Edna3362 wrote:
MatchboxVagabond wrote:
Edna3362 wrote:
That's very much how it happened to me.

The seemingly inconsistent control over focus then made me used to be so confused about it that it frustrated me to no end.
Because I've been working with autism only, not autism plus something else.

Now I don't have the 'plus something else' and only the autism... Made a world of difference.

That wouldn't surprise me, the lines that have been drawn have always been a bit arbitrary. IMHO, they should have added a few diagnoses to cover the edge cases as it's not like you go from ASD to NT just because you're slightly over the line like I though. (I feel kind of dumb saying it, but it took 15 years for me to realize that even if I was technically just autism adjacent, that didn't necessarily mean that the traits were any less severe)

I'm definitely OCD+ADHD and every time I take an autism questionnaire it comes back with a "Who are you trying to fool here, we both know you are."

I do think that when it comes to focus related issues there are a fair amount of bits in common between ASD and ADHD, it's one of the main reasons I lack the official diagnosis.

I can distinguish between ADD/ADHD and ASD myself.

Because I don't have ADD/ADHD, just symptoms that mimics it.
And it was one of the many possible causes of ADD/ADHD like I mentioned.

It's likely overdiagnosed due to some heightening standards, technology or certain issues that got nothing to do with the ND person.


Constant daydreaming is classic ADD. It's usually behaviorally different with ADHD.
Dopamine seeking all the same. But the constant pull towards the particular 'like' can be mistaken for special interests or even an unwanted obsession.

I don't know.
Ever since I healed the trauma hidden by maladaptive daydreaming -- I'm still monotropic yet with way less friction or inertia involved when I stop; even with all the momentum gained.


And balancing my hormones changed my sensory profile over interoception. It used to overwhelm me constantly despite the outside stimuli is peaceful -- I still have a distraction which happened to be my body.

Now I don't have that. I don't need heavy workouts to take breaks from it anymore. It can mistake me for ADHD for moving a lot -- and all the inattention due to the lack of internal filter.


It made me have voluntary task switching became easier...
Also mindfulness became effortless. It used to be an effort that I had to exert and it can lead to headaches of I did it for hours.

Or this irritation that looked like emotional dysregulation, low frustration tolerance, or the classic 'fleeing into different interests'.


But the years I spent was more spent on coping with ADHD-like symptoms, not building up skills with it.
So it's quite an adjustment -- even if it's a pleasant one, I need to break old habits and mindsets.

It did not meant I have all the best EF abilities now that I overcame ADHD like symptoms.

I had to learn how to actually organize, plan, executive now that I have a space for it.
I still don't have an adequate time sense -- which is very important... Need to figure how to.

:lol: I still have short term memory issues that can definately mimic inattention despite having greater than average focus.
I still have my cognitive interferences around verbal processing even if I have focus great enough to filter external sensory interferences that can make me look like I have a learning disability that can be associated with ADD or ADHD.

That's definitely a skill worth having and developing. One of the ways that I got screwed over growing up was knowing about the OCD, eventually, but not the ADHD or ASD. Now that I know that I've definitely got OCD thinking and ADHD and I'm like 96% sure that I've got ASD as well, I've been able to start sorting things out and a lot of the time I'll do what is essentially the same thing for different reasons depending upon what parts of my brain are interested in it. There were things like staring at progress bars when I was a kid that weren't really ever addressed by OCD, definitely aren't ADHD and at least with ASD spinning animations and progress bars being something to stare out does make some sense. Especially the spinning kind as watching spinning things is a known stim.

Knowing that I'm repeating something because it's ASD related and not going to spiral out of control the way that an OCD repetition does makes a difference.