Things you can't do because of ADHD

[fracturedstory]

People are probably going to say 'there's nothing you can't do, you only need to apply yourself, work out ways in which you can achieve..' blah blah.

There are two things I am only capable of with my ADHD medication: mathematics and reading music. I have struggled with this all my life, so much I thought I had dyscalculia. But when I started Ritalin the first thing I did was pick up a year 10 maths book and I could read through the formula and do the exercises. Then I moved onto a physics text book. I did pretty well with that too and for those problems I couldn't understand how you got the answer I sat there and tried to work out how I could get to the answer on my own. So, I looked up the answers and from there tried to work out how I could come up with the answer on my own. I was on 20mg of Ritalin at the time.

I even started learning music, something I could never do in school.

And then the information just dropped out of my head. I tried to relearn it on a 5mg dose. Nope, didn't work. I needed to be on a higher dose but I was too scared of increasing it back then. I can get complications on too high a dose.

In another thread I said to 'kick start' my meds I would do mental math in my head - why would a person who has failed test after test, been singled out by teachers and spent their adult years just accepting they must be hopeless with math do mental math as a choice? I do it in my head, effortlessly. Almost effortlessly. But I do it at a normal pace. Usually, unmedicated working out 5745 + 473 would take about 5 minutes and I'd be so nervous I'd end up trying to come up with the solution too fast and get it wrong. When people tell me to 'do the math' thinking it's obvious I go quiet and look for the closest exit. Anyone that asks me about the cost of things I say 'you work it out.'

For the record I find math the most agonisingly boring subject in existence but I'm really good at physics, and I love physics. I find music interesting too but I'm never going to be motivated to learn an instrument. For one, I need time to learn and I'd rather spend my time reading/writing/ researching/ procrastinating when I'll take that telescope out/ playing Sonic Allstar Racing on my iPod.

Also, I actually WANT to talk to people when I'm on medication. When not on medication I don't want to look at you, be in the same room with you, let alone talk to you.

So, are there any things you truly cannot do without your medication?

I suppose impulsiveness could be one. I'm not really that impulsive, except when it comes to Ebay or any type of shopping.

Oh yes, and although I can write I cannot write for very long or in a very descriptive form. On my meds I am just a literary machine.

[Fortune]

6218. One thing I can do without meds is mental arithmetic. Sometimes I can beat people using a calculator.

What I can't do:

I can't really focus on cleaning, unless I have a specific purpose or deadline. I remember once I needed to find a pair of shoes for a trip, and I ended up cleaning about 2/3 of a room to find the shoes. Once I found the shoes, there was no motivation to continue cleaning. A few moments before I found them, I thought that I'd be able to finish the cleaning because I was actually making progress.

Another issue with cleaning is being able to prioritize how to do it. Which parts to do first - as in which part of the room and what to do in that part of the room and in what order.

Paperwork. Bureaucratic paperwork can drive me into some kind of brainlock, and then pure frustration. I hate filling out job applications, forms for social security, forms for the state department of social and health services, forms for doctors, forms for anything. I actually can do them, but it takes so much effort it's practically not worth it.

Doing one thing for longer than 5-10 minutes if that thing doesn't prompt some kind of hyperfocus. Most of the time I am multitasking, which is not efficient at all but is better than doing nothing, which is what I'd be doing if I tried to do one thing at a time. One thing I like about certain video games is that they can hold my attention for long periods of time, provided they don't cause other issues such as sensory overload.

I am not sure what else right at this moment, but unmedicated, a lot of things seem to not get done no matter how much I want to do them.

[sarahsweets]

I cant wait for anyone or anything unmedicated. Even medicated its tough. Whether its the doctors office,bank or grocery store...I would rather leave an come back when the lines arent that long then wait. Also driving. Driving unmedicated for me is dangerous because I cant figure out what to pay attention to first. Which direction do I need to go? Which cars do i pay attention to, the ones in front or back? OOps, forgot the blinker again.....

[Divacai]

I find that I can do math in my head more easily now that I'm medicated. I didn't put it together with the meds lol.

My house is more organized and clean, well when my kids aren't on summer break lol. I have the focus to finish cleaning what I started instead of running around the house doing a bunch of little cleaning projects, because I have the attention span of a gnat, and then not getting anything done. I even use Google calendar to organize my cleaning schedule so that I can see what needs to be done and do it. Things that used to take me all day to complete, if they ever got completed at all, now takes me an hour in the morning. It's amazing.

