Transcript
Speaker: Back in the room. Back in the room for the for the ADHDville summer special. So let's go to the place where the distractions are landmarks and the details are the main roads. Welcome to ADHDville.
Speaker: Oh, yeah. It's the summer special.
Speaker: It's August. I'm beginning to think the summer's coming to an end. But is it really? I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. Maybe, maybe not.
Speaker: All right, well, we're glad that you can to join us. Away, teagulls. There we go.
Speaker: They're always stealing my my fries. ah terrible i know right uh all right so i'm martin west i'm i was officially diagnosed with uh the combined adhd poopoo platter in 2013 and and suspected or autistic um and pulled out for the summer and i'm here with amy Hello, I'm Amy. This is my little sidekick, Jake.
Speaker: And I was not formally diagnosed with ADHD, but after a million years in therapy, basically meaning since I was nine and I'm 46 now, um it was brought to my attention that I may have some neurodivergent, highly sensitive person tendencies, and I am just on this journey to figure it all out.
Speaker: That's awesome. I love this. I love this. This is like, yeah, nice bookends of of of stuff. So ah what we're going to do is in our summer specials, where is it? We're going to read. I'm going to bring out the ADHD. I love the gazette.
Speaker: The gazette. Love it. There's a sports page on the back. I don't follow sports. So i i if I was excited about the sports page, I would be lying.
Speaker: um Is there like a style section in the ADHD Gazette? Yes. Okay, love it. And you can obviously ah read from from anything in the in the style section. So we're going to read bits from this week's ADHD Gazette. um Who wants to go first?
Speaker: you Well, before we go, can I just tell you why I'm and and i'm on such a freaking high right now? All right. Last week we were talking about getting the car service, getting the oil changed. Since we can't see the oil, why get it changed? Right.
Speaker: I got my oil changed today. Wow. I got my tires rotated and guess what I got back in the car after? i couldn't tell the difference. I know. I was going to say. they just thought They could have taken it for a drive for all I know and then charged me for it. I don't know, but I did it. And so i' i just like when I do something like that, I feel like a responsible adult and and I'm on like a high for the rest of the day. So that's how I feel right now. Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker: Absolutely. I know. my but The air con in my car died. Oh, that sucks. Oh, my. Really? It's July right now.
Speaker: I know. Right. And then I spent 500 bucks getting new Freon in it. and getting me what f Getting new what? Freon put in it. it's the It's the stuff that they put in the air conditioning. I know no more than that. um I know it's called Freon.
Speaker: house And you put it in the system and it leaked out. And it leaked out. The new Freon leaked out? Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. But they did put they they did put the dye in it. So in theory, they should be able to see where the dye is. But it was actually, you know, a few. Yeah. So that when it leaks out, they can see where the hole is because that's where the dye is.
Speaker: But I don't know. I don't want to spend I can't spend another $500 First of all I've never even heard of Freon bet if we took a survey 10 people Right One of them has maybe heard of Freon Or am I wrong Is that like a common thing Probably Oh, I think honestly, if you know anything about cars, you probably do know about Freon.
Speaker: I mean, i i am not a mechanic and i don't I'm not really interested in that kind of thing. Me neither. yeah you You hear these words that ah mechanics use. Yes. Okay, free on.
Speaker: know. Okay. Yeah, I know what that don't know. It's like the oil. I don't know whether it's a thing or not. um Is it really $500? I don't know. it could be 10 cents. And someone would say to me it's $500 and I would go, okay.
Speaker: Right. Yeah, I don't know. They could be jipping all of us. Let's hope they're not. Yeah. Okay. who for Who wants to go? ah Please feel free.
Speaker: All right. Well, I'm going to a read from the from the front page. Love it. Front page news. The article heading is – where is it? Where is it? I'm it up here. I'm going to go back to the front page. get Here we go.
Speaker: ces a This is a little bit of fun. I don't know. ADHD Ancient History. So we're we're going to go back in time to the ancient the ancient the ancient Greeks. Okay.
Speaker: So we're going back to the time when hip when hip hypocrisy when Hippocrates called us, ADHD is, too much fire.
Speaker: Fire? Fire. Yeah, too much fire. So, you know, like, if you have an ADHD brain, is it a curse? Is it a superpower?
Speaker: Or is it an imbalance in the four humours? so so ah So, according to ancient Greek dude, it's the last one. Is an imbalance?
Speaker: Yeah. So the so like for probably thousands of years, um the opinion was, I don't know if we heard of this, was that we are made up of four humors, like um fire, water, air.
Speaker: I got it. And those are the four parts of us. And then if one is one is too much or or too little, that's when our health goes out of whack. so How do you feel about this? Because I think that i hate this guy, Hippocrates or whatever his name I've never even heard of him. But like I don't like that one bit. I hate it.
