ADHD? No Problem! - What is ADHD?

Stokes the Fire -

What is ADHD?

I have balked at answering this question for quite some time. Each time I sit down to write about this question I come up with two different answers:

- It’s a problem.
- It’s a way of being.

Why is it a problem?

It’s a problem because many of us do not know that we have it. It’s a problem because many of us don’t know what it is. It’s a problem because too many of us see it as a weakness. Perceived weaknesses are just as diminutive as actual weaknesses. When someone else sees you as being weak, inferior, stupid, lazy there is no way to break out of that mold. My question is, “What is weakness but rather a point that can be strengthened?”

It’s a way of being.

Just like you and I, we all exist in this world. We all have problems in one form or another. We all have to find ways to cope with our problems and continue on with our lives. We all have the requirement to develop ourselves to the point that we are the “best we can become.” For me, most of my problems come down to two areas:

- ADHD
-Incompletely developed Social Skills

My social skills are something that will hold me back while I develop them, but after I put the finishing touches on them, I will take off like a rocket! However, the negative attributes of ADHD will haunt me for the rest of my life and I will have to work three times as hard as a regular person because:

- I have to do my own work and excel. (This is hard enough on its own!)
- I have to monitor everyone’s reactions to me
- I have to monitor my reactions to everyone else.

In today’s day and age, social skills are a must. You must work in a team. You must show that you are competent. You must show creativity, inspiration, and leadership. The paradox is that these things are actually the core competencies of a person with ADHD. They actually have “unlimited potential” as a leader. I stress the word “potential.” The role of today’s supervisor is to help them find their niche so that they can excel in the workplace.

Let’s talk about the negatives a little bit before we talk about the positives. In “Mastering Your Adult ADHD” we find three major types of symptoms:

- Poor Attention
- High impulsivity (or disinhibition)
- High activity

(Safren et. All, 2005, Oxford University Press)

My way of describing this is by putting a 1000hp engine in a 1985 Honda Civic. All this pent up energy and no way to use it. A very potentially dangerous situation for the driver (not to mention any passengers.) However, I know there are some engineers out there who could make it happen (and build the safety features to make it safe too!)

How do you diagnose ADHD?

There is a list that makes things easier to diagnose the problem of ADHD. Let’s take a look at page 5 from Mastering Your Adult ADHD:

Symptoms of Inattention:
-Often fails to give close attention to details or makes careless mistakes in schoolwork, work, or other activities.
- Often has difficulty sustaining attention in tasks or play activities.
- Often does not seem to listen when spoken to directly.
- Often does not follow through on instructions and fails to finish schoolwork, chores or dutis in the workplace (not because of oppositional behavior or failure to understand instructions.)
- Often has difficulty organizing tasks and activities.
- Often avoids, dislikes, or is reluctant to engage in tasks that require sustained effort.
- Often loses things necessary for tasks or activities.
- Is often easily distracted by extraneous stimuli.
- Is often forgetful in daily activities.

Symptoms of Hyperactivity/Impulsivity
- Often fidgets with hands or feet or squirms in seat.
- Often leaves seat in classroom on in other situations in which remaining seated is expected.
- Often runs about or climbs excessively in situations in which it is inappropriate. (in adolescents or adults, may be limited to subjective feelings of restlessness)
- Often has difficulty playing or engaging in leisure activities quietly.
- Is often "on the go" or often acts as if "driven by a motor"
- Often talks excessively
- Often blurts out answers before questions have been completed.
- Often has difficulty awaiting turn.
- Often interrupts or intrudes on others.

Six of the above is necessary in just one category to be able to say: “Yes, this person may have enough to require treatment for ADHD.”

But wait there’s more:

- Some symptoms must be present before age 7 (for genetic profiling)
- Some impairment from the symptoms is present in two or more settings (e.g., work and home) - There must be clear evidence of clinically significant impairment in social, academic, or occupational functioning.
- These symptoms do not occur exclusively during the course of a pervasive developmental disorder, schizophrenia, or other psychotic disorder and are not better accounted for by another mental disorder. (e.g., mood disorders, anxiety disorder, dissociative disorder, or personality disorder.)

A full clinical diagnosis comes from the isolating of the problem areas, assigning treatment that has shown to be effective for those problem areas and then seeing if the treatment is helpful to the patient. Sometimes, the full diagnosis can take a longer period of time than just one sitting. In my case, I was diagnosed in one sitting as a child, but it took three to four meetings as an adult. Why? Because I had more control of my “impulsivity” in social situations but had to prove my deficiencies in attentiveness with concrete examples. Finding these examples took time. As a child, without medication, I was a wound up top bouncing from one table to the chair, to the floor without a thought otherwise. With medication I was a smart, able child who could control himself to the point of being able to learn in Elementary school. There were days when my teachers would call my mother and say “Mrs. Linsley, did Richie forget his medication today?” IT WAS THAT OBVIOUS! I remember one time in elementary school when I stood up in the middle of class and started to sing the chorus to “Day-O.” I had no other reason than the fact I liked the song. Thankfully, it’s different now.

