Unwanted brain reboots.
 

Anyone have thoughts about this? It's like my brain reboots every day and forgets everything I've learned or planned. Even periodically throughout the day I suddenly get involved with one thing and forget everything else. I think my brain shifts every time something gets boring or I hit a wall. When I write things down, I never get back to looking at it again. It's frustrating. I know I need to just commit every day to do certain things, but it's like I'm so sensitive to stimulii, that anything can throw me off. I know if I could apply everything I've learned, I could do anything.

Do you meditate?

Yeah I'm like this too, I have trouble following through with anything and even when I do, I quickly got bored of whatever it is.

I don't know what it is though, sorry I'm not much help, but I've never looked hard enough into it. :P

I used to be like that.
You need to train your brain to remember things.
Mediation might help, training your brain to focus.

I trained my brain by spending a few minutes at the end of each task trying to remember the list of things I have to do.
I also used an outlook task list to help trigger it. But after a while you can remember most things.

Meditation has greatly improved my ability to focus. I can focus on tasks for extended periods of time where I used to get bored easily and move on to the next thing.

There's also the possibility that maybe the activities you're choosing just aren't interesting or challenging enough. You could be getting bored too easily.

Meditate???
 

I can't even sit still. I do use hypnosis mp3s. I have ADHD and I just found out I have sleep apnea (which I'm getting a cpap machine for this week). I know I couldn't possibly meditate on my own. My mind wanders too much.

I struggle with this too. A while back, I actually had a supervisor of mine suggest that I get "tested" to see if there was something wrong with me...maybe ADHD, she thought. I was driven and hyper-focused at times, and was scattered and aimless other times.

I ended up getting tested, more to put my mind at rest about it than anything, and I was not on the scale for ADHD at all. However, it highlighted that I did have some "impulsive" tendencies, and my motivation seemed to follow changes, not routine.

Not surprisingly, I've always been a better "starter" of things than "finisher". I haven't necessarily solved this challenge, but being more aware of my style and tendencies allows me to find jobs and other things that have some creative aspect to them. I love to develop and create new things, or innovate existing things. So, it makes me a good visionary and motivator...but then I need to hand the maintenance of the project over to someone who excels at that piece. Maybe this is why consulting is such a good fit for me?

Ooh, as a fellow AHDH-er, I feel your pain. Ritalin works wonders for me, but without it I just can't focus. Have you tried medication? If you really have ADHD (because unfortunately, people get that label way too easy these days), there is no shame in giving it a go. You won't turn into a zombie (unless you get too much), your creativity won't vaporise and your brain won't start leaking out of your ears. See a doctor. :)

You know in the UK you can't get Ritalin via your doctor if your an adult. Well you can but it's almost impossible. They are only a few clinics in the country that deal with it and even then there is a three year assessment period.

The condition is barely recognized by the health service beyond 18 years of age.

I tend to have similar problems with focusing and for me that is what I found out after an independent said i showed high signs ADD/ADHD lol

So i decided that it was who i was and to stop looking it as a problem, it's one of the reasons why i have so many ideas and am so creative, i'm just learning how to deal with that now though.

Neurologist Dr. Fred Baughman talks about the fraud of ADHD and the poisoning of U.S. children

See if you can eat better first.

Take up something like learning to sing or play an intrument, or group dancing or tai chi/yoga. Something that would require you to focus and the group will carry the focus some too.

Or go to a classical concert and really listen to the whole piece of music, as much as you can. When you listen see if you can hear the sound of the music in your head - follow the sound as it were.

Or just find a live band in a local club and bust a move to a couple songs. That would traing you to stay focused for the length of one song, of you grove out to it the whole way through and sometimes the loudness of a rock band is something that will demand your attention so you won't be able to wander.

Danny boy maybe you would benefit from reading the posts at Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Forums or talking to some people there too, lots more people with that issue there!

Have you tried using post-its? These are notes you can stick up places you frequent, like your work computer, your fridge, mirror, or other conspicuous place. If you keep on forgetting what you wrote, it's effective to use a post-it and place it in places I hereinabove mentioned. Or you can try place a task or to-do note in your mobile phone and place an alarm for each to help you recall.

I hope that helps! :)

I've been on adderall for years
 

Without it, I'm even worse. I've read everything on ADHD and I've worked hard to improve to this point where I can actually hold down a regular job, but I still can't come close to my potential yet. I don't even want to think about all the time I waste every day, but it's getting better very very slowly. I'm hoping that getting this cpap machine will give me the rest I need to finally get on top of my life. They said I did great on the test run. Before the mask, I stopped breathing 22 times in 6 hours. Using the mask, I never stopped breathing. So, I'm really excited to see who I am when I have real sleep. That should help a lot I imagine.

