Do you feel slightly depressed (or at best, extremely bored), when experiencing a lack of stimulation-- especially after having a stimulating experience or series of stimulating experiences. For example, you have a really nice vacation. (Plenty of stims there). Then you get home and are back to drudgery and start to feel mildly depressed.

I'm glad to be home and back to my routines when on vacation. I don't have a bored or depressed feel....

If we spent a day lets say at the race track or a weekend way, I'm glad to be home because I'm tired of all the stimuation....Which can make me feel bored and a bit depressed while there.....

I fell both ways (what a surprise). There are days where I need stimulation at all times and other days where handling any input sucks the energy right out of me.

Generally, I prefer having the stimulation. I think it gives my constantly racing brain something to process instead of running around in circles.

I feel more focused when I get back from a vacation. Doesn't have to be long....even a day trip will do. Perhaps refreshed is a more accurate term. Seems to dispel all those needless negative distractions for awhile. Brain feng shui? I just wish those feelings would last a bit longer. Hmmmm..maybe more vacations are in order.

The thing I've noticed is how much pleasure you are able to get from the stimulation effects the mood dramatically. If it's satisfying/rewarding then life is good, if you can't get no satisfaction, life is blah.

It is quite natural of we with ADHD to experience a "low" after experiencing a "high," whether it be from a highly stimming vacation or a hyperfocused session involving some project or (finally!) finishing a project. We thrive on stimulation, even to the point of instigating arguments out of boredom...not that doing so is okay--it was just an example.

My point is that it's "normal" (HA!) for us as ADDers to have a depression episode after a successful event/enjoyable event/positive event. If I remember correctly, I believe Drs. Hallowell and Ratey address this in Driven to Distraction.

:D
smooch

When I spend a good time with friends or family -and have joy and fun-, especially if it is the whole day, when I get home I feel very depressed and usually start to wonder if I did something wrong, like being too loud, for example.

smooch that actually explaines alot. My wife says I'm so negative all the time, like we just had a fabulous day and I always seem to ruin it because of my negativity. I need to start listening to my wife more often(hopefully).

Do you guys think that they type of ADD you have affects this?

I have the inattentive type of ADD and no matter how exciting the event is (wedding, vacation,etc) I am relieved when I get home and back on the computer.

So is it just people with AD Hyperactivity D are let down after after having a stimulating experience?

Wait! that wouldn't make sense either since inattentive type ADD'rs are missing the neurotransmitters that make them feel stimulated so we are supposed to crave stimulation....I'm confused :confused:

I find that it can become difficult to process the stimlation. My brain shuts down and requires a "brain break" I also can become overwhelmed, even if I am enjoying the occasion. When I return home, I need several days to regroup. During this time, I feel somewhat depressed and out of sorts. I have lost my focus and momentum. And I must start over again... and again and again! I have inattentive type ADD which can feel like hell. (not that I've been in hell lately-but this just feels pretty close to it) So, Moxee, I really do understand.

I am so glad you brought this up salsa. I am sitting here feeling really crummy after having returned from a really nice vacay. In fact I was looking for support about this very thing. I know it's really common for me to go through this... if only I could remember and be prepared. Hallowell and Ratey have this "50 tips on the management of adult ADD". They say, "understand mood changes...know that your moods will change independent of whats going on in the external world." And then they talk about a "cylce which is very common among adults with ADD: a) something "startles" your psychological system, a change or transition, a disappointment or even a success. The precipitant may be quite trivial, nothing more than an everyday event b) this "startle" is followed by a mini-panic with sudden loss of perspective, the world being set topsy-turvy c) you try to deal with this panic by falling into a mode of obsessing and ruminating over one or another aspect of the situation. This can last for hours, days, or even months[!]."
I think for me I get depressed when I lose perspective. It's like I don't have the focus or direction to propell me forward and I get stuck and I obsess about how I'm not getting anything done, everything feels so hard, I have no gumption for anything: I start hyperfocusing on the problem and what it could be. It really bums me out. But I've been here a thousand times before. I just need to remeber "this too shall pass" . It always does.
Thanks again, Sara.

Yes me too, sometimes I guess. I cannot really remember all the times feeling like that. Sometimes I would get a little down/bored/lonely after a day of fun or a period of time of vacation.........sometimes I think.

I know it's really common for me to go through this... if only I could remember and be prepared. Hallowell and Ratey have this "50 tips on the management of adult ADD". They say, "understand mood changes...know that your moods will change independent of whats going on in the external world." And then they talk about a "cylce which is very common among adults with ADD: a) something "startles" your psychological system, a change or transition, a disappointment or even a success. The precipitant may be quite trivial, nothing more than an everyday event b) this "startle" is followed by a mini-panic with sudden loss of perspective, the world being set topsy-turvy c) you try to deal with this panic by falling into a mode of obsessing and ruminating over one or another aspect of the situation. This can last for hours, days, or even months[!].".
wow. i feel this cycle ALLL the time..i didn't even know someone had charted it...is this from a book the 50 tips?
i'm combination of hyper active/inattentive..
which i think is bizarro..
i guess im hyper b/c i speak super rapidly and i'm always onto something...and i fidget a LOT, i also pace and cannot stand waiting, and i walk fast..i have a hard time just waiting for my husband to get out of the car! i'm always already walking away..he takes forever...its agonizing..LOL
but i'm inattentive b/c i guess i just space out..plus i can spend a whole day on the computer like i am right now and not do everything i'm supposed to like write the paper that i took today for off anyway.

but yes i feel like i have to recover from situations all the time. i had to go to chuckycheese b/c my son's classmate's bday was there...i was about to faint from the overstim there, i was shocked.
when i got home i didn't want anything on whatsoever
and i do find that i have always felt discouragingly anticlimatic
anytime i get really excited about something whatever it be, i always have a little voice in my head that thinks: yes but you know that your just going to come down like a deflated balloon after its finished.

books: i'm an avid reader. after i've finished a book-this is so embarrassing- i get deppressed, blue for a few days even.

Do you guys think that they type of ADD you have affects this?

I have the inattentive type of ADD and no matter how exciting the event is (wedding, vacation,etc) I am relieved when I get home and back on the computer.

So is it just people with AD Hyperactivity D are let down after after having a stimulating experience?

Wait! that wouldn't make sense either since inattentive type ADD'rs are missing the neurotransmitters that make them feel stimulated so we are supposed to crave stimulation....I'm confused :confused:
No, Im inattentive ADD and I get depressed after an exciting trip or a fun event. On the first day or the beginning of the fun event, I find myself already dreading the moment I have to get back to normal life.

It used to be whatever event I was at, I had to drink, or do drugs or I would be bored. That was years ago. Im not like that anymore, Ive learned to just deal with it and try to enjoy myself. Still, I have a hard time giving up cigarettes.

I get this all the time, it's really quite crippling, but only really happens after weekends where I have had a really good time or been really immersed in something. If it's a week long vacation or something, I am cool when it ends because I had time to take the fullest out of it...

I also mostly get it not after vacations, but after weekends or days where I have been learning a lot, doing a lot of work, or something like this. I like learning, and I like doing some kinds of work, so when the time ends, I feel like I'm doing nothing and wasting time again...and I hate that. It's a sense that I'm not accomplishing anything that is terrible...