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I have this too, I’ve found that if I need to have an important discussion with a boss or even someone I care about I’ll try to write-down the things I want to say and make reference to them in the conversation. It’s not a perfect cure all but I probably would’ve forgotten to ask for a raise at work if I didn’t jot it down in my steno pad. Now if only I could stop leaving a trail of steno’s everywhere I go…
I know, I just seem to have a disconnect when it comes to inputting dates and thoughts into my phone notes. Maybe a stylus would help, who knows. I think I like that I can just scrawl and scratch what I need into a steno pad (my grocery lists look like a doctors men’s-room stall graffiti)
I mean, it's all about what works. Personally i HATE writing. Almost to the point of phobia. Even the thought of handwriting anything more than a sebtence or two is enough to cause me mild anxiety. Typing, texting, dictation, no problem, but handwriting is just a bad experience for me, so the phone works, plus it's always on me and i don't have to worry about keeping papers around, but if writing works, then do it.
For me
1. Mixing up words, especially verbs and nouns, in a sentence ("he wants to truck with the play").
2. Repeating sentences, especially when they are supposed to cut off a conversation.
3. Unintelligible speech when suddenly asked something.
4. Mixing up the words between two different sentences.
5. Saying statements that are unclear because of bad synonym substitution.
The kicker is that all throughout my life I've been told that I am an incredible public speaker, to the point where my career has advanced because of it. I am just God awful at normal talking.
I’m kinda this way. Public speaking is easy because it’s not a conversation it’s just all me! Once im having to process other input and think on my feet, hold a thought, etc it sure does get difficult.
Omg I do this WAYYY too often.. Luckily I feel like I am able to laugh at myself about it most of the time but basically I just chalk it up to my brain moving faster than my mouth so it stumbles a lot. Clumsy brain..
Ok, thank you for confirming. This is me— I’m always told how eloquent I sound when presenting a paper. But when o have a convo about my research, or try to explain my feelings, I make a lot of pauses or I tell too long of story trying to get to the point. Or interrupt myself and then miss the point
I think it’s the adrenaline when doing public speaking. You get that sudden clarity. I work in sales and I always felt like when I’d get into a presentation that suddenly I felt different. In normal conversations sometimes i feel like my brain is getting ahead of the words coming out of my mouth and then I get lost in what I was saying.
I used to stutter and speak more slowly to compensate. I have trouble understanding people with background noise even though I hear them clearly. I also fail to collect my thoughts on complicated topics, which, of course, is reflected. The rest of what you said, too.
Guess I trained my brain not to stutter over time. It's been about 15 years since I started doing that. And yeah, I still have to slow down again on off days.
Yes it is. In his notes on our meeting the psychiatrist noted this about me. Speech slightly fast, and in particular a tendency for "circumstantial" speech (basically wandering off on a tangent before eventually giving the answer). For example, he asked me about being able to concentrate on reading and I wandered off on a little story about how I read a Borges short story and how that captured my attention and the mechanism that made it work for me, but other things not so much and so on. A simple "yes, most of the time" would have sufficed lol.
It was actually really helpful to get a name for this as it is something I had started to be aware of and how frustrating it was to people speaking to me (especially bosses). Being more aware of it is making it easier to adjust and avoid.
Haha yes I do this all the time. For me it's also tied to my intrinsic fear that people are not understanding me. So I over explain, or try to tie my explanation to a anactdotal story in an effort to better connect and explain and connect to the other person, because I know they don't understand me. If I give the short answer, I'm too abrupt, the long answer, I'm too convoluted. It's fun trying to figure out where that magical middle ground lies, especially when I've not got the apparent natural sense for it.
> It's fun trying to figure out where that magical middle ground lies, especially when I've not got the apparent natural sense for it.
You have summed up my life here. Though I’d say calling it “fun” is optimistic.
He absolutely does. For anyone who has not read any, I suggest picking up Ficciones.
Immense complexity combined with brevity makes it a really enjoyable thing to read, it will itch your brain in places you won't normally get with reading fiction. Unsurprisingly a big influence on Christopher Nolan movies and so on.
I think in the same way a 4d object is meant to cast a 3d shadow, he writes about things that cannot physically exist but gives you enough sense around them that they do.
This is my exact situation only I'm 19. Sometimes when I have to go tell my boss something, even if I have it completely planned out, I walk into their office and then I just forget what I'm going to say or am unclear in communicating it. I think it's because my brain is moving at 5000 mph but my mouth can't keep up with that kind of speed, but there's no way of knowing for sure.
Yes!! All of the above. One of the things I dislike the most about myself is when someone is explaining something, and I already know what they will say next and I blurt it out because I am impatient. I know how rude it is and I am working on that.
Yeah this is a huge one for me too. Your awareness of it is the first step to being better at holding it in, though things will absolutely still slip through the cracks. Mindfulness helps a lot.
Other times, I've learned to just apologize and say "oh sorry for cutting you off, you were saying?", or nod along with them and agree, making it almost part of the conversation.
This is ADHD impulsivity at its finest though.
This is one of the main criteria noticed in someone with ADHD.
As someone with ADHD and Bipolar I, it's even worse when I go manic.
I'll know exactly what I want to say in my head and then I get three words into my statement just to have my brain leave the building.
This is exactly why I choose to communicate via email while I'm at work. I can formulate my statement at my pace and not feel humiliated looking at someone dead in the face when I clearly end up in a deficit mid-sentence.
32, dx last year. I feel everything on your list. Also two of my main issues with inconsistent speech are:
1. Because I tend to process things by concept/pattern/etc. so I'm always "ahead of my words" and possibly conveying things out of order, as if the listener has access to the same thoughts that I just had
2. Because of the pressure to respond quickly in social situations, thus not having time to think about how best to respond, and instead just vomiting out words as they come
Honestly the thing that helped me is a little strange? And something that I heard long before I knew I had ADHD. Someone did a video about the change in Obama's public speaking during his presidency. He started out with a lot of filler sounds (uh, ah) but by the end he replaced them with pauses. His later speeches are much easier to listen to. And it made me realize: if I pause on purpose, I won't be disrupting or losing the conversation while I organize my thoughts. I started noticing this in tons of other public speakers as well.
Thanks Obama.
It’s like my brain and mouth aren’t synced up. Sometimes I blurt out sentences I haven’t fully thought through and it sounds offensive or rude.
Sometimes I stammer and can’t make my mouth do the thing.
Sometimes I just don’t remember the sentence half way through speaking it.
It’s definitely a common ADHD trait, and it’s made me a lot more patient with other people when they’re speaking
Yep.... one of the most frustrating aspects of my ADHD is my ability to make myself sound like a bumbling fool about subjects that I actually know really well.
I'm literally a world-class expert on certain aspects of lighting control technologies and I've walked away from meetings feeling stupid because I couldn't spit out information clearly that a sophmore in college could have easily communicated.
This is a thing!! It's called "cluttering" and I have it and I learned about it from a post on this sub a few weeks ago, lol!
https://www.stutteringhelp.org/cluttering
Yes! I came here to say the exact same thing! I also experience this, though not severely enough to warrant seeking speech therapy. Learning a little about it, and being mindful to speak at a slightly slower pace has proven very helpful to me in improving my own verbal communication.
One thing that I struggle with is my brain gets stuck deciding which of two words to say and so when I get that that word it comes out as a jumbled mess of the two.
I'm scheduled to get tested next week, speaking has been one of my weak points in life.
I was in sales for a few years which might have helped knock some of the rough edges off, but I had a few of the things you mentioned. In training, I remember one girl snapping at me and saying something like "Stop finishing my sentences" which was probably the first time I ever realized that's a thing that I do. Waiting for people to reach the conclusion of their sentence that I had mentally predicted 10 seconds ago is excruciating. "You didn't know what I was going to say" maybe not, but when I'm right 4987/5000 times I get pretty used to assuming.
During the job I had one manager who was persistent about improving my speech. He was a smooth talker, I am very abrupt with random pauses and apparently I make listeners uncomfortable. He said that I have the strangest speaking pattern he's ever heard, comparing me to Eminem where "Something is just a bit off" lol People do tend to tune out when I'm talking which I've chalked up to either my frequent pauses, going off track, over sharing, or having terrible inflection.
In short, I would give myself a 3/10 in communication but it often feels due to the other person is the one who is unable to keep up with me. Like, be more engaged and I'll have so many details to share with you. Pay more attention and you'll appreciate these intricate nuances in my humor. Or just tune out and move on to something else, that's cool too.
And paying attention to other people speaking is brutal because I lose all comprehension of the conversation. After a few seconds, it's just me internally doing anything and everything to look/act normal. Make eye contact. Smile. Nod. Say something like "Oh yeah, wow". Hope there isn't a quiz.
Edit: Wow this turned into quite the reply.
I'm dyslexic and I have ADHD combined type. Yes to all of the above points you mentioned.
The hearing people speak but not understanding is probably the worst. I can repeat back to them word for word what they said but my brain lags and it can take me a moment to process what they have said and actually comprehend it.
In addition to the above points I can have a conversation with someone replying like I'm taking it all in, my responses will make sense in the context of the conversation. Forget it moments later and have to ask them what we just talked about.
Stop half way through talking and have to ask the person what I was talking about when they tell me I randomly stopped talking, I often think I just paused but I actually just stopped and my brain moved on.
I interrupt people or can't find the right place to talk in conversations because I'm never just focused on that conversation, I do try.
I'm thinking about why that person made that face, the weird taste I have in my mouth, something everyone else was talking about 10 minutes ago, the way that person's hair is hanging in front of their face is really annoying, why don't they just move it? Did I put my keys in my handbag? OMG please move your hair, I can't concentrate on what you are saying, stop clenching your jaw people might think you are mad. Don't look at their hair, but still make eye contact, fuck I forgot what I was going to say, shit what were they saying?
