ADHD, a Lifelong Struggle (2018)

Nor coffee or other "normalized" liquid stimulants. The coffee sweet-spot-of-productivity is so difficult to attain, or even find. Is it even worth experimenting with if other avenues have failed?

It would be interesting to hear the author's thoughts on this, and on alcohol.

EDIT: ...and on exercise.

The way I've come to describe it with my therapist is that it feels like, internally, I have 12 different brains. All of them are constantly scanning around, interested in different things, making it very hard to focus on one thing, but conversely making me very good at understanding a thing as a whole.

The other part of this analogy is that when there is something that grabs my interest, it grabs it with all 12 brains and I bury myself in that interest until I burn out after a few hours.

I find that ADHD makes me a very good architect and a very bad regular programmer.

Being diagnosed with all of those things -- doesn't it seem like a pharmaceutical spiral brought on by a sick process? Ever since my sister was misdiagnosed with a handful of labels and put on a handful of drugs which subsequently ruined her life for a very long time I've been interested in looking at alternatives to the pharma status quo. I read Lost Connections by Johann Hari recently and it was remarkable. The chapter on how people with similar diagnoses radically improved by joining a gardening club (reconnecting with others) makes the book worth reading, but it goes into much much more. It's worth looking up.

Yep - these conditions are closesly linked

https://scientonline.org/open-access/dystonia-and-its-treatm...

Neurodevelopmental Disorders (Autism, ADHD, Delayed Speech/language, dyspraxia)

>"hyper mobile joints are an uncommon finding in those who do not have attention deficit disorder/attention deficit hyperactivity disorder."

>Differences in the structural integrity of temporal and parietal cortices may underlie wider behavioural phenotypical expression of hypermobility: abnormalities in superior temporal cortex are also seen in autism.11 Inferior parietal cortex can affect proprioceptive awareness and hypermobility is itself linked to dyspraxia.1 Our findings suggest that processes compromising function in neuro-developmental conditions may occur in individuals with hypermobility, putatively enhancing vulnerability to stress and anxiety.

Autism, Joint Hypermobility-Related Disorders and Pain

ASD and HRDs, specially hEDS, are conditions with a strong genetic component, a polymorphic clinical presentation, appearing both in infancy, and sharing several phenotypical features (35). Although existing data does not allow to ascertain increase prevalence of ASD in HRDs, as well as shared underlying patho-mechanisms between both conditions, there is increasing evidence suggesting that these co-occur more often than expected by chance. This requires be confirmed by further investigation which should consider the recent nosological changes both in EDS and the hypermobility spectrum disorders [see (17, 38)], and in ASD (72). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6292952

Joint hypermobility and the heritable disorders of connective tissue: clinical and empirical evidence of links with psychiatry

- In 1988, Hofman et al.[58], in a sample of 30 children with MFS,observed that 17% had attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity. A decade later, Harris[59] stated, based on his clinical experience with 200 patients with ADHD, that "hyper mobile joints are an uncommon finding in those who do not have attention deficit disorder/attention deficit hyperactivity disorder."

In Sweden,Hollertz[60,61] also pointed out the frequent co-occurrence of ADHD and JH in adults patients. He observed that an orientation to orthopedic and rehabilitation care was common in these patients due to joint problems. Thus, this author speculates about a possible genetic marker com-mon to ADHD and EDS.

Recently, Koldas Dogan et al.[62]explored JH using the Beighton score in 54 children with ADHD compared to 36healthy controls. In this study, JH was significantly more frequentamong patients than among controls (31.5% vs. 13.9%). In accor-dance with these results,

Shiari et al.[63]also found a higher prev-alence of JH, assessed with the same method of the previous study,among Iranian children with ADHD compared to controls (74.4%vs. 12.8%), confirming an association between ADHD and abnormal collagen conditions.

JOINT HYPERMOBILITY AND AUTONOMIC HYPERACTIVITY: RELEVANCE TO NEURODEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS

> It is likely that the importance of hypermobility and autonomic dysfunction to the generation and maintenance of psychopathology in neurodevelopmental disorders is poorly appreciated. Work underway(autonomic testing, fMRI) will test the hypothesis that autonomic reactivity and interoceptive sensitivity predispose to the expression of psychiatric symptoms, particularly anxiety

- We demonstrate for the first time that rates of hypermobility and symptoms of autonomic dysfunction are particularly high in adults with neurodevelopmental diagnoses. It is likely that the importance of hypermobility and autonomic dysfunction to the generation and maintenance of psychopathology in neurodevelopmental disorders is poorly appreciated. Work underway(autonomic testing, fMRI) will test the hypothesis that autonomic reactivity and interoceptive sensitivity predispose to the expression of psychiatric symptoms, particularly anxiety. It is further hypothesized that inefficient neural co-ordination of efferent autonomic drive with imprecise interoceptive representations may be amplified in hypermobile individuals. In hypermobility, this mechanism might explain increased vulnerability to stress sensitive and developmental neuropsychiatric conditions. - https://jnnp.bmj.com/content/85/8/e3.40?utm_source=trendmd&u...

