ADDer – Page 24

ADD ADHD Non-Medication Treatments

prescription-medicine ADD/ADHD can be a complicated thing to address. Diagnosis is not standardized. For one doctor, the bar for a diagnosis of ADD can be so high, he might diagnose one patient in 500. For another, the bar might be so low that he simply answers, “Well lets try some medication,” at the smallest of issues or questions. Even when the diagnosis is correct, ADHD doesn’t have the same symptoms for everyone. There are three clinically defined variants of ADD, each with numerous variations in symptoms.

For these reasons, there can be a lot of confusion when it come to just who does or does not have ADD/ADHD and if they do, then what to do about it. This concern is only heightened by the fact that we are talking about the brain which we regard not only as an important biological organ, but a very important part of exactly who we are. Thus, some people worry about “tampering” with something so important.

Going Without Prescription Medication May Be Fine, But Beware Snakeoil ADD/ADHD Solutions

One of the biggest areas of disagreement and concern when it comes to treating ADD is the use of prescription drugs like Adderall, Ritalin, Concerta, and Vynasse, particularly when it comes to treating children with ADHD/ADD. The issue is complex and I don’t pretend to have the answer for everyone. Careful analysis of your particular situation is required to make such a decision.

However, there is one thing that is absolutely true without any debate. There are a lot of slimy sleezeballs out there who want to exploit your concerns for their own enrichments. Trust me, when I tell you, no matter how many times they write otherwise in their literature or websites, these people care about nothing other than their profits.

There are no miracle drugs, or magic herbal combinations, or vitamin supplements that work to treat ADD/ADHD in all people.

Just like there is no one prescription drug that works on all symptoms for all people, there is no non-prescription drug that does either. People, face up to some reality. No matter whether you take prescription stimulants or not, the undeniable fact is that these medications are not low impact drugs. Between the heart warnings, and the increased suicide risks for teenagers, you should already know that these pills are not anyone’s first choice. Even the pharmaceutical companies would love to replace their patent-expiring stimulant drugs with something else that they could charge outrageous prices on for the next 7 years. If there was a clever little combination of B and K Vitamins that took care of everything, doctors, parents, patients, and holistic practioners would be racing to embrace it.

Instead, various unresearched, untested, unproven, concoctions are being sold to people with ADD looking for something to help. Unfortunately, most of them do absolutely nothing but drain your pocketbook.

The Conspiracy Explanation Scam

The easiest way to continuously perpetrate a fraud is to insist that everyone who speaks against you is part of a vast conspiracy to hide the truth. It’s even better if that fake conspiracy exists to “protect the profits” of big heartless corporations, or to “protect those in power”, or to “protect the system.”

You’ll notice that is very same excuse is used to explain why every single alternate ADD treatment is unknown and under the radar. Only you, and the people who figured this all out, have discovered the truth. Everyone else is in on it.

Think about it for two seconds. Can it really be that there are 100 alternate treatments for ADD/ADHD and that ALL of them are subject to vast secretive conspiracies so effective that no medical group, legitimate research team, in this country or in ANY OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WHOLE WORLD, will stand up and speak the truth? Really? If someone actually could create and sustain such a powerful conspiracy, can’t you think of MUCH more profitable ways to use it than to keep down Ritalin alternatives?

Their reply will always be the same no matter how many facts you track down.

That’s what THEY want you to think.

Be careful, if you accept that non-sense here, you’re in for a long ride, because all the frauds use that line all the time.

Look at something like bovine growth hormone. The FDA says its safe. The label says its safe, but does is everybody in on the scam? No! Dozens of foreign countries ban it, hundreds of researchers have expressed doubts about its safety, there are dozens of peer-reviewed research studies about it. There are even multiple companies making milk without BVG precisely because the government won’t ban it because it wants to protect the profits of heartless corporations.

Be smart.

Vitamins, Minerals, and Supplements

There are various claims that certain vitamins, minerals, or supplements may help certain sufferers of ADD/ADHD in certain circumstances. That may or may not be true as there is no published peer-reviewed research on those claims. That doesn’t mean it can’t help, and if you want to try other alternatives to prescription medication, then more power to you, just do it smart.

Any LEGITIMATE claim about the benefits of an alternate medical therapy of ANY KIND will not require you to purchase one specific proprietary product to get the benefits. Neither chemistry, nor medicine work that way. That’s why there are patents for drugs. The same chemicals do the same thing, no matter what bottle they come out of. So, if you read materials claiming that you MUST buy their product for any reason (quality, purity, secret blend), throw it in the recycle bin or close the webpage and move on.

