Do any of you PI type know a combined type in real life?

[Abi]

Originally Posted by Retromancer

If I come across a expressive type of ADDer that is managing their symptoms by marathon running what am I going to remember about the interaction -- that we mutually share symptoms or that they are managing those symptoms with marathon running?

Presentation matters.

Point taken.

Personally I watch fast paced movies.

Fortune likes videogames.

[Abi]

I should add that I have more close friends here who are combined than PI.

Could be the bipolar thing.

[ginniebean]

Because all combined types jog, even the eighty year old ones jog miles every day. I run to the bathroom when I forget to go. What a pile of stereotypical horse manure. I do notice that the big impulsive mouth has no problem running off.

[Abi]

How cute

[Fortune]

Where did the marathon running come into this?

I don't run anywhere.

[Drewbacca]

Originally Posted by Retromancer

If I come across a expressive type of ADDer that is managing their symptoms by marathon running what am I going to remember about the interaction -- that we mutually share symptoms or that they are managing those symptoms with marathon running?

Presentation matters.

To a degree, that depends on if they truly wanted to be a marathon runner...
of if they settled for what worked.

[ginniebean]

And you feel what when you run across the PI type who didn't get diagnosed because they had no hyperactivity just massive intelligence and giftedness.

You know, you can deny that people who need a minimum of twelve symptoms just for the combined type diagnosis need support, or are just not that impaired but that's double the symptoms of a brain disorder than is required for a pi diagnosis.

Also, it's not the least bit surprising to me that you've found relevant posts in the PI section of the forum because.. I mean.. it's difficult finding the combined forum.

[keliza]

Wow, there's a whole lot of hostility here and it seemed to happen very suddenly. Yikes.

Anyway, among all the fracas somebody brought up the difference between inattention in ADHD-PI and ADHD-C, and whether or not there is any qualitative difference between the two as far as inattentive symptoms. I just thought I'd chime in my observations on the differences (or lack thereof).

As I've mentioned before, my sister and I both have ADHD. She has ADHD-PI and I have ADHD-C, so we present in different ways. If you just look at our inattentive symptoms, though, we look like the same person. We have the same struggles with losing things, keeping up with organization, remembering important dates or activities, getting "lost" mid-way through an activity and wandering off to do something else, etc. In those ways, there is really no difference.

For example, we have both almost burned the house down because we forgot something was in the oven and wandered away from it to do something else. And when it comes right down to it, if you burn your house down making a Red Baron pizza, it doesn't matter if the inattentiveness came from ADHD-C or ADHD-PI. You still burned the house down!

The only inattentive difference that I've noticed between us is that my sister is much more prone to going into "space cadet mode." I am more likely to have my attention bounce between all the different things going on in my environment, whereas she is more likely to withdraw from the environment completely and get lost in her own reality. Both of them are, I think, a kind of inattention, or inability to focus attention on one thing going on, but where that attention goes when it wanders seems to differ. Mine goes everywhere else, and sometimes internally. Hers goes internally first and foremost, and sometimes to other things in the external environment. It might also be different between us because she is more of an introvert and I'm more of an extrovert, so I think she is more geared towards her internal world than I am anyway.

But that is really the only difference in inattentive symptom presentation that I've found between us, and I'm not even sure if it's a combined vs. PI thing, or if it's an introvert vs. extrovert thing. Obviously we differ in our overall presentation and experience of ADHD because I also have a lot of hyperactive/impulsive symptoms that she doesn't have, but if you just focus solely on our inattentive symptoms, we aren't qualitatively all that different.

[Fortune]

Originally Posted by keliza

But that is really the only difference in inattentive symptom presentation that I've found between us, and I'm not even sure if it's a combined vs. PI thing, or if it's an introvert vs. extrovert thing. Obviously we differ in our overall presentation and experience of ADHD because I also have a lot of hyperactive/impulsive symptoms that she doesn't have, but if you just focus solely on our inattentive symptoms, we aren't qualitatively all that different.

It's hard to say.

I both have the external distractibility and the internalized "daydreaming" thing. If I do the former, I can't tune anything out and I can't really stick to one thing so I switch from thing to thing to thing. This is so easy on the internet it is ridiculous, due to the fact that I tend to hit dozens of browsers tabs in a single day. When I go inward, I tune everything out. Tuning out is an all or nothing. I can't just tune out some things and not others. If I want to pay attention to anything in my environment, then it's everything in my environment. If I want to tune something out, I have to tune everything out.

In my bedroom, one thing that helps with that all or nothing thing is the noise generated by running a fan. It's either white noise or very close to it and it eases a lot of the distracting sounds in my environment as well as the constant tinnitus I have. When the power goes out and I can't hear the fan, the computer, or even the electricity humming in the wires (seriously) every little sound grabs my attention and it is hard to sleep.