[Searching for a biological marker common for both ADHD and EDS].

- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22468413 - speculated about a common biological base shared by ADHD and EDS after observing the frequent cooccurrence of both pathologies in a clinical setting.

Connective tissue problems and attention deficit and hyperactivity

Attachments - [ADHDBaeza-Velascoetal.2015.pdf](https://checkvist-prod-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/u/OKFCuEQ7Zl...)

- To the Editor, The heritable disorders of the connective tissue are a group of genetic disorders affecting connective tissue matrix proteins that classically include Marfan syndrome (MFS), Ehlers–Danlos Syndrome (EDS), benign joint hypermobility syndrome and osteogenesis imperfecta (Grahame 2000). As connective tissue is found throughout the body, the clinical manifestations of these disorders are varied, including disturbances in different systems (skeletal, ocular, cardiovascular, etc.). A common feature of the heritable disorders of the connective tissue is joint hypermobility (JH), which is a highly heritable condition characterized by an increased range of motion of the joints as a consequence of connective tissue involvement.We encountered a 7-year-old boy addressed by teachers due to school problems. His mother suffer from MFS such as his maternal grandmother who died by cardiac complications. Considering familial antecedents, his morphotype (long bone overgrowth), JH and ocular ...

A connective tissue disorder may underlie ESSENCE problems in childhood

Attachments - [1-s2.0-S0891422216302402-main.pdf](https://checkvist-prod-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/u/aghis3LMNv...)

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Attachments - [Screenshot_2019-06-27_at_16.53.23.png](https://checkvist-prod-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/u/dm7JuPP8Gq...)

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, joint hypermobility-related disorders and pain: expanding body-mind connections to the developmental age.

>Recent research seems to indicate a degree of co-occurrence of JHS/hEDS and some neuro-developmental disorders including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorders (ADHD) and developmental coordination disorder (DCD). In the area of ADHD, researchers found that adults with ADHD had higher rates of JH and problems with automatic control of body functions (dysautonomia) compared to healthy controls. Other researchers observed high co-occurrence of JH or EDS with ADHD. Concerning DCD, children with DCD have more symptoms associated with JHS/hEDS compared to typically developing children. The relationship between JH and DCD may be due to poor positional sensing in affected children.

- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29446032

A Cohort Study Comparing Women with Autism Spectrum Disorder with and without Generalized Joint Hypermobility

- This research supports a growing body of literature indicating that immune-mediated disorders are a common comorbid feature in hEDS and GJH. In addition, we have also shown that this dysfunction may be paired with endocrine dysregulation, leading to complex immune and hormonal exophenotypes, such as autoimmune disorders, allergic rhinitis, asthma, endometriosis, and dysmenorrhea. While we have not addressed autism and GJH comorbidity rates in this study, their co-occurrence in the adult ASD female population suggests links between the dysfunction of connective tissue and the immune and endocrine systems in this subpopulation. - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5867488/

Rationale for Dietary Antioxidant Treatment of ADHD [[MDPI - 2018](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5946190/)]

>ADHD might thus be a (non) allergic hypersensitivity disorder caused by an environmental trigger, based on a non-IgE dependent histamine release from mast cells and basophilic granulocytes, since the histamine H3 receptor is involved in hyperactivity and promotes dopamine release in the frontal cortex. Moreover, polymorphisms in the histamine N-methyl transferase (HNMT) gene, impairing histamine clearance, were found to affect the behavioral responses to food additives, which increase histamine levels #ADHD

I would really suggest stopping that advise unless you're a medical professional, the long term effects should be considered and attempting to be on a methylphenidate for extended periods of time isn't to be taken lightly due to even obvious and relatively minor effects like increased blood pressure. But, for some people it makes quite a significant and noticeable differences and adding to the stigma of taking a medication by reinforcing that it's non-essential will decrease some folks' quality of life.

Presenting information about the long term effects is good and I, especially, appreciate it - but please don't attempt to judge treatment efficacy when, especially in the realm of neurological disorders, treatment efficacy can vary wildly from case to case.

So please do share your story and invite people to learn, but don't council others.