ADD-I traits, a community effort!

[kpinvt]

Pretty amazing.

Originally Posted by ThatGreekGuy

Snipped...

I use the word traits and not symptoms, as some of the descriptions were positive.

[ScarletBegonias]

This is me

ISFP
Introvert(67%) Sensing(25%) Feeling(38%) Perceiving(33)%

[ScarletBegonias]

I am always second guessing myself. It sucks

Procrastinator in the biggest way.

Anxiety around others, but nobody else would know that. I use my sense of humor as my biggest tool.

[downtempo]

My traits:

- big time procrastinator
- hard to decide what to start
- become overly enthusiastic about ideas and might start something to only lose complete interest a few days later
- hard time reading through anything i'm not interested in
- can only read non-fiction that i have a profound interest in
- tons of anxiety over time. i don't like making plans b/c i always forget. calendars don't help b/c i forget to look at them
- bad concept of time in general
- monotony makes me crazy -- constant need for change
- like alone time
- find few people truly interesting to talk to -- i may over power conversations because of this
- hate small talk
- cannot remember someones name for the life of me. takes about 5 times meeting them
- drawn to the counter culture
- intense over thinking... of everything
- researching obsession -- can't stop Googling things
- very intuitive
- perceived as very smart but i feel like i'm just good at faking it from years of not being able to listen in classes and learning how to be just vague enough to sound like i know what i'm talking about.
- a lot of people say i'm intimidating and come off as very confident/stand offish -- i think it's b/c i'm never really present and listening but when i do speak i'm full of intensity
- physically -- i am sluggish. the only exercises i like are high intensity (such as kickboxing) b/c it's fast and the movement change often so i don't get bored. yoga feels like a waste of time to me.
- very creative but poor execution
- like to work on my own b/c i'm usually the only one on my page haha
- DAYDREAMER. It's uncontrollable
- i cannot listen to music with lyrics without going off into la la land -- i've become very into instrumental music b/c of this
- find it easy to meditate b/c inside my head is the a land richer than anywhere else. i am able to meditate to the point of clearing my mind but it takes me quite some time to get there.
- i NEED to set aside time every day to spend in my head. i usually just lay on the couch and meditate (something my mom does too). it makes me feel re-energized when i'm done.
- self-doubting constantly
- i can chat your ear off if i'm interested in you. think kate winslet in eternal sunshine of the spotless mind.

[sammiejuk]

Don't know if someone has already mentioned this but one of my traits that really bugs me is when I think of something to say to someone which could either be something really important or just complete rubbish (but I still feel its worth them hearing it) and just as i'm about to open my mouth to say it they say or do something and I completely forget what I was about to say then spend the next 10 minutes trying to remember until I just give up!

[donheff]

Interesting thread. I just signed up (64 y/o male off meds since I retired several years ago). As soon as I saw Inattentive-ADD I headed right over since that sounded like me. I read about half the thread and wondered if I was in the wrong place since I have only a few of the traits most mention and am the opposite on many scales. Jumped to the end and saw downtempo's post and see a lot of myself there. These are the ones that fit:

Originally Posted by downtempo

My traits:

- big time procrastinator
- hard to decide what to start
- become overly enthusiastic about ideas and might start something to only lose complete interest a few days later
- hard time reading through anything i'm not interested in
- i don't like making plans b/c i always forget. calendars don't help b/c i forget to look at them
- like alone time
- cannot remember someones name for the life of me. takes about 5 times meeting them
- drawn to the counter culture
- researching obsession -- can't stop Googling things
- perceived as very smart but i feel like i'm just good at faking it from yearsof not being able to listen in classes and learning how to be just vague enough to sound like i know what i'm talking about.
- a lot of people say i'm intimidating and come off as very confident/stand offish -- i think it's b/c i'm never really present and listening but when i do speak i'm full of intensity
- DAYDREAMER. It's uncontrollable
- self-doubting constantly
- i can chat your ear off if i'm interested in you. think kate winslet in eternal sunshine of the spotless mind.

Unlike many posting here I:

- Wake up cheerful and energized. Rarely feel sluggish.
- Enjoy conversations of all types including small talk, arguments, philosophical discussions, etc., but only in small groups or one on one.
- Can read endlessly if I like the topic

[cool_like_fresh]

I am relieved/distressed to see so many descriptions of myself. Relieved to know I'm not the only one, distressed to know that this is a proven disorder that I am going to have to deal with for the rest of my life.

I find my inattentive adhd manifests itself in many ways, but the big few are as follows:

1: Memory. I have next to no recall. I remember things, but only things I'm interested in. It is infuriating. It was always bad, but wasn't as significant an issue as it is now with my current job. I always just kind of cruised along, but now that I am regularily put on the spot to recall information, it has really put a spotlight on the fact that I have a complete inability to remember things. No matter how many notes I take and no matter how hard I try, I can't remember things. The frustration nearly brings me to tears sometimes. It also causes tension in my marriage. My wife will tell me something about an upcoming event or ask me to do something, and I will have absolutely no recollection. It makes it look like I don't care.

