ADD and New Year's Resolution

A.D.D. and New Year’s Resolution

In a few days, the New Year, 2006, will begin. The year 2005 is coming to a close. What will the New Year hold for you? Most of us will try to come to grips with what we can do differently and hope to stick with it for as long as possible throughout the next year. Here are some helpful hints to get you past some common ADD and non-ADD mistakes.

Let’s review the triad core symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder. They are (1) ease of distractibility (not paying attention), (2) impulsivity, and (3) restlessness (hyperactivity). A typical scenario of an ADD person making a New Year’s resolution goes something like this.

“I have to make a new year’s resolution. I like to be able to finish all my unfinished projects. Let’s see. I have to paint the kids room. I started it last summer and have to finish it before school starts in the fall. Darn, I just don’t have the time. The washer is on the blink and I think the washer motor belt needs some adjustment. Oh, it’ll take me a Sunday afternoon to fix the washer. I have to volunteer at my church. I promised my fourth grade daughter to spend more time helping with her homework. I’m a little behind with my paperwork at work and will have to stay late most of January through March. If I don’t stay late to finish my paperwork, I may get fired…”

Does this sound like a “…have to do…” scenario? I will discuss the various scenarios and give you options & solutions. This will help the ADD person make better-informed choices and keep the focus on the resolution rather than being distracted and off target.

“I have to finish painting my kid’s room…”
The ADD person has every intention to finish painting the room. In the planning stages or the mental process, he/she expects to complete the job as schedule. However, the demands of family, preservation of spousal relationship, having some difficulty in saying “no”, work/career related commitments, etc contribute to the unfinished projects. The natural impulsiveness of the ADD person is an admired trait that usually initiate the project because someone in the house said, “Could you please paint my paint?” Without accurately evaluating the request, the ADD person “impulsively” agreed to the request. However, with proper training to say no and with some practice, the more appropriate response could be something like “could we talk about it at another time?” This technique is for the ADD person to have some time to think it through and prioritize the commitments before agreeing to take on the project. The key point is “under promise, over deliver”.

“The washer is on the blink…”
Anticipate and take note of funny noises coming from the cloth washer. Don’t procrastinate. Start getting together a strategy to either replace the washer or fix it. If you are mechanically inclined, you may consider fixing it yourself. The ADD person usually thinks he/she can fix the darn thing. There is that “I can do it” mentality. It is a good thing. By making an attempt to fix the washer, the decision has been made which leads one step closer to a solution. The saying “it is best to have tried and fail then not to have try at all and never know the experience of success…” describes the ADD attribute.

“Volunteer at my church…”
As a regular church member, it is difficult to say no when ask if you (the ADD person) can volunteer to help with church events. The initial impulse would be to say yes. Then, after some moments to prioritize and think of prior commitments, it seems like your plate is full. Adding more responsibility will just overfill your limited plate (of commitments). Again, the ADD person inadvertently overextended himself/herself. So, pause for a few seconds (which may seem like hours to an ADD person) before agreeing with additional obligations.

“More time spent helping with homework…”
This is great to say to a child, but the commitment may be difficult for the ADD parent to follow through amidst all the other previous promises. This is a high priority issue and should be done with caring and love. If the child is ADD, this time spent interacting together is priceless. Recall that sometimes the ADD person has inaccurate/unrealistic interpretation of the relationship. This is where the “ADD person may feel the highs, higher and the lows, lower (or disappointed) than their non-ADD counterpart.” Besides, this is good thing in any family to spend as much time as possible getting involved with your child’s school assignments.

“Behind with my paperwork at work…”
Paperwork is usually not the forte of the ADD person because paperwork is a “linear” process and the ADD thinking process is typically not a linear systematic process. ADD people tend to be result focus and target their activities accordingly. Moreover, the ADD person tends to be easily distracted and easily get off track from their “boring” paperwork. When the paper work is boring, even very slight degree of distractions from co-workers in the form of “what do you think of this…”, background noises, environmental distractions, is all it takes for the ADD person to get off course. The ADD person needs to be diligently focused in the workplace. Therefore, learning to say in a friendly manner “I’m busy right now, but can we discuss it later?” would be a good technique to maintain a pleasant workplace environment with co-workers. This same ease of distractibility quality (I call it the “scanner” ability) is necessary as a creative element necessary for success in the entrepreneur arena. Some may refer to it as thinking outside of the box. The distractibility (and paradoxical hyperfocus ability) is a “catch-22” double edge sword for the ADD person who isn’t aware of his/her uniqueness. So, plan your paperwork time at work appropriately to minimize miscommunication issues amongst co-workers.

