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    Listen to Autistics.

    Autistics are the real Autism experts. Nothing about us without us. Listen to Autistic people.

    #Autistic #actuallyautistic #audhd #adhd #Autism #cptsd #gad #AutismAcceptance #stimming #ASD #overwhelmed #executivefunctiondisorder #executivedysfunction #Hyperfocus #hypervigilant #sensoryoverstimulation #sensoryissues #sensorypain #speechless #echolalia #

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    I'm turning 65 next month, and just yesterday they added ASD (Autism) to my permanent medical record.

    I've written before about how I was misdiagnosed as bipolar for a few decades, and the therapies and various prescription medicines never helped me. In fact, they nearly killed me.

    In my last year on the meds, I got lithium toxicity, and was rushed to a trauma center a hundred miles from home, and spent a week in ICU. That was the autumn of 2021, and I am still recovering now in February 2023.

    Yesterday I saw my third psychiatrist in a row who told me I had never been bipoloar, but I am Autistic. This time he put it all on paper, and entered it into my medical records. I guess that means it's official. Or maybe 'I' am official? Nah. I'm still just me.

    I never had an inkling that I might be Autistic before sometime last summer, when I read a story in The Mighty by someone who found out accidentally that she was Autistic while she was having one of her children tested and assessed. When she described her life and her challenges, she sounded to me like she was describing my own life.

    From that point onward, I started reading everything that I could get my hands on about the Autism Spectrum.

    Then there were the internet tests, the books with tests, and finally talking to doctors and to Autistics.

    Eventually, I was convinced beyond any reason of a doubt that I myself was, and am Autistic. Thereafter, I brought it up with my psychiatrist, and it took off from there.

    That brings me back to yesterday, and the third psychiatrist to agree, and who added it into my medical record.

    Now if I can get my General Practitioner to remove the bipolar label from my record there, I will feel like I can finally relax a little.

    I don't have a problem with bipolar in itself. I just have a major problem with being misdiagnosed for decades and spending the bulk of my money on therapy and prescriptions that kept me physically exhausted and in a heavy mental fog for decades, and didn't help me in any way. I feel like the majority of my life was wasted.

    So to have the label removed from my records is removing a constant painful reminder of all the life that I missed in my youth and middle age.

    I am going to spend the rest of my years as a happy, grateful Autistic old dude. Peace be with you all.
    ♾️♾️♾️
    🖖

    #Autistic #actuallyautistic #audhd #ADHD #Autism #ComplexPosttraumaticStressDisorder #GeneralizedAnxietyDisorder #AutismAcceptance #Stimming #Dysgraphia #dyscalcula #pathologicaldemandavoidance #PDA #AutisticInertia #AutisticBurnout
    #EFD #ExecutiveFunctionDisorder #executivedysfunction #RejectionSensitiveDysphoria #RSD
    #ReactiveAttachmentDisorder #rad #MajorDepressiveDisorder #MDD #Dysthymia #Specialinterest
    #Hyperfocus #hypervigilant #SensoryOverstimulation #SensoryIssues #SensoryPain

    #

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    Does anyone know who does AUTISM assessments for ADULTS in western NC, or east TN, or southwest VA?

    Hi. I am seriously interested in getting an assessment for ‘Autism,’ or ‘Autism Spectrum Disorder’ for Adults. I am over 60, and I don't need it to qualify for any kind of help or benefits at my age. I just need to know, so I can answer a thousand personal questions about myself. It's for my peace of mind, but it also has the advantage of being useful family medical information that I can pass along to my kids and grandkids.

    I have a ton of different diagnoses from as many doctors and therapists from over the course of my life. So many of these diagnoses have some of the same symptoms, and so many of the diagnoses seem to battle with others for ‘dominance’, that I don't know what to believe anymore. One doctor will say he's certain I have one thing, and five years later another will say he doesn't agree, and says it's something different. Meanwhile, both of them put me on medications for those things, and the second one is basically telling me I just wasted 5 years of prescriptions and therapy designed for the first thing. Not once, not twice, but many, many times I have gone through this.

    Because of all of that, I currently have a bushel of diagnoses that are supposedly correct and current, and a ton of prescriptions to go along with them. And I don't have the confidence that any of them are correct, like I so easily assumed when I was younger. Do you see my frustration?

