The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves)

[Auspice]

Has anyone had luck with the pomodoro method?

I've been trying it, but fuck if I still don't meander off. Midway through a pomodoro cycle I'll start doing something else. Midway through a break I'll delve back into work.

I could try telling myself 'if I get back to work during a break, that's a good sign! it shows I'm getting myself back on task!'

But the truth is that I'm not adhering to the timer at all. I'm still just as distracted and all over the place as usual.

Now I just have a timer going off in my ear every so often. Even keeping it up on my tablet so I see it out of the corner of my eye doesn't alleviate that.

[Wretched]

[Auspice]

fuck pomodoro.

I've tried it a few times because I keep having bosses who want me to stay ON A SINGLE TASK FOREVER and they're like 'oh just do pomodoro! then you can take short breaks and-'

Look, in theory it's great. For some people it's probably awesome. For me it becomes:

Work for 20 minutes, start drifting off into other things......
Break hits, cool!
Halfway through the break, start working again because my mind drifted back to it.
Timer goes off, I go back on break because hey it dinged and I was working so now it's break time right?

And about an hour in, I'm just ignoring the timer each time it happens. Trying to get neurotypical people who 'get distracted sometimes' to understand ADD is such a pain.

I had to actually champion for the youngest of my brothers when he was in school. The school he went to was a private one and structured so students had their own little cubby-desk to work at. And the school and my parents kept being upset that he wasn't doing his work. 'We took everything out of his desk and he STILL gets distracted' was one of the complaints. And I had to explain look, I deal with the same thing. It doesn't matter what you have, your brain will drift. And taking away everything from him is pretty effed up.

tl;dr people who aren't ADD act like it's a choice to get distracted and it's not.

[Macha]

I never even heard of pomadoro until now.

[Selerik]

So when this thread started, was around when I started seeing a therapist at a local center once a month. They verified my ADHD and I've been talking to them about my situation ever since. That first session they decided it was warranted to apply to get me medication.

Long story short, I'm level 3 (the lowest priority) and have not yet been seen by the doctor that can actually medicate me. The request expired from their system and had to be added back in. Despite my hopes I'd experience life with something to assist me through these hurdles months ago, I no longer have any idea when they'll get around to assisting me.

Have others experienced this rope-a-dope of diagnosis with deferred assistance?

[Auspice]

The problem with my OCD is I get into routines. And I get irrationally upset when they're interrupted.

I take the bus the last leg to work.
I sit in the same seat every morning.

Today someone else was in that seat (often I'm one of only two people on the bus at the outset from my stop) and I'm sat here in another seat just loathing them.

Everything feels wrong right now. My whole day is upset.

But I know it's just my brain being stupid.

[Derp]

@Sparks said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

if I am in that mode at work and you bring me something new, I will shift to work on that and then return to the original thing afterwards. Unfortunately, I often then find it hard to return to the original thing.

The way I deal with this? The post-it program on my computer. Someone brings me something, it gets added to the list. Things get done in the order they were brought. People now know that if it is super pressing, they may just want to do it themselves.

Because I am an assistant working for four people, not one, and I will not prioritize one over the other unless there is a super compelling reason to do so, like a short deadline on something for the court.

[Wretched]

Parliament Member talking about ADHD

[Wretched]

Doublepost cuz this ted talk made me cry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiwZQNYlGQI

[dvoraen]

When you type in a MU* command, have a stray thought, then 5 seconds later type that exact same command, at which point you stare at your screen as the same wall of text you just looked at comes to sucker punch you in the face again.

[Wretched]

@dvoraen said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

When you type in a MU* command, have a stray thought, then 5 seconds later type that exact same command, at which point you stare at your screen as the same wall of text you just looked at comes to sucker punch you in the face again.

+who
+who
+who
+who

[Auspice]

@Wretched said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

@dvoraen said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

When you type in a MU* command, have a stray thought, then 5 seconds later type that exact same command, at which point you stare at your screen as the same wall of text you just looked at comes to sucker punch you in the face again.