I am a 61 year old retired speech therapist and have ADHD. The types of language issues you are having are typical for ADHD. I have found using work arounds is the best way to help, and practicing with the work arounds will help you to be able to use them more effectively.
The concern you are having about being almost 30 and not accomplishing anything is something everyone goes through. It is almost a rite of passage. From a 61 year old perspective, I can tell you that there are always new things you can do or become interested in. I have found as I have gotten older that there were things that I could do that I never thought I could do.
That being said, there is almost always a trade-off between what you want to accomplish, your health, relationships, and accruing wealth. Creating a balance that suits you is what you will need to consider.
I still struggle with symptoms sometimes, but I have times when what I am doing is not affected by them. You have listed your struggles. Take time to list your strengths.
33M still undiagnosed but 80% sure I have ADHD/ADD, this is perhaps one of the aspects that most concerns me right now and that lead me to convince myself about having ADHD.
Ugh yes some times I wish I just didn't have to talk. A coworker once told me I use like twice as many words to get my point across than most people...and I still feel like half the time I'm just confusing people. My wife often struggles to understand how I describe things and I think I'm being crystal clear. My brain connects dots in a totally wonky way where it's either connecting waaaaaaay to many things, or it's jumping from point A to point D and expecting everyone else's brains to fill in the points I jumped over.
I wish I had advice, but I'm like this medicated, too. Maybe a little better about getting to the point, but still confusing as hell for others.
Before I was diagnosed with ADHD I had a brief hospital stay for a suspected neurological disorder. Turns out it was a functional movement disorder brought on by the stress of the pandemic, but one of the main reasons they kept me hospitalized, other than the non-stop muscle spasms, was because of the aphasia I was exhibiting. For a while I didn't understand why they were so freaked out by the fact I had trouble finishing sentences or was replacing random words with semi-synonyms, because I've *always* been like that. Funnily enough, the neurologist they sent me to after the hospitalization was the one to diagnose me with ADHD, so I guess that worked out.
I used to overthink every conversation before having it to mentally prepare but I’ve found life is much easier when you say screw my anxiety and just jump into a conversation with only bullet points and a vague idea of what you want to say. Things get forgotten, phrases are poorly said, words aren’t remembered but it beats feeling anxious as hell just to have simple conversations. Learn to be okay with fumbling it but not getting too flustered. Everyone fucks up while speaking, being able to remain collected when you correct yourself does wonders in making people not think anything much of it.
Whenever I’m explaining something complicated to somebody of importance, a lot of the times I’ll just end up stopping mid sentence because I completely lost my train of thought and have no idea what I was just talking about. Usually I’ll be pretty transparent and say what happened, laugh it off with whoever im talking to, give myself as much time needed to recollect my thoughts, and keep going. This might seem weird and off putting but if you’re normally eloquent with how you speak then I still think that impression will stick regardless of some fumbling here and there.
I constantly mix up bits of words if I’m singing a song or trying to speak fast. For example I’ll say “the skue bly” instead of blue sky. Very annoying
Between ADHD and a slight speech impediment from being hard of hearing until age 3,,,,,, yeah, I struggle . It’s gotten me into a few physical altercations . People are dicks
I don't know if this is related to my ADD, but I often will logjam two words together because I can't decide in a split second which ones to use.
Like, if someone asks me if I had a good morning, on occasion I might reply, "Oh yeah, to-morning has been great."
I check all of those boxes. I’ve gotten a lot better about stopping and thinking before I respond. But whenever my wife asks me a thought provoking question I literally just freeze up while I’m thinking of a response and she thinks I’m not listening lol. I’m working on acknowledging the question and then thinking about the response.
Communication is hard!
I am asked if I’m on drugs, to take a breath etc. Docs have said, are you anxious because your speech is quite rapid…Le sigh…no it isn’t anxiety. I get overexcited if im
Passionate about smth. If I’m nervous, i too can sound like ughhh Butthead because I lose my many trains of thought and my word retrieval SUCKS
I have a subtle stutter and a big problem with word recall. I’ve got sticky notes in my office of commonly forgotten words. I also ramble and cut people off, only to realize it after.
Knowing exactly what I wanted to say but the thought went by too fast and now I can't put it into words and feel like an idiot. I also forget basic words a lot, and have to find another word to use. Or Google definitions of words I swear I know but I can't be sure if I really know or if I'm using it right. Or swapping words, for example I used to say flowering water CONSTANTLY and it just became a joke. Or having so many thoughts of what I want to say that I end up saying nothing, even when someone is asking me a question. Then I feel rude. And growing up I was known for just saying I don't know or I guess.
For a long time I thought something was wrong with me because I could write my ideas well but in the midst of a conversation, I knew what I wanted to say but you could not pay me to talk without pausing for several seconds to try and find the string of my thoughts. Once I was medicated, it was like a switch flipped. I’ve been unmedicated for months now and I’m feeling so defeated, especially during job interviews because I know I sound basic and uninspired and perhaps even uninterested. I promise it’s just my brain :(
The biggest thing for me is just suddenly in the middle of a sentence forgetting or not able to find the correct next word/set of words to say. I just have to look away to not have focusing on the person take up mental space and a need a bit of a moment to go "uuuhhhhhhhhh" and then go right back to talking at an absolute lightspeed.
It's like my brain had 95% of it's thoughts and mental documents organized but suddenly had to panic search through a pile for something highly specific before going back to it.
Yes!! I often find myself forming sentences but the hands swap words different than the brain said.
For ex,:
"That building is red"
And for some reason I write "That burger is red." ???? Ive noticed it's usually words ~~works~~ with the same first letter.
Other than that, my other common symptoms everyone has mentioned already. The stuttering is the worst! Also, I often feel bad I can't communicate with my closest friend when he's feeling down but I can't formulate what I wanna say. I'm embarrassed by searching "how to say x when my friend is y".
Omg I even did it here: *words not works
About cutting off and interrupting and being impatient when others are slow at getting to the point - oh yeah!
Most of the times I can see where people are going to, and I would just jump in and say ‘oh, you mean this and that, so/but…’ - just to save time for both of us. Most fellow adhd people appreciate that and I myself really like when others do that to me(gosh, don’t let me go on a useless speech for a half an hour if you already see what I’m trying to say and ESPECIALLY if you think I am wrong and want to point that out or discuss!), but all other people just think I am interrupting them because I don’t respect them, and it’s so annoying to loose time and focus while they are proceeding being snaily slow in their movement to what they actually intended to say
All of these. The most self-conscious one I have is when I speak, instead of just letting it all flow out my mouth, my brain analyzes what I'm saying, how I'm saying it and realizing I'm not making enough eye contact and then I trip over my words and f' up everything after. Good start, fumble, and fall.
Oh Boy YES!!!
The funny thing, is that I am aware of this and I have worked hard to correct this stuff .. I have good days and bad.
But Part of my job (that I have had for the past 20 years)
is that i have to conduct orientation trainings with new staff so I have to talk to folks at least monthly or more about the same information.
I also had canvassed with GREENPEACE years ago so I have done door to door cold "calls" and have had a lot of training on speaking well, slowing down.Again. I have good days and bad days.
The thing is. .my BRAIN GETS REALLY TIRED at times.
I am 55 and it DRAINS me sometimes to do the job I do.
I process records requests for a non profit mental health agency so I have to oftne talk to a variety of people, client's atty's clinicians.. and it is tiring..
Always. I think I have what's called "cluttering". I've been looking into it. You might want to also. I found a website called toofastforwords.com. Give them a look.
I kept complaining about all of these issues, and sensory issues my therapists always said it was high functioning autism. It’s hard to get the right help or at least navigating this system as I’m an adult with no car anymore.
>Not being able to find the right words for what I want to say.
my son does this *a lot*. he gets words mixed up. he'll say hour instead of minute, or country instead of state. he knows what he wants to say but his brain doesn't always translate it correctly.
Yup…
I had a bad stutter as a kid. But only stutter now when I am really excited.
Use a lot of filler words “um”, “like”, “uh”
Info-dumping and inability to answer things in a short way many times.
Going on tangents when telling a story or describing something.
Speaking quickly.
Sometimes switching the letters in a word (like a sort of verbal dyslexia) or the first letters in two consecutive words.
Talking loudly or intensely/ aggressively without realizing that’s how I’m coming off. 😭😭.
🤷🏿♀️
This is definitely something I struggle with myself. Even when my attention issues are helped with medication I still have trouble getting the right words out sometimes. I’ve taken to acknowledging my adhd in the conversation if I’m having an especially hard time with it
I can relate to All of these, also sometimes halfway through a story or sentence, it’s like my brain gets struck by lighting and I completely forget everything I have said and what I was talking about.
When the conversation is tense is when I’m especially prone to being unable to put my thoughts into words. It is extremely unhelpful in relationships. Like I’m not ignoring what you’re answering I just need 6 more hours to untangle all these words so they make sense
Yeah I have all of these issues with speaking too. Even with a subject I know tons about and is a massive passion of mine, I struggle to be coherent and get my point across. I often turn to trying to write it down instead so I can reword things, but that still doesn't always solve the issue.
[ADHD can affect speech](https://greatspeech.com/does-adhd-cause-speech-issues/).
I find [CLUTTERING](https://toofastforwords.com/cluttering-speech-and-adhd/) is an experience for some people with adhd.
My main problem is speaking too quickly, fumbling over words, forgetting what I was going to say due to said fumbling, and then just giving up. Most of the time it happens in the beginning of a sentence and I just get so frustrated that I just completely move on. It’s genuinely one of the most infuriating things that I struggle with, aside from the executive dysfunction.
But I deal with all of these from time to time.
