Posts Tagged: ADHD

ADD Books — 1 Comment
9
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.

ADHD News — No Comments
8
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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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 Organization Tips — No Comments
2
Aug 09

Beware the 'Special Place' Organization Temptation

For people with ADD, organization is a constant challenge.  Nowhere is that more true than with something that they KNOW will be needed later.  Unfortunately, for most people with ADHD, the importance of an item has no bearing on its ability to be stored and retrieved again later.  That leads to special place organization.

Special place organization is when someone, whether and adult with ADD/ADHD, a teenager with ADD or ADHD, or a child with ADD-ADHD, deliberately put something important in a special place.  Inevitably, the special place is chosen for being both safe, someplace unlikely to suffer an accidental throw away, and for being different than the standard location important and semi-important items are put.

When the day comes that the item is needed, it cannot be found.  Sometimes, the person with ADHD won’t even remember that they put it someplace special.  Even more often, the person with ADD will remember that they put it someplace special, but they won’t remember where the special place was!

What follows is a frantic top to bottom search of the house or bedroom, including all of the "usual" places objects are kept.  If the ADDer is lucky, they will stumble upon the item’s special location (and THEN remember that they put it there.)  If not, the object becomes yet another lost item which cannot be found when needed.

The best bet it to avoid the "special" place all together.  Instead, find a way to protect the item and then put it in one of the "usual" spots.  For example, put an important document inside of a page protector, or a receipt inside of a cardboard mailer.  This will make sure that nothing bad happens to the important piece of paper, but when the time comes to find it, it will be easy because it will be right where you always look.

ADHD Traits — No Comments
8
Jun 09

How Do I Tell If I Have ADHD or ADD?

adhd-questions How to tell if you have ADHD is second only to what is it like to have ADHD among the questions that rattle around the brain of those with ADHD.  Unfortunately, the most common answers are either to check with a doctor or mental health professional because only they can make an actual diagnosis of ADHD, or to take a simplified, overly general, test.  The test questions are often so broad and inane that they simply perpetuate the myth that the symptoms of ADHD are the same as things that happen to everyone.  Ironically, both answers show a fundamental misunderstanding of the ADD/ADHD mentality.

Do I Have ADD or ADHD? Just Answer the Question!

People with ADHD, particularly adults with ADHD, are not prone to react well to either of the common answers to the query of whether or not they have ADD.  Typically, a person with ADHD does not reach the conclusion that they do potentially have ADD after sitting in quiet reflection about their daily life.  Rather, they are likely to have the thought pop into their head in the middle of doing something else. 

One of the most common times to wonder if you have ADHD/ADD is when beating yourself up for a recent failure or shortcoming.  “Maybe I have ADD,” is the kind of thought that many ADDers have right after thinking something like, “Why can’t you just get it together long enough to…” or maybe, “Why can’t you stay organized?”

For most adults with ADHD, the next stop is Google and a search for ADD.  Ironically, such a search will likely be futile since ADD and the word ‘add’ are the same thing when typed into a search box.  A search for ‘attention deficit disorder’ likely follows, and then perhaps after noticing another acronym, a search for ADHD which will yield better results.

Regardless, while the ADDer will read a dozen sites in a row – and indeed may enjoy doing so – to get the answer to their questions, they are not likely to stop and take a boring test, and are even less likely to call and schedule an appointment with a doctor or therapist.  Thus, the most helpful scenario for someone with ADHD is to provide a real answer, and not a bunch of legally approved boilerplate language about getting an answer from someone else.

Unfortunately, I can’t tell if you have ADD/ADHD since I am sitting behind a keyboard, and quite possibly am nowhere near it while you are reading this, not that it matters because even if I were sitting at my computer, it’s not like I can see you through the Internet or anything.

If that sentence sounds like something you say, or something you write, or have to stop yourself from writing, then signs point to yes.  If you read that sentence and started considering the possibility of video phones or video conferencing or some sort of online video conference, like Skype, then signs point even more so to yes.  If you didn’t get to this paragraph despite it being in italics before opening a new window or tab in your browser to lookup something about video conferencing or other tool or method, then the signs really point to yes.

