Posts Tagged: adhd research

ADHD — No Comments
21
May 10

Is ADHD Real or Is ADHD Fake?

adhd-real-add-fake-graphic Answering this question gets a little old after awhile. Part of the problem, of course, is that there are now, and have been in the past, those who use attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in one way or another to further their own selfish ends. Some of those people come from the ADHD is real side, and some of those people come from the ADHD is fake side. Of course, there are many self-serving types in between as well.

To answer the question whether ADHD is real or not, one needs to consider numerous factors. First and foremost is the fact that the current scientific understanding of how the brain functions, brain biology, and mental health has grown exponentially in just the last 30 years. That being said, our comprehension of how the brain works is staggeringly low. Even the scientific techniques we currently use to study the brain are crude. In many cases the science behind much brain research starts out with a laughably simple assumption that may or may not be true.

Consider, for example, PET scans. A PET scan is a way of measuring how the brain works. In many recent ADHD studies, PET scans have been used to show that adults with ADHD and children with ADHD have brains that function differently from brains in subjects without ADHD. That is biological proof that ADHD is real, right?

Unfortunately, the whole concept of the PET scan is based upon an unproven assumption.

PET scans don’t actually show how the brain works. They don’t measure which parts of the brain are working, nor do they give any insight into the complex inner relationships between various regions of the brain. What PET scans measure is how much glucose is being used by the different parts of the brain. The assumption is that since glucose is the body’s energy source, the tissues in the brain using the most glucose must be working the hardest. The next assumption is that if any particular brain tissue is working hard, then it must be doing something at that moment. Thus, the areas in a PET scan that glow brightly are the regions of the brain being most heavily used during that time.

ADHD Tips Tricks and Advice

These assumptions have been backed up a bit via the other main source of brain research, which is far more crude. Much of what we know about the brain comes from studying brain injuries and brain damage. If a person has an accident that destroys a certain area of the brain, and then can no longer speak, one can draw the conclusion that the damaged region is responsible for speech. PET scans show the same areas glowing brightly when a person is talking. That hardly counts as proof, but it does mean that the current assumptions under which we use PET scans are at least reasonably good ones.

So, is ADD real?

Even PET scans are inconclusive. While ADHD brain scans have consistently shown different activity in brains of subjects with attention deficit disorder, they also show a wide variety among people without any diagnosed conditions. One could make the claim that a PET scan of a Type-A person would look differently than a scan of lazy person. That opens a whole can of worms.

For now, what we can say definitively about whether ADHD exists is that there is a large sub-population of people who have similar issues and that these issues tend to respond in similar ways to specific treatments. That in and of itself is good enough for a start. After that, as seems to always be the case, more ADHD research is needed.

ADD Medication — 2 Comments
26
Apr 10

Self-Medicating ADHD With Caffeine, Nicotine and ADD

Self Medicate ADHD symptoms caffeine nicotine sugarRecent research has suggested that some adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, self-medicate their ADD symptoms. In one study in particular, researchers showed that adults with ADHD smoke not just to get the “high” (clinically referred to as “for affect”) provided for nicotine, but also for its potential effects upon adult ADHD symptoms. Other studies have examined the ideas that people with ADHD self-medicate with caffeine or sugar, as well as other foods, medicinal herbs, supplements. All indicate that there is at least some truth to the idea that certain natural occurring stimulants or food products can tame certain ADD inattention difficulties to some extent. (Whew! How is that for qualifying a statement? Some truth, that certain thing, might help, somewhat.)

For medical researchers looking into ADHD, the primary motivation for conducting such studies is two-fold. One, it eliminates variables in other research studies. For example, if adults with ADD, or teens with ADHD, can be shown to be populations that have a biological reason that makes quitting smoking harder, then such groups can be excluded from research studies about the effectiveness of quit smoking techniques.

Just imagine if it turned out that ever major smoking cessation experiment over the last decade could trace its success or failure largely to the number of people with attention deficit disorder conditions who took part in the study. That would be a very big deal. It also suggests that additional treatment options for ADHD smokers might be necessary to successfully quit smoking.

The second purpose of doing ADHD research like this is that it gives additional clues to the biological effects of ADHD on the brain, as well as additional factors to consider when doing research into the cause of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in teens, adults, and to a lesser extent (for smoking studies, anyway) children with ADD. If the mechanism by which tobacco and nicotine affect the brain’s neurological pathways is well understood, and it can be shown that to some extent that the curative affect some ADDers feel from nicotine on their inattention symptoms is similar, then their is the possibility that ADHD functions by affecting the brain in a related manner.

See why real research is peer-reviewed research.

