ADHD.. and everything that is.

[Homebrand]

I wanted to start a thread about everything ADHD.

Somewhere to rant about your most annoying ADHD traits.
Somewhere to share what has worked for you or what doesn't help.
Somewhere to post links on articles or information you think is important/informative.

Please all ADHDers spam this thread how every you feel impulsively inclined to.

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DSM-5 Criteria
Diagnosis of ADHD using DSM-5TM | ADHD Institute

Autism and ADHD
Decoding the overlap between autism and ADHD
(this page has a bunch of other articles at the bottom about both Autism and ADHD like genetic links ect.)

Comorbidities
When It’s Not Just ADHD: Uncovering Comorbid Conditions

 

[Homebrand]

Well since no one else seems too interested I have plenty more to post on how I feel about ADHD and everything that comes with it.

Impulse control
Don't have a lot of it at times.
For me I would rarely see this as a trait that is anything other than a pain in the butt for me. For whatever reasons the impulsive ideas and decisions I get at best cause me trouble that I try not to stress over and at worst I have made stupid decisions that have had a major negative impact on my life.
I have used drugs in the past (don't now), and on more than one occasion that particular choice took more than you can imagine straight out of my life forever. I know there was poor impulse control because I got the idea in my head and just ran with it without ever stopping to think. To make matters worse I was fully aware of what was at stake but just didn't stop to consider it all at the time.
I've re-entered bad relationships on impulse and it's cost me months of my life wasting time stuck in a situation I didn't want to be in and isn't a healthy place to be.
I don't blame all of my bad choices on poor impulse control but at the very least its a contributing factor in many a bad decision.
Sounds simple even to me to stop and consider the consequences and a lot of the time I can do this. Its in that moment when you are dealing with an impulsive, that the ability to think ahead seems to fly off out of your brain.

So 100% this is my more harmful trait to try and manage!

Poor concentration
The time this annoys me the most is when I'm listening to a friend talk and completely zone out. I can be trying my best to listen but its like some part of my brain decides the conversation has gotten a bit boring and it needs to wonder off for a brake.
I hate that I often have to ask people to repeat themselves all the time. Also I feel like sometimes my brain decides for itself what information is important and throws out stuff people tell me so I'm often asking then the same questions every time we talk like, "What year and the kids in again?" I must come off like a really bad listener but I actually put in a lot of effort trying to keep my brain on task.
Oh and yeah driving, not a skill of mine. All you decent drivers out there please do explain to me how exactly you always manage to notice when the traffic lights change to red?? It could take what 1-3 minutes to get from one traffic light to the next and longer if some of the lights ahead are green. That's all the time I need for my brain to get bored and go for a wonder and its like I may as well be a blind person driving a vehicle.

Disorganisation
Time management isn't to bad as long as I give myself 2-3x the amount of time it would take someone else to get ready to leave the house. I'm a bad procrastinator as well so while it might take me 20 minutes to have a shower it often takes me 2-3hours to actually get in the shower. Then I have to check I have everything I need to take in my handbag but usually have to check about 3 different times because I forget if I have checked it and kind of don't trust myself because Im a bit hopeless sometimes. Always have to check a last time before leaving the house incase I've taken something out and put it down somewhere.
Even with all the perpetrating I am running late around 30-50% of the time. Its also not uncommon for me to miss something like an appointment altogether because I was running so late. Honestly the less time sensitive commitments I have on in the week the better. Organisation and procrastination are painful and exhausting and I feel like I have a million things I'd rather do than spend half a day getting ready for a few hours out of the house.

I should just leave it there.

 

[Shamar]

Not much interest from people, apparently, but I may have something to contribute. I was diagnosed at age 40 with ADD (non hyperactive). I stumbled on the concept when I saw an ADD forum on Compuserve and thought it was something about math. I checked it out and started reading stories from people who shared some of the the same traits I was having problems with. I thought that understanding this would end many of my problem, but Nope. It was twenty years later that I was diagnosed with autism and began to understand why my life was so screwed up.

Wow, two sentences ending in preposition in the same paragraph. If you feel an earthquake, it is probably my grammar teachers convulsing in their graves.

I, too, have poor impulse control. It was a bit of an advantage in my career as an exploration geologist, since these distractions often led to something important. Or at least interesting to me. But my bosses didn't see it that way. I had a certain amount of things that needed to get done, and, by golly, they had damned well better get done. Interesting crystals in nearby rock do not help delineate the target. And don't even think about spending time to collect those fossils over there.

 

[Fridgemagnetman]

it is probably my grammar teachers convulsing in their graves.

Interesting.

Experimentation required.

They convulse they do not spin.

I realise the way the dead communicate disapproval to be a simple thing.

I wonder if convulsion is for grammar.

Spinning is for general disapproval.

 

[Shamar]

Spinning is one thing. Convulsions are a whole 'nother level of disapproval........