ADHD Center for Success

The Asheville Area Adult ADHD Meetup

Monday, Oct 17, at 7pm

This is a free group for adults with ADHD.

http://www.meetup.com/Asheville-Adult-ADHD-Meetup-Group/

The Adult ADHD Meetup is an opportunity

to meet other local adults dealing with ADD or ADHD.

A safe place to share your experiences and learn

from other adults with ADHD.

~CoachRudy, Asheville, NC

by Lynn Schnurnberger, September 26, 2010

Tara Kennedy-Kline’s husband, Chris, loved her free spirit when they were high school sweethearts. But nearly 20 years later, he found her behavior alarming. The mother of two from Shoemakersville, Pa., was still careening from career to career and disappearing for hours without bothering to call. She took out a $7000 loan to start yet another new business—and blew all the money shopping. By the time a therapist diagnosed Kennedy–Kline with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) four years ago, the couple were on the brink of divorce. Like millions of Americans, they’d learned that ADHD, often thought of as a childhood disorder, can have devastating consequences for adults.

A Brain Like a Multiplex
“My mind is always jumping all over the place,” says Dr. Louis DeLuca, 45, a plastic surgeon and ADHD sufferer in Boca Raton, Fla. “It’s like having 16 movies going on in your head, all at the same time.” In addition to a lack of focus, symptoms including disorganization, impulsiveness, bursts of anger, and difficulty finishing tasks are so severe that they impair performance at home, work, or in social settings.

A New Take on ADHD

“ADHD is a developmental nerve disorder affecting the part of the brain associated with planning, organization, and impulse control,” explains Dr. Lenard Adler, director of the Adult ADHD program at the NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City. Symptoms begin early in life, and while many children outgrow them, up to 50% don’t. Though ADHD is the most common psychological problem after depression, 75% of the estimated 8.8 million adult sufferers in the U.S. go their entire lives without being diagnosed.

Lost Jobs? Failing Marriages?
Left untreated, adult ADHD can wreak havoc. People with the disorder are eight times as likely as the general population to take dangerous risks  and twice as likely to get into traffic wrecks; they are also more prone to drug and alcohol abuse. Adults with ADHD are 50% more likely to be unemployed, and those who do have jobs earn about $15,000 a year less than others who are equally educated, according to a recent Harvard study.

Read More

Every year we celebrate ADHD Awareness Week as a way of bringing attention and awareness to a medical condition that effects many children, college students and adults worldwide.

The 2011 National ADHD Awareness Week is October 16 – 22.

**Check out ADHD Asheville calendar of events. Stay tuned for updates!

Here are some sights to explore:

*National ADHD Coaches Awareness Campaign: Looking for an ADHD Coach?  http://www.adhdcoaches.org/looking-for-coach/

*ADHD Awareness Facebook Page:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/ADHD-Awareness/116860058363743#!/pages/ADHD-Awareness/116860058363743?sk=wall

ADHD Awareness Week is officially October 16-22, 2011

2011 marks the collaboration between:

• (ACO) ADHD Coaches Organization,
• (ADDA) Attention Deficit Disorder Association,
• ADDitude Magazine (www.additudemag.com)
• (CHADD) Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

The official ADHD Awareness website is: ADHDAwarenessweek.org

There are two resources for download:

“7 Facts about ADHD” 

2011 ADHD Awareness Poster 

ADHD Awareness 2011 has gone viral as several ADHD organizations and associations throughout the United States, Canada and Europe have joined the movement.

See ADHD Asheville for a listing of Asheville based ADHD Awareness activities.

If you’re an adult with ADHD, you’re in good company.

Below is a list of famous people speculated of having ADD/ADHD.

Architect:

• Frank Lloyd Wright

Artists:

• Pablo Picasso
• Vincent Van Gogh
• Salvador Dali

Athletes:

• Michael Phelps
• Terry Bradshaw
• Pete Rose
• Nolan Ryan
• Michael Jordan

Authors:

• Samuel Clemens
• Emily Dickenson
• Edgar Allan Poe
• Ralph Waldo Emerson

Composer:

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders:

• Andrew Carnegie
• Malcolm forbes
• Henry Ford
• Bill Gates
• Paul Orfalea
• Ted Turner

Entertainers:

• Jim Carrey
• Steve McQueen
• Jack Nicholson
• Elvis Presley
• Robin Williams

Inventors:

• Alexander Graham Bell
• Thomas Edison
• Benjamin Franklin

Physicist:

• Albert Einstein

Political Figures:

• James Carville
• John F. Kennedy
• Abraham Lincoln

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…

Parents and college students are aware of the advantages of having proficiency in another language. Research now suggests that high-level use of more than one language may actually improve early brain development. Still other studies suggest that command of two or more languages improves the ability to focus in the face of distraction and may improve the essential skills known as ‘executive function”.

Read more about bilingual skills and ADHD…

READ MORE…

Summer temperatures having been soaring across the country and it has come to my attention that Medications + Heat = can easily lead to serious health risks.

Attention Deficit medications such as Adderall and Ritalin can prevent the body from maintaining a normal temperature. Children and adults taking these medications should be encouraged to drink lots of water during the day. Overheating can be extremely dangerous.

In addition, people taking antipsychotic, antiparkinsonian, or tricyclic antidepressant medications should avoid overheating and prolonged sun exposure. Even newer medications such as Seroquel, Risperdal or Abilify can increase your risk of stroke. Dehydration is a serious consideration and consumers should make sure that they drink plenty of fluids.

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”

“7  Steps To Get Control Of Your Day”…

(and maybe your life)

Many adults with ADHD begin their day with only a vague idea of what they want to do and what they want to accomplish. Of course, by days end, adults with ADHD review their day only to find that they have accomplished little if anything. It is an unfortunate and common experience that adults with ADHD are frequently ‘busy’ but unproductive. Is this your experience?

Follow these “7 Steps To Get Control Of Your Day” … (and maybe your life)

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