    From my reading in the last few months, I have seen my traits (i.e. symptoms) and my thought patterns and thought processes turn up time and again under the detailed descriptions of Autism and Autism Spectrum Disorder. If that were found to be true, it would settle my mind, and it would give me something that I lost long ago, and assumed I would never see again: Hope. It would make such a difference if I could be able to focus on one true diagnosis instead of a jillion competing diagnoses. I could work on learning coping skills and workarounds for one thing. One.

    So, I need to find a doctor or a therapist who assesses for ‘Autism’ or ‘Autism Spectrum Disorder’ IN ADULTS  in the:
    1.               western half of NC, or
    2.               southwest area of VA, or
    3.               eastern part of TN.
    (A little outside of those areas could work, too, if they are good.) ***I have been told that “the MIGDAS-2 assessment” works better for those of us who have been masking for many years. What are your thoughts?

    I do appreciate you reading this far. I know that it was long. If you can help me find someone, please let me know. Thank you for your time.  I wish you Peace, and Joy, and excellent Health.  ♧


    #Autism #Depression #Anxiety #PathologicalDemandAvoidanceSyndrome
    #ReactiveAttachmentDisorder #SocialAnxiety
    #MajorDepressiveDisorder
    #Bipolar2Disorder
    #BipolarDepression #TreatmentresistantDepression #CombinedPresentationADHD #ADHD #AspergersSyndrome #AutisticAdults #Autistic
    #Hypervigilance #Hyperfocus #silent #EyeContact #Stimming #Suicide #PTSD #CPTSD #ComplexPosttraumaticStressDisorder
    #BodyFocusedRepetitiveBehaviors #BFRBAwarenessWeek #Parentification #Abuse #neglect #Insomnia #DermatiIlomania

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    Solved a writing impasse today!

    Today, I finally got some progress made on one of my book writing projects! I've been wanting to for months, but just haven't had the energy, or the inspiration. Worse, every time I tried to start working on it, I ran across the same impasse, where I couldn't figure out how to transform this bulleted list of random thoughts into connected prose. Today, I was suddenly inspired to just start writing some stuff, and after several pages (or maybe only a few, but lots of writing, anyways) I suddenly figured out how to solve my impasse!!! And I even learned how to use the cross reference and bookmark functions (sort of) so that I can organize everything, and sort out all the accumulated thoughts into something coherent!! So that means I even know the next step for the next time I work on it!!

    Oh, yeah, and I hyperfocused on it for like 6 hours today!! 😁😁😂. Not straight, but pretty close. No break longer than 10 minutes, probably closer to 5. And only 2 of those! (And a couple 1-2 minutes ones, if that.)

    So no walk today, but I probably needed the rest anyways.

    Now, as I wind down for the night, the happier it makes me!

    Oh yeah, this one is on some of the things I've learned in my decades of dealing with depression and trauma.

    #Writing #MentalHealth #Depression #Trauma #Autism #Hyperfocus #PTSD #CPTSD #Success #successful #GoodDay #CreativeWithWords #creativity #happydance

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    Super frustrated #ADHD #Hyperfocus

    My husband and a couple of my closest friends don’t understand how I can be constantly playing with my phone and have adhd. Do you think it’s bull crap and feel like I’m using it as a crutch. They tell me that ADHD means that I shouldn’t be able to focus on anything. They think I’m just using it as an excuse to get out of doing my housework and paying attention to my husband like that. I am sick of the way people don’t believe me.

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    When you hyperfixate on making Shakespearean hats

    I was supposed to be productive today but executive functioning is hard so this is what I did instead

    #ADHD #executivedysfunction #Hyperfocus #Hyperfixation

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    The bright side #ADD #Migraines

    My hyperfocus is crocheting at the moment. I made this shawl this week for a friend. My add makes sure I think of nothing besides my current project. No clean socks in my house and I really have to vacuum. My migraine made sure I had the whole of Friday to sit in the coach and crochet, because I wasn't feeling up to anything else. Well I did walk our dog at least.
    The best thing is I can make my friend happy in stead of having to disappoint by cancelling plans.
    Go me and my strangely wired brain. #Hyperfocus #ADD #Migraine #positive

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    Not wasting time

    I find myself "wasting" time pretty often. This makes me feel so much better about it. #Wastingtime #Hyperfocus #chillout #Bipolar1Disorder #Mania

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    Zoned In #Hyperfocus #Hyperfixation

    My #AnxietyDisorders has been really bad and #Insomnia has been keeping me up. I feel like I’m going crazy. I get this #Paranoid feeling here lately and I don’t like it. Any tips guys? Also while
    You’re here... tell me how your day went ! #MajorDepressiveDisorder