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Post by spacemummy on Apr 21, 2016 8:33:07 GMT
I'm sat at my desk and have a task to do. The task is straightforward. I know exactly what needs to be done and that I will do it well BUT the part of my brain that allows me to 'do' is paralysed, or stuck somehow. I get frustrated. Time goes by. Work piles up. Self esteem takes a hit. Is this common for ADHD people?
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Post by annie on Apr 21, 2016 9:07:38 GMT
Unfortunately very common!!
If it's a "boring" task, albeit easily done, then your mind looks (distractions) for other things which are more appealing. Have a look in the video section at Russel Berkley's lectures. He talks about people with Adhd needing "a gun to the head" mentality where if the job doesn't get done then there are serious consequences - the gun analogy doesn't always work!
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Post by spacemummy on Apr 21, 2016 12:12:47 GMT
Reassuring in an odd way to know that thanks ? I have just had to complete a statement for my GP to send with my referral to the local adult ADHD clinic and despite doing my best to stay objective and stick to the facts, I keep second guessing myself, wondering if this is just a statement describing how shit I am at coping with life. Am I looking for an excuse for my own laziness? I've always felt something was wrong and wished I could just snap out of it. A little scared now the ball is rolling that the end result will just be getting told I am just lazy/crap at life.
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Post by vagueandrandom on Apr 21, 2016 12:47:15 GMT
spacemummy it's really common to doubt yourself.. feel delusional. . a fraud. . I did it and there's lots of other posts expressing the same thing. It's particularly bad when the waiting lists are so long. . .too much time to think and doubt. .
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Post by marionk on Apr 21, 2016 14:24:30 GMT
The gun to the head doesn't help me.
If I want to do something, I'm fine. If I don't . . .
Hard to remember now, but I used to be ok with housework, but that was in another country where life was much simpler. I'll post about that someday soon.
If it's something that absolutely has to be done or the consequences will be dire, it just stresses me out, and the line between being too stressed to face doing it and so desperate that I cannot avoid trying to get it done, well it's damned near invisible, and never happens long enough before the deadline to be any use.
I simply have to get help.
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ishara
Member's posted somewhat
Posts: 95
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Post by ishara on May 1, 2016 21:15:45 GMT
Reassuring in an odd way to know that thanks ? I have just had to complete a statement for my GP to send with my referral to the local adult ADHD clinic and despite doing my best to stay objective and stick to the facts, I keep second guessing myself, wondering if this is just a statement describing how shit I am at coping with life. Am I looking for an excuse for my own laziness? I've always felt something was wrong and wished I could just snap out of it. A little scared now the ball is rolling that the end result will just be getting told I am just lazy/crap at life. Yup, I know *that* feeling! I was sitting in the clinic last week awaiting assessment telling myself that I shouldn't be there and that I was just being neurotic...and I'm a mental health professional with a son whose school are pushing an ADHD diagnosis and a nephew who already has a dx of ADHD so a) I know I'm well informed and b) genetically alone it seems likely. Still thought I might be making it all up though and that, yes, if I didn't get a diagnosis it would just prove that It Was All My Fault. All of it. Whatever it was. So you have my sympathy. I don't know how hard it is to get an Nhs referral. I went privately because (oh, the irony), I work in the same service as the adult ADHD clinic. Actually my GP (who thinks he has ADHD himself and I believe him) would have happily referred me anywhere, but I suspect it's generally not easy. So, if you've got a referral, that's pretty suggestive in itself, I'd guess. Also, I'd hope that if it wasn't ADHD the clinicians might help you think about what was contributing to your difficulties. You didn't make this stuff up; you clearly wish it was different and want to understand what's going on. If it's ADHD, that's one explanation; if it isn't there are plenty of alternatives to lazy (even though I couldn't see them either ;-) Why don't you go to your assessment armed with the thought that if you're told that it isn't ADHD, you'd like the clinicians to suggest what it is - or refer you to someone who can work that out with you? Just a thought; good luck,
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Endymion
Member's not posted much yet
Posts: 34
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Post by Endymion on May 2, 2016 11:33:44 GMT
Constantly happens to me and explains fully why I have needed to be in work to catch up over the last 3 days when all of my colleagues have been out with their friends, family etc.
