The 3 stages of information overwhelm
The internet is an amazing thing. There are soooo many resources, it is incredible! For those of us with ADHD, it can also be a total nightmare.
I was tagged on a Facebook post for a video from a YouTube channel based in Montreal about healing yourself/your disease naturally. The video is titled Ultimate detailed plan for healing add and adhd naturally (for children and adults)! I have literally been sucked into this for an entire day. My initial reaction was WHAT THE HECK. How can she say that it can be HEALED?! And I was a little bit outraged that she could jump to those claims. That said, her video remained at the back of my mind. I know for a fact that diet plays a huge role in everyone's lives. Who is to say that it can't make a huge impact in the lives of those with ADHD? Maybe we could go so far as to say that by controlling your diet, it could exponentially control your adhd symptoms.
This is the part where my brain explodes. From there my anxiety increases by ten fold and then my mood becomes quite low. But why?! It's just new information...
I have figured out by writing this blog post what the "why" for my anxiety is. The reason is that I do not understand. I do not know what the heck she is talking about when she says that we have yeast, microbes, blabla in our gut. The information that she is giving me rings a bell and sets off alarms *ding* *ding* *ding* but what does it mean? How do I interpret all of this new data that is flying at me?! From there I end up taking pieces that she mentions in the video like "fermented coconut milk" and doing a search. From there I do not know how to decide what information is valid or not. Also which recipes will work?! What I do know is that when I eat food like bread, meat and cheese I enter the ultimate food coma. Or, I get "the itis" as one of my old, and amazing classmates would say. How do I prevent myself from becoming overwhelmed when I am learning something new?!
Here are the 3 stages of overwhelm that I experience:
1. Brand new topic, with brand new information.
Whenever I start to learn about a new topic I get SO OVERWHELMED. I do not know what information I should believe or how to find out if the information will be pertinent for me. What if I go out, spend a bunch of money on [insert new topic] and then dun. dun. dun. it doesn't work! The reason why I am so skeptical is because I have tried a lot of "new things" to try and better myself and my life. Example, I tried Herbalife. By the way, nothing that I try ends up lasting too long and then I end up dumping a bunch of money down the drain. How do I know if it will be helpful or not?! And more importantly, will I stick with it?
Another non health related thing that I have tried is laser hair removal. Guess what?! I still have hair. Annnnnnd insert frustration.
My solution: ask friends about their experience. However, this doesn't always work.
2. Every brand new topic requires additional information.
Example: I was diagnosed with ADHD two months ago. I am still learning and I suspect I will never stop learning about ADHD. This is ok for me. My problem or issue that leads to overwhelm is that if I am on a certain website and they start talking about, for example, dyscalculia and I'm like *ding* some more bells are going off; this dyscalculia thing sounds very familiar and like I may have it. Here's the issue: The initial website that I found the information about dyscalculia leaves me with A TON of questions. Now what? I take to google. Google doesn't end up helping me and I am left with even more questions. This is my ultimate death trap.
3. Too many unanswered questions.
When I do not understand something, I get extremely frustrated, anxious and a teeny tiny bit depressed because I am so overwhelmed. Whenever I am in this situation I usually ask friends, a family member or try and find a physical person to ask for help. By physical person I mean that I am sitting across from them, not e-mailing or txting. This was my big obstacle when I was first diagnosed. I didn't really know too many people that I could relate with. How do I get my questions answered and learn to answer these questions?
This is a topic where I really don't have any answers. See the irony? I guess that I need to take in new information and not give said information a label. Just let the information sit with me and see what happens. If you have the magical answer, please comment below!
I was tagged on a Facebook post for a video from a YouTube channel based in Montreal about healing yourself/your disease naturally. The video is titled Ultimate detailed plan for healing add and adhd naturally (for children and adults)! I have literally been sucked into this for an entire day. My initial reaction was WHAT THE HECK. How can she say that it can be HEALED?! And I was a little bit outraged that she could jump to those claims. That said, her video remained at the back of my mind. I know for a fact that diet plays a huge role in everyone's lives. Who is to say that it can't make a huge impact in the lives of those with ADHD? Maybe we could go so far as to say that by controlling your diet, it could exponentially control your adhd symptoms.
This is the part where my brain explodes. From there my anxiety increases by ten fold and then my mood becomes quite low. But why?! It's just new information...
I have figured out by writing this blog post what the "why" for my anxiety is. The reason is that I do not understand. I do not know what the heck she is talking about when she says that we have yeast, microbes, blabla in our gut. The information that she is giving me rings a bell and sets off alarms *ding* *ding* *ding* but what does it mean? How do I interpret all of this new data that is flying at me?! From there I end up taking pieces that she mentions in the video like "fermented coconut milk" and doing a search. From there I do not know how to decide what information is valid or not. Also which recipes will work?! What I do know is that when I eat food like bread, meat and cheese I enter the ultimate food coma. Or, I get "the itis" as one of my old, and amazing classmates would say. How do I prevent myself from becoming overwhelmed when I am learning something new?!
Here are the 3 stages of overwhelm that I experience:
1. Brand new topic, with brand new information.
Whenever I start to learn about a new topic I get SO OVERWHELMED. I do not know what information I should believe or how to find out if the information will be pertinent for me. What if I go out, spend a bunch of money on [insert new topic] and then dun. dun. dun. it doesn't work! The reason why I am so skeptical is because I have tried a lot of "new things" to try and better myself and my life. Example, I tried Herbalife. By the way, nothing that I try ends up lasting too long and then I end up dumping a bunch of money down the drain. How do I know if it will be helpful or not?! And more importantly, will I stick with it?
Another non health related thing that I have tried is laser hair removal. Guess what?! I still have hair. Annnnnnd insert frustration.
My solution: ask friends about their experience. However, this doesn't always work.
2. Every brand new topic requires additional information.
Example: I was diagnosed with ADHD two months ago. I am still learning and I suspect I will never stop learning about ADHD. This is ok for me. My problem or issue that leads to overwhelm is that if I am on a certain website and they start talking about, for example, dyscalculia and I'm like *ding* some more bells are going off; this dyscalculia thing sounds very familiar and like I may have it. Here's the issue: The initial website that I found the information about dyscalculia leaves me with A TON of questions. Now what? I take to google. Google doesn't end up helping me and I am left with even more questions. This is my ultimate death trap.
3. Too many unanswered questions.
When I do not understand something, I get extremely frustrated, anxious and a teeny tiny bit depressed because I am so overwhelmed. Whenever I am in this situation I usually ask friends, a family member or try and find a physical person to ask for help. By physical person I mean that I am sitting across from them, not e-mailing or txting. This was my big obstacle when I was first diagnosed. I didn't really know too many people that I could relate with. How do I get my questions answered and learn to answer these questions?
This is a topic where I really don't have any answers. See the irony? I guess that I need to take in new information and not give said information a label. Just let the information sit with me and see what happens. If you have the magical answer, please comment below!
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