Facts & FAQ

About Adult ADHD

ADHD in adults is not to be taken lightly. Many individuals are not aware that adults can suffer from this disorder because in their minds they associate attention deficit hyperactivity disorder with loud, obnoxious, hyperactive, high energy, impulsive behaviors. But, ADHD isn’t something that only children suffer from, in fact kids with ADHD will not grow out of the disorder they will in fact grow up with it. As life becomes more demanding in their adult lives ADHD symptoms can become much worse.

There are differences between a child with ADHD and an adult who has the disease. The one major difference is that the majority of adults learn to take note of their urges and behaviors they must work hard daily to regulate, kids aren’t aware of this and therefore tend to rely on adults and their meds. Adults have a hard time coping with this alone.

If you are an adult who has a difficulty remaining focused, starting and finishing tasks, managing money, managing time, remembering the minor details, being organized, and arriving on time to events there is a chance that you could have adult ADHD. You should work with a medical professional in an attempt to get your issues under control. If left untreated ADHD can hinder your education, professional life, home and family life and personal life.

ADHD left untreated can make life more difficult than necessary. Many adults who don’t realize they have adult ADHD always feel out of sorts and overwhelmed. They find that their family and friends are often frustrated by them, they have self esteem issues and often issues with stress and anxiety.

ADHD can be identified by a health professional. You do not have to live your life suffering from ADHD, you must get a proper method of treatment whether it is medicine or a combination of meds and cognitive therapy.

Ignoring ADD Can Lead to Other Issues

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The stigma associated with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) has caused people to shy away from seeking courses of treatment that can help them. For them to find those coping strategies through medication or lifestyle alteration would help them in a significant way, but because they feel that they would be ridiculed for having such a condition, they prefer to keep quiet about their situation and suffer in silence.

Ignoring ADD and the symptoms that accompany it can be very damaging to a person, and over time, it can lead to other problems. There are many facilities and treatment centers all over the country that have patients in them who suffer from multiple conditions. Some are in these places because they neglected to seek help for years. Facilities such as the California alcohol rehab centers take in patients all the time who have alcohol addiction problems as a result of ignoring something else in their life.

People who think they suffer from ADD should first seek a diagnosis from a medical doctor to determine if their symptoms are actually in line with ADD symptoms. If they are found to have those same symptoms, the doctor will either prescribe a course of treatment or medication that will help the person cope better with ADD. These medications will also make the condition more manageable and decrease that feeling of being constantly overwhelmed or at a loss when confronted with important decisions.

Attention Deficit Disorder shouldn’t be a condition that causes a person to feel embarrassed. It’s important to remember that being diagnosed and medicated for such a condition is also something that you don’t have to share with everyone you know. However, by sharing openly about your struggles you may help another ADD sufferer who has been too embarrassed to get help.

Filed Under: Adult ADD Treatment, Facts & FAQ Tagged With: Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, California, Pharmaceutical drug, Symptom

ADD and Your Relationships and Career

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It is of vital importance to both understand and admit to how much ADHD might be impacting both your career and your personal relationships. While you might believe that you can simply “will” your way through it and not have what some people consider to be a disability discovered by anyone, the only person you would end up fooling would be yourself. After all, while adults can often manage their ADD on their own, why would you refuse to let other people (who may even actually care about you) help you out? Some people have said that no man is an island. Well, neither is any woman, for all of the trying that some people do in that regard. So let people help you, before the situation gets bad.

Your career can be seriously impacted by having ADHD. After all, nearly every career path in the world requires extended periods of powerful focus, in spite of all of the concentration related challenges which every career person faces on a daily basis. If you can not focus on your own, you either need to get some help from your employer (such as with providing a work environment which is less filled with distractions in the first place), or work to minimize your ability to be reached by distractions (such as constant texts and email blasts) on your own.

As far as your personal relationships go, ADD can occasionally limit your ability to do the most fun and fulfilling things in life if you allow it to. There are going to be times when your concentration simply wanders off- make sure your partner knows that it is not intended as any sort of disrespect toward them in any way. This is something which existed before you met them, and it is a lifelong thing. If they really do love you, then they will make the effort to understand and work with this little quirk that you have.

