ADD Books — 1 comment
09
Apr 10

Natural ADHD Cures Do They Really Work?

There are a lot of ideas floating around in the world about how to do things “naturally.” In some ways this is a very good thing. In other ways, it is either unnecessary, or in some cases actually harmful or misleading. Just because somethign is natural doesn’t make it good. Don’t forget, it is natural for a cougar or other wild animal to attack and kill your pet dog or cat if it gets close enough and the predator is hungry. That doesn’t mean that it is something you want to happen.

Metaphysical discussions of nature aside, the world of ADHD treatment and therapy is no exception. For now, we’ll ignore the question about whether or not something is really a “cure” for ADHD. However, traditionally, a cure means that when you stop doing it, whatever you were treating does not come back. Most of the so-called natural attention deficit disorder cures actually require the subject to continue on with the treatment, whether an ADHD diet or otherwise, for pretty much ever. That makes it a therapy, or more accurately, something that alleviates the symptoms.

Natural ADD cures are reported almost everywhere from the Internet, to research reports, to magazines, and even shelves full of books. All of these discussions of natural ADHD cures share one thing in common, the idea that naturally treating ADHD without the use of harsh pharmacological compounds is better than treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder with prescription drugs.

One of the first ADHD tips and tricks most ADDers get after being told that medication isn’t the whole solution is to get more exercise.

True Natural ADHD Cures Real Research

Interestingly enough, SOME of the claims about a natural cure for ADHD are actually grounded in real scientific research that proves that natural treatment of ADHD can have positive effects for children with ADHD and adults with ADHD. Unfortunately, many times practitioners of natural ADHD treatment take modest research findings too far and inflate them to the point where the science no longer backs up their claims.

That being said, what natural ADHD cures really work?

The idea of curing ADHD with a special ADHD diet is a popular one. What exactly the diet consists of varies. Some ADD diets require the elimination of certain foods, while other ADHD diets require eating more of certain foods, and, of course, some Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder diets require some of both. In all cases, however, there is one constant. All ADHD diet treatments proscribe a healthier diet than the average teenager with ADHD or without eats. In fact, most ADHD diets are much more healthy than most all adults and children of all ages currently eat.

What does it mean?

That kind of depends on your perspective.

When it comes to the health of the human body, there are a handful of things that work on EVERYTHING. That is, some lifestyle changes can help relieve the symptoms of virtually any disease, disorder, discomfort, or other ailment to some extent. Changing from bad dietary habits to a good healthy diet will help with just about anything. A person with the worst kind of cancer will feel better to some degree by switching to a healthy diet. So, should it be any surprise that a healthier diet helps affect the symptoms of ADHD in kids and adults?

Other powerful natural cures include exercise, positive mental outlook (laughter is the best medicine), and reducing stress.

Getting more exercise will make ADHD symptoms better in virtually everyone. As a mind-based condition, ADHD responds badly to stress. Many ADDers will tell you that their biggest ADHD symptoms get even worse when they are stressed and worried.

So, do ADHD Diets and ADD Excercise therapies work on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder? Yes! Of course, they do.

The question should be, Do they work enough. Just because someone’s Attention Deficit Disorder gets better, doesn’t mean that it is reduced enough. Better is a relative term. When it comes to ADD what matters is whether the ADHD treatment, natural or otherwise, does enough to help the ADDer live the live that they want to live.

In that respect, the jury is out on how well an ADHD Diet works, because that jury is you.

ADD Medication — No comments
29
Mar 10

Alternative Medicine Treatments for ADHD and More

alternative-medicine-supplements-effectiveness-research-graphic The most common questions I get, and one of the most common searches that get people to ADDessories, are about alternative ADHD treatments instead of conventional prescription ADHD medications. It seems that many people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or there loved ones, are just too concerned about the possible affects of potentially harmful stimulants on their brains, or the affects on the brains of their children. While the scientific evidence accumulated so far would indicate that there is little to no long-term residual affects on the mind from using ADHD drugs such as Adderall and Ritalin, it is our brain we are talking about, and unfortunately, that is one of the organs that we know the least about.

The difficulty is that there is no other clinically proven treatment available for treating ADHD symptoms in children or adults. Depending upon who you talk to, this is due to:

  1. a powerful global conspiracy perpetrated over decades by ruthless drug companies and their government cronies
  2. lack of ADHD research being done on alternative ADD therapies because there is no money to be made in those treatments
  3. there just is not anything else out there that works (yet).

Regardless of what you believe, the fact is that many charlatans are all too happy to help find alternative ADD medicines and ADHD treatment programs for adults, teens, children, or anyone in between. While the FDA strictly controls medicines and drugs which claim to treat or cure illness, there is a much weaker grip on anything marketed as a “supplement” which does not claim to cure ADHD or treat ADD symptoms. This is why alternative drugs and medicines display generalized claims of better health without mentioning anything it might work for, like Attention Deficit Disorder. For example, many bottles of St. John’s Wort display the vague claim, “May help improve mood,” followed by a disclaimer somewhere on the bottle that such statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration, and that the medicine is not intended to treat any particular illness or disease.

What Alternative Medications Really Work?

It all adds up to concerned parents and adults with ADHD and other medical conditions groping in the dark about what DOES work, what MIGHT work, what COULD work, and what WON’T work.

