ADD – Page 4

GABA for ADD Related Depression and Anxiety

As you know, I don’t really write about different ADD medications, or ADHD treatments, on here without either some solid research I can reference, or if I have experienced myself. That being said, I got this information directly from my new doctor, so I thought I would pass it along and then follow up.

GABA ADHD Motivation

I think this article about GABA for ADD related motivation issues would benefit from some backstory.

I’m in my 40s. I had hernia surgery a few years ago, but other than that, I haven’t seen a doctor in 10+ years. I’m not one of those stubborn guys who won’t go to a doctor, I’ve just literally never been sick enough to see one–with the exception of the hernia thing. That being said, I am in my 40s now, and that is the age where things can start silently killing you if you don’t have regular checkups with a doctor. The health insurance I have offers this service where you get kind of a discount that works especially well with a high-deductible insurance plan and an HSA. For someone who hardly ever sees a doctor, this is perfect. To join, you pick a doctor online, and then you go in for a full physical, and from then on, you manage your own healthcare online, even scheduling appointments without having to call anyone!

That’s how I ended up with a new doctor here in Denver.

During the interview part of the exam, I was asked questions as part of a depression screen. I don’t know if this is new or not (it’s been a decade since I did this last), but it was a first for me. Of course, as someone who has been diagnosed as having depression, anxiety and attention deficit disorder, the questions were pretty familiar. By the end, the doctor was worried, so I gave her the run down on the old noodle.

I have the apathy kind of depression. It is fairly frequent, lasts a few days at time, to continuously. I do not feel sad or worthless, and I never have thoughts of hurting myself. If anything, I feel like I deserve more than I get, and I could have it too if my brain would just get out of my way and let me go work hard on all the things that I know could be great. Finally, I mentioned how my biggest problem is being able to start something, whether it is spontaneously, or if it was something I planned and committed to.

I told her that I had done some therapy, and that over the years I had tried numerous prescriptions including Adderall and Vyvanse, but that in the end, they didn’t really seem to make much of a difference in a way that mattered to me. That being said, I have been taking St. Johns Wort, and while it isn’t a booster in any way, I do feel as if it keeps me from hitting the no-motivation dumps as often. (Don’t mistake that from actually giving me energy and motivation, just that it keeps me from feeling like keeping my eyes open is too much effort.)

GABA Doctor Recommended for ADD and Motivation (and Depression)

Right about there is where your average health care professional bails out and figures at least I can keep going, so why bother with the extra effort.

This time, however, the doctor gave me some recommendations.

One was 5-HTP. I’ve tried this before, but not probably regularly enough to get the effect. Just like St. Johns Wort, it can take a while for the effect of 5-HTP to build up in your body and brain enough to actually help improve your serotonin levels. As an added bonus, it is supposed to help you sleep better, and we all know good sleep with ADD can be hard to come by, especially if you are taking ADHD medications that can be stimulating long after the effectiveness wears off.

I’ll keep you posted on the 5-HTP.

But, what I really wanted to focus on is called GABA. I have never heard of this before, and according to the bottle, this isn’t really up my alley. However, the doctor suggested it, particularly as something that might help with motivation

So, let’s jump in.

GABA and ADHD

So, GABA is short for gamma-Aminobutyric acid, which is a form of y-Aminobutric acid. Technically, that makes it an amino acid, but not in the way that people mean amino acid when they talk about nutrition and stuff, so forget about that.

GABA acts as an inhibitor in the brain. At first, this doesn’t really sound promising. In general, a lot of the research is about how GABA helps with anxiety. It is also supposed to help mood (although if you are less anxious, then your mood is probably better), and with PMS, if you might want some help with that as a side benefit.

The way it may work for ADD and motivation is this:

For me, motivation is a difficulty in getting started. It isn’t that I don’t WANT to do something, I just can’t get going. It is hard to explain because it isn’t that I really want to get started but something stops me, so much as when I sit down, I just start doing something else, and I don’t care that I’m doing something else, so much so that I can’t even make myself try to force myself to do something. Basically, I’m playing Candy Crush and fine with it, so that’s that. Trying to snap out of it causes me worry and anxiety mostly out of fear that I can’t and even if I do, I won’t like it.

