Trouble with organization and staying on task?

People with fibromyalgia and other types of chronic pain often find it challenging to keep their brain in focus.

Recently, researchers in South Africa explored this link in depth. They asked 100 fibromyalgia patients to fill out a questionnaire usually used to diagnose attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adults.

It included questions such as:

• How often do you make careless mistakes when you have to work on a boring or difficult project?
• How often do you misplace or have difficulty finding things at home or at work?
• When you have a task that requires a lot of thought, how often do you avoid or delay getting started?

When the results were counted, it turned out that 45% of the fibromyalgia patients could be diagnosed with ADHD too.

If these attentional challenges affect you, you’re not alone. And it may be that strategies commonly suggested for adults with ADHD could help you.

Here are a few ideas:

• • Organize your work space to cut down on distractions
  • Set manageable, realistic goals
  • Divide each task into smaller steps
  • Reward yourself when you complete each one.
  • Explore cognitive behavioral therapy to strengthen your coping strategies