It sounds to me as though Julie is talking about ADD which is also
associated with some impairment of brain function. Minor brain damage
such as can result from a difficult birth or nutritional deficits in
early infancy often produces ADD-like symptoms in combination with
other problems. It's also the case that minor frontal lobe physical
damage from an accident, infection, or poisoning, will produce
ADD-like symptoms. But since, like diabetes, we're still ignorant
enough that we have to diagnose ADD on the basis of symptomatology
rather than underlying etiology, all these different things count as
ADD simply because they behave like ADD.

But it is possible to have ADD in an otherwise high quality brain. As
have I and Peppermint P :-)

It's the observation of our kind of special talents in seriously
dangerous emergencies that has led some to hypothesise that it's not
so much a brain malfunction as a brain which has been evolutionarily
tuned for high performance in a rather different lifestyle than we
enjoy today. That's the idea behind Thom Hartman's hunter-farmer
hypothesis about the origins of ADD, as explained in this Wikipedia
article.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_vs._farmer_theory

People like that make me want to start slapping them.  That is
definitely not like the ADD I have.  In an emergency, the fact that it's
an emergency provides the novelty I need to focus on what's going on and
figuring out what's needed.  I am a ROCK in a crisis, keeping everything
going, making sure people have what they need, being in charge until the
emergency is over.  Then I go curl up somewhere and let the chemicals
flow through me and get processed out, and I fuzz out.

PP

Both of the ones I know are very good at reacting.  They will react
instantly and almost always not in the appropriate fashion.  One example is
a basement that flooded.  The carpeting was brand new.  So what did the
homeowner do?  Cut the carpet up with scissors.  Why?  You tell me.

Both of them freak and become hysterical in medical emergencies.  So much so
that when in the ER, the medical professionals wind up paying attention to
*them* and not the patient!

When I had a hypo once, the one insisted on trying to force me to eat cheese
(this is before I knew of my allergies) and put a cold cloth on my head
instead of getting the candy for me that I told him I needed.

Neither one of them can follow medical advice they've been given for their
own health problems because they just can't manage to listen to all that the
Dr. says.  They will hear a small amount...like three words and then their
brain seems to fill in the rest of the details, incorrectly.

Some ADDults are extremely good in serious life threatening
emergencies, not freaking out, being highly aware, focused, rational,
decisive. Some of them like what such emergencies do to their brains
enough that they seek them out. You find them enjoying dangerous
sports etc..

I don't know about that.  I know two people with ADHD.  Now maybe the "H"
has something to do with this.  They are both highly aware of any potential
dangers but totally unaware of when real danger happens.  They also miss
pretty much all of the little details.

Hi Quentin,

I agree.  We call all relate to this type of behavior in some ways.
It's the extremeness of it that is the issue.

I read an interesting article once that hypothesized that a person with
ADD who lived a more primitive tribal existence would be a great benefit
to the tribe.  The fact that people with ADD are highly distractable
would make them the first ones to be alert to danger.  It might also
carry over to the hunt where s/he might be the first to detect the
presence of prey.

Best regards,
Michelle C., T2

Thanks Michelle,

 Fascinating.

It seems almost normal behaviour but extreme in its execution.
It is easy to imagine being distracted from something boring like
doing accounting but being absorbed in some fascinating new idea.

Once again thank you,

Hi Quentin,

I can't answer for PP, however in my observation of my dad, it's easy to
distract him from mundane things like paying bills example.  A stray
thought, (or an interruption) causes him to lose his place and he has to
backtrack to remember where he was in the process.  (He has a routine
that must be done in order.) However if the thing he's focused on is
novel, then stray thoughts are much less likely.  In fact, sometimes
what I call hyperfocus comes into play.  He can think about a
problem/puzzle/interesting idea for hours.

Best regards,
Michelle C., T2

Hi PP,

Help me understand this more fully please.
Does novelty distract you or assist you?
I'd like to understand ADD better.

Thanks,
Quentin.

Thanks.  I have the typical ADD ability to focus when there's novelty
involved, so I have that way of assisting myself, too.  A cubicle move
at work helped a LOT, giving me changes in my physical environment to
jangle my novelty detector.  Management's becoming somewhat more rigid
in terms of time reporting is also helping me by forcing me to keep more
lists and notes.  So, it's not all about meds, for me at least.

PP

I hope you're able to find something that works better for you, Priscilla.

Best regards,
Michelle C.

On weekends I often either take only 1 Adderall a day instead of 2 or
just skip it.  My psydoc says that's why I haven't built up a tolerance.  
I don't think I have.  I just need something else maybe.

PP

Peppermint Patootie wrote:

ADD as child--back when no one had a clue about it and just thought he
was incorrigible.  Also highly intelligent.  He remembers his dad
shouting at him, "Your IQ is higher than mine.  How come you can't do
your school work?"  Pretty much describes the whole issue in a nutshell.
 The failure of his family to understand (not that they had any
resources for understanding ADD back in the 50's) shot the hell out of
his self-esteem, which added to the problem.

Starting in elementary school my mother would repeatedly back me into a
corner.  "What do you do these things?" she'd rage, and I had no answer.
 So they concluded I was lazy, irresponsible, obstinate and, yes,
incorrigible, and I had nowhere to go but end up agreeing with them.
It's a horrible feeling, to think you have no recourse but to say it's
your fault you did those things you had no intention of doing.  Wears
out any self-esteem you've got.  Shame city.

Yep, you've described it exactly.

Surprisingly, since my grandparents have come to live nearby (in a house
behind ours), I've realized that my grandpa--my dad's dad--has ADD too.
  He has trouble following conversations, often goes off on tangents,
and frequently fails to acknowledge what was just said, because he's
thinking his own thoughts.  Looking back over the years, I can see that
he's always been this way, but seeing him nearly everyday has brought
this home to me.

Unlike my dad who had such trouble in school, my grandpa did okay
though.  However, his school experience occurred in a one room school
house with 13 kids ranging in age from 1st grade to 8th.  Much less
stressful environment with individualized attention.

My dad's brother shows some symptoms too.

medication until his early 50's.  He takes the Parkinson's med,
seligiline for it.

sometime.  I'm starting to have problems at work again.

Although the seligiline is a long-acting med--he takes a tiny dose every
 3 days--sometimes, he finds taking a break from it helps him "reset".
 Of course, the "reset" period has to occur when there isn't much going
on that requires his attention.

Michelle C.