Adult ADHD - Hyperactivity and Being Stuck in Time

In the letters, ADHD, the "H" stands for "hyperactivity".

This "need for speed", or, at least, movement, can manifest itself in many ways.


It's one reason those of us with adult ADHD may move on to the next thing before we are finished with what we are doing, for example. It may also manifest itself by our getting up, moving around, fidgeting, etc.

As children, this hyperactivity may be more noticeable, but, we adults have often learned to control it to some degree.

However, the need to "do" something is often still there exerting a force on our lives, much like a magnet exerts an unseen force on nearby iron filings.

People who have adult ADHD experience the effects of the condition at various levels and in various ways, so, when one person talks about their experiences, someone else may not relate to it 100%. But, realizing that someone is affected in a given way may give insight into something that you have experienced but not quite understood.

In my adult ADHD world, "hyperactivity" sometimes actually manifests itself both as "activity" AND "inactivity".

I recently used an example of this to explain to my wife why, even though I love to travel, I don't always find ways to enjoy short visits to specific areas.

When I arrive at a new place, or, one I haven't been to in a while, I have to run around looking at things and places, but, not "doing" anything. I feel driven to "hit the high spots" right off the bat.

Hyperactivity at work.

Then, I begin to become aware of activities or interests which extend beyond simply driving down the street where I grew up and looking at the place I used to play with my dog. However, it takes me a couple of days to begin to see the various opportunities in the area rather than just sightseeing.

But, as I begin to realize that I am leaving in a couple of days, I start to shift back to a waiting mode and just feel like sitting around, because something is "going to happen".

It's like that today, even at home. I have promised to take my daughter to the local Greek Fest at noon. Even though it is still 8 AM, I feel unable to DO anything, even type this short post simply because I am ready to DO the noon thing, and, my hyperactivity will not let me put it to the side to do something else.

I don't know if anyone else experiences this sort of problem with adult ADHD, but, as I said, we each have our own unique experiences.

Adult ADHD - Why I've Got To Do It NOW!

Many people who know someone with adult ADHD wonder why "those people" have to drop what they are doing and immediately start something new, just because someone mentions that it needs to be done.

Well, I drive my wife crazy with this one all the time. Even when she starts a statement with, "You don't have to do it right now...", or, "Finish what you're doing first..."

Seldom works.

The instant she says whatever it is, I have stopped what I was doing and started on her request.

Why?

There actually are a couple of reasons...at least in my world.

WHAT DOES THE "H" STAND FOR IN ADHD?

Hyperactivity, right?

In a kid, you expect a lot of running around, but, in some adults, at least, "hyperactivity" can simply be the Mad Hatter in your head telling you to "Move along...."

As soon as you add a new item to my "list" of things to do, my brain shoves it to the top, and I feel almost compelled to start on it. Right away!

Another reason, at least for me, is years of experience in the fact that, if I don't do it now, it's going to get lost in the sequence. I may have the best intentions in the world of doing "B", as soon as I am done with "A", but, if "C" comes along in the meantime, I am going to forget all about "B". In fact, I might STILL quit "A" before I am finished and move on to "C"...never mind about "B".

In other words, if I don't do it now, it probably isn't going to get done. Then, I will feel bad at another failure to do what I was supposed to do, and, whoever wanted me to do whatever is probably going to interpret my failure to follow through as laziness, or that I just don't care.

Of course, when I drop what I am doing to do what I was asked to do, I am also failing to complete that task.

If I was doing something for someone else, now they are going to be disappointed. If I was doing something for the person who requested "B", they will not be happy that I completed "B" (or at least started on it), they will probably only be upset that I didn't finish "A".

If I was doing something for myself, I will see not completing my project as a(nother) failure, AND, I will be upset that I was not allowed to complete what I wanted to do.

Recognition and Treatment

It can be hard to recognize that someone has adult ADHD...even if it's you.

I wondered for decades, "What's wrong with me?"

