I heard that ADHD have problems with overstimulation. What do they mean by that?

I have been trying to figure out how to explain it. It is much easier to understand it once you have seen it first hand. I am not sure if there is a difference between sensory overload and overstimulation. Here is an example: We were at Disneyland with some friends and all of our kids and sat down to have dinner. It was towards the end of the day when the meds were wearing off and all of the sudden my friends son started to melt down. He really wanted to color a picture that he had gotten with his meal and he could not color in that environment and was visibly upset. All the noises, the kids, the lights, the demands, the conversations, the do's and dont's and the people were too much stimulation for him to block out in order for him to get his brain to focus and let him color the picture. It is like there are so many things in your environment being thrown at you that it becomes overwhelming and you can't block them out and function normally. For me it is trying to read a book while sitting in a very noisy unruly waiting room. Some days I can and it doesn't bother me and other days I feel like standing outside in 115 degree Arizona sun to get away from it. Sorry that is not a very good explanation but I can't think of a better way to describe it.

In the case of ADHD, it is basically a state of overload.

If we get too much sensory stimulation and/or too much going on we sometimes overload. The thing is, when you have ADHD, you tend to live in the moment, and things tend to seem to be happening all at once. It can be a bit overwhelming. It is compounded by the fact that we tend to focus on strong stimulus, so we can end up highly focused on things, to the point that it is more than a bit unreasonable... we become "overfocused".

Myself, I get more hyper, more scattered, and less self aware as my ability to process information becomes overwhelmed. My anxiety increases and that causes me to get even more hyper, scattered , etc... at the same time I am so intensely focused on whatever it is.....

If it persists, I can end up with a first class meltdown.... It is an anxiety attack, and extreme focus on something, all at the same time. It can be extremely unpleasant....

The solution is to recognize that you are headed into big trouble BEFORE you have a crisis, and to remove the stimulation from your environment, or remove yourself to a less stimulating setting...

Me :D

I like the coloring book example. I can get overstimulated at parties, nightclubs, casinos, and places like that. The noise, lights, activity, everything at once just confuses me. It's like I can't figure out what I'm supposed to pay attention to, can't follow a conversation, and get frustrated easily in situations like that. I can't read if the television or music is on, either. I like to listen to music is I'm doing data entry or simple math, but I've given up trying to listen to any kind of music when I'm reading. I just wind up reading the same lines over and over

Panther,

I JUST mentioned casinos, to someone, only ten minutes ago, and how I'll never set foot in one again...because I can not deal with their 'sound effects'.

Panther,

I JUST mentioned casinos, to someone, only ten minutes ago, and how I'll never set foot in one again...because I can not deal with their 'sound effects'.Yeah, I think the whole idea with all that crazy noise and the lights and everything is to disorient people. Add some alcohol and ATM machines to that and there's no limit to how much money some people will throw away. Quite a business strategy. :rolleyes:

I JUST mentioned casinos, to someone, only ten minutes ago, and how I'll never set foot in one again...because I can not deal with their 'sound effects'

Me neither I can't do the sound, because their is so much of it bouncing off some much other crap, then the machines all hmmmm. . . . . .

I have heard Dr. Hallowell describe it as lack of stimuli filtering, we can not filter out some stimuli in order to focus on others. . . . . .it all hit us at once. Some forms of stimuli I can handle better than others sound gets to me really fast. I have very acute hearing.

I have very acute hearing.

Ditto !!!

I can hear almost all the different glorious sounds- whether natural, or artificial.

And while most don't actually *hurt* my eardrums, some will make me 'rabid', if I'm forced to listen to them.

Like sounds of the slot machines.

Driving on busy urban highways with traffic patterns I'm not accustomed too.... Cars entering and exiting in every direction.... That causes me to get overstimulated and panicky.

Having just returned from Vegas, I can definitely relate to the overstimulation effect! lol!

I find that, for me, if it's something I can 'expect', i.e., I know Casinos are 'chaotic,' so I am prepared that it's an environment that can cause me to go haywire if I don't go into it with the right mental/physical prep. Since I enjoy poker and blackjack, I generally have to go into those places to engage in those ativities, so I know what I have to do to not go 'haywire' and let impulse control override everything and leave me with only enough cash to eat ramen noodles for a month. lol.

However, for me, Christmas Shopping is horrid! The crowds and general chaos of the holiday time make it so I get easily paniced. (Walmart is my most definitely Red Zone during this time and I just can't go in there during the post-thanksgiving time. Lines, crowds, noise...all just put in in virtual melt-down.) Thank God for online shopping during this time...it makes my holidays less stressful fo sho!

