Do you ever feel your thoughts are going too fast?

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Something like this? http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp3961465.html#3961465


I'll say I don't have a super speed with my brain, and it runs in thought at a normal pace, but my cognition jumps from one thought to another like a monkey jumping through the trees. It happens in a circuitous loop. One thought theme to another theme, to the next one and then back to the first, over and over and over. It can seem maddening.

All with Eidetic imagery with sounds, smells, tastes......... like a holodeck.

Ooooh yes. One of my more frequent wishes is that my mind would just shut the hell up for a few hours.

Yes. I'm so very scatterbrained. But, eh, I at least make sense once I organize my thoughts.

I sometimes do that when I'm lying in bed. Imagining myself in situations can make me feel really upset.

This. Yesss. I've been up so many nights with annoying thoughts like that!

Hey, this might seem unrelated, but has anyone here ever experienced sleep paralysis? I know the experience freaks a lot of people out, but I've had it a couple times and I wish I could induce it to happen more often. It's basically just you and your brain, conscious parts completely awake, but you're still sort of sleeping. I like to use it to ponder things without distractions from anyone or anything (since, after all, I AM sleeping. Who/what's going to bother me?)

sleep paralysis.... I never knew there was a name for that. I believe what you describe is what I experience. It's kinda odd semi-conscious state... I can think of things but ... yeah, the paralysis part. No idea how often I do it, but notice it most when I'm cold, know that I"m cold, but cannot seem to do anything about being cold--simple to get up and get socks or another blanket, but never ever actually DO that, just lay there sleeping and thinking... or when a noise happens, and you lay there examining what that probably was, and if it's important or not... no way to tell how long you're thinking about it, and if you decide it's important, then you can decide to fully waken, but the tendency is to NOT waken unless you're sure there's a good enough reason, and apparently just being cold isn't ! - LOL

huh. learn something new every day. Thanks

I hate when music gets stuck in my head. My boss tends to listen to the same CD on loop every day. It used to be all we heard every day we came in (until my coworker and I managed to find a good radio station and put it on before she got to the stereo.) It. drove me. insane. The songs would get stuck in my head and keep me awake at night! When I tried to explain it to my boss, she just laughed (she has this very fake laugh that I hear her use with customers all the time) and went, "Ah, Kaitlyn..." as if I was doing something cute and it wasn't a serious problem. SO glad we can put on the radio station now... (Do you have any idea how awful it is to have Spanish-language gospel music stuck in your head... when you don't even understand the lyrics, don't believe in the religion it's singing about, and you can't even sleep because it won't stop playing in your brain?! )

Usually sleep paralysis is accompanied by weird sounds (like static or other electronic noises) and odd images. For me, I usually see the bedroom I'm sleeping in, but fully lit as though it's day time. I also usually hear a kind of "whooshing" or TV static. You also usually have a feeling like something's pinning you down, or a feeling that something bad's about to happen. (Sleep paralysis is actually believed be the origin of the term "nightmare", the "mare" part referring to a sort of witch or hag-like creature that would sit on your chest while you slept. It's also the explanation for what many people claim are alien abductions.)

But regardless, you're fully conscious. If you're aware of what's happening, it's very easy to remember that it's not dangerous and you'll be okay. That's how I manage to calm myself and use it as a sort of meditation time. Knowing what's going on is key!

This is a question for those of us with speeding thoughts:

When this is happening, do you feel wired or like your nervous system is hyper-aroused or a bit manic?
Does it feel uncomfortable?
I've been dxed with bipolar 2 and am trying to figure out whether it's a correct diagnosis for me.

Thanx, Zel.

I don't tend to feel uncomfortable about it until it starts interfering with something else I'm trying to do, like remember something I was told, or sleeping. I don't think I can call it "manic" as there is no emotional state attached to it. I also don't think it can be "hyper-aroused" since it's pretty much my normal state of existence. If my mind isn't going a million miles an hour, I'm probably sleeping, sick, distracted (such as by TV), or drunk...

I think NTs probably do think the same way but know how to ignore it. Like when you're somewhere with a lot of people talking and the noise is unbearable but no one else seems bothered. That same inability to filter out the noise certainly applies to my thoughts. It's really useful when I'm starting on something creative to have all these detailed ideas to work with but then when I try to apply the ideas my head's too full of new ones to get anything done!

Yes. My brain is in a never-ending race. And you see, it's compounded more by the fact, that it races too fast for me to for most part express what I'm thinking, organize what I'm thinking, or anything of the like unless I attempt to shut something out. Even my brain races as I'm going to sleep. And if anyone attempts to communicate with me, I will attempt communicating back whether or not it happens the way they want it to. My bf will poke me and he'll have instant entertainment, as I will say a very poorly constructed fragmented sentence of 4 distinctly different thoughts that do not seem to go together at all.

Yes, my thoughts do seem to be going too fast. Which begs the question "too fast for what?" The answer to that is, too fast for me to bring each thought into full consciousness and evaluate it there. So I suspect that it's not the speed of the thoughts that's the problem, it's the conviction that every damed thought has to be thus processed. Just like with talking where I feel I must give my listener a complete data dump of every idea that occurs to me about the subject they've raised.

So maybe the answer to this, if there is any answer, lies in learning to relax about the fact that I'm never going to catch every fleeting idea that wafts across my consciousness, and to just let my thoughts go, confident in the knowledge that if it's important enough, it'll re-surface later. Rather like wishing for a perfect memory, the downside could be worse than the benefits.....perhaps forgetting and selective ignoring is vital for proper mental function?

The thoughts themselves are probably no different in type or speed to anybody else's thoughts. It's like a spinning ball of associations, one thought leads to ten more associated thoughts, each of those leads to ten more, etc.

Hence my username.

I have always had what I called "too many thoughts" simultaneously occurring in my mind, passing through so quickly I can't even appreciate them. One idea becomes 50 thoughts branching out in every direction, like a lightening bolt. Sometimes it seems as though there is an infinite number of thoughts, every possible thought for a given stimulus, and I can feel them all whizzing through my mind until I pick one to pay attention to. I call that quantum thinking, and most of the time it is amazing.
I find it bothersome when I can't "catch" any of the thoughts, or when I'm trying to sleep or listen to someone. I've been taking Concerta, which has slowed down this process and reduced the number of thoughts I have at one time. I might be more capable of sleeping and listening, but I miss my thoughts. I've grown accustomed to the background chatter of my mind, and it just feels wrong for it to be quieter and slower. It might help with school, but once I'm done I'm going back to the "noisy" brain with quantum thoughts.
It may sound unusual, or even crazy, to others so I don't go into detail about the processes in my brain with other people. I used to think everyone thought this way when I was a kid, but the few people I tried to explain it to over the years were totally confused and concerned that I might have some sort of psychotic disorder. I've been terrified that if I ever told a doctor that he would lock me up! So, I simply refer to it as "too many thoughts" when I must explain it to others.
Anyone else have a similar way of thinking? Or does it sound crazy to you too?

My penmanship has always been terrible. My 1st grade teacher remarked on one of my report cards that my "mind moved too fast for my hand to keep up." I think she hit the nail on the head.