I know that I have had a lot on my mind lately, but I have noticed that the past couple of weeks I've missed turns when driving, misplaced things that I've not misplaced in a long time, misplaced lots of other things, not noticing things that are right in front of me, etc.....

I know that my meds are working, I still can get back on track when distracted, I listen attentively, I rarely blurt out things when I shouldn't. It's just the things that I learned to compensate for, for the most part, prior to knowing about my ADHD, that I have been having trouble with.

Anyone else tend to have periodic times in their life like this?

I think that what you described is kind of normal for most people with ADHD. Sometimes it is just better than other times...

I've noticed that my tendency to be scattered is variable and that I sometimes have periods of days or weeks wherin I have a bit more difficulty with ADHD than at other times. I attribute it to variations in my stresss levels, and sometimes I can pin it down to specific causes such as a big load at work, or problems with sensory issues... etc.. In any case, I think that more stress leads to more ADHD. I think that even "good" stress can do this and I have had periods of time where I was decidedly more ADD than usual due to stress, but I felt fine, and was enjoying the "buzz" of the pressure-cooker of my day to day activities.

In "Shadow Syndromes", the author boils it down to heavy processing loads in the ADDer's mind, caused by overloads of various kinds.. The author seems to lump it all into the same basket as sensory overload, and uses the term "noise" to describe the things that keep an ADDer in an overloaded state, thus causing him or her to display the symtoms of the disorder... With that in mind, one can expect ADD to be "better" on some days than on others... We (ADDers) have processing problems, and the degree to which we expresss ADHD depends on how loaded we are with mentally noisy things to process.

ME :D


I know that I have had a lot on my mind lately, but I have noticed that the past couple of weeks I've missed turns when driving, misplaced things that I've not misplaced in a long time, misplaced lots of other things, not noticing things that are right in front of me, etc.....

I know that my meds are working, I still can get back on track when distracted, I listen attentively, I rarely blurt out things when I shouldn't. It's just the things that I learned to compensate for, for the most part, prior to knowing about my ADHD, that I have been having trouble with.

Anyone else tend to have periodic times in their life like this?

Just dropping back in to say I'm back on track, still having major ADHD moments but not to the extent of my original post.:)

nice to see you back poly hows things going an dose it do this often??? dorm

On medication, I seem to catch myself having ADHD experiences. It seems like I have more ADHD symptoms, but really I'm just more aware of the symptoms. Does that make sense?

Like the other day I took my car in for an oil change. It was across the street from the grocery store and I needed to pick up a few things, so after I dropped off my car I went to the store, made my purchase and returned only to find that I had forgetten to give the attendat my keys! Luckily, I'm blonde so I can make a self-depricating comment about being a walking dumb blonde joke to ease the embarassment of having a very ADHD moment. Before diagnosis and meds I probably would have just felt like I really was dumb.

I know medication doesn't get rid of all the symptoms, just most, and the those that remain seem really obvious!

One symptom that has really gotten worse for me the last few days is my short term memory. Can't remember why I went to the next room, or where I just put something. I am going to have to write notes to take with me.

We are in a heat wave with very high humidity and I am getting lots of headaches that require excedrin. My fibro is affected by the weather, perhaps ADD is too?

Hey Dorm,

It doesn't happen alot, just when things get too busy and I can't take the time to reflect back on things. I think my brain becomes overloaded and then that's the time things start to get bADD.

One symptom that has really gotten worse for me the last few days is my short term memory. Can't remember why I went to the next room, or where I just put something.
I relate to this. Can't tell you how many times I've been so bad that I've said to my wife, "Hey honey...." She'll go, "Yeah?" And I'll just make up some excuse or mumble that I forgot what I was going to say. How in the world do you actually forget something you're going to say AS you're saying it? And I do the other stuff you mentioned too, like forgetting why I go into a room in the house.

I also have long-term memory problems. The older I get, the less I can remember of the events of my life more than a couple decades back. Right now, I barely remember anything about high school. Weird.

My short term memory has been sooooo bADD lately that anything I've been working on ends up only mostly finished. I just put things back from mowing the lawn yesterday before going to work this morning. I looked out the window and saw things I moved and realized it. At least I did get it done, probably would have heard it from my wife later today if I didn't take care of things.:eek:

I was just recently diagnosed with ADD and haven't had time to get in to talk with my doc about meds yet. I'm not sure if I am just more aware of it now or if something else is going on but I seem to be forgetting everything the last week or so. It's like my short term memory, which was never good to begin with, decided to take a summer vacation. I noticed in one of the earlier posts that someone mentioned stress as a factor in increasing symptoms of ADHD and RADDMom asked about the weather. It's definitely been hot and sticky here in Atlanta for the past week, but are there any other specific factors that are known to affect short term memory?

are there any other specific factors that are known to affect short term memory?
Great question, wish I had an answer for you. Maybe someone out here can answer that.

Just got back from 2 weeks of "vacation". 2 weeks of completeing a lenghty to do list, along with my SO seeing my entire inventory of shortcomings ie: ADD. I was told that she put up with all that she could possibly put up with:mad: . Oh well:rolleyes: . Anyhow, I get back to work only to find that everything I do, ends up being half done. I forget what I originally set out to do, and do the thing that was last on my mind. I work 10 hour shifts and I ended up putting an additional 3 hours in in 2 days and still did not make a dent in the work that I am behind on:eek: .

I guess in all this, I still keep on truckin' & I'm still on top of the world. No matter what confronts me it's not so horrible that I can't refocus and get back on track. I might not have caught up, but I won't let it get me down:cool: .

I have to say this subject is very interesting, I have been worrying that my ADD might be getting worse over the course of time. But it just might be that more bad habits are being created all the time.