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.