Stress, overloading and spectrum (NT-- ADHD -- asperger)

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pensieve
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25 Sep 2012, 7:36 am

onks wrote:
pensieve wrote:
It's probably harder to diagnose ADHD now because digital technology can change an NTs brain enough to show similar behaviours. But it is not a developmental brain disorder.

The symptoms of ADHD and AS are similar because they share genes and in both the frontal lobes are affected. Many of these frontal lobe disorders have similar symptoms. It just matters which are the worst symptoms and what diagnosis they fit more with.

I have both ADHD and autism by the way. I can separate my symptoms neatly in two groups.

For my ADHD assessment I had to have an MRI, qEEG, IQ test, a drug trial and answer some questions about my childhood. This was no quick diagnosis.

I was diagnosed with autism after being seen by a psychologist for anxiety over 4 months. Her notes went to the psychiatrist that officially diagnosed me. He asked me some questions.

I group autism into repetitive behaviour, which involves a fear of change, then there's intense interests and poor communication skills. Sensory processing issues would be in here too.

ADHD has less social issues, there are some still there though. The main symptoms are lack of focus, poor motivation, interests but very short lived existing to stimulate the distracted mind. Internally the mind chatters. It's a brain on autopilot which they have no control over. They have the skills but can't always execute them. There's a window of focus which gets exhausted quickly.


Thank you for that answer!

Can you describe your feelings that are related to ADHD? And what do you think, are they different than aspie feelings?


I'm pretty sure I can. There's an overwhelming sense of anxiety to get daily tasks accomplished, and perfectionism for those more leisure activities, art and writing for example. I speed through tasks just to get them over quickly. Sometimes I do focus on details.

The mind constantly thinking, and it barely focuses on one thing for a minute, by the end of two minutes you're wondering how I came to be thinking what I am now. It just jumps from one topic to another.

I think people with autism have a preference for their interests while someone with ADHD has interests to compensate for their lack of focus and motivation in other areas. The interests don't last either. The ADHD mind gets bored or 'over' topics quickly and is looking for something new. If you just have ADHD there's rarely a fear of change or need for routine. They go mad with one and struggle to keep them, even though it can benefit them. They see the bigger picture more than details too. I can see both details and bigger picture though I get stuck on details when I should be seeing bigger picture and see big picture when I need to focus on details. But sometimes they can work to my advantage.

I often don't want to do mentally taxing tasks without medication because they will make me tired. I'll get tired anyway on medication or without. I can burn out three times a day and that's with minimal effort. That's from reading and writing and maybe cleaning. However, when not on medication I'm physically active and jumping from one thing to another, and I cannot stop to rest. Although the next day I could be the opposite: low on energy, brain can hardly think. It's not just a matter of being exhausted, I have both types of ADHD, hyperactive and inattentive.

Personally I think my natural non-medicated brain cannot think very clearly. It doesn't have the mental energy to deliberate on thoughts. It's impulsive, constantly seeking entertainment, which involves intellectual stimulation when I can focus. It want to do things but can't motivate itself to carry out all those steps, which can be stressful and sometimes leave me miserable.

Despite my autism I am able to take advantage of my brief interests in possibly everything to help me talk to people. I still want to talk about my special interests but I've been able to work on my social skills, and being an impulsive talker sure does help. I tend to say a lot of embarrassing things though.

I really think the differences in autism and ADHD lie in communication issues (or theory of mind - people with ADHD have a little but have no problem talking to people or making friends), the differences between seeing details and the bigger picture (this can influence more than one area), the need for routines and the need for constant change, and the intense long term interests and the brief hyper focus on something new each day. I think the focus/motivation/memory issues in ADHD manifest differently than ones in autism and in any other disorder. You have to live with ADHD to realise it but I just refer to it as 'brain on autopilot.' There's also stimming vs fidgeting. People with just ADHD don't seem to stim when they're anxious. However, they can never seem to keep still or stop fiddling with things.


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Raziel
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25 Sep 2012, 8:59 am

pensieve wrote:
For my ADHD assessment I had to have an MRI, qEEG, IQ test, a drug trial and answer some questions about my childhood. This was no quick diagnosis.

I was diagnosed with autism after being seen by a psychologist for anxiety over 4 months. Her notes went to the psychiatrist that officially diagnosed me. He asked me some questions.


I made the experience that half of the diagnoses are made with a lot of testing and so on and around the other half is just crap or are done very fast.
At least this is my esperience.
Most of the time I had to go to experts for a certain diagnosis, that they tested me and not just looked at my for like 5 minutes and decided what I'm supposed to have.
My new shrink is the first one, who is just a normal shrink but took around an hour in the beginning to ask me diagnostic questions and to find out what my problems was and so on. My two old shrinks just started, well therapy or I don't know, without expelenation and nothing. :?
They just toled me to come all 2-4 weeks and this was it. 8O

So it really depends and there a huge differences.
My old shrink just made up a diagnosis, or I don't know. 8O
:?

By the way:
I guess my brother was the hyperacitve type of ADHD and not the inatendive type.
Why I find interesting, because I don't have ADHD, but I have Tourette's and Tourette's is hughly connected to hyperactivity and OCD (what my grandma has), but usually in the same person. :lol:
So, there are a lot of genetic connections and I'm really not sure about it, that is possible in every single case to really differentiate all those disorders like ADHD and ASD.
I still consider them as something different, but I think there could be so much overlapping, that some people are just "in between" certain diagnoses.


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