I didn't know how to recognize ADHD.

People told me in one breath that I was very intelligent, and that I should be able to do great things, and, in the next, that I was lazy, and/or had my head up my....

Well, you fill that one in.

Most of my early education, in the 1950's and 60's was in Catholic schools, and nuns knew nothing about "learning disabilities", especially if you were intelligent, and I tested at the "genius" level. For me, grade school and high school were pure HELL.

When I went into the working world, I was able to hold my own, but, every day, no matter how good the job or how nice the people, was 24 hours of fear. I was afraid that people would figure out all the mistakes I made, most of which I was able to cover because I WAS intelligent enough to work around, or cover up, most of my screw ups.

Still, I failed at jobs, failed at relationships, failed my own expectations, and failed at fulfilling anything that COULD have been my destiny.

And always, I asked, "What's wrong with me? I am a genius. I work hard. Why can't I do the things 'ordinary' people seem to do with ease?"

Over the years I saw the tests in magazines and read descriptions, and wondered...

Then, I just figured, "Nah. Can't be a real thing. I'm just broken in some way."

Finally, a doctor in the Atlanta area diagnosed me with ADHD.

She gave me an Aderall prescription. I took the first pill, and, about 15 minutes later, I was in a book store, reading labels on the books on the shelves.

That's when it hit me.

Up until that moment, those books would have been a blur. Not a visual blur, but, a mental one. The sheer mass of book spines should have been causing me to practically run out of the store.

On that day, however, I was casually reading each and every title and author on each and every spine.

The next day, I drove my 45 minute drive to work, from Stone Mountain, Georgia, to Alpharetta. I was, as usual, in stop-and-go traffic. Shortly before I arrived at work, I realized that not only had I been able to keep track of traffic, and my own driving, much better than usual, but, I had also thought about a specific topic for almost the entire drive, AND, had actually arrived at a conclusion, rather than jumping from thought to thought and arriving frustrated that I had spent so much time spinning my wheels...literally and figuratively.

I had my own experiences with recognition and treatment of my ADHD, and, each of us is different.

If you have, suspect you have, or know someone who might have adult ADHD, Emily Willingham, PhD, has written an article you might want to read: Adult ADHD: Recognition and Treatment Approaches.

Weighted Belt Helps ADD Kids

I am not going into much depth here, as a lady named Brenda Nicholson recently covered this quite extensively in a post to HER blog, An ADD Woman.

In the post on her blog, A Miracle Belt for ADHD, she starts with a review of a book, Playing Catch with Destiny: How the Miracle Belt Changes Lives, by Michael Williamsen.

Originally intended to be a baseball story with its focus on minor league player, Matt Bruback, it eventually changed direction and became a description of how Matt had developed the "miracle belt for ADHD" which is mentioned in the title.

As Brenda Nicholson points out in her post, the important story for those with ADHD is the additional tool for dealing with ADHD.

I won't go any further with a review. I have not read the book, Brenda apparently has. You can read her review here.

You can also visit the Miracle Belt website.

As I mentioned, I don't have a lot to say personally about the book, but, I will mention that my grandson has ADD, and his mother, my daughter, is trying to raise him without medicating him. She has worked closely for some time with counselors and teachers, and one tip she got was to make him a weighted vest. She bought the material and the weights, and, with the aid of her sister, since she is visually impaired, was able to make the vest.

He has worn it at home and at school. Teachers have noted the difference it makes in his behavior, and, he, a second grader, already realizes how much it helps when he feels like "my brain won't shut up", and even asks for it at times.

Do You Really Know What It's Like to Live with Adult ADHD?

Actually, that's a trick question, because each person with adult ADHD is a different person, with different levels of the condition, different symptoms, varying levels of symptoms, different abilities which help or hinder coping, family support, or lack of....

Well, you get my point.

I am pretty classic.

I forget things, particularly if there's a list of instructions or a sequence involved.

I am easily distracted. What I call my "Look! There's a squirrel!" condition.

