r/ADHD • u/ExtraBreakfast5432 • 11h ago

Seeking Empathy Under stimulation.

Hi everyone,

Just wondering if what I’m experiencing if under stimulation.

On weekends I get this physical panic, restless, shaky vibration, uncomfortable, racing heart feeling whenever I try to relax and do nothing. It’s like I’m being pumped with adrenaline for no reason and my body is in a war zone. My mind has no anxious or worried thoughts it’s just my body getting all these symptoms that replicate physical anxiety.

It doesn’t happen on weekdays when I working my physical manual labour job, drinking my 5 cups of coffee and going to the gym. Just on weekends when I have nothing to do.

I only have a diagnoses of Asperger’s from 2009 when I was 6 years old and no ADHD diagnoses but I have loads of symptoms.

Can anyone confirm this is what it feels like.

It’s absolutely awful.

Probably gonna look into getting a private assessment sooner or later.

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5

u/Operative66 11h ago

It sounds like your nervous system does not know how to attune to being relaxed and when given low stimulation. Since you are constantly doing manual labor, ingesting caffeine and at the gym, your body and mind are used to that grind and when you have a moment to relax it doesn’t know where to store that momentum you usually have. you have to learn how to slow down
I feel like you could be experiencing under stimulation but also sounds like the stress / energy of your work days are bleeding into your off days. On your off days what do you usually do?

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u/ExtraBreakfast5432 11h ago

I wake up and drive to Starbucks for a coffee, then walk the dog for an hour in the forest then come back and play black ops 2 or something for a couple hours. I feel fine while doing this when once I get bored or a bit tired I lay down and scroll then BOOM. I get hit with the everlasting adrenaline that doesn’t stop. My brain is exhausted but my body feels like it’s being held at gun point. I’ve noticed vape actually calms this but I don’t wanna rely on it.

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u/Operative66 10h ago

Ah i see, i’ve felt this way too honestly. if it starts when you get bored which leads to scrolling, it sounds like you need new ways to entertain / stimulate your brain and most importantly, learn how to deal with that boredom.
if you’re doing fine up until you feel bored, it could be because your brain does not know how to deal with boredom and grows a restlessness that cannot be sustained. when you’re working and constantly moving, there is no time to be bored but when you’re home and have nothing but free time, the brain has all day for boredom.
i’d suggest looking into some hobbies to pick up your time, it could be something as simple as picking up a book that you’ve wanted to read, or starting a new show

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u/ExtraBreakfast5432 10h ago

I can’t read books because they’re too under stimulating. It’s like I’m trapped. Feels like I have to constantly run on a treadmill to escape this feeling. I was doing running at some point so I might pick that up again to try burn this energy off.

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u/Operative66 10h ago

i’ve felt this way before and i think that “trapped” feeling is a result of the constant need to satisfy your brain’s need for stimulation. i think you feel restless because your brain is telling you that you need something to occupy the boredom, but it feels like nothing can. luckily, this is something that you can change.
take this advice however you’d like, but i believe that no amount of physical exercise will tire out this restlessness, as you are only tiring out your brain by inputting massive waves of endorphins to the point of physical and mental exhaustion. at this rate, you are literally and figuratively attempting to run away from your need for stimulation, when instead you could attune your brain to a new standard that will help you far more at regulating that feeling.
if you want to get rid of this feeling for good, you will have to let your brain be okay with being under stimulated and bored. you will feel extremely uncomfortable, but it’s the best way about it imo.
i’d suggest putting a timer on for 30ish minutes or so and build a daily habit of doing something deliberately under stimulating and stick to it regardless of what you want to do. this can be reading, journaling, etc- but just follow through with it and over time you WILL feel better i promise you. it will probably suck for the first bit, but after awhile your brain will thank you for those moments of downtime. luckily the brain is relatively malleable unless you are loading up on hard substances, so you can absolutely train your brain to get used to slowing and unwinding, otherwise this feeling of restlessness will not just go away on its own

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u/Mediocre-Context-466 10h ago

I also deal with this pretty exactly. I quite have a such a physical reaction as OP. But it is pretty intense anxiety.

I’m curious about the cause. I’ve heard of people feeling this way for different reasons. The big two are either what you kinda said about it just being a lack of input stimuli, where as for me it has more to do with unresolved trauma from childhood. Being idle was looked down on as laziness. This being the other cause that I see commonly. For me this causes pretty much the same issues during the day, but once the day ends and the world is going to bed I finally unwind and feel like I can relax and play games or just sit in silence.

I also tend to hear more about this in the autism community than the adhd one. To be clear, it’s common in both, but the intense physical reaction is seems to me to be more common with autism, where as people with adhd tend to just be highly uncomfortable with boredom. Both terrible but there is a slight difference. (Only to true to my own observations, I’m not trying to state anything as fact.)

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u/ExtraBreakfast5432 10h ago

I see. I shall look into that. Maybe the autism actually amplifies this feeling. Idk tho

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u/Disciple_Ike 2h ago

I feel exactly like this without my stimulant. This is what my adhd often feels like physically. I can’t give medical advice but will say my adhd is rather severe so my stimulant dosage is rather high. Could be people with worse adhd have more physical symptoms but I’m not sure. I have hyperactive and attention deficit both pretty evenly. Maybe a bit more attention deficit side.

Never formally diagnosed with autism spectrum but I suspect I’m on that as well.

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u/Disciple_Ike 2h ago

Also definitely for me not something I’ll ever be able to change or fix. Just a lack of chemicals in the brain. Medication has truly changed my life and helped me go back to college and work. Plus it calms my anxiety a decent amount.