The noisy brain

[bigrob]

How many of you have a noisy brain? Meaning a brain that seems to have a bazillion thoughts and images cascading through it at all times. It makes it EXTREMELY hard for me to focus on anything.

I mainly blame my ADD for it, but I wonder how much my anxiety issue play in it as well. My brain is so noisy I need pills just to sleep, otherwise I will lay there thinking about nothing in particular.

How do you guys deal with it? The only thing I found that gives me focus like a laser is if I can get into a fight mentality. My research indicates anger over rides the noisy brain, but as a schizoid I don't feel anger (at least like "normal" people) and I can't really walk around looking for fights all the time!!!!!

 

[coyote]

I know what you mean - my brain is very noisy, too. I was diagnosed with ADD as well.
It's often very difficult not to be distracted by a million different thoughts.

When I'm doing anything that gets my adrenaline level up, I find that I'm able to fall into the groove and just be in the present.

 

[Emily_G]

Yeah sometimes I am like this...especially when I am trying to go to sleep, it takes lots of effort to calm my brain down.

 

[Hellhound]

I'd like to be able to give you an answer to this, but my brain rarely shuts up :/ The million thoughts don't distract me from things, but they make me enraged, depressed, anxious... They ruin my mood.

 

[EscapeArtist]

Yeah, I apparently probably have ADD but I refuse to place a label that would make it an "illness". Natural selection chose those with more awareness. When i'm really nervous, I recite stories that I make up on the spot without even realising it. Brain won't let me rest. I try to meditate, do yoga or play guitar when it's being noisy, somethin I can zone into easily.

 

[coyote]

Yeah, I apparently probably have ADD but I refuse to place a label that would make it an "illness". Natural selection chose those with more awareness. When i'm really nervous, I recite stories that I make up on the spot without even realising it. Brain won't let me rest. I try to meditate, do yoga or play guitar when it's being noisy, somethin I can zone into easily.

Good way to look at it.

There have been times/situations in my life where my ability to multi-task or otherwise divide my attention between many different things worked to my great advantage.

Somewhere along the way I fell into a way of being that seems to go against my innate abilities, and I've suffered for it.

I feel like I need to find my way back somehow.....

(Sorry, this probably makes no sense to anyone)

 

[EscapeArtist]

Good way to look at it.

There have been times/situations in my life where my ability to multi-task or otherwise divide my attention between many different things worked to my great advantage.

Somewhere along the way I fell into a way of being that seems to go against my innate abilities, and I've suffered for it.

I feel like I need to find my way back somehow.....

(Sorry, this probably makes no sense to anyone)

I think I understand your 'nonsense' quite well. I agree, my attention "problem" is beneficial in multitasking and extremely beneficial because of the ability to hyperfocus when possible. Of course the hyperfocusing can spur an OCD-like attitude, but it gives me an exactness in my work that I can be proud of when I feel like using it correctly. I've learned to like my noisy brain even though I still deeply envy those who don't have one...

 

[bigrob]

I don't multi-task so well, but if things get hectic and other people freak out that's when I start to shine.

I also know most people say when they get in a fight "things happen so fast", but with me things go slow motion.

 

[tarns83]

How many of you have a noisy brain? Meaning a brain that seems to have a bazillion thoughts and images cascading through it at all times. It makes it EXTREMELY hard for me to focus on anything.

I seem to get this when I'm about to tell a story or explain a situation to someone.

My thoughts are jumbled, yet I want to explain everything so perfectly that what comes out of my mouth is fragmented.. and sometimes as I'm talking, I'm thinking in my mind why the heck did I just say it like that??

Pair this with a racing heart and breathlessness from being nervous = win

 

[WorldEndsWithMe]

I used to always have the "running thoughts" and could hardly concentration. My brain is still constantly going, but I've been able to get it to focus on the topic at hand a bit better. When I had depression it was at it's all time worst. Never stopped thinking, and I was only thinking bad thoughts. =(

I have test anxiety and unfortunately being unable to clear your head and get your brain to stop going at max. speed is really hard, especially when you're stressed.

 

[coyote]

I don't multi-task so well, but if things get hectic and other people freak out that's when I start to shine.

I also know most people say when they get in a fight "things happen so fast", but with me things go slow motion.

Exactly - seems my adrenaline kicks in and I get calm, serene, level-headed, and everyone else is in a panic. They look at me like they're wondering why I'm not in a panic, too.

Trouble is, I think I often have to create drama for myself - push things to the edge or create crisis situations where they don't need to be - just so that I can think calmly and act decisively enough to get anything done. This puts people close to me in an uncomfortable position. :[

 

[bigrob]

I also find that the harder I try to think of something the harder it is for me to actually remember or do. I actually have to stop thinking about it and maybe even walk away for a second then suddenly it pops in.