Self-Medicating ADHD Without Prescription Medication Drugs

What information about dealing with ADHD can those of us with ADD take from such research studied. While far from being the kind of research that conclusive conclusions about attention deficit disorders can be drawn, it does suggest some possible techniques for improving concentration in people with ADHD. One ADHD trick would be to conduct self-experiments to see how certain natural stimulants affect your ADHD symptoms. Excluding smoking, which is dangerous, unhealthy, and very addictive, experimenting with the affects caffeine, sugar, tuarine (or whatever that is in Red Bull) and the link can be very useful for ADDers looking for new ways to deal with their own ADHD symptoms.

For example, if a teenager with ADHD were to find out that caffeine early in the morning improves their concentration for three or four hours, then the best ADHD tip for concentrating better on an early morning geometry test would be to drink some coffee before leaving the house, or on the way to school. However, it is important to know exactly how the caffeine affects you, how much causes an improvement, as well as how much is too much. Also, teens with ADD in school would need to know how long it takes for it to “hit them”. Drinking a bunch of Cokes right before an important history test, when it turns out that it takes 45 minutes for the caffeine and sugar to really kick in, isn’t going to help much.

Please ignore this quick test ADHD Tools Advice

These ADHD tips and tricks are not for replacing your current ADD therapy regime. The idea is to have an arsenal of ADHD tools in your pocket that you can pull out for certain situations. Not just tests, but important meetings, during a critical sales call, self-medication of your ADHD symptoms for a little extra control might just be the difference between further frustration, and additional success. You might even find there are times when you would prefer to treat ADHD naturally by skipping your normal medication and using a stand-in in order to maximize certain personality traits or a specific kind of focus.

ADHD Research Studies — No Comments
15
Apr 10

Nature Relieves ADHD Symptoms – All Natural "Cure"

natural-adhd-cure-walk-nature-park Recently, we took a quick look at some of the alternative herbal ADHD treatments available. This reminded me to write about another natural ADD treatment research finding that I have seen. A research study about ADHD in children published in August, 2008 concluded that reducing attention deficit symptoms in children was, literally, a walk in the park.

Can ADD Be Cured By Nature?

I have seen this study referenced in numerous places. This medical research into attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is titled Children with attention deficits concentrate better after walk in the park on the National Institute of Health PubMed website. The study suggests that exposure to nature, or as the researchers like to term it, “doses of nature,” might actually help reduce the symptoms of ADD in children. If so, going for a walk might be a really great addition to the arsenal of ADHD tips and tricks.

It is important to note that this research was a very small, single-blind, experiment. Extrapolating its conclusions to the general population of attention deficit disorder people is a stretch. However, there are some interesting findings generated by the research which suggest a possible, free natural treatment for ADHD in children. Similar affects might be found in this natural treatment for ADHD for adults as well.

Researchers studied 17 children aged 7 to 12 years old, who were diagnosed with ADHD. Each child was exposed to three different environments. For each environment, each child was led on the same path for a 20-minute walk. The three environments were:

  • a city park
  • urban “park” with no trees or grass
  • urban pedestrian area

Researchers note that both urban areas are “well-kept” which basically means that no one went for a walk through a dark alley or across a debris filled lot.

The effects on the children’s concentration after the walk through the park were “substantial.”

In fact, the researchers noted that the improvements in the ADHD scoring method used (Cohen’s) were in line with the improvements observed for taking methylphenidate, also known as Ritalin.

In other words, a walk in the park improved these particular children’s concentration just as well as taking a dose of Ritalin would.

Scientists noted that similar results were NOT seen after the walks in the urban park setting, implying that an open area is not the helpful factor, but rather the plants, grass, and trees in the city park. Jumping ahead, one can draw the conclusion that exposure to nature improves ADHD concentration symptoms in children with ADD.

If we’re going to jump that far ahead, we might as well jump all the way to the conclusion that being in nature helps people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, as much a prescription drugs. In fact, for concerned parents looking for a way to help their child’s ADD just enough to help improve their life with a natural ADHD treatment, this might be the first place to start.

Obviously, that is not a fully sound conclusion to take, but it does suggest an idea for personal testing. Try going for a walk in a nature area or park and seeing what, if any, affect it has on your ADHD symptoms. If you do try it, please drop by and share a comment.

To replicate what the researchers did, go for a 20-minute walk in an open area, preferably one with several trees and a natural ground. The park used in the study was grassy, so you can start there, but it might not be necessary.

Does nature seem to improve your ADHD? Have you ever tried going for a walk before a big test or important meeting as a way to improve your focus?

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.

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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