"Life with AD/HD" thread

[lovingmyhens]

I have been reading a new book : SMart but Scattered. A great step by step how to manage the behaviors and the outbursts in a constructive manner. Using charts to mak step by step to do lists,a nd work on a reward system as positive reinforcement. No wonder I need so many lists to help get organized!!

I am going to order that book...not just for my daughter but for children that I teach whose parents are either in denial or just don't want to medicate.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: While I was reading this book, which only address executive function and how to develop a step by step plan to accomplish that task, I was left with the underlying thought that the ADD is not addressed at all. I felt my son would continue to struggle unless I added a few things to his diet as a start.

He already lives a hig protein, low carb diet.
A multivitamin EVERY DAY
Extra magnesium
fish oil 3 x a day-- working up from 1 m might take 6 months to see results
Green tea.
Rigorous exercise every day or at least 5 days a week for 30- and hour.

Dr Amen has an online test-- not entirely accurate IMO, but still helpful.

Usually other family members have ADD, usually multigenerational according to the book. I often wonder who I inherited it from. I suspect my father-- I only knew him for a few short years as an adult ( estranged when parents divorced)and then he died; and find myself looking back at the few conversations we had. I so wish he was still here so I could talk to him. He was a very sucessful business man with life long friends.

One of Dr Amens findings is that the harder a person tryies to focus and tries to get work done, the more a section of the brain shuts down. WHich is why often kids cannot get work done in 30 minutes but rather it drags out to perhaps hours. Reading Dr Amens's book was like a huge light bulb going on.

 

[lovingmyhens]

While I was reading this book, which only address executive function and how to develop a step by step plan to accomplish that task, I was left with the underlying thought that the ADD is not addressed at all. I felt my son would continue to struggle unless I added a few things to his diet as a start.

He already lives a hig protein, low carb diet.
A multivitamin EVERY DAY
Extra magnesium
fish oil 3 x a day-- working up from 1 m might take 6 months to see results
Green tea.
Rigorous exercise every day or at least 5 days a week for 30- and hour.

Dr Amen has an online test-- not entirely accurate IMO, but still helpful.

Usually other family members have ADD, usually multigenerational according to the book. I often wonder who I inherited it from. I suspect my father-- I only knew him for a few short years as an adult ( estranged when parents divorced)and then he died; and find myself looking back at the few conversations we had. I so wish he was still here so I could talk to him. He was a very sucessful business man with life long friends.

One of Dr Amens findings is that the harder a person tryies to focus and tries to get work done, the more a section of the brain shuts down. WHich is why often kids cannot get work done in 30 minutes but rather it drags out to perhaps hours. Reading Dr Amens's book was like a huge light bulb going on.

I don't know if you saw my earlier post about my daughter (she's 20 1/2) doing something called neurofeedback as well as biofeedback. It seems to help her some, but doesn't address the filter or lack thereof. Exactly what pops in her head comes straight out the mouth. And it is often times very hurtful, but she is clueless.
I highly suspect my dad as having ADHD and we all know that my oldest (23) for sure has it. She even will admit that she does but doesn't have time to go and get the diagnosis. I just suspect she doesn't want to sit still for that long.

 

[Arielle]

I don't know if you saw my earlier post about my daughter (she's 20 1/2) doing something called neurofeedback as well as biofeedback. It seems to help her some, but doesn't address the filter or lack thereof. Exactly what pops in her head comes straight out the mouth. And it is often times very hurtful, but she is clueless.
I highly suspect my dad as having ADHD and we all know that my oldest (23) for sure has it. She even will admit that she does but doesn't have time to go and get the diagnosis. I just suspect she doesn't want to sit still for that long.

lol-- a typical add'er; she doesnt mean to be hurtful, and clueless is another clue that it is ADD.
I would love to get the testing done if I could!! I have run into endless road blocks: mostly the great facilites dont take insurance, so I might need to for get that route and go with option 2. Just to get some diagnosis of ADD would be a releif as the next step of treatment could get going.

THe neuro feed back is part of the treatment Dr Amen mentions, and while It might work for creating a practiced response, which has value, once I understood tha the brain is not fully function ing, it seems prudent to start with offering the brain some support to get it activated.