+who
+who
+who
+who

+sheet
+sheet
profile
+sheet

For the love of God self just learn to scroll up

[dvoraen]

@Wretched said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

@dvoraen said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

When you type in a MU* command, have a stray thought, then 5 seconds later type that exact same command, at which point you stare at your screen as the same wall of text you just looked at comes to sucker punch you in the face again.

+who
+who
+who
+who

I am a chronic +finger and +where person, I've noticed. What baffles me even after 20 years is the fact that I still don't know why I do those so much. +who (and derivatives of it) are next in line for how much. Arx having a generally long +who list helps keep me from doing that, but I still do it on occasion, and I definitely go nuts with who/org at times.

[silverfox]

So.

Serious question.

All of you who went through elementary school without meds. I've read a lot of literature and had training, but I'm wondering how some of that squares with the personal experiences of some of you.

What do you wish your teachers had done to help you? What did they do that hurt you?

[Jeshin]

@silverfox

I don't know if I had good teachers or what but it boiled down to.

1. Homework
2. Busywork
3. Things that didn't matter

^ these all sucked and were terrible and I never wanted to do them ever.

1. Tests
2. The actual learning problems
3. Answering my what if hypothetical questions

^ these were great and the reason I coasted through the bulk of school because I knew the material I just didn't like having to prove I knew it all the time. Tests were great, maybe because of competition, maybe because it was a defined task, in the moment, you had to do. Homework and other self directed busywork were pretty much undoable. It caused stress for me mum, fights with my dad, etc etc.

[Auspice]

@silverfox said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

So.

Serious question.

All of you who went through elementary school without meds. I've read a lot of literature and had training, but I'm wondering how some of that squares with the personal experiences of some of you.

What do you wish your teachers had done to help you? What did they do that hurt you?

I still remember my 2nd grade teacher fondly. She was interactive with all of us and did her best to spend time with us (I think there were 14 or 15 of us in the class). Her lessons were varied. I know that happens a lot with younger students (more interactive lessons, etc etc) but... she went above and beyond what even my first grade teacher there did. And if we were struggling with something, she found a way to work around it and come to an option that worked.

If we didn't like something we were given out of the random draw, she'd usually have a couple spares or we could find someone to trade with. Her ability and willingness to be flexible was great. I did really well in her grand because of the encouragement provided.

Third and Forth grade not so much. The two women who taught those has no time for those of us who didn't attend the school's church. It had to be done as it was done, full stop. The forth grade teacher resented me because I won entry to a state-wide math competition.... and then won. Beating her own son. Her resentment of me increased that yet. And anything I ever needed (focus-wise, or to enable what I was a strong learner in and needed MORE...) was just cast to the side. The school knew I read at a college level by the end of 2nd grade but my teachers after her didn't care.

Mrs Poole is who I look to as I study to be a teacher. I want to be warm, compassionate, and understanding as she was.

[Wretched]

@Jeshin said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

@silverfox

I don't know if I had good teachers or what but it boiled down to.

1. Homework
2. Busywork
3. Things that didn't matter

^ these all sucked and were terrible and I never wanted to do them ever.

1. Tests
2. The actual learning problems
3. Answering my what if hypothetical questions

^ these were great and the reason I coasted through the bulk of school because I knew the material I just didn't like having to prove I knew it all the time. Tests were great, maybe because of competition, maybe because it was a defined task, in the moment, you had to do. Homework and other self directed busywork were pretty much undoable. It caused stress for me mum, fights with my dad, etc etc.

Hello Me. If only I would just apply myself.

[Wretched]

[Auspice]

My life is basically just cycling from 'Galaxy Brain' to 'i dont think u tried at all.jpg' to 'patrick star' and back.

Galaxy Brain is a great way to put it, man. I need to remember that.
It happens to me in meetings all too often.
<sudden realization that I've been thinking about something else for the past twenty minutes; panic over what I've missed>

[surreality]

@Wretched ...if you only knew how many youtube tutorials I've had sitting in tabs wishing I could simply learn them by osmosis while they sat unwatched in tabs...

Re: teachers: ...after coffee. (She said, knowing she will probably forget to come back to this.)