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Post by clubby on May 2, 2016 18:31:47 GMT
I have this problem big time. Excessive procrastination. Its as if I am waiting for the stars to line up before I make a move.
I have been thinking a lot about this one, lately and trying out a few strategies.
I think people who plan their way through life find it easier to kick start a task.
I am an absorber and reactor to outside stimuli and in this, there is no beginning or end. There is no right time to begin.
Its like diving into a swirling and changing sea where sometimes you can see rocks and sometimes you can see deep pools. It takes great faith and courage.
When I find myself in that position I have a two lines from a hymn we used to sing at school. I sing those 2 lines to myself and for some reason I spring into action
"Hobgoblin nor foul fiend shall daunt his spirit He knows he at the end shall life inherit"
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Post by tigger2016 on May 12, 2016 21:35:05 GMT
Me too. It's starting to do some dull piece of paperwork then reaching a log jam and then it's "I wonder if I've got any FB updates...Any news in the world...what tomorrow's weather going to be?...Football gossip... etc" and losing 10, 20, 30 minutes. Yet always with fingers hovering over alt and tab to switch to a more work-related window
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Post by marionk on May 13, 2016 5:05:08 GMT
Me too. It's starting to do some dull piece of paperwork then reaching a log jam and then it's "I wonder if I've got any FB updates...Any news in the world...what tomorrow's weather going to be?...Football gossip... etc" and losing 10, 20, 30 minutes. Yet always with fingers hovering over alt and tab to switch to a more work-related window I find that anything stressful pushes me into procrastination mode. That in itself is not so surprising, but some things things that have only very low levels of stress do it too. eta That log jam problem would be enough to set me off.
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Post by clubby on May 13, 2016 7:33:44 GMT
I used to have to do a lot of daily repetitive data entry for my business.
I can't cope with repetitive sequences. After about 5-10 minutes my brain literally jams up.
I can't cope with remembering numbers or words so the concentration required was immense
I can only switch off to the external distracting noise when I hyperfocus and I can't hyperfocus on repetitive, sequenced machine like work.
So the result was that I would enter 10 minutes worth of data then go into creative mode and redesign the data entry software to improve it for 40 minutes, then I would do another 10 minutes, then I would get another creative burst and pull the software apart once more.
When I finally managed to get someone else to do the data entry I was amazed at how quickly she finished her work.
I took all day to do some very simple tasks but in the process had designed a really efficient computer program.
That sounds great and many would say - why don't you do that.
Because the workplace does not allow you nowadays to mix up the mundane with the creative.
Routine folk are expected to work without creativity ie efficiently stick to the system
Creative folk are expected to work outside the system in case they mess it up.
My creativity comes from working in the system, a bit like an old fashioned craftsman. Nowadays that is not allowed which means that I am unemployable.
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Post by spacemummy on May 13, 2016 10:30:40 GMT
Just did a presentation to a room full of people and was for the first time able to frame my performance in the context of (possible) ADHD. My mixing up of words and losing my thread on a presentation topic which is familiar and easy to me now strikes me as a good example of poor working memory.
I wasn't nervous. I WAS winging it a bit. The snippets of script I had stored in my mind came out all wobbly or not at all. I think I did ok except I think I may have come across to others as nervous or unsure of my subject.
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Post by clubby on May 13, 2016 16:23:33 GMT
Well done spacemummy. Keep hunting for those coping mechanisms, whatever works for you, and will see a a difference.
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Post by marionk on May 14, 2016 7:39:19 GMT
When I find myself in that position I have a two lines from a hymn we used to sing at school. I sing those 2 lines to myself and for some reason I spring into action "Hobgoblin nor foul fiend shall daunt his spirit He knows he at the end shall life inherit" Just noticed this bit. There's a lot of 'upbeat' in that hymn, that's why it's so rousing. Most pop music is downbeat, possibly explaining why I've never been keen on it.
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