How do you motivate when you can’t even care enough to try and motivate?

That is where the GABA comes in.

What if, I was feeling a little better (mood) and I had a little less resistance to getting started, then maybe, just maybe, I could find a way to get over the getting started hump before the resistance kicked.

Far fetched?

Maybe, but I’m willing to drop a 10-spot to find out.

As usual, with supplements like these the research is small and inconclusive, but if there is the potential for it to help with both ADD and anxiety and maybe help me be the more productive person I’ve always tried to be, them I’ll give it a shot.

Update: It’s only been 5 days, but so far, I’ve noticed no difference between taking St. Johns Wort on its own after adding in 5-HTP and GABA. I’ll finish the bottles, but so far, this isn’t fluttering my raincoat.

People With ADD Have Smaller Brains!

Written by ADDer 1 Comment

People with ADHD have smaller brains. Well, that’s what one headline said anyway.

As usual, the media has a hard time turning a large, scientific study into a click-inducing headline with much accuracy. I haven’t had a chance to read anything but various media accounts yet, but the study in question actually appears to show that in a large sample size there are differences in brain structures between children (especially) with ADD, versus kids without Attention Deficit Disorder, or if you prefer, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

What does that mean?

Well, for one thing, it does NOT mean that people with ADD have smaller brains.

What it does mean, is that some physical differences in the brain are detectable in large sample sizes.

What does THAT mean?

It means that there likely is a physical cause (or predisposition) of ADD / ADHD. In other words, it is not just all in your head, although we already knew that. It looks like there may be some connection between ADD and actual brain structure rather than just brain chemistry, and that is interesting.

That big sample sizes thing is not a throwaway, it’s important.

Researchers stated that they could NOT detect a difference in size among individuals, or even among small sample sets. It’s only when you take a LOT of brain scans of people with ADD and statistically average them out (more or less) that you can compare that number to a LOT of brain scans of people without ADD and certain sections in the brain appear smaller overall.

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What does THAT mean!

Well, that means that brain size is not a good way to diagnose or detect ADD because it won’t vary enough from normal for any one individual. It does however, mean that more study would be useful to see what else, if anything differs in an ADHD brain.

One other interesting feature of the study is that most of these size differences go away with age. In other words, a lot of kids out grow ADHD, which has also been known. However, what makes this interesting is the idea that it is simply a later brain growth that triggers ADD. Think of it like how different kids hit puberty at different ages.

Unfortunately, unlike being a “late bloomer” means being smaller for an extra year or two, this requires several years to catch up.

I’ll read the actual study when I can, and get back with some more details, but in the meantime, you can check out news about it online if you are interested.

Boost Your ADD Mood By Moving

Written by ADDer 1 Comment

You have ADD. That’s tricky enough as it is, but ADHD often goes along with depression, or low mood.

It makes sense when you think about it. Unbalanced neurotransmitters are the root of both issues. However, not every slow, sluggish day is a result of off-kilter brain chemistry.

Moving to Boost Mood

One of the traps to avoid when you have ADD is the tendency to blame everything on your ADHD condition. Sometimes, the issue is just good old human imperfection.

For those days when you seem to be a little sluggish, or you just can’t get your brain into gear, and another cup of coffee isn’t helping, try moving around. Physically using your body switches up tons of systems in your body from rest to active. Doing so has a ripple effect on your body that can, and often does, include your brain functions.

Now, I know what you are thinking. This isn’t new news, and you know that exercise and diet can help your ADHD, because, by now, you’ve figured out that better diet and exercise helps literally everything. But, the key thing here, is how little movement is necessary for potential improvement. Sure, a 40 minute run would be great, but that may not be what is required.

Small amounts of movement can make a huge difference, especially if you have been sitting for a long period of time, or first thing in the morning when you haven’t moved much at all yet for the day. Try loading the dishwasher, or running something upstairs. The key is not so much the intensity of the activity, but the length.