Test To Find Out If You Have ADHD / ADD

The official tests used to determine if you have ADD or ADHD aren’t much better than the ones that you find online.  For the most part, they ask you to rank from 1 to 5 (Never through Always) if certain things happen to you.

As you take the test you’ll find yourself saying, “maybe” or “sort of” a lot.  In those cases, I would encourage you to choose 4 or 5.

That aside, I’ve developed some of my own ADHD quizzes to help determine if someone has ADHD.  These ADHD tests are not generic, are not boring, and are not official.  They won’t give you anything more than a real answer to your question.  THEN you can schedule an appointment with a professional or family doctor.

And that, is how the ADHD mind works.

Next Step —> ADHD Tests  (In my next post coming as soon as I get it formatted.)

ADHD Traits — 2 Comments
11
May 09

What It Is Like to Have ADD/ADHD – Adventure 2

coke-can In our continuing series on what it’s like to have ADD comes this little gem, not second hand, not from reading, or talking to people with ADD but from me, this afternoon. E

For the last 2 hours I’ve been dying of thirst.  I keep saying, “Ok, get up and get some water,” but with each mouse click and keyboard stroke there appears one more thing.  Just one more little thing, and then I’ll go.

Of course, my most pressing project has been behind all of the other Windows on my computer screen since I booted up this morning.  I’ve gotten plenty of interesting (read new, and not due today) projects done since lunch time.  I’ve re-ordered the Netflix queue, ordered decorations for the baby’s room, bought a new pre-paid plan on Shutterfly, and emailed a dozen people about maybe refinancing our mortgage or second mortgage just to see if we can save some money.

Oh, and I’ve updated Facebook about 20 times.

Back to the drink.

So, I finally stood up, mostly because the urge to drink something had been joined by an overwhelming urge to also visit the bathroom.  I have no idea how long my leg has been bouncing autonomously like that.

And what should my eyes notice, just 12 inches away from my main desk surface sitting atop the “L” on the way to the door (next to my day planner by the way)?  An unopened Coke that I had retrieved the last time I was thirsty (and the phone rang).

ADD/ADHD – It’s not just distraction, it’s not noticing.  (That’s my new slogan.  I’m working on the jingle…instead of going to the restroom….)

***************  Not bad. Just 4 minutes to find clip-art instead of my ADHD distracted by clip art!

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Technorati Tags: ,,ADD/ADHD,,Distractability,ADD Traits

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ADD Medication — 4 Comments
9
May 09

Non-Prescription ADD Treatment Options – St. John's Wart

My recent post on avoiding medical scams in the name of non-prescription ADD / ADHD treatment options, drew a heavy response, including a lot of people who were interested in what the non-prescription vitamin and supplement choices were that I referenced.

There are literally hundreds of vitamins or supplements that various people purport to have a positive affect on ADD behavior.  However, none of these treatments have received the kind of scientific study required to actually say that they do or do not work.  That isn’t surprising since there is no money in finding out that Vitamin X treats ADD symptoms better than Ritalin in children, getting funding for such research can be difficult.

(Incidentally, if you are a non-profit organization or scientific researcher or group that does ADD/ADHD research, and you would like some grant writing help, please feel free to contact me.  I’m a professional writer and I would love to help out by doing SOME pro bono work if it would bring some funding to your research. — Note: I’ve had one bad experience with a group in the past who thought that my offer to help gave them a free full-time grant writer.  I am willing to help, but I also have a family and a business to run, so please contact me with the right expectations in mind.  I will work hard to help get grants to fund this important research, but I can only do so with the flexibility my schedule allows.)

Some treatments only seem to have ADD benefits in children, while others only seem to work in adults.  And, most concerning of all, is the lack of data on side affects or other drug interactions.  So, make sure you do your own research and investigate all of the details.

I have done my best to list sources when I can remember them or re-find them.

St. John’s Wort For ADD / ADHD

St. John’s Wort is actually most commonly indicated for the treatment of low-grade depression. As such, it seems to help with certain ADD symptoms in some individuals, most likely because it treats some of the depression-like symptoms that occasionally manifest with certain types of ADHD. That being said, it does have a widespread following of ADDers who insist that it provides some relief for their symptoms.