Speaker: but um I don't think that he actually came up with it himself. I don't think he did. But... Oh, actually, you know what? ah But, yeah, so... That, I mean, what I what i think about the four humans thing is that is that it was like... It was a thing for thousands of years. Like, everyone just... Someone came up with it at some point and everyone went, that sounds good.
Speaker: Okay. That will be... our entire that's that that's it that that will be our our medical textbook right right until recently yeah but yeah we went hang on a second this makes no sense Wait a minute. So this is what everybody believed?
Speaker: Yes. And so Hippocrates said, right well, if you have less of one than the other, then, because to me this is like, oh, one of them is less than the other three, let's say. ah So something's wrong with you. something's wrong with you. Right. so So the earliest known description of ADHD comes from this guy, Hippocrates. Right. who's the father of modern modern medicine.
Speaker: He lived around like 480 to 375 BC, there or thereabouts. And he observed that patients who couldn't focus for long had exceptionally quick reactions to their environment.
Speaker: Interesting. Oh, okay, okay, okay. Wow, okay. So he didn't just describe, so he believed it was an imbalance, and thats right an overbalance of fire over war over what water.
Speaker: So you've got the four humans, fire, water, air, earth, and the fire, he thought that there was like, There was too much fire and too little water, right? So those two things were in balance. So fire was all the warm and moist parts. Yep.
Speaker: So this so the that was that was that was associated with being um am ambitious, decisive, and having a short temper. So it felt like there was too much of that and too little of the water, which was cold and moist, and someone who was seen as reserved, dull, calm.
Speaker: So it felt like like there was too much fieriness, too little calm and then he wrecked so he recommended a bland diet of like what of fish so so to treat this this this pre-ADHD yeah thing uh he felt like a bland diet heavy on fish lots of water obviously gotta drink more water and plenty of physical exercise um because because those are all cooling things according to hypoxia i mean but you know exercise that's pretty good yep okay i agree hydrate yep that's okay yep
Speaker: fish you stupid or i This is like the dumbest thing about, well, but you know what though, actually, ah isn't there a belief that, so I am coming from a complete place of ignorance, but I feel that I have heard that many people with more like severe, less functional, i guess, have,
Speaker: ah autism, ADHD, if they change their diet, that's supposed to be really helpful. I mean, have you haven't you heard that, right? Oh, um okay. well All right. So changing your your diet comes in two sort of, ah know i think of it as two things. One thing is like is that you will have like safe foods, foods that you know are always going to be good and make you happy And are not weird.
Speaker: So like pasta tends to be one. Beautiful. Chicken nuggets, for example. Love. Yes. Who doesn't like a chicken nugget? Come on.
Speaker: Right. Yeah. so so and then so if you changed So if you took away someone's safe foods, if you like, they that will cause a lot of dysregulation and they will get very, very up so upset.
Speaker: Right. so So there is there is that. But also the other side is if you change food, it can help with ADHD. So I'm thinking off the top of my head here. So, um yeah, if you have a lot of if you have a lot of a protein in the morning,
Speaker: that really helps you regulate a gate of it you kind of like best thing I can think of it kind of smooths out your sort of in in emotional regulation somewhat at least for me and I've heard that that really helps having protein first thing in the morning plus also you've you've you've got the whole gut biome Right.
Speaker: Which i'm i'm I'm sure you you you know about. So that is connected to our our brains as well. And that does help.
Speaker: That is a part of the whole ADHD system. So feeding that, feeding food for your gut biome is going to have a positive effect.
Speaker: But don't you just think the positive effect is that if you have protein in the morning, you feel more satiated. And so I think like your, your mood is more even to start the day and that's why it helps.
Speaker: Yeah. but I mean, am I wrong? Like, I don't know. I just, no um, yeah. Anything where you have to change your diet is like a little tough for me because i have like a ah history of eating issues. I'm sure we all do. But like this Hippocrates is like, it doesn't sound like it was really backed up with any, like, I don't know. yeah Like it doesn't. Yeah. Okay.
Speaker: No, no, no. Okay. It's all nonsense. yeah That's what I feel. It's nonsense. Yeah. that's That's what they used to think. Right. I just thought it was interesting that that was the earliest ADHD mention.
Speaker: that that that that was the earliest a adh d mention And the thing that that interests me about it is that is that that's like that's like, you know, over two and a half thousand years or whatever ago.
Speaker: And, you know, they didn't have, you know, they didn't have iPhones or video games or food coloring or whatever it is that people blame adhd on right there are adhd like symptoms and rip reports of people who are like who have trouble focusing and all that that go back thousands of years Well, what kind of bothers me is that it's been thousands of years and yet people still look at it like there's something wrong with you. Because that's what this guy did. He was like, oh, your your fire's out of balance. Right.
