Concentration issues

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I'm not sure where to put this so please move if innapropriate mods

As far as I can remember I've never really been able to concentrate very well during the day unless I'm really interested in what I'm doing and have consumed a lot of caffeine. It's like my brain is thinking too fast for me to comprehend and thinking of too much things simultaneously - the thoughts seem to whizz past me before I have the chance to use or analyse them.

I've noticed I find it far easier to concentrate when I'm very tired late at night as then I seem to be able to focus on a single topic at a manageable speed but the problem with that is that I have to sleep shortly afterwards...

During my studies at University I experimented and found that a single shot of an alcoholic spirit or mild sedatives such as camomile and catmint/catnip teas helped me somewhat but did not get me as focused as I am when my brain has slowed down due to tiredness late at night.

I was diagnosed at University with Aspergers at the age of 22 back in December 2011 but this symptom does not appear to be related to Aspergers as far as I can tell as focusing on something I'm actually interested in should not require me to consume stimulants such as caffeine.

I finished University back in January and have yet to find work, is there anything anyone can advise?

I also experience thoughts moving so fast that I can't latch onto them. I sometimes feel like my mind is a giant whirlpool and I can see the thoughts coming around each time but I can't quite grab them.

I pretty much need substances to write effectively. Curiously, I need alcohol (Jack Daniels if you please) to write fiction and I either need apple juice or caffeine to write nonfiction. There was a famous mathematician who I can't recall who said that his job was to turn coffee into ideas.

It's been recommended to me that I take Adderall to focus. I'm paranoid about medication though. I don't know if it would help you or not but I hear about college students taking it and turning into super-focused productivity machines.

I see, that's interesting.

I've heard the saying "a programmer is a tool that converts caffeine into code"

I am unable to obtain Adderall since I am diagnosed with only Aspergers and no medications are listed for it in the UK officially. I think Adderall/amphetamine salts are only permitted for ADHD/ADD here. I'm curious whether my symptoms sound like that. I'm not sure I'd want to take amphetamines for my daily functioning though, might get burnt out... I don't know much about Adderall though.

On another note, I've found that some strains of psychoactive hemp (cannabis) really seem to help with my concentration and sometimes even social functioning. Part of my social problems are probably related to concentration as well - I just switch off when I've lost interest which is usually pretty quickly in primarily social situations.

Another thing I've noticed is that I tend to have a running process of certain topics in my head which start in the morning automatically when I get up and make me feel overloaded and incapable of doing much else - mostly my special interests.

I have NVLD, for me I can't say it's as much of a "concentration" issue, as it is poor time management/organizational skills. Like once I get going on a project, I'm generally OK, but I tend to either hyperfocus on a project or like...not do it. Like I've spent like 10 hours straight like, working on a bicycle or something. Or 10 hours cleaning my room. I have to make whatever I'm doing like, the only thing I'm doing. I can't really multitask and switch seamlessly from one task to the other.

BTW, I tried Ritalin recently. Didn't work the way I wanted to. It blocked out the "stream of thought" but in the process it made me dumber. It was a neat stim "high" but it wasn't like caffeine, which just makes the stream of thoughts faster. My mom, though, she describes my thought process as having to weigh every option, according to her, I'll look at 100 options before deciding and normal folks will only look at 2.

The best thing besides caffeine for me has been Rhodiola Rosea. Stuff is like a miracle. You get the good feeling of Ritalin, without being ret*d, and without spiking your blood pressure to 140/90, with a 105 pulse like Ritalin does. Also, getting your sleep schedule reasonable helps a lot in general.

EDIT:
Weed just made me feel ret*d. Same with the SSRI I tried, I just felt "weird" on SSRIs. But weed I did not like. Took the stream of thoughts away.

I see, I also have the difficulty in general with multitasking.

Is Rhodiola Rosea some kind of herbal supplement? What kind of dosage do you find to be effective?
My sleep schedule is pretty reasonable at the moment as I'm unemployed.

I've found certain strains of weed make me feel "ret*d", as you put it, and others don't. It's pretty hard to get specific strains here in the UK unfortunately for me, tends to be just referred to as weed and that's it unless you find a really nice dealer. Some strains seem to help me socially whereas others seem to be good for my attention span. Shame about the black market else I'd probably use it in small doses fairly regularly.

It might not be a symptom required for diagnosis, but I think this can be quite common for many on the spectrum. For some it is a result of comorbid ADHD. I don't qualify as ADHD, but I do have some concentration issues. For me it is either because 1) I am not interested and don't force myself to pay attention or keep focused or 2) I am not processing it properly or fast enough (this would be in terms of speeches/lectures and sometimes reading), and not comprehending it, so I eventually give up and tune out.