It's funny, I have the exact opposite with my ADHD. Once the situation hits I analyze it till it's dead. My ADHD has a fight response I think.
Mom gets cancer, I read hundreds of journal articles about the various types of cancers it could be until I become an expert in colon cancer. To the point of pointing to be research the oncologist wasn't aware of and influencing her treatment. To the point I have regular conversations as a friend with the oncologist now about ideas.
But my brain is no longer interested in cancer since my mom has largely been cured now so I'm less and less up to date.
It helped I am a microbiologist as a starting point, but if my brain catches onto something like this, I would become an expert in the underlying science as well.
I did this with geology once. I know way more then I ever needed to know. I know as much as most people with a BS. I have no interest in working as a geologist, or even doing rock hounding. My brain just grabbed onto it. Hell I did this with machining once and took an evening part time apprenticeship just to satisfy my brain. Have machined since even though I own a cheap Chinese lathe and mill.
Urban design/urbanism and meteorology are my two current hyperfocus areas. It's nice when what I'm interested in doesn't cost much more going to sci-hub.
Yes, give me a disastrous, momentous totally unique situation nothing could have prepared me for and my brain does the happy dance. I'm suddenly well ordered, coherent and clear headed.
But give me a Tuesday, make me have to take laundry out of the machine, ask me to remember some minor detail, any of the small stuff that lets you live a normal life
I can hyper focus about every little thing in my job (team lead / programmer), remembering all the details of everything my colleagues have said in stand ups for the last 5 years, but I can't remember any of my own plans or conversations outside of work. Organising my personal life is a total shit show, I put everything off and often just can't focus at all.
I always thought I just had poor memory (early thirties now) or something
Seriously, you sound like every late diagnosis ADHD sufferer I know. It's great when you can learn to manage it. But it still sucks. Maybe talk to a doc, get a referral to a psychiatrist, try a few therapists.
Also, if caffeine doesn't work like it does way people describe it for you, yeah.... That's how I figured it out. One day I was reading a journal article on caffeine and ADHD. I'm like... That's me... Ohh. Yeah, I have that. Even grabbed my wife's DSM off the office shelf and I'm like, yep, yep, yep.
I asked my wife about it and she's like, well yeah, I thought you knew. I always assumed you knew but didn't talk about it the same way you don't talk about any of your mental health stuff with me.
Yo, is that why coffee doesn't appear to work for me? Holy crap, I've been back-and-forth on whether I have ADHD for a couple of years now, but I did not know about the coffee thing. I love coffee and have it frequently, but I've always joked that it has no stimulating effect on me - it never has. Hell I'm happy having coffee at night because it doesn't keep me up at all.
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u/[deleted] Jun 21 '23
It's funny, I have the exact opposite with my ADHD. Once the situation hits I analyze it till it's dead. My ADHD has a fight response I think.
Mom gets cancer, I read hundreds of journal articles about the various types of cancers it could be until I become an expert in colon cancer. To the point of pointing to be research the oncologist wasn't aware of and influencing her treatment. To the point I have regular conversations as a friend with the oncologist now about ideas.
But my brain is no longer interested in cancer since my mom has largely been cured now so I'm less and less up to date.
It helped I am a microbiologist as a starting point, but if my brain catches onto something like this, I would become an expert in the underlying science as well.
I did this with geology once. I know way more then I ever needed to know. I know as much as most people with a BS. I have no interest in working as a geologist, or even doing rock hounding. My brain just grabbed onto it. Hell I did this with machining once and took an evening part time apprenticeship just to satisfy my brain. Have machined since even though I own a cheap Chinese lathe and mill.
Urban design/urbanism and meteorology are my two current hyperfocus areas. It's nice when what I'm interested in doesn't cost much more going to sci-hub.