Wow!! I've been reading the threads!! It's so great to be here...I have had panic disorder for 14 years, and migraines for even longer. Last week I was diagnosed with ADD. Now, as I read I wonder if I have some OCD mixed in the recipe too!! My Dad had major OCD, and I seem a bit compulsive. It's strange because certain things like cans in the cupboard have to be turned just right, yet my organization of paperwork, and closets are a mess! I will type and retype letters to make sure they sound just right. My purse is a scary place. but the pillows on the bed have to be perfect! I feel like I am soooo strange!! I get bored so easily with important projects yet I can play solitaire for hours. If you can relate to me. I would love to hear from you!!!:confused: :eek:

Boy does this sound familiar. I'm very very picky about things like pictures sitting just right, pillows being just right, I'm even picky about how a person eats! But yet, I have trouble being organized.

It literally drives me crazy that I can't be perfect! I too have anxiety attacks and migraines.
So I can definatly relate
Denise

I've been wondering likewise because I get obsessed over thoughts to the point of oblivion (virtual complete mental shutdown)...or well I used to. Now I'm thinking I'm borderline OCD, which got developed as a mechanism for coping with ADD--e.g. obsessive thinking so you don't forget because Lord knows that shiny object in the corner of your eye will make you forget you have soup on the boil on the stove but doesn't because you got overly enthralled with plucking your eyebrows so you end up late to work...nevermind the boiling soup because on your way out the door you remembered it was even there and hopefully turned it off, but aren't quite sure so you're even more late because halfway to work you were thinking about whether you even closed the garage door and...

...well, now that I'm learning to live w/ ADD, the OCD tendencies are slowly going away. I still default to them whenever I'm in a super-stressful situation, but I'm learning...for instance, to let go and have some faith that I actually did close that garage door. :)

I also believe that my light OCD traits are a coping mech. for ADD.
The rechecking of the garage door and the rechecking if my car keys are really in my pocket are due to the fact that I know that I may remember going to do do something, but not quite remember if I actually did it.
I think I have trained myself to double check.

Thanks for the insight! I never really looked at my OCD as a coping mechanism!
I'm so caught up in my thoughts all the time that I'm not always sure I've done routine things, such as taking my keys out of the ignition, or keeping an eye on what's cooking. Time for me seems to fly when I'm preoccupied...especially when I'm on the computer!! I'm now on day 8 of Straterra, and noticing that I am a little more focused. Thanks for all of your input!!;)

Question:
Is hyperfocusing 'obsessively' related to this at all or a completely different thing? You know, the procrastination tactic of becoming completely absorbed in 'play' at the expense of everything else. I mean it's definitely obsessive or compulsive or something like that but not at all like hand washing or key checking... totally different. Is there a name for what I describe?

Quietfire,


Hi and welcome.

I am totally with you.

I am ADHD, OCD and Tourettes. However, some things I am so particular about and others I let slide. It is like they almost balance one another out.

Some things I use to do, I no longer do. Such as keeping my check book balanced to the penny, opening my mail daily, vacuuming every day, and have a perfectly clean apartment. I could not sit down and relax until everything was just right. My parents had come to Houston to see me once and this was before my diagnosis. I was up and down up and down and trying to make everything perfect. He had never said anything to me like this before but he said, I think someone is wrong with you, just sit down, you may want to see a psychiatrist about this. Guess what, he was right!

I am not on meds for OCD, so what happened to some of these traits, I do not know. And actually, some of them I wish I had back. I just wish I knew what happened. The only answer that I can come up with is that I am on Klonipin and Klonipin is used to treat anxiety and OCD is anxiety related, so the Klonipin could have calmed down some of the symptoms.

However, the intrustive thoughts are still rampaging in my head like crazy.

Paul,


I think what you are describing is ADD and hyperfocusing.Most people with ADD have a tendency to "hyperfocus" - focus very very strongly on something which interests them. ADD is a neurological difference that makes it very difficult to attend to things which are not interesting to the person involved. Note, I didn't say "not important" but "not interesting." In fact, for a person with ADD, the harder he/she tries to concentrate/focus on something that is not interesting to that person, the harder it gets to do so! The part of the brain used for focusing shuts down! When that same person is working on something that is interesting, it can be almost impossible to get that person to switch attention elsewhere.

Sherry

There is an anxiety component to procrastination though I'm not sure if it's the chicken or the egg. I sometimes get the idea that hyperfocusing is for obsessively avoiding my sometimes troubled mind. But yeah, the ADD explanation is that it's simply for seeking stimulation... though there's got to be some validity to the old fashioned guilty version.