[keliza]

I have both as well, but my tendency is to go outward rather than inward when my attention drifts. Her tendency is to go inward first, and maybe focus outward later of something piques her interest. But mostly she is internally focused, whereas I am generally much more outwardly focused. If there isn't anything in the external environment that grabs my attention, though, then I am just as much of a space cadet as she is.

I don't know if anyone else experiences this, but I also have the unusual experience of fidgeting, squirming, pacing around, and other H/I symptoms while simultaneously being so driven inward in la-la land that I don't even know what I'm doing anymore. I feel like I get lost, there's some disconnect between what I'm doing externally and where I am mentally.

For example, one time I was driving my friend and myself to a store, and I wasn't paying attention. (My mind wanders a lot when I drive, especially if it's a well-known route, much more than is probably safe.) Suddenly I realized that a song that I like was on the radio, and I said, "Oh, I like this song!" My friend gave me a strange look and said, "I know, you've been singing it for the past 2 minutes. Also, we were supposed to turn back there." I was on autopilot externally, thinking about something completely unrelated to the song, but somewhere in my head I heard it and apparently was singing along without even being consciously aware of it.

I don't know how my brain can split itself like that, so that I'm not even aware of what my mouth is saying because it's on a different brainwave than my head! Does anyone else experience this?

[fracturedstory]

I think I become inward because the outside environment is so overwhelming to my senses. Like Fortune I too have to block everything out or experience everything at once. I'm not usually exposed to this because my medication decreases this issue somewhat. If I'm reading on my bed and my computer goes into sleep mode I HAVE TO bring it out so I get that noise of it being on, the continuous low noise of a jet taking off.

I've also been known to be doing something without being aware of it, particularly singing. It's still embarrassing to think of it but some older kid at my school walked right up to me and asked 'why do you always have to be singing?'

My most hyper symptoms are released when I am alone and just in my inner world. I flap my hands like I have no control over my body. Although my thoughts do come out of my head, along with barnyard animal noises and I jump around like an animal. A strange environment and being in a room with people will over power me so much I'd less mobile and vocal.

I prefer to think of myself as combined even though some days I feel like I could only be PI and the next day like I could only be hyperactive. Maybe it's an ADHD when I can only see myself in the present moment and think that's how I always am?

I've got no problem identifying with PI and hyperactive symptoms. They're just symptoms, not a club. I could have written that in another thread but eh, I'm writing it here.

[tudorose]

My sister is a H type. Consequently she's not diagnosed coz it doesn't result in any impairments to her life. She just gets a lot more stuff done. She hasn't grown out of it (she's over 50).

[Retromancer]

Oh no, now you've put your foot in it!

Originally Posted by tudorose

My sister is a H type. Consequently she's not diagnosed coz it doesn't result in any impairments to her life. She just gets a lot more stuff done. She hasn't grown out of it (she's over 50).

[tudorose]

Originally Posted by Retromancer

Oh no, now you've put your foot in it!

Oh well I'm pretty good at that. Guess it comes with the territory.

I have a theory that the H types do exist but because there needs to be a negative impact on your life to get dx they just never get picked up. My niece (her daughter) is the same.

On the other side of the scale my son and my nephew are autistic, my daughter and I have ADHD C (dx) and my niece with the autistic brother is ADHD C (undx).

I believe that my mother and grandfather are/were aspergers as was my grandfathers sister.

My oldest sister seems to have won the genetic lottery.

[fracturedstory]

Originally Posted by tudorose

Oh well I'm pretty good at that. Guess it comes with the territory.

I have a theory that the H types do exist but because there needs to be a negative impact on your life to get dx they just never get picked up. My niece (her daughter) is the same.

On the other side of the scale my son and my nephew are autistic, my daughter and I have ADHD C (dx) and my niece with the autistic brother is ADHD C (undx).

I believe that my mother and grandfather are/were aspergers as was my grandfathers sister.

My oldest sister seems to have won the genetic lottery.

My nephew is really hyperactive but at six it's hard to see impairments. He seems a lot more able to focus than I am. He loves talking to people though and he becomes even more hyper. Singing and dancing around. He's so cute.

I suspect my mum has ADHD and she's got impairments. I was so close to convincing her to get diagnosed.

My brother who I think narrowly avoided getting a dx of hyperactive ADHD as a child (running into rooms and flipping over tables just because that was what he did - there was no anger about it or malicious intent) and he still says he is a bit hyper, but he's really successful. Works in banks, travels the globe, has a girlfriend and was in a pretty popular band - that him joining it made popular. He was my in with a lot of famous Australian musicians.

As for me I got an equal amount of ADHD and autism which has set my development and transitioning into an independent adult considerably back.