And, I have only been diagnosed for about 4 months, so now I know the cause behind my panic in extreme crowds or chaos. Always assumed it was just my own particular brand of crazy, not realizing my ADHD made these situations worse for me than other folks.

Realize that overstimulation comes in different packages for everyone, and, like all ADHD symptoms, you find different workarounds that are best suited for YOUR particular case. Keep reading up on it, conduct trial-and-error experiments, and take the best care of yourself that you can.

Good thread topic, because I never new what it meant until now. And I can really relate... Its wierd though, if its not quiet I cant do anything so I naturally go into this detached state of mind from everything around me. The only time I get irritated is when im trying to focus...then when im in a quiet place I over focus...
~Wonderland

Having to be with people -- any number -- and concentrate on interacting without any time for detaching and regrouping is, for me, a source of overstimulation. If I'm anonymous in a crowd or able to flit in and out of a small group, I can handle noise and chaos. I like having places to go where no one knows who I am and I can relax -- fast food restaurants, for example: I take a book, buy a small drink and sit there reading for a while.

I also find movies that are not comedies and therefore don't make emotional demands on me to be very difficult to sit through. I have to get up and go to the lobby when I feel my emotions becoming too intense.

I heard that ADHD have problems with over stimulation. What do they mean by that? Think of your brain as a sexual organ that's been rubbed raw! LMAO :D

How's that for an analogy! :eek:

Seek you been posting on WesleyT's "condition name thread" too long! - :p !

I also find movies that are not comedies and therefore don't make emotional demands on me to be very difficult to sit through. I have to get up and go to the lobby when I feel my emotions becoming too intense.

I can't sit through movies either so I don’t bother paying there enormous ticket price. I usually wait for them to come out on DVD. It isn't the emotional stuff that bothers me it is the sitting in one place fffffforever.

I have very acute hearing.I always thought I was hard of hearing because I was always asking people to repeat themselves or I would miss things (duh, but who knew . . . ?:D). It was when I applied for a job as a telephone operator and had my hearing tested that I was told I had "acute" hearing. I have one brother who sets the volume of the t.v. so low you wouldn't notice it was even on.

I learned to understand when my infant son was overstimulated and nothing would comfort him until we left the stimulus. Hindsight is sure 20/20 with this stuff.

Amazing! I had to take a pretty thorough physical for a job as a young man and my hearing was exceptional. Now, in retrospect, I remember telling my boss (of that job) that I had bad hearing. My hearing wasn't bad, it was because I was in a public arena around him and nothing he said got through all the extraneous stumuli............until now. My parents ALWAYS b****ed about me having selective hearing, damn they were right!



Everyday, I learn things about my ADHD and I've had it for 32 years.:)

Seek you been posting on WesleyT's "condition name thread" too long! - :p ! Very true! :D

This stuff about hearing ability is really interesting. I've never been sure whether I had good hearing or not. Sometimes it seems like I have very good hearing and other times I can't hear someone talking from two feet away. I think the difference is the amount of background noise. When there's a lot of noise in the environment I just can't discriminate between the background and the conversation I'm supposed to be in.

This stuff about hearing ability is really interesting. I've never been sure whether I had good hearing or not. Sometimes it seems like I have very good hearing and other times I can't hear someone talking from two feet away. I think the difference is the amount of background noise. When there's a lot of noise in the environment I just can't discriminate between the background and the conversation I'm supposed to be in. Yeah, back when I was on Adderall only, whenever I would go visit my sister who moved into a new house that has really high ceilings and wood floors, I often felt like I couldn't concentrate because of all the echoing of voices. I even felt like stepping outside multiple times because it was so disorienting.

However, the last few times I have visited her I have been on Strattera and it doesn't seem to bother me anymore. I'm glad you reminded me about the background noise thing. I have an appointment with my doctor soon and I want to make sure that I list all the pros and cons I have noticed while on Strattera.

So, far there is mostly Pros with the Strattera. However, I am now having motivation problems while on Strattera. Which actually is a big deal when you don't feel like doing anything nearly all of the time.

I'm thinking a very small dose of Stimulant along with the Strattera might be the perfect combo for me!

I compared my overstimulation to one of those commuter trains in Japan, where the guy is just shoving bodies into the car. I literally feel "full" in my head and as someone mentioned earlier, I can't concentrate anymore.