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Stand up, walk down the hall, pour a cup of coffee, then walk back to your desk and sit down, and likely nothing has changed. The body takes a wait and see approach to kicking in extra systems as a way of saving energy. No since increasing energy use if this is just a quick blip.

That’s why a 15 minute chore, or other activity works, while a quick break doesn’t. You have to do something long enough to engage the body. Stay standing, and hopefully moving, for 10 minutes. Heck, sometimes, just 5 will do it. Just make sure it is longer than that quick standup and sit back down that doesn’t seem to be working.

When Is Procrastination ADD or Depression or …

Written by ADDer 4 Comments

Sometimes, as an adult with ADD, it’s really easy too see what is happening (or what happened) in your brain. Often, I’ll sit down and start working on something and then think of something else, usually somewhat related to what I’m working on, that I could also be doing, or doing instead. Next thing you know, I’m down a rabbit hole of a side project I never meant to start on.

For example, this post was delayed by over 45 minutes as I arrived on the page to write an article and was notified that there was a Genesis (WordPress theme) upgrade available. Well, of course, we want to upgrade. It will only take a second. You know, I don’t know if this theme is really best for this blog anymore. I should look at some others. While I’m at it, I need to switch around some of the Google Analytics code, oh, and I …

You get the idea. That’s basic distraction, the bread and butter of life with ADD and the ADHD brain.

Can’t Get Going

But, other times, I just can’t understand what is going on.

This morning, I’ve burned over an hour sitting at my desk accomplishing nothing. I’ve read a ton of news, and I’ve tweeted, and I’ve checked email, I played with an election map, but nothing that I actually needed to do.

This happens to everyone of course. And, really when it happens regarding work, tasks you don’t want to do, or even long projects that seem too daunting to start, I get it. Everyone is like that, especially those of us with ADD. But, sometimes, the inertia of not doing anything makes so little sense, I can’t help but wonder if I’m missing something. It’s not like I’m distracted. I’m literally not doing anything to get distracted FROM!

I mean, seriously. My to-do list does have some work tasks on it. There is one project that needs to get started that I just haven’t gotten going on, and yes some of my websites STILL need to be made mobile friendly so Google stops yelling at me about it and lowering my rankings. I have some articles that are due out to clients.

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But, there are plenty of other totally doable, potentially interesting things on that same to do list that I can’t seem to begin either.

I need to look at some cookbooks and pick out a recipe or two so I have something other than pasta and bean burritos ready for this weekend. (This fun)
I need to return the Nexus 5x phone with the cracked screen before they charge me for it, since I’ve had the replacement almost two weeks now. (This will cost me money)
I need to vacuum up some of this cat litter that gets tracked around. (This is gross to step on)
I need to pick a place for our four day weekend vacation later this month. (This is fun)
I need to make some progress on this JavaScript book. (This is interesting)
I need to find out what is in this pile of “important papers” that is in the way on my desk. (This lame, but it is bother me)
I need to meditate. (Meh)
I need to… crap I forgot.

I have some fun tasks, some interesting, and all with the all important external motivation factor, but… nada.

Heck, it took me 20 minutes to finally stand up and go upstairs to get some coffee.

Is that inability to get started related to apathy, and therefore perhaps a touch of depression? Is not begin able to start on ANYTHING at all some sort of ADHD trait where the “pleasure” of screwing around doing meaningless but endlessly switchable tasks? Or, is there something else entirely? (I really want this to be the answer, but…)

So, right before I came here, I googled “depression and motivation” as if there will be some brilliant words on a website somewhere that will make everything better. I can see it now, “Tip #7 – Stare into the sun for 30 seconds, spin around 7 times, and drink some lemonade, and your mind will be ready to get started.”

Man, that would be awesome.

Instead, I’ll hit publish and then try and make myself do something. If that doesn’t work, I’ll read some of those articles. I’ll let you know if I find the secret to motivation and turning yourself into a Type A personality on demand.