St. John’s Wort has been shown to inhibit the reuptake of serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine.  This allows these neurotransmitters to build up to greater levels in the brain.  Depression is thought to be caused by low levels of these chemicals and that is why St. John’s Wort is effective in helping treat certain kinds of depression, according to research.

Theoretically, the same kind of mechanism may have something to do with ADD.  However, the research on that is still out.

What is known is that a large number of people with ADD/ADHD also show certain symptoms of depression.  Whether there is a correlation at a physical, biological, level, or if this there is just a correlation due to the lifelong burdens carried by some ADDers isn’t known.  However, if children, teens, and adults with ADHD do have some sort of depression in association with their ADD, then St. John’s Wort would help with the depression, which would provide an improved mental state overall, which could be misinterpreted as helping the ADD part of the issue.

Indeed, recent research from the National Institute of Health showed no improvement in ADD symptoms over a placebo in children and adolescents.

However, this was a very small study over a very small period of time.  Ironically, this is exactly the kind of research that gets dismissed by the medical establishment as non-conclusive when the study makes conclusions the other way around.  That is, if this study had found vast improvement, you could be sure that the researchers would conclude by saying that this was only a small sample and that further research was needed.  The fact that they don’t say that here, is disturbing to those of us who want to think that medical research gets a level playing field regardless of the outcome and whose profits might be hurt.

The study in question was 54 children aged 6 to 17 who were otherwise healthy and taking no other medications.  In standard scientific methodology half were giving St. Johns Wort and the other half were giving a placebo.  The two groups were generated randomly from the participants.  Then monitored for changes to inattentiveness and hyperactivity at 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks.

In other words, 27 children were tested to see how they responded to St. Johns Wort. The good news is that the study lasted 8 weeks, because the research on St. Johns Wort suggests that it takes several weeks to become effective.  But, the bad news is that at weeks 1 and 2, and maybe even week 4, there should not be any expected benefit.

The other bad news is that this study used the older weaker form of St. Johns Wort commonly sold in grocery stores and health food stores.  The newer form, called High Hyperforin contains 3% – 5% of hyperforin, versus the 0.14% used in the study.  However, since that form is relatively new and people have been claiming benefits since before it became available, this is still good research.

The really weird part of the study is that symptom improvement was noted to IMPROVE in BOTH groups!  While that lets the scientists conclude that there is no benefit of the supplement over the placebo, it raises an interesting question for those of us who actually care about those with ADD, namely, why did the symptoms improve for everyone?

Was it just that actually having some attention paid to their condition provided some help?  Was it that a new an interesting environment (where the observation took place) was enough to stimulate the minds of these children to help with symptoms?

Is The Criteria Too High?

Another interesting factor is that the researchers actively expected this outcome. They anticipated a 5-point reduction on the ADHD RS-IV total score in the placebo group!

Further, it was determined that in order to count as a “meaningful” improvement, the St. John’s Wort group would require a 13-point improvement on the same scale.

The ADHD RS-IV scale has 18 items. Each item is ranked from 0 to 3 with 0 being never or seldom, 1 being sometimes, 2 being often, and 3 being very often. In other words, the lowest possible score is 0 and the highest possible score is 54. So, for a meaningful result to be obtained, subjects needed to show a minimum of a 24% improvement! Considering that most people with ADD/ADHD aren’t necessarily looking for a result that would give a zero, and would be very happy to move down to a one on their major symptoms, this seems to be a very large requirement.

Obviously, more study is needed and there are interesting facts that should be looked at.

Should You Try St. Johns Wort for Your ADD?

Obviously, everyone has to make their own health decisions, and I am not a doctor, nor do I have any other certification or qualification, so take this a general knowledge only.

St. John’s Wort has been subjected to extensive study around the world, mostly in Europe.  During those studies no major immediate side effects have been reported. Indicating that St. John’s Wort can’t hurt, even if it doesn’t help.  This makes it a perfect treatment to try out and see if it can help you, even if it doesn’t meet the scientific criteria set out for clinical trials.