How are we going to make a reasonable New Year’s Resolution for the ADD mind?
Begin by making a list of all your goals, projects, and things you wishes to accomplish during the upcoming year. Put this aside and just sleep on it. Let the ideas sit in your mind. Your mind will filter out what you don’t need and some things you definitely need to improve on. The second draft or revision should exclude overwhelming projects that may not be feasible. The next draft should be your New Year’s resolution that will be committed and follow through during the year. Remember don’t over promise yourself or your will be frustrated. Be kind to yourself. Be gentle with yourself when you don’t meet up to your expectations. In other words, don’t beat yourself up unnecessarily. In addition, you may want to formulate a 30 day plan, 60 or 90 day plan, one year plan, three year plan, five year plan, and long term ten year plan. This is to keep you on focus on what you want and what your passions are so that you may achieve as much of them as possible. Your mind is a powerful weapon and remember the old saying: “be careful what you wish for; they may come true”. Good luck with your resolutions.

I hope I have share with you the thought process necessary to get to the New Year’s resolution. Next week, I will help you compose a life plan/business plan to keep your New Year’s resolution new! Keep your eye on the target (of life) and be happy.

Have a wonderful, exciting and happy New Year. See you in 2006.

ADD and the Holidays

ADD and the Holidays

It is time again for another holiday season. Those of you reading this probably has or know of someone who has ADD, so I will share some pointers with you regarding what to expect during this long holiday season.

According to some researcher and clinicians, ADD is a bioneurochemical imbalance disorder. Applying this argument, it is likely that the imbalance of “bioneurochemicals” could make you feel the holiday highs even higher; the holiday lows even lower (i.e. clinical depression). When you add the holiday self medications associated with alcohol, food, and other pharmaceutical agents, you’re going to have an interesting holiday experience… So, beware of what goes into your body for a balance and happy holiday.

Holiday and diet. Most of us will be eating an extraordinary amount of food in the name of enjoying the annual holiday feast. There will also be many ADD unfriendly foods for your consumption. Let’s pretend we are going to the traditional Christmas family feast at Grandma’s house. Most women of the family will start their baking early and bring their pastries, cookies, bread, etc to the family gathering. The “All-American” diet will probably consist some type of meat (prime ribs, fowl meat, pork, game meat, etc) as an entree. There’s stuffing, mash potatoes, sweat potatoes, and a host of other high carbohydrate foods to complement the meat entrée. When you start the feast, you will inadvertently overstuff yourself (literally stuff yourself up to your face). After dinner, the dessert with whip cream on top will be plentiful. To add insult to injury, there’s the traditional egg nog.

Did I hear someone asked for a bowl of salad during Christmas? Oh my, something is wrong with this picture. When was the last time you show up at a Christmas party where the host was pushing the salad as a dietary choice? You get my point.

Here are the physiological rationales for avoiding the ADD holiday blues when you eat appropriately. The ADD physiology is unique and in a tender and delicate balance. It is a “finely tune machine” with narrow tolerances. Any unusual and ADD-unfriendly foods will offset this delicate physiological balance. So, let’s start the Holiday Feast again using some common sense plus taking advantage of ADD compatible eating techniques.

Let’s start our eating journey with the entrée and work our way down to dessert,. The main course of meat is fine for the ADD physiology. However, during the holiday season, we tend to ingest 2-5 times the normal portion. That’s really going to slow you down because you body is so busy trying to cramp, digest, absorb, and utilize the excess intake of food. Next comes your “simple carbohydrates” in the form of fresh baked breads, cookies, mash potatoes, stuffings, and so on. When you have a super massive load of “simple carbohydrates” dump into your gut (the gastrointestinal tract), the digestive enzymes, insulin, catecholeamines, and pH is going through some serious roller coaster peaks and troughs. A great deal of digestive hormones, neurochemicals, co-factors, and various biochemicals are trying very hard to balance out each other in the body. In an ADD person having a “bioneurochemical disorder or imbalance”, this simple process of hormonal balance is like having a “Hurricane Katrina” hitting you when you least expected as compared with the less sensitive non-ADD physiology. Get the picture!