Speaker: like and And it's thousands of years later and it's still kind of like, oh, there's like something wrong with you. There's something wrong with you. Yeah, like I feel like we need to rebrand this. Absolutely.
Speaker: Absolutely. Yeah. Maybe there's something right with us because there's a lot of, there are a lot of advantages, I think, um which I will bring up in one of the articles that I read. How exciting.
Speaker: Very exciting. A little tease there. all right. Well, that was my, that was my little front front page story. a little history lesson. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. yeah um You know what I need to do? I need to come up with a little musical thing that that just transitions transitions between... Stories? You and me, yeah.
Speaker: need a little something. So for the meantime, I'll just rattle the paper. Rattle the paper? Okay.
Speaker: So I will go into this story. Yeah.
Speaker: This is called, the title of this article is, My Hyper Focus Can Be Hyper Frustrating. so h So i feel that I get very focused on a task. So for example, if I have like a project to do around the house, like I'm just thinking of like um I have some wallpaper in my house and it's like peel and stick. So it's like a big sticker on the wall, but it takes like two or three hours to put it on one wall.
Speaker: If I am doing that project, I will not stop for anything. I won't stop to go to the bathroom. I mean, I will wait until I'm about to like die before going to the bathroom. I won't stop to eat. I won't stop to answer the phone or a text. And I think what we were talking about just now about it can be an advantage because I think people who do this can be really, you're good at focusing is the upside. The downside I think is that Like will not eat, let's say. And it's not that I forget to eat because these people who say they forgot to eat, I want to kill them. I've never forgotten to eat a meal in my entire life. And these people are like, I don't know. I just forgot to eat and I lost like 20 pounds. I'm sorry. But I what I do that i that upsets me is that I will like know that I'm hungry. I feel hungry and I won't stop anyway. Right. Right.
Speaker: And that's very frustrating, but like I can't get out of that. Like I can't break that pattern. It's very hard. o So what I do now is i will rely on my boyfriend, Sean, to like bring me something to eat.
Speaker: Or for people who do not have a Sean, I mentioned this to a nutritionist I was working with once. I said, i was doing some like house projects and I said, I knew I wouldn't stop to eat. So I just went to the kitchen and I grabbed like a sandwich out of the refrigerator. And I like had my sandwich in one hand and I was doing whatever task with the other.
Speaker: And if that's what I have to do to like feed myself. and And she said, that's fine. Food is fuel sometimes. It doesn't always have to be like a big production. As long as you're feeding yourself, it's fine.
Speaker: So I was like, okay. So where do you stand on this? Like, does this ever happen to you? Yeah, yeah. It is a fairly common thing. Yeah. So when you're in the middle of of ah of a hyper focus, it is like everything, the the entire outside world doesn't exist you for a start. Yes.
Speaker: know, time just just has no meaning anymore. Nope. And even, as as you say, even your inside world becomes even more even more mysterious to you.
Speaker: Yes. ah Yeah, because... I mean, part of it is, is, is because, um, that your brain is like, has got so much, it's so much a dopamine for something. It it literally is just like on fire and it's just kind like, yeah, let's do this and this, you know, so you're just kind of, so you just want to do it. And,
Speaker: and Oh, my God. It's like Hippocrates said we have too much fire. Yeah. All that fire is raging. Yes. Raging onwards. It's a raging fire. Right. and And you don't want to stop because actually if someone, if you do stop, it's not always easy or guaranteed that you'll get back into that state of mind.
Speaker: Yes. You might. But you might not. This is my big... Um, issue with like, even like at work when I'm in my office, I feel like if I leave to go to lunch, I'm going to be in my like sort of relaxed state of mind. And when I come back to work, I'm not going to be able to get back to that focused place again. Right.
Speaker: Yeah. Okay, so you feel that too sometimes. That's like a... Yeah, yeah. no that that's yeah that That is a pretty common thing. you know and um And if someone comes in and interrupts you while you're doing your thing and stops you mid-flow, you just get annoyed.
Speaker: i would Horrible. yeah Go away, go away, go away. yeah It's terrible. It's terrible. Like... I just have to, at work, you can't say anything.
Speaker: But if I'm like at home, I'll be like, I'm in a zone. hu um But it's, yeah, I feel like that's one of those things where I'm like, oh, I wish I could be I'm putting quote marks here, normal. Because it it kind of bothers me because it's like i'm I know I'm suffering. It's almost like I feel like I'm causing my own suffering by not being able to stop.
Speaker: But I can't. So I guess I might as well figure out how to try and like whatever, eat a piece of pizza while I'm like organizing my closet. I don't know.
