Fatigue after concentrating?

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I am a female in my 40’s recently diagnosed with inattentive ADHD. Lots of questions, trying to get area support group “revitalized” (by encouraging meetings).

Lots to introduce but my burning question of the moment is: does anyone end up extremely sleepy or fatigued within an hour or so after an extended period of strong / prolonged concentration?

Thanks

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[billd]

Directed Attention Fatigue (DAF). Doesn’t really have to be ADD – non-ADD folks can experience it.

I experience it – but only after concentrating on things that don’t really interest me, or when I’m bored and force myself, etc.

If it’s something I love – I can concentrate for extended periods with no fatigue – in fact, I can go nearly 24 hours with no break.

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[memzak]

I find that about 45 minutes into a meeting, I will start yawning and get sleepy even if I am interested. I find that eating sugar like tick tacs or other small candies helps me stop yawning. I also fall asleep watching movies and tv shows. Sometimes if I am having touble going to sleep I will put a video in and 5 minutes later I am out.

Bulld I always thought this was part of ADD. Where did you get your information?

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[billd]

that can be part of ADD…….. but if it’s just occasional, and your ADD is mild, or doesn’t exist, folks without ADD can find themselves exhausted after concentratring really hard, and trying to ignore distractions.

Tonight I was retrofitting my radial arm saw with a recall kit (safety thing) and I was so determined to get it installed – and all done properly, I almost forgot to stop for the night, and I wasn’t tired at all. It took no real concentratrion – I know how do to everything involved without even thinking (it comes natural for me) and there were NO distractions. My shop was REALLY quiet, no rain, no wind, no music, nothing at all, lights were smooth, no flickering.

But a couple of months back, trying to take the tests and interview the neuro-psyc gave me – it was SO exhausting – the office was not all that quiet, there were people in the other room, it was remembering numbers then repeating them back in proper order, the they rattled off a combo of letters and numbers in random order, and I had to say them back to them in proper order, letters first, then numbers – I was totally exhaust attempting to concentrate, shut out other distractions, and remember strings of characters longer than 6 characters. (6 is about my limit – so I have real trouble remembering phone numbers for example) I was pooped! I actually felt physically worn out as well as mentally.

OTOH – if you find yourself abnormally sleepy during the day – you may have sleep issues, or a sleep disorder. I found that was part of my problem – and part of it is ADD. So I’m treating multiple things, and having to change my life a bit.

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[Anonymous]

Thanks for sharing. I posted this after a prolonged period of concentrating at work the other day and had an unusual tiredness in the afternoon (!). I’m going to one more professional, but two professionals have diagnosed me with ADHD (inattentive). I too have had many instances of prolonged attention to the things I like without feeling tired or as tired. I’m just trying to feel my way around this, i.e.: wondering if periodic brief exercise would boost natural dopamine and help me throughout the day for improving concentration. Found a local support group, but they are not real active right now in spite of being in a large enough metro area.

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[Anonymous]

attentional fatigue may be a reason why i cannot drive more than an hour at a time, no matter how rested I feel. driving in the morning is another story.

internet blocker is about to get me.. but look up the stroop test.

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[Anonymous]

Out of curiosity, does it happen during your monthly cycle at all? (If you still have it.) I get extremely exhausted (like I want to hibernate) leading up to my period. I have a really hard time focusing on anything for very long and say some of the “dumbest” things.

I did notice though that when exercising and eating better, it’s not as powerful as that.

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[Author]

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