Focus On T?

[Guest Zabrak]

Yup, my focus has gone to the dogs as some may say. I can't say 100% if its the T or just me because I'm so..uh... happy lately. But I'm having huge troubles. You'll notice in my posts I'll randomly start making a lot of typos. That's because I'm difting off into my head or something catches my eye. I even catch myself half-listening to what my boyfriend says...I don't feel bad, though, I doubt he listens to half of what I say. I don't even think I've been focusing when I talk. Yeah, its that bad. LOL

Has any FTM felt this effect before? If so what are some ways to help train yourself to stay focused on something. I'll need to learn it for school.

[Guest Elizabeth K]

Hummmmm

MTF do the same thing when starting HRT. It might be psychological - thinking about what is to come

Lizzy

[Guest Martin]

My ability to multitask took a hit when I went on T. I used to be able to listen to someone else with full comprehension and think about something at the same time. Alas, those days are no more. I actually have to give someone my full, active attention if I want to hear what they say. I've recovered some of my old abilities - I can manage to eat and listen to someone now, as well as do similarly complex tasks - but it's not like I was pre-T. The only advise I have is to practice.

[Guest StrandedOutThere]

Yup, my focus has gone to the dogs as some may say. I can't say 100% if its the T or just me because I'm so..uh... happy lately. But I'm having huge troubles. You'll notice in my posts I'll randomly start making a lot of typos. That's because I'm difting off into my head or something catches my eye. I even catch myself half-listening to what my boyfriend says...I don't feel bad, though, I doubt he listens to half of what I say. I don't even think I've been focusing when I talk. Yeah, its that bad. LOL

Has any FTM felt this effect before? If so what are some ways to help train yourself to stay focused on something. I'll need to learn it for school.

OMG! Yes! EXACTLY! You understand! I understand! We're on the same wavelength!

This is exactly what has happened to me. My sustained attention, which wasn't great anyway because I have ADHD, has been completely shot since I started T. I zone out when people are talking. I don't finish stuff. If I'm cooking something and don't stay in the kitchen the whole time, I forget and burn it. When I start writing for school, it only takes 5 minutes for my mind to drift away and then I find myself on the internet looking at random stuff. My attention is more "grabby" now...sticky. It didn't stick to things before like it does now. If something is even remotely noticeable, I won't even say interesting because it need not be, my attention just "locks on". Unfortunately, the kinds of things that hold my attention aren't things that help get work done.

I'm working on the self-control training. So far I've made little progress in the area. Obviously it can be done though, so I'll keep trying.

[Guest leo]

wow the amount of complex things can change is amazing

[Sally]

Actually, I think the lack of concentration when someone is talking to you is a result of T and woman have been giving men grief over that for centuries - and it just isn't their fault!

I'm going to keep that in mind and I won't yell at my guy for drifting off - one of the true advantages of being a transsexual, the ability to separate what is physical and what is societal in behavior.

Makes us better partners! Tell the world!

Love you guys, guys, guys! Pay attention,

Sally

[Guest J-Walker]

God, you two sound all over the place. All of this may be ADHD related though. I read an article once stating that biological women may be even more prone to ADD or ADHD then men - they just don't act as blatently about it as men do. Hormone thing?

I think I can actually focus MORE now. I've put aside my procrastination and can actually get things done. It's so different.

[Guest Evan_J]

lol I actually was waitin for you to chime in Stranded cuz I remember how deeply you reacted when you were first having these same experiences. I think it's hormonal but can be read differently by different people depending on what aspect of the thing you observe it from. I know that theres a school of thought that asserts males think linearly as opposed to more unilaterally -a trait that lends itself to multitasking and is considered more common with women- and that the linear thought tendancy might be linked to T levels. It would account for both the deminished ability to multitask (or maintain a stream of though in the presence of another competing one) as well as give the perception of "being able to focus more and get things done" since the impulse would be to be more "methodical" when alllowing linear thinking to dominate.

IF YOU BUY THAT then I would say your ability to focus Zabrack has not decreased. What's decreased is your ability to have that focus split.

[Guest Zabrak]

Ok, then, I've lost some type of focus ability.

