Clumsiness with ADHD isn't laziness or inattention. It's a brain difference. I want to share my expe…

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Clumsiness with ADHD isn't laziness or inattention. It's a brain difference. I want to share my experience and my son's. Did you know that about 50% of people with ADHD (not all, of course) have a developmental coordination disorder (DCD), also known as dyspraxia? This is when the brain has trouble planning and executing a sequence of movements. It's not being "all thumbs," but a real neuro-difference. Take a look. My older son. As a child, he had very poor body control. If he tripped over something, he’d just fall flat. He couldn't maintain balance for a very long time. A classic ADHD with DCD story. BUT👆 Yet, from age three, he built huge, complex 3D structures out of LEGOs that even adults often struggle with. His spatial reasoning is brilliant. Now, me. My hands don't work well with pliable materials. Fabric, clay, yarn – they're torture for me. I can't knit because I can't feel the yarn tension. I can't sew: scissors just don't cut fabric, it slips and falls out of my hands. Braiding my daughter's hair is pure hell. But cardboard, paper, wood – easy! I'm a great draftsperson, I work wonderfully with wood. Because rigid materials offer predictable resistance that the brain can handle. Soft materials lack clear feedback, and motor control falters. What does science say about this? 1. With ADHD, muscle tone is often reduced, and motor planning is impaired – signals from the brain to the muscles are asynchronous. 2. Tactile sensitivity can be altered: the brain struggles to assess effort and tension. 3. However, visual-constructive skills are often excellent – hence the LEGOs and drafting. And yes, there's another important point about tactile sensitivity that many miss. It's related to pain perception. My son and I, for example, are both very insensitive to pain. We have a high pain threshold – meaning it takes something really serious for us to feel pain. It's not "titanium bones" 🤣, as my son says, or "patience," but a neuro-difference just like everything else. The scientific picture here is interesting. There's evidence that many people with ADHD do indeed have reduced pain sensitivity – they're often described as "very patient" or "insensitive to cold." Scientists link this to the specific functioning of the dopamine system and opioid receptors in the brain, which are involved in processing pain signals. However, in some individuals with ADHD, the pain threshold may be lowered – this contradiction is likely due to different subtypes. But the main point is: reduced pain sensitivity is a real and recognized phenomenon. And it has a significant consequence: because pain is felt less intensely, a person may underestimate the danger of situations that lead to injury. This partly explains the childhood "falls" and increased risk of injury. From 10 months old, we were constantly in the emergency room. And now – something usually kept quiet. 🔞 About sex. I don't experience orgasms. And the reason isn't my frigidity or my partner (there have been many). I'm not bragging; I'm stating a fact. I simply don't feel the man inside me. And clitoral stimulation also doesn't make any impression on me – it's as if the signal goes through, but doesn't reach the brain. And this, unfortunately, is not a coincidence. Research shows a direct link between ADHD and orgasmic dysfunction in women. What does the research say? 👇 In one systematic review, the prevalence of orgasmic dysfunction in women with ADHD reached 67.7% – the highest figure among all ADHD-related sexual dysfunctions. Another study found that women with ADHD symptoms reported fewer orgasms compared to a control group, with those having the predominantly inattentive subtype of ADHD suffering particularly. And among women already diagnosed with orgasmic disorder, ADHD is found almost twice as often as in the general population – 34.6% versus 18.4%. Why does this happen? Here are a few explanations. First, inattention. To achieve orgasm, the brain needs to maintain focus on escalating sensations. With ADHD, attention constantly wanders, and arousal doesn't build to the necessary intensity. Second, interoception – the ability to recognize signals from your own body. Researchers explicitly write about "difficulties with interoceptive awareness" in people with ADHD, including in sexual interactions. If signals from the body arrive "late and weak," as specialists describe it, then arousal, tension, and orgasm itself may simply not be registered in time. The signal is there, but it's not "loud" enough for the brain to register it as pleasure. Third, sensory processing. With ADHD, this can be altered in either direction: from hypersensitivity (where touch is "too much" and causes discomfort) to hyposensitivity – where the body needs stronger, more intense stimulation to feel anything at all. My case is hyposensitivity: to both pain and sexual stimulation. So, if you or your child react "strangely" to bumps, cuts, cold – or to touches that "should" be pleasant but don't work – it's not made up or bad manners. It's just another facet of the same neurodiversity. And it's important for women to talk about this because so many with ADHD feel "broken" for years, when in reality, their brain simply processes signals differently.
I'm reading here and I see that many people just can't stand tantrums. This applies to me too. There…
Comments
Natali
Do you take the pills yourself? What if some people have hyperactivity? Another child cries, sometimes laughs instead of crying, and has ADHD.
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Tatyana
Natali I don't drink. They don't prescribe it to me, it's by prescription, and honestly, I'm afraid to drink it.
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Tatyana
Natali I didn't understand the part about crying and laughing.
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Anna
yes, that's so me
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Natali
Natali My child has ADHD. Some kids are very active, and it seems like they don't understand or can't help it, like their dopamine isn't working right. Others with the same diagnosis are calm, but they express all their struggles through crying or laughing.
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Natali
Natali Why are you afraid?
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Natali
Natali The pills were prescribed, but this requires work and waiting. And for how long? What if this melancholy doesn't pass? I could go crazy.
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Viktoriya
I remember being pretty shocked when I realized my kids don't understand pain. They feel it, but they don't *understand* it. With my younger one, I doubted what he was feeling until he was about 4. They still tolerate pain easily. In 9th grade, my son walked home from school with a broken leg. He said it hurt and it felt weird and awkward, but he didn't call me or go to the nurse – he just walked home. Pain and the need to react to it just didn't connect in his head. They also didn't understand hunger or the urge to go to the bathroom for a very long time. My older one still doesn't always realize when he's hungry. And he doesn't always realize when he's full.

