ADHD-Fact or Fiction

The cartoons above make me laugh because I hear these kinds of comments EVERY DAY from my children.  I have two kids with ADHD and I have received a wide variety of "opinions" from people  (who are uneducated about this neurological disorder) about how to treat them (stop giving them so much sugar, that's not a real disease-just make them pay attention, you are just giving your kids an excuse to misbehave, all they really need is some old-fashioned discipline, don't worry-they will grow out of it). Believe me-if it were that easy-I would have tried many of these things a long time ago, but I have done a great deal of research on the topic and today I am going to enlighten you all (or bore you to death)!

Studies have shown that ADHD is a neurological condition that affects several parts of the brain:

1. The Frontal Lobe-which helps us pay attention, concentrate, make good decisions, plan ahead
2.  The Inhibitory Mechanisms of the Cortex- which keep us from being hyperactive, from saying things out of turn, and from getting mad at inappropriate time. It is said that 70% of the brain is there to inhibit the other 30%
3.  The Limbic System- which is the base of our emotions and our highly vigilant look-out tower. If the limbic system is over-activated, a person might have wide mood swings, or quick temper outbursts. He might also be "over-aroused," quick to startle, touching everything around him, hyper-vigilant. 
4. The Reticular Activating System-also known as the attention system of the brain. The RAS is the center of balance for the other systems involved in learning, self-control or inhibition, and motivation. When functioning normally, it provides the neural connections that are needed for the processing and learning of information, and the ability to pay attention to the correct task

The thing I always found interesting about ADHD was that it is thought of as a hyperactive disorder-when really-a lot of these parts of the brain are not active ENOUGH-thus causing the typical symptoms of ADHD. I always wondered why giving stimulants to these kids helped them to gain control over themselves. Now I understand that these stimulants are helping to stimulate the areas of the brain that control attention and activity.

Above is a sample Q-EEGs of two Attention Deficit Disorder children compared to two non- ADD ADHD children.  The Attention Deficit Disorder children show excessive slow brainwave activity (theta and alpha ranges) compared to non- ADD ADHD activity. The slow brainwave activity indicates a lack of control in the cortex of the brain.

While I appreciate understanding the science behind ADHD, I also have to look at our personal experiences. My oldest son can be the sweetest, gentlest, child-able to concentrate on a book for hours or build a city of legos for an entire day...when he is taking his medication. The difference between him on his medication and off his medication or like night and day! In the morning, we try to give it to him right away so that he can focus better on the tasks he needs to do before school. If I ask him to put on his shoes and get his coat on before his medication kicks in-he will often respond by arguing, refusing, or throwing a giant fit...if I wait 20 minutes and then ask him to get his shoes and coat on-he does so with a smile on his face and then helps his younger sister get her coat on! He has even told us that he doesn't like the way it feels when he doesn't have his medicine. He feels like he has ideas and thoughts bombarding him and he can't focus on anything. On the days he has gone to school without taking his medication-we have gotten reports from teachers who were amazed by his behavior and wondered what would have caused him to act so impulsively and be so inattentive (I always smile and point out that they are lucky that he gets his medication most days...or it would be a long school year for him and the teacher).

While Jacob suffers from the more hyperactive form of ADHD, our youngest daughter tends to be more inattentive! We had her evaluated for ADHD by a psychiatrist when she was four because I was afraid for her well-being. She was NEVER paying attention to where she was...I would take her with me to drop the boys off at school and she would wander away and I would lose her (in a matter of 30 seconds). Several times I had other parents running around the school searching for her (only to find her in the parking lot outside). She would concentrate so hard on following a crack in the sidewalk that she could walk right out into the street and never notice that there were cars coming right at her. She was always getting hurt or lost because she wasn't paying attention...and she tried...but it was physically impossible for her to focus on one thing at a time. I love the cartoon below because it does a great job of illustrating how the mind of someone with ADHD works. I have a lot of first-hand knowledge in this topic because my mother also has ADHD and her thought process is always a little strange (yet I am now able to translate for others when they ask...what made you think of that?)

 All I can say is that I am grateful for the advances in science because they have given my children the chance to succeed in a society that is not set up to support people with ADHD. In cave man days, these individuals would be out in the wild, hunting and gathering, and moving around all day long. Now we make kids sit for 8 hours a day in a desk and listen to someone else talk about what they think they should learn. The medications that my kids take make it possible for them to do this without being labeled "the problem child" of the class. I always feel bad for the kids that are obviously struggling with impulsivity, the ones that the teachers groan about when they find out they are in their class (and I know this happens because my sister is a teacher). These are creative and wildly imaginative kids who could, and someday (with the right guidance), will do great things. I wouldn't trade my kids for anything in the world. I love their thoughts and their creativity but I'm glad that they are able to positively focus these attributes with a little Vitamin R (family joke-vitamin R standing for Ritalin!