Coping Strategies

I am in the middle of a week where I have to do a lot of repetitive, boring tasks which I procrastinated on and now must be done. As you all know, these situations are particularly difficult to deal with for those of us with ADHD.

I thought it would cool if we could share some of our coping strategies for keeping on track and getting boring tasks actually completed.

Here is one of my strategies for helping me sit still and focus, for a little while at least.

Meditation for the ADHD suffer
I get the concept of how sitting or laying quietly can help clear the clutter in your head, reduce stress, and get you focused on living in the moment. I get it, but haven't yet to be able to master even the most basic mediation techniques such as... breathing. (I am reminded of my 1st physician who told me to do candle exercises and read some self help book. F'ing butthole! If I could do that then I won't hear you ***!) ANYWAY...I've been experimenting with other techniques for quieting the mental noise in my head. Instead of just trying to sit still, I get my body involved in an exercise. Usually in a repetitive motion that I can then focus my mind on. To me its the same idea being focusing on breathing in and out and nothing else, only it is a total body movement you are focusing on. I seem to be able to do this better because, it expends my extra nervous energy and fatigue the body. Here is an example: I do a 15-20 minute workout on the elliptical machine. I spend the first 5 minutes or so just getting warmed up and into my rhythm. Then I close my eyes and focus my attention on simply meeting the resistance of the machine and maintaining my balance. For me I try to focus on my leg movement and the weight on my feet. I focus on trying to make the movement as smooth and efficient as possible. Closing my eyes requires a lot more balance and it is easier for me to focus and tune out all of the other crap going through my head. When I am done exercising like this my mind if a little clearer AND my body is physically exhausted making it seem easier to sit my butt down and do the stuff I don't really want to do.

What things do you do to help you stay on task and actually get your work finished?

You sound much more advanced at coping than I am, chaotic13, but here are some little things I try:

1) have some caffeine
2) tell people politely that I don't want to be bothered as I am trying to focus (this could be co-workers or family if at home)
3) if I'm working on my computer, I close all the unrelated windows on my screen so I am not tempted to look at them. Such as email.
4) I may close the door to my office if I'm at work. I may unplug the phone or not answer it. I make sure no background noise like radio, TV.

# 2 made me laugh. I do that too. "Hello.. I'm trying to focus here!" Hey.... come to think of it maybe my Dad had ADHD too. He would get so annoyed with me bugging him that he would tell me. "Hey, you know that dotted white line on the highway out there, why don't you go play on it for a while." My childhood home was along I-95

Here is another strategy that helped me today. CHUNKING: When you have a lot of things to do, it helps to divide and conquer. For me today it was grading essays. When I looked at the list of 20 ungraded essays, I started freaking out. So I put them in groups of 5. I forced myself to sit down and grade 5 essays, after which I could take a short break, stretch my legs, get a drink, surf PC, whatever. Then it was back at it for the next 5. I keep the list of completed items visible so I can see that I am making progress. Chunking for me helps me focus on my success in completing the groups and less on the long list of unfinished work.

Oh, I really need to try that chunking. I've used it to put together info to remember, but I've not thought of it in terms of breaking down bigger tasks into smaller, more manageable ones. That's a huge weak area for me. The best I've been able to do is to set a time for say between 10 and 30 minutes or so, depending on how long I can handle working on something without a break or distraction. Then when the timer goes off, I get up and move or do something else for a few minutes...an enforced break. Then it's back to setting another round of the timer. It helps some, knowing I only have to do something for a set amount of time. I can have trouble getting back to it, though.

gg

This may not be a really good one but it really seems to work for me. I'm on Adderall which helps me a lot when I need to sit down and crank out some repetitive, not preferred paperwork. This past weekend I didn't take the medication, kind of cleared my system and basically vegged out the whole two days. Then this morning I took my normal 30 mg dose and locked myself in my office for the entire day. I was very productive today :-) I think I get just a little extra kick when I go off the Adderall for a few days then start taking it again. I've told my pdoc that I usually don't take it on the weekends. He didn't see a problem with me starting and stopping it like that. So although it isn't a great coping mechanism, it works for when I need that little burst of focused productivity in a pinch.

Hi all,

I just stumbled onto psychcentral and joined today.

I have been looking through the posts in the ADD forum and this thread really caught my attention.

I have developed many of these same coping mechanisms on my own over the 30 years I have had this disorder.

I have never joined in a ADD support forum as of today, but I feel I have been separated at birth among you all.

I am getting exhausted with the gazillions of thoughts going through my head every waking hour and am desperate to finding a way to quiet my mind. It really is a bummer holding a relationship and taking 3 to 4 times longer than necessary in doing my regular and school work.

