ADHD and the fog
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We ADHDers aren’t just HYPERactive, we can be HYPOactive too.
Its when your brain feels sluggish, unalert, tired and like you’re running underwater (it genuinely makes me feel actually sleepy).
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Its called different names.. brain FOG.. fuzzy thinking..
But it all refers to that hypoactivity that’s common with inattentive ADHDers.
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I call it zombie mode (or the ughhh). Some call it robot mode.
I was in zombie mode most of my teenage years. My mind was so unalert that would feel dissociative.
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Sometimes the fog would lift temporarily but Id have little memory of last six months.
Medication is really good at reducing how often I feel foggy.
More than that, I start feeling this way when I finish my projects (this also used to happen when I wasn’t hyperfixated on anything).
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Non ADHDers have a ‘stand-by’ mode… or a ‘low power mode’, where they aren’t fully focused on anything but they can start their focus faster.
Think of it like neutral gear in a car (vs engine being off) or a tv being off (vs unplugged).
ADHDers don’t have a mental ‘stand-by’ mode. So our attention ebbs and flows with our interests.
(in terms of mental inertia, its like non ADHDers never go to 0 but we do)
I need to be thinking about something all the time or my brain turns off its engine and it takes a while to turn it on again.
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(Some researchers have claimed that this is infact a symptom of seperate attention disorder called sluggish cognitive tempo/ concentration deficit disorder but this isn’t widely accepted)
