except it’s NOT bc the huge shift in atmospheric pressure has rendered my autistic brain completely useless for the foreseeable future. all services have been shut down. the roads are closed and so are my neural pathways
when you said atmospheric pressure shut down your brain it took me a second to realize you meant the atmosphere as in how tense school is compared to how calm home is, and not that autistic people have some kind of internal barometer that is attached to their brain.
nope, I’m literally talking about barometric pressure!
for those who aren’t aware, autistic/adhd brains are sensitive to barometric pressure shifts.changes in atmospheric pressure (like those caused by rain) effect our blood oxygen levels in a way that messes with our brains. sudden changes in weather can exacerbate our symptoms, making us irritable, lethargic, anxious, twitchy, overwhelmed etc, while our brains work overtime to adjust to the change. it’s just one of the ways that environmental factors other people take for granted (weather, noise, overhead music, lights, etc) can affect our lives in ways people don’t expect.
so yeah, we basically do carry around internal barometers, attached to very loud alarms!
… I knew the weather pressure gave me migraines and made my joints ache, but are you actually telling me it’s also the reason for why I can’t power through my migraines like I can at other times? What the fuck.
Okay, I managed to find something that wasn’t a link to someone’s blog, and is on the CHADD website. Migraines and ADHD can often be comorbid for a lot of us, which I kinda guessed might be a thing. And given the overlap between Autism and ADHD, I’d say it’s a safe bet to speculate that migraines are also more common in Autistic folk as well.
Migraines, unlike headaches, are a neurological disorder that affects multiple aspects of the body. Including our blood pressure and our ability to regulate emotion. They can also cause sensitivity to sound, light and movement. So things that you were handling just fine a while ago, become completely overwhelming. Mood swings and depression can sometimes be a warning sign that a migraine attack is coming (prodrome), and they can also happen after a migraine attack (postdrome) as the body comes down from whatever chemical rollercoaster of misery it’s just been on. And weather change is absolutely a trigger.
This is purely speculation on my part, but it might be possible that the weather changes are triggering silent migraines (migraine without headache). Which means some folks might actually have migraines and not be aware of it, but it might also mean they could benefit from migraine treatment to prevent their bodies going on aforementioned misery rollercoaster every time the weather changes. They might also not have migraines. But the trigger switch might be the same for certain things, and the meds used for treating migraines might be helpful in terms of regulation, in the same way how certain blood pressure meds have been shown to help ADHD better than some anti-depressants.
Hmm. I wonder. I might bring this up with my specialist and see if she has any info on it.
…well fuck. Knowing this sure would’ve made high school A LOT FUCKING EASIER.
If anyone ever tells me again that I’m not concentrating hard enough or I’m not focusing hard enough on doing my tasks or work or whatever, here watch this. No brain is the same and our ADHD brain looks different when focusing/concentrating!!!
This is a SPECT, S-P-E-C-T of my husband’s brain. This is his brain during focus of a–at a task that takes concentration. This is showing blood flow to the different areas of his brain when he has to focus and concentrate.
And this…is mine.
When I have to focus and concentrate on something I find boring, my brain literally goes to sleep.
Okay, when I was having that test, I knew I was being tested. So I was concentrating as hard as I possibly could. I was trying to focus, and that’s what happens in the brain of someone with ADHD.
So when we say our brains work differently, we literally…
(quieter) What was I talking about?
Neurological condition is neurological, yo.
What I don’t get is why is not scanning the brain like this a part of the diagnostic process? I had to go through an extremely stressful test only to be told I “probably don’t have ADHD” (it still makes my cry whenever I think about it, hello rejection sensitive dysphoria) because I consistently scored higher than what is typical for ADHD. I was interested! Some of the tests were on a computer; I’ve been using computers practically my entire life, of course I have good reflexes for pressing the space bar whenever one of a set of letters flashes on the screen.
The comments I gave about certain tests being extremely frustrating and that I hated doing them were not noted. You’d think that’d be relevant, but nooo. And let’s not take into account how my home looks – typical for untreated ADHD. I admit there’s a possibility that I don’t have it, but one thing I am 100% sure about is that I am not neurotypical. Life cannot be this hard for most people. No one would ever get stuff done.
FINALLY, SOME GOOD QUALITY EXPLANATION OF WHY “I DONT LOOK LIKE I HAVE ADHD” BECAUSE ITS NOT REALLY CANT SIT STILL FOCUS NONE DISORDER ITS SOMETHING A WHOLE LOT MORE COMPLEX
Actually yeah. I just reblogged this silently without any acknowledgement of it, but this is hones to god one of the best explanations I’ve seen.
forever torn between “if this object isnt always in the same spot i’ll never remember it” and “if this object stays in the same place for more than 24 hours it’ll just become background and i’ll never remember it”
Okay, but.
Have you considered: if it’s an important object, making its home Aesthetique™?
I’m living that ADHD life, and yeah, visual exhaustion is absolutely a thing. I can’t tell you how much time I spend every week looking for stuff that’s right in front of me or even in my hand (and I legit can’t tell you, once it’s north of an hour time ceases to exist for me), except!
I’ve figured out that I’m more likely to be able to find something if the place it’s supposed to live is something I like looking at. I have a little key hanger by my door with birds on it. It’s visually interesting, it pleases me to look at it, and I can see in a moment if my keys aren’t there before it becomes mission critical to have my keys.
(image of a brown metal key-hanger with three hooks in the shape of small stylized birds, and keys on each hook)
It’s tiny shit like this that can dramatically improve your life. I also do a lot of crafts, and because I am a self-aware trainwreck and a super visual person, I know that I need to have my materials where I can see them all the time. I also figure, if they’re gonna be constantly visible, I maybe oughtta make ‘em
Aesthetique™, because I don’t want someone to stage a hoarding intervention.
(image of cube shelves with fabric stored in small bolts and scrolls, sorted in color wheel order)
This has the added bonus of curtailing my occasionally out-of-control shopping problem, because it feels like shopping through the stash I already have whenever I start something new.
Did it take a while to organize my fabric like that? HELL YES IT DID, but when I started I had maybe half as much material to organize, and I asked for help doing it. (Never be afraid to ask for help, my friends!) And seriously, since I like looking at my stash, since it makes me happy, since I’m proud of the work I did to make it look like that, I’m way more likely to keep it that way.
I actually took my closet doors a coupla days ago, so I can accomplish something similar with my wardrobe. I’ve got clothes I like and never wear because I forget they’re there, so I’m gonna make my closet
Aesthetique™
and actually frickin’ use it.
tl;dr acknowledge how your brain works and work with your brain, fuck minimalism, be visual