Now a simple explanation on a molecular level of the interacting bioneurochemicals. Begin by picturing the “simple carbohydrates” invading the gut through every gulp of food you swallow. These “simple carbohydrates” will quickly breakdown into glucose (the usable kind of sugar for cells). When the glucose level is higher than threshold (i.e. greater than 150 mg/dl), the beta cells of the pancreas produce insulin in an attempt to normalize or lower the high blood glucose level to less than 80mg/dl. With so much glucose out there, the beta cells of the pancreas continue to work overtime to manufacture more insulin to balance out excess glucose. With continued excess insulin production, the blood glucose level may drop precipitously below the glucose threshold level. When the blood glucose is below threshold, catecholeamines (i.e. adrenaline) is produce to stimulate the breakdown of glycogen to make extra glucose for cells to use as fuel. This is physiological homeostasis to keep your body glucose in physiological balance.
Imagine this. Grandma asks you to eat one more piece of her delicious cinnamon apple pie made from scratch with the backyard apples that you love as a kid. Wham, another glucose load into the already overloaded gut. But wait, glycogen is already being broken down to make more glucose because the body physiology is sensing a low glucose level due to the catecholeamines release in order to prevent a potential low glucose level. Again, more insulin is produce to offset the higher glucose. This type of hormonal control is a vicious malfunction cycle (or chaos) makes you feel so blah and feeling “not yourself”.

Consequently, you may wish to self-mediate by adding another sympathomimetic drug to the mix in the form of a cup of strong black coffee. A strong black cup of coffee will help the person “hang” with the holiday crowds so he/she could feel awake enough to interact with holiday guests. But wait, isn’t caffeine an “upper”? Chemically, caffeine is similar to the actions of catecholeamines. What does catecholeamines do? They break down glycogen to produce more glucose and make you awake. Oh my goodness, more glucose loads to my gut and I’m wired from the caffeine. This is not happening! What do I do now? Let’s have some alcoholic beverages to mellow out. Wine, champagne or spiked egg nog anyone? Since “I don’t feel so good, I am going to try to sleep it off as soon as I get home”. The sensation of sleep creates more inclination to sleep and thus, sleep some more. Besides, “I need my beauty rest to prepare for the New Year’s Eve party”. The more you sleep, the more you feel out of it (feeling kind of lethargic and depress?). And the cycle continues until after the New Year or until you finally “wake up” and make your New Year’s resolutions.

Here are some holiday suggestions. First, pace yourself on the eating circuit during the holiday extravaganza. You know you will be invited to multiple eating feasts throughout the holiday season. Try not to overdo it. Eat sensibly. There will be office parties, family parties, football playoff parties, college bowl playoff parties, sports events, and other festive eating events. When you go to potluck style gatherings, bring food that are ADD friendly and eat your food and minimize all the portions so you can have a large variety and still maintain the same volume of food. For example, have only one small slice of prime rib (not the 2” thick covering my entire plate-size prime rib), whole grain bread, small amount of stuffings, lots of vegetable and salad, a small glass of wine, tea, generous helpings of fresh fruits, and very little dessert. Remember, you can always go back for seconds. Don’t rush your eating. Take your time and enjoy every bite and morsel in your mouth.

Enjoy the holiday feasts. Eat sensibility. Merry Christmas and have a Happy Holiday.

Adult ADD Part One

Adult ADD Part One

The issues of adult ADD range from mild to moderate to severe. When an adult ADD has mild symptoms, do they really have ADD? What about the moderate to severe cases if they are productive successful citizens of the society? ADD is a paradigm that’s difficult to quantify. When you ask an ADD adult “how are you?” Is he/she truly and honestly “fine”? Problems of self-esteem, depression, anxiety, unfilled hopes, dreams and desires and relationships are widespread. Despite the material “successes” and “achievements”, few of these adults have achieved what I consider to be successful – a sense of accomplishment, serenity, humility and balance (spiritually, family, career, etc) in their lives.