Bah... I'm in a weird mood lately.

Paul,
I can totally relate to what you're saying. I've told people for the last couple of years, if there's something you want me to do, the only way to get me to do it is to give me something else to do that I want to do even less than the first thing. For instance, my office is a huge mess, piled desk, piles on the floor, boxes everywhere etc. We moved into this house 2 years ago and it's needed to be dealt with since then. In Feb. this year, the tax form I have to fill out for our accountant arrived. It sat and sat and sat. The day it was due to them, I decided it was time to clean my office out. (justification - need to find or be able to get to the paperwork necessary for filling out the form). lol I'm such a mess. Needless to say, the tax form got turned in two weeks late, and only then because my husband was getting furious.
There are several reasons for procrastinating and I do it for all of them. I was really hoping that my medication would have more of an effect on it than it has. I really needed to see this topic today because I'm completely sick and tired of myself. I just don't know what to do about it. I can't seem to make the changes I know I need to make. For example, right now I'm supposed to be doing work for our business and then going to bed. I know what I should be doing, why can't I make myself do it?

Quietfire,
I also have what I would call borderline OCD traits, and I do believe they were developed as a coping mechanism, if not just to be able to control something. My kitchen cabinets are extremely organized, I have to sort laundry according to the tags on the clothes as well as by color and by how they should be dried, I have an extremely difficult time throwing away plastic bags, boxes, and plastic containers, yet, I can't see the floor in my office. I hate creating a file system because sometimes things overlap and I can't decide which file they should go in. I guess the obsessive component to that part of procrastination is perfectionism.

Anyway, I've been having a real hard time dealing with this particular aspect of ADD, some days worse than others. Any comments would be appreciated. Am I even making any sense?

Thanks,
Monique

Paul you brought up a good point about an anxiety component to procrastination. I see it as being over whelmed and when I get over whelmed I can become frustrated which leds to anger and anxiety. I can basically shut down when it comes to tasks or things that I don't want to do or I don't know where to start doing. I should stop and take a picture of the mail I need to go through that I have piled in a trash can. Some of it goes back as far as 2002. If I look at it, I just get major anxiety from it because it is so over whelming and I don't know where to begin.

Hi everyone,

Energizer_Bunny wrote:
"The only answer that I can come up with is that I am on Klonipin and Klonipin is used to treat anxiety and OCD is anxiety related, so the Klonipin could have calmed down some of the symptoms."


I am on klonipin, too, as well as zoloft. I think they do help with the OCD, and I find that the less anxious I am the less OC I am, also. Sometimes I feel like a walking contradiction!!! Why am I compelled to do the things I do? Why am I so thoughtless about so many things? How does it all make sense??

Another thought,

I just finished a seminar on time management. It focused on energy management as a more productive way to help us navigate through each day. We can't control time, but we can control our energy.

quiet,
Thanks for the confirmation on Klonipin........actually when I had read a previous post, I put two and two together.......I just could not figure out why I changed and I noticed it several years back, so it all makes sense in my logical mind. But what the doctors and scientists say, I have no clue about.

I hope you will get good results from the seminar.

Ha ha well I'm no perfectionist.

That is exactly my main crisis is now which is interfering with my life:


I'm supposed to be doing work for our business... I know what I should be doing, why can't I make myself do it?



I can relate here too:


There are several reasons for procrastinating and I do it for all of them. I was really hoping that my medication would have more of an effect on it than it has.

Hmm... "energy management"

Energy management: every thought, emotion, and behavior either gives or takes away energy. We must balance the give and take by deciding how we will utilizie our energy and what we will do to renew our energy. It's our choice. We can't, however, change how many hours are in the day, only how we use them (our energy). Make any sense?!

Ack, that sounds like planning, prioritizing, being aware and concious. I'm naturally a slave to energy mis-management. It's more like a random cork afloat in the sea kind of feeling.

OCD is commonly misunderstood. People often think that if you have OCD, you necessarily have to wash your hands over and over again or be extremely organized. Some people with OCD are like that, but those are just examples of obsessions and compulsions. Other people, like my mom can't get rid of useless objects and have their house full of what other people consider trash. That is just another example.

I experience repetitive images and words, which are very disturbing and nonsense. The compulsions I have are counting and recaunting in my mind, repeating, double checking, etc. I have obsessions and compulsions about certain details like the one you described about the pillows, but I am not very organized and neat, in general, like people tend to think OCD'ers are. Those details I talk about are not related to being very clean, but to having systems and structures.