A recent graphic seeks to change all of that in a startling effective and powerful visual format, just perfect for people with ADHD who aren’t going to find the time and energy to sit down and sift through pages and pages of boring text when there are more interesting things to be doing.

Keep in mind that this particular graphic is a universal depiction of alternative medicines and their current state of promise or rejection within the scientific and medical communities. As such, it is NOT specific to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Instead, it shows many of the most popular alternative supplements and the conditions that they are purported to treat.

Reading the chart is simple even though the directions on the website it comes from may not be very clear. The compounds are listed from top to bottom in order of how valid the treatment claims are scientifically speaking. In other words, the herbal supplements or other treatments listed near the top are the best medically proven ways to treat the condition listed. The so-called treatments near the bottom represent the disproven snake-oil of old wives tales, or the propaganda push by profit loving salesmen.

The size of the circle represents how popular, or common, the listed treatment is based upon how many searches are reported for that item on Google. Obviously, this is very imprecise, but can be assumed to be at least a ballpark of the chemical’s interest relative to the others listed. For example, Green Tea, Folic Acid, and Fish Oil would be very commonly looked at alternative medicines, while evening primrose and nettle would be comparatively less commonly investigated by the masses.

It makes for very interesting reading, although as I mentioned, it is for health in general and not for ADD. (In fact, I did not see Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder mentioned. Vitamin B6 and Omega-3 both in the middle area are listed for hyperactivity and ADHD / “behavior” – I actually plan to cover recent ADHD Omega-3 research in an upcoming post. It’s the first time I think I’ve heard of Vitamin B6, maybe because if the more generic “hyperactive” claim.)

Keep in mind that just because something has been clinically proven to be effective on one thing, does NOT mean that is is proven to be effective on something else. In fact, there is no more or less likelihood that the alternative medicine shown would or would not be effective for another condition no matter how seemingly related. One of the banes of ADHD alternative medicine treatments is the general assumption that just because something has been shown to be beneficial to the brain in some way, that it must therefore also be helpful for treating ADHD symptoms. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Consider that it is medically established fact that of the two most common FDA approved prescription medications that one may or may not work for any individual with ADD. In other words, the most proven ADD medicines in the world may not work on all cases of ADHD because of unknown differences in the biology of individual brains. If that is the case, how big of a false leap does one have to take to assume that just because a possible treatment for depression or memory loss is therefore a useful treatment for attention deficit disorder?

While many alternative therapies do work for some ADHD symptoms in some people, don’t believe the hype without performing your own investigation, and if something doesn’t work for you, stop using it and move on. It may be that you have hit yet another medical scam, or it may just be that a particular treatment just doesn’t work for you. Either way, don’t waste your money or your time on medicine that is not effective for you personally.

Enjoy the graphic.

P.S. I’m thinking of putting together a similar graphic specifically for Attention Deficit Hyper Activity Disorder. Of course, my plans for this site and my freelance writing business are as long as the Magna Carta at this point, so we’ll see when I get around to it.

Have a happy and productive day.

ADD Medication — No comments
04
Mar 10

Concerta Overview – ADHD Prescription Medication

adhd-prescription-medicine Thanks to an ADHD insurance coverage issue that I need to get around to working on (sound familiar?), I’ve been taking Concerta for a few weeks now instead of my usual mega-dose of Adderall (generic). A nice side benefit is that I can write first person review of another ADHD medication from personal experience. You can check out my Vyvanse Review from the time I tried that as well.

As always, the best ADHD tips and tricks are here.

What Is Concerta ADD Prescription Medicine?

Let’s start from the beginning. As it turns out, most ADHD medications are versions of either Ritalin or Adderall in their generic forms. The generic form of Adderall is mixed amphetamine salts, and the generic of Ritalin is methylphenidate. Both medications are stimulants that increase the levels of neurotransmitters in the brain. In a standard brain, this causes overstimulation. In an ADHD brain, this creates the so-called paradoxical affect of being calming and focusing.

Concerta is a methylphenidate based ADHD medication. In fact, in pretty much all respects, Concerta is nothing more than a long lasting form of Ritalin, or if you prefer, a slow-release form of Ritalin.

If you’re thinking, that there is already an extended release form of Ritalin, you are sort of correct.

It turns out that both the extended release form of Ritalin, known as Ritalin LA, and the extended release form of Adderall, known as Adderal XR, are really nothing of the sort. What these ADHD drugs really are is a 50/50 mixture of ADD medication with one-half coated with something that takes approximately 4 hours to digest, and the other half not coated with anything. So, when a child with ADHD takes Adderall XR, for example, they get one-half of the medication right away, and then four hours later, the other half gets absorbed into the body. Instead of “extended release,” this is really more of a twice release. The effects, in other words, are exactly the same as taking one dose and then following that one 4 hours later. The only benefit is that there is no need to take the second pills. (If you or your ADHD child do not have any problems or issues with taking medication twice per day, then you can save money by getting the non-extended release versions as generics.)

Concerta is actually a true extended release preparation of the ADD medicine in Ritalin.

How Does Concerta Work?

A ADHD prescription of Concerta is actually very fascinating. Each Concerta tablet is composed of two parts. The first part is standard untreated Ritalin that get absorbed into the body quickly to produce the necessary therapeutic effect. The second part is methylphenidate that is encased in a shell that prevents its immediate absorption.

