Welcome back! If you read my last blog, I mentioned how I was going to explain some more effects of ADHD and how they impact my daily life. So let’s just jump right into it!
- Emotional Regulation
This symptom is a big one that I wanted to talk about. Many do not know that ADHD affects your emotions but it affects mine a lot. This mainly consists of mood swings and difficulty coping with emotions. The mood swings do not affect me a ton, however when they do, it is quite annoying. Most of the time, my mood will be completely normal, and then I will feel like something isn’t right and get really annoyed and upset even though nothing is wrong. I’ve learned to cope with the mood swings but I haven’t learned how to properly cope with my emotions in general. I tend to bottle all of my negative emotions up and kind of put it in the back of my brain. This is not healthy and periodically ends up in an eruption of emotions that is controllable but not good for me in anyway. I’m still working on coping with emotions so someday I won’t have to bottle them up. :max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/what-is-dysregulation-50738684-Final-16b22ee2017b4a87adc04bd5d5750d15.png)
- Low Frustration Tolerance and Easily Overstimulated
This symptom is also not talked about too much but is one that I see daily. When things don’t go someone’s way, it is only natural for them to get frustrated. For those with ADHD, it is often very easy to get frustrated and lose motivation. I think this has something to do with a lack of motivation to begin with. Sometime it seems as if I am just searching for a reason to be lazy and not do whatever I am doing. Often that reason is something not going my way which causes the frustration. Along the same lines, those with ADHD are not stimulated enough. That part of the reason why stimulants like Adderall are prescribed to those with ADHD; they stimulate the brain and allow it to function normally. So, the ADHD brain is used to being understimulated. This means that when there is a lot going on, those with ADHD may feel overstimulated while those without ADHD may feel fine. When overstimulated, I tend to go nonverbal and kind of shut down. Sometimes it is really hard to take yourself out of that “shut down” mode even if you are aware of it.
To keep this post from being too long, I will cut it there but there are still some more symptoms I want to talk about so in my last passion blog post, I will explain those. Thank you!
These are definitely things that I did not know about ADHD. I relate heavily to both of these which is kind of concerning for me but very good to know. I like the images you included; they summarize the main points well. Great post!
I didn’t know that ADHD causes mood swings. When I think about ADHD, I usually only think about the common symptom of focusing on the wrong things, which leads to time management and stress. I wonder to what extend mood swings affect people with ADHD. Overall great post!
I had no idea about the emotional regulation symptom of ADHD, but it makes sense when thinking of the reasons why my 25- year-old sister was only recently diagnosed for ADHD, and possibly why the symptoms are more recognized in young boys than young girls. I feel that there is a stereotype for girls that their emotions are more turbulent and unstable than boys, and that’s why it’s more “unconventional” when these symptoms appear in boys.