26th January 2008
I hope this is the appropriate place in which to discuss ADHD...
I have an adult friend whom was diagnosed as a teenager as having ADHD, and he was put on Ritalin in his teen years...but he quit it cold turkey because he said the pills made him feel like a zombie. He really doesn't seem to display any symptoms of ADHD, but he has a sort of tic that makes me wonder.
When he's doing things like checking an internet window, turning off his phone, putting a bottle cap back on, setting his alarm...just basic things, he will start counting "1, 2, 3, 4, 1", "1, 2, 3, 4, 2", "1, 2, 3, 4, 3", "1, 2, 3, 4, 4" and then go and do whatever he wanted to do afterwards. He told me he does this because he feels nervous if he doesn't, but the thing is I've known him for over two years and I've only ever seen him do this a couple of times since I met him. But he's been doing it many many times a day in the past month, for some reason.
Is there any reason why he'd start doing this so frequently all of a sudden? He's not extra-nervous over anything at the moment, and he hasn't done anything else that is peculiar. I'm asking because I'm a little concerned as to the cause of this sudden interest in the ritualistic counting...and it annoys me to some extent, and I know he can't help it, so I don't hold it against him (I have a mild form of autism and little things make me irate sometimes - go figure).
I have an adult friend whom was diagnosed as a teenager as having ADHD, and he was put on Ritalin in his teen years...but he quit it cold turkey because he said the pills made him feel like a zombie. He really doesn't seem to display any symptoms of ADHD, but he has a sort of tic that makes me wonder.
When he's doing things like checking an internet window, turning off his phone, putting a bottle cap back on, setting his alarm...just basic things, he will start counting "1, 2, 3, 4, 1", "1, 2, 3, 4, 2", "1, 2, 3, 4, 3", "1, 2, 3, 4, 4" and then go and do whatever he wanted to do afterwards. He told me he does this because he feels nervous if he doesn't, but the thing is I've known him for over two years and I've only ever seen him do this a couple of times since I met him. But he's been doing it many many times a day in the past month, for some reason.
Is there any reason why he'd start doing this so frequently all of a sudden? He's not extra-nervous over anything at the moment, and he hasn't done anything else that is peculiar. I'm asking because I'm a little concerned as to the cause of this sudden interest in the ritualistic counting...and it annoys me to some extent, and I know he can't help it, so I don't hold it against him (I have a mild form of autism and little things make me irate sometimes - go figure).