Cruel tricks my brain plays on me...

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maybe this is the ADD, or maybe Aspies have this too..I have been here long enough to know that they do...probably manifesting in different ways...The perpetual rapid fire of ideas...It keeps me up alot...art projects I am constantly configuring in my mind...bam...bam...bam....so many more than I could ever possibly accomplish or even have the capability of producing..especially with my executive dysfunctions...but the ideas just don't stop....
On one hand i really like it...last night I wrote a complete 3 verse song in under 10 minutes..did a really good painting..and a couple of lesser ones...(this is subjective..I am no artistic/musical genius, it is just what my obsession tend to circulate around...)...um....it tends to be very overwhealming, and so often the ideas stay with me, so that there has to be at least some form of follow-through before I can let them go...or relax them....this of course makes it very hard to focus on things that are not creative projects that are all piled on top of each other in my mind(or spinning round and round is more like it.).So I unintentionally neglect the dishes and watering the plants and the laundry...or anything not related to my interests that I am asked to do....etc....and I can only really escape while watching tv or riding my bike...because while doing the chores...bam...bam...bam...creative ideas combined with the impulses to act on them.....i wish I could drown them out sometimes....

ADD meds do not help with this...they make me focus on my creative stuff all the more intensely.

I feel pretty repeative with this post..this is nothing I have not talked about before....I am just having insomnia with the demons in the forms of song melodies and skirt patterns (i can't even make skirts) and doll configurations rampaging around in my head.

What's worse...and slightly off topic is that I seem to have rediculously bad reading comprehension for most crafting/sewing instructions...they drive me insane....the good news is that once I figure something out, I am good at teaching it because I am aware of the ways in which could be confusing....

ok...end-of-rant

What kinds of cruel tricks does your brain play on you?

A stereotypical "aspie" thing to do would be concentrating on one thing rather than a few in cyclical sequences, especially in such a short time. For example, writing song lyrics, and only thinking about such all night, and excluding all other thoughts and activities. Obsessions can change, and sometimes quickly, but in-between the change, you're only having "one interest" floating around in your head.

This is the stereotypical view however, so I'm sure there are exceptions. Naturally, I am of this stereotypical make; I only have one idea floating around, and no matter what I complete concerning such, it'll still be there.

The SSRI I am on actually cuts down on its severity in my case; "all-encompassing" equalled exactly that a couple of years ago.

I can relate to this. When I was younger I would lie awake at night worrying about work for the next day, did I leave such and such undone, but it was always the one thing nagging at me. How will I dress tomorrow etc.. Sometimes I found myself getting out of bed at 3 am to polish shoes or iron a shirt. Looking back I think it was my natural fears of not quite fitting in. I'm older now and care much less about such things, so I imagine as we age it dampens down a bit.

Frankly, I think daniel is wrong here.

poopylungstuffing,

People can say what they want about AS being a narrow focus, but it seems that many here don't follow that. Take the stereotypical person that is into computers. They seem to be a lot like I am. OH, I can tell you LOTS of obscure trivia about models throughout history.(Some say that is the AS trait) I can drill it down all the way to terminology and languages, etc... Some say I have a one track mind in that regard even though MANY people study DECADES and still can't compete.

Your interests are art. Often, in obsessed people, that goes down to songs and poetry. What you describe IS an ADD symptom. I think AS people have it also. I don't do it anymore really(OK, SOMETIMES, like this week where I am thinking about writing a lot of books, etc...), but I used to stay up at night partially thinking about many things AROUND my interests. If I get into REALLY writing a program, that may seem, even to me, to be all I think about. EVEN then, I may think about the application, etc....

Anyway, ENJOY IT!

autism /as is brain related syndrome
ofc that can play tricks on you

for me it is more in the night , my mind is hyperactive at night and i cant sleep, so i take sleeping pills to stop the ideas , they make me not sleep at all and during the day i have to figure out something to do but then i do the repetitive stuff first like visiting this board , playing wow, visiting other boards, watching tv..I am not that creative. I used be creative when i was little

Last edited by victorvndoom on 27 Mar 2008, 9:49 am, edited 1 time in total.

Sounds a lot like ADD symptoms. That much seems true. But the very fact that you say the meds aren't helping with it, but 'enable' the focus to become more intensely. That bit frequently happens in AS.

Sounds like AS traits and ADD combined. The jumpy mind is likely ADD, but the intense focus despite ADD meds sounds like non-ADD hyperfocus. Because meds really should take care of this. It's puzzling that they don't. So... it may be AS 'hyperfocus'. ADD meds wouldn't take care of these AS traits. It's quite possible it's a mixture of both.

