The Gift of ADHD - NeoStrategy - Page 2

When a non ADHD person reads about ADHD and about the symptoms like distractibility, impulsiveness, etc they usually will say ” now a days everyone is having distractions, etc”. Even after reading this blog series some people told me that they also have the distraction issues so they may have ADHD ;). Yes, most people now a days have distractibility and addiction (esp social media) issues but that does not mean that people have ADHD. As i said many times ADHD is not a simple focus/attention problem.

ADHD people have different brain structure and different personality trait. It is estimated that about 4% of adults in US are ADHD. It is very much possible that this number might go up in the coming generation due to various factors like biological, stress and other addictive factors from parents.

The main reason to bring this topic is – it is very easy for a non ADHD person to write off saying this is all non sense and every one is having the same issue. Absolutely wrong !!. The simple way to test this out is, don’t just compare on negative traits of ADHD but compare with positive traits like creativity, risk taking ability, high problem solving skills, etc. Then everybody should be having all these skills. Do they have? .I hope you got the point.

The best you can do for any ADHD child/adult is – try to really understand what ADHD is all about before making easy and free judgement.

Most people think that ADHD is simply lack focus/distraction issue. Actually this is not a big issue. In fact, most ADHD people would have hyper focus when they are interested in the task. They get distracted only when the task is boring (no challenge or no novelty). I personally think ADHD label is very wrong and misfit. Need a better suited label. Lets say if the problem is only with attention then any attention enhancing medicine and even some natural remedies could fix the issue. But that is not just the only issue. This is one of the reason why ADHD medication won’t resolve the problem and most people don’t use them for long term.

So what is the issue beyond attention?. As I said in the previous article, there are two possible root causes for ADHD. One is brain neurological condition/dopamine issue and other is due to lack of love during early childhood. Whether we believe in these root causes or not, most ADHD people struggle with low Self Esteem/lack of Self Love problems. Dopamine issue can be fixed simple solution we discussed in the last blog.

But fixing low Self-Esteem/Lack of Self Love problems are hard to fix but very much possible. Read my earlier blog on these topics.

Low Self Esteem

Lack of Self Love

Unless these are fixed, really gifts of ADHD can not realized or experienced. Get enough knowledge in these areas and these would give real personal breakthroughs.

Most often people are not aware that they have ADHD. Even if they know that they have different traits they would not know it as ADHD.  Often people come to know about it later in life (esp adults).

What to do after diagnosis?. There are multiple approaches/solutions to manage ADHD. Below are some of key solutions often used.

• Medication: This is most debated – to use or not use. Side effects vs benefits, etc. Of course, one has to go with qualified doctor advise. But my personal view is one has to try and see how much medication is beneficial for ones situation
• Diet: Diet plays a significant role in managing the symptoms. High protein and low carbs is a must. Simple carbs makes things worse. Sugar is most dangerous for ADHD people. Extra care should be taken care in diet selection. Experiment with High protein vs High carb diet and you will find the difference. There is a direct relation between Dopamine and Protien diet
• Exercise: Diet combined with Exercise will make miracles in a such a way that you yourself will not believe that you have ADHD issue.  30 mins exercise will produce enough Dopamine to sustain entire day focus and it is almost equivalent to taking medicine. For normal people exercise could be optional. But for ADHD people it is a MUST. You can easily and very easily make out the difference between the days with exercise vs no exercise. This is really a gift for ADHD people
• CBT/Coaching: Prolonged undianosed ADHD will result into lot of psychological issues like low self esteem, anxiety, etc. Professional CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) will significantly help to get rid of deep rooted beliefs and patterns. ADHD Coach can help and really make a big difference. Finding one could be very challenging though.

Above are some key solutions. There are lot more approaches and techniques to be used especially when we start focusing on strengths of ADHD. More on this in the coming parts.

So far we talked about  – what is ADHD, what are the main negatives and strengths,  what causes it, Dopamine, etc. Now lets look at how ADHD is Diagnosed?

I am not a Doctor so obviously I do not know all possible available diagnosis methods, etc. But what I know very well is that there is NO real foolproof method for diagnosing ADHD. Even if you go to the most experienced ADHD doctor (very less in India) what they do is basic symptom based questionnaire and inquiring on family history, etc. In my personal view, the BEST Diagnosis is self diagnosis supported by qualified Doctors diagnosis. Why?. Because person with ADHD would exactly know what happens in his/her mind and which is not very well understood by other people. Only two ADHD people can understand each other and correlate well. Do you know most interesting thing?. The best ADHD Doctors and ADHD Coaches have ADHD !!. This is the basic criteria to understand full spectrum of ADHD. Half knowledge about anything is dangerous and it is more so in case of ADHD. Because it is very easy to write off saying “Everybody is having ADHD symptoms now a days, etc”. This is not correct. While everyone might be having distractions, what comes with ADHD is very different.

So, in summary – 1) Do not make your own assessments/judgement about ADHD people,  if you do not have ADHD. This is best help you can do !!. 2 ) Of course, take qualified doctor help in formal diagnosis but equally learn a lot of ADHD and get fully equipped. This will solve 70% of the problem.

There is so much of information available on ADHD online. I refer to the Dr Hallowell website. Refer to the below site on ADHD Diagnosis and other useful information.

ADHD OVERVIEW

The low production of Dopamine mainly causes ADHD. The negatives of ADHD are directly related to low Dopamine. And strengths would show up when Dopamine is induced. Basically the delta factor is Dopamine between people with ADHD and without ADHD.