I cannot focus. Don't try to talk to me if the TV is on. If you want a serious discussion, or really want me to listen TO YOU, turn the TV or radio off. Don't talk important stuff to me in a crowded room or other busy place. I am probably going to lose track of what you are saying anyway, but, it will happen faster.

I am a genius, and that helps. I can figure out what you wanted, what I'm supposed to do, and....having adult ADHD, I just lost that train of thought.

It happens.

One other thing.....

I feel stupid, ashamed, and embarrassed every time it happens. Over the years, many people have drummed into me that I am lazy, stupid, disinterested...or...just plain no fun to be with.

Those are some of the things I feel. If you have adult ADHD, you may have different experiences. If you do NOT have adult ADHD, you may be trying to understand someone who does.

A recent article, What It's Like to Live With Adult ADHD offers another person's view of what life is like if you suffer from ADHD.

The author Jaime Lutz, a writer and comedian currently living in Brooklyn, sums up part of her point of view in this paragraph:

"Panic over starting a new job; depression and feelings of low self-worth from consistently failing at tasks that other people find easy; and, most of all, skepticism and condescension from other people who think it's not a "real" disability. I'm far more embarrassed telling people I have ADHD than telling them I take antidepressants."

As I read through Jaime's article, I noticed that while we have similarities, we also have differences, which I pointed out at the start of this post. As I said, we are not all alike and specific symptoms and difficulties may occur from person to person.

One difference between us, which may account for some of the other differences, is that she was diagnosed as a child AND as an adult, while I was not diagnosed until I was in my 60's, in the meantime, I was simply regularly informed that I was lazy, no good, and stupid. More than one person in my life informed me that, "You've got your head up your ass."

By the way, one additional point that both Jaime and I and most other people with adult ADHD share: additional mental disorders. Most people who have adult ADHD have at least one other mental disorder. I have mild OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder). Jaime says she suffers from depression and anxiety disorder in addition to ADHD. I personally used to have what I now recognize as panic attacks, but, I just did not have time to deal with them and learned to just tune them out.

It's a good article and worth the read if you are interested in knowing what it's like to live with adult ADHD, or just want to compare your experiences with someone else's.

Adult ADHD - Lists, Patterns, and Repetition

By Donovan Baldwin

Everybody with ADHD has a different set of experiences, problems, and solutions.

For me, one of the best things that ever happened to me was being diagnosed. Once I had that, I could forgive myself for some of the things I had done, as I realized that they were part of the condition.

However, it WAS KNOWING that gave me tools to work with...or, at least, set me on the path to finding those tools.

As I researched ADHD in general, and adult ADHD in particular, I became aware that I, like many others with the condition, had stumbled on some of the tools for coping with adult ADHD by accident.

One simple tool is the list.

Even "ordinary" people can benefit from a list, whether it's a "to do" list, a packing list, or a shopping list.

In one of my favorite books, The Art of Thinking, by Abbe Ernest Dimnet, which was published in 1928, I believe, the author recommends using lists to accomplish various tasks, as most humans cannot keep up with all the details involved in packing for a trip or a major shopping trip.

For the person with adult ADHD, a list is invaluable.

Not only does it allow you to use time BEFORE the event to cover all your bases, it allows you to effectively perform all the actions required, or acquire all the goods required, but, it also allows you to forgive yourself for what you didn't get, since it wasn't "on the list".

Patterns are another adult ADHD coping device.

Every morning, I make coffee for my wife and myself.

Making coffee sounds like a simple task, but, if you have ever taken, or taught, as I have, the course on how to talk someone through making a peanut butter sandwich, you realize that even such a simple activity has a lot of finite and discrete steps.

It is easy for someone with adult ADHD to get lost in the process.

However, having a pattern helps.

I found that if I went in cold, especially just out of bed in the morning, I could really screw things up. I would up with hot steaming cups of water (no coffee), unsweetened coffee, or my wife's coffee in my cup and mine in hers, and neither of us likes our coffee the way the other does.

