Relatable Or No?

[FayetheADHDsquirrel]

This is mostly meant for those with both ASD and ADHD. I feel like I am in a rotation. For a couple weeks or perhaps even months, I act more like an Asperger's profile ( like to research, am socially awkward but can show some nerdy enthusiasm). Then I shift towards some kind of zany Asperger's flavored ADHD (more hyper, more restless, more interested in spontaneous experiments such as the pollen on the water to support the weight of a toy or the orange juice mixed with milk inside my own mouth). I also tend to make more poems and riddles in this mode.
I should mention that neither one typically seems like a "mask", but rather like I'm being my real self finally once I get set into it. I might do some masking (not as neurotypical, but rather as what had been feeling natural previously that week before the shift started) short term while the switch over between the two first starts because of not wanting to let go of my current mode initially. It's like a cycle, but not between depression and mania. It's between mostly quiet unless a special interest is brought up fairly stereotypical nerd and and somewhat zany eccentric chatterbox who still loves science.

 

[the_tortoise]

I cannot relate in the sense of any distinct regular switch...

Just for context in case I make no sense: It is hard for me to clearly separate my personal traits into categories for each diagnosis...both because of symptom overlap and because I have only one brain...that said:

To the degree I can separate, I mostly just feel like the ADHD parts and Autism parts interact with each other in different ways depending on context and what is interacting with what....it seems like sometimes the things more commonly associated with ADHD sort of counteract the things more commonly associated with Autism....or that (this is supported by research I have been told:_) the ADHD things and Autism things that are similar or overlapping actually worsen each other in certain contexts.

example of possible counteraction that I am uncertain of; incredibly revved up mental and physical activity-states counteracts to some degree my innately slow processing

the ADHD distractability can sometimes counteract difficulties with task shifting that is more commonly associated with autism....

However, hyperfocus and distractability are actually common to both ADHD and autism...because they are two opposite-side faces of the many-sided metaphorical di that is dysregulated executive functioning. (Or, in non-metaphorical, non-concrete-visual-spatial-thinker-words: Hyperfocus and distractability are two manifeststions of executive dysfunction that superficially may seem unrelated but are probably caused by the same underlying neurophysiological...ie neurochemical/neuro-structural/neuro-electrical-functional ...differences)

 

[TBRS1]

I do some switching somewhat like that, but I'm also mildly bipolar, so I generally just chalk it up to that.