Stress and ADHD: From Hyper-focus to Scattered and Back.

On September 28, my Father passed away suddenly at the age of 72, after he suffered serious injuries from an accident in his home. He spent two days in the hospital in intensive care, but could not speak or really communicate as he was on a respirator and a lot of other medications. I was faced with a number of stressful conversations and decisions. My sister and I needed to determine how much care would be administered. I needed to help her deal with her intense sadness at the chain of events. I needed to inform his siblings with whom he'd had a troubled relationship. I needed to deal with a myriad of Doctors and medical personnel. Finally I had to try to retain some sense of normalcy for my kids and the other aspects of my life. While all of this was happening I experienced one of the oddest aspects of ADHD that I know of; the ability to completely hyper-focus.

It's an extremely weird feeling; everything slows down, and things in my mind seem to click into place. A list seems to form; who to call, what things I will need, what information I need to ask the Doctors about. I am calm and clear. I can manage to push emotion aside, while still retaining my empathy. I can ask questions and follow up without trouble. Its as if I have been listening to a static filled radio broadcast for sometime, and then the signal suddenly became crystal clear. I am able to filter out distraction and concentrate. Following my father's death, for the next week I remained in this hyper vigilant state. I planned the funeral, went through my Father's important papers, put together photo collages, sorted through his bills, and then dealt with a lengthy wake filled with well wishers and a longer funeral and post funeral reception. Through it all I was calm, composed, alert and together.

It was only after his funeral that I began to come back down to my normal state. It was then I experienced the flip side of the coin: how low level constant stress can aggravate and even worsen the normal symptoms I experience from ADHD. For the next two weeks I had trouble organizing, prioritizing, and initiating tasks. Thankfully my wife ran interference for me on a number of things. I had lower than normal levels of energy, even with my medications. I thought perhaps it was sadness, and I'm sure part of it is. But, a bigger part of it is just normal, routine ADHD that is for some reason more active and aggravated.

I've tried to exercise regularly and get enough sleep. I've tried to tackle tasks head on as much as possible. I've got lists coming out my ears and two different calendars right now. Is it helping? A little. It's as if I had an Ulcer, and I need to just realize that a big life stressor will aggravate the condition and time will be needed to get things back to equilibrium. Until then, I just try to stay focused on the good behaviors that have helped me in the past, and try to go easy on myself while I work through this process. Knowing the challenges you face helps immensely as you try to overcome them.