Now, I set up the cups left to right in the same order every day (and at the QuikTrip when we stop there for coffee), and set the sweetener packets behind them in the proper order. I then put in the sweetener, add the coffee, add the cream...etc. In fact, since I know exactly where the cups and the sweeteners should be, for example, I can even set everything up the night before (while I am still wide awake), and stumble through the process in the morning with my eyes closed...metaphorically speaking, since I AM dealing with boiling water.

Repetition is another adult ADHD coping tool.

Some actions, including the coffee ritual, are done regularly. If I repeat them often enough, they can become more natural and rely less on my "Look! There's a squirrel!" brain to complete the task without missing something.

As they say, practice makes perfect.

These are tools that I use almost daily...well, the coffee ritual IS not only daily, but multi-daily. I would really like you to leave a comment to let me know whether or not this has been of help to you, and to share YOUR tools and techniques for coping with adult ADHD.

Is Your ADHD Untreated?

While many adults with ADHD try to live with their problem, some experts believe that it is really in your best interest to seek treatment.

In the following article, Scott Shapiro, MD, an Assistant Professor at New York Medical College, who specializes in Adult ADHD gives us his thoughts on whether or not adult ADHD needs to be treated...or, just lived with.

What Can Happen When Adult ADHD Goes Untreated?
By Scott Shapiro

When someone tells me they are depressed but every type of treatment in the book, including medications and several trials of different therapies haven't worked, I start wondering if something else is going on. Many times, symptoms of ADHD can masquerade as other diagnoses. People with ADHD often have "mood swings" and difficulty with mood regulation. This isn't in the DSM V criteria, but if you have worked with hundreds of patients with ADHD, you know that ADHD causes mood swings. When someone with ADHD is sad or in a funk, they have a hard time shaking it. And when they are excited, they are really excited. This is one of the gifts and wonderful traits about people with ADHD. They are passionate people, passionate about life and passionate about letting other people know about it. If one doesn't spend the time getting to know the person, might think the person has bipolar disorder. Yes, bipolar disorder and ADHD do have a higher rate of occurring together; however, more often that not, people with ADHD who say they have mood swings really mean "ADHD swings" not manic swings.

Many clinicians were taught that if someone presents with depression and ADHD, first treat the depression and THEN treat the ADHD. In my opinion this is just backward thinking. Very often, the patient feels depressed, frustrated, and has lost interest in work and other activities, but this can be because he has experienced one failure after another or has gone from one job to the next. In our experience at the Hallowell Center, when you treat the ADHD, the person begins to acquire the ability to achieve their goals, improve relationships, meet deadlines, remember to pick up the children, avoid accidents on the road, remember their tickets before driving to the airport and feel a lot more competent, confident and happy.

Unfortunately, when patients are treated for depression with antidepressants, or worse, treated with atypical antipsychotics for bipolar disorder and kept on these medications for months or years, their symptoms often do not improve and might worsen. I have never seen this data in the literature, but during my training at Massachusetts General Hospital, I was taught a VERY IMPORTANT PEARL. Never, never, never take away someone's dopamine. Dopamine gives us zest for life, motivation, and enables us to pay attention. It is the piece of the puzzle people with ADHD may be missing that inhibits and blocks them from reaching their potential. Guess what antidepressants and antipsychotics do? Through a feedback loop, these medications can decrease the function of dopamine in the frontal lobes and limbic system.

Treatment:

Treatment for ADHD must be individualized, as each person is unique. But there are some general guidelines that are helpful to remember. People are complex and their lives are complex. Treatment isn't about writing a prescription and seeing the patient once a year. Treatment is about helping people develop a comprehensive strategy to move on with their lives and achieve full potential.

Here are five ways that we can help our patients:

Many patients are often not diagnosed as children. Thus, by using a simple 5 minute screening tool in the office or waiting room, we can help our patients that may have been misdiagnosed as borderline, chronically depressed, anxious or bipolar disorder.