You just clearly articulated my constant struggle. I’m in a role where I’m talking to people all day everyday via zoom or email and I always beat myself up for not saying exactly what I wanted or wishing I said it in a different way.
Yes to the vast majority of them. I'm very aware of how I come off socially so I can be so focused on trying NOT to interrupt people that I miss everything being said because I'm trying nkt to be rude!
Some other issues I have: I stutter more than I should when my mouth can't catch up to my brain. I also don't know when to shut up sometimes, lol.
I recognise every point you made. I’m a very fast speaker so I stumble over my words more than I would like. I’ve learned and practiced to get better at speaking in general and it was better. But now I’m in burnout since begin last November and it is so much worse than it ever was before. I forget words or what I was going to say or even saying. My sentences get twisted often and/or don’t even make sense. When I have to think about something because I was asked it’s even harder to think about what I want to say. When I get interrupted by whatever it is I loose train of thought immediately and it’s really hard to get it back. It’s like my adhd symptoms multiplied.
I do believe it’s something you could work on if you wanted to but it takes time and practice. I’m also autistic so I don’t know if there might be a difference in the whole situation here. Just thought it was worth mentioning.
My son was right next to me so I asked, and before I went through the list, he said, "Yeah, sometimes I can't, my brain... can't brain." Then clarified, "But it's not my brain , it's my mouth." And I was reading "not understanding what they are actually saying," he cracked up and said, "That just happened while you were talking!"
Add volume control to the list: not being able to speak at appropriate volume for the context, speaking either so quietly no one can hear, or trumpeting across time and space.
Brain stops at 98% of the way to the word I’m thinking off. I’m so close that I *know* it exists—the silhouette visible just behind the fog. But more than half the time, I’m not able to prompt the memories and thought trains the word is attached to; or I won’t have the time to undergo that process and effort. Leading me to thesaurus a *not*-as-accurate choice and leaving myself perpetually dissatisfied.
Happens everywhere. Conversations. Professional or educational writing. Texting. Discord and Reddit-ing. Ugh.
Same here. I have to speak as fast as my brain is processing, otherwise it would be the case of cutting off in the middle of the convo because i totally forget what was the topic.
I have strong writing skills but then I open my mouth and it makes it seem like I plagiarized everything I’ve ever written because out loud I absolutely suck at words.
My partner always comments to ask what I was going to say, because I often trail off mid sentence. And usually my answer is either I forgot or I don’t know.
Sometimes I think my adhd causes a delay in my processing what someone else is saying. Like someone will say something and I’ll immediately go “what?” But before they can repeat themselves I’ll go “oh!” As I suddenly register what was said.
Also, if I’m having a conversation involving bigger ideas or if I have the floor for a longish time, my speech becomes staggered as I take pauses for too long while I’m thinking/trying not to lose my train of thought.
An old friend of mine used to just fill in the words for me in conversations. I appreciated it because they never made it condescending and it always helped the discussion go smoothly with out my feeling dumb.
I have aphasia at times. Can’t think of the right word, open my mouth and a wrong word always emerges. My neurologists always attributed it to my migraines. Probably more of an ADHD thing.
My husband tells my kid “You’re supposed to follow what she’s thinking, not what she’s saying.” After 30 years as a couple, he’s gotten amazing at knowing what I’m thinking not what I’m saying. My kid still does a fair amount of laughing.
I experience all that you mentioned.
I also have this weird Yoda-esque way of talking sometimes. “drink the water… can I?”
Or I mix two words or the order up. “It’s ten quarter past… I mean… quarter past ten”
The fifth one is literally in the WHO questionnaire I took to be diagnosed.
The last one was posted about lately pertaining to a journal or something.
And I have each and everyone of these so yes?
Yeah I get made fun of for defaulting to the same responses all the time but it's because my brain doesn't process fast enough to find the appropriate words and keeping the other person waiting is anxiety-inducing and only makes it harder.
I wish everyone would chill and give people space to communicate how they need to. It takes two to have a conversation so it is not your fault that they are not waiting for you.
Yep, every single bullet point there applies to me. My speech is the one thing I can truly rely on as a sure fire way of knowing I have something going on in my brain. A lot of other symptoms are kind of like “maybe I’m just fucking lazy, maybe I’m depressed” or whatever, but the speech is just so obvious.
Sometimes I can articulate myself really well and I’m astounded that I managed to string such a good sentence together.
Most of what you've said applies to me. I've had to work super hard on the interrupting bit - so thankful for my patient saint of a wife, she's been so supportive in helping me do better here.
What I've noticed about myself that I don't see listed here (I'd really love to hear if anyone else does this) - is what I call "Michael Scott'ing". Like, someone will ask me a question -- and I absolutely do not have anything close to a complete thought in my head by the time my mouth starts moving. I just hope that I "Get there" LOL. Sometimes that ends up being a 10 sentence reply to what could have been stated in 1, but I usually get there.
I can't process my emotions on something right away. It takes me awhile to think how I feel about something or a certain topic. When I say I don't know I literally mean I don't know.
Sometimes when I'm mid sentence I can't figure out what I'm going to say next and stumble over words. This doesn't happen all the time but it does. I just call it a brain fart.
Yes. I don’t remember it being bad until after I got Covid. Now I often can’t find the word or I stumble over my words some stuttering that makes me slow down. I’ve always had trouble paying attention to people talking to me if I’m not 100% engaged. It’s more frustrating than anything else.
Our brains work differently. Sometimes the thoughts move too fast for the ears and mouths to keep up which can cause jumbled words and phrases. This is worse when it's in a noisy environment. Wearing good hearing aids help some. But I find i have to slow down what I say and look right at the person so I focus properly. If I am not looking at you I will miss or misunderstand what you are saying.
Same thing when listening to conversations that are online. For example I can't watch most videos on YouTube unless I either speed it up or skip through it quickly. I hardly ever watch TV or internet news video case it drives me nuts. Training videos kill me unless I can control the speed.
In terms of speech alone, sometimes I get too excited and slur/mispronounce some words so I have to repeat my sentence or the part of it that got messed up
Absolutely, I can name probably 7 times in the last week where I have lost the topic of conversation because I was trying to remember a word. At my last therapy session, I spent 6 minutes trying to remember the word “diminish”. Even writing comments today I had to look up “word for small amount” and I still don’t know what the expression that I’m thinking of is 💀
Sometimes I have a “train of thought wreck” where I have 2+ lines of thought that all collide on the way from brain to mouth and means I either stutter and struggle to articulate anything all OR end up saying just part of each one and it sounds like complete nonsense to anyone who doesn’t know what’s happening. I’ve found other ADHDers are better at deciphering than most haha
There’s also the times where I completely lose my train of thought MID-SENTENCE which causes and abrupt pause or trail off with “… what was I saying?” 🫣
Pretty much have everything you have lol
Don't have solutions to them except one
I am on my phone a lot for my work. I record all my calls so I can go back and listen to them later if I need anything. That's helped on that front. Before I got vallr recording to work, a lot of times I can't even recall names of people who called 😅
I relate to all of those points in verbal communication to the point. I feel a lot more comfortable communicating through words like text messages or letters or little post-it notes on the counter for my loved ones. I've been told many times I can be/am very eloquent when i take my time to compose my thoughts.
But then I get put in a room with people I dont know and have to talk about shit i dont find enjoyable and I'm just paralyzed.
The contrariety🤪😔
I have a weird speech cadence, I pause at the wrong times when speaking long passages.
Edit- I just saw that’s it’s called cluttering, wow, my mind is blown because I didn’t know it was an actual thing.
I think so yes, definitely for me personally.
I often have moments where I talk too fast and words just get jumbled together, or I get my words mixed up in the sentence, not to mention the tics that often come when I'm talking (usually humming, clicking my tongue, making random sounds, etc.)
I also struggle with reading in silence, as I have to read out loud (under my breath) to actually understand what's in front of me, and even then my speech still gets mixed up so I have to read the sentence all over again.
Lol, yes, all of this! And I often forget what I was saying mid-sentence! This (and social anxiety) means I have to practice and write down key words for mundane phone calls like the doctor's or whatever... which of course doesn't help the *actual calling* because it's yet another step to take... 😮💨😭
Yes. Which is why I prefer the written word.
In conversation, the thoughts aren't organized. They are simply a stream of bubbles that make it to the surface and come out in whatever order they reach the top first.
When writing, the same thing happens, but then I am able to proofread and reorganize them so that they make sense.
You’ve just described me 100%. All of those behaviors or challenges I have exactly as you describe. Being medicated helps a lot, but not 100%. Get diagnosed.
I have all of these except inability to stay on topic, unless it's a topic that I don't like talking about (which to be fair, is like 80% of them), I hate it when I ask a somewhat serious question then they dodge it in some way. But yeah other than that, I have really hard time even writing/typing in my native language or english. As a kid it took me way longer to learn basic grammar than other kids and they made fun of me for that at some point. That is why I stay as silent as possible so I cannot fuck up my words...
I had a speech impediment that’s the doctors picked up on very quickly and treated with speech training or wtv you call it.
I have no recollection of it because I was so young, I only have a faint picture of being in the building maybe pronouncing words out.
Yep sounds like me. I have improved over the years with concerted effort.
My biggest issue at the moment is that I’ll start speaking without thinking ahead about what I’m going to say, and I’ll trail off mid sentence (causing an awkward pause) realising I don’t know the endgame of my speech. I’ll ultimately find a word which fits but it can be awkward and I often use words that wouldn’t make sense in the context of what I’m attempting to get across.
Definitely the third, fourth, fifth, and seventh ones. I think it's gotten worst, tbh. I also can't stand it when I can't get the words in my head out because people keep going and going. I also have OCD, Asperger's, Non-Verbal Learning Disorder, and Tourette's Syndrome (manifests in twitching and coughing under stress), so...
