The key to ADHD is to keep your machine (your physical brain) and your mind (your thoughtful, mindful brain) running efficiently and in harmony to achieve your mission. With so much information out there about what to do to help your ADHD, are you aware of things you do every day that might be getting in the way, disrupting the mind and the brain from working in harmony? Continue reading “10 Things You Are Doing Every Day That Make Your ADHD Worse”
ADHD: When a Professional Can’t Help
Those with ADHD often seek help for their symptoms, but there are limitations to a professional’s ability to help. It comes down to how much the person is willing to be helped and what they are willing to do on their part to make use of that help.
In many cases, the person says to their family that they want help, but in reality, when the family reaches out to a professional on the person’s behalf, it seems to be a different story. Saying they want help doesn’t necessarily mean they do. Continue reading “ADHD: When a Professional Can’t Help”
ADHD: When Passion Is Lost
Athletes, dancers, pilots, coders, artists, and others with ADHD can be passionate, dedicated, all-in, and focused. But what if their passion evaporates? We know those with ADHD can be very passionate. As I’ve learned over the years, ADHD is not so much a deficit of attention as it is a self-regulation issue. It’s interesting that for those with ADHD the passion is almost like a drug. The issue is not that they can’t pay attention; it’s actually that they can’t stop paying attention to it.
Continue reading “ADHD: When Passion Is Lost”
ADHD: Allergies, Allergy Medications, and Medication Interactions
As an ADHD coach, I’ve noticed that many of my clients have seasonal allergies, and when the allergies flare up, they tend to have difficulty with cognition. Allergies in and of themselves generally make it more difficult for most people, because allergies can kick off histamine responses that can affect the way the brain functions. Continue reading “ADHD: Allergies, Allergy Medications, and Medication Interactions”
Impact of Perfume and Petroleum on ADHD
Kids with ADHD are growing and soon they will reach puberty and have distractions (for boys, its perfume and petroleum if you know what I mean). We know that ADHD is very much an issue of the ability to self-regulate, to pause and override the automatic responses. Developmentally, these kids are a couple of years behind, and then all of sudden, you throw puberty on top of that and menstrual cycles for girls and that makes things a lot more difficult. Continue reading “Impact of Perfume and Petroleum on ADHD”
Self-Regulation and Money: A Cloak of ADHD Invisibility
Working with ADHD clients every day, the subject of money frequently comes up. There’s an oversimplification of self-regulation and money.
It’s strange to me how absolute the advice is in terms of what you should do with your money. The one thing I’ve learned with ADHD is that there is nothing absolute. When you’ve seen one person with ADHD, you’ve seen one person with ADHD. Continue reading “Self-Regulation and Money: A Cloak of ADHD Invisibility”
ADHD and Concussion
If you have ADHD, are you more apt to suffer a concussion? Is there a relationship between ADHD and concussion? First, I think it’s important for us to understand what a concussion is, and it’s of particular significance for athletic coaches and parents of ADHD kids.
Over the last decade, concussion has been a hot topic in the news because we’ve seen reports of several professional athletes who have suffered concussions. Many people often confuse traumatic brain injury with concussion, but there is a significant difference. Continue reading “ADHD and Concussion”
ADHD and Minding Your Manners
When we think of exercise and practicing, we think of athletics, maybe tennis players practicing their serve or basketball players shooting hoops. Those are exercises that we do to develop a skill.
As an attention coach, I see that those with ADHD need to develop self-regulation skills, and exercise is one way to do that. Continue reading “ADHD and Minding Your Manners”
ADHD: Go Ahead, Make a Mess
Sprawling! What an unusual word! But for those with ADHD, it can be an important word in planning and organizing! Sprawling just means laying out your work in front of you to see what you have before getting started. Many of those with ADHD are visual learners; they need to externalize what’s in their minds so they can see what they have to work with. Continue reading “ADHD: Go Ahead, Make a Mess”
ADHD & Emotional Self-Regulation: Fight, Flight, or Freeze
Emotional regulation is challenging for many with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. In fact, it can be paralyzing. Today, we want to look at what causes that and what we can do to manage it.
Clinical neuropsychologist Dr. David Nowell (www.drnowell.com) explains what it means when our emotions hijack the amygdala part of the brain that’s responsible for that automatic reaction. Continue reading “ADHD & Emotional Self-Regulation: Fight, Flight, or Freeze”