Problems interacting with people, especially those close to me

I have a problem and have had for a long time that's becoming more and more obvious. It has to do with how I react to people who want to talk to me or ask me to do something. The way I initially react seems to cause people to feel that I don't care/respect enough or they're not important enough and I don't want to bother with them. It's especially worse when it's someone who has been gone out of their way for me many times.

I don't yell or scream at people. The problem is centered around the fact that I often have too much going on and/or have to many things going through my head (which is pretty much most of the time), and knowing how easily I lose track of what I'm doing, and how hard it is for me to switch gears, I give people the impression through body language or tone of voice that they are interrupting me. Also, when asked if I want to do something, it can take me a while to try and remember if I already have something else planned, so it ends up sounding like I say no to easily, even though I'm really just hesitating until I'm sure I haven't forgotten anything important (thank God for palm pilots). Otherwise, the opposite happens, and I say yes too easy and then forget I have something else going on, and I end up in a tug-rope contest with myself trying to figure out what I should do.

It's not that I want to make people feel this way. I just need a bit of time to write down what I'm doing or thinking about before it's lost forever, or look at my calendar to remember what's going on.

I know there are pleasant ways of saying, "What you have to say or ask is important to me, but could I have just a few moments to sort some things out before we start?". However, just knowing that isn't enough. For one, because I'm wrapped up in things, I forget about the importance of pleasantness and showing a caring response. I don't realize that I gave a negative impression until after the fact, sometimes long after, and that can have some bad consequences.

I'm trying to think, for example, how I could jot down my whole train of thoughts while the phone is ringing and get it all jotted down before I answer the phone so that I can be more pleasant and caring when I answer. But, just not enough time there.

I do write notes down often during the day to keep me reminded of things. It's just that it's like spontaneous things jumping through my head in different directions, ideas to do things, and the compulsion to get them done and finished before they're gone out of my mind, pretty much totally forgotten.

So, I don't know. The best I've been able to do is talk to the person afterwards and explain to them that they are indeed important, and ask them if they can understand why I sound or react the way I do.

I'm not sure I'm explaining this in a way that I feel gets the right point across, but I felt the need to journal it.

Oh and anyhow, my psychiatrist doubled my dosage of Adderal XR. Hopefully that will help, I wasn't noticing any consistent improvement at the lower starting dosage. 'Course, problem is, twice as many pills can cost twice as much... but I don't think I want to start complaining about the financial costs of my illness right now. ;-)