Q: Is sleeping difficulty a common side effect of stimulant medications and, if so, are there suggestions which may help patients deal with this?

A: Sleeplessness is one possible side effect of a stimulant and if it persists you should talk with your doctor about lowering the dose or discontinuing that medication and trying another. Other side effects that we watch for include: severe headaches, nausea, irritability, weight loss, tremors or tics, severe agitation, mania, elevated blood pressure, palpitations, elevated heart rate, or altered blood chemistry.

Q: Sometimes I find that my ADD medicine doesn't seem to work for a day. I am reminded of how foggy and cluttered my experience used to be. The next day the meds regain their magic. What's happening?

A: Many people report a similar experience. You can think of them as "bad brain days". If you can fit it in, a very good way to deal with these is a prolongued and more vigorous exercise session which will help with focus.

Q: I would really love to hear if it is possible to be diagnosed with ADHD as an adult having never been diagnosed as a child. A brain scan I just had suggests ADHD. I was a strong enough student in school, though my records do consistently say that I worked too fast and didn't take enough care on my schoolwork. But I have suffered from depression and anxiety for years.

A: If you have ADHD as an adult, then you did have it as a child - you just didn't know it because it either wasn't getting in your way or those around you didn't know what ADHD was. But it is possible that the ADHD is an underlying reason for your anxiety and your depression. Your doctor may be right on target by suggesting that you treat the underlying ADHD to get at your other issues.

By Rebecca Shafir, M.A. CCC
Many adults with ADD/ADHD tend to move from relationship to relationship or from job to job. They drift along, trying to find the "right" partner or a career where they can succeed. They aren't sure where they go wrong or what seems to happen. Perhaps it's not an IQ problem, but a weakness in a different kind of intelligence - emotional intelligence or EI that can affect both those with ADHD and those without it. When enabled with the right emotional intelligence skills, persons with depression, anxiety, worry, panic attacks, addiction, obsessive-compulsive disorders and anger can better manage the toxic effects of these afflictions.

In 1990, John Mayer of the University of New Hampshire and Peter Salovey of Yale University coined the phrase "Emotional Intelligence." They used this phrase to describe the ability to perceive, assess and manage feelings in yourself and others as well as using these feelings in your decision making. Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence, describes EI as "the capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, and for managing emotions well in ourselves and others." In his 1998 book, Working With Emotional Intelligence, John Mayer explained that success at work comes mainly to those whose emotional intelligence is developed. In his book he explains that skills, education, and a high IQ are all secondary to emotional intelligence. Those who have gained success, have worked their way up the ladder, and have strong coping skills are those who have developed their emotional intelligence.

Emotional intelligence may be related to ADHD in that it is related to emotional maturity. In general, people with ADHD mature emotionally more slowly than their non-ADHD counterparts because their frontal lobes develop more slowly due to the effects of ADHD. One way to overcome this, then, may be to work to improve your EI skills.

So, how can you develop your emotional intelligence? First, know the four basic components of Emotional Intelligence:
Awareness - How in tune are you with your emotions? Can you pinpoint your emotional strengths and weaknesses and make good decisions for your life based on your own emotions?
Regulation or Management - This is the ability to balance your emotions, as well as use your emotions to set goals, create plans and motivate yourself to achieve your goals. It is the ability to control your emotions to help you in a situation, rather than hinder your progress. This includes the ability to delay gratification and reward in order to focus on your task at hand.
Awareness of Others - This is commonly referred to as "empathy." It is the ability to understand the emotional nature of those around you - a friend, partner, boss or your children - and to use that knowledge to create better relationships.
Social Skills - How well do you get along with others? How well do you react to the emotions of others and read the proper signals in order to fluently handle social situations, solve relationship problems, learn to motivate others, create cooperation and teamwork?

You are not just born with these skills, they can be learned. With work, you can improve your "EI" and help your performance in social situations and at work. Get feedback from trusted friends or colleagues. How would they rate you across these components?

If you would like to learn more about your emotional intelligence take your pick of several EI quizzes on the Internet. Use the search terms: free emotional intelligence quiz and several will pop up. Just be aware that to get a score you may have to give your email address.

If you are local to the Sudbury/Needham MA area and EI is a topic that interests you, please email me at RebeccaShafir@att.net. We would like to bring in speakers and offer workshops on this topic if there is sufficient interest.

Dr. Hallowell and Melissa Orlov are writing a book together on the topic of ADHD and marriage. While ADHD affects many, many marriages few people understand its effects. Fewer still know the secrets to managing ADHD effectively so that it can augment a marriage, rather than diminish it.

We are interested in hearing your questions and also your experiences with this topic, so have put together a survey for those who are interested in contributing to the book. If you are interested in the topic, please go to the survey link below. Please know tha tthe survey and all responses are completely confidential. While we hope to use some of the questions

Please know that the survey and all responses are completely confidential. While we hope to use some of the questions and comments in our book, we will not provide any kind of identifying information.

Positive Parenting: A recent study published in the American Psychological Association's journal, Developmental Psychology, found that early positive parenting during preschool years predicted fewer conduct problems for children with ADHD as they grew into early adolescence. Findings lead the researchers to conclude that maternal depression may be a risk factor for children with ADHD, while positive parenting may be a protective factor.

Andrea Chronis, director of the University of Maryland ADHD Program, professor of psychology, and a lead author on the paper said, "Parenting an ADHD child is very difficult for many families. Often there's a growing cycle of negativity as parents' nerves fray and their children 's behavior escalates in response to increasingly harsh or withdrawn parenting. Maternal depression makes parenting a child with ADHD even more challenging. Now we have new evidence that praise, a warm tone of voice and use of other positive parenting techniques may help break this dangerous cycle."

Dr. Hallowell's approach to ADHD - that it is a gift that is hard to unwrap - complements the findings of this report. Keeping a positive perspective througout the trials of ADHD, rather than treating it as a "disorder" is the healthiest approach.

Drinking Issues Can Start in Mid-Adolescence for Those with ADHD: Two new studies on alcohol and ADHD in young adults suggest that adolescents with ADHD are at higher risk of alcohol abuse than their non-ADHD counterparts. The studies showed that this risk seems to start to be seen between the ages of 15 and 17. The authors of the study were quick to point out that it is important to recognize that not all kids with ADHD will have problems with alcohol. For more information, go to the link below.

email: morlov@hallowellconnections.com

phone: 508-545-2250 Hallowell Connections or 978-287-0810 Hallowell Center (medical)

web: http://www.drhallowell.com