You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?!: The Classic Self-Help Book for Adults With Attention Deficit Disorder (6 page)

The
cerebellum
(the vermis is part of this structure) is responsible for balance and motor coordination. The basal ganglia serves as a connector between the cerebellum and the cerebrum (which includes the frontal lobes). It also helps to regulate moods and control impulsive behavior. The corpus callosum is basically a collection of nerve
fibers that connect the left and right frontal lobes, allowing them to communicate.

Is it the actual brain structures or the connections between them that cause our ADD symptoms? Is it the fault of those tiny messengers, the neurotransmitters? Likely, the answer is all of the above. Despite a significant increase in research since we wrote the first edition of this book, scientists are still
playing a guessing game when it comes to figuring out how the brain and the nervous system produce the symptoms of ADD.

Primary Sleep Disorder

Some researchers theorize that the core problem in ADD isn’t excess activity but rather underarousal. In other words, people
with ADD aren’t fully awake and alert. These scientists hypothesize that a high activity level might be in part an effort to stay
awake. Sleep disturbances are fairly common in ADDers. Many experience irregular patterns of sleeplessness and reawakening. Others sleep so deeply that arousal is difficult.

Research into sleeping and waking patterns suggests to some investigators that the disorder arises from a primary sleep disorder. In other words, the person with ADD sleeps poorly and, as a result, has arousal problems during
the day. Other research indicates that deep dream states are necessary to anchor learning in memory. This suggests that some ADD adults may demonstrate associated learning problems because their sleep irregularities interfere with this deep dream state.

Parenting or Heredity?

There are many unanswered questions about ADD, but we know that there is a strong genetic component. Children with ADD
are likely to have ADD parents or close relatives. This might not come as a surprise if you are the ADD parent of an ADD child.

Not all family traits result from genetic inheritance. Parents
pass on
characteristics to their children through their behaviors and their child-rearing styles—children imitate their parents and tend to adopt their values. When your son talks to his playmates and sounds
like a taped recording of your voice with precisely duplicated words, inflections and pauses, you know the power of modeled behavior.

When it comes to behavior, both nature and nurture play important roles. It is now clear that ADD is a neurobiological condition in most cases. Certainly, a difficult environment will make matters worse, but the root cause is to be found in a dysregulated brain
and nervous system.

Theory of Blame

This theory holds that the only reasonable explanation for misbehavior or learning problems is that someone, usually a parents,
is doing something wrong. If you are a parent, you’re probably well acquainted with child-rearing experts who believe in this theory. These folk are the friends, family and teachers who eagerly offer unwanted comments and advice about
the correct method for raising your children:

“
He would never behave like that in my house.”
“You are too tough on him.”
“You aren’t tough enough on him.”
“All he needs is grandma’s spatula on his bottom
.”

Many of us do our own share of blaming, especially before we learn about our disorder. Unaware of the underlying ADD, we often grow up blaming our problems on our upbringing and believing
that everything wrong in our lives is caused by our dysfunctional families. Our analysis focuses on the impact of environment, minimizing or excluding consideration of a neurological makeup.

This rather limited view of human behavior may be fostered by the value Western culture places on self-determination. We prefer to feel that we have control over events and can shape destiny by our actions.
It’s unnerving to think that our children
come as they are
and that we have somewhat limited influence on their behavior.

Pregnancy and Childbirth Complications

No one is sure about the relationship between birth complications, prenatal factors and ADD. In a small percentage of cases, there is evidence that
pre
and
post
birth problems increase the infant’s risk of developing symptoms of ADD.
The risk factors include poor maternal health, maternal age of twenty or less, long labor, fetal distress or postmaturity.

Most people with ADD don’t have a history of these risk factors. Conversely, most children with histories of prenatal and childbirth complications don’t develop ADD. It does appear, however, that early damage to the CNS is a factor in a small percentage of ADDers.

Environmental Toxins

There is ongoing debate about an increase in the numbers of children newly diagnosed with ADD. Since definitions of ADD have changed over time, particularly regarding hyperactivity, it’s difficult to analyze this increase. Some argue that the incidence hasn’t increased but that improved diagnostic methods have identified children with more subtle forms of the disorder.

Others speculate
that environmental toxins play a role. It is undoubtedly true that environmental hazards are threatening our health. One-third of children with lead poisoning have symptoms of ADD. The role of other pollutants in causing or exacerbating ADD is a big question mark. It’s reasonable to suspect that they might play a part, as other substances do, in various patterns of neurological damage.

Food Stuff

Have you seen the cartoon illustrating a mother in the grocery store with her hyperactive child? While he runs up and down the aisles, she reads the label on a box that promises: “This cereal will take the hyperactivity right out of them!” If only that were true.

Scientific studies have not backed up the claim that sugar causes hyperactivity. This may be a puzzling statement for parents who directly
observe the unfortunate results of their child’s sugar binge. Scientific studies aside, if sugar seems to make your symptoms worse, it makes sense to eliminate it from your diet. Pediatrician and allergist Dr. Benjamin Feingold developed a special diet to eliminate food additives and salicylates. This diet did seem to relieve the symptoms in about 5 percent of ADD children. It is likely that
there is a subgroup of ADDers who are sensitive to certain food substances.