Post its...
 

I like this idea a lot.

I've done all this...
 

I go through cycles where I have everything under control, then I just lose control of everything. My problem is staying on the up cycle. My problem is consistancy.

You should definitely try changing your diet first! Even if you still do need meds, there's a chance you can do with a lower dosage. I tried it, but no effect. Then again, I do have 'real' ADHD, as opposed to many people who are just allergic to certain chemicals or were just poorly raised (every kid will get unruly if you let it get away with everything). ADHD should not be diagnosed by just a doctor: you should be tested by more than one psychiatrist and a neurologist.

I hate it when people are diagnosed with AHDH so easily: it will make those of us who actually suffer from it be taken less seriously. If you truly have AHDH, miracle diets will not cure you. Some may help a bit, but they don't make it go away. ADHD is a nightmare, and without ritalin, I would have killed myself long ago, because I could never be myself and live up to my full potential. An uncle of mine actually took his own life because of this: after a life of struggle, he was finally diagnosed with AHDH at age 50 (it's genetic) and treated with ritalin. Once he found out what he had been missing all his life, especially his childhood, the sense of loss was too much for him to bear.

It is no surprise to me that 1 out of 4 alcoholists have ADHD and are not being treated for it. They just try to find peace and relief in their heads in other ways. I can't say I blame them.

Not saying that ritalin and other drugs will work for everyone, but I do encourage those with ADHD to give it a try. You can always quit as they are not addictive, unless you start taking it in ridiculous ammounts.

I already know all this about ADHD.
 

I was diagnosed correctly by a qualified psychiatrist as an adult. You didn't read all the posts.

ADHD - proper sleep = complete and utter chaos. If I don't get a good night sleep, no ammount of ritalin in the world will save the people around me from Ninjazilla. ;)

I think you will be pleasantly surprised once you get some real sleep!

It was more directed at ADHD-ers in general, I should have made that more clear. Sorry about that. ;)

cool that you've done all that.

I was going to say also - go on a retreat of some kind. Like the world is so full of possible distractions. We are given so much multitasking everyday. I imagine going camping without cell phones and walking in nature - for a long time. Long enough that nature becomes the only thing that your senses are being in and there's not need to stay focused or be distracted since you are just being in nature. Or any external distraction will be - "oh, what's the bird sound? I haven't heard that one yet, cool!"

I hope so!
 

I'm lucky I even decided to get tested. No one believed me when I said I thought I had it a few years ago because I'm slim and fairly young. I just finally said to myself, "I've got to at least rule it out." Then I looked in my insurance book and called around until I found what I was looking for. I can't believe I didn't go when I first suspected it! It's amazing I've been able to function at all!

I definitely need a break.
 

But, it's not possible just yet. My wife is in school full time and we have a two year old. Plus, if I don't work, I don't get paid. Once she finishes her semester in May, I'm definitely getting us out of the city for at least a weekend. The cpap mask I've read could really change my life. Cross your fingers.

The human body as well as the mind is capable of incredible things! But there's no need to make things more difficult for yourself when there's really no need to ;)

I'm not sure I buy into the 'brain reboot' thing at all.

If vocabulary and language shapes our thoughts, ie we use soliloquy to shape our thoughts, then this suggests that using such terminology above determines our beliefs about our mental states kind of.

I would rather think we drift in and out of conscious awareness; we do not reboot ever.

Brain reboot.
 

I don't think we literally reboot. It just seemed like a good comparison to describe the way I get completely lost when I'm planning. It's like I suddenly forget everything I was working on and I'm 15 miles down the wrong road and I suddenly have to backtrack to get back on the right path.

Reads like a simple lack of concentration. I have it too: I know what I want / should be doing but I drift off. It can start with something I tell myself won't be too harmful if I get it out of the way quickly, basically, these things I refer to are all what I've come to recognize as easy pleasures, then I get absorbed in the easy pleasure, for example, posting things onto internet forums, an activity which has very little productive value for me, but is easy to accomplish, and then time slips away until the thing I was meant to do gets swept away. It's a non-work ethic I've had to develop over years and it's terribly draining on the levels of self-esteem, personal pride and satisfaction I feel about myself., so much so that my word for obtaining easy pleasures I put under the umbrella term of onanism (the word I use myself isn't so polite as that, but you can get my meaning from the one supplied!).

Sadly though, because I suffer from loss of focus and drive problem myself, for me it's like having a car with a clutch that never quite engages properly, so there is a loss of connection between my engine and my wheels, I am not about to pretend to have a solution. I would love to hear from anybody who has a mind-body clutch-fix though. Have you ever smoked the reefer? Because I think that 'helped' a lot with me. Memory loss too.

Read the rest of the posts
 

You'll understand more what I was talking about.