With Concerta, the methylphenidate is encased inside a shell that cannot be digested by the body. In each shell there is a single tiny hole. However, the methylphenidate molecule is too big to get out of the hole in any real quantity by itself. Instead, the medication must be “pushed” out the hole. This happens because the shell contains a tiny methylphenidate “pump” that absorbs, over time, water from the body. As it does so, the water takes up more and more of the space inside the pump side of the shell which forces the ADHD drug out of the tiny hole in the shell.

Over the course of the 10 to 12 hours that Concerta is effective, tiny amounts of medicine are constantly released into the bloodstream via absorption in the intestines.

Unlike the Adderall XR and Ritalin LA medicines which basically provide two full doses all at once at two different times, Concerta keeps the amount of ADHD medication in the body at a steady, level, amount throughout the entire day.

One can see the theoretical benefits of such a medication. Most importantly, would be eliminating the highs and lows caused by standard ADD drugs when they hit a peak level about an hour after ingestion, and then a low-level just before the second dose kicks in, either by taking more pills, or in the case of the extended release preparations, when the second set of chemicals is released into the body.

So, how does Concerta work in real life?

Grab the Addessories RSS Feed, or check back on Friday, when I post my first-hand experience review of Concerta.

ADD Medication — 3 comments
23
Feb 10

Alternative ADHD Treatments Herbal Studies Research

One of the most common complaints about studies of herbal medicine and research done on alternative therapy treatments for ADHD and for other health issues is that scientists typically do not test the full plant or herb. Rather, research scientists identify the "active ingredient" in the herbs or other plants and then isolate that component. Once that is done, they standardize that component in order to test it.

researchThe issue that many alternative health advocates raise is that such research cannot accurately determine the effectiveness of herbs, plants, and roots because it is possible that other components within those natural elements either increase the potency or are necessary for the effects of the natural treatment to work. This is not an unbelievable argument. It is entirely possible that in order to be effective, alternative treatments for attention deficit disorder and other issues, cannot come from just one ingredient in the plant. In fact, many herbalists, homeopaths, and other alternative practitioners are adamant that this is the case, not only for ADD but for all natural treatments.

Faulty Research Studies of ADHD Alternative Treatments or Reality?

Assuming that these advocates are correct, what does that mean for people with ADHD looking for alternative treatments or more natural ADD treatments as an alternative to chemical prescriptions most often used to treat children with ADHD and adults?

Unfortunately, it doesn’t necessarily mean what alternative health advocates think it does. For one thing, just because a study may be flawed in one’s opinion, does not necessarily mean that the opposite conclusion is true. Far from it. Even worse, if it is true that standardized preparations made from a plant’s active compounds is not effective enough to be used in research, it also means it is not effective enough to be used as an alternative therapy.

In other words, if an herbal remedy’s compounds are not functional when isolated and turned into pill form for research studies, they aren’t functional when turned into pills to be sold to people either!

If you subscribe to the belief that herbal remedies and other natural medicines must be taken in whole, then you also believe that taking pills is worthless. There is no two ways here. Logic dictates that what is true for one scenario is true for another, not that it is true when someone says something against you, and not true when you are selling something.

What it all boils down to, is that if you are going to subscribe to the idea that natural treatments for ADHD and other conditions cannot be researched by distilling the main ingredients into pill form, then in order to get effective herbal medicines or other natural treatments, you cannot take pills. You must use a different means of taking the medicine.

One popular alternative to pills is teas. Unfortunately, any tea that comes in a bag cannot be brewed to enough strength to be therapeutic. If you are buying teabags of alternative medicines, you are throwing your money down the drain. If you are going to use teas, they must be loose tea, you must get the dosage right, and virtually all of them must be brewed for twenty minutes or longer. Just leaving the tea in there isn’t good enough. The water needs to stay hot, so you’ll also need an insulated container to brew the tea in.

The truth is that chemistry is chemistry and biochemistry is biochemistry and even biology is biology.

If a chemical is required in order for another compound to be effective, that will always be the case. Without discovering what that helper chemical is and also standardizing it, there is no way to ensure that enough of it, or the main active ingredient is present in any treatment. For those of you familiar with drug culture, it is the difference between ditch weed and the kind that you buy. Both of them are the same plant, both of them have the chemical that gets you high, but only one of them has enough for it to be reasonable to expect anything out of it. Unless you plan to have a bonfire in an enclosed space.

When it comes to alternative therapies, be sure to check out all the alternatives, but be smart about it. Understand how peer reviewed medical research works and how pills are manufactured. Also, understand the biology and chemistry behind any argument. Just because someone really wants something to be true doesn’t mean it is. That might be one of the best ADHD tips you’ll ever get.

ADHD — 2 comments
28
Jan 10

ADHD Coping Mechanisms Blaming Yourself or Them

adhd-coping-mechanism-study-school-graphic One of the things that I have consistently found most fascinating since discovering my ADD and the science of ADHD in general, is the concept of coping mechanisms.