Speaker: It's hard. Yeah. yeah No, it is hard. I mean, the ah the only real things that help out is almost like, you know, like you kind of feel like, oh, I i have the energy for something today. I have the energy for this thing.
Speaker: So you know that you're about to get into that hyper-focus thing. Your brain is like, come on, let's go, let's go. yeah And if if you can interrupt yourself by kind of going, oh, let me make a quick sandwich.
Speaker: While I think about the thing that I want to do, I'll just think about it while my hands are making a sandwich and making a drink and making stuff fuel for me. Yes. And your brain's thinking about the what it wants to do and you make some supplies. Right.
Speaker: And then you go and do it so then you can literally just reach out, grab a sandwich, eat it, put it down without... without interrupting your flow I mean like that's that's that I think that's the only way unless someone knows and they literally just make you a sandwich and then just shove it in front of you and you just grab it yes carry on And just go, yes, and stuff it down your gullet while you're like doing whatever you have to do. Yeah. Okay, this was very- How's it going? You go, great. Yeah, thanks. Cheers. Bye. Yeah, okay. Thank you for like serving me. I'm done with you.
Speaker: Okay, this was reassuring because i it's always something i i so I've struggled with. To this day, I struggle with. Yeah. feel like we're going to learn stuff. yeah I think that's i think i think that's that's, I like this. I do too. feel like we're going to learn things along the way. Love it. All right.
Speaker: Anything else at or sure should we move on? I'm ready for the next piece of news. All right. Let me just grab the paper. We're on page three.
Speaker: Great. Page three. The article. Why mornings are a battle. New science of sleep inertia. So this is a bit of research. Okay.
Speaker: bit of research that came out in Oxford um oxford Academic May is... This is recent, recent. Yeah, yeah. a large a Large adult samples, 16,000 people over three years. So, you know, decent study. Yeah. um All right. So sleep, I don't know where you are with with sleep. I know that many people with ADHD um and ADHD struggle.
Speaker: Oh, by the way, when say There is ADHD and then there's ALDHD. Yeah, I've seen that lately and I'm not... Please educate me. Which is capital A, small u, DHD, and the AU stands for autism. Australia?
Speaker: Oh, really? Australian ADHD. Yes, it means Australians with ADHD. They have own type. Everything's different over there. Wait, is that really...
Speaker: Now, why, what's the difference? Because isn't it all a form of autism? um No. So ADHD and and autism are two separate neurological can can conditions. um They're both very separate, but they do share some Okay.
Speaker: um So for eggs for a example, so we talked about hyper focus um that ADHD people can do. So if you have autism, you will have like your special interest.
Speaker: So, you know, like, so you might really like a certain subject for like, you know, and you'll spend years liking this subject. Like, you know, usually starts off with like sort of with with sort of ah dinosaurs. Yeah. it might go on to like other specialist so subjects, whatever, you know. So there is, know, and you can hyper-focus.
Speaker: So there's lots of similarities, but they are very different. And you can have... just ADHD or just autism or we can have which is is what I suspect I am which is you have ah a bit of both which is which it's not a the the whole ADHD thing is not a medically recognized thing yet although they you know like research is catching up
Speaker: with lived experience, but um but you can have both and that's its own weird little world all or by itself. but um And I think we i think we'll you might cover that again at some point. But what was I saying? Oh, yes so um yes. So if you have ADHD,
Speaker: sleep is is is often a problem. Like it isn't for me. Really? I never have problem going to sleep. Very rarely am I ever, you know, I'll just go to bed, head, hit the pillow. And do you stay asleep?
Speaker: I will stay asleep all night. like Are you kidding me? eight hours wake up. I know, i know. I'm a unicorn. You're so lucky. Yeah.
Speaker: um Honestly, I think it's the only way that I actually have managed to function in my entire life. I mean, yeah. You're just one of those people who's like a good sleeper, it sounds like.
Speaker: Right. And yeah I can always tell because I'll put a podcast on or an or an audio book because I actually do like to listen to something. And then I'll fall asleep and then I go back to see...
Speaker: what point do I remember and what point yeah do i not remember? And it's usually like, I'll listen to a podcast or something for about five minutes and then that's it. I don't remember anything else after, after, after. that Oh my God, Martin. Oh my God. I'm so jealous. Yeah.
Speaker: a But the point is, yeah in in in this, is is that um is that when we wake up and we feel tired and groggy, you know, those people who do have problems. um and i i ah yeah I used to wake up really tired and groggy, not so much now. um But...
Speaker: It used to be thought of as, well, I'm tired and groggy and my brain's not waking up because I haven't I've had interrupted sleep and I've had a lack of sleep. And I went to bed late and because i was watching the new Ted Lasso. Oh, my God. You see right behind me, I have a Ted Lasso game. Wait a minute. Hold on. Did you watch it?
