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Episode 119 - ADHD and Having a Cold / Man Flu / Bubonic Plague
59 Plays20 days ago
This week I have no laptop and no co-host so with one hand tied behind my back, here is a quick episode on what’s going on and I yabber on about ADHD and having Bronchitis.
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Transcript
Tech and Health Challenges
00:00:00
Speaker
right so this is the emergency broadcast of adhd world so what i mean by that is that paul and i cannot make our regular episode because um for one really important reason my laptop has a um it needed its battery uh replacing it just started to sort of bulge I don't know if you've ever seen that thing where your laptop rocks because your battery's gonna explode.
00:00:31
Speaker
So anyway, so that's having a new battery done. Also, i have a terrible coldy, fluy ah lung infection. So I would have struggled to do an episode. So this means that there's gonna be no proper ADHD episode until we come back.
ADHD and Illness
00:00:53
Speaker
and until my laptop's come back and that is going to be in, don't know, it could be the beginning of February so so I'm just going to do some little short episodes just because I can't want stuff to be out there and there's still stuff going on. um So this is going to an emergency broadcast of ADHDville. If I could roll the music I'd do it now but I can't because I'm doing it on my phone and it's not the same. So just imagine it goes do doo-yooo d do do blah blah blah blah.
00:01:31
Speaker
So welcome to the emergency broadcast of ADHD Will. um And today's episode, as I said, comes to you from the land of tissues and tea with honey and throat lozenges.
00:01:46
Speaker
um Because I'm ill. And so I thought I'd talk about ADHD and being ill. Specifically kind of the colds and the flu and all of that misery. So I'm just going to share, share my misery with you.
00:02:05
Speaker
um But from an ADHD or an ADHD perspective. So if you have ADHD, ADHD, um it's not just being physically sick but things kind of cognitively weird um you know and as you know like everything becomes harder everything just becomes more difficult but there's also one other little interesting thing I want to kind of talk about is that something odd also happens in that as your mind slows down
00:02:48
Speaker
um you can weirdly think more clearly.
Struggles with Basic Tasks
00:02:52
Speaker
You almost become, as you become more abnormal, there's part of your brain that becomes more normal, which is weird.
00:03:03
Speaker
And we'll kind of get into that. So why, so let's start off with why is ADHD brain and sickness making it weird. Look, I've got notes here. that this is This is me doing an ADHD episode with notes because um I don't have a laptop with my big screen and Paul's not here, so it's a lot weirder without him.
00:03:30
Speaker
So I look forward to kind of getting getting back to our regular format. Anywho, let's start with the obvious place. When you have flu or cold, it's not just the flu, but it's the flu with ADHD.
00:03:45
Speaker
The first problem is is executive function, your brain energy. your your must try to say Your brain diverts energy to other essential tasks, like your in immune system and sort of regulating your body, there's less fuel for your executive function, there's there's there's less brain cells
Sensory and Emotional Impact
00:04:19
Speaker
yeah for planning and organizing, and which is you know always hard anyway. but
00:04:25
Speaker
um So whatever you did have just kind of goes out of the window. Things become a bit of a struggle. um I know I'm struggling, but I'm kind of doing the is the essential things. Eddie's still getting fed, so you don't have to worry about him.
00:04:43
Speaker
and Everyone's still getting food and drinks and stuff's being done. Trash is being put out. Laundry's being done still.
00:04:58
Speaker
So I'm just down to the bare minimum. Anyway, so, um
00:05:06
Speaker
yeah, things become a struggle. Taking meds, it becomes a struggle. Like, oh, yes, I know I should be taking meds in the eve e e evening, but I have to be rim reminded that I do have to take meds.
00:05:21
Speaker
If I haven't taken my meds for today, now that I've come to think of it, no Drinking water feels optional, although I do have a glass here.
00:05:33
Speaker
Oh, boy. must muscle My skin feels like it's someone else's. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, you know, and food, you know, making food feels like climbing Everest.
00:05:53
Speaker
Feels like a lot of work. So there's a lot of things to struggle. You know, your body wants rest. um And to kind of chill out and not do anything. but you a But your ADHD brain is still there buzzing along in the background.
00:06:12
Speaker
It kind of wants stimulation of some kind. um So they are at odds. Again, as I kind of said, they're...
00:06:24
Speaker
You know, having ADHD and autism is a bit like having a brother and sister fight all the time. um And they're kind of quieting down a little bit during this this time.
Paradox of Clarity
00:06:40
Speaker
So what other problems have we got?