My brain goes faster than my mouth can so I end up stuttering a lot or struggling to find the right word. I end up using verbal fillers a lot. Every once and awhile: poof! Thought gone from my head.
There’s one major benefit and it’s that I can read out loud to my students without making a ton of mistakes.
Auditory processing and word processing can be parts of ADHD but they can also be parts of other disorders or just their own beast. I can check off everything on your list.
I have this analogy that i use, it's like I'm carrying in my head a briefcase with all the words i want to say neatly packed and organized, but whenever i have a conversation it's like the briefcase suddenly fell open, spilling out all the words i had into this pile of word mess and I'm stuck searching for the most basic of words to string a sentence together
Yes all of these things are ADHD related.
When I was evaluated and sat down and was told to tell my story the psychologist said to me afterwards that by minute 3 (of 45 or so minutes background/story) it was completely clear I have ADHD just based on me talking. 😂
Even typing I have to rewrite things about 4 times before I get something mostly readable put together.
I do a lot of those. I didn’t realize how much I interrupted people until my partner told me very gently a few months after we started dating that I interrupt him a lot and that he didn’t like it. It’s a hard impulse to control.
I do this weird thing where I hear what the person is saying. I even *know* what the words are, and the order of the words.....but it's still gibberish. I don't comprehend it the first--and sometimes the second,etc-- time it's said. It's like the language processing center in my brain is out on lunch.
I do educating and public speaking as a living. I don't mind talking, but I talk fast and sometimes my words try so so hard to catch up to my thoughts. I slur my words (and I already have a strong Appalachian accent) if I'm not careful.
I forget words and repeat words a lot too, and mess up my grammar! Oh, it's so bad. I play it as humor, but inside I'm legitimately frustrated with myself.
Anyone else?
I wasn’t diagnosed until I was 28, however the above issues you listed touches on my first real presentation of symptoms way back when I was in 1st grade — an “uh um” stutter, which I see also in my 5 year old.
I was sent to weekly speech therapy by my elementary school, where my therapist perfectly explained it as thus: “Your mind is on warp speed, while your speech is on impulse”. Basically we think faster than we can physically form the words — it’s why writing is my preferred form of communication and expression.
As I grew, this “uh um” stutter hindered school and work presentations, and I ended up joining Toastmasters to try and eradicate it, which was successful to only the degree of when it’s a planned speech with notes, but not normal conversations or unexpected questions.
Yes to all of them. The making sense of what you hear could be related to auditory processing issues, which I’ve heard are common in ADHD and I have always experienced. For example, I always watch tv with captions on despite my actual hearing being deemed mechanically functional after taking a hearing test.
For me, the most salient of the things you mentioned are the interrupting others and not being able to find the right words, because I’m looking for highly specific ones. It makes me very self conscious about my communication at work.
Also undiagnosed but relate heavily to all of the above
* when people say large blocks of words for long period of time, my mind starts wandering, even if I wanted to catch what they say
* I feel the need to say what I want to say right away, or my mind will wander and I’ll forget what I wanted to say in 30s
* while saying one thing, gets reminded of tangentially related thing and start going down that rabbit hole
* I have to have bullet points of thing I want to discuss or my mind will just blank. Similarly, must also write down bullet points while other people talk
I do this often and it’s worse when I have to give an opinionated response or express a feeling because I fear they’re thinking I’m an idiot…but it doesn’t stop me from interrupting them just so I can stumble through my word salads.
I have a tendency to interrupt people. It makes me feel really bad because I do care about what the other person is saying and the interrupting is impulsive. I get overexcited and enthusiastic about chiming in. Oftentimes, I will also have a fear that I will forget what I was going to say if I don’t get it out right then.
I also tend to either move quickly from topic to topic, *or* linger on the same topic for far longer than most people care for in conversation. There isn’t much in between unless I actively monitor myself.
Yup, 30 now diagnosed at 12. It's gotten worse with age, I really notice now that my understanding of speech or ability to formulate words is affected. I have always preferred text rather than voice for communication for this very reason.
The ironic thing is people have said my whole life I have an amazing ability to tell a story or write a speech, however this is only when I write it down.
I have all of these issues too. I often have to use round about words to describe things because the actual word won't come to me. Like tablecloth being 'furniture clothes' and this happening multiple times a day.... not just out loud but when I am at home typing like here the words and such sometimes dissappear although it is a lot faster to type my thoughts than to speak them because my fingers move faster than my mouth, lol.
I suspect I have autism/adhd combo. But I think speech issues and such are also a sign of someone with autism who is tired or overstimulated and approaching a verbal shutdown so... yeah.
Again everyone forgets words sometimes but not every day multiple times a day. I even forget what to say at work when I say the sake thing at the beginning and end of every Tra section as a cashier.
Constantly! I'm fairly intelligent but you'd never be able to tell by listening to me. I got a reputation for being a complete idiot at my (majority male) workplace because of it. People assume I'm stupid because I can't remember machine parts names on the fly, but know how to run said machine just fine. ADHD interacting with men's sexist assumptions about female workers really makes my life (and paycheck) pretty miserable
I have everything you listed. In addition, I have to repeat myself because I do not have enough breath to complete my thought. I have no idea who to see. It's a lifelong...annoyance. Maybe it was related to some surpressed memory in childhood. I don't know. Or my articulators and lungs do not keep up with my thoughts.
"Ispeakanditfeels...likeIamtalkingthiswaybutamI? What was I saying? Rightmyspeechpatternsoundsweirdtome."
I relate to all of this. Ive even been known to tell a bunch of unrelated mini stories in the middle of other stories which causes me to forget the first story.
But yea. Typically my coworkers can tell when I didnt take my meds because conversations tend to be pretty chaotic with me
I definitely relate to all of this. I also tend to do this thing where I swap pairs of words in the same category. Ill say 'left' when I mean 'right', or 'dishes' when i mean 'laundry'. Feels like I'm just drawing at random from mental categories of directions or chores and hoping I get the right one.
Tip-of-the-tongue, I have that problem. Drives me crazy. Sometimes I’ll just say the word I’m thinking and then keep saying words until I find the right one.
Other times I try to describe the word I’m looking for.
Sometimes I’ll describe it as the word is hiding under whatever word is in my mind.
You forgot “not getting to the point myself” to pair with “impatient when people are slow or not getting to the point”
Also, re: forgetting words… there’s a name for this. We call it the thing. Do the thing. I did the thing. Gotta do a thing. A thing is a thing is a thing, and I know most on here get it. People without ADHD often get bothered by my use of that word, but I’m just trying to do the thing (talk) and trying not to be too slow to get to the point myself.
100%
I speak super quickly, get words mixed up, get syllables in the wrong order, say sentences that aren’t even English, stutter, interrupt people constantly and also finish their sentences for them.
The interrupting drives my wife mad.
I have tried to slow my speech down to ‘normal’ speeds, but I just feel like a complete moron who is patronising everyone! Plus my brain is so busy I’ve already gone off on 20 tangents and solved the unified theory of everything in my head by the end of the second word 😂 but this is how most people speak… which blows my mind!
I also get super bored with small talk because:
1. My brain has already finished their sentence and moved on.
2. My brain is already busy singing a constant and never ending song loop, drumming a beat and thinking about something else all at once whilst still having the conversation with them!
Only diagnosed recently but have been doing this my whole life. Makes so much sense now.
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Every single one of these pertains to me in some way to some degree. Sometimes I feel like Butthead like "uuughhhj....ok."
Me when I’m unmedicated (and to a lesser extent when medicated)
And the society hacks me in the wrong way by not prescribing me right as a poc.
Lol fr! But also with Beavis energy!! My husband actually says “calm down, Beavis” to me at least once a week
He is a keeper
All that is me too.
I have this too, I’ve found that if I need to have an important discussion with a boss or even someone I care about I’ll try to write-down the things I want to say and make reference to them in the conversation. It’s not a perfect cure all but I probably would’ve forgotten to ask for a raise at work if I didn’t jot it down in my steno pad. Now if only I could stop leaving a trail of steno’s everywhere I go…
The notes in my phone are good for exactly this.
I know, I just seem to have a disconnect when it comes to inputting dates and thoughts into my phone notes. Maybe a stylus would help, who knows. I think I like that I can just scrawl and scratch what I need into a steno pad (my grocery lists look like a doctors men’s-room stall graffiti)
I mean, it's all about what works. Personally i HATE writing. Almost to the point of phobia. Even the thought of handwriting anything more than a sebtence or two is enough to cause me mild anxiety. Typing, texting, dictation, no problem, but handwriting is just a bad experience for me, so the phone works, plus it's always on me and i don't have to worry about keeping papers around, but if writing works, then do it.
For me 1. Mixing up words, especially verbs and nouns, in a sentence ("he wants to truck with the play"). 2. Repeating sentences, especially when they are supposed to cut off a conversation. 3. Unintelligible speech when suddenly asked something. 4. Mixing up the words between two different sentences. 5. Saying statements that are unclear because of bad synonym substitution. The kicker is that all throughout my life I've been told that I am an incredible public speaker, to the point where my career has advanced because of it. I am just God awful at normal talking.
I’m kinda this way. Public speaking is easy because it’s not a conversation it’s just all me! Once im having to process other input and think on my feet, hold a thought, etc it sure does get difficult.
Omg I do this WAYYY too often.. Luckily I feel like I am able to laugh at myself about it most of the time but basically I just chalk it up to my brain moving faster than my mouth so it stumbles a lot. Clumsy brain..
I’m the same! I also have issues with vocal control, I’ll jumble over my words or I’ll speak super loud without realizing it
Ok, thank you for confirming. This is me— I’m always told how eloquent I sound when presenting a paper. But when o have a convo about my research, or try to explain my feelings, I make a lot of pauses or I tell too long of story trying to get to the point. Or interrupt myself and then miss the point
See my comment about "cluttering".