Filed Under: Adult Attention Deficit Disorder, Facts & FAQ Tagged With: Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, Health, Interpersonal relationship

ADHD Sticks Around

A lot of children over the past twenty years or so have been diagnosed as having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (which is often shortened to either ADD or ADHD). However, there is the sort of subliminal assumption in a lot of people’s minds that ADHD simply ends or goes away at some point in life. But of course, this kind of thinking negates the fact that mental disorders almost never simply go away. A person can work to accommodate and work around their mental impairments and issues, and sometimes these problems become less intense as an adult gains control over their own lives. Adults may never need to sit in a classroom setting, as children are often forced to do in school.

But no matter what changes may take place in a person’s life, they are not going to simply “get rid of” their mental problems, no matter how old they may get. Decades from now, they will be sitting in the old folks home, and their problems will still be here. And while ADHD is not that devastating of a problem as mental issues go, it can still have a significant impact well into a person’s adult life. It can impact both the person’s career and their personal life, as keeping attentive to something (or to someone) can be a significant challenge.

But for most people, being absolutely and strenuously focused is not necessary in their daily lives. Most professional career paths can use that level of focus, but it is not essential to be as maddeningly focused as Rainman. And only the most needy of significant others are going to demand absolute attention to an extent that the ADHD person can not provide it. It just needs to be remembered that, even though a person can largely overcome this kind of problem, it is never going to go away entirely. A problem of this nature is just going to stick around in life.

Filed Under: Adult Attention Deficit Disorder, Facts & FAQ Tagged With: Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder

Keeping Focused

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Staying focused is a very difficult problem for a lot of people, whether they are afflicted with ADHD or not. Believe it or not, ADHD is not that serious of a condition for most people, as they form up their own adaptive strategies which tend to work around this issue. But of course, it can still be an issue when it comes down to having to focus on a task for the time it typically takes for a task (especially a significant one such as a project) to really come to fruition. Granted, no project takes absolute and unwavering focus in order to be successful. But when anything which could become a distraction comes up, and it shifts a person’s focus away from what needs to be done, it can prove to be challenging.

However, it is possible to focus no matter what. All you have to do is figure out why you are doing what you are doing right now, and remember it at all times. If a text message or an email tries to interrupt you while you are doing this, remember why you are doing it and mentally push those things away. If someone tries to talk to you, ask them to let you be unless it is incredibly urgent (you can stop if the building is on fire, for instance). A little bit of foresight can also help you a lot here, as you can let people know in advance that it is difficult for you to concentrate, and that you need to be left to do what you need to do.

Do not check your email more than twice per day, and keep those annoying programs that chime when you get a new email turned off. Those are the ultimate serial killers of any kind of concentration. From there, just remember always why you are doing what you are doing, because there is no greater force of focus than intention.

Filed Under: Adult Attention Deficit Disorder, Facts & FAQ Tagged With: Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, Methylphenidate, University of Nottingham

ADD, ADHD and Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Attention deficit disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have long perplexed scientists, physicians and parents alike. First diagnosed in 1902 it was referred to as post-encephalitic behavior disorder and had several monikers after that until it was finally coined ADD by scientists. ADD and ADHD are considered one of the most researched disorders on the planet but few actually know what brings it about or what can cure it. Currently the symptoms that are known are as follows:

-The inability to focus even while reading or listening others, even in the middle of a conversation
-The inability to finish tasks and overlooking details leading to incomplete work and inaccurately
-Memory problems due to inability to listen for long periods of time

There are several drugs on the market that help alleviate symptoms such as lack of concentration. Among them are Ritalin, which has been around since 1956 and newer additions such as Adderall, Concentra, Metadata, Focalin and Strattera. These all help alleviate or mask symptoms but not completely. However in a fairly recent study in Durham, England researchers were able to completely alleviate symptoms of ADD and ADHD due to a simple supplement regime. In the study 117 children aged 5-12 with a tendency toward ADD and ADHD were given a daily dose of containing 500 milligrams of omega-3 rich fish oil for three months.

This was a double blind study where half the children received a placebo while the other half received the actual 500 mg of Omega -3. The results of the trial showed that over the three months the children receiving omega-3 fatty acids tripled the rate of their reading ability and more doubled their spelling ability. The study also took another turn when the subjects who were taking the placebo crossed over and were given the supplement halfway through the study. Once these students started the supplement their concentration levels and their ADHD symptoms showed drastic improvement.

Filed Under: Adult ADD Symptoms, Adult Attention Deficit Disorder, Facts & FAQ Tagged With: Adderall, Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, Omega-3 fatty acid