00:06:42
Speaker
Sensory problems. um You know, sound is louder. Lights become a lot harsher. You just kind of want to kind of, you have a really dimly lit room. Like all of that.
00:06:55
Speaker
stimulation you know clothes feel weirder so if you do have sensory issues and I know I have some they become ah lot more intense right yeah but I know but I do have so it's time for those favourite hoodies and your favourite snuggly things so you can just snuggle in them
00:07:24
Speaker
Oh, um yeah i just ah I'm just living in my in in my hoodie currently. um also um it ah no um Also, emotional regulation goes out of the window as as well. Being sick means all your coping mechanisms a kind of shot. know, you can easily get distracted. You can't regulate as as effectively.
00:08:08
Speaker
I mean, I still can't talk in proper sentences, but as usual. um and yeah And your frustration tolerance but for the outside world you know, that just drops to the floor, right?
00:08:26
Speaker
So, you know, like, you are, you know, it's ah it's like everything is so much more intense.
00:08:36
Speaker
um Which is a not not much fun for everyone. But here's the thing that no one talks about much. He's like, as I said the beginning, i why can the ADHD brain slow down.
00:08:52
Speaker
So, you know, um why can it suddenly feel like
00:09:01
Speaker
there's a part of your brain that's kind of like almost becomes normal?
00:09:06
Speaker
Like it can rationally think about things. It's weird. You know, like, there's not those 101 competing things and all those tabs being out open.
00:09:21
Speaker
um And things just become a little bit more sort of simpler. And things, oh, this this is nice, actually. um Right, because, you know, like, somewhere between, you know, fever dreams and coughing,
00:09:42
Speaker
which is what I'm doing. You know, suddenly and and as I said, something unexpected happens. The brain goes quiet. Well, part of it anyway. okay As I said, you close all those tabs down. you you drop the internal pressure on yourself to kind of do things, to respond to things, to create things.
00:10:07
Speaker
You can almost just kind of like, just kind of push... so much other crap out and that really helps it almost becomes like this kind of for me it becomes this sort of dreamlike state where you kind of float along um so what is going on on on on there um Well, part of it, part of it is you have lower lower dopamine demand. So when you're sick, your brain reprioritizes.
00:10:41
Speaker
um Survival mode kicks in. The need for stimulation drops. There's less chasing for things, less seeking things, less mental brain work being done. You're bouncing around this, that, and then the other.
00:10:58
Speaker
Also, Having a cold and flu and being kind of like whacked out like that forces a certain simplicity on you. Did that just spit?
00:11:11
Speaker
I have not. know So you aren't trying to manage 10 competing priorities at once or you're not managing social interactions because you're not really seeing...
00:11:28
Speaker
people or strangers so much. not solving loads and loads of problems. Everything kind of is essentially stops. And thirdly, you do have permission to stop because you're bloody well ill.
00:11:45
Speaker
You're like half dead. So there is less guilt. There's less self-judgment going on.
00:11:56
Speaker
you all that psychological permission
00:12:02
Speaker
to stop creates a mental space which which you can kind of exist in and feel a little bit calmer
Importance of Rest
00:12:13
Speaker
in. And you think, oh, is this what normal people feel like?
00:12:19
Speaker
know, just like trotting along, doing things perhaps
00:12:27
Speaker
Forgive me having water. I'm just trying to speak through all of this. But what is important, I think, is this is a little bit like what it's like, this kind of calmness, if you do kind of feel it, is what it's like when demand is lowered.
00:12:55
Speaker
pressure is is removed, expectations disappear. This is a room a reminder that the more things that we pile on in our life, the harder we make it for ourselves. So I know from from for me personally, I've been trying to kind of cut out a lot of things that don't make sense to me anymore.
00:13:24
Speaker
in my life and pressures and demands and try and focus on on things that think that are well that don't create so much anxiety and pressure um and even when I kind of do know if I do choose to pick up a project I kind of I try and plan it out so there's less pressure on myself.
00:13:59
Speaker
Try and not give myself a hard time. If it you know if I thought i was going to do something next week and and it takes me a month, that's totally fine.
00:14:09
Speaker
So it's valuable to remind ourselves that if we look to reduce pressure, on our internal systems, we make it easier on ourselves we can yeah bike by creating fewer choices.
