ADHD Center for Success

I’ll admit that I’m following my recommendation these days regarding the importance of exercise for ADHD. Exercise can be a brisk walk, swimming, bicycling or for me it has been regular swing and zydeco couple dancing. For me it’s time to get back into the gym for some strength building exercise and a return to yoga for flexibility and stamina.

You’ve probably also heard me promote Dr. John Ratey’s book, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. SPARK is the first book to explore comprehensively the connection between exercise and the brain. It will change forever the way you think about your morning run.

Today I came across this incredible article/video posting that announces a new study that obliterates our current recommendations about how much exercise is good for you. You’ll want to view this video that advocates at least 15min of exercise per day. READ or VIEW  – ‘New Study’

Who doesn’t have 15 minutes for exercise?  See you on the dance floor or at the gym…

~CoachRudy

The use of drugs for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was not associated with an increased risk of serious cardiovascular events like heart attack and stroke in young and middle-age adults, researchers found.

In fact, the rate of heart attack, sudden cardiac death or stroke was significantly lower in current users of the drugs compared with nonusers, according to Laurel Habel of Kaiser Permanente Northern California in Oakland and colleagues.

But that finding, reported online in the Journal of the American Medical Association, was likely the

result of a healthy-user bias stemming from an overrepresentation of white, college-educated individuals among current users, the authors noted.

Read this story: ADHD Drugs and Adult Hearts

HOT OFF THE PRESS…

After nearly 10 months, the nationwide shortage of ADHD drugs has taken a toll on people’s lives across the nation. The shortage has effected school performance, work performance, relationships and more. 

The issue drew renewed attention Thursday, when the White House issued an interim rule that requires drugmakers that are the only producers of certain critical medications to report to the Food and Drug Administration all manufacturing interruptions that could disrupt supplies.

READ FULL STORY

Four gene variants, all members of the glutamate receptor gene family, appear to be involved in vital brain signaling pathways in a sub-set of children with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), researchers from the Center for Applied Genomics at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia reported in the journal Nature Genetics. The authors add that their findings could help create drugs that target those pathways, offering potential therapies for ADHD patients with those specific gene variants. There are an estimated half-a-million American children with ADHD and these gene variants.

Study leader Hakon Hakonarson, M.D., Ph.D., said:

“At least 10 percent of the ADHD patients in our sample have these particular genetic variants. The genes involved affect neurotransmitter systems in the brain that have been implicated in ADHD, and we now have a genetic explanation for this link that applies to a subset of children with the disorder.”

** READ FULL ARTICLE **

More info re ADHD medication shortages.

I just received an email from ADDiva Linda Roggli. I cannot verify the following information but Linda is a trusted Coaching colleague. I’ve listed her note without editing…

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If you’ve been watching the news or if you’ve visited your local pharmacy lately you’re probably aware of the current nationwide prescription drug shortage.

In The News – Raleigh, N.C. — Although President Barack Obama ordered federal officials Monday to help reduce shortages of critical drugs as much as possible, pharmacists are still advising patients to plan ahead on filling prescriptions.

The executive order calls for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to speed up its safety reviews and push drug companies to better communicate on supplies.

Hospitals and pharmacies nationwide said supplies of more than 200 drugs to treat everything from attention-deficit disorder to cancer and to protect patients during surgery are limited.

“The level of shortage is the worst in history right now,” READ MORE

More on…“Current Drug Shortages”

Locate available med’s -I received the following resource for a pharmacy locator phone number that goes to Shire Customer Service and is supposed to be able to help individuals find a pharmacy that has your ADHD medication on hand.

Source: RealAge.com

Okay, so you have a little trouble concentrating. So what, right?

Not so fast. The truth is, ADHD can have some pretty significant impacts on quality of life if it’s left untreated. Here are just a few facts that demonstrate how important it is to identify, understand, and treat or manage ADHD symptoms.

Adults with ADHD are more likely to:

• Be dismissed from employment
• Have interpersonal difficulties with coworkers and managers
• Experience relationship difficulties and breakups
• Struggle with substance abuse if they’re not treating their condition

If you recognize ADHD symptoms in yourself, don’t ignore them. Speak to a healthcare professional who is well versed in diagnosing and treating ADHD.

Read More…

As I have written in previous blog posts, ADHD can produce varying degrees of challenges to many domains of our lives. In some cases these challenges can lead to severe impairment.  Our ADHD related challenges can range from significant disorganization, procrastination, poor focus and attention, easily distracted, difficulty completing tasks, restlessness, troubled relationships, poor parenting, problem finances, poor self esteem and more.

In a recent study, Dr. Russell Barkley estimates that more than 5 percent of adults have ADHD, but only 10 percent of those adults have received a formal diagnosis. These statistics are similar to a previous study I’ve quoted which reports that of the estimated 5% adult ADHD population, 85% of these ADHD adults are unrecognized, undiagnosed and untreated. These are astonishing statistics.

Worse yet, for those adults who do pursue a diagnosis of adult ADHD, the road can bumpy, potentially hazardous and lead to misdiagnosis. The following article, “Speed Bumps on the Way to an ADHD Diagnosis”, was posted in the NY Times on May 13, 2011 and tells of the difficulties faced by several adults when seeking an accurate diagnosis for ADHD. The article also offers several helpful suggestions for the savvy health consumer who is seeking a proper diagnosis of ADHD.

While the article makes no mention of ADHD Coaching, I find the article to be accurate and informative. I hope you too will find it of value.

~ CoachRudy

**Read More…

NY Times article: “Speed Bumps on the Way to an ADHD Diagnosis”

Friday, February 18, 2011
By: Rick Green

ADHD and Creativity: A Double-Edged Study?

Another ADHD myth exposed to the glare of scientific study! Only this time, research confirms what many have long maintained. People with ADHD are more creative.

Holly A. White from the University of Memphis and Priti Shah of the University of Michigan published an ADHD and creativity study this month showing, “adults with ADHD showed higher levels of original creative thinking … and higher levels of real-world creative achievement, compared to adults without ADHD.” They also found that faced with a problem, most people prefer to study the problem or refine ideas, whereas we ADHDers prefer to generate new ideas … brainstorming (what most people call daydreaming!)

I had always suspected some of us were more creative! An informal survey of friends in the entertainment industry reveals at least a third and maybe half qualify as ADHD. In our documentary about Adult ADHD, ADD & Loving It?!, actor Patrick McKenna shares how he became an improv comedian. His drama teacher took him to see Second City’s stage show and Patrick was thunderstruck, mesmerized by the comedians making people laugh using suggestions audience members shouted out. He felt the energy in the room and knew he’d found his calling. READ MORE

By Eileen Bailey (ADHDcentral.com)

Do the symptoms of ADHD strain your relationship? If you have ADHD, does your partner complain about the lack of attention or your inability to follow through on a task? Have you forgotten important events, creating friction? If so, you aren’t alone. Approximately 5 percent of all adults have ADHD and because adult ADHD has only been recently recognized, most have probably gone undiagnosed for much of their life. Even so, the characteristics of ADHD have always been there and create tension in your love life.

To help you find answers, I went to the experts and asked how ADHD impacts relationships and what they would offer as suggestions to help.