2: The ability to pay attention. I find it impossible to pay attention if I am not interested. I will try to focus, but I can't. It's like I can't even see straight and I become totally out of it and spaced out. Someone will ask me a question and I will have no idea how to properly respond. I hate it. As a result, I get confused, and it shows. To counter this, I have a terrible habit of making idiotic jokes and stupid comments that end up derailing the conversation. I do it just to keep my mind engaged by playing with the words. My mind picks up on double entendres and plays on words. This is not good for work. It's like I can only pay attention by simultaneously being distracted. It doesn't matter anyway though I guess, because I will probabaly forget any pertinant information anyway.

3: Disorganization. This is proabably just a combination of memory and not being able to pay attention. Because I forget everything, I wind up being really disorganized. I lose everything (I used to when I was younger anyway, now not as much, but still). I will diligently pack a lunch every day for a few days, and then totally forget that I need to do that as part of my daily routine. And I never seem to be able to follow any task to completion. Things just weigh on me and weigh on me because I know there are things I need to do, but it doesn't feel like any sort of specific thing, just a mass of stress that I can't properly organize in my head, or bring myself to organize on paper either. It sucks.

Anyway, didn't intend for this to be so long. I just started writing and away it went. I am afraid of medication because all three of my siblings (younger) have run the gambut of medications, and none have really seemed to help, and in some ways (I suspect) have been detrimental in the long run based on their mental states now that they are in their twenties.

[InHisImage]

I just wanted to add that all my life I thought I was normal. I tend to surround myself with people who either complement me (they are good at doing chores) or are like me (we can talk for days and days and days). All those other people just weren't interesting enough to even take notice of. I did have a friend in High School tell me that I intimidated all his friends, though. I can also forget the names of best friends I've known for years.

[justbananas]

Originally Posted by InHisImage

I just wanted to add that all my life I thought I was normal. I tend to surround myself with people who either complement me (they are good at doing chores) or are like me (we can talk for days and days and days). All those other people just weren't interesting enough to even take notice of. I did have a friend in High School tell me that I intimidated all his friends, though. I can also forget the names of best friends I've known for years.

Same. I'm kind of terrified about who I'll eventually end up with partner-wise because I'm drawn to fanciful sort of people I talk for hours with .. but I get the sense now that I'm a little older that I work best with people who will take the trash out and remind me to shut my laptop. You know.. boring people

[Flory]

Man you innattentives write some feature length posts my eyeballs feel like they need to throw up wahhhh walls of text :/

[Flory]

Nanas havin someone to take out th trash and help you be a real grown up is important I jokingly refer to my friends and bf as my parroll officers lol

[AlainnFocail]

I am new! First post! I didn't read through the entire fifteen pages, but after going through the first four or five I have decided I want to add some of my own.
These are things I find I struggle with pervasively.

*Unable to maintain any sort of normal sleep schedule. At all.
*over thinking everything. Which can get you in a lot of trouble.
* HORRENDOUS short term memory. Losing things that I just put down, forgetting to return a text that I just got 10 minutes before, forgetting what someone JUST said to me.
* Crying uncontrollably over things you don't even want to be crying about, and you are utterly mortified and embarrassed about it, but can't do anything to stop it, no matter how hard you try.
*. INTENSE Hyperfocus, to the point where you completely block out the world around you and the entirely of your focus is on this project. Sometimes hours or even days can go by, and you won't have any clue.
* Being unable to categorize what information is important versus what is not inside your brain. Your brain takes the choice away from you and it assigns the level of importance to everything. So, often with someone who is ADHD-PI images of your cats will be labelled as very important, whle the location of your car keys and the bills you need to pay are considered unimportant, and that is how these items will get sorted.
*Promiscuity (at least during young adult years)
*Fear of making friends, because of worry that they wll just see you as lazy, irresponsible, inconsiderate, etc.
*Totally cluttered and disorganized until that one day where your cleaning hyperfocus comes on and you clean EVERYTHING in one day. Takes about two days to get messy again.
*Misophonia

Anyone else have issues with fluorescent lights?

Nice to meet everyone. Glad I found this place!

[SeraLing]

Reading this thread makes me feel that I have so many clones! LOL

...I have a feeling that I was going to write something interesting but then I saw someone walking his Siberian husky (cute!) and then I forgot what I wanted to write. Just typical. Blehhhhhhh

[bradd]

Originally Posted by AlainnFocail

[...]Anyone else have issues with fluorescent lights?
[...]

What kind of issues do you experience with fluorescent lights? I've never had any problems under fluorescent lights myself. But I do know someone with a seizure disorder who does. She does not have symptoms of SCT or ADHD-PI though. What she does experience is petit mal, or 'absence', seizures.