- I usually have this condition of having many thoughts in my mind, without any of them being clear to me.
- I feel as if there is a cloud in my head preventing me from thinking clearly.
- I also feel that I cannot control myself, like filtering my thoughts when I say something, ending up saying stupid things.
- I cannot keep track of someone who is talking, like a professor in a lecture, or a movie.
- If some scenes in a movie move fast, I cannot see anything, everything becomes blurry.
- I have difficulty in following subtitles in movies, and in general I have processing delay. Like I need to listen first and then retrieve what I've just listened to, and then try to understand it, at time of which another sentence follows, and thus lose track.
- I have a problem in focusing while reading and writing, but not other stuff, like paying my bills, finding my keys, ... etc.
- I also have the tendency to contradict my sayings, because I forget what I've just said.
- I easily get interested in something, and lose interest in it very quickly.
- I sometimes find myself very excited, for no particular reason, while down in other times, and get from one state to the other like a switch.

Do these symptoms look like ADHD symptoms?

Anyone has similar symptoms?

[Miswimmy1]

No one here can give you an official diagnosis. If this is interfering with your life, you should seek a professional assessment. However, the symptoms sound to me more along the lines of some sort of processing disorder. But I really don't know much about it. But generally, short term memory issues are characteristic of ADHD as well as racing thoughts, but I haven't heard anything of processing delays or blurry vision.

I wasn't seeking official diagnosis. I just needed to know if people diagnosed with ADHD have similar symptoms. I visited a psychiatrist once, and he said probably not ADHD, but I am not sure.

I watched what processing disorder is, and it doesn't fit.

[Confusedinomicon]

Did you look up auditory processing disorder? Are your mood stable? If not depression/anxiety and bipolar can look like ADHD.

I have some auditory processing issues too, but not to the degree you've described. I also have a short attention span with everything and zone out really easily. I can't even take off my purse at a resturant if it's not in eye sight because I'll walk out without it and have done this so many times before I learned.

My mood is fairly stablish though besides anxiety.

Originally Posted by Confusedinomicon

Did you look up auditory processing disorder? Are your mood stable? If not depression/anxiety and bipolar can look like ADHD.

I have some auditory processing issues too, but not to the degree you've described. I also have a short attention span with everything and zone out really easily. I can't even take off my purse at a resturant if it's not in eye sight because I'll walk out without it and have done this so many times before I learned.

My mood is fairly stablish though besides anxiety.

I only have this in the movies, you know when the camera rotates very fast. It becomes blurry, and I cannot see the details. Other than that, I have no issue.

For the mood stability, I think my mood is not stable. I suspect I might have bipolar because I am sometimes very depressed, but others I am so excited, in away that is not proportionate to the situations.

I also might have developed depression because of my social anxiety and lack of friends, especially during my grad school which entailed a lot of stress and setbacks.

But I still cannot focus. Like I can read words in a sentence, but most of the time I fail to get the whole sentence. I am usually lost in details and missing the big picture, say of a scientific article, or any other article for that matter.

[elevatedsoul]

i was recently diagnosed ADHD-PI... the first psychiatrist i saw diagnosed me as bipolar, so you really need to see a profesional/specialist if possible to discern what it is exactly as these disorders can look very much alike.. atleast at first glance..

i had a psychological assessment with a psychologist and the testing was pretty extensive, not just a 10 minute meeting with a doctor... it was 3 hours long (and a few extra minutes because im a little slow when trying to explain things)

they told me it would test for everything from learning disabilities, autism, bipolar, anxiety , depression, ect. i think even other things like physical problems that could cause symptoms like this... so if possible i would recommend something like that so you can try to fully explore whats going on, as psychological issues can get complicated..

for me its hard to explain because i have comorbities, symptoms overlapping each other and blablabla.. but i think my biggest issue with ADHD is memory, i have a hard time focusing on something and putting it into my memory banks, short term memory doesn't exist for me... as for the processing difficulty, i do have problems with that when too much information is coming in at one time, but it could be related to my other disorders... i can be doing something and forget what im doing in the middle of it because of some distraction, forget what im talking about in midsentance, read a few sentances in a book or article and forget what it was talking about so have to go back and re-read... im really not sure how to explain the symptoms more because of the other disorders i have...
depression and anxiety and bipolar can cause the same issues thats why its important to see a specialist..

such as sensory overload, but i think this may be from the PTSD for me

if this is negatively affecting you, which it sounds like it is, you really should see a specialist about it so you can explore whats going on and try to find a treatment that can work for you so you wont have to struggle

[elevatedsoul]

here is an article on adhd and sensory processing disorder
ADHD and Sensory Processing Disorder: Common Comorbid Conditions

one last thing that might help you, adhd is something that you have as a kid so if these problems recently came up it may mean that its not adhd.. but people can get by with adhd as a kid and not exhibit many symptoms until the stresses become larger from growing into adulthood... myself i never thought i had adhd until after i was diagnosed with bipolar.. i knew it wasn't bipolar because i never had mania so tried finding out what it could be.. but i've also lived with depression and anxiety all my life too, so even if i saw a doctor back then they probably wouldn't of noticed any adhd because of the other disorders..

hope that is a little helpful atleast

Originally Posted by elevatedsoul

... read a few sentances in a book or article and forget what it was talking about so have to go back and re-read.......

I am also easily distracted, and I relate to what you said above. Any noise, negligible however to others, I can pick it, and it would distract me. I also have troubles when writing something. I have to go through what I wrote several times to make it consistent.

The problem is that as a kid, I didn't have to read much in schools. Probably because I was/am smart, and I managed to do well. I remember I was playing all the times out. Rarely studying. This has become an issue for me in grad school where I had to do a lot of research and needed to be well-organized. I went to a psychiatrist because it almost jeopardized my ability to finish. But after 2-3 sessions, and trying different medications, he concluded it is not ADHD because no medication worked. He said it is anxiety, and may be learning disability. But I am still convinced that I have ADHD.

[Confusedinomicon]

I had clear signs of ADHD when I was growing up and my teachers tried to get my parents to push meds. I was also in the top of my courses until high school and elementary/middle school was really easy for me. As I got older the hyperactivity kind of turned into inactivity and anxiety.

Untreated anxiety and depression looks a lot like ADHD. I also got dx as bipolar but never really experienced mania. I did get delusions from depression and anxiety though that were kind of "psychotic" in nature.

Anyway, get a second opinion or a third. Or try out the anxiety treatment and see if it helps at all? It can't hurt to try.