The only GOD for people with ADHD is Dopamine. Now the question is how to get the Dopamine? All the ADHD solutions are directly related to Dopamine production. Most recommended treatment you get when you go to doctor is obviously some medications (for e.g Retalin). Basically what this medication produces is Dopamine. And there are many natural ways one can get Dopamine. For e.g Exercise, Meditation, High Protein-Low Carb diet, Sleep, Music, etc.

Once Dopamine need is taken care ADHD person feels like a superman. All the creativity, hyper focus, innovative ideas, etc will zoom like any thing. But the trick is many people are not aware about Dopamine scientifically. They go all around world and try all kinds of GODs.  Finally for ADHD the real GOD is in Dopamine. Period.

In simply formula:

ADHD is a Gift = ADHD+Dopamine

ADHD is Pain = ADHD -Dopamine

You can search online on “How to get Dopamine”, you will lot of information. You can chose easy options to fill your Dopamine.

Unfortunately, there are many unhealthy/destructive way of getting Dopamine. Most people try to go with this way then ADHD will become devastating from simple pain. More on this tomorrow.

We quickly looked at symptoms of ADHD in the previous blog. Now let us understand what causes really this ADHD? There are no exact scientific reasons why this occurs. But the main reason you hear is – Imbalance in the brain’s neurotransmitter called “Dopamine”.  For someone with ADHD the only GOD they know about is this Dopamine. I will cover more on this later.

In very simple terms, people with ADHD brains will have less production of Dopamine. What is the role of Dopamine?  “Dopamine  is a neurotransmitter that helps control the brain’s reward and pleasure centers. Dopamine  also helps regulate movement and emotional responses, and it enables us not only to see rewards, but to take action to move toward them”.  Basically this theory says that low production of Dopamine is the root cause of ADHD. And this is true as well. Essentially any solution towards ADHD is mainly focused on increasing Dopamine ( Exercise, Sleep, High Protein diet, Achievement, etc).

There is also second theory, which i firmly believe is – lack of Love during child developmental stage. Basically, if the child has not experienced enough love (for whatever reasons) then also ADHD symptoms might appear. This is like a chicken and egg kind of a situation. We do not know lack of love creates low dopamine or vice versa.

Bottomline is ADHD is a neurological condition with Dopamine deficiency. This is what one need to really understand rather than making general labels for this condition.

Lets first look what are the real negative and positive sides of ADHD.

By looking at the above negatives and strengths, would you say ADHD is a problem (Thorns) or gift (Roses)??. Answer is NOT the usual “DEPENDS” kind of response !!. Answer is simple – if ADHD is diagnosed then focus will shift to gifts side, if not, then ADHD  is only about problems. In fact, un-diagnosed would  be a real disorder.

Now the tricky part is you have to be masterful to remove the negatives (Thorns) and reach full potential strengths (Roses).  I will talk about how to do this later. Right now spend some time thinking about people around you (your kids, family members, Bosses, Colleagues, etc) who might have above symptoms ( both). I can guarantee you that you will not find people with right  side of symptoms without left side and vice versa. This makes me feel that this is part of the design. If it is part of the design then how can it be disorder??. Nature gives every thing  in a package.

Are you convinced that ADHD can be a gift? Look at the right hand side more closely?. Look at it 10 times and you will get convinced.

People often think about ADHD as a some simple problem for Children. ADHD grows from childhood to adulthood. I see good number of adults are struggling with ADHD. But they do not know that they have ADHD. Especially this is a big problem in India. We often mix many things and come up with some generic names for the actual underlying problem. Until people saw the movie “Taare Zameen Par” we had no idea about “Dyslexia”.  I am very sure very soon there will be a movie on ADHD. I hope Amir Khan (Director of Taare Zameen Par) is aware about ADHD. If he is then he will really make a movie out of it.

My this little writing attempt is to bring some awareness on ADHD. Before I get into lot of technical terms related to ADHD, let me give a very simple of concept of mine on this topic.

If you go and type ADHD in google you will get lot of sites which talks about ADHD as problem. And if you type “ADHD Gifts/Talents” then you will see all kinds of great things about ADHD and called as gift or genius type. Fortunately or unfortunately both are true !!. Magic is very simple. If you understand ADHD and take necessary actions ( on diet, exercises, focus on strengths, etc ) then it is gift otherwise it is really painful (most often not seen by other person).

The simple metaphor I use for ADHD is “ROSE WITH THORNS”. Got it?

My focus would be on how to cut the thorns and enjoy the ROSE !!

What is this ADHD? .

First lets look at the formal definition of ADHD. Below are couple of definitions from different websites.

From add.org -> “ADHD is a highly genetic, brain-based syndrome that has to do with the regulation of a particular set of brain functions and related behaviors.”

From Dr Hallowell (Top Doctor for ADHD)  -> “ADHD is a neurological condition that is usually genetically transmitted. It is characterized by distractibility, impulsivity and restlessness or hyperactivity. These symptoms are present from childhood on, and with a much greater intensity than in the everyday person, so that they interfere with everyday functioning.”

When you look at the above definitions you might think this is some kind of disorder etc. It may be from the clinical definition. If you have heard (most probably not – unless you are my friend or you know some one with ADHD) about this word then most probably you would think this some problem with children with hyper activity and impulsiveness, etc. But actually this is a bigger problem in Adults !!. But when it comes to adults we may write off saying he/she is not “focused” or “not stable” or “addictive” etc. Lot more goes behind the scenes. Really lot more. Since most often we don’t understand the scientific aspects esp when it comes to personalities we simply try to generalize the real issues.

I will write lot of details on this topic as we move forward. But for today, try to think of any person whom you know might have ADHD symptoms. The surprising and good news is that this is NOT a disorder really…this is a “Creative” gene type. Yes it is !!. More will come …