ADD and zoning out

[intotheblack]

14 hours ago, captainamerica said:

Get a mindfulness band such as this.

This looks great! But I need to find one from a European website

14 hours ago, captainamerica said:

Do you have maladaptive daydreaming?

I don’t know.  I mean, I’ve always been a day dreamer and an ‘in my own world’ type. I would say that it’s worse if I’m anxious about something.  I have been like this as long as I can remember. 
 

54 minutes ago, Michael569 said:

diet & lifestyle will be of primal importance as it has already been suggested. Systemic toxicity is nothing to discard either but I'd start by fixing your diet first. What you eat has tremendous impact on your cognitive profile. Also your gut health impacts your brain more than you know 

 

I’m always trying to eat as healthy as possible, but I find it hard to keep consistent with preparing my food and my diet is pretty scattered.  I rarely eat out and avoid all processed foods and meat.  But what I do end up eating a lot is pasta and bread,  as they are easy to make when I’m tired or unorganised.  But i also make a lot of healthy stuff like green smoothies, salads, soups, I make curries and rice dishes. I don’t have a set diet, i eat all types of things, but cooking myself 90% of the time.  One of the main issues I have though is being tired. Waking up in the morning I rarely feel refreshed or well rested.  I supplement b12. I drink 2 + litres of water a day.  Occasionally a coffee in the morning.  No fizzy drinks. Sometimes tea.   

[intotheblack]

1 hour ago, Jake Johnson said:

have experienced this myself. I pleaded with my parents till they finally gave in and let me do home school through self study which seems to be the only way I can focus enough to learn anything. Put me in a classroom where I have to sit passively like a bump on a log while someone else gets to do the active process of the subject and I am off in a daydream inside of two minutes. Not that I am totally docused on my books 100% of the time but far more than a classroom lecture and if my mind does wander the written page is still there unlike tge spoken word. I find self study to be far more effective. You may have ADD. Ask your doctor to refer you to a specialist who can give you a diagnosis and prescription. I am not sure what maladaptive daydreaming is but maybe we both have it; what you described sounds very much like myself:

I am same.  Well basically up until age 12 I was super creative, loved painting, I was top of the class for imaginative story writing, was praised for my handwriting skills, I was always playing and owned a video camera and was filming stuff all the time.  Then once I got to Highschool everything became so serious and I slowly became bored and unable to concentrate.  I literally couldn’t study and was terrible at maths.  I was easily distracted by everything.  I became pretty depressed actually, looking back.  I stopped caring about school and felt alone.  Most of those classes I was sat in a daydream not paying attention to anything.  I wish I had someone guiding me back then, I was so clueless. 

I did already go to a psychiatrist a few years ago, I started with some tests but I didn’t finish it. Mostly because I decided that ADD wasn’t a real thing, it’s just a label they put on kids that can’t learn in the conventional academic way, they learn better by being creative and using their hands etc. also, that these symptoms are just a part of my personality mixed with coping mechanisms. 

I don’t know about maladaptive daydreaming.    I do have really random thoughts though and a very vivid imagination. Sometimes I end up in trance states where I can completely drown out my surroundings.  
other times, if I’m deep in thought about something, and someone interrupts me or is being loud I get annoyed lol.  

I’m highly sensitive to what’s going on around me and recently started wearing earplugs in certain situations and also to sleep.  it’s great if I don’t want to be disturbed by random noises. 

[captainamerica]

6 hours ago, intotheblack said:

This looks great! But I need to find one from a European website

@intotheblack There is literally no proper mindfulness band in the market. I looked everywhere and this is the only one I could find with the basic features required for mindfulness training.

Edited April 12, 2021 by captainamerica

[captainamerica]

 @intotheblack

If you are inquiring about Maladaptive Daydreaming then I will recommend this video. It explains it relatively well.

 

[Michael569]

11 hours ago, intotheblack said:

I’m always trying to eat as healthy as possible, but I find it hard to keep consistent with preparing my food and my diet is pretty scattered.  I rarely eat out and avoid all processed foods and meat.  But what I do end up eating a lot is pasta and bread,  as they are easy to make when I’m tired or unorganised.  But i also make a lot of healthy stuff like green smoothies, salads, soups, I make curries and rice dishes. I don’t have a set diet, i eat all types of things, but cooking myself 90% of the time.  One of the main issues I have though is being tired. Waking up in the morning I rarely feel refreshed or well rested.  I supplement b12. I drink 2 + litres of water a day.  Occasionally a coffee in the morning.  No fizzy drinks. Sometimes tea.