All human beings, whether they have attention deficit disorder or not, develop over the course of their lifetime, a set of skills (for lack of a better term) that allows them to get by in life. These skills range from the most basic, like tying your shoe, to much more complicated ones, like initiating and developing a romantic relationship with another person. Coping mechanisms are a specific subset of these life skills. A coping mechanism is a skill or habit that develops in order to compensate for something, whether it is a some sort of shortcoming, some form of emotional discomfort, or simply to take the edge off of life’s many potential disappointments. One common coping mechanism is emotional eating, where a person eats either certain foods, or large amounts of food, in an effort to make themselves feel better.

Common ADD Coping Mechanisms

For adults with ADHD, recognizing and understanding coping mechanisms is an important component of non-medication attention deficit hyperactivity disorder treatment. True coping mechanisms are mental or behavioral in nature, as opposed to functional. In other words, the constant adjustments and refinements we make everyday are not coping mechanism. The habits, skills, and emotional responses we develop over long periods of time are coping mechanisms.

For example, always placing your keys in the same place is a method of doing something, not necessarily a coping mechanism. That is simply an attempt at perfecting the flow of your current lifestyle.  However, being someone who is always compulsive about keeping everything in its assigned location, is a coping mechanism.

Like everyone, people with ADHD have good coping mechanisms, and bad coping mechanisms. Recognizing the good ones provides a starting point for developing new coping techniques or expanding upon already useful coping methods. Recognizing the negative coping mechanisms provides a starting point for lifestyle adjustments that hopefully, lead to the eventual disappearance of said habit. Detecting and adjusting the mental attitude that often accompanies negative coping responses is also a good place to start when it comes to therapy or ADHD coaching.

Blaming Yourself For ADHD or Blame Others?

One of the most intriguing things about common ADHD coping mechanisms is how they may or may not apply to any one person. Even more interesting is how the same mechanism can be flipped upside in some people that have ADHD.

One of the very common coping mechanisms for adults with ADHD is to blame supposed character or personality flaws for certain things. For example, a woman with ADD who can’t seem to do any job beyond answering phones because she is never organized enough for anything more advanced, may eventually take the edge off of such disappointments by laughingly noting that she is, “just a space cadet sometimes.” Unfortunately, this all too common side effect of ADHD, is not only surprisingly effective at blunting the hurt of disappointment, but also at making one resigned to never striving for anything else.

Reading about this coping method, or its variations, in book after book left me skipping chapters and writing off certain advice, because it never really seemed to apply to me. I’ve always been very confident in my abilities, often getting jobs, projects, and responsibilities beyond my current skill level. Fortunately, I’m also quick to learn with either the interest or immediately looming threat of disaster is strong enough. But, I thought, I’ve never really blamed myself.

Ironically, it turns out that I use the blame coping mechanism just as much (or more) than most people with ADHD, the only difference is that I blame other people.

Many ADHD books, including the oft mentioned, Hallowell books, Driven To Distraction and Delivered From Distraction are written by successful individuals who claim to have ADD themselves. In one of the books, Hallowell, who is a successful doctor, describes his thriving medical practice and his extensive work with ADD patients before saying that he, himself, also suffers from ADHD.

As I read that passage soon after being diagnosed with adult ADHD, I couldn’t help rolling my eyes. Hallowell, I figured, was lying in order to boost his credibility in the area of ADD. After all, I thought, he went to medical school, graduated, became a doctor and developed a successful medical practice, just how bad could his ADHD be? Oh, my gosh! Did he have to use sticky notes to keep track of assignments? Oh, the horror!

The truth is, that I despised Hallowell and his success as a doctor and subsequently an author. The reason is that instead of blaming myself, I blame others. When Hallowell, and his “I barely have ADD” colleagues go out and build these big, successful careers, fat bank accounts, and speaking tours, I reasoned, it hurts those of us who REALLY have ADHD.

I’ve thought that way my whole life.

“I’m the smart one. The only reason he is doing better in school is because he studies EVERY NIGHT.”

“I could have started up an Internet business, but I didn’t want to spend every single day working in my basement.”

The tragedy is that until recognizing what I was doing, I took much of it as a badge of honor.

I graduated from High School near the top of my class. I got all A’s except in English where I got B’s. I could have gotten A’s in English, but I never did homework. Literally, NEVER. I did my schoolwork during the class before the class it was due in. So, I did my Algebra homework for second period during my History class at first period. The one thing I couldn’t quite get done like that were long essays. So, every time an English paper was due, I would start it during the class before it was due, but I wouldn’t finish it. I’d have to wrap it up the next day. It was still an A paper, but with the one letter grade penalty for being late, it became a B.

I was proud of that as I left high school. You see, grades or no grades, I was faster, smarter, and better than everyone else. Those kids who left with a 4.0 where the chumps, not me. They were the ones who wasted their free time actually doing homework.

Unfortunately, not recognizing the truth cost me a lot in college where I not only continued the same pattern, but actually expanded it. In high school, attendance was required. Between parents, teachers, and administrators, the path of least resistance was going to class. Coming up with an excuse, sneaking out the door, and then trying to keep my parents from getting a phone call or note about my absence was way more work than just going to classes, so I went.

At college, that was no longer the case. In college, no one called my parents, most professors didn’t know whether you were there or not. The path of least resistance became not going to classes, and I didn’t go. My new pattern became:

  1. Go to class one or two times and get syllabus.
  2. Use syllabus to find exam dates and due dates of essays or projects.
  3. Stop going to class.
  4. Go to the class the day before the exam to get review sheets and any changes about what would be covered.
  5. Hurriedly read through the textbook chapters that would be on the exam.
  6. Take test.
  7. Surf the curve to a B or C.
  8. Start any essay or project the night before it was due. Work on it until it was “good enough.” Surf curve to C.