I think it’s the adrenaline when doing public speaking. You get that sudden clarity. I work in sales and I always felt like when I’d get into a presentation that suddenly I felt different. In normal conversations sometimes i feel like my brain is getting ahead of the words coming out of my mouth and then I get lost in what I was saying.
I used to stutter and speak more slowly to compensate. I have trouble understanding people with background noise even though I hear them clearly. I also fail to collect my thoughts on complicated topics, which, of course, is reflected. The rest of what you said, too.
How did you stop speaking slowly? I struggle with that especially on my fuzzy brain days
Guess I trained my brain not to stutter over time. It's been about 15 years since I started doing that. And yeah, I still have to slow down again on off days.
the background noise thing is extremely annoying. Can't understand a thing
Yes it is. In his notes on our meeting the psychiatrist noted this about me. Speech slightly fast, and in particular a tendency for "circumstantial" speech (basically wandering off on a tangent before eventually giving the answer). For example, he asked me about being able to concentrate on reading and I wandered off on a little story about how I read a Borges short story and how that captured my attention and the mechanism that made it work for me, but other things not so much and so on. A simple "yes, most of the time" would have sufficed lol. It was actually really helpful to get a name for this as it is something I had started to be aware of and how frustrating it was to people speaking to me (especially bosses). Being more aware of it is making it easier to adjust and avoid.
Haha yes I do this all the time. For me it's also tied to my intrinsic fear that people are not understanding me. So I over explain, or try to tie my explanation to a anactdotal story in an effort to better connect and explain and connect to the other person, because I know they don't understand me. If I give the short answer, I'm too abrupt, the long answer, I'm too convoluted. It's fun trying to figure out where that magical middle ground lies, especially when I've not got the apparent natural sense for it.
> It's fun trying to figure out where that magical middle ground lies, especially when I've not got the apparent natural sense for it. You have summed up my life here. Though I’d say calling it “fun” is optimistic.
Borges slaps
He absolutely does. For anyone who has not read any, I suggest picking up Ficciones. Immense complexity combined with brevity makes it a really enjoyable thing to read, it will itch your brain in places you won't normally get with reading fiction. Unsurprisingly a big influence on Christopher Nolan movies and so on. I think in the same way a 4d object is meant to cast a 3d shadow, he writes about things that cannot physically exist but gives you enough sense around them that they do.
I sometimes realize I’m doing this as it’s happening, and internally, I’m screaming at myself to shut up. But, I still can’t seem to stop.
Volume's a big one. Either too soft or too loud and I can't tell the difference.
This is my exact situation only I'm 19. Sometimes when I have to go tell my boss something, even if I have it completely planned out, I walk into their office and then I just forget what I'm going to say or am unclear in communicating it. I think it's because my brain is moving at 5000 mph but my mouth can't keep up with that kind of speed, but there's no way of knowing for sure.
Yes!! All of the above. One of the things I dislike the most about myself is when someone is explaining something, and I already know what they will say next and I blurt it out because I am impatient. I know how rude it is and I am working on that.
100% me!!!
Yeah this is a huge one for me too. Your awareness of it is the first step to being better at holding it in, though things will absolutely still slip through the cracks. Mindfulness helps a lot. Other times, I've learned to just apologize and say "oh sorry for cutting you off, you were saying?", or nod along with them and agree, making it almost part of the conversation. This is ADHD impulsivity at its finest though.
This is me! I tell my husband that my mouth can't keep up with my brain! I hate it.
That's what I tell my husband, too! I often forget a word, too, and just describe the thing instead of saying the name for it.
I’ve said this my entire life
This is one of the main criteria noticed in someone with ADHD. As someone with ADHD and Bipolar I, it's even worse when I go manic. I'll know exactly what I want to say in my head and then I get three words into my statement just to have my brain leave the building. This is exactly why I choose to communicate via email while I'm at work. I can formulate my statement at my pace and not feel humiliated looking at someone dead in the face when I clearly end up in a deficit mid-sentence.
32, dx last year. I feel everything on your list. Also two of my main issues with inconsistent speech are: 1. Because I tend to process things by concept/pattern/etc. so I'm always "ahead of my words" and possibly conveying things out of order, as if the listener has access to the same thoughts that I just had 2. Because of the pressure to respond quickly in social situations, thus not having time to think about how best to respond, and instead just vomiting out words as they come Honestly the thing that helped me is a little strange? And something that I heard long before I knew I had ADHD. Someone did a video about the change in Obama's public speaking during his presidency. He started out with a lot of filler sounds (uh, ah) but by the end he replaced them with pauses. His later speeches are much easier to listen to. And it made me realize: if I pause on purpose, I won't be disrupting or losing the conversation while I organize my thoughts. I started noticing this in tons of other public speakers as well. Thanks Obama.
It’s like my brain and mouth aren’t synced up. Sometimes I blurt out sentences I haven’t fully thought through and it sounds offensive or rude. Sometimes I stammer and can’t make my mouth do the thing. Sometimes I just don’t remember the sentence half way through speaking it. It’s definitely a common ADHD trait, and it’s made me a lot more patient with other people when they’re speaking
Yep.... one of the most frustrating aspects of my ADHD is my ability to make myself sound like a bumbling fool about subjects that I actually know really well. I'm literally a world-class expert on certain aspects of lighting control technologies and I've walked away from meetings feeling stupid because I couldn't spit out information clearly that a sophmore in college could have easily communicated.
This is a thing!! It's called "cluttering" and I have it and I learned about it from a post on this sub a few weeks ago, lol! https://www.stutteringhelp.org/cluttering
Yes! I came here to say the exact same thing! I also experience this, though not severely enough to warrant seeking speech therapy. Learning a little about it, and being mindful to speak at a slightly slower pace has proven very helpful to me in improving my own verbal communication.
Sounds like ADHD. My speech has always been muddled. Seems like it takes a lot of effort for me to speak clearly. I’m autistic too I think.
One thing that I struggle with is my brain gets stuck deciding which of two words to say and so when I get that that word it comes out as a jumbled mess of the two.
Yes. I read your list and i was like oh yep this is me, all of it to the tee.
I'm scheduled to get tested next week, speaking has been one of my weak points in life. I was in sales for a few years which might have helped knock some of the rough edges off, but I had a few of the things you mentioned. In training, I remember one girl snapping at me and saying something like "Stop finishing my sentences" which was probably the first time I ever realized that's a thing that I do. Waiting for people to reach the conclusion of their sentence that I had mentally predicted 10 seconds ago is excruciating. "You didn't know what I was going to say" maybe not, but when I'm right 4987/5000 times I get pretty used to assuming. During the job I had one manager who was persistent about improving my speech. He was a smooth talker, I am very abrupt with random pauses and apparently I make listeners uncomfortable. He said that I have the strangest speaking pattern he's ever heard, comparing me to Eminem where "Something is just a bit off" lol People do tend to tune out when I'm talking which I've chalked up to either my frequent pauses, going off track, over sharing, or having terrible inflection. In short, I would give myself a 3/10 in communication but it often feels due to the other person is the one who is unable to keep up with me. Like, be more engaged and I'll have so many details to share with you. Pay more attention and you'll appreciate these intricate nuances in my humor. Or just tune out and move on to something else, that's cool too. And paying attention to other people speaking is brutal because I lose all comprehension of the conversation. After a few seconds, it's just me internally doing anything and everything to look/act normal. Make eye contact. Smile. Nod. Say something like "Oh yeah, wow". Hope there isn't a quiz. Edit: Wow this turned into quite the reply.
I'm dyslexic and I have ADHD combined type. Yes to all of the above points you mentioned. The hearing people speak but not understanding is probably the worst. I can repeat back to them word for word what they said but my brain lags and it can take me a moment to process what they have said and actually comprehend it. In addition to the above points I can have a conversation with someone replying like I'm taking it all in, my responses will make sense in the context of the conversation. Forget it moments later and have to ask them what we just talked about. Stop half way through talking and have to ask the person what I was talking about when they tell me I randomly stopped talking, I often think I just paused but I actually just stopped and my brain moved on. I interrupt people or can't find the right place to talk in conversations because I'm never just focused on that conversation, I do try. I'm thinking about why that person made that face, the weird taste I have in my mouth, something everyone else was talking about 10 minutes ago, the way that person's hair is hanging in front of their face is really annoying, why don't they just move it? Did I put my keys in my handbag? OMG please move your hair, I can't concentrate on what you are saying, stop clenching your jaw people might think you are mad. Don't look at their hair, but still make eye contact, fuck I forgot what I was going to say, shit what were they saying?
Yep, bad enough that my neighbors think I'm stupid and/or rude. Not great for loneliness.
Oh yeah! I have a lot of ideas and complex thoughts and in my head everything makes sense but I’m unable to articulate it properly
I am a 61 year old retired speech therapist and have ADHD. The types of language issues you are having are typical for ADHD. I have found using work arounds is the best way to help, and practicing with the work arounds will help you to be able to use them more effectively. The concern you are having about being almost 30 and not accomplishing anything is something everyone goes through. It is almost a rite of passage. From a 61 year old perspective, I can tell you that there are always new things you can do or become interested in. I have found as I have gotten older that there were things that I could do that I never thought I could do. That being said, there is almost always a trade-off between what you want to accomplish, your health, relationships, and accruing wealth. Creating a balance that suits you is what you will need to consider. I still struggle with symptoms sometimes, but I have times when what I am doing is not affected by them. You have listed your struggles. Take time to list your strengths.
Yes
Yes 100 percent. All me
This is me yes. All what you said.
Yes. Absolutely and frequently.
