NaNo with Disabilities

I have ADD and I recently realized that I have what seem to be (though diagnosed) symptoms of dyslexia. I was curious to see of there are others like me out there, and how you are handling it - also wondering what kind of coping methods you use. Maybe this thread could be a support thread as well.

My doctor decided to forgo the six+ hour testing regimen that I would have had to under go in order to officially diagnose ADD. I do (rather: did) have severe concentration and focus issues. I've been on a generic form of Welbutrin (spelling? Meh) for a couple months now and it works for me.

Talk to a doctor! But make sure you find a good one, who will listen to you. Many will prescribe things that you don't need, and/or order expensive and time consuming tests you don't need, without actually getting to the root of the problem. Welbutrin is good for me because it covers so many things I cope with (diagnosed bi-polar, concentration/focus issues, smoking, etc) but it might not work for you.

Non-medicated advice: For any sort of concentration/focus issues I've found that working with white noise (a fan or similar) is good. So is being able to use the full screen setting on your monitor where you don't have any open browser tabs/icons/kitchen sink tabs or buttons to distract you. Turn the TV off and don't listen to music with audible lyrics (for me even instrumentals are extremely distracting). Make sure the kids and significant others are out of the room and know to leave you alone and keep the noise level down!

Also put the books away unless you absolutely need to look something up! If you can, avoid Google.

Do not, under any circumstances, let yourself log into games, facebook, chatrooms, AIM, etc etc. It's easy to get very distracted by well meaning online friends!

Hello - I just fit in the group as a whole (39 yrs) and was interested to find this thread. I have Bipolar Disorder, chronic anemia and just found out i have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. Seems it should have been picked up yrs ago? I'm worried about it affecting my Wrimo experience as I'm literally exhausted all the time. My head is foggy/confused/unfocused at times too. But I'm gonna give it my very best. I'm mainly hoping this experience shakes up my debilitating need to over edit as I go. If it can do that, I'm a happy gal. I've started treatment for H.T so I should feel better in a few weeks.

Good luck with the Docs. And I totally get the white noise/fan thing. I enjoy classical music to write to too, esp the more dramatic ones if that fits the scene. I can't do lyrical music while writing either - I start singing in my head and it goes horribly wrong ;D

Shah .x

I've never tried classical music, but I know that I can't do any music with a strong beat to it or anything with words. My ADD is diagnosed, but I don't take anything for it. I also have severe depression that is controlled by medication - meh, but controlled I say it takes the edge off, I also have a heart condition, so between the two I already take four meds a day and I don't want to add any more. I don't know, I've seen psychiatrists for years I wonder about my diagnosis, but I don't have the symptoms for bi-polar, but at the same time we have tried every drug, every drug combination known to man over the past 15 years. I'm sick and tired of crying when I watch wheel of fortune, yet other's make me feel comatose.

I've been writing a lot more in the past few months and I have always been kind of lazy when it came to proof reading, but after getting some rude comments about it (I post on fanfiction sites) I got more picky about it, and I started noticing things, like I frequently leave the n't off words, my word sequences are out of order - even in simple sentences and I will type in the wrong words when I mean something else. I always thought it was my fingers getting ahead of my mind until I was talking to someone over the weekend who has dyslexia and they said that these are some of the symptoms. They aren't very disruptive in my day to day life, but they are in my writing - so not sure if I will seek diagnosis for it or not. It's pretty mild if I do have it.

I suffer from severe Myalgic Encephalopathy and Fibromyalgia, so I'm with Shah on the worries over exhaustion, as well as the issues with focus/concentration. I guess the trick with fatigue is to just make sure you're well-rested before and after writing sessions. Whether or not I take my own advice is another matter entirely... (:

I couldn't have even dreamed of participating without a good piece of software to help me get organised, though. I use Liquid Story Binder XE, and it's made it so much easier to keep track. There's a bunch of other software types available too (I've tested Scrivener, yWriter and PangurPad, too, but LSBXE just clicked for me) that you could try out? They help keep your notes structured so you don't have post-its scattered everywhere or Open Office/Word/Wordpad/Notepad files littering your folders or one giant document to wade through. (Plus, LSBXE lets you use images, which are a big visual key for me to both keep me focused and inspired.)

Mini breaks help me, too. I know nanoers are a big proponent of not flicking away from your writing screen, but I tend to find that doing something else for a few minutes (say, every 15-20 minutes you take a 2-5 minute break) stops my brain from wandering too much. Maybe get up from the computer, wander around the room for a bit (if you can, I mean. I can't, but I let my eyes wander instead and it can even provide some inspiration sometimes). How long you break for, and how often, is up to you to figure out. :)

I have fibromyalgia and depression. I've also always been pretty sure I have ADD, but I've never been diagnosed and now I know both my fibro and my medication make me kind of braindead so I don't know what's me and what's a side effect. I have a painfully short attention span and bad memory. Last year was the first year I'd done NaNo since starting my current medication and I lost, so I'm determined to do better this year. I purposely picked something that would be easier for me to write about.

Hello all! I have rsd and a herniated disc in my lower back. With the rsd there are days ( when the weather gets really bad) that I will forget how to write sometimes my own name. So between fatigue, pain (due to light, sound etc..), weather and memory loss, I am hoping to beat the clock of winter so that I can finish this challenge. :D

I have issues with tendonitis and carpal tunel, that is bad enough, can't imagine how hard it must be for you guys with more severe physical limitations that make it harder to sit for long periods of time. I've found showers help me too, also writing late at night when it seems the world is calmer and quiet.

