I have ADHD and I will hyper fixate on something for 12 hours straight, forgetting to eat or take a bathroom break. I will learn all about it and do it perfectly, but then I will be useless for a day or two, as I lose my car keys in the refrigerator and then remember I went to the grocery store and make a sandwich instead of looking for them.
This sounds a lot like me. Whether I have ADHD is something I’ve been wondering for some time now, but the descriptions of ADHD are always so conflicting to me, because every symptom can be taken as a evidence or counterevidence by changing perspective, partly because of this duality you described.
I felt this way too before I saw a doctor. I would see posts online about it and relate to them, but I knew social media posts can be inaccurate. I knew that that type of thing targets very generic symptoms to attract more interactions.
I thought everyone was tired and stressed like I can be. I spent a lot of time thinking I was lazy or not good enough because I couldn’t get stuff done that seemed easy for other people.
It wasn’t until my partner suggested I talk to my doctor about it because he saw signs.
Honestly, the best thing you can do is talk to a doctor if you feel like symptoms are disrupting your ability to function. If you’re doing fine, you might not need it! But the best thing I ever did was talk to my doctor about this, anxiety, and a potential sleep related disorder (I’m still working on the latter).
Yeah the OP is the opposite of my experience with ADHD. I’m fucking terrible at moving from one task to another, that’s literally the hardest part about it. I just studied Japanese for 12 hours straight yesterday instead of working or writing any code, just because I got the sudden urge. I haven’t actively studied Japanese since 2020 so I’m just reviewing shit I already learned years ago. I’ll do this for a couple days until I either burn myself out or find a new thing to fixate on.
If I’m in burnout, I’ll start rapidly changing between tasks, playing 10 minutes of every game I own chasing any shred of dopamine I can find, or scrolling through short form video content for hours until I find something that catches my attention and then I’ll be fixated on that for anywhere between 1 full day, to about a week.
Like I have coping techniques and medication, but they only go so far and sometimes I just can’t seem to reign it in. Sometimes I can fixate on work or study tasks, (e.g. Japanese) but usually it takes a Herculean amount of effort, determination and discipline to actually control my focus to what I need it on. When I manage to direct my focus to the important stuff it feels like a superpower to fixate on it, but those moments are few and far between.
I have ADHD and I will hyper fixate on something for 12 hours straight, forgetting to eat or take a bathroom break. I will learn all about it and do it perfectly, but then I will be useless for a day or two, as I lose my car keys in the refrigerator and then remember I went to the grocery store and make a sandwich instead of looking for them.
This sounds a lot like me. Whether I have ADHD is something I’ve been wondering for some time now, but the descriptions of ADHD are always so conflicting to me, because every symptom can be taken as a evidence or counterevidence by changing perspective, partly because of this duality you described.
Just keep in mind each person is impacted differently. Symptoms aren’t one size fits all, and even NTs get some relatable symptoms occasionally.
I felt this way too before I saw a doctor. I would see posts online about it and relate to them, but I knew social media posts can be inaccurate. I knew that that type of thing targets very generic symptoms to attract more interactions.
I thought everyone was tired and stressed like I can be. I spent a lot of time thinking I was lazy or not good enough because I couldn’t get stuff done that seemed easy for other people.
It wasn’t until my partner suggested I talk to my doctor about it because he saw signs.
Honestly, the best thing you can do is talk to a doctor if you feel like symptoms are disrupting your ability to function. If you’re doing fine, you might not need it! But the best thing I ever did was talk to my doctor about this, anxiety, and a potential sleep related disorder (I’m still working on the latter).
Yeah the OP is the opposite of my experience with ADHD. I’m fucking terrible at moving from one task to another, that’s literally the hardest part about it. I just studied Japanese for 12 hours straight yesterday instead of working or writing any code, just because I got the sudden urge. I haven’t actively studied Japanese since 2020 so I’m just reviewing shit I already learned years ago. I’ll do this for a couple days until I either burn myself out or find a new thing to fixate on.
If I’m in burnout, I’ll start rapidly changing between tasks, playing 10 minutes of every game I own chasing any shred of dopamine I can find, or scrolling through short form video content for hours until I find something that catches my attention and then I’ll be fixated on that for anywhere between 1 full day, to about a week.
Like I have coping techniques and medication, but they only go so far and sometimes I just can’t seem to reign it in. Sometimes I can fixate on work or study tasks, (e.g. Japanese) but usually it takes a Herculean amount of effort, determination and discipline to actually control my focus to what I need it on. When I manage to direct my focus to the important stuff it feels like a superpower to fixate on it, but those moments are few and far between.