Here is a site that you can give your patients: http://counsellingresource.com/lib/quizzes/adhd-testing/adhd-asrs/


1. Many patients feel that ADHD is not a "real diagnosis" and thus don't get evaluated or treated. However, by explaining to the patients that SPECT and PET scans show differential blood flow in the prefrontal cortex in ADHD patients versus non-ADHD patients can help reinforce to the patient that this is a "real" issue.

2. Patients with ADHD have difficulty with planning and time management. Thus, they often forget their appointments or are late.

This can be extremely annoying for a busy clinician, in addition, to the patient not getting the necessary care.

Thus, a way of improving the show rate for these patients includes encouraging them to write the appointment in their calendars immediately when the appointment is made, requesting that they show up 30 minutes before their appointments, calling them the morning of their appointments (not the night before) and by charging them for missed appointments.

3. Encouraging your patients to purchase a weekly calendar and to use it on a regular basis instead of relying on post-it notes or on smart phone. Many ADHD patients do better when they see things visually.

4. Help the ADHD patient to see that they have many strengths and that ADHD is just one aspect of who they are. In addition, even though they have compensated for it most of their lives, validate that it may have been a difficult struggle and that it can get better.

5. Help the patient to understand that many of their behaviors such as underperforming at work, engaging in high risk sexual activity, or challenges in their relationships are very common in patients with ADHD and that this can get better over time with treatment, either medications or behavioral treatments.

6. people with ADHD often have difficulty maintaining and focusing on relationships. Social connection is one of the primary pillars of helping someone improve. This MUST be a part of the treatment.

7. Too often, the treatment focus is on deficits or problems. This is how we are all trained-what is the problem and how are we, the treatment provider, going to fix the person?. People come to us with so many gifts, talents and strengths. It is essential to help the person realize their strengths and show them what extraordinary challenges they have already overcome. The best gift we can give our patients is showing them their own power, potential and the possibilities of what CAN be.

Working with patients who have ADHD can be frustrating at times, but can be extremely rewarding. Just like cigarette cessation, it can have a significant impact on a patient's life, but with appropriate diagnosis, treatment, and intervention, a patient's health and well-being can greatly improve.

Scott Shapiro, MD, an Assistant Professor at New York Medical College, specializes in Adult ADHD. He provides assessment, med management, psychotherapy, and cognitive behavioral therapy all in one place. If you would like a consultation with Dr. Shapiro, call 212-631-8010 or visit his website at http://www.scottshapiromd.com.

Dr. Shapiro's approach is warm, collaborative, and effective.

Article Source: What Can Happen When Adult ADHD Goes Untreated?

Article Link: Your Friends Don't Know What It's Like to Have Adult ADHD

I recently came across an article which very accurately describes for me, at least, a lot of what it is like to live with adult ADHD. I say "for me", since each case of adult ADHD is different...and, in fact, one person's experience can vary from day to day, or even from hour to hour.

Someone with adult ADHD may be solving all the problems of the universe one moment...or even one hour, and, as I like to put it, "...see a squirrel". In the article, the author used a doorknob to explain what happens, but, for me, the way my dog used to act when she saw a squirrel was a perfect example. Everything gets dumped "overboard", and the squirrel becomes the whole focus of the universe...until another "squirrel" runs by going the other way.

Anyway, it's a great article, especially the whiteboard and big red letters analogy. Everything is "NOW", with no filter.

I drive my wife crazy because she will ask me to do something, intending for me to do it later, and, I will stop whatever I am doing and start to work on whatever it was she asked me to do.

It's a double whammy.

Ask someone with adult ADHD to do something and they have to do it NOW. Also, since people with ADHD are well aware of all the times they screw up by NOT doing what they are supposed to do WHEN they are supposed to do it, they know that if they don't do it now, it won't get done.

Anyway, read the article If Your Friends Ever Say They Have ADHD, Just Show Them This.