Get some basic testing done,  make sure they include iron and vitamin D in it as well. 

Is there any chance you simply lack direction and purpose in life? I found in my life whenever I'm  working on something I am passionate about, I easily get a laser focus and into the flow whereas if I'm force to do something I don't feel any connection to (e.g. some shitty excel spreadsheet at work) it takes me forever and I get distracted very easily 

[intotheblack]

3 minutes ago, Michael569 said:

Is there any chance you simply lack direction and purpose in life?

Yes. Basically most of my life I’ve had no direction and always felt lost in what I should do.  I didn’t have any strong guidance or advice growing up and was always making decisions alone.  

at the moment I’m kind of in limbo again, because of the lockdown and it’s hard to plan anything.  I’m trying to figure out what steps to take next. I’m feeling lost again and losing motivation easily.  

[Michael569]

@intotheblack try this as your next step https://actualized.org/life-purpose-course

Changed my life and probably at least 300 other people on this forum. Best investment I've ever made 

[intotheblack]

@Michael569 I have considered it before.  I’ll take another look. Thanks 

[Michael569]

13 minutes ago, intotheblack said:

I have considered it before.  I’ll take another look. Thanks 

don't consider, buy it (no bias here ...well maybe a bit ) 

As you work on that, make sure to fix your diet and optimise your overall lifestyle. 3 proper regular meals, no skipping, no replacing meals with juices, you need to feed that scattered brain some proper nourishment. Add 30 seconds of cold morning shower followed by 20 minutes of meditation + 20 minutes of some light exercise at home or a jogg followed by a green tea & proper breakfast,  you'll see a level of attention you've never had before. If you fancy add a Ginkgo extract to it as well (if you are not on meds). You can also check out my 2 part blog article on BDNF here, this may help you start reshaping your brain through your lifestyle choices 

Do all that and you'll see a nice improvement in your ADD. Good luck! 

[intotheblack]

27 minutes ago, Michael569 said:

don't consider, buy it (no bias here ...well maybe a bit ) 

As you work on that, make sure to fix your diet and optimise your overall lifestyle. 3 proper regular meals, no skipping, no replacing meals with juices, you need to feed that scattered brain some proper nourishment. Add 30 seconds of cold morning shower followed by 20 minutes of meditation + 20 minutes of some light exercise at home or a jogg followed by a green tea & proper breakfast,  you'll see a level of attention you've never had before. If you fancy add a Ginkgo extract to it as well (if you are not on meds). You can also check out my 2 part blog article on BDNF here, this may help you start reshaping your brain through your lifestyle choices 

Do all that and you'll see a nice improvement in your ADD. Good luck! 

This is really helpful. Thankyou 

[Striving for more]

On 10/04/2021 at 7:42 PM, Ima Freeman said:

Did your mother have some at time of pregnancy?
Did you get vaccinated with thimerosal containing vaccines?
 

@Ima Freeman Is this factor significant & even more significant than having a filling yourself? Because as a baby you absorb all the mercury vapor ?

[Ima Freeman]

@Striving for more I do not know how significant this factor is, but some mercury toxic people who never had amalgams did have mothers who had ones.

People with amalgam fillings have hightened blood levels of mercury. If it is toxic to the mothers brain, why shouldn't it be toxic to the embryos brain?

For example, my mother removed her several fillings months before being pregnant with my little sister. Both my sister and I had/have anxiety disorders, attention deficits and developmental problems.

 

[flowboy]

On 09/04/2021 at 10:32 PM, intotheblack said:

I’m really struggling with zoning out and not listening.  I can be listening to someone and be really trying to focus on what they are saying, but I start thinking about completely different things.  I won’t have heard a thing they said.  Then they will get annoyed because I stopped paying attention or they have to repeat something.  
If it’s something I’m interested in though I have no problem and can fully engage in the conversation. 
How can I get better at listening to people talk? 

I'm an ADD coach who has ADD.

Many good things have been named already.

@intotheblack I'd like to ask you this though: which things are your thoughts drifting off to, when trying to listen?

Would you be able to make a list of that, and provide it here?

It is often telling.