ADHD - InfoBarrel

During a seminar for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD, teachers and parents interactedwith each other and the moderator discussing questions and stories of their children with ADHD.Toward the end of the meeting, the mother of a young child with ADHD got up and said, "You peopleare terrible. You act as if there's no hope." Someone from the back of the room responded, "You'restarting to understand."

Definition

The National Institute of Mental Health, NIMH subdivides ADHD into three divisions; hyperactive-impulsive, inattentive and hyperactive-impulsive-inattentive. NIMH, defines hyperactive-impulsive asunable to focus on a task, easily distracted and moving from one thing to another quickly, easilybored and abandoning a task, not completing project, losing things easily and lacking the ability tofollow instructions. If they are hyperactive, they may be constantly talking, squirming, andinterrupting. They have difficulty waiting. The inattentive person doesn't exhibit hyperactivesymptoms. They may not interrupt, but they don't pay attention, and have no idea what's going on.People with this form of ADHD are often overlooked as having a problem.

Causes

The cause of ADHD and hyperactivity is unknown, though there are some promising theories. Thereare some indications that it is genetic and shows up in the same families. There are also indicationsthat it is connected with brain injury or, loss of oxygen for short time. For a long time, sugar wasthought to make the problem worse. However, tests haven't supported that theory. The cause of theproblem remains uncertain.

Diagnosis

Because many of the symptoms are all part of children's behavior to a greater or lesser degree,accurate diagnosis can be difficult. Sometimes the patient has other medical problems withsymptoms that mask or overshadow the ADHD symptoms. This problem substance abuse Programsnear me is present in boys far greater than girls, and these misbehaviors are normal for boys to agreater or lesser degree. It is hard to know if the child is misbehaving, or needs treatment. Thediagnosis depends on the child's behavior at home and in school. The school may perform anevaluation of the child's behavior to assist the doctor in making a diagnosis.

Treatment

For the best treatment, the doctor should be aware of which portions of hyperactivity, inattention orimpulsiveness the child exhibits. This will allow him to prescribe the proper treatment. Thetreatment can be medicine, behavioral training, or a combination of the two. Prescribing medicine isa fine line. The child should not be medicated to make it easier for others, but medication shouldn'tbe denied if it helps the patient. Often, both medication and behavioral training is used.

However, medication should not be feared. It can be the key to ushering the patient into a new worldwhere things aren't buzzing and confusing. It will allow them to function and perform well. There isa lot of pressure to keep patients off medication, but observe the results to determine if themedication is a plus.

Children With Other Disabilities

Unfortunately, ADHD seems to happen in conjunction with other physical and mental disabilities.When this happens, everything becomes more difficult. Because symptoms of disabilities oftenoverlap ADHD symptoms, it becomes difficult to separate them to determine the diagnosis. Problemsassociated with vision, hearing, learning disabilities, can be misdiagnosed as ADHD.

Living with ADHD

Living with an ADHD child can be a nightmare. The household centers on the ADHD patient. Itrequires organizing everything, keeping a rigid schedule, and being consistent. After doing that, onehas to hope the ADHD patient will follow the program. Dealing with ADHD is a family project thatincludes the parents and all of the siblings. This often causes problems with the siblings, andbecomes more difficult when the children become teenagers. It is advisable to find a family-counseling program that deals with disabilities for the parents and siblings. The divorce rate is muchhigher than normal for parents with children with ADHD and other disabilities. Some parents don'tdiscuss the problems with people who don't have children with similar problems. Parents of ADHDchildren can tell after a few minutes discussion that an uninitiated person is clueless. "That's aproblem with all boys. You should take him off the meds. They'll snap out of it," are a few commoncomments.

Dealing with ADHD is difficult. Sometimes the child will overcome the problem. Sometimes they willhave to take medication all their lives. A person with ADHD can overcome the problems and functionwell as an adult. An adult can realize the problem and work around it. A child isn't able to do that.Parents are willing to take knowledgeable suggestions, and stick with anything that works. If it stopsworking , they try something else. Like any other mental or physical illness, each case is differentand should be evaluated on its own merit.