Did you know fatigue is one of the most common symptoms of #ADHD? I didn't- I spent over ten years telling people I felt exhausted all of the time, and nobody connected the dots.
There's a few ADHD experiences tied to fatigue that many of us struggle with:
There's a few ADHD experiences tied to fatigue that many of us struggle with:
Understimulation: Ever try to start on a task you've been putting off, only to feel fatigued? You might be understimulated, and your boredom is manifesting as brain fog. Often you'll find it'll fade after some positive stimulation, but return as soon as you try the task again.
Overstimulation: You're out with friends at a bar, and the music is blaring and all of a sudden keeping up with the conversation is exhausting. You're overstimulated. While understimulation feels like brain fog, overstimulation can feel like overload, heat or static in your head.
Insomnia: This is less of a acute fatigue response, and more of a state of being, but ADHDers SUCK at sleep. This, when combined with the emotional turbulence and reactivity of the ADHDer, can lead to a pretty exhausted "norm" which doesn't have much flex in it.
Hyperfocus hangover: You've gotten into a state of obsession for something, and you've spent the last 24 hours ignoring all of your basic needs as you dig deep into it. When this feeling fades, you're left with a sense of emptiness that's devoid of the energy you'd been enjoying.
There are probably lots of other ways ADHDers experience fatigue, but the above are SUPER common. I didn't recognise what they were before I was diagnosed, it all just felt like tiredness for me. I couldn't understand why I felt like I was wading through syrup all the time.
Fatigue is my most PROMINENT symptom, more than forgetfulness, or distractableness, or impulsiveness. Inattentive ADHDers are more likely to experience it, and ADHDers with menstrual cycles often get it worse during certain parts of their cycle. But it's a COMMON symptom.
So yeah, if you, like me, have opted into lying underneath your desk from exhaustion instead of finishing a boring task, you might have ADHD. Double points if you sometimes feel like your brain is "overheating" or has "too many tabs open". Get some rest, and look into ADHD.
Okay twitter is doing a weird thing where it only shows me mentions from the last ten minutes, so if I don't reply, it's because of that sorry! But there's lots of good insights from others to check out on the thread 🥰
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