During my Junior year, I literally attended my Geography class 5 times the entire semester. I got an A.

The only exceptions were the classes where the professor actually took attendance and docked your grade if you missed classes. In every one of those classes, I got an A, because I actually went. Ironically, I seldom paid much attention while I was in the class. I read the student newspaper, worked on other classes’ homework, or just daydreamed. But, looking up at the board and hearing a paragraph here and there was enough to let some of the information sink in. More importantly, it was enough to give me an idea of what the professor felt was important.

For years after graduating, I proudly told anyone who asked that I graduated with a 2.14 GPA, but, I added, I never really went to class or did any of homework. I don’t know if anyone was ever impressed by that. Not that it matters.

The true tragedy is that I didn’t do anything else. There would be some redeeming value in how I spent my 4 years on campus if I had gotten in a 100 day ski season, or spent sunny days hiking, biking, or doing ANYTHING. Instead, I mostly slept in, napped, and messed around on my computer. The only good to come out of it was that in those days, the Internet was a text based Unix system. There were no web browsers, just FTP, vi editor, GREP, UUENCODE, and so on. In the end, I knew a lot about how to use computers, which meant I didn’t have to figure out how to get a job in Chemistry with no professor recommendation (none of them would have recognized me), no summer lab work, and no internships. Instead, I got a job as a computer administrator and quickly became certified in numerous technologies just as the technology bubble started ramping up.

Of course, the blaming cope strategy didn’t go away. I always felt that I should be the project manager or the startup millionaire or whatever, but I never was. The reason was simple, I could have been, but they just worked harder, tried harder, or refused to give up. Not me. Those suckers.

*******************

These days, I try not to blame others for their success, nor assume that I would be twice as successful under the “slightly different” circumstances of me actually busting my butt to make something happen. But, like most attitudes developed over decades, it can be hard to keep up, and even harder to see when it is happening.

ADHD News — No comments
08
Jan 10

ADHD Women Affected Differently? ADD Media Story Suggests Women's Symptoms Different Than Men's

adhd-different-women-symptoms-msn-article-graphic Haven’t really had a chance to dive into it yet, but a front page story on MSN today displays the title "ADHD Affects Women Differently: What to Look For and How to Fix It" We’ll talk about everything that is wrong with that title later. (Often, in journalism, an editor writes the titles based on a cursory review of the article instead of the author.)

Do women have different ADHD symptoms than men do? It isn’t an unrealistic question. However, based on my quick scan of the first page, the author of this article may be barking up the wrong tree. It seems that the contention here will be that since women aren’t as likely as men to have hyperactivity as a trait of their ADD, their symptoms are therefore different than the ADHD symptoms that men have.

There are actually several types of ADD-ADHD. The three primary classifications are:

  1. ADHD with Hyperactivity (This is considered the "standard" ADD by the uninformed.)
  2. Passive Type ADHD (ADD without Hyperactivity, among other things.)
  3. Hybrid ADHD (A combination of the two types of ADD above.)

I don’t want to judge something until I’ve had time to fully read it and digest exactly what the text says, but on first glance, it appears that this article heads down the path to declaring that Women’s ADHD is different, when in fact, the type of ADD symptoms described as being most common in women are really nothing more than the clearly defined Passive ADD.

The other element of the article looks to be about how Passive ADHD (or "women’s ADHD) may be missed more often because of the missing hyperactivity symptom. This, unfortunately, is 100% accurate. I have the passive type (I’m also happen to be male) of ADD and mine went undiagnosed for years. Not only was it never picked up on during the childhood or school years, but it took over a year after seeking help as an adult during which time I was given medications for both depression and anxiety (neither of which did much of anything for me.) So, at least that information may be helpful for the public at large.

If you are interested in reading the MSN ADHD Affecting Women Different article, it is linked up there at the top of the article.

ADHD News — No comments
10
Dec 09

ADHD Depressing State of Affairs for Attention Deficit Disorder Awareness

Over at Google, they have some new(er) features on their search engine that were rolled out this year. Some of them, like the Limit Search to Past Year feature and limiting search results to specific date range, I’ve been using since the day they came out. Others, like the different search "Views" (Related Searched, Wonder Wheel, Timeline) and the ability to add More shopping sites, or list Fewer shopping sites, have gone mostly unnoticed and unused by me.

This morning, however, I was playing around with some of these new Google search options. (Kudos, to Google, by the way, for carefully choosing the way the offer these additional features. Instead of calling them "advanced" or something like that, they are simply called "more options." That makes them much more likely to be checked out and used by non-techie search engine users.) One of the particularly interesting "More Options" that Google now has is the Wonder Wheel.

Google Wonder Wheel, Related Searches, and Suggested Searches

The Wonder Wheel is basically a visual representation of the Related Searches function, which is sort of an extension of the Suggested Searches that has been a feature on the main Google search page for some time now. As you type in your search, the search program tries to guess what it is you might be searching for based on the words you have already entered. This not only saves some potential typing, but it also generates phrases and keywords that are more likely to lead to successful search engine results instead of those far corners of the Internet where ad-filled junk pages await to ambush visitors.

