ADHD TRAINING & SUPPORT

I Have, therefore I Am

ADDing Living to Life

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.. Your child will never be labelled with a disorder like ADD or ADHD and he or she won’t use chronic medication … Labels are criminal acts." Fairlady magazine article February 2013 titled “Is Your Child So Stressed...”

“.. Yes ADD/HD and Autism are conditions but I hate to box people & attach labels…” E-mail from someone who sells supplements.

I have diabetes therefore I am a diabetic, I have HIV therefore I am HIV +, I have a dependency on drugs or alcohol therfore I am an addict, I have chronic depression therefore I am a depressive. I have the genetic characteristics of an adult female therefore I am a woman.

Why is it acceptable to carry the above labels but not the label of ADD or ADHD? Why is there this terrible stigma attached to the most common of all neurological conditions?

Sadly because it all comes down to whether or not you are in favour of ADHD medication.

(At the end of this newsletter I have included some interesting articles that you may like to read.)

I find this issue about labels very baffling because when I was finally diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 51 it was a huge relief. At last I understood why I had done certain things in my life and I was now able to change my behaviour as I learned more about this complex condition. It is the same for so many of our clients who are diagnosed as adults. Lightbulbs pop on.

I accept that ADHD can be over-diagnosed but it is also under-diagnosed especially for those who are the day-dreamers or inattentive types. This is why a thorough and in-depth diagnosis is essential. It is not something that can be decided by a teacher or in a 15 minute appointment with a doctor.

One of the ways we help medical professionals to make the diagnosis is to get 6 different people who know the child/teen well to complete questionnaires. These include parents, all teachers involved with the child and even extended family. This is to remove personal bias which so often leads to a mis-diagnosis.

Once we have the 6 completed questionnaires we analyse the results excluding the extremes and produce a written report for the parent to take to a medical professional who is competent to diagnose ADHD. These reports are used in conjunction with other professional assessment tools and the DSM IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders) to confirm or exclude ADHD.

If the diagnosis confirms that the child/teen has ADHD a proper multi-disciplinary treatment plan can be put into place. The LADD® Treatment Plan includes medication but is only 1/8 of the whole process. If it is not ADHD then further investigations are made to determine the cause of the particular symptoms.

Would you deny your child insulin or anti-retrovirals if they were diabetic or HIV+? Would you not try to get the best help for your spouse or child if they had an addiction?

Having ADHD is not an excuse for bad behaviour but when your ADHD is undiagnosed and unmanaged you frequently make poor decisions, are humiliated by your impulsive and inappropriate behaviour and you do not achieve to your potential. Is this what you want for your child or spouse or even for yourself?

My last newsletter on Self esteem and Your Worth elicited a huge response from adults who idenitified with the content. Below are 2 articles that were sent to me by our readers who either have or live alongside ADHD.

Labeling a medical condition is the only way to effectively treat that condition. You don't someone based on a label.

On the other hand, if you are treating someone but don’t know what you are treating them for, how can you measure the effectiveness of the product you are offering?

Regards

Pat Pughe-Parry

Some interesting articles on this topic:

5 Psych Disorders Have Common Genetics
Food Allergy Diets Stunt Kids Growth - I found this very interesting particularly in light of the Fair Lady article where it is advocated that a very strict diet is followed and many foods are eliminated. Stunted growth when using Ritalin is often cited as a reason for not wanting to use this medication, yet the proportion of children whose growth is stunted is miniscule.
Little Evidence for NonDrug TX for ADHD
Watch our video clip on how ADHD medication works
Listen to The Sound of an ADHD Brain

ADHD and Mid-life Crisis

Having ADHD is challenging to self and others; how much more challenging does this become when we hit middle age? The manifestation of falling into a slump which generally associates itself with mid life begins to surface. For the ADDer, two loud voices begin screaming in the head now instead of one.

Endurance Sports Obsessed

I am a 64 year old personal trainer working from my home in Cape Town. Married, (for the second time) I have 2 daughters ages 15 and 18. I have been personal training for 14 years and have a wide range of endurance sport experience and I am still competitive in my age group.

I have a dream of creating a forum to help people in various areas in life. There are so many of us out here who need help and guidance of some sort, it could be people with ADHD trying to understand and improve their lives, like me. It could be people suffering from Arthritis, like me. It could be people who want to exercise, like me!