Speaker: Yeah, yeah What are your quickly, what are your, I mean, love. So let's take a little diversion. Let's take a little detour. Into Ted Lasso. Obviously, I've seen all of the Ted Lasso's. Same.
Speaker: And I really, I mean, i i it's an it's an excellent series. And so they've put out one, right? So they've put out the new season, one out one episode. Yeah.
Speaker: And it has all the feels like, oh, the same characters are there. They're all just like, oh, this is so like, oh, i'm I'm back at home again. sunk back in right? You just sank back into it. Instantly.
Speaker: Instantly. And we won't give anything away if people haven't watched. But I just felt like there's an incident in the basically the first scene at Ted's current job.
Speaker: And you just see from that scene that the show is going to have the same feel, the way he helps out a coworker, I'll say. you understand what I'm referring to? Yeah. Like, I was just like, oh, my God, like, we're back.
Speaker: Mm hmm. That mushy, loving. Oh. Yeah. and And the way that the yeah the the you know the um the strong, powerful blonde, I can't remember her name. Oh, Hannah Waddingham.
Speaker: ra Right, right, right. She steps out of the car in exactly the same way that she steps out of the car in like in the first episode in season one. Is that true? Yeah. i thought Oh, I don't remember that. i had to had a sort of flashback moment. I haven't actually checked, but I was like, oh, that feels, I think that they did the intro exactly the same. Oh, my God.
Speaker: I can't wait to watch the rest. I am here for it. Right. So, I mean, like, it's it's no secret that the the the that the plot line is going to be about the women's football.
Speaker: Right. that You know, that he's going to turn his attention to the the women's football league. So, um yeah, i'm I'm excited for that. Oh, I can't wait.
Speaker: I cannot wait. Oh, I'm so glad we had a little ah Ted Lasso chat. There we go. So, yeah, so if you've been staying up late watching Ted Lasso when you wake up really tired, um it isn't it isn't necessary to do with your sleep hygiene.
Speaker: Actually, our ADHD brains are are wired so that we find um that ah firing up our brains the next day is harder.
Speaker: Sorry. Because of lack of sleep? No. this ah See, this is this is, I mean, lack of sleep doesn't help for sure. Right, right. But there is something else going going on in this research. So what the research says is that recent research presented at a major sleep conference has identified a strong link between adult ADHD and sleep inertia, the intense grogginess and struggle to become alert upon, web upon, what upon, wo web i say upon waking.
Speaker: So this isn't about being tired. It's a fundamental issue and how the brain regulates arousal, i.e. getting awake. So we think that we're groggy in the morning because we had trouble sleeping, that but that doesn't and that doesn't help. But this new research shows that the ADHD is about how our brains turn on or rather how they don't. So here comes to the science. At the centre of the system,
Speaker: It's a tiny brain cell structure, a a brain stem structure called the locus terrolius. I want to call it the LC. Okay. I don't have to say that word wording again. the elset It's the main source of norepinephrine.
Speaker: for the brain, which is like a close cousin of of of ah of dopamine. is that kind that It's one of those things that kind of, ah one of those hormones that just kind of like wakes, comes in and floods you and wakes you up.
Speaker: And this LC is responsible for regulating wakefulness, vigilance and your sleep wake trans transition so in the ADHD brain this system is often dysregulated so that in simple terms the master alarm clock in your brain doesn't work reliably and it doesn't have to do with if I'm understanding correctly it doesn't have to do with how much sleep you got the night before no it's just something in the system about
Speaker: turning your brain on and waking up for the day. Right. So during sleep, the the the LC normally helps stabilize your sleeps the sleep, the sleep stages, you know the different stages of sleep that you go through. It just helps regulate you going from falling asleep during sleep and then the the the waking up cycle. So when you do wake up,
Speaker: uh the lc needs to fire um needs to sort of ink increase uh dopamine levels and you know and get you sort of a ah get you a a awake and uh and the dysregulated lc um ah struggles to do these transitions um It doesn't kind of quite fire on.
Speaker: So it it doesn't flood you with with all the hormones that you kind of need. Therefore, you struggle right to kind of wake up that your brain doesn't fully work.
Speaker: Now, have you ever you had any issues with this? I used to. okay i used to until, i don't know, I got to about, I want to say, maybe late 40s.
Speaker: And then my brain suddenly decided it was going to be a morning person. Out of the blue.
Speaker: my God. And how did that feel? Annoying. Oh, it did? Oh, why I thought you were going to say like, and it was great. Wait, why was it annoying? Well, for one, I i automatically think of old people, right, as being the ones who wake up at the crack of dawn. Right, right. like Oh, it's the best time of day. ah oh you don't know what you're missing. You you stay asleep till 9am. Yeah.