For example, if you are wondering about the latest ADHD medications, you might go to Google.com intending to type in add drugs or something similar. However, as you type in the words, suggestions appear below the search box. Sometimes, this is very helpful, and sometimes not, depending upon what exactly you are searching for. In this case, it is likely to be very useful provided you were looking for something more specific than you intended to type.

google-suggested-search-function Notice that most of the suggested terms are actually for adhd and not add. This is because:

Furthermore, if you were looking for specific information, such as updates about the side effects of ADHD medications, the suggestion will get you to the data you were looking for faster, because you won’t have to sort through all of the webpages that, while about ADD drugs, are not necessarily about their potential side effects.

The Wonder Wheel takes off on this concept by not just showing you longer phrases that might be what you are looking for based upon being an exact match for what you have already typed in, plus additional words or letters, but by displaying related searches that might be more relevant to what you are looking for. Or, more importantly for doing in-depth research or analysis, related topics or searches that might have valuable information about what you are really looking for. This avoids the problem caused when you are searching based on what makes sense to you, but might not match up quite right with the information you are looking for.

Use Google Wonder Wheel to Find More Related Information

When you type a search term into Google and then select More Options –> Wonder Wheel, what you get is a graphical view of other search phrases that might be related to what you are searching for. This image is essentially a "wheel" composed of your original search as the hub, with "spokes" going out to each related search. Depending upon the initial search, there can be a lot of spokes, or just a few.

The best part is that each related spoke can also be clicked on. When you click on one of the related spoke links, the wheel moves with the related topic you clicked on becoming the center of the main wheel and the original wheel and spokes dropping into a secondary place. You can keep repeating this process to get closer and closer to the data you want.

If you start going in the wrong direction you can click on previous wheels. Although only the immediately preceding wheel and spokes are visible, previous hubs are represented by a series of disappearing circles. Each of these circles can be clicked to bring back up that wheel. So, if you know you want to go back three wheels, you can just click the 3rd circle. If you aren’t sure which one you want, hovering the mouse over a circle pops up the name of the search in the center of the hub.

It works remarkably well for numerous topics. It is especially useful for topics you don’t know much about. For example, if you want to search for a Christmas toy for a youngster and you know they want something like a robot hamster, you can search for robot hamster toy, and then use the wheels until you get to the specific Zsu Zsu Hamster thing that is Hot Toy for Christmas 2009. (No, I don’t get it either.)

However, using it to look at topics related to ADHD-ADD is depressing. Results showing "related" searches linked to some of the more unfortunate mental illnesses can lead people with little ADD experience into making some unfounded conclusions about their relationship to ADHD. Even worse, is that no matter how many links on the Wonder Wheel you click, ADHD solutions never appear. There are no links displayed that go to ADHD organization tricks or to ADHD tips for time management or even an ADD exercises. You can’t even get to the ubiquitous ADD Coaching that is so promoted within the community. Instead, you can go off and find out about bipolar disorder. Sigh.

adhd-information-reliable-search-graphic I think that this one seems pretty reasonable. Certainly these would be the most likely concerns of such searches.

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bad-adhd-information-search-results

This one is unfortunate. Looking for tips to manage ADHD? Well, instead, how about suggestions linking ADHD to bipolar disorder and OCD? Maybe, boosting the ADDer’s
self-esteem would be helpful? Hmm…I don’t think those suggestions are making me feel any better.

It isn’t anything to get bent out of shape about, and I know that the nature of Internet searching is that Google search rankings are necessarily geared toward the lowest common denominator of knowledge, but it would be nice to see such a powerful tool at least be able to point toward one or two "positive" websites about ADHD.

Maybe as awareness grows and the fad-ishness of ADD continues to fade, there will be less demand for all things alarmist and conspiracy, and more demand for the answers to ADHD’s challenges. Until then, keep coming back here, or grab the Addessories RSS Feed to have the latest updates come directly to you.

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Technorati Tags: ,,,,ADHD Current Events,ADHD Treatments

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ADD Organization Tips — 5 comments
23
Nov 09

ADD Tips Organization Help for ADHD Calendars and Planner Software

add-adhd-organization-planner-software-graphic Anyone that has been diagnosed with ADD-ADHD has tried numerous organizational strategies already. Many of those ideas are based around the ability to schedule and keep appointments. Often, these organization tips come from sources unrelated to ADD and, thus, unfortunately, often end up ultimately failing to provide any better organization for ADHD individuals. However, that doesn’t mean that all organizing methods are doomed to fail for people with ADD.

Examples of ADHD-ADD Organizational Issues and Strategies

Consider a guy named Jeff. Jeff has ADD. Jeff was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult and initially found great relief in finally having a name for the chronic problems he always seemed to be dealing with. As most newly diagnosed people with ADD do, Jeff went through several phases of ADHD once he had been diagnosed. First, he was relieved. Then, he wondered what he could do. Next, he went into research mode. Finally, he moved on to acceptance. (Hopefully, he did not continue onto reluctance, self-pity, or hopelessness.)

Somewhere in the what-to-do phase and research phase, Jeff turned, as many ADDers do at one time or another, to electronic time management gadgets. Electronic organizers, or Personal Information Mangers, also known as PIM, like Palm Pilots or Blackberrys have long seemed like the perfect solution to difficulties with organization and planning, for both adults with ADD and for people without ADHD alike. Since Jeff works in an office environment, he also turned to task manager and planning software installed on his computer, such as Microsoft Outlook.

