Just on day 3 of Dexamphetamine and I've noticed this weekend that I've been able to be more consistent on following through on tasks with my hyperfocus. There have been times particularly today where I seemed to be so eager and involved on the task at hand and getting it finished that I nearly wore myself out. I had a bit of a working bee around the house today as a result, ended up doing an impulsive project that started as I wandered around the hardware store, and am finally finishd and about to have a shower to relax.

Has anybody else noticed this?

Here's a shameless plug to my blog posting if you'd like to see what a busy little bee I've been today: http://boxdog.wordpress.com/2008/01/28/looooonnnng-weekend/

My Hyperfocus Tecnholocy Will Destory The Earth!! Ar Har Har Har!


Hyperfocus Technology Activted Sir!

Fire!

This hyperfocus thing is started to sound corny.

Hahaha. I know. All I can think about is that my CPU has Hyperfocus Technology built in.. Now I'm taking Dex it seems some tasks are optimized for my Hyperfocus-enabled CPU :)

I'm feeling SOOOO tired now though. Thinking the theory here is that I was able to focus better on some tasks I've been meaning to do for months (all of the above), went out and just did them and found myself rushed for time because I planned to do too much stuff. The good news is that I found it really easy to drop a few things and re-focus on doing more important stuff like cleaning up my tools and mess :)

Alright, your programmed with "ADHD Classic" that awesome. I'm the new and improved "ADHD Combined" I come pre-equiped with Classic bundled economically with the expansion pack "totally ****ed".

Our ability to hyper focus gives us a profound advantage over those without ADD ADHD… (This is a multiple part article I wrote for my blog a while back - see my signature)

During the time that we are not paying attention to subtle cues from our counterparts, friends, teachers and even parents—what pray tell are we doing? Well, for one, we are distracted, but, what is distracting us? What could a young, little toddler possibly be dreaming of? Some say children learn from the world around them and take in everything. However, for Adder children that statement is underestimated and too wide-ranging. An Adder’s mind never stops thinking, considering, registering and contemplating. We learn from the world around us, but what we observe and consciously use depends on what is of interest to us. If observing our parents expressions towards us is not interesting enough, then we don’t focus on that and we focus on something else. Yes, we take in the expressions and can understand them on a basic level, but if that is not our focus we will not register the expressions at the upper conscious level of our minds. It’s that simple and it can’t be forced, but a parent can redirect the child’s focus (that’s another article).

It is not possible to assume what a child with ADD ADHD will focus on; however, in my experience I have noticed that many Adders are very aware of human communications, overt and subtle, when it comes to interactions of those around them. What I mean is Adders are extremely aware of the interactions of others when it is not directly related to them. Most of us are the world’s best observers. We are watchers and we hyper focus on others with total disregard of self. Instead of a small child paying attention to a parent’s expressions towards him or herself the child pays more attention to parents’ interaction with each other, siblings and others. We become very good at predicting how people will react to others even though we cannot always predict how those same people will react to us. It is almost as though we are in 3rd person and have difficulty switching back to 1st person. This might explain why Adder’s can become great consultants or even therapists for others, but have difficulty following the same advice for self.

Adder children hyper focus on things that catch their attention and when that hyper focusing starts it is very difficult to stop. The hyper focus can turn on to most anything and that same intense focus on whatever can follow the child to school, to the play ground and to bed in the form of day dreams. The best way for a parent to find out what a child is focusing on, is for the parent to pay attention to the child’s behavior and most importantly, the child’s questions. A child’s questions can give a parent an indicator of what the child is thinking about and the amazing thing is, many Adder children ask questions that range from very basic to very complex and parent’s can become extremely proud, extremely quick. And yet, the child probably has difficulty already in school. The thing is that the Adder child is hyper focusing on something and his or her mind is jumping ahead in understanding of that which he or she is hyper focusing on. This does not mean the child can suddenly skip grades of school. It means that the child cannot take his or her mind off of something and is using much of its surface resources to figure whatever it is out. That might have been great a hundred or so years ago when small children were apprenticed early when their talents showed, but in today’s world, it can cause havoc for the child in a school system of multiple standards and a wide range of learning necessities. I think it is much more difficult today to become a Beethoven or Da Vinci – back in the day of such historical figures they could focus the majority of their mind on their talent and interest and make that their living, but today’s children cannot usually do that, they must comply and become jack’s of all learning before they can make a decision of what their career will be and by that time talent is often dulled or even lost.