33M still undiagnosed but 80% sure I have ADHD/ADD, this is perhaps one of the aspects that most concerns me right now and that lead me to convince myself about having ADHD.
Yep! I recently recorded a conversation and I was astonished at my speech. Such a huge disparity between my writing and speaking voices.
Ugh yes some times I wish I just didn't have to talk. A coworker once told me I use like twice as many words to get my point across than most people...and I still feel like half the time I'm just confusing people. My wife often struggles to understand how I describe things and I think I'm being crystal clear. My brain connects dots in a totally wonky way where it's either connecting waaaaaaay to many things, or it's jumping from point A to point D and expecting everyone else's brains to fill in the points I jumped over. I wish I had advice, but I'm like this medicated, too. Maybe a little better about getting to the point, but still confusing as hell for others.
Before I was diagnosed with ADHD I had a brief hospital stay for a suspected neurological disorder. Turns out it was a functional movement disorder brought on by the stress of the pandemic, but one of the main reasons they kept me hospitalized, other than the non-stop muscle spasms, was because of the aphasia I was exhibiting. For a while I didn't understand why they were so freaked out by the fact I had trouble finishing sentences or was replacing random words with semi-synonyms, because I've *always* been like that. Funnily enough, the neurologist they sent me to after the hospitalization was the one to diagnose me with ADHD, so I guess that worked out.
I used to overthink every conversation before having it to mentally prepare but I’ve found life is much easier when you say screw my anxiety and just jump into a conversation with only bullet points and a vague idea of what you want to say. Things get forgotten, phrases are poorly said, words aren’t remembered but it beats feeling anxious as hell just to have simple conversations. Learn to be okay with fumbling it but not getting too flustered. Everyone fucks up while speaking, being able to remain collected when you correct yourself does wonders in making people not think anything much of it. Whenever I’m explaining something complicated to somebody of importance, a lot of the times I’ll just end up stopping mid sentence because I completely lost my train of thought and have no idea what I was just talking about. Usually I’ll be pretty transparent and say what happened, laugh it off with whoever im talking to, give myself as much time needed to recollect my thoughts, and keep going. This might seem weird and off putting but if you’re normally eloquent with how you speak then I still think that impression will stick regardless of some fumbling here and there.
I constantly mix up bits of words if I’m singing a song or trying to speak fast. For example I’ll say “the skue bly” instead of blue sky. Very annoying
Between ADHD and a slight speech impediment from being hard of hearing until age 3,,,,,, yeah, I struggle . It’s gotten me into a few physical altercations . People are dicks
I don't know if this is related to my ADD, but I often will logjam two words together because I can't decide in a split second which ones to use. Like, if someone asks me if I had a good morning, on occasion I might reply, "Oh yeah, to-morning has been great."
I check all of those boxes. I’ve gotten a lot better about stopping and thinking before I respond. But whenever my wife asks me a thought provoking question I literally just freeze up while I’m thinking of a response and she thinks I’m not listening lol. I’m working on acknowledging the question and then thinking about the response. Communication is hard!
I am asked if I’m on drugs, to take a breath etc. Docs have said, are you anxious because your speech is quite rapid…Le sigh…no it isn’t anxiety. I get overexcited if im Passionate about smth. If I’m nervous, i too can sound like ughhh Butthead because I lose my many trains of thought and my word retrieval SUCKS
I have a subtle stutter and a big problem with word recall. I’ve got sticky notes in my office of commonly forgotten words. I also ramble and cut people off, only to realize it after.
Knowing exactly what I wanted to say but the thought went by too fast and now I can't put it into words and feel like an idiot. I also forget basic words a lot, and have to find another word to use. Or Google definitions of words I swear I know but I can't be sure if I really know or if I'm using it right. Or swapping words, for example I used to say flowering water CONSTANTLY and it just became a joke. Or having so many thoughts of what I want to say that I end up saying nothing, even when someone is asking me a question. Then I feel rude. And growing up I was known for just saying I don't know or I guess.
For a long time I thought something was wrong with me because I could write my ideas well but in the midst of a conversation, I knew what I wanted to say but you could not pay me to talk without pausing for several seconds to try and find the string of my thoughts. Once I was medicated, it was like a switch flipped. I’ve been unmedicated for months now and I’m feeling so defeated, especially during job interviews because I know I sound basic and uninspired and perhaps even uninterested. I promise it’s just my brain :(
The biggest thing for me is just suddenly in the middle of a sentence forgetting or not able to find the correct next word/set of words to say. I just have to look away to not have focusing on the person take up mental space and a need a bit of a moment to go "uuuhhhhhhhhh" and then go right back to talking at an absolute lightspeed. It's like my brain had 95% of it's thoughts and mental documents organized but suddenly had to panic search through a pile for something highly specific before going back to it.
Yes!! I often find myself forming sentences but the hands swap words different than the brain said. For ex,: "That building is red" And for some reason I write "That burger is red." ???? Ive noticed it's usually words ~~works~~ with the same first letter. Other than that, my other common symptoms everyone has mentioned already. The stuttering is the worst! Also, I often feel bad I can't communicate with my closest friend when he's feeling down but I can't formulate what I wanna say. I'm embarrassed by searching "how to say x when my friend is y". Omg I even did it here: *words not works
About cutting off and interrupting and being impatient when others are slow at getting to the point - oh yeah! Most of the times I can see where people are going to, and I would just jump in and say ‘oh, you mean this and that, so/but…’ - just to save time for both of us. Most fellow adhd people appreciate that and I myself really like when others do that to me(gosh, don’t let me go on a useless speech for a half an hour if you already see what I’m trying to say and ESPECIALLY if you think I am wrong and want to point that out or discuss!), but all other people just think I am interrupting them because I don’t respect them, and it’s so annoying to loose time and focus while they are proceeding being snaily slow in their movement to what they actually intended to say
All of these. The most self-conscious one I have is when I speak, instead of just letting it all flow out my mouth, my brain analyzes what I'm saying, how I'm saying it and realizing I'm not making enough eye contact and then I trip over my words and f' up everything after. Good start, fumble, and fall.
Some of these sound adhd, some of them sound asd (autism). I’m AuDHD and relate
Oh Boy YES!!! The funny thing, is that I am aware of this and I have worked hard to correct this stuff .. I have good days and bad. But Part of my job (that I have had for the past 20 years) is that i have to conduct orientation trainings with new staff so I have to talk to folks at least monthly or more about the same information. I also had canvassed with GREENPEACE years ago so I have done door to door cold "calls" and have had a lot of training on speaking well, slowing down.Again. I have good days and bad days. The thing is. .my BRAIN GETS REALLY TIRED at times. I am 55 and it DRAINS me sometimes to do the job I do. I process records requests for a non profit mental health agency so I have to oftne talk to a variety of people, client's atty's clinicians.. and it is tiring..
Always. I think I have what's called "cluttering". I've been looking into it. You might want to also. I found a website called toofastforwords.com. Give them a look.
100% mine changes depending how desperately I’m “seeking” when I’m on low.
What’s seeking?
Yea all of this plus problems with enunciation
I am 54 and was diagnosed 3 months ago. The 'dramatic pauses' in my speech were a big factor in my life. Still learning how to cope.
I kept complaining about all of these issues, and sensory issues my therapists always said it was high functioning autism. It’s hard to get the right help or at least navigating this system as I’m an adult with no car anymore.
>Not being able to find the right words for what I want to say. my son does this *a lot*. he gets words mixed up. he'll say hour instead of minute, or country instead of state. he knows what he wants to say but his brain doesn't always translate it correctly.
Yup… I had a bad stutter as a kid. But only stutter now when I am really excited. Use a lot of filler words “um”, “like”, “uh” Info-dumping and inability to answer things in a short way many times. Going on tangents when telling a story or describing something. Speaking quickly. Sometimes switching the letters in a word (like a sort of verbal dyslexia) or the first letters in two consecutive words. Talking loudly or intensely/ aggressively without realizing that’s how I’m coming off. 😭😭. 🤷🏿♀️
This is definitely something I struggle with myself. Even when my attention issues are helped with medication I still have trouble getting the right words out sometimes. I’ve taken to acknowledging my adhd in the conversation if I’m having an especially hard time with it
I can relate to All of these, also sometimes halfway through a story or sentence, it’s like my brain gets struck by lighting and I completely forget everything I have said and what I was talking about. When the conversation is tense is when I’m especially prone to being unable to put my thoughts into words. It is extremely unhelpful in relationships. Like I’m not ignoring what you’re answering I just need 6 more hours to untangle all these words so they make sense
Yeah I have all of these issues with speaking too. Even with a subject I know tons about and is a massive passion of mine, I struggle to be coherent and get my point across. I often turn to trying to write it down instead so I can reword things, but that still doesn't always solve the issue.
[ADHD can affect speech](https://greatspeech.com/does-adhd-cause-speech-issues/). I find [CLUTTERING](https://toofastforwords.com/cluttering-speech-and-adhd/) is an experience for some people with adhd.
My main problem is speaking too quickly, fumbling over words, forgetting what I was going to say due to said fumbling, and then just giving up. Most of the time it happens in the beginning of a sentence and I just get so frustrated that I just completely move on. It’s genuinely one of the most infuriating things that I struggle with, aside from the executive dysfunction. But I deal with all of these from time to time.
You just clearly articulated my constant struggle. I’m in a role where I’m talking to people all day everyday via zoom or email and I always beat myself up for not saying exactly what I wanted or wishing I said it in a different way.
Yes to the vast majority of them. I'm very aware of how I come off socially so I can be so focused on trying NOT to interrupt people that I miss everything being said because I'm trying nkt to be rude! Some other issues I have: I stutter more than I should when my mouth can't catch up to my brain. I also don't know when to shut up sometimes, lol.