While, everyone with ADHD responds differently to specific organizational tactics and strategies, there is a frequent hiccup for people with ADD trying to use electronic solutions to organization and planning. That issue is that successfully using organizational software for ADHD or using a  PDA to help with ADD involves several different steps, each of which must be completed successfully for improving organizational skills. Students with ADD and adults with ADD typically have difficulty initiating or completing one of these critical time management steps.

Using Blackberry, Palm Pilots, iPhones, and Computer Software to Help With ADHD-ADD

Unfortunately, it can be difficult to see where the step-by-step organization or steps of time management break down. That leads to frustration. All to often, that frustration ends up causing the entire process to be considered unsuccessful, when in fact, there may be just a single step that needs more focused attention to make the entire process more efficient.

Let’s say that our ADHD worker, Jeff, gets a Blackberry through his company. Most ADDers love trying out new things and Jeff is no exception. Jeff is also a technology buff and good with things like electronics and computers, so he is particularly excited about his new PDA phone. He spends hours setting up his Blackberry and connecting it to the company network and email systems. Ironically, he ends up neglecting other more important, but less interesting tasks. Jeff tells himself that it is all fine, because once he has the Blackberry setup, he will be so much more efficient, that it will be worth any delay caused in getting to important items on his to-do list.

For a few days after Jeff gets his Blackberry programmed with everything he needs to overcome ADHD traits or ADD issues that have plagued him in the past, the Blackberry does as promised. He is more organized, using his time better, and planning and scheduling better. Events are on his calendar and he can see at a glance what he needs to do each day. In short, Jeff feels like he has made a huge stride forward.

Unfortunately, Jeff, like many ADHD-ADD students and adults, has been here before. Often when something is new and novel, the ADD mind pays great attention to it, sometimes too much attention. However, as the newness wears off and the novelty of the new organization tips goes away, something happens. Jeff reverts to old patterns and the Blackberry, new ADD planner, computer software, notebook, note cards, journal, or whatever else is being tried out, fades into the background noise like so many items before it. Soon, Jeff’s Blackberry isn’t helping at all and he decides that the Blackberry is not helping his ADD-ADHD traits. He returns to his old methods, or he seeks out a new "better" way to help manage his time.

Steps For Time Management, Organization, and Planning Success With ADD-ADHD or Not

In order for a time management system, scheduling gadget, or calendar utility to actually help keep Jeff on track for more than a short period of time, he needs to break down the individual steps that go into using the device or program. Then, he can concentrate on which one of the steps is breaking down. Only, then, can he figure out what the real issue is and work on fixing it.

Step-by-Step Instructions for Using ADHD Planners or ADHD Software for Time Management (coming Wednesday…)

Otherwise, Jeff will be back in his bosses office, office supply store, or department store, in six months looking to buy something to help with ADD-ADHD again. And, chances are, if he buys something new, he will use if for a week and it will stop being helpful.

(I’m going to have to re-write this article to sound like the book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. That would be fun. – I’m so proud of myself for not doing it right now instead of moving on to the next critical items on my task list!)

News — 2 comments
14
Nov 09

New Article About What Is ADD

I am always curious about new ADHD tips or developments in ADD research or treatments, but I’m also interested in the ever changing perception of ADD-ADHD in the public consciousnesses.

For a while there it seemed as though everyone without any personal or professional experience with ADD-ADHD and its affects thought that is was something phony made up by shrinks to explain away bad behavior by children.

Then, for a while it seemed like EVERYBODY had ADD, or thought they did. That finally seemed to culminate when Britney Spears went crazy and shaved off her hair, then proclaimed that sometimes she was like a kid with ADD even though I’d be she could barely even spell ADD.

The public fascination with ADHD seems to have calmed down as of late. I see far fewer articles in the newspaper and even fewer stories on T.V.  This is good news for the ADHD-ADD community. The less surface-level attention ADD gets, the better.

To test my theory a little bit, and because I know the topic well enough to write about it very quickly, I recently published an article about what is ADHD on another website. For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, HubPages is what is known as an article directory, or more derisively as a content mill. In a nutshell, it is a website that allows anyone to sign up for an account and then write articles about whatever they want and publish them on the Internet from the HubPages.com website.

There are several reasons someone would want to do such a thing ranging from pure vanity, all the way through to the purely mercenary function of creating more links to other webpages or websites for the purpose of building up Google reputation, or PageRank, in order to get higher search engine rankings for certain terms.

Anyway, I have an account over there that I started for the mercenary reason, and then sort of evolved into a good place to publish the tons of things I write for which I have no home. Sometimes, the articles are not about the kind of topics that people are willing to pay for and they also don’t fit into the themes or categories of other websites or blogs that I own. (For example, no one reading this blog, which is focused on ADD-ADHD information, would be charmed by an article about Arabian Horse that I posted here just because I didn’t really have anywhere else to put it.)

Thus, HubPages has become my sort of catch-all for any and all articles that I want to put up on the Internet, but otherwise am not willing to find a more traditional publishing location for.

The article I wrote was called simply What Is ADD?

