Tidal dopamine and noradrenaline (not low, dysregulated)
In ADHD dopamine and noradrenaline aren't simply low — they're dysregulated like a tide: sometimes out (scattered, unfocused, flat), sometimes rushing in (hyperfocus, hyper-energy). How you are in half an hour can be totally different.
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Background
The popular „not enough dopamine” picture is misleading. A better model: dopamine and noradrenaline are tidal, swinging between the tide out (zoned out, low energy, unfocused) and the tide rushing in (hyperfocus, racing, surplus energy). That’s why the same person can be paralysed at 10:00 and unstoppable at 10:30. This pairs with an all-or-nothing mode: a task is „now or not now”, and when you run at 100mph you leave no fuel in the tank. Then an unexpected acute stressor exceeds capacity and tips you into overwhelm and physical and emotional shutdown, sometimes a temporary loss of speech. Knowing it’s tidal lets you plan around your current state (catch the incoming tide for hard things, protect a buffer for the tide going out) instead of demanding constant output of yourself.