I have no idea how they'll manage their independent lives like this.

And yes, they're clumsy. Although their fine motor skills are selectively fine.
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Tatyana
Viktoriya I'm scared too, how will they live.
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Tatyana
Natali I haven't met anyone like that, I'm sharing my experience, which is 50%.
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Tatyana
Natali I'm afraid of the side effects
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Kristina
Very interesting, thank you for the information. I didn't think such things were related to ADHD. I'm just starting to learn about this topic; I suspected it in my son since he was 6, but they only just diagnosed him. He does have some coordination issues, he can't sit on his haunches at all – he falls over 😁 and conversely, he has a low pain threshold. I thought he was exaggerating, which is why he's afraid to learn to ride a bike; he's already afraid of the pain of falling, even without trying.
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Natali
Natali Got it, thanks for the answer
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Natali
Natali Side effect, rollback, or digestive issue?
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Natali
Natali Or worse? Have you experienced this?
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Tatyana
Natali I had no experience, and I don't want to test it. I've adapted to living this way, and I used to think I was wrong.
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Tatyana
Anna Did you also have an easy and painless birth?
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Viktoriya
Viktoriya I don't know. I used to think our life was getting better. But it turns out that within our usual environment, yes, but not on its own. And I'm super scared. But I hope I'll manage.

For us girls, with the same starting point, it's easier.
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Setlana
Yeah, my son was diagnosed with ADHD, then it was changed to Asperger's syndrome. Tying his shoelaces is still a huge problem 🙄 He knows how, but his fingers just don't obey. Everything else is fine, but shoelaces are our struggle.
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Tatyana
Setlana I understand, mine can't tie his shoelaces either. He'll be 11 soon
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Natali
Natali No way, that's not right. Everyone develops abilities. But you don't feel the fabric, the thread. My son doesn't feel a lot of things. I won't say everything. But there are other qualities. And it will be better to carry bricks than to sweep. 🤷
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Tatyana
Natali I don't feel the fabric, only with my hands, my skin, my muscles feel wooden, but my hair is very sensitive 🤣🤣🤣 what a paradox
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Mama♡ocharovatelnoy dochki♡
Thank you so much for this post, you described my husband perfectly. He has ADHD, but his clumsiness always drove me incredibly crazy… And some of the secondary details you described, too. So that's what it is… It would be interesting to read more if you ever feel like sharing.
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Tata
My child is 10 years old and has ADHD. He's clumsy, his hands seem weak. He builds amazing things with LEGO, but peeling potatoes, carrots, or other vegetables, or slicing sausage or cheese, his hands seem so weak or clumsy – it's really noticeable. Even opening a bag of gummies, a Snickers bar, or ice cream in a wrapper takes a lot of effort. Before, he couldn't even open a banana, he struggled so much with the little stem.
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Tata
Tata I think I have ADHD too, I realized that a long time ago...
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Anastasiya
So interesting. Judging by the description, I have ADHD, not my daughter 🤣
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Olga
My son shows many signs of ADHD, but doctors persistently refuse to diagnose him 🤨 I just don't understand why, but I work with him at home and take him to neuro-fitness. Play-Doh, cutting, coloring – his hands just don't obey. He has myotonic syndrome, and he's always felt pain poorly since infancy. He still flies around without coordinating himself. In short, if I sit and think about it, he has tons of signs. He's emotionally unstable, and it's really hard for him to concentrate, although he's not unintelligent. He's constantly daydreaming. Plus, no one is supporting him with medication; his activities only partially and very superficially compensate for all this. I don't think I have ADHD myself.
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Rys
These same symptoms can indicate R.A.S. (
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Tatyana
Rys And I suspect it's related to some disorders, but I haven't delved into it yet. For my son's first year of life, I also thought he had ASD, as there were so many signs.
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Tatyana
Anastasiya this is just one of a huge list of symptoms)
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Anastasiya
Anastasiya I have both pain insensitivity and issues in bed. Coordination problems too. When I walk, I constantly focus on my feet, otherwise I veer to the side.
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Mariya Glebova
Yes, my daughter isn't sensitive to the cold. I have to force her to wear gloves in winter and generally warm clothes. She'll easily go out in a hoodie at 1 degree Celsius and won't understand what's wrong. One time she came home with fingers so cold she could barely bend them, and since then she understands why gloves are necessary. I explain the consequences of going out without proper clothing, and she's experienced them herself too – once she got a really bad chill in her neck and had a fever, so now she at least listens because of that. But she's a teenager… It's like she hears me, and then she's back to her old ways.
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