I still have project ADD when it comes to my knitting and spinning lol. I still tend to have 5-6 projects going and rarely complete anything. I think it's a process thing for me tho, I love the process of working with the yarn and wool that I'm slow at completing the projects.

I can't process time, 5 minutes, 20 minutes, 1 hr...it's all the same to me when I'm not on my meds. On my meds I'm able to actually be aware of time, which helps my kids who are just like me when it comes to time management, so they are actually at school on time.

I can't take sudden changes to plans very well when I'm not on my meds. My husband says I start spazzing out (he has ADHD too he's just like me with changes too lol), which just means my brain starts short circuiting trying to process what's going on, which causes me to do really random stuff. On my meds I'm calm and sudden changes to plans are handled in stride.

[spunkysmum]

I can't sit still in church. Even if my body is still, my brain is not and I feel like I want to explode unless I am extremely interested in what's being said to the point where I am distracted from my squirminess. As some have mentioned, being tired or sleepy actually makes this worse. On meds, I find myself sitting with my hands and feet and mind all still and peaceful. I still don't always concentrate on everything being said but I am at peace and the restlessness is usually gone.

I never had any real success at dieting before I was on meds. There were times when I could get into the habit of regular exercise but the dieting part was never so effortless.

I don't know that I CAN'T do math without the meds - I think I probably can to an extent, but I do know that I failed ninth grade math and had to repeat it in summer school, but that a year and a half ago when I took the ACT WorkKeys test for the National Career Readiness Certificate, I got the highest possible score on the Applied Mathematics section of the test. On meds of course.

I am sure I will think of other things later.

[silivrentoliel]

I think it's a matter of what we like. Obviously none of us are the same in things we find intriguing, but we all pretty much know there are some things we are great at, and others we'd best not even attempt. Medicated, I can't write worth a ****, unmedicated, I sound ******* brilliant. It's really annoying. I mean, I can write when medicated, but it doesn't come as easily. I think my wandering brain just goes w/o inhibition when I'm not medicated... I think before I type w/ meds.

Maybe it's the same. You don't overthink it w/o meds? Dunno.

But yeah... there are a TON of things I can't do w/o meds. (besides the obvious answer of functioning)- but writing doesn't seem to be one of them.

[BluegrassBound]

Yes absolutley. The are certain things my brain will just not retain. It tends to be what nominal or as I would say trivial. Dumb stuff like the which intercom number goes to which office on the third floor of my business. For some reason it goes in on ear and out the other. ( You would think with the amount of info I retain mentally and reuse day in and day out I would be able to get that?? Nope its like my harddrive is full when I try to store that info.)

I haven't tried to sight read music since I started back on meds. I can read music, but I can't read it and play at the same time. I translate everything into Tab. Which just seems to click better. I end up memorizing most of what I play anyway.

I find pure numerical math boring as hell along with Alegebra. I pretty good at them, but man are they boring. Geometry on the other hand I love.

You talk about not figuring out things. I'm a highly intelligent visual learner. Sometimes I can read the verbal description of how to do something and draw a complete blank. Like I have no idea what I just read. It may aswell have been gibberish and yet you can show me the same task visually and I'll be able to do it in 2 seconds.

I excell in so many areas it can railroad me when this happens. As with alot of ADHD people I always question do I not like something because its boring or do I find it boring because I'm not good at it. I think I cherry pick what I good at.

If I paid more attention I might be able to come up with more examples. =}

[gatorADDe]

I don't blame my ADHD on what I can or can't do. Why? because unless I've had neural scans or had my brain looked at under a microscope (which I haven't), how is it possible to detect a real chemical imbalance to blame? It's different when a diabetic says they "can't" have sugar because they've had blood tests confirming they do in fact have diabetes and it's backed up with scientific evidence.

[spunkysmum]

Originally Posted by KTGATOR

I don't blame my ADHD on what I can or can't do. Why? because unless I've had neural scans or had my brain looked at under a microscope (which I haven't), how is it possible to detect a real chemical imbalance to blame? It's different when a diabetic says they "can't" have sugar because they've had blood tests confirming they do in fact have diabetes and it's backed up with scientific evidence.

If there are things a person can't manage to do that they CAN do when medicated with ADHD meds, that's a pretty good basis for being able to blame the disability in question on ADHD.

[BluegrassBound]

Originally Posted by spunkysmum

If there are things a person can't manage to do that they CAN do when medicated with ADHD meds, that's a pretty good basis for being able to blame the disability in question on ADHD.