Let’s take a look at what some of the websites say.

From http://www.add.org/:

"ADHD is NOT caused by poor parenting, family problems, poor teachers or schools, too much TV, food allergies, or excess sugar. One early theory was that attention disorders were caused by minor head injuries or damage to the brain, and thus for many years ADHD was called "minimal brain damage" or "minimal brain dysfunction." The vast majority of people with ADHD have no history of head injury or evidence of brain damage, however. Another theory, which is still heard in the media, is that refined sugar and food additives make children hyperactive and inattentive. Scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) concluded that this may apply to only about 5 percent of children with ADHD, mostly either very young children or children with food allergies."

I agree with http://www.add.org/ in this description. I do state however, that poor parental leadership (common in today’s US society) can exasperate the situation and leave the child or patient with poor coping skills for the future. One funny thought that just came to mind is that any parent with young children will immediately tell you that five minutes after giving their children 'Twinkies' or 'ho-ho's to eat will wish that they could somehow bring their children down from the sugar rush. However, once the sugar-rush drops, the child returns to normal and no other symptom can be applied to a situation. Good parental leadership will prevent this portion of the percentage.

Weirdly enough, in my family the exact opposite happens. When we want peace and quiet in the house, we give the kids (who have ADHD) about 4-6 oz of a caffeinated drink. I don't know why or how this works, but for myself, my two brothers, and my son, we all fall asleep within an hour or so. As far as we can understand if we give them the stimulant, we calm down, gain control for a bit and figure out that we needed a rest. (the last time I tried this was 6 December 2007, and yes, it worked.) The key to this was to be off of any stimulant medication for at least 24 hours prior to doing this.

Back to http://www.add.org/:

"ADHD IS very likely caused by biological factors which influence neurotransmitter activity in certain parts of the brain, and which have a strong genetic basis. Studies at NIMH using a PET (positron emission tomography) scanner to observe the brain at work have shown a link between a person's ability to pay continued attention and the level of activity in the brain. Specifically researchers measured the level of glucose used by the areas of the brain that inhibit impulses and control attention. In people with AD/HD, the brain areas that control attention used less glucose, indicating that they were less active. It appears from this research that a lower level of activity in some parts of the brain may cause inattention and other AD/HD symptoms."

"There is a great deal of evidence that AD/HD runs in families, which is suggestive of genetic factors. If one person in a family is diagnosed with AD/HD, there is a 25% to 35% probability that any other family member also has AD/HD, compared to a 4% to 6% probability for someone in the general population."

My case seems to be almost textbook genetics here. When I took my son into the psychology wing of the National Children's Hospital earlier last year for testing; the interview we had with the psychologist was very interesting. He said that that the gene that carries the markers for ADHD is believed to be carried on the "Y" chromosome. Thereby making the Father/Son inheritability nearly 100%. I can trace four generations of men who have had shown the symptoms of being ADHD. My grandfather, my father, myself and my two brothers, and my son. My father has told me in the past about his sisters acting somewhat the same but he never speaks far into the subject, so I renege to point the finger in that direction. (I also cautiously remind my readers “Don't read into this either.”)

My youngest daughter, who physically is taking after my side of the family, is beginning to show some considerable behaviors that I considered to be "I watch my brother do this and I am going to do it too" modeling. However, as time moves along, I am beginning to consider having her tested, just to see if she is carrying the psychological markers. If she "passes" the test and is diagnosed, then that will blow the top off of the genetic factor and mean that the markers are either "different" in her case, or that its being transmitted from me to her from some other chromosomes. Those in my family who carry these traits also look alike in many ways. (As soon as I get some pics I will post them here.)

How then do we “Master the ADHD?”

Mastering the coping skills of ADHD requires a lot of work and it taxes the mind and body greatly. It’s not easy and most people would balk at what has to be done. This is a list of what I have had to do to get this far as an adult:

- Get the Right Mindset/Build the Right Behaviors.
- Find the Right Mentor.
- Find the Right Medication.
- Learn to Eat Correctly.
- Organize My Life.
- Learn to Plan.
- Learn to Prioritize.
- Execute the Plan (Earn those Victories).
- Learn to Coopt my Teams.
- Learn to Educate my Enemies and my Friends.

Let’s start next time with ‘Get the Right Mindset.”