Elf Sternberg

So, recently I talked about my ADHD/I diagnosis (or, rather, a renewal of the diagnosis, along with a course of treatment), but that wasn't the whole story. The whole story was that when I went in for testing for whatever it was I had, they did a brain scan and an MMPI and the whole shebang, and two things showed up very clearly.

The first is that I have a "significantly robust posterior cingulate," the portion of the brain at the back that coordinates the left and right hemispheres. There are no known behavioral issues with this observation, but as the doctor said, it "... means your risk of Alzheimer's and age-related mental decline is significantly lower than average." Which is fantastic, as that's one of those age-related conditions I'm deathly afraid of.

The other is that there's a low-grade storm going on in my left temporal lobe, almost constantly. I don't have seziures, but on the brain scan it sure looks like I have epilepsy, and with it what is known as interictal syndrome. The thing is, the list of what constitutes this syndrome is so vague and general that I can't really get any use out of it. I mean, sure... Circumstantiality and viscosity ("A tendency toward loquacity and insistence on the elaboration of fine distinctions")? Guilty... sometimes. Atypical religiosity and a sense of philosophical inquiry? There are plenty of great religions I could join if I didn't have to accept all the supernatural claptrap.

I may have hypergraphia. You never know. I'm pretty sure I have a sense of humor. And if I had "atypical sexual interests," would my purity score really be below 20 without drugs? Really? Hmph.

On the other hand, I'm rarely depressed, don't have rage issues, I'm not particularly paranoid, and I don't really have a sense of personal destiny.

Unfortunately, Interictal Syndrome isn't one of those syndromes that's managed to get the cachet necessary to be talked about on TV shows like Big Bang Theory or Silicon Valley. It's a lot like Asperger's: it creates a strong sense of alienation from other people, and there's not much that can be done about it.