I'll..work around it. Somehow.

I'm not ADD/ADHD or at lest no ones ever told me I am.

[Guest StrandedOutThere]

The thing is that conceptualizing "attention" and "focus" is difficult. We're all using the same words but talking about different things. The idea of attention and attentional focus is a multifaceted construct with lots of little levels underneath. You have like this broad attentional resource, which probably doesn't change much from day to day. Then you have executive control processes that determine how that general attentional resource is directed and allocated in the service of some goal. That's probably where the changes are happening...or at least that's how it seems for me. There is some serious rewiring going on with the part of my brain that deals with "executive control".

Okay, so T has wrecked my "scope of attention". Like Evan said, it's dividing attention that is difficult and likely what changes on T. If you think of where your attention is directed at any one time as being like a little flashlight beam, I imagine that I used to have a much broader beam that could illuminate several things at once. Now the beam might be brighter, but because there is the same amount of attentional "energy" available, the beam can't be as big. The result is that now I can only really focus on one thing at a time.

Mr. J-Walker, sir... What you said is also true of me. I do procrastinate less. I have more "let's get down to work and get this done" momentum. I'm more likely to DO something now, rather than think or wait to do it. So, in that kind of focus, I'm better.

Task persistence, or sustained attention, is another kind of attention that is probably separate from the "general attentional resource" I mentioned before. My sustained attention has changed; my sustained attention is better. Now, when I get focused on something, wild animals can't drag me away from it. I was already kind of like this, which is probably why I've ended up in the field of study I'm in, but now it has become more intense. I can't let stuff go. The other day I was working with this computer program and couldn't figure something out. Before I could finish, I had to go to lab meeting. Normally I'd be able to suspend what I was doing, go to lab meeting, and then pick it up after the meeting. Not anymore.... All I could think about in lab meeting was what I was trying to figure out on the computer. One track mind...for sure.

I've heard all kinds of evolutionary reasons for why men and women seem to differ in scope of attention/multitasking. It's not clear how much of this "multitasking" stuff is hardwired early on and how much is determined by current hormone levels. From what we transguys are reporting here, it seems like current T levels might have more to do with it than early hardwiring.

Next week we can talk about "social desirability bias" in symptom reporting...

[Guest Jackson]

Next week we can talk about "social desirability bias" in symptom reporting...

Really? Cool. I'll hold you to that.

[Guest Seth]

I want T!

[Guest StrandedOutThere]

God, you two sound all over the place. All of this may be ADHD related though. I read an article once stating that biological women may be even more prone to ADD or ADHD then men - they just don't act as blatently about it as men do. Hormone thing?

I think I can actually focus MORE now. I've put aside my procrastination and can actually get things done. It's so different.

Where'd you hear the stuff about gender differences in ADD/ADHD? As far as I know, ADD/ADHD is diagnosed at a higher rate in males than females. However, it's hard to say what the actual prevalence in the population is. Males tend to exhibit more behaviors that attract attention and that get them referred, thus the higher rate of diagnosis. At one point, like when I was in grade school, they didn't even think females got the disorder. The only reason I got referred for testing was because of hyperactivity.

I have heard that girls were more likely to be ADD, with inattention being the primary symptom. Males tend to be diagnosed with hyperactivity as the major complaint, with less inattention symptoms. I have the combined subtype, so I have problems with hyperactivity and inattention, which means that not only will I not sit still, I also space out when you are talking to me. Zoning out when people are talking has gotten worse since I started T. Not being able to be still has also gotten worse. Being in a 3 hour long grad class is like torture...

It's not clear what causes ADD/ADHD. I've read that it is a problem with dopamine pathways. Like people with ADD either don't make enough or their brains don't make use of what's there.

[Guest StrandedOutThere]

Really? Cool. I'll hold you to that.

Oh yes... I can start a new thread for that.

[Guest Evan_J]

Holy cow, a whole thread where they want me to unravel what Ainsley is saying .....who told you I was intellectually inclined?

(goes and sets out a pair of running shoes so he can keep up with this one.....)

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STOP THE PRESSES I think I just lost a facial hair. It was near my ear, the only one there too ......(leaving to go be upset)