Do I have ADHD?

September 6, 2014 1:19 AM

Every few minutes, I'll just pause mid-sentence while talking. My mind just goes blank. Is this a symptom of ADHD? Something else?

When I try to describe it to people, I usually say it's like a computer freezing up. I know it will come back, and there's nothing to do but wait.

People who know me well are used to it. But people who don't know me well often try to finish my sentence for me, or think that I'm bullshitting. This got noticeably worse in my 20s (I'm in my mid-30s now). It's problematic for the career path I'm on, which is likely going to have me doing more public speaking.

I don't think it's nerves, as it's not any better when I'm around friends than when I'm speaking in public (in fact, it might be a little worse).

As for other symptoms, I've always had trouble staying organized, staying on a schedule, etc. For better or worse, I just saw them as emblematic of being a "creative" person.

I guess my other question is if there's anything I can feasibly do about it. In all other aspects of my life, I'm relatively productive and happy. Does this annoyance even merit treatment?

For what it's worth, my family has a history of depression, and I've gone to counseling for depression a few times (usually when stress was making it worse). I took an online autism test once and scored really high on it, but I don't match any of the symptoms I've read online, so I decided that was just a fluke.

posted by anonymous to Health & Fitness (12 answers total)

My ex-husband did that when he smoked pot. It was always the worst the day after smoking. I made him choose either pot or me and we got married, and then divorced, but that is another story. He does have severe adult ADD, if that helps any.

If you don't smoke pot, it could be a sleep disorder. If you are not getting good sleep, your brain isn't going to work at full speed. If you have sleep apnea, that is something that gets worse with age so I would look into that before asking for medication for ADD.
posted by myselfasme at 4:58 AM on September 6, 2014

Don't self-diagnose. Online tests for your mental health are like using a cosmo sex-quiz as your guide to marriage counseling.

If you're concerned about this, then see a professional. It won't hurt, won't cost much, and will give you tools to deal with it.
posted by jenkinsEar at 5:28 AM on September 6, 2014 [3 favorites]

If it's interfering with your life, I say go to a doctor and start with a full run of bloodwork, because this could be a LOT of things.

I had the same brain fog happen a few years back; blood test showed I have Celiac disease.
posted by kinetic at 5:29 AM on September 6, 2014 [1 favorite]

I had "brain fog" creep up on me in the past few years. It turned out to be a combination of insulin resistance and severe sleep apnea. A low-carb eating plan and CPAP machine later, and voila! No more brain fog, AND I'm having a much easier time with organization, motivation, and attention to detail.

See your doctor and have them run a complete blood panel and refer you to a sleep lab for an overnight sleep test before you assume ADHD. It could be any number of things.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 5:42 AM on September 6, 2014 [2 favorites]

I have ADHD-I, and I'm in my mid-twenties. This isn't a symptom I've ever encountered - I tend to kind of the opposite, in that I'll excitedly pursue a specific tack in a conversation and end up a long way from where I started.

I'm not a doctor, though, and really you're not going to get a conclusive answer until you've seen a real doctor. There's a lot of misinformation on the internet.
posted by spielzebub at 5:57 AM on September 6, 2014 [1 favorite]

If the feeling of "you" disappears (ie you lose time) then that can be an absence siezure.

How long do you freeze up for?

But you still sound pretty aware so likely not that. Honestly it reminds me of smart people who talk quickly, who talk a little bit faster than they think and get a good run of words going... to then suddenly lose their train of thought and draw a blank.

I know this happens to me when I have a whiff of another thought brewing, adjacent to my current line of thinking, usually when I'm judging myself or second guessing my train of thought as I'm forming it. It stops me from finishing my current line of thought until I've found a way to deal with that self judgement, even if my way of dealing with it is "oh I'm judging myself again, let it go."

Anyways if this bothers you get it checked out.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 6:21 AM on September 6, 2014 [2 favorites]

I do this pretty frequently - I just lose the sentence as I'm speaking it and have trouble picking it back up. I don't have ADHD, as far as I'm aware; at times I've suspected I have it, but it's never gotten to the point where I've sought a diagnosis or treatment. (And if it's of interest to you: I also have a history of depression, and when I was a small child my parents suspected I had autism because I was so withdrawn and quiet. Not sure if either of these are a factor in my case or yours.)

