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Comment by possibilistic | Hacker News Reader

I'm not a hypochondriac, I swear, but this really hits home. I have medically diagnosed ADHD; seemingly contrary to the disorder, I often find myself getting stuck daydreaming for hours. I honestly _enjoy_ it, and as a consequence of my incredibly realistic daydreams I never get bored. Seriously--I never get bored. It's like a dopamine rush I can turn on whenever I want. My stories are better than any movie because I'm actually _in_ them.

The walking in circles bit is just uncanny. My most creative thinking (or most vivid daydreams) happen when I'm doing exactly that. It's really weird (and I'm acutely conscious of how it must look), so I never let people catch me doing it. Something about walking in circles turns up the realism an order of magnitude.

I think this is highly related to my ADHD, and now I want to tell my doctor about it. I don't want to rid myself of this, but I do want to control it better.

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I've also experienced this since childhood. Being an only child and having two working parents, I had to find something to amuse myself all day. My imagination ran wild and I was able to create entire universes in my head. But it was never a problem, I never felt bogged down by this imagination, rather I felt a compelling urge to continue developing it. Perhaps it's because I never considered it a "condition", but rather a gift that I was given that other children didn't seem to have. They were forced to derive amusement from others or external sources like video games or a television, things I still loved but didn't feel dependent on. I think this early urge to create things definitely spawned my interest in both music and programming.

I would urge anyone who also experiences this not to take the OP's advice, instead, learn to embrace the gift you've been given and learn to control it with your own willpower. It is possible. Keep your imagination in its place, and don't take drugs to diminish it.

I don't agree with you. This has been a problem for almost 15 years. I can't get stuff done. I can't focus. Music triggers it, and I can lose entire months just doing nothing but daydreaming. It's been a genuine problem.

Doctors thought it was ADHD, and it could have been. But the medication hasn't helped with not triggering it. I'm going to look into the medication stated in the article. But where I am, the doctors are stringent with prescribing things. Took a year to ADHD pills.

I can relate. I got ADHD as well and while the medication helps me focus when I am working, it doesn't help with staying on task or even beginning.

It doesn't help not wasting an entire day just day dreaming about stupid action-packed shit either :-/.

Let me know if you ever find a medication or solution that works. My only trigger is music, nothing else. I noticed the author wrote Fluvoxamine worked, I will see if my doctor would prescribe it.

ALSO WOW.... I thought I was alone. It never occurred to me that I should google this, I just naturally assumed i was alone in this. This is some crazy shit.

I remembered what helped me with a more or less similar problem: plain old "focusing on the now / present / just this second".

1. You can look into plain/western mindfulness meditation (the science-based non-mystical flavor of it): http://palousemindfulness.com/selfguidedMBSR.html

2. Or look into the buddhist way of arriving to more or less the same thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nasIq4E9nNg

3. Or, my favorites and much more western-friendly versions of the same message of "just live in the now, accept the present as it is and work with it, instead of evading into dream-land":

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkgNIJLpBEI - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9JgLgBtV-M

...the other thing maybe that you're just meant to live a more action packed life than you actually do. If nothing works, forget the medication and just go join the military or find something else that can give you enough "action-packed shit"... the world is pretty "rough and wild" if you go out of your USA/UK/EU "walled garden" you know. Go volunteer for the red-cross or other humanitarian organization in a conflict-zone African country for example. Some people actually need this and just fantasizing about it instead of getting it is just sad and wasteful.

Walking in circles when using the telephone is really common. I wonder whether it is related?

Relevant xkcd: https://xkcd.com/1419/

The Navajo word for "cellphone" translates to "the thing you spin around with".

I think motor activity helps us pump thoughts through our brain.

I was skeptical about the Navajo claim, but you're totally right. "Bił Nijoobałí" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzwupgNm0GI

Or a rotary telephone?

So would people like a mobile keyboard, or can they get the thoughts pumping and then sit down to write?

I am sorry for being on a tangent but how old were you when you were diagnosed? I am 20, and I am having real trouble staying focused on one task and can definitely relate to what you said.

Same here, I can't finish my stuff if I am alone with music playing.

I wasn't diagnosed with anything (not that I was ever checked), but you sound a lot like my experiences. Maybe I should get checked for ADHD..

I was also diagnosed with ADHD as a child and twice as a teenager. Today I don't believe in non-material diseases anymore, but the point stands that people like you and I have this thing in common with the prolific daydreaming.

It's unfortunate it's characterized nowadays as a disease. I enjoy it a lot, and sometimes whole afternoons go by where I was lost in a daydream. I never need to take books or anything anywhere to keep me entertained during dead times as I know I can barely choose what thoughts will engulf my mind next.

Have you looked into Jungian types? Without having an opinion as to its validity, I can say reading a thorough INTP description made me realize that this is really not a disease and some people are just more prone to being this way. I've learned to accept it (by doing my own research as for what this is) and now I'm happy without any meds whatsoever.

In some creative professions, "daydreaming" fuels work output. Richard Branson has written about his dyslexia and how his business empire is built on his creative and strategic strengths, while operational weaknesses are delegated.

Thanks! I'll have to find that. Right now I have difficulty seeing how someone like me could become an entrepreneur.

The two can go together: https://www.google.com/#q=add+entrepreneur . One limitation of any label is that there are many sub-types within a labelled group of non-neurotypicals. The most important tool is a shared language to define common challenges and solution strategies.

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