There is one area that is a concern and that is that St. John’s Wort does interact extensively with a wide array of medications.  In other words, St. John’s Worth is NOT the treatment for you to try if you currently take any prescription medication!

Talk to your doctor first to fully understand what affect St. John’s Wort might have on your medications BEFORE you try anything out.

Also, St. Jons Wort can be very stimulating to the brain.  That means that it can make it difficult for some people to sleep.  If you are taking St. Johns Wort, do it first thing in the morning. If you develop trouble sleeping, or it feels like your brain is “buzzing” then, cut back the dose or stop altogether.  You’ll be way better off with your usual ADD symptoms than you will be with long-term sleep deprivation.

Otherwise, if you are going to try alternative therapies, you could do a lot worse than St. John’s Wort.  Be careful, and listen to your body.  If it doesn’t feel right or you seem to have problems flare up, stop.

Also, remember that St. Johns Wort is not an instant-on treatment.  Depression patients report that it takes WEEKS for the herbal supplement to provide any noticeable improvement.  This is because inhibiting the re-uptake of neurotransmitters doesn’t mean you get the full smash right away, so if you are going to try it, don’t just take it for a week and decide it doesn’t work.

Pay attention to what you are buying.  Shifty supplement manufacturers and retailers want to capture your dollars no matter what, and they know that some people won’t pay certain prices.  That means that the lower concentration St. Johns will sell right next to the higher concentration supplements and no one will make that clear on the front facing label.  Turn the bottle around and make sure that you are getting the right amount that you have decided to start taking.  You’ll need a lot more of the 0.14% kind than you will of the 3% or 5% kind (and vice versa).

Good luck, and let me know how it goes for you by posting a comment or shooting me an email.

, , ADD/ADHD, Non-Prescription Treatment, ADD Mediction,

P.S.  If you noticed a couple of mispellings of key words like “Wort”, that is to allow those who search for information with mispelled words can still find this page.  That is also why I actively alternate between ADD, ADHD, and ADD/ADHD.

ADD Organization Tips — 6 Comments
10
Mar 09

ADD Planner 2X

For many people with ADD / ADHD a planner, organizer, calendar, or day timer is the first recommendation they receive.  Ironically, it is probably also one of the things they have already tried a million times before.

You see, people with ADD are not dumb.  Far from it.  Most ADDers are actually quite intelligent, and even more are very self-aware.  It doesn’t take long after you notice that you are different from everyone else before you start trying to figure out how you are different, and eventually why you are different.

For students to professionals with ADD one of the first things they’ll notice is that they are disorganized.  ADHD can be manifested in many different ways, but one of the most common traits is a lack of organization, whether it is losing important papers, or just your car keys, or whether its forgetting important meetings, or forgetting to eat lunch.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to come up with the notion that if you could just get organized and keep track of all those important things better, that might change how things go down for you.

The irony is that for most ADD / ADHD adults, just remembering to actually pull out the planner and look at it is half the challenge.  That is if you’ve already mastered the part about actually remembering to do the mundane easily forgotten task of writing down those important things in your planner in the first place.

Twice the Planners or Planner 2X

The frustration of having, starting, and using so many calendars or planners only to fall into the same old pattern of forgetting not just the meeting, but also to write the meeting down in the planner in the first place is one that drives some ADD / ADHD people to periodically throw their hand up in the air and just give up on the whole planner thing.  Interestingly, the answer might be to take the opposite course.

Of course, everyone is different, but for ADD businesspeople who spend a majority of their workday at a desk, the solution to the organization dilemma may lie in a simple ADD trick for organization.

The first part is the same one that every ADD coach, every ADD book, and every ADD group suggests: Get a good planner that you like and is small enough that you will actually carry it around with you.

The second part is where the magic happens.

Get a big monthly calendar to put on top of your desk.   This is your 2X calendar.

