Kelli, You've explained it really well. I have a nephew with ADHD, and the flack we got as his family for putting him on "drugs" when "his problem is just poor parenting"  He also was diagnosed with learning difficulties due the the ADHD. As a young adult now he manages it very well (I have no idea if he still uses the medication, or if he's learned coping skills).  But I hate to think how hard it must be to manage combined ADHD and Stroke effects.  What we found with my nephew was that he could concentrate on a single task but only by completely blocking out every other thing. When he was doing something he wanted to focus on he would shut out every other stimulus, including the demands/needs of his own body. It was sort of scary.

Hugs

-Heather

Kelli and Heather you both have spot on explanations. I like Kelli have always had ADHD but never treated. My mom used to tell me I would forget my head if it weren't screwed on. I always was going 90 miles an hour and from 1 thing to the next. The same as you said Heather if I found something that acutely caught my interest I could obsessively only have attention on that. As an adult my mom got very upset with me one Christmas because she had ordered something I was selling as a Christmas gift and I forgot to do it. She was so upset and I really let her down. It was then that I really talked to a Psychiatrist who then diagnosed with Adult ADD same thing just as adults we slow down and a lot of times the inattention is more prominant. So needless to say, when i had the stroke this was affected so much. I was taken off of medication and it has been extraordinarily challenging. I wroyte a post on here one time explaining my day and it was crazy! Sowed this to my new Psychiatrist and he was shocked. He and I are still in the works to address it but I have to get all my meds happy and settled before he even thinks about it. Kelli I so very much relate to the things you said and to the disappointment in myself and feeling like I just wasn't as I don't know put together ( I knew I was smart...so I didn't question that) but yeah just not the best I could be. Hailey is the same way as me and we had her treated in the 1st grade. Her grades went from a U to all S's and S+'s. I never questioned it after I saw the phenominal improvement.