ADHD but very organized?

[choco222]

I have ADHD but I usually don't forget things (the meds help with that but also before meds I wasn't too bad). Also I enjoy planning things and am pretty organized. Sure my room is a mess and I tend to not clean up after myself. These things are out of laziness though. If somethings important like my passport, important papers, school stuff, etc. I almost always know where it is and have it organized.

Sometimes I think this means I don't really have ADHD. I have most of the ADHD symptoms but organization just isn't one of them.

Anybody else? Do you think it's prove I don't have ADHD?
thanks

[sarahsweets]

My husband is like this, he is add and narcoleptic. So he could be walking out the door for work and I will find him standing in the living room with his lunch box watching the TV but if he is trying to remodel a room in our house, he is the most detail oriented person you could meet. I believe for him, being organized with big projects or deadlines is some sort of coping mechanisim.

[fracturedstory]

What other symptoms do you have?

How do you know it's laziness? If you decide to clean up after yourself could you? I know I can't. I basically do it before I forget to and it doesn't become something I keep putting off.
I'm organised to (at times) but only because if I wasn't my life would be such a mess.

You must have some significant ADHD symptoms if you take medication. I'm guessing hyperactive symptoms or inattention, possibly impulsiveness. I dunno though. I can't see someone with ADHD with those symptoms and a good short term memory (do those things exist anymore) or a natural ability to organise.

Maybe there's a co-morbid condition like Asperger's or OCD.

[choco222]

Originally Posted by fracturedstory

What other symptoms do you have?

How do you know it's laziness? If you decide to clean up after yourself could you? I know I can't. I basically do it before I forget to and it doesn't become something I keep putting off.


I'm organised to (at times) but only because if I wasn't my life would be such a mess.

You must have some significant ADHD symptoms if you take medication. I'm guessing hyperactive symptoms or inattention, possibly impulsiveness. I dunno though. I can't see someone with ADHD with those symptoms and a good short term memory (do those things exist anymore) or a natural ability to organise.

Maybe there's a co-morbid condition like Asperger's or OCD.

Well like if i'm eating something and than walk alway I will forget. But this is probably normal.

I was tested for ADHD so it's not a self diagnosis but I still question myself at times. I am slightly OCD. Also when I was tested the results showed I don't have very good short-term memory.

[fracturedstory]

I'm just trying to understand it better. Other forms of ADHD (in how they show in people) is really confusing me.

I don't know. I think forgetting you're eating isn't normal. I have family members that do that but I've got AS/Bipolar/OCD/ADHD running through my family. As of now I just remembered and have once again started to procrastinate over eating a Hershey's bar. Who does that? I know it will keep me up all night. I was going to eat it earlier but didn't.

Maybe you have developed some coping mechanisms (mine are lists and doing things before I forget) or it's a part of some mild OCD. I'm starting to think I have mild OCD too. When a film crew messes up your house and then leaves and all you can see is how dusty everything is...you may have a little OCD. I suppose autism and OCD can have similarities.

I don't like planning so much but I love to categorise. The most mundane job of sorting and organising in a retail shop was actually quite calming to me.

When people have something mild they usually say they could be lazy or that something is normal. It's one of my pet peeves because it's not that way with me.

[artist79]

Originally Posted by fracturedstory

As of now I just remembered and have once again started to procrastinate over eating a Hershey's bar. Who does that? I know it will keep me up all night. I was going to eat it earlier but didn't.

LOL! I have forgotten to eat altogether too...though I would NEVER forget to eat a candy bar. Love chocolate too much. lol. This would be great though for the "You know you have ADHD when" thread...if it isn't already there.

[artist79]

My sister has ADHD and she's super organized and has excellent time management skils, etc. She seems to be mostly hyperactive. She can't stop for anything. She's go, go, go, go, go all the time. I have called her when she had "nothing to do" and she was cooking an extra meal to freeze because it's difficult for her to be still.

[KCTang]

A lot of things to consider here, to explain your specific case:

1)- Do you have undiagnosed OCD, as mentioned above, in a way that balances out your ADHD?

2)- Do you super-organize, feel very anxious about something being unscheduled or unplanned, which seems to be a combination of a coping mechanism + a tendency towards having the hyperactive qualities of ADHD?

3)- Have you had very specific organization methods drilled into you by your parents during your childhood & adolescence, to the point of habit, superseding the need to "think" about being organized?

4)- Do you perhaps have a non-genetic case of ADHD, (ie from brain trauma or --- forgive me for mentioning --- fetal-alcohol syndrome/ substance abuse during pregnancy)

Genetic cases of ADHD seem to indicate underdevelopment of multiple brain regions (prefrontal cortex, basal ganglia, anterior cingulate cortex, etc) as well as problems at the neuron level.

Cases of ADHD caused by brain trauma or pregnancy complications could be from damage to only 1 of those areas which would only bring on some of the symptoms.

In your case though, it's unlikely to be brain trauma at least, as those ADHD cases typically don't respond to medication (since they don't have the faulty neurons that meds are meant to act on).

Some heady stuff, but I think better categorization of the above is needed at the diagnosis level.

[fracturedstory]

I started cleaning up after myself and hanging out the washing sooner after my mum would come home, see that the house was still in a mess and screamed at me for doing nothing with my life.

Being terrified into being more organised was perhaps the only way for me. I don't condone it because even though I obeyed her I held a lot of feelings against her. Now the woman is more messy than me.

[silivrentoliel]

I am VERY organized with certain things, but I believe it's a coping technique. Our important papers are very organized, under the sink is as well, as is my scrubs box (no room in the closet, so they're in a big box), my shoe bucket, and our bookshelves. Oh, and my sewing stuff is immaculate. It's because if it's not, I feel like my world will fall apart. I don't doubt my ADHD. I embrace my quirks and figure out how they fit- mine fit b/c if I was unsure of the placement of something important (really important, or what I see as important) I would panic.

[choco222]

thanks for the answers They were definitely informative!!!