I will continue looking at the other posts. I have already found a wealth of information. I am overwhelmed with the amount and am trying to organize my plan of attack.

Anyway, I am glad to come across you all and am thankful for this resource. I will make it a goal to contribute my assets as well.

cruces01

Welcome to PC.

I recently read an article that briefly mentioned the use of therapeutic massage in reducing ADHD symptoms. Has anyone tried this? Did it work?

Touch Research Institute
list the bottom line a few studies they've done with children.

Hi Chaotic,

Love the screen name. Really fits in what we're going through.

Thanks for the fast feedback.

I have had massages for aches after working out too hard at the gym and it really does help in quieting the mind too. You should try out a full body massage.

I found this board when I did research on the possible use of NAC (N- Acetyl Cystine) for ADD. I found this site about it's use for OCD (which I also suffer from)

http://efitnessandhealth.com/info/in...d=160&Itemid=1

I am thinking of ordering some and try it out. That's my life for years now -- looking for that elusive panacea.

I'm still perusing the posts. As you know, once us ADDer's get hooked on something REALLY interesting, we stay glued to it. Albert Einstein suffered from the same stuff we are going through. I almost feel like I found my home finally.

Hmmm... maybe. Never heard of this supplement before. I think I'd want to see it in some other literature sources before trying it.

Welcome.

Did any stimulant medication ever work for you?

Have you tried therapy for ADHD?

It's been 6 weeks since I chimed in on this thread.

I have new strategies for coping since I posted on May 15.

1) I am taking drugs! My PNP put me on Wellbutrin, often prescribed off label for ADHD. She wasn't sure if my symptoms were due to ADHD, depression, anxiety, or what, or a mix. She said ADHD and other conditions often go hand in hand. So we have started with Wellbutrin, going on a month now. I think I am seeing symptom reduction. I have accomplished more and have not been so overwhelmed by the sheer amount of stuff that I have to do that I do nothing. My mood is better too.

2) I have been reading a little book with tips for coping with ADHD symptoms. That is progress for me to read on this. I have begun to make lists of things to do and cross them off as I do them. For the last few years I have been unable to make lists because I was so overwhelmed by the many things that needed to be listed. The thought of making a list was overwhelming and depressing. Now I can make lists. That itself is real progress for me.

My PNP said we can add some low dose stimulants to the Wellbutrin if I want. I'm going to stay with just the Wellbutrin for another month and see how it goes.

Since my successful mini trial with Propranolol, I met with my pdoc again this week. I brought with me my long over due Blood Pressure log. My BP has been my GP's major concern with the use of a stimulant to treat my ADHD. The Adderall does seem to raise my already elevated BP. I kind of figure this out that's why I was reluctant to bring in my BP log. But everything seems to be working out. My pdoc suggested that since I benefit from the Adderall and need BP medication anyway that I switch my BP medication to a long acting version of Propranolol (a beta-blocker). So we are trying this approach. At this point the only problem I am encountering is that I feel a major drag when exercising. The propranolol lowers my heart rate, which now I need to accommodate to when I exercise.

The good new for other ADHD suffers is that stimulates are still possible to take even if you have elevated BP.

The good new for me is.. I'm starting to like my neurologist/pdoc/ candy man guy better now. Especially since he must have listened to me during my previous visit; his PA stayed clear of my room

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chaotic13 said:
Since my successful mini trial with Propranolol, I met with my pdoc again this week. I brought with me my long over due Blood Pressure log. My BP has been my GP's major concern with the use of a stimulant to treat my ADHD. The Adderall does seem to raise my already elevated BP. I kind of figure this out that's why I was reluctant to bring in my BP log. But everything seems to be working out. My pdoc suggested that since I benefit from the Adderall and need BP medication anyway that I switch my BP medication to a long acting version of Propranolol (a beta-blocker). So we are trying this approach. At this point the only problem I am encountering is that I feel a major drag when exercising. The propranolol lowers my heart rate, which now I need to accommodate to when I exercise.

The good new for other ADHD suffers is that stimulates are still possible to take even if you have elevated BP.

The good new for me is.. I'm starting to like my neurologist/pdoc/ candy man guy better now. Especially since he must have listened to me during my previous visit; his PA stayed clear of my room

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[b]LOL @ Candyman.
His PA better steer clear... we ADHDers tend to bite when provoked I'm not sure if my ADHD stimulant raises my blood pressure. I have no basis for comparison. I know the immediate release version I used to take raised my pulse rate though.
Yay for PDOCS who listen.

Chunking really works for me. I don't ever try to rush myself either, as it tends to screw things up.