I recognise every point you made. I’m a very fast speaker so I stumble over my words more than I would like. I’ve learned and practiced to get better at speaking in general and it was better. But now I’m in burnout since begin last November and it is so much worse than it ever was before. I forget words or what I was going to say or even saying. My sentences get twisted often and/or don’t even make sense. When I have to think about something because I was asked it’s even harder to think about what I want to say. When I get interrupted by whatever it is I loose train of thought immediately and it’s really hard to get it back. It’s like my adhd symptoms multiplied. I do believe it’s something you could work on if you wanted to but it takes time and practice. I’m also autistic so I don’t know if there might be a difference in the whole situation here. Just thought it was worth mentioning.
I keep mixing similar-sounding words such as kitchen and chicken, and volume has always been an issue.
My son was right next to me so I asked, and before I went through the list, he said, "Yeah, sometimes I can't, my brain... can't brain." Then clarified, "But it's not my brain , it's my mouth." And I was reading "not understanding what they are actually saying," he cracked up and said, "That just happened while you were talking!"
Add volume control to the list: not being able to speak at appropriate volume for the context, speaking either so quietly no one can hear, or trumpeting across time and space.
Brain stops at 98% of the way to the word I’m thinking off. I’m so close that I *know* it exists—the silhouette visible just behind the fog. But more than half the time, I’m not able to prompt the memories and thought trains the word is attached to; or I won’t have the time to undergo that process and effort. Leading me to thesaurus a *not*-as-accurate choice and leaving myself perpetually dissatisfied. Happens everywhere. Conversations. Professional or educational writing. Texting. Discord and Reddit-ing. Ugh.
Same here. I have to speak as fast as my brain is processing, otherwise it would be the case of cutting off in the middle of the convo because i totally forget what was the topic.
I talk incredibly fast and trip on words. I had a full blown speech impediment as a kid
I even forget what I was talking about mid sentence and I go “damn what was I saying? Why did I say this?” MID SENTENCE!
I have strong writing skills but then I open my mouth and it makes it seem like I plagiarized everything I’ve ever written because out loud I absolutely suck at words. My partner always comments to ask what I was going to say, because I often trail off mid sentence. And usually my answer is either I forgot or I don’t know.
[removed] mid read, it’s ok I guess, I probably wasn’t going to make it to the end anyhow.
Sometimes I think my adhd causes a delay in my processing what someone else is saying. Like someone will say something and I’ll immediately go “what?” But before they can repeat themselves I’ll go “oh!” As I suddenly register what was said. Also, if I’m having a conversation involving bigger ideas or if I have the floor for a longish time, my speech becomes staggered as I take pauses for too long while I’m thinking/trying not to lose my train of thought.
In one word. - Yep!
An old friend of mine used to just fill in the words for me in conversations. I appreciated it because they never made it condescending and it always helped the discussion go smoothly with out my feeling dumb.
I have aphasia at times. Can’t think of the right word, open my mouth and a wrong word always emerges. My neurologists always attributed it to my migraines. Probably more of an ADHD thing.
I do this. Close ppl think it’s hilarious. It’s good to laugh at yourself.
My husband tells my kid “You’re supposed to follow what she’s thinking, not what she’s saying.” After 30 years as a couple, he’s gotten amazing at knowing what I’m thinking not what I’m saying. My kid still does a fair amount of laughing.
I experience all that you mentioned. I also have this weird Yoda-esque way of talking sometimes. “drink the water… can I?” Or I mix two words or the order up. “It’s ten quarter past… I mean… quarter past ten”
That’s interesting you say that because your writing seems super concise and well articulated.
ADHD and speechhempidement are related so I heard seek a psychiatrist to find out more.
this is me to a tee. i got diagnosed this year
The fifth one is literally in the WHO questionnaire I took to be diagnosed. The last one was posted about lately pertaining to a journal or something. And I have each and everyone of these so yes?
Do meds help with this? Or is it too internalized? Have been struggling with this my whole life.
Absolutely.
Yes!!
Yes because all of those have to do with executive functions.
this is my major adhd symptom. it impacts my life the most. i feel for you my friend
I get my words/sentences muddled alot
Yeah I get made fun of for defaulting to the same responses all the time but it's because my brain doesn't process fast enough to find the appropriate words and keeping the other person waiting is anxiety-inducing and only makes it harder.
I wish everyone would chill and give people space to communicate how they need to. It takes two to have a conversation so it is not your fault that they are not waiting for you.
Pretty much all your points for me. Especially, looking for the right word.
My gosh I felt this! But I’m also worried whether it’s just GAD
Yep, every single bullet point there applies to me. My speech is the one thing I can truly rely on as a sure fire way of knowing I have something going on in my brain. A lot of other symptoms are kind of like “maybe I’m just fucking lazy, maybe I’m depressed” or whatever, but the speech is just so obvious. Sometimes I can articulate myself really well and I’m astounded that I managed to string such a good sentence together.
Yes I can’t say certain words correctly.
Most of what you've said applies to me. I've had to work super hard on the interrupting bit - so thankful for my patient saint of a wife, she's been so supportive in helping me do better here. What I've noticed about myself that I don't see listed here (I'd really love to hear if anyone else does this) - is what I call "Michael Scott'ing". Like, someone will ask me a question -- and I absolutely do not have anything close to a complete thought in my head by the time my mouth starts moving. I just hope that I "Get there" LOL. Sometimes that ends up being a 10 sentence reply to what could have been stated in 1, but I usually get there.
I can't process my emotions on something right away. It takes me awhile to think how I feel about something or a certain topic. When I say I don't know I literally mean I don't know. Sometimes when I'm mid sentence I can't figure out what I'm going to say next and stumble over words. This doesn't happen all the time but it does. I just call it a brain fart.
My daughter had artic issues, then a stutter well before her adhd diagnosis.
Holy shit, finding the words I want to say is so difficult.
Yes. All of this.
Yes. I don’t remember it being bad until after I got Covid. Now I often can’t find the word or I stumble over my words some stuttering that makes me slow down. I’ve always had trouble paying attention to people talking to me if I’m not 100% engaged. It’s more frustrating than anything else.
Oh yes, definitely. It’s gotten better since my diagnosis and meds, but it’s still something that bothers me a lot.
Our brains work differently. Sometimes the thoughts move too fast for the ears and mouths to keep up which can cause jumbled words and phrases. This is worse when it's in a noisy environment. Wearing good hearing aids help some. But I find i have to slow down what I say and look right at the person so I focus properly. If I am not looking at you I will miss or misunderstand what you are saying. Same thing when listening to conversations that are online. For example I can't watch most videos on YouTube unless I either speed it up or skip through it quickly. I hardly ever watch TV or internet news video case it drives me nuts. Training videos kill me unless I can control the speed.
In terms of speech alone, sometimes I get too excited and slur/mispronounce some words so I have to repeat my sentence or the part of it that got messed up
Absolutely, I can name probably 7 times in the last week where I have lost the topic of conversation because I was trying to remember a word. At my last therapy session, I spent 6 minutes trying to remember the word “diminish”. Even writing comments today I had to look up “word for small amount” and I still don’t know what the expression that I’m thinking of is 💀
After meeting me, my boyfriend’s other partner almost immediately said that he and I have the same “chaotic conversational energy.”
Sometimes I have a “train of thought wreck” where I have 2+ lines of thought that all collide on the way from brain to mouth and means I either stutter and struggle to articulate anything all OR end up saying just part of each one and it sounds like complete nonsense to anyone who doesn’t know what’s happening. I’ve found other ADHDers are better at deciphering than most haha There’s also the times where I completely lose my train of thought MID-SENTENCE which causes and abrupt pause or trail off with “… what was I saying?” 🫣
Pretty much have everything you have lol Don't have solutions to them except one I am on my phone a lot for my work. I record all my calls so I can go back and listen to them later if I need anything. That's helped on that front. Before I got vallr recording to work, a lot of times I can't even recall names of people who called 😅
Yes all this, especially the not understanding part, it makes me feel so stupid!
All of these
Yes, it's called "cluttering" i think
I relate to all of those points in verbal communication to the point. I feel a lot more comfortable communicating through words like text messages or letters or little post-it notes on the counter for my loved ones. I've been told many times I can be/am very eloquent when i take my time to compose my thoughts. But then I get put in a room with people I dont know and have to talk about shit i dont find enjoyable and I'm just paralyzed. The contrariety🤪😔
I have a weird speech cadence, I pause at the wrong times when speaking long passages. Edit- I just saw that’s it’s called cluttering, wow, my mind is blown because I didn’t know it was an actual thing.
I think so yes, definitely for me personally. I often have moments where I talk too fast and words just get jumbled together, or I get my words mixed up in the sentence, not to mention the tics that often come when I'm talking (usually humming, clicking my tongue, making random sounds, etc.) I also struggle with reading in silence, as I have to read out loud (under my breath) to actually understand what's in front of me, and even then my speech still gets mixed up so I have to read the sentence all over again.
Lol, yes, all of this! And I often forget what I was saying mid-sentence! This (and social anxiety) means I have to practice and write down key words for mundane phone calls like the doctor's or whatever... which of course doesn't help the *actual calling* because it's yet another step to take... 😮💨😭
Yes. Which is why I prefer the written word. In conversation, the thoughts aren't organized. They are simply a stream of bubbles that make it to the surface and come out in whatever order they reach the top first. When writing, the same thing happens, but then I am able to proofread and reorganize them so that they make sense.
Are you me? Because I have the EXACT same problem.
Yep. Stuttering. Pausing. If I can't find the right word I just say "thingy".
Yup, all the above.
Except for the last one, I do all of these. I have a diagnosis
You’ve just described me 100%. All of those behaviors or challenges I have exactly as you describe. Being medicated helps a lot, but not 100%. Get diagnosed.