In my particular case, my best guess is that I'm just not very proficient at thinking as I'm speaking: I've always been quiet, and I learned to read very early, so I'm more comfortable with communicating in writing. I drop sentences even when I'm with people I'm completely comfortable around, so I don't think it's an anxiety thing.

Consider treating the symptom rather than digging around for a cause; it could be all you need is practice. Improv classes, Toastmasters, that sort of thing.
posted by Metroid Baby at 6:23 AM on September 6, 2014 [1 favorite]

This is far more likely to be a symptom of something wrong with your diet, sleeping habits or something that might show up on a blood test.

It doesn't sound like a symptom of ADHD - e.g. none of the people I know with ADHD have anything like this.
posted by Ashlyth at 9:36 AM on September 6, 2014

This is not a specific symptom of ADHD, which you may or may not have regardless. Were you my patient, and you came to me for care (I'm a psychotherapist), I would refer you to a doctor, probably a neurologist, to talk about this.
posted by OmieWise at 11:38 AM on September 6, 2014 [1 favorite]

My partner talks in the same way, and isn't the most organised person (and is also a "creative" type). He has dyslexia, in particular auditory processing disorder and describes the pauses in his speech having a similar cause to yours. His dyslexia wasn't diagnosed until he attended university and sought help from disability services, where he was put through several capacity/functional assessments. A significant number of dyslexics also have ADD.

Then again, I suffer from brain fog due to chronic fatigue syndrome and find myself now having similar issues to my partner, so there could definitely be something more physiological going on with you.
posted by hgws at 8:31 PM on September 6, 2014

I had absence seizures for several years in my teens, but didn' t know what was going on and my parents wouldn't take me to the doctor, but your description is identical to what it was like. After I left home I went to a doctor, had an EEG and was diagnosed with petit mal epilepsy - that's what they called absence seizures then - and put on antiseizure meds which I took for about 15 years. In my case, I also had a "grand mal component" in that if I had something in my hand when I "blipped" I'd often throw it forcefully. I threw hairbrushes and coffee cups and many other things - not always, just sometimes, particularly if I was overtired. The absence seizures were always bad if I was lacking sleep. Anyway, the grand-mal component was the main reason I was put on fairly strong meds - Dilantin and phenobarbital.

Eventually I had some liver problems and a macrocytic anemia brought on by the Dilantin and it was stopped. I was in my 30s then and didn't have much trouble with the "blips" after that.

For me, I'd be right in the middle of a sentence and it just felt like my brain had been switched off and on again, like a light switch. I'd lose track of what I was saying for a few seconds, but could usually get back on track quickly and continue on. Sometimes I'd stammer when I blipped and people always noticed it, which was hard to deal with as a teenager. During that split second that I was "gone" I didn't hear anything or think anything or ... just nothing at all.

I'd encourage you to see a neurologist, who will be able to tell you right away what's causing the problem and get it fixed. Good luck to you.
posted by aryma at 11:09 PM on September 6, 2014

IANYD. I'm in my late 50s, I have ADD and this is not an ADD thing. Nthing others: you could absolutely have ADD but this is something else. Would highly encourage you NOT to treat the symptoms only but look for underlying cause.

It's great that you are relatively happy and productive. Thing is, it's impossible to know if you can do anything about this unless you seek medical treatment. That's the only way to know for sure and these things often take time to sort, cost money and involve discomfort. All of which sucks.

That said, I did not get my ADD diagnosis until I was forty fucking three. I promise that the quality of my life (and work) would have been vastly improved by an earlier diagnosis. So don't wait.

It's one thing if this happened rarely. You say it happens every few minutes. Could be a minor thing, could be something more involved as shown by examples above. Please check it out and let us know what you find out. Take care!
posted by Bella Donna at 11:00 AM on September 7, 2014