No using common sense.... .



I've spent so much time changing my behavior to adapt/compensate over the last several years. I haven't spent enough time dissecting on meds vs off meds. I've only been back on meds for a little while. I'm certain there are a few tasks I probally can't do with out meds.

[Fortune]

Originally Posted by spunkysmum

If there are things a person can't manage to do that they CAN do when medicated with ADHD meds, that's a pretty good basis for being able to blame the disability in question on ADHD.

This is true. Considering that when I self-medicated with ephedra, I could write 5000 words a day or more for a single project. Without the medication, my daily output is variable and usually below 500 words/day. I have the ability to write 5000 words, but something prevents me from doing so reliably without medication.

[gatorADDe]

Originally Posted by spunkysmum

If there are things a person can't manage to do that they CAN do when medicated with ADHD meds, that's a pretty good basis for being able to blame the disability in question on ADHD.

I'm not arguing whether or not medications work. There's proven science that they increase certain chemicals in the brain to increase concentration and what not. But there is usually only anecdotal evidence that there was a "chemical imbalance" in the first place. I'm also not denying ADHD is real. There have been brain scans showing how an ADHD brain is structurally different than a "normal" brain. But unless you've had a brain scan, how can you blame ADHD? Plus, since everyone's brain is different I don't think the whole brain scan thing is proof positive. If there is ever going to be a way they could have a proof positive test for diagnosing ADHD it would need to become much more standardized and scientific, but who knows when or if that will happen.

Unless there's something else going on, I don't think ADHD justifies a lack of common sense or logical rationale. It doesn't classify you as insane, stupid, or mean you are incapable of learning new things. Teachers may have described me as spacey as a kid, but that's because what I was daydreaming about was 10x more exciting than that math problem on the board. It's not that I'm bad at math or incapable of understanding it, it's just not exciting so I'd rather daydream. I understand this is my personal case and everyone is impaired in different ways, but I don't agree with blaming ADHD on something like this. There's a difference between being incapable of doing something and simply lacking the motivation to concentrate and take it seriously. Most people with ADHD will explain there's something they "hyperfocus" on. Why? Usually because they find it interesting! It's true that medications help me do things I feel like I should do but don't feel like doing, like my math hw, but that doesn't truly justify my diagnosis. When people call these things smart pills they're so wrong. They truly are just pills, not skills. They in a sense just make shoveling sh*t fun, ADHD or not. The only difference is that it's more necessary for someone with ADHD to take meds because they may not achieve to the level they are capable of without meds. And their lies another subjective issue with what's considered underachieving is different to everyone...but I could go on about this all day.

Here's an interesting video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62eDbOS9r8I

ps - I'm not trying to attack you spunky . I just had a lot to get off my chest.

[Fortune]

Originally Posted by KTGATOR

But unless you've had a brain scan, how can you blame ADHD?

Brain scans aren't viable for diagnosing ADHD. The scans that detected differences involve the use of equipment that is typically reserved for research purposes. They may be viable as such in the future, but currently all we have is behavioral observation.

There's a difference between being incapable of doing something and simply lacking the motivation to concentrate and take it seriously.

If your ability to access motivation is impaired, then yes, it can mean you are incapable of doing something. If I were capable of doing these things, I would be doing them. Without medication, I can only do them under specific circumstances (such as being under a deadline). Since I am not able to set deadlines for myself, and everything else I try doesn't work, how do I motivate myself to get it done?

Also, people with ADHD can often act in a manner that appears to show a lack of common sense. It's not because of a lack of common sense, but because ADHD interferes with the processes that would ideally leave someone with the time to apply so-called "common sense" before doing something impulsive.

I find the whole "don't blame it on ADHD" thing to be really annoying and somewhat condescending. If you have an impairing condition, there is nothing wrong with explaining the relevant impairments in terms of that condition. It's not blame. It's simple fact.

[Danteloogi]

I can hardly do anything and I am currently not medicated.

I've tried so many things that I can not focus on. I've tried art, 3d modeling, painting, sculpting, reading, exercising, writing, cooking, cleaning. Even one of my all time favorite things to do growing up, video games, are very hard to stay focused on. I went out and bought a stack of games back in November and haven't even touched them.

I would love to come home, relax, read a book and just forget my problems. I find myself constantly checking all of my social network sites, skype, phone. Its such a hassle

[Flounder41]

You can do whatever you want brah.
Stop building walls
And putting limitations on your self