Dr. Daniel Amen has actually done studies on ADD/ADHD sufferers and their brains and found that the prefrontal cortex activity slows on them under stress as opposed to activating for "normal" people.

 

[coyote]

Yup.

Give me 30 minutes to get twenty things done, and I'll get twenty things done.

Give me all day to do one little thing, and it'll take me all day to do it.

 

[dooby-duck]

Yes, I have a huge ammount of brain chatter going on most of the time. Exercise does seem to help it, but it is a nightmare late at night and early in the morning when I'm trying to sleep. I find cycling fast seems to help match the speed of my thoughts with the passing scenery and calm me down a bit. Also going off into a fantasy world seems to keep my brain from meltdown.

Funny you should mention multi-tasking. I often watch tv, listen to music and surf the internet at the same time. Quite often one thing will not hold my interest for any length of time. If I'm just doing one thing I'm way more likely to have to go for a wander around every few minutes.

 

[Reinventing]

Hmm. I do have a noisy brain at times, but it's always in a certain way. When I'm in anxious situations my brain is trying to track and evaluate everything that's going on around me, and distracts me a lot. If someone talks to me though, I'll be unable to think of anything.. for the purposes of that conversation my mind will be blank. The only things I'll come up with to say are things that seem "expected of me" given the situation (which my brain has been frantically trying to assess for risk etc.).

I can focus when it's a singular issue and it's something I'm knowledgeable about.. but I also have an atrociously bad memory and so I don't tend to be knowledgeable about much.

This is weird, reading so many people's opinions that I can actually identify with! (It's still novel, 'cause it's something like my third post!)

 

[recluse]

I rarely have a quiet brain, i try to blank out my thoughts but it's as if i am addicted to thinking..It's awful. My thoughts are not even productive most of the time because they are looping thoughts, mostly negative ones.

I find that when i am in karate class the intense physical side of it and the requirement to focus eliminates my thoughts.

 

[Ritta]

I wouldn't dare anyone enter my brain. It's really messed up in there ::
I have hundreds of thoughts about depression, anxiety, embarrassing moments, fantasies and a million others.

I tend to day dream a lot, which in some cases helps with anxiety. My imagination is so vivid, I sometimes wonder if what I was thinking about was real or not. Then there are times when while I'm in that inner fantasy world, I completely forget where I am at. It's quite dangerous. Several times I've found myself in a place and have no idea how I got there or how to get back home. I'm glad there are plenty of bus stops all over the place, so that's how I can check my location.

Also what I hate the most is that lately I've been having a real hard time concentrating on things. At the same time my memory is getting worse and worse. If I don't write things down, I don't remember anything. I also have to remind myself to read my notes ::

It feels like my brain is degrading more and more as each year passes by ::

 

[bigrob]

I wouldn't dare anyone enter my brain. It's really messed up in there ::
I have hundreds of thoughts about depression, anxiety, embarrassing moments, fantasies and a million others.

I tend to day dream a lot, which in some cases helps with anxiety. My imagination is so vivid, I sometimes wonder if what I was thinking about was real or not. Then there are times when while I'm in that inner fantasy world, I completely forget where I am at. It's quite dangerous. Several times I've found myself in a place and have no idea how I got there or how to get back home. I'm glad there are plenty of bus stops all over the place, so that's how I can check my location.

Also what I hate the most is that lately I've been having a real hard time concentrating on things. At the same time my memory is getting worse and worse. If I don't write things down, I don't remember anything. I also have to remind myself to read my notes ::

It feels like my brain is degrading more and more as each year passes by ::

I identified with every single bit of that.

 

[Reinventing]

.....
Also what I hate the most is that lately I've been having a real hard time concentrating on things. At the same time my memory is getting worse and worse. If I don't write things down, I don't remember anything. I also have to remind myself to read my notes ::

It feels like my brain is degrading more and more as each year passes by ::

This sounds just like me.. I mean, I identified in many ways with the rest of what you said (I daydream, I get distracted) but just not to quite the same extent. The memory stuff though, the concentration - it's been getting worse for me. Either that or I've simply begun to expose myself to more and more situations where it's a noticeable problem.

I've been thinking about seeing if the distraction is something that can be addressed somehow.. not sure how but it's noticeable and so I might see a doctor about it. Don't know if anyone's similarly tried looking into this?

 

[bigrob]

TI've been thinking about seeing if the distraction is something that can be addressed somehow.. not sure how but it's noticeable and so I might see a doctor about it. Don't know if anyone's similarly tried looking into this?

The books "Driven to Distraction" and "Deliver from Distraction" by Edward M. Hallowell M.D. are both good.