Other Medical Issues

Some medical conditions create symptoms that look very much like ADD. A few examples are thyroid conditions, fibromyalgia and allergies. To make matters even more complicated, ADDers
can have both ADD
and
one or more other problems that muddy the diagnostic picture. Fibromyalgia, for example, seems
to travel along with ADD in many cases. It produces a syndrome that includes muscle pain as well as mental fogginess. Allergies can also interfere with mental functioning. A person with an overactive thyroid can be hard to distinguish from the hyperactive ADDult.

The question to ask in these cases is not which one of the issues is causing the problem, but how to work with both in a way that maximizes
functioning. For some people, taking care of the thyroid imbalance, for example, may be all the treatment that is needed.

Information Explosion

Some believe that the psychological hazards of our increasingly complex society contribute to the higher incidence of ADD. In his book
Future Shock
, Alvin Toffler predicted that dire psychological consequences would result from the rapid changes in modern
society.

The theory of information explosion has validity. Many people regarded as entirely
normal
in a simpler society could become overwhelmed by the demands of a fast-paced, complex one. This doesn’t mean that the psychological hazards cause ADD. It does seem logical, however, that they could make the symptoms more noticeable and disabling.

Just a Bad Apple

We doubt that anyone is doing
research on this popular, unscientific theory! It goes like this:
The erratic behavior of ADD children and adults is intentional, maliciously planned misbehavior.

This variation on the theory of blame is based on the assumption that an ADDer can control his behavior but
chooses
not to. Of course, these theorists don’t have ADD and don’t have a clue as to what it’s like to live with the disorder.

As an ADD adult, you didn’t ask to be born this way, but you do need to work hard to shoot holes in this theory. Using your disorder as an excuse for irresponsible behavior doesn’t help your personal growth and gives the Bad Apple theorists ammunition. All of us need to develop strategies to manage our symptoms, but we need to do it with self-acceptance and forgiveness. Every person with a disability
has to make the best of the cards he’s been dealt.

How Common Is ADD?

How many of us are there? Is ADD common? We have to say, somewhat apologetically, that we don’t have the answer to these questions! But here are some
guesstimates
.

The prevalence figures reported in professional literature vary widely from 1 to 20 percent of the population. Studies that include individuals without hyperactivity cite 20 percent prevalence. The estimate accepted
by many professionals is a conservative 3 to 5 percent. Your question “But why?” may be on the tip of your tongue. Why is there so little consensus?

First, there is a lack of agreement about symptoms. Some research studies include individuals without hyperactivity and some don’t. Second, most research has focused on children and hasn’t included adolescent and adult subjects. The lack of consensus
about diagnostic criteria and a somewhat limited number of studies with ADD adults has resulted in statistics that vary from study to study.

“ADD Is a Childhood Disorder
That Occurs Primarily in Boys”

We hate to break this news to the
old-school of thought
experts, but authors Kelly and Ramundo are ADDers who are neither boys nor children! The assumption that many more boys than girls have ADD
is being challenged as increasing numbers of adult women are newly diagnosed. Historically, six times more boys than girls have been diagnosed with the disorder. The ratio approaches one to one if ADD without hyperactivity is included. These statistics suggest that the learning and adjustment problems of many ADD girls are too subtle to be identified. This apparent underidentification of girls and
non-hyperactive boys is a serious problem. These children—and adults—have special needs that are too often overlooked.

We have considered several questions that don’t have easy answers. Although most of us are uncomfortable with ambiguity, we need to focus our attention on those issues that do have answers:

“How has this disorder had an impact on my life?”
“How do my differences play out in my daily life?”
“How can I help myself?”

In the next two chapters, we’ll look at the impact ADD has had on our lives and at the ways each of us is uniquely different from our non-ADD peers. We’ll devote the remainder of the book to the third question and share lots of suggestions for managing symptoms and discovering your ADDed Dimension.

Chapter 2
How Are We Different?

I
f you have ADD, your disorder makes you different. There’s no doubt about it. You come into the world with differences that are part of the wiring of your brain. Not only are you different from others who don’t have ADD, you are also different from others who do.

Different Doesn’t Mean Defective

Yes, each of us is different, but different doesn’t equal defective.
It’s foolish to ignore our differences or pretend they don’t exist. It’s equally foolish to focus exclusively on the debit side of those differences. Although our lives would probably be easier without ADD, they wouldn’t be more valuable.

In the first chapter we examined the three broad categories of ADD symptoms. Now we’ll enlarge the discussion to consider the impact these symptoms have on
your daily life. You’ll learn about your disabilities. You’ll also learn about your abilities—abilities that are sometimes hidden by the challenges you face as a result of your particular ADD symptoms.

So How Do the Differences Affect ADD Adults?

Although we talk of ADD as a distinct disorder, it makes more sense to think of it as a syndrome: a group of symptoms that
tend to occur together. The
concept of a syndrome seems an appropriate way of thinking about a central nervous system that doesn’t work quite right. As previously noted, while researchers disagree about the specific origins of ADD, most agree that the regulatory function of the CNS is somehow erratic and inefficient. With an impaired regulatory system, an ADDer may have wildly fluctuating behaviors from day to day or even
minute to minute. He may also have academic problems caused by erratic attention and information processing.