Hey, I want to know if this happens to y'all and what part of ADD is it attributed to.
I'm in a very project oriented business (TV). I work hard and really have to concentrate on what I'm doing to get my spots done and on the air by deadline. There are times where I've worked days on spots and have it just the way I want it; then looking towards the tasks ahead. Then someone will sweep in and start spouting, "I want this that this that and this that changed asap. Oh, and don't forget about this. And I need 2 dubs right now so you better get on the changes. But, I need you to do this first since I'm thinking about it. But, i really need those changes and dubs."

Before I know it, they seem very far away, my mind is racing trying to plan what they're wanting me to do in such short order and I guess I get this glassy-eyed, vacant stare. (I figured that out because people often ask, "are you OK?" after they stop spouting off) I really just feel a little parylized and "out of it" when this starts happening.

My Adderall XR has really helped, but what's up with that reaction? Anxiety? Anyone else go into this "vapor lock" kinda thing? Looking for opinions and what you've learned.

It’s not vapor lock, but there certainly can be a component of anxiety (depending on your situation) that arises naturally because you don’t understand what’s happening, and you know it’s not exactly normal. The comments don’t help, either.

This is the kind of thing that lets you see what AD/HD multitasking or multithreading is all about. Here are two scenarios:

A person can only think about one thing at a time. When someone interrupts, his or her only choice is to stow that thread of thought and switch completely to the new one. If there are a lot of things to do, they wind up in a list that is accessed more or less linearly, one task at a time. At the end of the day, whatever’s not done falls off the table.

Another person can think about more than one thing at a time. How does work get organized? As each item demanding our attention arises, we split off a thread to deal with it, and do everything at once. When the number of tasks exceeds the number of threads we can manage, we spin yet another thread that attempts to manage a complex time-sharing scheme, so that we can still give the appearance of doing all that seems necessary.

We can ‘tune’ the structure of these multiple tasks to manage working towards a single goal, particularly if we are left alone and feel empowered to concentrate on achieving only that goal. After a certain period of time we can develop a sense that this structure of different threads contributing to one end has become fixed in place. We feel like we’re embedded in it, and it takes on the character of a natural background to our work.

If someone interrupts us at that point, we can have a lot of difficulty shifting back to our normal juggling of tasks. In particular, we can overflow when we try, and wind up actually losing stuff. That’s why you feel like you’re far away and out of it; you need to get back to home base before you try to organize working towards a different complex goal.

Normals (as in the person in the first example) do not have this problem at all, and can’t imagine what the heck we’re doing. They may suspect anything, from lack of sleep to a drinking problem to drugs to mental problems, and that kind of response is guaranteed to raise your anxiety levels.

We call this the AD/HD ‘woodsy’ feeling, and here’s what I suggest: whenever you feel it coming on, stop the person that has interrupted you, turn away, close your eyes, stretch, count to thirty while you take a couple of deep breaths (it’ll seem like forever) and bring yourself slowly and deliberately back to the ordinary office world.

I’ve done this from time to time in pretty intense situations, and it was greeted with an amount of respect and tolerance that was completely surprising, to say the least. There’s something about seeing a person take control of his or herself that makes people comfortable with the fact that whatever you were doing seemed odd.

Even the big boss will allow you to ‘take a minute’, and the real advantage is that you don’t lose the stuff you were working on – it gets a chance to be stowed away as you bring yourself back to the office reality, and it’s really easy to dive back in when the interruption is gone.

Give it a try, and good luck. Let is know how it works for you.

--Tom and Kay

Yeah that sort of thing happens to me. and the more frantic or demanding the other person is the more I space off.....I never quite heard it refered to that way. :) someone who works with me at my shop is like that, and dont understand sometimes why its not making sense as he's saying something. Some days are better than others for me.

We call this the AD/HD ‘woodsy’ feeling, and here’s what I suggest: whenever you feel it coming on, stop the person that has interrupted you, turn away, close your eyes, stretch, count to thirty while you take a couple of deep breaths (it’ll seem like forever) and bring yourself slowly and deliberately back to the ordinary office world.
--Tom and Kay
Tom and Kay,

Good stuff.

I have developed a similar technique. Had to use it yesterday. I ask the intruder to stop. Grab a pad and pen, please talk slowly so I can write down and not forget your request because I cannot act on it now. The intruder keep rambling on, answered his own question and left. That is not the norm but not the first time it has happened either. Usually it gives me the time to *background* what I was doing, pick up the new thread and either act on it or integrated it into the process of the day.

Another way of skinning the cat?

Bob

Exactamundo, the same stuff we're talking about.

It's amazing how much of the anxiety (and its related effects) goes away when you get comfortable with this sort of technique, proof that it’s caused by the pressure to respond normally and not inherently an artifact of our brain’s function.

It sometimes leaves us feeling like we’re spies in the straight world, inherently different but not damaged or inferior.

Very cool.

Thanks for all the good info guys. Like I said, I've not done that much, if at all, since I started taking my Adderall XR. I had one kinda panic attack at home when a bunch of details about our move and some other stuff all started hitting on a weekend when I wasn't on my medicine. But, my wife just kinda picked up the ball and took care of it so I wouldn't have to deal with it. That episode did show me the effectiveness of the medicine I'm taking and how it IS impacting my daily performance in a positive way.