If you’re in a chronic state of disorganization, procrastination, or you can’t seem to get much accomplished, you might be wondering what’s wrong. The answer might be that you are suffering from adult add or adhd.  

Maybe your parents or grandparents had similar behavioral issues

and so it must be genetic? And you need to know if there is anything you can do about it? And to make matters worse your child is showing signs of all this same problem. Well the symptoms that define what you are looking for may include:

• Inability to concentrate on what you are doing
• Difficulty in completing what you are doing so you may be doing one task before finishing another one or even reading more than one book at a time.
• Buying things that you mean to do but never get around to doing them.
• Daydream and doodle instead of getting down to what needs to be done.
• That you don’t like yourself and neither does anybody else.
• That nobody understands what you are going through.
• You may be constantly doing certain tasks, fidgeting, cleaning or compelled to do certain things in certain ways and it upsets you that other people don’t do these things the same way that you do.
• You may focus on an issue – whatever that issue is – repeating scenarios and conversations in your head so it never gets resolved
• Lacking self confidence and belief in yourself

Well, here’s my disclosure. I had all of those feelings and thoughts this morning and you know what when I ask people at random – they did too! So what does that mean that we all have ADHD / ADD? Because that is how it is defined as a checklist of symptoms over a period of time. I had been supporting children and families with behavioral challenges including ADHD / ADD for many years before I suddenly woke up to the fact that I may well have it myself because I hit the checklist. Now I don’t believe for one minute that I do have these conditions but I could quite easily talk myself into believing it. Especially when I go into some of the forums that post discussions around these symptoms.

All of a sudden, a light goes on in people’s minds. They focus on these symptoms and suddenly there is a reason for them to explain why they haven’t actually got the life they truly want – they have finally got a label to hang it all on! And others on these forums who have been down the same road on these sites, rub their hands with glee that they are ‘helping’ someone out here and point them off to the doctor. There are huge profits being made by pharmaceutical companies in supporting the ADHD /ADD industry. Very little is known about what causes it and that is no surprise when some of those symptoms are common to most of the population of the world at any given time

Now, I don’t question that taking these drugs helps people feel better, but what we need to do is find out why. How do these drugs work? What are their side effects? And just as these conditions vary from individual to individual so too, do the side effects of the medication they take to control it. And if these magic formulas work – why are they still on these sites talking about the same old symptoms? Why haven’t they been cured?

There are other ways to deal with your symptoms in an individually focused way. Change what needs changing from within and measure that change for yourself. Define your goals and measure your journey step by step but most importantly inform yourself of what that journey entails. And finally…celebrate the success of being you. Believe it or not… There are tools out there to help you do just that.

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1. Inattention – causing people to have problems paying attention, focusing on a task, or finishing tasks, especially if they are not very interesting tasks.
2. Impulsivity – causing a lack of self-control. Impulsive behaviors, or choices, can cause havoc in relationships, work, school, or life.
3. Hyperactivity – Many (though not all) with ADHD are bouncy and hyperactive, always on the go as if they were driven by a motor, and always restless.
4. Being Easily Bored – Unless the task is very stimulating, like a video game or TV program or outside playing, those with attention disorders are often easily bored by a task -especially bored by homework, math tests, balancing checkbooks, or doing taxes, and many of these tasks just never get done.

Children, teens, and adults can all suffer from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. It impacts over five percent of all children and teenagers, and about three percent of all adults. Less than half of the children with ADHD will ever out-grow the symptoms in adolescence or adulthood. If left untreated, ADHD can have some very serious long-term probles that can last into adulthood.

Most people with ADHD will never out-grow the symptoms of their ADHD even as they enter adolescence or adulthood. Though the brain continues to mature into the twenties for females and into the early thirties for males, and with that maturation typically comes a lessening of ADHD symptoms, for many as they head into young adulthood the symptoms only slightly lessen, or do not improve at all.

This month another reminder of this was published in a national survey of 1,007 adults with ADHD. The survey looked at how adults with ADHD cope at home, at work, and in relationships with others. The survey was published just in time for the 2008 Chadd Conference, and the 2008 ADHD National Awareness Day. What the survey found was that, of those adults with ADHD:

• 75% reported that ADHD strongly impacted their ability to stay focused to a task long enough to complete it;

• 70% reported that ADHD strongly impacted their ability to focus on what others were saying;

• Two out of three reported that their Attention Deficit Disorder strongly impacted their ability to perform their responsibilities at home;

• Sixty percent said that ADHD strongly impacted their ability to stay seated through a business meeting, or to organize their projects, or to follow through with their projects at work, or at home, until they were finished;

• Fifty-seven percent said that their ADHD caused major problems in their relationships with their families and friends;

• Over one-half reported that ADHD strongly impacted their ability to advance in their work place or career; and one-half reported that ADHD caused them to have to work harder than others just to accomplish the same amount of work as those at their workplace who did not have ADHD;

The survey group was asked how they would like things to be, what they would like to see improved in their lives through treatment, and they reported the following:

• 50% reported that they would like to get their house organized, and 28% reported that they needed to get their personal finances more organized;

• Four out of ten knew that they needed to get their emotions and moodiness under control, as that was a problem in their relationships with others;

• One-third felt that their ADHD symptoms were still not under control even as adults, and said that they often felt depressed thinking about how hard it is to be an adult with Attention Deficit Disorder; and one-quarter wanted to improve the quality of their relationships with those they really cared about in life.