I didn’t put any real effort into linking it or pushing it up in the search engines, although I did do the standard social bookmarking thing to make sure it got index properly in Google and Bing and the other search engines. But, for the most part, I was just curious if ADHD was a hot enough topic these days to drive the curious onlookers from the HubPages community to this particular hub.

So far, the answer would appear to be, that ADD is not a hot topic these days. As I’ve said before, I’m fine with that. I plan to leave it published there as a sort of canary in the coalmine. If all of the sudden, it starts to get lots of traffic, I’ll see it and we’ll know that another wave of looky-loos is coming.

ADD Medication — 6 comments
26
Sep 09

Non-Prescription ADHD ADD Treatments Evaluation

A recent comment reminded me that many people continue to look for alternate ADD treatments or non-prescription ADHD remedies. This is not surprising considering that parent’s are especially concerned for ADHD kids that may be susceptible to some of the worst ADD medication side effects, and also considering that currently available medical treatments for ADD involve some powerful medications.

I never want to discourage someone from trying alternative ADD therapies, or a special diet for ADHD, or homeopathic or herbal supplements to help alleviate ADD symptoms. However, as is unfortunately the case everywhere, there are always some unscrupulous companies and individuals looking to take advantage of the fear that some ADHD people have by selling them overpriced or ineffective ADD medicine.

ADHD Natural Remedies

There are some natural ADD treatments that you can try for both adults with ADD and for ADHD children. None of these items or methods have been scientifically proven to help with ADD symptoms. If they had, you would be getting these treatment tips from your doctor and the medical establishment in general. However, keep in mind that “proof” is a tough standard in science and a very tough standard in medicine.

That being said, there are some ADD treatments that continue to crop up in new research studies or clinical trials. Getting these alternative ADHD treatments approved as clinical proven effective methods for treating ADD symptoms is a long process that can be set back significantly by a single unfavorable finding. These things are worth a try if for no other reason than there is no harm in doing so, and if they do work FOR YOU, then who cares if they are proven to work for everybody.

On the other hand, there are also several so-call natural cures for ADD / ADHD that are either completely unfounded, or are based on long-ago research that was never very promising, or even worse, on a mischaracterization of research, data, or trials that are not about ADD-ADHD at all.

ADD Drug Alternative Treatment Viability

How do you tell the difference between legitimate science that is promising, but not yet proven, and false marketing, fake science, and unsubstantiated claims?

For some ADHD medication alternatives, it takes an ability to wade through dozens or hundreds of pages of dry scientific research papers. It also helps if, while you were cruising through college by doing the minimum and surfing the curve before you even knew you had ADD, you were a Biochemistry major. (Guilty.)

But, for other natural remedies for ADD or herbal supplements, or whatever pills someone sticks in a bottle, you don’t need to get so complicated.

For any alternative therapy that you find to help with adult ADD for kids with ADD, I have two tests that are 99% successful at exposing scams and fraudulent claims. The good news is that these tests work for almost any vitamin formula, herbal extract, supplement, or “proprietary formula” out there.

Top 3 Ways to Spot an ADD Treatment Scam

  1. It Cures Everything – The original Snake Oil salesmen from history used to tout their “cure alls” by saying, “It cures what ails, ya.” What they meant was that it didn’t matter what was wrong with you or what disease you had, their elixir would make it better. Nothing, and I mean nothing, works on everything. Advil works better on certain kinds of pain than Tylenol which works better or worse than Aspirin. If the alternative treatment or natural therapy you are looking at claims to help a lot of unrelated conditions, watch out.
  2. Conspiracy Theories – Any treatment that says, at any time, that claims that it is the victim of “them” keeping it down, is a con. It is the best trick in the book to say that any bad press, any negative information, anything that doesn’t proclaim this great, amazing new treatment as the best thing since sliced bread is nothing more than a smear campaign, because then there can be no rebuttal since it is all just lies. Legitimate pills, treatments, supplements, or diets NEVER claim there is a conspiracy. If “they are out to get us” then run away.
  3. Proprietary Blend – This one is a little trickier than the other two. If you come across #1 or #2, stop researching and just move on to something else. For this one, consider it a strong warning. – Here is the deal. Chemistry is chemistry. It isn’t called dextroamphetamine because some marketing guy thought that was a good name. That is a chemical compound consisting of a certain number of hydrogen atoms, carbon atoms, oxygen atoms, etc. in a specific arrangement. Whether you make it, I make it, or Burger King puts it together if it is dextroamphetamine, then it is the exact same thing, and it will do the exact same thing in your body. In other words, 200 mg Omega-3 DHA in a brown bottle is just as good as 200 mg Omega-3 DHA in a green bottle, no matter what the bottles say. If you are researching a natural ADHD treatment that insists that it is the only one that will work, be very skeptical.
  4. ADD Cure – You don’t cure ADD, you manage it. Cure means that something goes away and doesn’t come back. There is no scientific evidence of any kind, not even the promising, benefit of the down kind, that suggests that ANYTHING, ANYWHERE, is a cure. If it says cure, put it back on the shelf.

What Next for ADHD Treatments?

I’ve been doing some research on Flavay which claims to be an alternative treatment for ADHD and that some parents are turning to as an alternative ADD treatment for their kids. I should have a post up in a day or two with all the details so that you can make an informed decision for yourself.

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