Poopy, that's symptom of bipolar and I get it too. It drove me nuts but it did end for me when I finally figured out what I wanted to do first, and then the rest I can just figure it out as I go along and it will be fun. But focusing on one task and only having two hands is really annoying sometimes or all the time and can cause depression if it happens enough; are you on anything for the ADD? Maybe I should be too.

Now im confused. I thought that having ADD meant that it is difficult to sustain interests because your concentration span is small.. are special interests possible with someone who has ADD?

hmm was thinking the same
have concentrating problems myself during playing wow so i swap regulary between characters , i dont like leveling a character to 70 in a row so i change after levels to another character that helps also changing my 'mind'

I'm the same way... pretty artsy. My focus often changes, just ideas going round and round. If I have the materials available to do something-for instance figuring out how to make clothes for my dollfie, or drawing a poster of sorts, I will be thinking about that the whole time I'm carrying on a conversation with someone.

My ideas will fluctuate constantly if I have the stuff to accomplish them, and I will be on edge/stressed/anxious if I am stuck doing something else until I can sit down and mess with it.

If I do not have the materials present, then I will talk about what I want to do for weeks sometimes, what I would like to do, what would be fun, how I would go about it, exactly what I would accomplish, all down to fine details. Once I get it perfected in my mind, then the idea ceases for a while and I move on to something else.

I am able to be accomplishing something that I really want to, as well as thinking about what I'm going to do next and how exactly how I'm going to do it, etc. It's a never-ending cycle, and I feel pretty empty when the ideas stop flowing. I'm always extremely intense/excited/stressed when they are going though.

I've often wondered if it was an ADHD type of thing going on with me, but I really don't know what qualifies as what anymore. There are so many different ideas as to what is typical and what is not, I sometimes wonder if these types of things should be listed as separate things and not grouped into diagnoses because they always manifest differently in different people. Does that make sense?

In individuals with AD(H)D there is observed that is called 'hyperfocus'. It originally was only applied to people who have AD(H)D and displayed this phenomenon.

When a person with attention deficits can concentrate intensively and successfully under certain circumstances it's a hyperfocus. It is the exact opposite of the attention deficit. However, the hyperfocus can not be directed or controlled. A person with AD(H)D can't choose to hyperfocus and also, often can't choose what this intensive concentration is directed at.

That is the very reason why it's impossible to rule out AD(H)D just because a person can concentrate. Of course they are able to! It's just entirely out of their control. That's the point.

Ok, so it is to do with hyperfocusing. I wonder if any NTs hyperfocus.

I'm envious of aspies and ADD people who have interests, I spent much of my youth being unable to make many friends, but also feeling interested in nothing.

Last edited by zen_mistress on 27 Mar 2008, 10:47 am, edited 1 time in total.

more posts came in while I was writing this one..so I am adding/editing:

I guess it is my understanding that maybe they can choose to focus on what they need to focus on, and only focus as much as they need to on that particular thing...I have known alot of artists who were more "NT" than myself. They have tended to be more "expansive"...I guess and seemed to have more of a "balance" between their art/social lives/outside interests

I have a restricted social life (very few close bonds with others)...and frustratingly limited outside interests




Of the ADDers I have known in person, I can give you the example of an ADDer ex-roommate of mine who owned so many vinyl records that he had rented a storage space to keep them in. I suppose I would call that a sustained special interest.

Alot of ADDers have multi-track minds, and if something strikes their interest, they will become hyperfixated on it, though perhaps it might rapidly get replaced with something else....it can also eat them up for a long time...Many ADDers are capable of hyperfocus, AND they can also receive too much stimulus from too many areas at once.

I am currently overstimulated because I am trying to prepare for an art auction...though right now, the only thing going through my head at the moment (aside from this post) is the same stinking phrase from one of my songs over and over and over again....grrrrrrrrr.......



I don't think I am bi-polar....my mind can be hyperactive, but my body is not...and I don't have extreme highs/lows....night/day mood swings...maybe I don't know a whole lot about bi-polar...and not prescribed anything for the ADD...used to be on Adderall, but had mental problems with it...it did help though for a while....but..like I said...it does not balance me, it makse me fixate even more.

I think of my interests as being narrow, because there is little balance between them and day-to-day life....and usually i work in a few set mediums....and have a hard time expanding beyond those mediums...though I will switch back and forth between what medium I am concentrating on...they stay the same.....(lately it has changed though...so that might be where all the extra stimulation is coming from)...I have opened up a can-o-worms....as I have been painting, when usually, I just work with socks....and then my archaic cut-and paste graphic design...and my ukulele stuffs...

Last edited by poopylungstuffing on 27 Mar 2008, 11:06 am, edited 4 times in total.

im also hyper at times but its relatet to my as not add or someting like that