The Mysteries of ADD

read the other articles by MD's on here and they have studies that show how improving the diet and implementing anti inflammatory foods and diets improves add

It has little to do with how smart you are...

Great article and a concise resource for traits and root issue(EF).

You fail to mention the effect of diet and environment.

What about natural remedies for improving Executive functioning? working memory exercises? Neurofeedback?

"One of our patients explained this: "ADD is like having erectile dysfunction of the mind. If the task is something that really interests you, you're up for it and can perform. If it's not something that turns you on, you can't get it up and you're not able to perform." The capacity to focus and mobilize executive functions for a task depends primarily on release of dopamine in specific areas of the brain and that release of dopamine is not under voluntary control."

I can relate. Thanks!

This piece describes many of the people in my family - including myself - and certainly both of my kids. Interestingly, all of us have been 'late bloomers'. This may well be, as you point out, a function of finally catching up or improving executive functioning in early adulthood. It also, however, reflects slowly learning behavioral strategies that help to compensate for attentional problems. And that too is part of improved executive functioning.

That is, after all, what real scaffolding is. It is an internalization of skills and support that used to be provided by others (the parents) so you can now do them yourself.

Finally, that lack of attention, when properly channeled, can be an asset. In my professional life I have been very much helped because I pay attention to lots of things that no one else does and can analyze them and integrate them into current understandings in novel ways. It just takes a lot more work for me to be able to organize my ideas into something useful and usable.

As a person with ADHD, I found part three of this article especially enlightening. It never occurred to me that the reason my learning style changed in middle school might have had to do with the switch from a learning environment controlled by primarily one teacher to an environment with multiple teachers. It might not seem like a huge revelation on paper, but it did just help me to decode my brain and my past a bit better. Thank you for that.

My ADHD is mild in comparison to others that I have encountered. I was not diagnosed until the age of 17 (one of my brothers has a far more severe case than I, so in comparison to him I wasn't sending out many warning signs). I have gone through periods of my adult life in which I have chosen to go off of medication for periods of time. When I began earning my Master's degree, I decided to go back on my medication after over two years of being off of it, mostly because I think that it greatly improves my communication skills and ability to relate to people socially, both of which were of benefit to me in my course of study. I have stayed on a light dosage of medication ever since (half of the dosage that I was taking when I was initially diagnosed).

The way I understand my brain in comparison to those of non-ADHD brains is this: I always have the choice to focus. When I'm not medicated, it's a more difficult choice to make. The scales are very uneven. Being on medication helps to even out the scales a bit. Focusing, even on medication, is still a choice, and is still something that I have to work at... but it's not as difficult as it would be in an unmedicated state.

If you'll forgive this sloppy and potentially distasteful analogy (which I hope you will in light of the earlier-mentioned comparison to erectile dysfunction)... It's a bit like a drunk person pretending to be sober. They can try, and sometimes they can be convincing for a bit, but it's a very difficult thing to do. They get distracted from the task at hand (or start laughing, or singing, or something equally telling). They might realize that they are failing and then try to start over, and attempt to play sober again. The more they sober up, the easier the task becomes.

That's a bit like it is for me to take medication to treat my ADHD. When I'm not medicated, I get distracted frequently (even from tasks that I genuinely enjoy and find engaging; case in point, I have left my computer and come back four times while writing this comment, even though it's an interesting topic for me to share and explore <-- a clear sign that I forgot to take my meds this morning).

Good points, as a guy with ADD who after visiting at least 15 doctors with big diplomas from well known schools, got bull. I have lost respect for most Psychiatrists. 23 years of struggle i guess allow me to be expressive.

I know by now how talented one is after 2 mins, just from body language. Some stuff i witnessed would have let me take their license back if i had the power, just from pity for the future patients.

It's bad and corrupt in there, specially in hospitals. It's similar to many high risk jobs, you have to cover up or half the people would have no license.

Now i think max 2 out of ten drs should be allowed to practice, i believe only 20% have the natural ability to excel. A bit like most industries, in Psychiatry you don't excel you mess, cause suicide. High stakes.

In the end i discovered my ADD myself, without having heard of that term ever, at the age 38 after a series of serious failures.

now at 40, after changing meds a few times did reach a level of clarity, but it took almost 2 years for the meds to do their proper work. I had to go through PTSD therapy, my case was very bad. Now broke, but hopeful.

Morale, if things don't better after a while or if your gut tells you this Dr is not getting me. Move on asap, find another one. It's not a game that can afford guessing.

Peace ...........

Flounder is a fish. Relationships can fail or sink - founder, as 'the relationship was foundering.

Thanks for the clarification. Yes, the use of flounder can be used as a verb (I now realize)- and have this ambiguity. For example, if a man has died on the sidewalk and isn't moving - he has foundered. But, if he is still alive, and thrashing on the sidewalk, he has floundered. Believe it or not, this illustration really defines the usage for me!

This article explained my life. This is exactly what I went through. I am a female, so I flew under the radar for being diagnosed as a child, but even more so, because I did very well in grade school, and was even scoring in the 98th percentile on standardized math tests. In grade school, I never even had to study. I just knew how to take shortcuts and do things faster.

Then high school came. I still did pretty good in other classes, but math suddenly became my nemesis! (my alleged genius subject) I was practically failing my math classes. I hated math after that. My parents even blamed me and told me I wasn't trying. They grounded me once because they thought I was purposefully failing out of some teenage rebellion-type reason.

College started pretty rough, but I finally started to figure things out, and each year my grades went up and by the time I graduated I was getting almost all A's.

Then took a few years off (just as you described in your article) to figure out what to do, because I was pretty confused what to do with my life, because I always was changing my mind and felt like I couldn't work in the real world, so I went to grad school. Practically failed out first semester. My professors talked with me and would tell me they didn't understand why my grades were so low because they thought, based on their conversations with me and my class comments, that they thought I was one of their brightest students. They too, thought i just needed to put in more "effort." I felt like a fraud. It tore me up inside.

But then suddenly I started to figure out all the study secrets, and how to handle tests in a better manner(apparently now I realize they aren't secrets, it was just my ADHD pattern). But, whatever I thought it was, it allowed me to do better. And by the time I graduated, I was getting top grades and making distinguished honor roll.

Then after that long roller coaster ride, I left my ivory tower... and then life happened. I became very overwhelmed. I finally sought help, and that's when I discovered I was ADHD. Very enlightening to say the least.

Thank you for writing this article. For people like myself, these articles are very helpful to understand what we never could before.

One of the most helpful descriptions of ADHD that I have ever heard is this lecture by Dr. Russell Barkley: http://thesingularparent.com/?p=99

I did better in high school than grade school. I attribute it to changing classes every 45-55 minutes.

After being diagnosed with ADD in my thirties, I returned to college as a middle aged adult and graduated with honors.
I wasn't very good at public relations at all until I earned my degree.

I continue taking medication for ADD.

I have recently begun to suspect that I have ADD myself. I'm a sophomore in high school, and recently my grades have been dropping dramatically. This is very distressing to me, because up until about 6th grade, I did not have a single problem in school. I always got very high marks without studying at all. Like the article states, I am unable to focus on anything that is not interesting to me, but I can focus for hours and hours at a time on my passion, which is cooking. I almost teared up when I read this article, because it described me and my situation so perfectly. I am now going to pursue professional help to get a diagnosis. Thank you!