If it is a legitimate alternative therapy, then any bottle of any vitamin or tree bark, or whatever on the shelf at Whole Foods should be just as good.

So, try the vitamins and other things. Be smart. I hope they work for you.

The sad truth is that Adderall is a very powerful stimulant. It was developed to treat narcolepsy, not ADD/ADHD. Caffeine pills won’t even get you close unless you take the whole bottle. Even then, you brain will filter it out differently and you’ll just get a stomach ache and a busted up liver.

Technorati Tags: ADD/ADHD,ADD,ADHD,ADHD Treatments,ADHD Alternative Treatments

IceRocket Tags: ADD/ADHD,ADD,ADHD,ADHD Treatments,ADHD Alternative Treatments

Ever Been Distracted By Clip Art?

Written by ADDer 5 Comments

While finishing up the post from yesterday about what it is like to have ADD, I went to find a picture to go with the post. I spent over 11 minutes on this screen. (I have an electronic timing software on my computer so I can bill clients for my work, and it catches everything.)

I didn’t find an image like the one I wanted. Normally, that would have sent me off on an hour long search for better clip art, but I have implemented a rule for myself that when it comes to blog posts, I am only allowed to use Microsoft Clip Organizer for clip art. It’s not that I think it is the best source of clip art, but I know that if I start looking at other sites, I’m going to find posts and links and pictures that intrigue me, and I will end up losing a lot of precious time by following and read each interesting item.

That is another example of what it is like to have ADHD.

Even with my rule, I still spent a crazy amount of time on that one screen. Why?

It’s not like I remember every thought I had (ADD remember?) but I do remember some of them. In no particular order, here is what caused my own ADD brain to get bogged down on this seemingly minor task.

The two images at the top with the gold globe head look like skeletons, are they?
Previewing the images says no, but they are really kind of cool. I wonder if there is a way to search by who created the images because maybe there are a bunch of these and you could use them as a theme sometime on some project or website.
Why is there an empty boardroom table, but not one with people around it?
The cartoon ones in the middle aren’t even in a meeting. There is just one of them, a boy one, and a girl one, holding a pen. Doesn’t anybody proof these? Maybe I should build a clip art gallery site.
An empty movie theatre type room is not a meeting either.
I wonder if Microsoft pays someone to draw these so they have a full clip-art thing?
Maybe I should check another site…oh,wait, I’ll just get distracted – Hey, that would make a great Addessories post.
Note, I was only supposed to write one post today. I have other things with pressing deadlines waiting, and until I typed this sentence, I had forgot all about them.
Don’t worry, they are on my task list that I printed this morning.
And left on the printer.
I should get it.
Ok, now where was I?
Oh, man, how much more time did you waste writing this post?
Just finish up real fast.
What else was I stalled by on the site?
.
.
.
.
.
.
Oops. Never mind, the word counter says almost 500 words. Just sign off and get back to work.

Um…bye. I have to go do…well, one of these things on the task list.

Now, I just need a clip art for this post…..

(Ed. note – there is no clip art because I was out of coffee and went to get some. When I came back I wasn’t interested in this post anymore, so I used the time / task list as an excuse and just hit post instead.)

Technorati Tags: ADD,ADHD,ADD/ADHD,Distraction

What Is It Really Like to Have ADD?

Written by ADDer 7 Comments

meeting The most frequently asked question about ADD / ADHD is what it is like to have it.

The catch is that most of the symptoms that make up ADD sound like regular personality traits or quirks that everyone has in some degree. For example, the hallmark symptom of ADHD is being easily distracted. But, many people will mention that they also get distracted. In an effort to clarify, an example would be in order. That is the second catch; it is tough to come up with examples of what ADD is like off the top of your head, because it something that happens every day, so it isn’t like anything sticks out.

People With ADD / ADHD Are Easily Distracted

The main symptom for ADD is distractibility. But, doesn’t everyone get distracted?

The answer, of course, is yes, but it is how easily that one gets distracted, and what that distraction causes that separates ADD from normal distraction.

ADHD means being distracted by clipart

Example of ADD / ADD Behavior

Adam and Paul are sitting around a conference room table in a meeting.

Adam has ADD.

Paul does not.

The meeting is long and boring. Both Paul and Adam are having trouble paying attention. This is not ADHD or ADD, it is just a normal reaction to boredom and sitting still for a long period of time.