Speaker: Steve's going to make me a cup of tea and I'm going to drink it on my porch. Yeah. Yeah. And then they, and you know, then they, then they, then they tell you about it, you know, that, that they were up at like 6am and they saw the dawn come up and there was, you know, it it was like a snow white moment and the birds were chirping and the animals were coming out and and surrounding you and you're all singing a song, yeah you know, and and and they tell you that's what, so I was like, Oh God, I'm now that person.
Speaker: so but you But you found it annoying? or did you, like, lean into it? I'm getting old. That's what I mean. I was like, oh, okay, this is what old people do. I'm now officially old because I can wake up. I can spring out of bed at 6 a.m. easily.
Speaker: You know, there are certain things. I remember I started feeling old when I – started saving bags from my shopping version. And now I have like a closet full of bags, like my mom or my grandmother.
Speaker: it just makes you certain things make you feel old. And I can see how that's one of them, especially if like, it just kind of happened one day. But how do you feel about it now? Like, does this mean you go to bed?
Speaker: You're like one of these, like, like an old person, you go to bed early and you wake up early? Uh, yeah, I can remember, I don't know about you I used to think if I went to bed before midnight, I was somehow, I was somehow sort of loser, you know, that, you know, like it was an act of, no I had to stay up to at least midnight.
Speaker: Yeah, I'm like a badass and I go to bed after midnight. and Yeah, get that was that was my entire personality for quite a long time. And then, don't know, brain shift and then suddenly like, oh...
Speaker: You know, it's like nine, you know, is it too early? I know. I have the same thoughts. This is why I have so much trouble in the summer. um I feel like I want to watch TV when it's like dark out, like it just feels cozier to me, but it doesn't get dark out now until like eight o'clock. And by that time, like I'm tired. Yeah.
Speaker: Like I'm yeah like, I want to go to bed soon. So I, yeah, I understand that completely. Right. And know and and it's, and it's funny because we're talking about this, you know, our body's internal clock and it's also tied to the circadian rhythms, right? As you're saying, it's lighter in the summer. And so if you have you're,
Speaker: this clock is often tail delayed and you end up with what's called like eveningness, which is like the fee where you feel more alert at night and sluggish in the morning. That's terrible.
Speaker: Yeah. um
Speaker: So, yeah. So, you know, it is more, I just just thought it was interesting that, you know, that waking up sluggish is actually a part of ADHD. Yeah. Whether you kind of get enough sleep or not.
Speaker: It's just like, they they for many, can be like at just inherent quality of of of sleep. But I feel like this is such a good example of like, knowledge is power, because I feel like Let's say there's someone with ADHD and they know this, then they can...
Speaker: work with their mental health professional or by themselves or whatever to come up with ways to help and not just be like, why am I tired? I didn't sleep. But just to say, oh, this is this is kind of like a thing that I deal with and and how can I make it better? Because I know for me, when I haven't slept, I'm like worried, why didn't I sleep enough? And I'm tired and why am I tired? If you know that this is something you deal with. I think that's that's good information. and then you can sort of- Knowledge power. is power, man. Come on. Love it.
Speaker: Right. So that's it for my ah for my two articles. What's your finishing one? My last one is this.
Speaker: Here's the title. all right. I thought I had ADHD. Since I know I should believe everything I read, i looked it up on Google.
Speaker: Yep, Google confirmed it. Oh, really? Well, there's a dose of sarcasm there, which I don't know if was apparent by my reading. However, here's my question. My question is, like, there's a fly, and it's flying all around me, and it's annoying, so I'm just waving it away. Um...
Speaker: I had one the other day. Yeah, it was annoying me. It's so annoying. There's nothing. Thank God it's not in my bedroom because if I had to sleep and there was a fly flying around, god i might die. um So i i have a pretty strong stance, I don't know if you agree, on Googling things.
Speaker: And I'll tell you why. had a dog before my little friend Jake here. who This is 15 years ago. i had never had a dog. I brought this dog home from the shelter. They gave me the dog, some food, a blanket, and like a rope toy.
Speaker: i wake up the next day. i forget how, but I could tell that the dog like swallowed a tiny little piece of rope from the rope toy. so i went on Google.
Speaker: the things that I saw on Google, my dog swallowed a piece of rope and he died. Or like my dog swallowed a piece of rope and he had to have surgery and it cost me $5,000 and he died anyway. And I was like, oh my God, what do I do? I'm like so scared.
Speaker: So I call the shelter and i was like, he swallowed a rope toy and I'm so scared and and what do I do? And the shelter was like, yeah, he'll poop it out. And I was like, ah okay, thanks.
Speaker: And then I was like, I think that I should not Google everything all the time and maybe just talk to someone that I trust, like the shelter or for medical stuff.
