What does ADHD feel like to you?

[Fortune]

I feel like I am holding on to a slippery ledge by my fingertips and I don't know how far I'll fall if I lose my grip.

[Rebelyell]

Um some days it feels like I cant sit still or even focus that Im so allover the damn place and I keep losing stuff,things dont come out right when I talk,dropping stuff bumping into stuff.its quite amusing for most people to see this they think its funny and adorable etc.meanwhile Im getting more and more frustrated and Im like wtf is wrong w me today ,I swear Im getting more and more retarded as I get older it seems some days.

[deepest blue]

Originally Posted by justtim

I hope the question makes sense, I know there are several symptoms to ADHD but is there a general feeling that for you describes ADHD? I like to see what other people think of it as it helps in me dealing with mine.

For me, it's like when you're driving down the highway and you start to go out of range from one radio station and into the range of another. That point where you can hear a bit of both stations but neither one is clear enough to understand exactly what's going on. One may lock in and play a couple lines of song that you hear clearly, then there's hiss and static and you can't understand what's being said. Stupid static.

I was thinking something similar today so thanks for your post ,for me it’s like concentrating too much on the current radio station ,so much so that I hear the words but not the message/meaning .I either do this or else I’m trying to hard to hear a station that isn’t in range yet (thinking about what might be on it in 2-3 months ) I think I can appreciate what it must be like for non-adhd people and I wish I could be like that at times ..fficeffice
PS It’s like being trapped in a never ending mountain range ,I constantly have to climb each summit ,only to be faced with endless peaks on completion of the climb .The horizon is just more peaks

[justtim]

Thanks for all the great answers. I can relate to and "feel" the sensations each of you describe.

[Greg1982]

Originally Posted by littlefidget

Well, one aspect of ADHD is like, walking into a tv shop, where all 100 tv's on display are airing a different channel at a different volume and with different picture clarity.

^This! To expand a little though;

- you start looking for the remote for the TV in the middle because that's the one that has the report you need to do for work tomorrow
- you pick the remote up in front of you
- not the right one
- there's one over there
- you start walking across the room
- Wow that grilled chicken looks good on the food network
- I wonder what I have in the fridge to make for dinner tonight
- hamburgers sounds better than chicken right now
- when is the last time I went for groceries
- did I pay the garbage bill
- the garbage man is coming to pick up the garbage tomorrow, but I didn't put it in bags yet
- I'll get to that in the morning
- what am I looking for again and why am I in this room?
- Oh yea, dinner

[TheChemicals]

it feels like an amazing rollercoaster that is full of luaghing and hyperactivity but then the ride flies off the tracks and for the next 3 months you are recovering from the crash.

[Rebelyell]

Like being on a tread mill set to 50 mph and your running so fast but cant keep up no matter how hard you try and ya eventually fall on your face from exhaustion..SPLAT!

[CheekyMonkey]

ADD is like an RSS feed in my head, never ending and continuously moving so that I cannot possibly keep up with each topic presented.

[Conman]

**** if i know, i never really gave it much thought. i guess like a type of person who is different than everybody else?

[Cranski]

20 minutes late, 2 years later, on the wrong day, wearing the wrong shirt, taking the long way there, and wondering where everyone else is.

[alan1]

Like I'm snowboarding down a particularly steep hill on an icy day going too fast for my skill level. People, thoughts and ideas are whipping past. As I started down the hill I thought hard about what to do to maintain control. But, very quickly I forgot to remember those things and now I couldn't do them physically even if I remembered them. But they are nowhere to be found in my head and everything is just a jumble.

[ADDinHDefgHi?!]

Just now a friend called and asked if I wanted to go to visit another friend tomorrow... my mind went blank, tomorrow? I tried so hard to comprehend all the possible things that could happen between now and tomorrow and felt overwhelmed by all the possibilities so I just told the friend no thanks. Just thinking of tomorrow is stressful even when it's a day off.

I often feel like a train that has no tracks to run on. I have a vague notion of what a map looks like in my mind but there are no tracks to run on so when I feel ready to go somewhere I end up going nowhere. However I don't realize that I'm not going anywhere. Repeat...etc..

My ex gf summed it up when she broke up with me, she said "it's like you have no concept of the future, you're just constantly living for the moment..." And she's right!

The only exception is medication, and before that my periods of hyperfocus would allow me to make some progress.

It's like I'm either completely focused on one thing, or distracted by everything.

My mood regulation is similar to a slot machine in a casino, never know what I'm gonna get but I keep hoping for three 7's to line up. I know the odds are against me yet I stay at the slot machine pouring all my money into it.

ADHD is like doing the same thing the same way and expecting different results each time, except you forget about getting results.

Basically I'm constantly restless because the future just keeps on showing up early! And I'm still in the shower, haven't even changed into clothes yet...

[SpirallingSnowy]

like my brain is a lumpy soup. Or like trying to find a specific patterned thing in a giant pile of stuff, and keep mistaking other stuff for the item im looking for. Or like i have a box of stuff and im trying to find one small thing amongst it all, and to get to it i have to have the time consuming task of pulling everything out and going thru it all,a and i keep misplacing it every time i put it down.

[mrzyphl]

I'll tell you at some point in the future. Better yet I'll tell you when the future comes to me and overlaps the present and becomes that ever elusive 'now'.

[deepest blue]

Originally Posted by Conman

**** if i know, i never really gave it much thought. i guess like a type of person who is different than everybody else?

Thanks Conman this made me laugh .