A Natural Fix for A.D.H.D.?

Excerpt from article:

Another patient of mine, a 28-year-old man, was having a lot of trouble at his desk job in an advertising firm. Having to sit at a desk for long hours and focus his attention on one task was nearly impossible. He would multitask, listening to music and texting, while “working” to prevent activities from becoming routine.

Eventually he quit his job and threw himself into a start-up company, which has him on the road in constantly changing environments. He is much happier and — little surprise — has lost his symptoms of A.D.H.D.

I'm glad that worked for you. I was diagnosed with ADHD not long ago. Before my diagnosis, I was about to quit a job that I actually liked for the second time. I like my job. I liked my last job. I like programming, I liked my coworkers. Given a challenge, I was always able to rise to the challenge. Given something more mundane, I lost all motivation and capability.

For years, I had blamed myself. I thought I was lazy and a shitty person. I was prone to binge eating and drinking. I was depressed as hell.

Most people can't restructure their lives to work around their symptoms. I don't feel like I should have to. I certainly don't want to.

It's sad that the article didn't even mention exercise as a potential treatment for ADHD. The OP implies that kids will simply "grow out" of ADHD, drugs, or changing the environment may be enough.

While these are valid solutions, exercise may be equally or even more effective.

John J. Ratey, one of the pioneers of ADHD [1], recently wrote the excellent Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain[2]. In it, he explains in colorful details what happens in the brain, and why exercise may be the best treatment for a bunch of neurochemical imbalances - including ADHD.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driven_to_Distraction_(ADHD)

[2] http://www.amazon.com/Spark-exercise-improve-performance-bra...

IMO the terminology of neurochemical imbalance should be avoided. It's the sort of framing that is much preferred by the pharmacological industry, because it suggests that the nature of the problem is well understood and can be directly addressed with their products. In reality there is only a very vague idea of mental illness and related neurotransmitters. To make a computer analogy, it's like calling a problem an "electron imbalance", without even knowing whether hardware or software is to blame.

I'm not sure I agree with calling drugs a "crutch".

Nobody in their right mind would tell me that Singulair or Dulera is a crutch for my asthma. Nobody would call albuterol inhalers overprescribed or asthma overdiagnosed either. My allergist always has to tell me not to work my life around my triggers past a certain point too. Yet I hear it all the time about the Adderall and Vyvanse I used to take, and about ADHD. All. the. time.

I have pretty bad ADHD too. My parents didn't want to put me on any meds, so I learned all the coping mechanisms the hard and expensive way _and_ feel that I lost out on a lot of opportunities when I was younger as a result. It's the only childhood issue I still hold a grudge over. When I could finally do whatever I wanted, I felt like a huge burden was lifted with meds because I never stopped struggling with said coping mechanisms anyway. Including stuff like "take a shower" and "eat lunch" on my daily-todo HabitRPG checklist.

Unfortunately I'm trying to get pregnant and had to get off almost everything, so now I'm back to digging myself into a hole, getting frustrated with even my non-standard and fun life. If it wasn't for the fact that I have a partner to rely on, I probably would be telling my obgyn to go fuck herself about her judgment call regarding non-stimulant ADHD meds known to be safe. ADHD is a huge negative impact on my life, and I'd even qualify it as being worse than something potentially life-threatening like asthma >:P

Obviously not everyone is the same, and abuse is definitely a problem. That doesn't equate to a crutch IMO. Not to mention there's a million other problems in the way, one in the US being a lack of accessible and affordable quality health care so people with ADHD can easily get help with non-medication options...