~Bryan

Thanks Bryan. Interesting views. The second paragraph was very profound for me - it describes me to a tee. The problem is that a lot of my colleagues at work I think find me annoying because I always seem to butt into their conversations or appear like I'm snooping.. and I can't help it! And I've always put it down to anxiety, that I wasn't being involved as much as other people and they dismissed me as the 3rd person that was standing on the outside. Now I know its the way I am I can work around it better ;)

That article is awesome and I think it makes me more confident in myself.

That's great BoxDog, I think it is always good to have another person's experience to sample and compare with. That's one of the reasons why I wrote my Memoir. I was very lucky to get a great therapist who helped me discover the real me, the me hiding behind depression and self loathing. He considers me to be extremely insightful and aware, but not of myself until he helped me discover myself and let me tell you, I needed the help!

We have a lot to be confident about and proud of Mincan! We have a lot of positive sides which we can exploit for ourselves, rather than allow others to exploit them for us. Exploit might not be the right word, but it sure feels right :)

I never notice when I do that..I only notice when I'm hyper

Bryan said
It is not possible to assume what a child with ADD ADHD will focus on; however, in my experience I have noticed that many Adders are very aware of human communications, overt and subtle, when it comes to interactions of those around them. What I mean is Adders are extremely aware of the interactions of others when it is not directly related to them. Most of us are the world’s best observers. We are watchers and we hyper focus on others with total disregard of self. Instead of a small child paying attention to a parent’s expressions towards him or herself the child pays more attention to parents’ interaction with each other, siblings and others. We become very good at predicting how people will react to others even though we cannot always predict how those same people will react to us. It is almost as though we are in 3rd person and have difficulty switching back to 1st person. This might explain why Adder’s can become great consultants or even therapists for others, but have difficulty following the same advice for self.

egads...I am the opposite...it takes me ages to notice that stuff....I always have people say "Hi Tracy" and I have NO clue who they are..

but..once I have it in my mind..easy peasy..where others forget..Tracy remembers
weird:p

ya i got that a couple of days ago. i had so much motivation i just re-arranged my room, changed my lamps, put together a new lamp from ikea, organized my notebooks and even studied a little bit.

Hyperconcentration rulez, but it seems as if I become hyper on different things each time.

I just wish I could ******* well hyperfocus on studying. and my career. Even updating my ******* resume!

Hyperconcentration rulez, but it seems as if I become hyper on different things each time.

YES! I've been looking around for that hyperfocus on/off switch. I love the ability, but how do I learn to "control my powers" (I promise to only use them for good).

hyp4rf0xu$ pwns!

I take dex as well, and have for over a decade. I find even when returning from med vacations that I am able to complete more tasks and enthusiastic to do them, just as you say. However, I also find that start to decrease significantly after a few days/weeks. It never gets as low as before I was taking it, but it does seem to wane. Regardless, it seems to help me harness my hyperfocus super-X-man-abilities more, whereas pre-meds I was really under its control.

BTW, I had never even read about hyperfocus (or ADD that much) until I read Driven to Distraction a year ago, and then everything clicked--really, my whole life made sense. I had had meds before and whatever, but all my therapy and whatever else was always focused solely on academics or my family relationships. Anyway, the bit about hyperfocus was one of the biggest great realizations I've ever had, as it explained how I'd lose track of hours of time while working on music or comics, or even poking around on the internet like I am now.

"It is not possible to assume what a child with ADD ADHD will focus on; however, in my experience I have noticed that many Adders are very aware of human communications, overt and subtle, when it comes to interactions of those around them. What I mean is Adders are extremely aware of the interactions of others when it is not directly related to them. Most of us are the world’s best observers. We are watchers and we hyper focus on others with total disregard of self. Instead of a small child paying attention to a parent’s expressions towards him or herself the child pays more attention to parents’ interaction with each other, siblings and others. We become very good at predicting how people will react to others even though we cannot always predict how those same people will react to us. It is almost as though we are in 3rd person and have difficulty switching back to 1st person. This might explain why Adder’s can become great consultants or even therapists for others, but have difficulty following the same advice for self."

Wow, Bryan, this also describes me to a tee! I always thought I had developed this hyper self-consciousness because I had been bullied as a teenager and it was a strategy (as well as a symptom) for me to be hyper-vigilant so as to avoid being a target, etc.

This pattern carried on into my adult life. It eventually got to the point that I could not enjoy being in the moment or in a conversation because I was too busy trying to observe the interactions going on between parties in a conversation...

It's amazing how I have spent so much of my life focusing on the anxiety as the cause of my inability to stop being so damn hyper-vigilant and uber sensitive to my environment, all the while missing the real piece of the puzzle!