We are approaching a holiday season where many of the ADD issues will become either suppressed (denial) or exaggerated. For example, let’s talk about self-esteem issues in the holiday season. The subject of self-esteem during family gatherings could be uncomfortable for the ADD adult if he/she feels not meeting the family’s expectations. Add the potential of alcohol to the mix, there may be some volatile moments for a memorable holiday seasons. On the other hand, there may be the denial of self-esteem issues. To the extreme, there may be arguments over the interpretation of what is consider being a self-esteem issue within the family culture.

Anxiety is another common symptoms that may manifest in some unpredictable strange way during the holiday season. Have you been in touch with the family during the past year? Are you in good speaking terms with the extended families going to be present? Any potential frictions from past gatherings that have not been resolve would be “baggage” from previous gatherings waiting for a spark to trigger an unhappy situation? As an adult ADD with environmental misinterpretations, anxiety becomes even more of an issue during the holiday season because of our attempt to overcorrect so as to be accepted by others. This over correction may be a “misread” on the part of the ADD adult to “make a fool out of himself”. Thus, creating more negative feelings amongst the gathers toward him. So, use caution!

Depression is common during the holiday season when you feel alone and without someone close to share the experience. If you have ADD, the depression may be more intense than normal. Since alcohol and drugs are available for self-medicating, this temporary relieve of depression may create more depression later on when the substance metabolized by your body. So, be cognizant of your feelings and ask a trusted loyal friend for honest feedback and checkup.

Relationships are an interesting glimpse into human nature during the holiday season in ADD and non-ADD adults. Even “normal” adults have to work on their relationship to get through the holidays because of the great demand on their time and commitments. An ADD adult sometimes feel “aimless” in their relationship because of the large number of people in need of his/her attention during the process of meetings, parties, career related advancement strategies, last minute projects, gifts, old friends and families, and children. It is critical to have a balance so that no one group receives more attention than necessary at the expense of the others. Let’s face it, there’s the same amount of time for everyone in each day, 24 hours, so use it wisely.

Unfulfilled hopes and expectations will be there so don’t let yourself get overly excited about these things during the holiday. Try to understand the rationale for false expectations and hopes for this holiday and learn from it. If you were disappointment during last years holiday, come up with solutions to prevent making the same kinds of mistakes.

Failed to finish many projects you started since the beginning of the year? OK, this is the end of the year and you feel you “have to finish it” by the end of the year. Well, I have good news for you. “DON’T” Please don’t try to finish any more projects this year unless it is of extreme importance, or you will add more anxiety, undue stress, and relationship conflicts to your holiday experience. What’s done is done. Learn from your mistakes and reorganize what projects you really need to complete after the holidays. Enjoy the experience of the holiday. I mean really “feel” the holiday spirit and the holiday joy.

An insidious habit that ADD has is being a “piler” of things. I use this term to describe a person (children and adults) who tends to pile things in some “unorganized” fashion. The items could be paper stuff and personal stuff on the table, clothes thrown into a pile on the floor, a “messy desk” at the office, things out in the open and not put away, and organizations by grouping into piles. However, from the minds of the ADD person, each pile has environmental cue significance. They seem to know where they place there stuff and in which pile. So, this is the ADD mind working differently than the non-ADD mind.

Multi-tasking. This is what ADD people do naturally partly because of their impulsivity, short attention span, their “scanning” ability, and hyperactivity (restlessness). They do multi-tasking activities very easily and naturally. That is why, the sales career, creativity business arena, people skills related careers, and some physicians (emergency room and family medicine physicians).

Dating is a complex activity for the ADD person. Let’s talk about dating traits in males and females. In males, they tend to be energetic, cocky, standup comic type, argumentative, confrontational, egotistic, multiple relationships before finding the “right” one, and has inaccurate intimacy perceptions. In the female, the tendency is for multiple intense short relationships, playful, energetic, “easy”, potential for abuse (in conjunction with low self-esteem), and a daydreamer. I’ll go into detail about human relationships and dating in upcoming postings.

A.D.D. Children

ADD Children

ADD children have a unique set of traits different from what's perceived as “normal”. I will list the traits with explainations and others in upcoming postings.