The study was headed up by Ed (Ned) Hallowell, M.D., who has written some important books on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, such as Driven to Distraction. The study was funded by McNeill Pediatrics, which, by the way, markets CONCERTA (methylphenidate HCI) for the treatment of ADHD in adults, as well as in children. Hallowell is a paid consultant for McNeill Pediatrics. So there is an element of this study that is designed to market CONCERTA to those adults who are not receiving any treatment, or who feel that their ADHD is not under control.

But this study is much more important than just that.

IF conservatively five-percent of the children in the United States have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (some say the number is as high as nine percent) and IF conservatively fifty-percent of these children will out-grow their ADHD symptoms by the age of twenty or thirty as their brains mature, and IF there are about 300 million people in the USA, THEN there are at least 7,500,000 adults alone dealing with adult ADHD.

And if 38% of them feel that their ADHD is not under control, or are depressed by their ADHD, and so on, well thats a lot of people suffering from ADHD even into adulthood (38% of 7.5 million adults with ADHD is 2,850,000 adults who feel it is out of control or feel depressed because of their ADHD).

If you are an adult with ADHD, and you are feeling that you cannot get ahead at work because of it, or you cannot get organized, or motivated, or get your moods under control, there is help for you.

Medications like Concerta can help. There are several good choices of stimulant medications can help you to increase your time on task, improve your focus to the boring tasks, and help you to get things done. Consider medications as a treatment option and talk to your doctor about it.

We also like people to try the combination of an ADHD diet (including high protein, low carbohydrate breakfasts and some caffeine), with ATTEND, Extress or Deprex (for mood stabilization if needed) or Memorin for memory improvement. Learn more about these at the ADHD Information Library. With either of the approaches above, counseling or coaching for ADHD as well as for skills and strategies to improve relationships and work performance are essential.

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ADHD or ADD is a neurological disorder that usually affects a person during their childhood, and persists into their adulthood. Here are some of the main ADHD symptoms.

You’ve probably come across them,friends or relatives who can’r seem tomstay focused on anything for a very long time. He or she has a million unfinished projects, just ca’t seem to finish anything. The person has a history of jog loss or hopping. These are some of the classic ADHD symptoms that your friend or relative is displaying.

So, What Exactly is ADHD?

Well, ADHD, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, also referred to as just ADD, or Attention Deficit Disorder, is a chronic type of neurological disorder. The children and adults affected with this condition find it difficult to control their spontaneous responses, particularly those involving attentiveness, speech, and movement, which result in their inattentiveness, impulsive behavior, and hyperactivity. According to estimates, it is thought millions of children display the symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder, and the condition usually continues into adulthood. Those affected with ADD symptoms usually also suffer from performance problems in school or at work, experience trouble with their personal relationships, and have low self-confidence and self esteem.

Treatment of ADD

Exactly what treatment should be followed in order to control the symptoms of ADD is still under debate by the medical community. Presently, doctors are prescribing psychostimulant drugs in order to treat ADHD. However, even though many of the ADHD symptoms may be controlled by these drugs, they do not cure the condition. Plus, the side effects of these drugs can be a troubling factor. Special classroom modifications, support by the family as well as the community, and counseling are some of the supportive parts of the treatment.

Symptoms of ADD/ADHD

Most physicians are of the opinion that a child should not be diagnosed with ADHD unless the principal ADHD symptoms occur early in life and result in creating significant problems at school as well as at home in a continuous manner. Most children diagnosed with this condition display the signs of ADHD before they are seven years old, sometimes even earlier. The symptoms and signs of ADHD can be broadly categorized into two types: Inattentiveness; and Impulsive Behavior-Hyperactivity.

Within the Inattentiveness symptom, the add sufferer cannot concentrate on any one thing or project very long. He or she is easily distracted. This results in missed appointments,incomplete projects,missed deadlines, and a general appearance of absent-mindedness.

Within the hyperactivity symptom.the patient is often restless, fidgety, tapping his toe or finger while doing something else. Sometimes the person races arounf from project to project, usually losing things,and never really seems to complete anything on time. For all his or her level of acrtivity, you’d think just the opposit–that thisperson has so much energy, he must move mountains. Alas, he usually gets stuck.

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