A question to our ASC+ADHDs: Is it how it works?

My work colleague is ASC+ADHD, impulsive, hyperactive and inattentive, full set. After 6 weeks working together, while we do not see each other a lot (it is more like 1h daily, he is about to finish and I start my shift), I came to conclusion, that if he gets any help and advice how to deal with it is not working very well. Other workmates have no understanding how big difficulty that is, and they make it more difficult for him, even comparing him to me to imply that he is not trying. How fair is to compare someone in his first job to someone who has worked for 20 years in many places? That makes me feel guilty, even though I know I am not, and angry. It is his first job, and I wouldn’t like to see him broken already, he is nice and shy and mini smiles a lot, he even found a girlfriend recently, his life has only just begun. Blush

I did a lot of reading online, and I couldn’t find anything that would actually explain what happens during what they called ‘’losing attention’’, lots of official propaganda, that is trying to put a sticker on a person only.

I came up with a hypothetical situation, that or something like that probably happened to each of us.  I am trying to figure out what was your chain of thought during that situation:

During classes at school and your favourite subject:

Trigger

What you are doing

Interruption

What you are trying to do

Teacher speaking to class

Your focus is on what teacher is saying

 

You are trying to focus on teacher,

You noticed a bird outside the window

Your focus switches to the bird

Teacher asks you to pay attention to the classes

You are trying to focus back on the teacher feeling slightly guilty

Classmate sitting at the next bench giggles

Your focus switches to the classmate

Teacher asks classmate what was so funny?

You are not trying to focus back on a teacher thinking you are the reason of giggles

Classmate answer that nothing, you notice your laces untied

Your focus goes to your laces

Teacher says let’s continue the lesson

You missed what teacher said trying to tie your laces

Someone else moved their chair scraping the floor

You immediately think about covering your ears, the sound makes your skin goosebump

You cover your ears

Every thought about paying attention to lesson forgotten, you are thinking about escaping

Teacher asks you if you would like to go to the toilet (to give you the reason to leave and relax)

Your only thought is to run

You trip over laces you haven’t finished tying

Trying to get up to continue escape

 

Question two is how do you feel about multitasking? Could it be possible for you to switch attention between two things you are trying to focus on?

  • I stopped experiments and I sm off them. Though  i eat packet of Romeos per week and 2 or 3 of aldi magnum

  • Now you've done it ... I used to get Racers but went of the nuts in them, I moved over to Jive - Aldis' false Twix. Went from 1 a day to 1 a week haha.

  • Thank you 

    it is very helpful

    unable to focus on one task, often because it is just to boring

    switching tasks often enough is possible if you concentrate 

    Multitasking is very miuch like it, except you keep switching between two unfinished tasks (or more), very much like computer seemiingly performing two operations at the same time.

    I can tell you why you think it drained more energy out of you, our brain eats more sugar when doing it, it is not an energy efficient method and not very time efficient at first as well, it requires a lot of practise.

    But sugar demand is tremendous, when I was doing my experiments, after 1,5h my blood sugar was so low I had to eat something.sweet and body is supposed to store 24h supply of sugar. that is how I got hooked up on eating sweets, I would buy at ALDI 10 packs of 6 Racers, that is ALDI Snickers daily, one evening I had 54 Racers lol, except that I was eating like normal, other meals regularly.

  • I try EXTREMELY hard to try and keep focus but it is difficult.  When I was younger I matched most of what your table says but would not have seemed like I did.  It was like that in my head as I managed to focus on the outside (mostly), but it always takes a lot of energy to have this self control.  Over the days of a new job this extra energy effort requirement builds up and I get tired and make mistakes and it becomes increasingly difficult to concentrate and then people notice.  I have only survived by booking days off pretending to have weekends away in my interview so that I could have an extra day to rest.

    I cannot say for anybody else that's just what it's like for me.  I do learn the job, it's just at a slower pace than you would expect with a neurotypical person with the same intelligence level.  Also, I have found it difficult to concentrate in some jobs because I was sooooo bored. The work wasn't challenging enough and so although I made mistakes, it wasn't because I couldn't do it, it was because I was so bored my brain was shutting off and thinking of everything else but the task.  Due to the odd simple mistakes I would be given less or easier work and my concentration and little errors would get worse!  In the end I left these positions.  

    Oh also I have to swop tasks because I get bored just doing 1 easy task constantly.  So I managed about 15 to 20 minutes per task and then change.  Unless it's a complex task because then I can concentrate for hours because I enjoy them.

    I don't know if thay helps, but that's my experience anyway.