The manifestation of ADD children is correlated to their differences resulting from various stages of physiological development in-utero and beyond. Interactions of ADD children with outside factors during various stages of development such as prenatal, neonatal, infancy, and early childhood may contribute to the manifestation of ADD traits. Environmental influences may have an effect on the characteristics of the ADD child. Parental discipline style, rearing techniques, extended family interactions, role-modeling, and non verbal cues may either have a positive or negative influence of the ADD child in later societal interactions. Here is my condensed list of traits.

Colicky babies. This is a generalized term that’s recognized as more prevalent in "ADD babies". One of many explanations for this notion is that the ADD babies are more “sensitive” to their environment. When they are hungry, they will be difficult; When they soiled their diaper, they will cry; when they feel the wetness on their skin (even just a few drop of moisture), they will cry. Well, you ask, What so different about other babies from ADD babies? The point is that the ADD babies are more intense in their perception of sensory input or the feeling of wetness. As a comparison, the normal child may not cry much from soiled diapers.
Tendency and prone to allergies. Certain foods, food dyes, food additives, processed food, prevalent chemicals/toxins, environmental chemicals, pharmaceuticals, antibiotics, etc. have a higher correlation with adverse effects with ADD children. After the insulting agents or irritants are removed from the ADD child’s system, the ADD symptoms may improve or be eliminated.
They tend to be “scanners” of the surrounding. The term “scanner” is someone who comes to a quick assessment of the current situation and plans an appropriate response. The main point is that they do response rapidly and not whether or not it is the “correct” decision is up for debate. Therefore, much of the ill perceived observations of the ADD child not paying attention or fidgeting are not accurate because they are bored. However, when it is of high interest to the ADD child, they exhibit a kind of hyperfocus ability to focus excessively and inattentiveness appears to be eliminated. This ability is partially related to the child having the ability to multi-task during their later childhood years.
Male ADD Children tend to be hyperactive in their display of lots of activities and movement. Males are therefore more easily observed to be hyperactive.
Female ADD children are nearly equal in their hyperactivity. Some of their hyperactivity behaviors may be masked into socially acceptable traits. For example, the ADD girl may be hyperactive in conjuring up fairy tales, day dreaming episodes, and thinking about the “Prince” in her live in her mind. When girls are hyperactive, they may be referred as “tomboys” and are dismissed as tomboys. With increasing equality in boys and girls athletics, these girls may have an avenue to express their hyperactivities in sport venues. Perhaps, when the hyperactivity is extrapolated to the dating years of the girls, the ADD trait may manifest in many short intense relationships with boys; in a “hot and heavy” fashion with lots of boys.
Creative. ADD children tend to be very creative. A good deal of people in the entertainment industry has ADD traits. For example, actors, actresses, musicians, and comics to mention a few career choices.
Resourceful. They think quickly and response quickly. Therefore, they tend to be resourceful at what they are trying to solve. Partly because of their “impulsivity” or the lack of inhibition, they think outside of the box to arrive at solutions.
“Anti-Authority”. This term has been used to referred some of the ADD children. I think it’s a misguided term because of many factors. They are not anti-authority”, per se, but the anti-authority trait is more consistent with doing things their way.
Impatient. ADD children gets bored easily. That’s why they are impatient. They want things now! This phenomenal may be their erroneous interpretation of the sense of time.
“NO FEAR” attitude. They tend to exhibit a kind of no fear attitude because of their diminished inhibition. They think, they act. This is part of the impulsivity component of the ADD triad. Furthermore, they may favor high-risk behaviors and extreme sports. Societal acceptable behaviors would be the adrenaline rush of the “extreme sports”.
Practical/rational. This is a diagnosis of paradox. You ask how can someone who is impulsive be rational and practical? I think it is because they think and rethink their decisions many times over that they by chance arrive at the most practical and rational decision.
Energetic. They are filled with bundles of energy (and hence, hyperactivity…). My personal interest and contribution is to help ADD kids (and adults) harness and refocus that energy into a productive direction.
Philanthropic. They tend to be more giving as their way of showing appreciations.
Loyalty. I think there is a higher sense of loyalty to their friends, family, circle of influences, etc. than their normal counterpart. I don’t quite know how to interpret this attribute but will attempt to elaborate this later.