Speaker: Call my doctor and ask a question. um So I feel like... you can look things up about ADHD or neurodivergence and it can be like a slippery slope because you get all of this information or you go on Reddit and there are people with all these theories about it.
Speaker: And I guess like what I want to know from you as someone who's been formally diagnosed is like at what point did you say, I've done enough research.
Speaker: I think I need to talk to someone about this and see what really is happening with me right i think that the the important thing is to is to be curious above all else about hello like ted lasso everything comes back to ted lasso his whole thing is be curious and instead of judgmental yes yeah yes yes all right it is like
Speaker: as As you say, so you see you see you like look at yourself and what you do and your habits and the things and you kind of go, well this is weird, this is weird. I thought it was just me, but now I see, but then you start seeing it in other people and you kind of, so I think it is good to try to go to reputable sources, right? yeah Certainly in the in the early stages,
Speaker: where you kind of go, well, yeah, you know, this, and you just read it all and you go, well, this feels like me and this doesn't feel like me. um And then there was a ah period of of that where you kind of go down a more sort of ah heavily sort of...
Speaker: yeah ah you know, um sort of medical, more psychological, medical route. um And then you start looking at other people's experiences again and, you know, like, and you'll go onto Reddit and you'll read stories and you kind of go, well, that doesn't sound right. And this does sound right. is it And it's because it it's like you're a jigsaw and you kind of start to like,
Speaker: find pieces that fit and sometimes it can be from from say a a good article about ADHD from you know from a good source and sometimes it could be ah an an anecdote from someone else right you kind of just build all this stuff together and then you end up with a picture of of you and i think it just comes from like a lot of sources usually yeah like so you know tick tick tock is it has been really good for that to get people's like experiences you know kind like you can see you know you can see yourself in other people's um and other people's the struggles um so
Speaker: I agree about TikTok too, because you can, you can also see the person and sort of judge for yourself, like, is this person a nut job? Or do they seem like they kind of are like a person who sort of knows what they're talking about and like, oh, okay, this makes sense. So I agree. You can, you, yeah, you're right. You can pull from different sources.
Speaker: just think that some people yet you know, they they look at like webmd.com and that's like the word of God. And I just think ah at some point you should get professional help, which is basically what you're saying. Yeah. Yes, yes, yes. But also the the other thing to bear in mind is that a lot of these things are about patterns over time.
Speaker: So you can kind of go and look at an article or something and kind of go, oh, that's me. Oh, I've done that one thing once. Right. But that doesn't necessarily mean that I have ADHD or autism or anything. If I've done that thing once, it's like, oh, hang on. I've i've done that thing. i'll do that thing regularly and I have done for years.
Speaker: So it's like you consume all of this stuff over time and then you look at yourself over time and you see patterns in yourself. over time yeah you know like so as you consume it your brain kind of starts going on second yeah used do this know no hang on i do all this like a lot now and i can see a pattern forming right so once once you see patterns then you're much more able to kind of go know uh to to be more confident and
Speaker: about you know some neurological condition that you have you know if you can if you can see a pattern of it you know and that's what's really good advice like yeah i don't even kind of feel like a dummy because i never thought of that but like yeah saying like like looking at my own patterns like that i don't know why that never occurred to me like But it it makes sense because if you're doing something over and over or you have a repeated habit, that's that's like a sign.
Speaker: yeah yeah so i i'm not a psych psychologist so i'm not a professional i don't i don't i don't pretend to be um but you know i do know that really a lot of diagnoses are ah based on patterns right behavior because that's a more reliable source so yeah so um Yeah, that's so yeah. So just googling something once won't is helpful, but not very. Right.
Speaker: It's really about being curious about yourself and looking back at your past and what you're doing now and and how you work and what the patterns are. Right. Oh, yeah.
Speaker: Wow. I think you just opened my eyes. All right. Yeah. Nice. Yeah. Have you got anything else on that or should we move onwards? I'm good.
Speaker: Awesome. Yeah. Where's, where's, where's my goddamn script? um ah All right. So the letters page. All right. Let me turn, turn, turn to that.
Speaker: um All right. ah Once again, I'll, ah There are a few letters, actually was ill saying this b be before we came on, that they ah that i'm I'm seeing a lot of things that that are appreciative of of of you. yeah that They're saying that they love Paul, absolutely love Paul.
Speaker: It's irreplaceable. It's irreplaceable, right but it's nice to have Jake. us Sorry. He agrees. He agrees that Paul's irreplaceable. Right. um ah Yeah, that it's nice to have a a woman being a co co-host, um which I agree.
Speaker: love being here. All right, so I'll just read out as a snippet of a lot of Alexandra's comment on YouTube. A nice little anecdote, which...