Outside, a fire truck drives by the window. Both Paul and Adam look up at the sound of the siren and watch the flashing lights go by. Both men are distracted from the speaker and the meeting. Again, this is nothing out of the ordinary.

After a few minutes, Paul returns his gaze to his notepad and then turns back to listen to the speaker. Paul is still bored, but he knows that his boss expects him to pay attention, so that is what he does. For non-ADD sufferers, there are things that are distracting and it can be hard to pay attention to something boring. But, when the realize they aren’t paying attention, they bring themselves back to the task at hand.

This is where Adam’s and Paul’s minds diverge. Like Paul, Adam was distracted by the fire truck. Unlike Paul, Adam still has not returned his attention to the meeting. Instead, he is still looking out the window.

As the truck drove away, Adam tried to calculate whether he heard another siren or just the echo of the firetruck’s siren. Then, he noticed the grass outside the window was browner than usual. He thought back over the last week or two’s weather and didn’t remember it being any hotter than normal, so there was probably something wrong with the sprinklers. That, or maybe they had just changed the settings to save money, or the environment. In fact, he had tried to lower his sprinkler settings last week and his grass started to turn brown too.

That reminds Adam that he meant to fertilize his lawn last week and he forgot, again!

From there, Adam thinks about what else he needs at the hardware store. He thinks about how the office supply store is near the hardware store and he needs toner too. Plus, he was supposed to call his sister.

Then, a squirrel runs across the grass and up the tree. Adam stares at the tree trunk even though the squirrel has long since ascended to the branches. His gaze is locked on the tree trunk as various thoughts about what kind of tree that is, how old it must be to be that big, and whether or not the squirrel lives in that tree or just ran up it for another reason, all float through his head.

It’s been four or five minutes when Adam’s boss has had enough. He has to say Adam’s name twice before Adam is startled out of his thoughts and returns his focus to the room. He look’s up at his boss, now fully aware that he has not been paying attention.

“Would you like us to just finish this meeting so you can go outside for recess?” his boss says.

The Difference Between the ADD Mind and the Standard Mind

The difference between Paul and Adam was not that one of them was bored and the other was not. Nor was it that one of them was distracted by the siren and one was not.

The difference is that Paul realized he had been distracted and manually forced himself to return his attention to the meeting.

Adam’s mind had did not notice that he had been distracted having left all thoughts regarding the meeting somewhere in the back of Adam’s mind. Instead, it continued to pay attention to other things.

People who are ignorant about ADD often say things like, “Just make yourself pay attention.” That is a good answer, but only if you realize you are not paying attention, and that is the crux of the issues caused by ADD.

Adam would have “forced himself” to pay attention if only he had realized he wasn’t. But, because his brain was preoccupied with other things, he never had the chance to manually change his focus back where it belonged.

And that, is what makes ADD immune to willpower.

Top 5 ADD and ADHD Books

Written by ADDer 1 Comment

Sometimes, the best selling books aren’t actually the best books. Regardless of how good these books are, they represent the top ADHD ADD books that come up time and time again in both online ADD discussions and out in the real world.

Driven to Distraction – The book that started it all.
Delivered from Distraction – The same book as Driven to Distraction, but updated. (Although that is not the official party line.)
You Mean I’m Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?! – The book for people who are relieved to find out that there is something going on with their brains.
Attention Deficit Disorder in Adults – The ADD book for non-teenagers.
Attention Deficit Disorder: A Different Perception – The book for people who think that everyone else should change to accommodate them.

Unfortunately, most of these books are pretty out of date. Driven to Distraction was first published in 1995.

Also, as pioneering books they spend an inordinate amount of time trying to convince the reader that ADD/ADHD is real. Assuming that most people looking to read one of these books are people who have ADD or people who love people with ADD/ADHC, those are wasted pages. Those of us that have it, already know how real it is.

However, a lot of newer books aren’t any better. Many are filled with trendy psycho-babble. Fortunately, ADD has faded from the scene as the “trendy” condition it once was, so hopefully we can expect books geared more toward facts and understanding and less toward splashy covers and titles that spur on impulse purchases.

Lastly, if you are a parent of a child with ADD, know that there are far too many books and people out there trying to tell you how to raise your child. Whatever ADD/ADHD studies and research turns up in the future, there is one fact you can count on right now. That is your child, and you know what is best for them, because you love them more than anyone else.