[bluebear9048]

I'm young, I'm 14 years old. I have been in/out of hospital inpatient mental health unit many times in the past year. I have been diagnosed with ADHD, Borderline Personality Disorder, and an anxiety disorder/agoraphobia.

I have been taking Concerta 54 mg for around six months.

I am not hyperactive all the time and do not feel like I am "driven by a motor" as many diagnostic tools list as a symptom. I do experience major mood swings, which I blame the BPD for, and these moods cause me to have extreme sessions of high energy and false happiness. I easily switch back into a severely negative emotion; extreme anger, depression, suicidal.

So, I am only hyper sometimes.

I am easily distracted, but I'm still aware of what's going on and that I have been distracted. I mean, when I get distracted, I am completely aware of it but can't switch gears back to the main focus.

Because of my extreme anxiety, I do not enjoy talking to people. I never make eye contact, and I let my mind wander off to positive things to purposely distract myself from the present; my fear and worry causing me a great deal of distress.

It appears as if I'm not paying attention to what people are saying. My mind can easily filter what people say to me ; I only hear what I want to hear, or what's important and needs to be heard. Other than that, my anxiety takes over and I do not want to be in the present moment, so I block out my mind .

I love doing puzzles. Jigsaw puzzles. Word puzzles. I am absolutely obsessed. Honestly, that's all I'm asking for in June for my birthday. I am a girl, and yes I should be asking for girly things like makeup and clothes, but I don't want that. I don't wear makeup . And my clothing style is pure comfort.
Anyway, back to what I was saying: puzzles. I can sit and do a jigsaw puzzle and completely be lost in the puzzle. Intense focus. For hours. I will completely neglect my personal needs like using the washroom and eating. Puzzles will always come first. I am quite sure the majority of people with ADHD can't say they can sit and do a jigsaw puzzle for 6 hours without getting distracted or without changing activites even once.

Basically what I am saying is, I don't agree with my diagnosis of ADHD. I have amazing attention skills when I am alone. When I'm in a social situation, I daydream to cope with my extreme anxiety.

What is your opinion ?

[FooZe]

Hi bluebear9048, welcome to Psych Central!

It sounds like you're describing hyperfocus, which is sometimes associated with ADHD. It's been discussed quite a bit at PC; take a look at these search results. The Wikipedia article on hyperfocus is more technical than I could get into. I found a much more approachable one here.

I've never been diagnosed with anything but when I took an online quiz, it suggested I might have ADD. If I do, it doesn't seem to bother me -- or else I'm used to it. I find I regard hyperfocus much more as a talent than as a symptom. I enjoy it and find it very useful for some activities such as programming and other technical work.

I found a Bizarro (I think) cartoon several years ago that pretty well sums up how I feel about hyperfocus. A guy is sitting at a desk in what's left of an office after some huge disaster such a tornado. The walls are gone and outside you can see the ruins of other buildings. "At last!" he's saying. "Now maybe I can get something done!"

[Maus5321]

I agree with Fooze on this one about you seeming like your describing hyperfocus, If I am alone and I know nobody is going to be home for a few hours and I am feeling motivated, that is when I can get my greatest work done. Like the other day my dad was out of town for most of the day golfing, so I went out to try and solve why my truck was having issues with the transmission. It was simple to actually find out but because he was not home to distract, my attention was in the zone I would say for a good 5hrs. The world around me did not matter and I heard nothing or saw nothing in my head but the wiring in front of me. I found the problem, fixed it, then one thing led to another after that, tieing up some loose ends of my truck wiring, and deciding what part of the wiring I want to fix next etc.

The one thing that did snap me out of it though was a random truck driving up the street and stopping every couple houses. I think may have had sticky fingers on there minds. They got up to my house which had the garage open, stopped in front of it then surprise I jumped up from my driver side door and shined my light in there faces. needless to say they left and have not seen them since. My unpredictable hours of action puzzle all

Also to, you said you do not feel like you're driven by an engine, that is not always the case either where you feel like you just have to do something even if you're tired, not everyone has this symptom either, sometimes people just get the inattentive type of adhd which does not include the hyper aspect. Some only get the hyperactive adhd, and some get adhd combo type.

Me for example, I am not necessarily hyper, I can be, but if I am in a class or somewhere I have to sit. I am constantly bouncing 1 leg or both, tapping a finger, looking around, I never sit still and tune unless it is really interesting. Also for me, if I do not at least have some part of my body moving I feel like I will explode from the tension/ energy building up from sitting.

"If I am alone and I know nobody is going to be home for a few hours and I am feeling motivated, that is when I can get my greatest work done."

That's a great description of what I've been dealing with over the past few years. I wonder if it has anything to do with ADHD.

[Maus5321]

Originally Posted by Alonewithmycat

"If I am alone and I know nobody is going to be home for a few hours and I am feeling motivated, that is when I can get my greatest work done."

That's a great description of what I've been dealing with over the past few years. I wonder if it has anything to do with ADHD.

It very well could be. Ever take the adhd quize here?

The blurb you quoted was basically me describing myself as doing something, figuring it out moving forward and after awhile basically becoming hyperfocused. If I am doing well enough hyperfocus seems to kick in for me and becomes a perk, but really it only mostly happens when no one is home as they can distract and keep me from getting in a grove

[cool09]

Agitation, easily distracted, mood swings, depression, rage, irritability, over-sensitivity, racing thoughts are symptoms of bipolar disorder. I've had all of these symptoms since 14 (now 49). (I'm pretty sure I'm agitated depressive ie. mixed manic. I've had every diagnosis since 1986.)

I had one semester in college where I had lots of difficulty taking tests (easily distracted): arm-to-arm w/125 people in classroom, people coughing, dropping books, turning pages. Everything became amplified and I would lose my train of thought. I got two Ds, two Fs that semester. Next semester I took leave of absence. I've also had lots of trouble socializing since onset. It's literally like lifting weights, my baseline mental energy just doesn't work correctly. And lose my train of thought while talking, etc.

I have not found anything to ease my agitation/irritability. I'm sensitive to anti-psychotics (prescribed for agitation) or I do not respond to them. I have responded to ritalin and adderall but they wear off fast. (I also responded well to paxil 1996-2000 but also wore off). My Doc said some agitated BP people become relaxed with stimulants like ritalin, etc. and that's what it did for me for a while.

I might get a second opinion if I were you.