askye, I can't remember if you're currently on meds for the bipolar? If so, I'd talk to whoever's managing your medication (and if not, start with your GP if she knows your history): no idea if (or which) meds would be possible for you, but you want to be sure to go into it with someone who knows the whole picture, right?

And for the second question, even if meds aren't on the table for you, there are definitely things you can do without them -- Cognitive/Behavioral Therapy can be very helpful, as can things like better awareness of your time management, attention cycles, and all that fun.

And if it's not ADD, all that stuff doesn't exactly hurt.

(Actually, I'd say that the freaky hyperawareness that I've developed of my own mental processes has been the biggest help for me in dealing with the ADD; the meds are just what puts me at a baseline where I can get there.)

Emily! Check your email! Smooches!

Gah. I feel like absolute shit today. This is Not Good.

askye, you do have a lot of the stuff I recognise from StY and me as adult ADD. I'd talk to your doctor first, but therapy is going to be a big help. I know drugs have been a lot of help to lots of ADD sufferers, but therapy was a huge help with understanding *why* I do some things, why other things just sail on by my perception without my even noticing, or why I over-focus on some things. It's also given me lots of coping mechanisms, and helped me understand that some OCD behaviors originally started as me manufacturing my own coping mechanisms, but later on they'd habituated into liabilities, rather than being helpful, and aiding me in shifting away from using them so much.

Um, too late now, but the short answer? Both.

Also? Miss you.

I thought I had ADD, but I suppose being able to play a video game for 8 hours straight kind of contradicts the claim, regardless of my inability to read an academic text for more than a page and a half without my mind wandering off.

Actually, no. That's actually a symptom, being able to over-focus on an activity and shut out other input.

I thought I had ADD, but I suppose being able to play a video game for 8 hours straight kind of contradicts the claim, regardless of my inability to read an academic text for more than a page and a half without my mind wandering off.

Actually, no. People with ADD are often extremely good at video games, because they have the capacity for what's called "hyperfocus." I know two guys with ADD and/or ADHD, and both do this a lot.

eta: hyperfocus x-post!

(((juliana))). I hope whatever is making you feel like shit backs off and things go back to good.

I felt horrible as a mother, because when StY was young--beginning at age 5, long before the age real modeling clay is considered "safe," we could put him on the kitchen floor on a sheet of plastic, with bits of Lego and broken model cars and spaceships and his clay, and he would play for hours. And hours.

It was the hugest relief, that I knew where he was and what he was doing, that he was *safe* and happy. And he was a consumate sculptor, making cars and spaceships and phaser guns and blasters and dials for wall safes and things out of clay. We would never have allowed it, but by age two he was pulling paper out of the trash, chewing it until he had a squoogy mass, which he would mash and mold into recognizable shapes. We gave him Play-Doh, but it smelled like food to him, so he ate it. At least he never ate the clay, though he may have licked it a time or two.

But for a little boy who lived his whole life like a balloon propelled by escaping air, three hours on the kitchen floor was a respite both for him and for his parents. It was the only thing he focussed on that well until he discovered video games.

What Bev and Ailleann said re: hyperfocus. I do it all the time, but try getting me to focus on something that *doesn't* capture my interest. It's unpossible.

askye, I strongly recommend picking up Delivered from Distraction and at least taking the self-check test in it and reading the chapter on available meds. If you can read the whole book, even better. I've found that having that foundation allows me to interact much more effectively with doctors/therapists.

However, IIRC, bipolar can mimic ADHD, so you might want to talk to your doctor about whether this is ADHD or whether it's another manifestation of the bipolar.

I was about to make it a hyperfocus three-peat, but I figured it'd be covered (and I was right!). I'll just add on that subject that the best insight I've seen on ADD is Ed Hallowell's idea that it should properly be called Attention Regulation Disorder and not Attention Deficit Disorder -- it's not that we don't have enough focus, it's that controlling it appropriately is an issue, whether that's giving attention where we need to or tearing it away.

(F5-F5-F5-F5-F5)

And I have been rude in not scolding Sparky's PO people, and whatever's making juliana feel bad. And in sending meara's friend all strength and healing vibes and a fervent wish that the universe just back off, now.

Also, hi peoples. Yes it is difficult sometimes to remember the social graces that make us not-alone crazy types. I'm working on it.