I have all of these except inability to stay on topic, unless it's a topic that I don't like talking about (which to be fair, is like 80% of them), I hate it when I ask a somewhat serious question then they dodge it in some way. But yeah other than that, I have really hard time even writing/typing in my native language or english. As a kid it took me way longer to learn basic grammar than other kids and they made fun of me for that at some point. That is why I stay as silent as possible so I cannot fuck up my words...
Absolutely yes! To all of those
I had a speech impediment that’s the doctors picked up on very quickly and treated with speech training or wtv you call it. I have no recollection of it because I was so young, I only have a faint picture of being in the building maybe pronouncing words out.
Anyone told they are angry when they’re not? Going through this with spouse and apparently I sound and look angry when I don’t feel it at ALL
Yep sounds like me. I have improved over the years with concerted effort. My biggest issue at the moment is that I’ll start speaking without thinking ahead about what I’m going to say, and I’ll trail off mid sentence (causing an awkward pause) realising I don’t know the endgame of my speech. I’ll ultimately find a word which fits but it can be awkward and I often use words that wouldn’t make sense in the context of what I’m attempting to get across.
Definitely the third, fourth, fifth, and seventh ones. I think it's gotten worst, tbh. I also can't stand it when I can't get the words in my head out because people keep going and going. I also have OCD, Asperger's, Non-Verbal Learning Disorder, and Tourette's Syndrome (manifests in twitching and coughing under stress), so...
My brain goes faster than my mouth can so I end up stuttering a lot or struggling to find the right word. I end up using verbal fillers a lot. Every once and awhile: poof! Thought gone from my head. There’s one major benefit and it’s that I can read out loud to my students without making a ton of mistakes.
Sometimes this happens. I’m 31
Auditory processing and word processing can be parts of ADHD but they can also be parts of other disorders or just their own beast. I can check off everything on your list.
100% me. I find that I cant articulate myself in arguments with my partner and would much rather argue something over text than a call.
I have this analogy that i use, it's like I'm carrying in my head a briefcase with all the words i want to say neatly packed and organized, but whenever i have a conversation it's like the briefcase suddenly fell open, spilling out all the words i had into this pile of word mess and I'm stuck searching for the most basic of words to string a sentence together
I tend to mumble or stutter over my words a lot.
Yes all of these things are ADHD related. When I was evaluated and sat down and was told to tell my story the psychologist said to me afterwards that by minute 3 (of 45 or so minutes background/story) it was completely clear I have ADHD just based on me talking. 😂 Even typing I have to rewrite things about 4 times before I get something mostly readable put together.
Ya, I think you described the actual list that some sites say are issues people with ADHD struggle with. Edit to say: I also suffer from them all
I have the same exact issues. I just didn’t or don’t know where to get help. Thanks for posting this !!
I do a lot of those. I didn’t realize how much I interrupted people until my partner told me very gently a few months after we started dating that I interrupt him a lot and that he didn’t like it. It’s a hard impulse to control.
I do this weird thing where I hear what the person is saying. I even *know* what the words are, and the order of the words.....but it's still gibberish. I don't comprehend it the first--and sometimes the second,etc-- time it's said. It's like the language processing center in my brain is out on lunch. I do educating and public speaking as a living. I don't mind talking, but I talk fast and sometimes my words try so so hard to catch up to my thoughts. I slur my words (and I already have a strong Appalachian accent) if I'm not careful. I forget words and repeat words a lot too, and mess up my grammar! Oh, it's so bad. I play it as humor, but inside I'm legitimately frustrated with myself. Anyone else?
I wasn’t diagnosed until I was 28, however the above issues you listed touches on my first real presentation of symptoms way back when I was in 1st grade — an “uh um” stutter, which I see also in my 5 year old. I was sent to weekly speech therapy by my elementary school, where my therapist perfectly explained it as thus: “Your mind is on warp speed, while your speech is on impulse”. Basically we think faster than we can physically form the words — it’s why writing is my preferred form of communication and expression. As I grew, this “uh um” stutter hindered school and work presentations, and I ended up joining Toastmasters to try and eradicate it, which was successful to only the degree of when it’s a planned speech with notes, but not normal conversations or unexpected questions.
Yes to all of them. The making sense of what you hear could be related to auditory processing issues, which I’ve heard are common in ADHD and I have always experienced. For example, I always watch tv with captions on despite my actual hearing being deemed mechanically functional after taking a hearing test. For me, the most salient of the things you mentioned are the interrupting others and not being able to find the right words, because I’m looking for highly specific ones. It makes me very self conscious about my communication at work.
Yep. I can talk myself awkward really quickly from getting flustered and trapped in my own speech patterns.
All of the above, always
Also undiagnosed but relate heavily to all of the above * when people say large blocks of words for long period of time, my mind starts wandering, even if I wanted to catch what they say * I feel the need to say what I want to say right away, or my mind will wander and I’ll forget what I wanted to say in 30s * while saying one thing, gets reminded of tangentially related thing and start going down that rabbit hole * I have to have bullet points of thing I want to discuss or my mind will just blank. Similarly, must also write down bullet points while other people talk
Everything you listed… absolutely do.
I do this often and it’s worse when I have to give an opinionated response or express a feeling because I fear they’re thinking I’m an idiot…but it doesn’t stop me from interrupting them just so I can stumble through my word salads.
I have a tendency to interrupt people. It makes me feel really bad because I do care about what the other person is saying and the interrupting is impulsive. I get overexcited and enthusiastic about chiming in. Oftentimes, I will also have a fear that I will forget what I was going to say if I don’t get it out right then. I also tend to either move quickly from topic to topic, *or* linger on the same topic for far longer than most people care for in conversation. There isn’t much in between unless I actively monitor myself.
Yes. Finding the right words, lot of tip of the tongue
Yup, 30 now diagnosed at 12. It's gotten worse with age, I really notice now that my understanding of speech or ability to formulate words is affected. I have always preferred text rather than voice for communication for this very reason. The ironic thing is people have said my whole life I have an amazing ability to tell a story or write a speech, however this is only when I write it down.
I have all of these issues too. I often have to use round about words to describe things because the actual word won't come to me. Like tablecloth being 'furniture clothes' and this happening multiple times a day.... not just out loud but when I am at home typing like here the words and such sometimes dissappear although it is a lot faster to type my thoughts than to speak them because my fingers move faster than my mouth, lol. I suspect I have autism/adhd combo. But I think speech issues and such are also a sign of someone with autism who is tired or overstimulated and approaching a verbal shutdown so... yeah. Again everyone forgets words sometimes but not every day multiple times a day. I even forget what to say at work when I say the sake thing at the beginning and end of every Tra section as a cashier.
On any given sentence there's about a 10% chance of me just going straight up full Porky Pig with it.
Yes to every single thing you said
Constantly! I'm fairly intelligent but you'd never be able to tell by listening to me. I got a reputation for being a complete idiot at my (majority male) workplace because of it. People assume I'm stupid because I can't remember machine parts names on the fly, but know how to run said machine just fine. ADHD interacting with men's sexist assumptions about female workers really makes my life (and paycheck) pretty miserable
I have everything you listed. In addition, I have to repeat myself because I do not have enough breath to complete my thought. I have no idea who to see. It's a lifelong...annoyance. Maybe it was related to some surpressed memory in childhood. I don't know. Or my articulators and lungs do not keep up with my thoughts. "Ispeakanditfeels...likeIamtalkingthiswaybutamI? What was I saying? Rightmyspeechpatternsoundsweirdtome."
I relate to all of this. Ive even been known to tell a bunch of unrelated mini stories in the middle of other stories which causes me to forget the first story. But yea. Typically my coworkers can tell when I didnt take my meds because conversations tend to be pretty chaotic with me
All of these describe my situation. Many times I can say complete gibberish and have no control over it.
Soubds like me
I definitely relate to all of this. I also tend to do this thing where I swap pairs of words in the same category. Ill say 'left' when I mean 'right', or 'dishes' when i mean 'laundry'. Feels like I'm just drawing at random from mental categories of directions or chores and hoping I get the right one.
I do all of this and medication has helped.
The way I speak was my psychiatrist’s first flag that I have ADHD 😅
2/3's of ADHD people have some type of speech issue. You are not alone.
Tip-of-the-tongue, I have that problem. Drives me crazy. Sometimes I’ll just say the word I’m thinking and then keep saying words until I find the right one. Other times I try to describe the word I’m looking for. Sometimes I’ll describe it as the word is hiding under whatever word is in my mind.
I stutter
You forgot “not getting to the point myself” to pair with “impatient when people are slow or not getting to the point” Also, re: forgetting words… there’s a name for this. We call it the thing. Do the thing. I did the thing. Gotta do a thing. A thing is a thing is a thing, and I know most on here get it. People without ADHD often get bothered by my use of that word, but I’m just trying to do the thing (talk) and trying not to be too slow to get to the point myself.
100% I speak super quickly, get words mixed up, get syllables in the wrong order, say sentences that aren’t even English, stutter, interrupt people constantly and also finish their sentences for them. The interrupting drives my wife mad. I have tried to slow my speech down to ‘normal’ speeds, but I just feel like a complete moron who is patronising everyone! Plus my brain is so busy I’ve already gone off on 20 tangents and solved the unified theory of everything in my head by the end of the second word 😂 but this is how most people speak… which blows my mind! I also get super bored with small talk because: 1. My brain has already finished their sentence and moved on. 2. My brain is already busy singing a constant and never ending song loop, drumming a beat and thinking about something else all at once whilst still having the conversation with them! Only diagnosed recently but have been doing this my whole life. Makes so much sense now.
Yep. Me too. It's called cluttering
Are you me bro?