My concentration/distractibility seems to be getting worse.

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Are you easily distracted?
At least 5-6 times a day 67%  67%  [ 16 ]
Sometimes 21%  21%  [ 5 ]
Not at all, when I have a task to do I do it until I am finished 13%  13%  [ 3 ]
Total votes : 24

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09 Feb 2010, 6:28 pm

This is something I look back at and laugh but it's also causing me a great deal of concern.
Yesterday my mum came back from shopping. She was telling me to do something while she was in the kitchen and I was watching TV. I hate it when she does this. How can you expect to hear a person that is talking to you on the other side of the house when you are watching TV?
So I ask her to repeat herself. She does and she wants me to put away something. In my head I think 'dishes, starting dinner...she might need room to cook.' So like the good House Elf I am I put away the dishes.
A few minutes later mum calls out again 'I told you to put the shopping away!' 'You said dishes' I say. 'No the shopping.' 'Ohhh'........Do you still want me to?' 'Yes!' she shouts so I go back to put the shopping away. I slowly put one bag of shopping away, then get distracted by the TV, computer...who knows.
2 hours later there are still 5 bags of shopping not put away yet. So I quickly put them away before my mum even notices.


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TXaspie
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09 Feb 2010, 6:37 pm

I wouldn't come to the conclusion that you are simply "easily distracted".

Think about what distracted you, it was a TV set.

Now.....who doesn't get distracted by a TV? Tv's are worse than any drug you can buy off the street, literally.

If you weren't on drugs(aka watching TV) you might have heard your mom but you didn't because you were so zombified from the TV.

:wink:



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09 Feb 2010, 6:46 pm

I was just staring at the TV, not really taking anything in. It was the news. What got me was that it took 2 hrs to complete a simple task, that I usually do in about 5-10 minutes.


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09 Feb 2010, 6:56 pm

It sounds like you were unable to completely transition from what you were doing to the job your mother asked you to do. I think it's a part of executive dysfunction. I clean offices, which certainly isn't rocket science but I still need that drive from job to job in order for my brain to "reset". If the jobs are close together I just drive for a mile or two. I really need to do that.


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09 Feb 2010, 7:17 pm

I'm constantly distracted, I would describe my personal consciousness as an endless line of single points, no stability at all.



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09 Feb 2010, 9:19 pm

With my ADHD I find that I get worse if I am more stressed out. With the new job shopping going on, that could be what is going on with you right now?

I can run anywhere from "seems completely normal" to "OMG I cannot decide what to eat or even if I am hungry yet!" Those are really bad days, I feel utterly incompetent at that point.



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09 Feb 2010, 9:29 pm

MorbidMiss wrote:
With my ADHD I find that I get worse if I am more stressed out. With the new job shopping going on, that could be what is going on with you right now?

I can run anywhere from "seems completely normal" to "OMG I cannot decide what to eat or even if I am hungry yet!" Those are really bad days, I feel utterly incompetent at that point.

Yeah could be...
I have timed meals so I have to eat no matter what. Sometimes I find myself pacing the kitchen trying to decide what to eat. Argh, it's frustrating.
I've also been finding myself walking around the backyard with nothing to do, though I have many options I don't know which to choose.
I have to do the vacuuming but because I have a small room with a lot of clutter I have to take things out of my room and find the vacuum, plug it in....etc. It's just too much.
No wonder I'm always watching TV or am on the internet or wandering the backyard with nothing to do.


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09 Feb 2010, 10:05 pm

My husband says that the internet makes my ADHD worse, I am not sure that is really true... I think it does enable me to tune reality out too much though. Not exactly helpful in getting unstressed. Plus it plays up the short attention span issue, I can have several tabs open at once, and if one site is loading too slowly or does not have anything new I can just tab through all of them over and over until I'm exhausted. After all of that I have accomplished nothing and still feel crappy :(



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09 Feb 2010, 10:40 pm

I usually have 4-5 tabs up. That really does explain it. I've been on the internet a lot for the last couple of weeks, then after a few hours I'd get sick of it, go for a walk around my house and not know what to do next. I always end coming back on here. But one day I practically sketched in my art book all day. It got really messy and made my skin feel icky so I decided not to do it the next day.
My big beef of the day was not going into town to buy a new bag. My mum was going to take me but then said she'll do it tomorrow so it completely ruined my plans of the day. I don't know why I didn't just walk into town myself. But I did spend a few hours looking at a star map so I'm almost out of the boredom period of my day.


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09 Feb 2010, 11:56 pm

I am very easly distracted it can be hard at school and if I see my specail intrest for get it! Odds are I am going to block EVERYTHING else out other than that.



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10 Feb 2010, 2:42 am

Rainbow-Squirrel wrote:
I'm constantly distracted, I would describe my personal consciousness as an endless line of single points, no stability at all.


It is not quite like this all the time for me, but i can identify with it... i deviate between times of hyperfocus, but when wrenched away from the thing i am focusing on, my attention span shatters and is jumbled up all over the place



MissConstrue
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10 Feb 2010, 2:56 am

Whoa I have trouble with this as well.

There are times where I hear but I don't listen. My mind will wonder off into another world and then when I'm back in reality, I can't seem to remember to do what I was told to do. Other times, I'm just too hyperfocused with other activities that while I'm listening, I'm missing out on important details. I've had to deal with this by writing everything down...which doesn't always work and then asking over and over again which pisses some people off.


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10 Feb 2010, 3:18 am

can't say much.......but totally get what you mean.

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