Question for those with adult ADD - ADD / ADHD Message Board

hummingbirdkiss · 11-10-2004, 08:37 PM

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dbrock · 11-11-2004, 01:02 AM

Hey wussup! I'm derick and i'm adhd def. my whole life and i still am, the more i try to think about something the worse it gets! It's like my brain shuts down...esp. when it comes to stress!! I get all messed up in the head and it makes things worse!!..Stress or not this happens all the time..usually when you try to focus on something, the more you focus the worse it gets! mind always goes blank etc blah blah blah :-) it's okay though ....can't feel it coming on...hmmm its just normal, you kinda know its coming on. Strange sensation def. i get a sensation like AHHHA you know?....its kinda like a crazy sensation like "******it*...always feel like im "not right" or like im different, but i take this as an advantage! ....

In you case i think this could def. be linked to anxiety if you havent had history of these symptoms....but then again im not a doctor, im just stating my opinion. GOOD LUCK!!

-derick

Gtonello · 11-11-2004, 01:40 AM

Hi Hummingbird!

I haven't been professionally diagnosed with adult ADD, but I have realized over the years that I have MANY of the signs and symptoms of it. My mind will race for hours on end, which makes me stress out over the smallest things sometimes, and then I become so mentally exhausted that I just shut off. Like at night, (like right now) a million thoughts will go thru me, and I won't be able to sleep, so I listen to the dialogue inside my brain, thinking about what I should have said or what I have to do in the a.m., until my brain just gets so tired that it shuts off, and I finally sleep.
It happens during the day, too, but I don't really realize it most days, since I am a SAHM, and don't really interact with other people until my DH comes home from work. But often in the middle of a sentence, I'll start to say a word, and then I'll just stop, because I forgot what I was saying. I have never really paid attention to it, to see if I could "feel" it coming on, so I really don't know. I usually just try to relax, stop multi-tasking (that's my main problem, I think), and concentrate on the conversation. Sometimes it works, others not. Meh.

Anyway, to answer your question, yes, I blank out. Yes, sometimes I blank even when there doesn't seem to be any stress involved. And no, I really don't feel it coming on, that I've noticed. But I'm going to pay more attention to that now.

Have a great day! (even tho it's basically nite)
G Tonello

Amy2838 · 11-11-2004, 01:55 PM

YES! I have tried to explain this to my family, and they just nod their heads, but I don't think they really understand. It's not like I'll suddenly look around and realize I can't remember the last 2 hours. I have all my memories so it's not like traumatic stress disorder or like Sibyl multiple personality...LOL. (this is what I thought you meant at first when you said "blanked out.")

But yeah, I shut down. Mentally, emotionally, physically. If things start to get too tough to handle, my brain takes a vacation. Someone will be talking to me and I'll be saying "Uh-huh." but my brain is like white noise. I get so tired and sleepy...just WEARY, that I can't do anything but sit and stare. When people need me the most, in the kind of situations that require you to buckle down and really give it all you've got...that's when I cave. (I'd be a really boring character in an action movie..."The tunnel's on fire? Oh dear. Let me sit down and rest.")

As far as feeling it coming on: I don't think so. I'll know when my "life" is getting too complicated, and then I'll know if someone doesn't step in and help me, I'll lose it. Sometimes I just wake up feeling like that and it lasts for days. I think this may be a combination of depression and ADD: when my depression kicks in, my ADD reacts.

There was only one time (in college) when I got a strange sensation. I was pulling all-nighters, and things weren't going well. I think it may have been a mild panic attack, though. Anyway, usually the feeling is like a heavy weight, and I can't move or think. When you say "a number of minutes afterwards" I don't understand that. It doesn't start and stop like a switch. It is a gradual increase, and then a gradual decline. But I'm sure it's different for everybody.

Litlsis · 11-29-2004, 05:23 PM

Yes, my mind blanks out too. More than I'd like it to. I don't feel it coming and often it takes me a little while to realize I'm doing it. If I'm in a stressful situation, which happens often (I'm a registered nurse), the information coming into my brain is just way too much. Given that people with ADD are distracted by sounds, lights, movement, thoughts, memories, etc., it's easy to get overloaded quickly. Lately, I'm learning how to just ask people for a moment to collect my thoughts. Or I tell my daughter and husband that I'm feeling overwhelmed and can't function.

I have had depression, anxiety, and even panic attacks with my ADD. I think because I tend to try to be a perfectionist and learn and do far more than I'm capable of. I'm learning that I may need to change my career just a little to accommodate my ADD instead of trying to conform to work situations that don't work well with ADD.