The desk blotter style works great if you can handle it covering that much of your desk, but if not, a smaller calendar works just as well.  The key is that it must sit on your desk in the main work area, whether that is under / in front of your keyboard, or under your mouse, or where you fill in forms.  Something like this work just fine.

desktop-calendar-2XDo not use a calendar on the wall, a calendar across the room, or put a calendar on a table or section of desk that you don’t always use every day.  This is supposed to be in your face on your main workspace.

The best calendars are plain without any pictures to take up extra room.  You want a calendar that is as big as you can stand having on your desk all day every day.  For me, I threw away my mouse pad and use my 2X calendar for my mouse.

The point is that you now have a paper calendar that is virtually begging to be written on, front and center on your primary work area.  This will distract you.

That is right, the calendar will distract you.  You have just turned your ADD traits into a strength to help you.

Imagine, you are talking on the phone.  It is a long boring conversation.  You look down at your blank calendar.  You might as well write something on it.  How about the Tuesday Morning staff meeting.  It doesn’t really need to be written down since you have it every week (and are late to 1/3 of the time anyway because your forget what day of the week it is), but you will write it down because you have been distracted by the calendar.

Later, you might get distracted by the fact that you don’t have any blue on the calendar and you’ll write something else down.

When your boss calls in the middle of a detailed project and tells you about the client meeting on the 13th, you would normally go back to your task after hanging up the phone because you were in the middle of something and didn’t want to lose your thoughts by finding your new day timer (is it still in your bag that your brought from home?).

Of course, by the time you get to a stopping place, you have forgotten to write it down, and your organizer sits unused in the bottom of your drawer.  But, with your 2X calendar sitting right there on top of your desk, you can just grab your pen and scribble something down really fast without having to find and pull out your planner while you are still on the phone.  Then, when you finish what you were doing your wandering eyes will scan across the date, see what you scribbled and that is when you will grab your little Filofax calendar that you bought especially to get more organized and jot it down.

The 2X calendar won’t help you remember to check your little Franklin Covey planner each morning, but since it is sitting on top of your desk, IT might be what reminds you of all those important little events instead.  And, if in doing so, it gets you used to checking and adding things to your real day planner more often, then so much the better.

ADD Medication — No Comments
28
Jan 09

Adderall and Weight Loss

weight-loss Many people are interested in Adderall because it helps you lose weight.  At least, that’s what everyone hears thanks to sensational journalism designed to grab headlines.

The truth about Adderall, and the generic mixed amphetamine salts, is that it does not help you lose weight any more than drinking a bunch of coffee helps you lose weight.  Sure, it revs up your system a little bit, but the amount of extra metabolism one gets from taking Adderall wouldn’t be enough to overcome a single Oreo cookie.  Ephedrine burns off more fat by increasing your metabolism than Adderall does.

Losing Weight With Adderall

For SOME PEOPLE, definitely not all people, Adderall suppresses your appetite.  In other words, it makes it so you are not hungry.  In fact, some days, when I forget to take my afternoon dose, I remember because all of the sudden I’m very hungry.  Usually, I have to remind myself to eat lunch, so if I’m hungry in the afternoon I know something is up.

That means that if you have trouble losing weight because you find it hard to not eat too much when you are hungry, then Adderall MAY help.  Of course, that will only happen assuming you are one of the people who have their appetite suppressed by it.

But, if you have trouble losing weight because you eat things that you shouldn’t because they taste good, or because you go out with friends for lunch, or because you have a few beers each night, Adderall won’t be any help at all.  Another way to think about it is that if you are at a baseball game in the afternoon and you already ate lunch, so you really aren’t hungry, but you have a couple of hotdogs, some popcorn, and a few beers because you are at the ballpark and it’s part of the fun, Adderall isn’t going to help that at all.  Same thing goes for eating because you are nervous, depressed, stressed, or because you drive past a Dairy Queen on your way home every night.

In other words, Adderall does not burn extra calories, stop your body from absorbing fat, or make a big enough of a difference in your metabolism to make you lose weight no matter how much you eat.  All it can only make you less hungry.  So, if you only eat when you are hungry, the pounds will fall off, because you won’t be.

Otherwise, get the right meds for your ADD and find another way to lose weight.

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