I have fibromyalgia - I write sat on a recliner very comfy. Also I sometimes take ephedra because it helps with the brainfog.

I have chronic muscle pain, which does not play nice with being sat at the computer for hours on end ... but I do it anyway because doing nothing drives me stark raving mad. I'm starting on a new painkiller this month and trigger point injections so I'm hoping that doesn't throw my word count for a loop. (My first pill resulted in 3 hours of vomiting and a 10-hour headache so I'm not anticipating staying on it very long :P).

I have MacBreakZ installed on my computer, which tells me to get off the computer every once in a while and runs me through some stretches so that helps (although too often I turn the software off because it doesn't like when you type really fast). The real challenge will be doing my physio religiously despite wanting to catch up on my word count every day. :)

Good luck to you all.

I have bipolar disorder and chronic migraines. *sigh* and I'm overcommitted for the month, so we'll see how this goes. Nano goes fairly well when I'm in a hypomanic phase, but I've been stuck in a sustained depressive for 8 months, so I'm not sure how this is going to go.

I have a conversion disorder which manifests as stress-related seizures. This is my first NaNo, and part of the reason I've held out for so long (I've known about it for about 10 years now) is, well, I just don't handle stress well and I've never tried an extended piece of writing. My longest piece is about 5K, and that was after about 2 years' worth of work.

I'm already getting antsy, because I'm starting a little behind the ball as my proposed writing time block is taken up with classes tomorrow (luckily it's only once a week).

Hi, I'm 36 and I have bipolar disorder.

I've been diagnosed in 2006, after a month I found out about Nanowrimo, went on board while taking my first meds ever and... I won!
I think Nanowrimo helped me deal with a lot of stuff then.

Now I'm trying to write about my experience about being a child with an undiagnosed mental illness, my life as an adult who tries to balance family, a baby, work and creativity dealing with bipolar disorder.
And my plot is already a real mess in just 1403 words!

Maybe it is too hard for me now...

I'm dyslexic but have been living with it for a long time now. coping wise, i cheat. Spell and Grammar checker on Microsoft Word. and apart from that, practice practice practice. i can touch type to the extreme but have got into the habit of going over my sentences time and time again to check for spelling mistakes (and believe me, i know their will be ones in this that i'll miss). Plus regards proof reading i have no choice but to get someone else to run their eye over my work.

I have Bipolar and PTSD as well as lupus and fibromyalgia and chronic lower back and hip pain from degenrative bone disease. Usually I can manage the pain well enough to do writing, but this year my GI has been in total revolt and I haven't been able to stay sitting up much. I don't want to just pass on NaNo, but I don't know how much I'm going to be capable of doing. which really sux because book three is just screaming to be written.

Hello everyone. I have ADHD and clinical depression. There are days I don't even want to be alive. I know that sounds bad. But it's the way things are. I am in therapy and taking medication. And yes, for the most part it works. But I struggle on a daily basis. And writing sometimes proves almost impossible. The later it gets, the more creative I am. Nice to meet you all.

Bipolar disorder, generalised anxiety disorder, non-24 sleep-wake syndrome. A nasty combination that's left me basically unemployable the past three years. The plus side is that I have more time I can commit to NaNoWriMo than I would have otherwise.

Nice to see some fellow fibromyalgia sufferers. I also have chronic fatigue syndrome and a host of other problems, but I refuse to let them dictate my life. They've already taken away my ability to work I will not allow them to take away my smile and love of writing. I myself like to write in the morning and then take a nice long nap in the afternoon.

F-ing forum! I typed out this long response and it didn't send, instead I got page not found. Anyway, I messed up my knee today in my attempt to get out of the house and attend a write in - now I am on crutches and a knee brace for the next six weeks. Wonder why I am depressed? I can't walk across a friggen sidewalk without injuring myself. LOL

I don't have any actual diagnoses as of yet, but am going through investigation/testing for mainly Aspergers and AD(H)D, and most likely I'll get some kind of diagnose, possibly both of those. On that list of questions (for ADHD) where they say "if you answer yes to more than three of these, check it up", I answer yes to 9 out of 10, and the tenth one is a "well, sometimes", and Aspergers seems to run in my family ^^; I also have problems with falling asleep, which usually leads to me turning my sleeping habits around all the time. Currently I'm up till five or seven in the morning (it's half four now XD), and then sleep till sometime between noon and three pm.

I kind of like NaNo, since it gives me something to focus on for a month. Of course, once November is over, the semi-finished novel just sits around on my computer until I pick it up in October again, dust it off, realize it doesn't work and decide to re-write it ^^; I don't know how many novel projects I have lying about on my hard drive waiting for me to pick them up again. Kind of tragic, really. Some have been there since my early teens ^^;

Side-tracking is also way too common. I'm mainly writing fantasy, and then I start wondering about how far it is from this place to that, which ends up with me drawing up a map of the entire country, including various fiefs and domains, and then I draw up the various noble families and write down important persons within each family and any notable traits, and.... and then November draws to an end and I sit the last couple of days writing frenetically, trying to get everything done at once XD

Aaaand I should probably stop this rambling post and just press the submit button :p