ANd then do: neurofeedback, behavior modificacton etc. Perhaps both your children are better equiped than my son who is about 10 years younger-- again only an observation that abilities seem to improve as we age.

I rarely say hurtful things anymore; but controlling the verbal flow can be a problem at times though not all the time. Oddly I have great empathy for others now and yet as I chld I was oblivious. NOt sure if that is a normal progression or an ADD progression. lol

 

[seminolewind]

I will have to follow this thread.

 

[Arielle]

MY packet from Dr AMen arrived!!!!

THe book is great-- lots of step that a person can take to try to manage ADD. THough the format is providing several examples athat are all sucess stories, I am left with the realization that finding what works for each individual is about not giving up but methodically going thru the options, a pplying them and record the results.

THe baseics are-- change your foods!!! Except for one type of ADD, eat a protein food for everny meal including breakfast and add on a veg : either a low carb veg or a quality starchy veg. ANd a few fruit . NO juices.

I am already half way there with my son. Need more breakfast option.

Take a multiviatmin every day, get more D and zinc and endless others becaue these are the building blocks that make the nerotransmitters necessary for brain function.

Not a quick fix but a start.

Talked to a woman today that saw a nephew with a huge improvement when dariy was removed from the diet. For her children all the junk food this week at summer camp has make them "off". NO food dyes at her house. Dr AMen says NO food dyes, and not sugars, and no artifical sugars either.

Woudl be wonderful if we all read the book and discussed it.

 

[lovingmyhens]

It sounds like a fabulous plan!! My issue is that my daughter is 20 and leaving to go to OU in 3 weeks. I can suggest and give advice but those choices will have to be hers. With her ADHD she wants a quick fix. I wish she had been diagnosed as a child.

 

[Arielle]

It sounds like a fabulous plan!! My issue is that my daughter is 20 and leaving to go to OU in 3 weeks. I can suggest and give advice but those choices will have to be hers. With her ADHD she wants a quick fix. I wish she had been diagnosed as a child.

We are in the generation of quick fixes. ANd I too wish a pill a day would fix everything. THerea re steps that can help pretty quickly.

Green tea-- I drink 2-3 a day. I didnt find specific recommendations for how much to drink but I know when I have forgotten to drink my tea.

She has done well if she is off to college. THe structured format will help her stay on track. When I was in college I invested in a recording devise and listened to the lecture again and again. THe longer lectures, over 50 minutes, would lose me and I couldn focus the last 15-30 minutes of a 1/5 hour lecture.

And I often crammed for my tests-- the pressure was on and I could stay focused but of course not actually retain the info for much longer than the test. I did well in classes that did most of the work in the class room time and little on my own.

Realize I muddled thru college the best I could and looking back I can see the effects of the ADD. I could have done better but I did get thru it and got my degree. Your daughter will too.

 

[lovingmyhens]

We are in the generation of quick fixes. ANd I too wish a pill a day would fix everything. THerea re steps that can help pretty quickly.

Green tea-- I drink 2-3 a day. I didnt find specific recommendations for how much to drink but I know when I have forgotten to drink my tea. 

She has done well if she is off to college. THe structured format will help her stay on track.  When I was in college I invested in a recording devise and listened to the lecture again  and again. THe longer lectures, over 50 minutes, would lose me and I couldn focus the last 15-30 minutes of a 1/5 hour lecture. 

And I often crammed for my tests-- the pressure was on and I could stay focused but of course not actually retain the info for much longer than the test.  I did well in classes that did most of the work in the class room time and little on my own. 

Realize I muddled thru college the best I could and looking back I can see the effects of the ADD. I could have done better but I did get thru it and got my degree. Your daughter will too. 

Thanks for the encouragement' this is her 3rd yr-1st 2 were at Baylor, where she got herself diagnosed in feb of her fredhman yr. she just couldn't focus and knew something was wrong. She'd study got hours and make a 40. Oh it has been the most discouraging thing ever. And I can't help her. She just keeps going farther away from home. Lol. And has changed majors from social wk to elem ed. What she wanted to do in Social wk requires a masters and she said she's just barely going to get out of college and won't go back when she gets that degree.

 

[lovingmyhens]

What's the name of the book...he's got several