Thought this Post would be a good fit for the ADHD blog so here you go!

I just posted an entry to my other blog, Running from Distraction.  I thought it was relevant enough to ADHD that I am going to link to it here.  Hopefully you find it interesting, or at least worth a quick read.  A longer post regarding my conversations with figures from the past is coming tomorrow.

The winter can kill your momentum; how I try to st...

Catching up with some old friends Part One

I was recently taking some kind of assessment or quiz for a reason I can't recall, but one of the questions stuck with me and made me think a little more deeply about the answer.  The question was " If you could pick one or two people from the past who are now dead to sit down and have dinner with, who would they be?"  In the past I usually would answer with a famous historical figure or try to come up with an obscure choice, just to be a pain in the neck.  But this time it struck me that there are two people I'd love to sit down with and talk to, because now I'm old enough to know what to ask them.  I want to have dinner with my Grandfathers.

Both men have been gone for quite some time.  My Father's Father was a tough, lean, wiry guy who had spent his life at sea first as a fisherman, then a boatbuilder and skipper aboard different sailing yachts and racers.  He had grown up poor, one of ten children, all of whom were subject to beatings at the hands of his equally tough Father.  When I knew him, he was a loving Grandfather who enjoyed having me around. He would tell me stories and take me different places.  Most of the curse words I know I learned from him, but I also learned a lot about hard work and taking pride in whatever you were doing.

My Mother's father, in contrast, was a well respected lawyer, Judge, and banker.  He was one of the most prominent citizens of the town my mother grew up in.  He graduated from law school early, and was the first of his classmates to pass the bar.  At the age of 25, he was named a county judge.  he became the managing partner in one of the older law firms in town, and would also become the Chairman of the Board for the local bank.  He too was a loving grandfather.  I can still remember him leaning down to kiss me smelling of Listerine.  He liked to take me down to the beach near the summer cottage he and my Grandmother owned, and teach me to shoot a BB gun, or show me what he was using for fertilizer in his garden.  I looked up to him and deeply respected him.

Both of these men harbored secrets, however.  I believe that both men may not have lived completely happy lives because of these secrets.  I also think that there is a better than even chance that they both had aspects of ADHD.  In the next two posts, I'm going to talk about each man, and then "ask" them what the difference would have been in their lives if they had lived today.  I believe they were both far more complicated interesting people than I ever suspected as a child.

How has your year started out?

I wonder how everyone's year has started out? For many of us, we set goals for the new year to make changes and improvements in our lives.  Those of us with ADHD are notorious for the New Year's resolutions to get organized, get our taxes done early, get that home improvement project done, or any number of other things.  But lots of people make goals, not just people with ADHD.  How was your  first week working toward your goal?
 
It's the first Friday afternoon of 2011 and for some of us, we had a great week, where we got a lot accomplished and moved forward.  For some of us, it was a week of catching up, and we'll get started next week.  For others it was frustrating to find that old habits seem to die hard, and they made no progress at all.  If you made a pact with yourself to make some changes this year, don't despair!  It's only been one week.

Here are some ideas to help get things moving:

1. Share your goals with friends and family; saying it out loud to someone else makes it more real.
2. Write it down, and post it everywhere.  The bathroom mirror, the fridge, your computer monitor.
3. Do you have a goal without a plan for reaching it? Then it's a wish.  Make a plan.
4. Ask for help.  No matter what your goal, there's someone who can help get you started, and it doesn't need to cost money.  Think of the people you know and ask yourself who would be a good resource?
5. Go to the library and take a couple of books out that relate to your goal.  The more you think about it the more likely you will work toward it.
6. Finally ask yourself: Is this goal right for me?  Is this what I really want?  If not, it's ok to make a new goal.

However your first week went, change happens when we as individuals decide to make it happen.  Taking the first step is often hard, but your one step closer.

New Year, New Ideas, New Attitudes, New Beginnings.

Can anyone think of the last time they vowed that this year will be different, and then it actually happened? In my experience, vowing that things will be different doesn't necessarily lead to anything changing. What really helps to promote change is changing the way we think about things. Let me give you an example:

I have spent the better portion of my adult life declaring that I am not a morning person. The idea of getting up early to do anything was repulsive to me. I'm a night owl. I'm not productive until that third cup of coffee is down. No meetings before 10 a.m. Are you beginning to get the idea? So when I began working on my own, the ugly truth began to come out. I need to start being productive earlier. I can't wait until 10 or 11 to get working on things. Life seems to wake up at 8:30, and doesn't really recognize that you need some time to get going.

This year, I have vowed that office hours will start no later than 9 a.m. I'm going to push myself to make it 8:30, but I'm giving myself wiggle room. Running and exercise need to happen early in the day. I never feel like my day has started until I've exercised, and if you don't exercise until noon, that leads to some unproductive time. So exercise and running needs to be done by 8:00-8:30. I'm going to gradually make it earlier as the year goes along and the sun comes up earlier. Finally, I've vowed that I will make sure something substantial gets accomplished before lunch every day. That difficult phone call, that paperwork that needs organizing, these blog posts, etc. Lunch will be a celebration of a productive morning that helps me move closer to my goals.

It's not going to be easy developing this new relationship with the morning, but I'm committed to trying to make it work.

ADHD and the Eight Fold Path: The Practical Truths part two: Right Coaching and Support.