00:14:28
Speaker
yeah like that I always think that the the fewer choices that we have, the better, the fewer options that we allow ourselves, the better. there's Options are good,
00:14:48
Speaker
in life you know like know do I want to go down path A or path B or path C but when you've got path A, B, C, D, F, G, H, I, J, K, N all the way to Z you end up in the state of paralysis of decision her paralysis that you want to keep all the options open um but you never get anywhere so anywhere so you know ah reducing down choices is always going to be um ah really great skill to kind of get kind of get
00:15:30
Speaker
of get nailed down, to and you know tip to be able to edit your choices down. What else? Fewer inputs hitting you will make it easier on ourselves as well so know we all know this if we push ourselves we we we go here we go there we go to this social function then we then we go to this other thing and then we've got this other task that we have to do if we pile it all on you get all this input and social interactions and problems um that just kind of that that's a path to uh to meltdowns
00:16:16
Speaker
Also, you know, trying to kind of create fewer expectations on ourselves as well. um yeah As I said earlier, my my expectations for myself currently when I'm ill is, you know, you know feed, food, water, make sure that that that the Eddie gets all all... Eddie gets, Eddie, my my dog, he gets all of his needs met exactly the same, whether I'm ill or not.
00:16:47
Speaker
he's just he's just asleep down there so um that's important uh but yeah i mean like expectations as as far as like all those nice little things that i was hoping to do yeah that they're just be shelved i'll i'll do them some other time and give give my permission to rest Which, ah in the in the Western world, this idea of resting is... is it's it's It's looked down on, right? it's Rest is not laziness us for us. Rest is regulation. We need it. We need to it to reset ourselves, to calm ourselves down, our minds down.
00:17:42
Speaker
um because without it we just go off the rails way too quickly um so rest is is an essential essential part of our lives and you know if you have a busy life yes you know um you'll often find that when you do sit down and rest that you feel get feel, feel, feel, feel guilty about it. bit I know that the, the, but when I kind of sit down, there's, there's this to, to do list always in the back of mind.
00:18:24
Speaker
I've got to fix this. I've got to fix that. I've got to repaint this thing and whatever. i Like that there's always something there's, the there's always a hundred little tasks that I have to do.
00:18:37
Speaker
um
00:18:40
Speaker
So it's um is it's important to just to to to remind ourselves, especially when we're ill, that rest is really
Support Systems and Future Plans
00:18:48
Speaker
important. And I say all this as an ill person, knowing full well that, you know, I have a partner, so a lot of this becomes easier because I've got, you there is someone else who will the support me.
00:19:04
Speaker
um And this that this does not apply to everyone. I know. So, you know, if you're on on your own, things still need to happen. Pets have to be fed.
00:19:18
Speaker
Essential life tasks still have to be done. You have to feed and hide hydrate yourself. It's not it' it's it's a lot harder.
00:19:29
Speaker
um when you are on your on your own so um yeah I feel um yeah that's a that makes it a lot harder well that was it that was my little short little episode um i hope that I will get better and sometime in the next couple of days this this current bug is apparently a bit of a bastard in that it does, ah it does, um what does it do?
00:20:05
Speaker
it It hangs around for for a long, long time, seems. um Anyway, so my as I said, my laptop will be coming back in the next couple of weeks, probably towards the end of January.
00:20:21
Speaker
and So the next full episode will probably be in, when will it be? As I said, but beginning of February. But next Tuesday, I will attempt to do another one of these little short episodes just because.
00:20:40
Speaker
um But yeah, if you've managed to get this far, thank you so much. um Paul and I really appreciate your support. um and we do the pop podcast because we just want to because if it helps one one person then it was all worth it um so yeah at this point um I i would Normally there'd be a quiz around now. um
00:21:15
Speaker
I have no quiz partner for this. um If you do like the the the the the the quizzes, say so.
00:21:25
Speaker
If you don't like the quizzes, get in the comments and tell us. It's just a boring waste of your time. um So all we read all the comments.
00:21:40
Speaker
All right, I can feel my brain is starting to shut down now. So I'll say that this is it. So, yeah, ADHD is delivered fresh every Tuesday to all providers of fine podcasts. Please subscribe to the pod and rate us most sick.
00:21:57
Speaker
Booyah. Booyah. Oh, boy. um And there's something else that happens. Blah, blah, blah. If you wish to see our beautiful, beautiful faces that aren't so ill, then go and pop over to YouTubes and the TikToks where we were well where I tend to hang out.
00:22:19
Speaker
and um But in the meantime, be fucking kind to yourself. and then when the music plays here and the music plays here and then the little thing that says there, says the bear that's that and then we just fade out alright, see you next Tuesday