Speaker: miraculously ties in with something with the rest with another point um so in her in I think she we were she was talking about ah ah temperature regulation problems she says i have problems with regulating my temperature too I figured it out after my diagnosis until then i was thinking everyone is feeling so hot or so cold you know like know, like if I'm really hot, surely everyone else is. Yeah, right.
Speaker: um She says, ah go on. She says, ah I do better with cold than heat, actually. um It just takes me longer to feel warm again. She says, that this is a cute story. i I remember at school I was going to my friend to heat my nose by by by breathing on a coat to get it warm and then touching my nose on it.
Speaker: Cute. um She was laughing, but I was thinking my nose will fall off. She says, i still do it. um Which I thought was was a really cute little and anecdote. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: Interestingly enough, when she
Speaker: it's also the same system that that that ah you have a problem waking that that wakes you up, the, what is it called, dia locus so the locus herolius, it also regulates your temperature as well.
Speaker: really? Right. So if it's, dis rare so so when the locus herolius fires to wake you up, It also raises your heart rate, increases your blood flow to your muscles and adjust your body temperature, often making you feel warmer. And because it's dysregulated in the brain, it doesn't turn on and off smoothly, which means that your body temperature might fluctuate more than others. You might feel too hot or too cold when others don't. And, you know, uh,
Speaker: And she says, you know, I, um you know, that it, it takes you longer to warm up or cool down, which is something that she mentioned that she had trouble yes ah warming up.
Speaker: So one it's, it's, it's the same system. It's the same goddamn system. Yes. That's so interesting. And the the taking a long time is very interesting. Like how it just,
Speaker: Like I was talking last week how I had a st stressful experience and it took me a while to get um warm. I had to take a shower and I had to put on all these layers and then I got under a blanket. Like it takes a while, which is very ancient interesting. Wow. It's all the same thing. Very interesting. Love it. Love learning.
Speaker: I know. And then, you know, obviously, you know, as soon as I hear of like, you know, heat fluctuations of being too hot and too cold, you know, perimenopause, you know, if that's something that hits our listeners.
Speaker: It hits me like a ton of bricks. Out there, then that does not help ah in the slightest. As someone who's in perimenopause, I can agree.
Speaker: Yes, for sure. Exactly. oh boy. You know what? ill Just to say this about perimenopause no one tells you no one tells anyone until ah some point you kind of go um um why am I until you want to die? Why is my brain fogging? Why am I struggling so much? why And then you look into it and then you know after a while of
Speaker: of other answers, you you come across perimenopause and you go, what's that? Oh, my God. And that's even as a as so as a woman. I mean, like men, no, I mean, like they don't know.
Speaker: they don't know anything. No. and you Then you have to educate us. Yes, yep. And then we're like, are you making this up? I know. it ah i know. It's really, i think it's an interesting journey to go on together because it's like, as the woman is learning about it, she has to tell the man. So it's kind of like, oh, we're going to learn this together. i mean, it's really affecting me physically, but you're going to
Speaker: take some strays, you know, like you're going catch some strays from my sweats, ah from my brain fog, from my moods or whatever. um So it's nice to have a supportive partner who will like take it seriously. Cause, cause it's, it's a whole well of emotion of body temperature regulation.
Speaker: i mean, it's really, um, There's a lot happening and and I'm so glad that now people are talking about it more because menopause even wasn't talked about a lot. And now they're even talking about perimenopause and menopause, which I think is great.
Speaker: Right. It used to be just you have a hot flush. The end. God. Yeah. I remember watching my mom have hot flashes when i was when i was younger.
Speaker: i mean and i mean, I haven't had them yet, but oh my God, it it was bad. She had a fan she carried around. Someone described it to me as feeling like they were like- like On fire from the inside. And I was like, oh my God, I am not looking forward to that. Right.
Speaker: Well, I don't think that everyone gets it. So, you know. like Right. Exactly. It's you might just dodge that bullet. Let's hope. Let's hope. Oh, well, there we go. Look at that. It's 56 minutes in. Jake is is like is's like clearly saying, that's it. ah He's ready. He's ready for his next next thing. So I think that just, so yeah. So join amy and myself again next week for another ADHDville summer special.
Speaker: and ADHD village deliver fresh every Tuesday to all providers of fine podcasts please subscribe to the pod and rate us most ADHD informed I guess most groggy in the morning most groggy best most groggy but still the best Yeah, there we go.
Speaker: And feel free to correspond at will in the comments. But wait, there's more. If you wish to see our beautiful, beautiful faces, then you can sully forth to the YouTubes and the TikToks. And you can also pick up a quill and email us at email us at adhdv.gmail.com. But in the meantime, be fucking kind to yourself.
Speaker: And we're all doing the best we fucking can. And that's enough. Goddamn right. There, says the mayor. That's that.