At long last I've come to the final of these posts regarding the Eight Fold path to the treatment of ADHD. The final truth to discuss is that of Right Coaching and Support. I use these terms sort of loosely because they can mean different things to different people. The key idea here is that people with ADHD need three things in order to maximize the effectiveness of treatment:

1. Support: Especially at first, but even as the years go by, people who struggle with ADHD need support. Support can be as simple as someone who can remind them of things from time to time, or at least be understanding when things are forgotten. Support is also non-judgmental. Even though you may have forgotten to mail out the bills three days in a row, the person providing support must be able to look past the error and ask "so what's your plan going forward?". Spouses and Parents are not always able to manage non-judgmental support at all times, which is why a professional Coach or therapist can be so valuable.

2. Accountability: People with ADHD need accountability. The phenomenon of getting things done at the last minute is the embodiment of the power accountability can have. To a certain extent we are all accountable to someone. The person with ADHD needs to have the feeling that someone is waiting for them to complete a task. This someone needs to be real, specific and have a connection with them. The credit card company isn't really specific enough. In addition, the center of accountability once again must be non-judgmental. No one wants to be accountable to someone that yells and calls you names if you're late or make a mistake. This leads to avoidance and the need to make up stories, also known as lying: Yes professor, I turned that paper in ages ago! What do you mean you can't find it? Non Judgmental accountability provides the impetus to complete a task, with the feeling of knowing that you are being supported and encouraged to meet your obligation.

3. Finally people with ADHD need understanding. People want to do well. No one likes to feel they are a screw up or hopeless. Having someone in your life who understands you, and the effect ADHD has on you, is invaluable. Being able to say to a Coach, a spouse, a parent, or a friend that you had an "ADHD Moment"(shameless Blog Title plug :) ) and be able to laugh with them about it can mean everything. Having them offer a kind word of encouragement can mean the difference between success and failure for many people.

In closing, finding the right person or persons to offer you support, accountability, and understanding may be one of the key things you can do to treat your ADHD. It is a life long process. Be patient and celebrate small successes.

The Eight Fold path And ADHD: The Practical Truths Part One

The Practical truths for ADHD treatment are those things that deal with day to day life. Everything leading up until now has been about building a foundation for success, and an end to frustration and suffering. Now it is time to take the foundation and begin to build a new life upon it!

The Seventh Noble truth is that of Right Organization and Prioritization. People who have ADHD are often very capable, hardworking, and able to laser focus on a task for hours. The problem is that many times, the task itself is really not a priority or is something that will actually delay urgent tasks from being completed. This where prioritization becomes so key; you have to be able to look at everything that needs to be done, and the order that it needs to be done, in order to ensure you are working effectively. For someone who does not have ADHD or Executive Function challenges, this would seem obvious. But, all too often, the person with these challenges will jump into a project with very little idea of what they need, or how long it will take. Additionally, they may not recognize that while it's fine to tackle painting the house, or cleaning out the garage they actually have to pay the mortgage so they'll continue to own the home!

Hand in hand with learning to prioritize is taking the time to organize. This is the great "stopper" in many people's lives, because the task can feel overwhelming. Taking the time to methodically organize your desk, your bills, your tools, or any number of other things can seem like a boring, dreadful experience. However, knowing where things are can become the one key thing that allows you to be successful in so many ways. Here's an example: hang a basket by the door of the house you use the most. In this basket put your car keys, sunglasses, parking pass, outgoing mail, and anything else you will need to get yourself out the door in the morning. Put an extra set of everything in the basket if necessary. The time, aggravation, and negative self talk you will avoid by doing this can turn your entire day around.

It is hard for people with ADHD to learn the skills of Prioritization and Organization, but they can make your life better, less stressful, and allow you to focus on the tasks ahead of you. Not everyone can do it alone! That's why our final Noble truth will be discussing Right Support.

ADHD and the Eight Fold Path: The Mental Truths Part Three: Right Medication

There is so much discussion surrounding medication for people with ADHD. There are those who think medication should be the first line of treatment. There are other who think it's wrong to utilize medication, especially in children and teens, and advocate for a drug free approach. There is the usual collection of fringe types who insist that meds are not really effective and it's the pharmaceutical companies who are pushing this method of treatment. Finally, there is still a vestige of moral guilt on our parts that seems to whisper: "you're taking the easy way out by swallowing a pill. You should have the moral fiber to overcome your problems without medicating yourself."

As with any discussion that is charged with emotion and tinged with feelings of guilt, the decision whether or not to take medications for ADHD is not an easy one. But I urge you to hear me out on this; don't let emotion drive your decisions. Don't be cowed by the often times ill informed opinions of family and friends. Take a deep breath and consider the situation through calm, rational eyes. Remove the emotion from the process. Here is what we know:

1. Treating symptoms of ADHD with stimulant medications has been going on for quite a long time. It was first tried in 1937, and had such immediate and excellent results that it has continued to be used (albeit with better more advanced formulations) ever since. Think about that for a moment. We have been using stimulants to treat symptoms of ADHD for almost as long as we've been using antibiotics.

2. Clinical research and patient data show that approximately 90% of those who use medication to treat ADHD symptoms experience improvement in performance.

3. Use of medication in conjunction with other modes of treatment (Therapy, Diet and lifestyle changes, Coaching, etc) enhances the effectiveness of the other interventions.

Right Medication for ADHD is the decision made after careful consultation with qualified health care professionals. A person may decide to forgo medication all together, or they may decide to try it and see what works. Regardless of the decision, Medications must be evaluated as a key element of any treatment plan. You wouldn't deny a diabetic insulin, or a child with strep throat antibiotics because you "don't believe in giving kids drugs". Don't deny your child or yourself the opportunity for relief from the symptoms of ADHD out of ignorance. Educate yourself on the options and make an informed decision.