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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

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

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.

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.

Hi Amy! I appreciate your message. I can totally relate. If it weren't for the fact that I have a couple family members with ADD/ADHD, I would not have gotten diagnosed. Even so, I was diagnosed as an adult around age 30. All my school years were just a waste. What's weird is that I can actually remember spacing out all the time, and not remembering. My 9 year old daughter was diagnosed 2 weeks ago after a thankful phone call from her teacher telling me there was a problem. She's on meds now and is making a little progress. After that, my husband, who for years has been astonished that I never remember things he tells me, has admitted he probably has it too and wants to see the doctor with me.

Sorry for the rambling. Just being ADD. Anyway, when I'm under pressure or stress, I tend to fold too. If the pressure or stress is mild, I may just blank out. But, if it is severe, my depression gets worse and I don't want to leave the house. I'll have anxiety and panic attacks. I'll freak out at the possibility that somebody will ask me something or want me to do something that I'm not really ready for.

Oh lord, me too! It's like the brain just says, "OK, I'm done. Too much information. Game over." It's happened to me when I was not under any pressure, too. For no reason whatsoever. This overwhelming "DUH" mode kicked in. At that point, then two visitors, by the name of anxiety and depression would decide to come in for a visit.

I'm on Adderall and it has helped all of that.

Greetings

New here!

I have a question...is there a group yahoo or another that deas with and supports adult add/adhd?

I am looking for some coping methods.

Thank you

Greetings

New here!

I have a question...is there a group yahoo or another that deas with and supports adult add/adhd?

I am looking for some coping methods.

Thank you

Welcome to the board, nieema! In answer to your question, yes, but we are not allowed to post links to those kind of websites here on Healthboards.

You might want to start a new thread of your own on this board, asking about coping methods for whichever area it is you need them for.

Greetings

Thank you for your reply!!!

I think I will.

nieema

As one who was later diagnosed as ADD, I went through this thing you call "blank out" - I called it my "trigger point". It happened when I was so extremely stressed dealing with EVERYONE elses issues and not caring of my OWN business (it's our inclination to take care of other's problem than our our own -does that sound familiar?) When this "trigger point" happened, I had literally grabbed myself and started to try to shake some sense into "myself"! "what the hell are you doing!!?? (because ADD folks don't listen to anyone else - but they must listen to "themselves") A friend who noticed my anxiety told me to read "Driven to Distraction" - as she told me to do so many times before. This time, instead of just flicking through the pages thinking I can't relate to this stuff, I started to read it seriously - afterwards, I made an appointment to see the doctor. Got me tested - and validated that I was ADD. Now what? I went on ritalin then to Concerta - I never had that "trigger point" feeling again becuase the medication allows you to focus on "getting to the solution" of an issue that may be bothering you instead of just "thinking and worrying about it" which I used to do. In a nutshell, instead of getting anxiety and second guessing yourself constantly of "what if" this and "what if" that, you just "DO IT" and worry about it later. To an untreated ADD like me. it seemed that "going blank" was like telling yourself DO NOTHING AND THEN YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT IT - so it goes blank! but as we know, like oil in water, the worry starts to float to the top again and we have this stress issue all over again. Sorry for this diatribe but I hope it helps.