AddaptAbilities » Focus

ADHD children have different brains: actual, physical evidence!

Addy — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 16:26:06 +0000

A new study out of UC Davis has provided physical evidence for a “faulty brain connection” in children with ADHD.

This is huge news. If the results of this study hold up to scientific scrutiny, this will mark the first time that direct evidence has been found for a neurological difference in those with ADHD. Until now, ADHD has only been defined, and therefore diagnosed, by behavior. This is necessarily a subjective approach, and has led to wide-spread myths about attention deficit disorder being a hoax, or “only” a cultural phenomenon, or just an excuse for bad behavior.

The study compared the levels of alpha-waves in kids with ADHD and controls when both were given a task that required either visual or auditory attention. It was shown that the control group’s alpha waves dropped when they performed the task, which is consistent with current models of attention. The ADHD group’s alpha waves remained the same.

It is believed that when a normal brain pays attention to a task, the frontal cortex alerts other parts of the brain (in this case the visual or the auditory areas) to prepare to receive information, and this is reflected by the drop in alpha waves. In the ADHD brains in this study, there is no drop in alpha waves, indicating that this process is disrupted.

This study was done on children, so it’s not clear what it means for adult attention deficit disorder. It’s also very, very new research, so it will be some time before we can expect this test to lead to anything of practical diagnostic use. But it is nonetheless enormous news with far-reaching implications for ADHD research and treatment.

The study appears in the current issue of Biological Psychology. An article about the study can be found at PsychCentral.com.

Fun with meds and sunlight

Addy — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:38:13 +0000

I’ve blogged before about the seasonal aspects of my ADD. Unsurprisingly, things have been even worse since the return to Standard Time (ptui!) and the loss of another hour of light in the afternoon. I’ve been more tried, more hungry, more spacey … and paradoxically, less able to get to sleep at a reasonable hour.

“Attention” is a neurological state that’s heavily dependent on dopamine, the brain’s reward chemical. Dopamine, in turn, is heavily dependent on a number of factors, including sunlight. Most people are aware of seasonal and weather impacts on their mood and habits, but for some people, these effects can be extreme. I obviously fall into the second camp.

My doc and I decided to up my Vyvanse from 50 to 60 mgs. My hope is that this will improve my concentration, attention, and ability to take initiative. He also advised me to spend time in my art studio from 4 pm until 7 pm ever day. If you’ve read my previous post, you’ll know that my art studio is equipped with a full-spectrum daylight bulbs. My doc says it takes 5 or 6 “average” 150-watt bulbs to produce a therapeutic amount of light. I already had four, and I knew my two overhead lights would put me into therapeutic territory; this was a major impetus for getting off my ass and hanging the lights.

Finally, he advised me to start taking melatonin before bed.

Today is the first day I’ve managed to be in my studio right at 4 pm. I’ve got to admit it feels pretty good. I am noticing, however, just how hard it is for me to stay in one place for more than an hour. My inclination is to jump up and go do something, and come back, and jump up and do something else, and come back … it’s so annoying when you have to fight ADD tendencies in order to treat ADD.

In general I’ve been sleeping better, but it does seem harder to get up in the morning. Whether this is the melatonin or the increasing dimness of my bedroom I’m not sure. Tomorrow will be my seventh day on the new regime. Maybe things will settle in and get better.

Focus or Hyperfocus?

Addy — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 00:50:51 +0000

That is the question, isn’t it.*

Focus is a commonly misunderstood aspect of ADD. Anyone with ADD can tell you of the many many times they’ve been told, “but you can’t have ADD! I’ve seen you play video games for hours without getting bored!” Folks with ADD know that that their inability to pay attention when they need to is often complicated by an ability to hyperfocus … often when they should be working on something else, or it’s 3 in the morning, or whatever.

For many of us, this issue arises in new and exciting ways when we find a medication that works for us. Suddenly, the ability to self-initiate, to see a task needs to be done, or to start that languishing project is within our control. For the first time in our lives we can do what others do so easily — we can just do it.

And so, we dive in. We just do it.

And, we keep doing it and doing it and doing it, because the medication has in essence enabled our hyperfocus. We don’t know when to stop doing it. We don’t know when we’re done. We don’t know how good is good enough.

Like many people with ADD, my concentration is either nonexistent, or it’s turned all the way up to eleven. This is true whether or not I’m on medication. The main difference between being on meds versus not being on meds is how easy it is for me to start doing something. A secondary difference is that I’m able to keep doing something even if it’s boring. Sometimes this is a good thing — for instance, today I got hyperfocused on cleaning the kitchen, to the point where I actually took apart the gas burners and cleaned off a few years’ worth of cooked-on gloppiness. I removed a stain from one of the burners that I had once thought permanent. All I’d meant to do was run the dishwasher, wipe down the counters, and clean the stove top.

Being able to continue a boring task isn’t always a good thing though. There have been plenty of times when I’ve started a cleaning project and gotten sucked into it, only to realize that the afternoon was gone and with it, the time I’d promised myself to spend in the art studio.

I don’t know how much of this is medication and how much of it is attention-shifting skills that non-ADD people learn along the way. It seems like other people can say to themselves, OK, I’ve wasted enough time on YouTube for one day, now it’s time to get back to work. Or, the living room is clean enough for now, it’s time to pay the bills. Or, I’ve spent all day setting up my file cabinets, so now I’m going to spend the evening chilling out in front of the TV and come back to it tomorrow. Maybe it’s not my brain, per se, maybe I just never learned the skill of stopping.

I’m trying to acquire this skill by observing myself as I begin and finish tasks. Earlier today, I was actually able to check in with myself about whether I wanted to spend my time in epic battle with my stove top. I thought a bit about what I needed to get done today. I thought a bit about what I wanted to get done today. And then I decided, hey, it’s Saturday; I can spend it however I want! Let’s get this stove top clean! Yeah!

Hmmm… maybe I need a life.

*I only steal from the best!