June 25th, 2008
This is a great video of the importance of failing.
If you don’t ever fail, you can’t succeed…
I think this video is a great reminder for everyone, not just people with ADHD.
Please post your comments and reactions below,
Dr. Kenny
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Written by Dr. Kenny Handelman - The ADHD Doctor
To find get a FREE special report...
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June 22nd, 2008
The DSM is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association - and it the manual used to diagnose psychiatric disorders - including ADD and ADHD.
The DSM criteria used to diagnose ADHD were developed with children as the focus. The criteria have been criticized in how poorly they help in the assessment and diagnosis of adult ADHD (or ADD).
Here is an article from the American Journal of Psychiatry which documents this issue in depth.
This article begins by summarizing the history of the diagnosis of ADHD.
It then criticizes the limitations of the diagnostic criteria for adults with ADHD.
One of the examples cited is the age of...
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June 18th, 2008
A press release just came out today - publicizing a report which is available for purchase about the nature of the pharmaceutical market in ADHD. The press release documents that the ADHD market is worth $3.85 billion per year, and will have a compound annual growth rate of 1.2% over the next 10 years. They document that the adult ADHD ‘market’ is largely untapped, and they predict that it will likely be twice as big as the pediatric ADHD market.
I have to say that I always have a mixed response when I read statistics like this.
On the negative side - this type of data makes it seems that the pharmaceutical companies are just trying to make sure that more prescriptions are written, and they see people with ADHD as just consumers of their drug and ‘dollars and cents’. Additionally, these data help to fuel the ‘ADHD nay-sayers’ to talk...
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June 16th, 2008
Thirty percent of children with AD/ADHD cannot tolerate taking stimulant medications.
For these individuals, the recent news that Shire is one step closer to gaining FDA approval for its time-released non-stimulant INTUNIV is welcome news.
Intuniv provides a 24-hour evenly released dose of the medication guanfacine. Specifically, guanfacine improves the symptom of the inability to concentrate in children with ADD/ADHD.
When given in conjunction with stimulants, it may also help reduce the aggression and the insomnia normally associated with the use of these drugs.
In fact, some physicians already prescribe it – in an immediate release version and under various brands – to their patients with ADD/ADHD along with other medications. The most common brand used is Tenex. This medication, however, appears not to be very effective at alleviating either the attention deficit or the distractibility seen in children with ADD/ADHD.
June 13th, 2008
This past week, a study was released in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association, which documented that St. John’s Wort has no benefit in ADHD or ADD.
You can access the original article here.
While I’m glad to see a natural treatment receive such rigorous research, and publication in such a leading journal, the question is: who cares?
The main concern that I have with this study is: Who even thought that St. John’s Wort worked for ADHD?
In the introduction of the research paper, the authors assert that St. John’s Wort is one of the top 3 botanical/herbal remedies used for ADHD. This statistic is referenced from a survey published in 2003 (you can read the abstract of this study here). There...
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June 6th, 2008
We know that medications for ADD or ADHD help to improve concentration in those who have ADD and ADHD.
Some people - even if they don’t have the condition, take these medications to help to improve their focus and productivity (so called: ‘brain steroids’).
Each year, the press comes out with one or two stories (usually during exam time) talking about college students taking adderall to get through exams.
I must admit that the reason that I watched an episode of ‘Desperate Housewives’, was because a patient told me that one of the mothers on the show took her kid’s ritalin (I think that was in the first season).
Wired magazine did a story on using ‘brain enhancing medications’ for people who don’t even have ADD or ADHD.
It is surprising to hear of how many people use these medications to help with...
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May 27th, 2008
I just came across a news report which is frankly shocking to me.
It’s a combination of ‘Survivor’ and systematized bullying in a kindergarten class.
In Morningside, FLA, a 5 year old boy who is in the process of being diagnosed with Autism, was ‘voted out’ of class by his classmates.
How a Kindergarten teacher could allow this to happen (and actually facilitate this) is mind boggling.
According to a news report (click here to see the original news story), kindergarten classmates of Alex where given a chance to say what they didn’t like about Alex. After expressing their dislikes (apparently to Alex directly…), the teacher put Alex to a vote.
Unfortunately, Alex’s classmates voted 14-2 to kick him out of the class.
Alex’s mother picked him up - and won’t send him back...
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May 26th, 2008
Eli Lilly - the makers of Strattera, are sponsoring a scholarship for Adults with ADD, called: “Focus on Your Possibilities”.
According to their website - the criteria for the scholarship include:
To apply for the Focus on Your Possibilities Scholarship, you must be:
* An adult age 25+ who has been diagnosed with and is currently undergoing any treatment for adult ADHD
* Currently attending or planning to attend an accredited public or private undergraduate or graduate school in the United States or would like to obtain your GED
* Going to enroll or already enrolled in a college, institute, university, or GED program on a full-time basis
* Willing to share your story with the media/public if selected as a Focus on Your Possibilities winner
May 25th, 2008
The link between food additives (i.e. preservatives and food coloring) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD or ADHD) has been speculated for a very long time. There has been research for decades on this. The Feingold Diet has been in existence for many years, and postulates that when you eliminate food additives, ADD or ADHD will improve.
The issue has been that mainstream medical treatment for ADD/ ADHD has generally discounted the role of food additives and diet in the role of treating ADHD.
The interesting fact is that estimates are that up to two thirds of people try some form of alternative treatments for ADD/ADHD - with diet modification as one of the main treatments.
In September 2007, The Lancet published an article about food additives causing hyperactivity. This was a very well designed study,...
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May 24th, 2008
The New York Times put out a fantastic multimedia webpage this week - sharing people’s experiences with ADD/ADHD.
It’s called: Patient Voices: A.D.H.D.
There is a lot of great information there -
* to help parents to further understand their kids/teens
* For adults with ADD/ADHD to understand it better
* To further understand the role of medicine and other treatments
I suggest that you grab your favorite beverage, turn this on and listen for a while. You’ll learn a lot.
All the best,
Dr. Kenny
p.s. it is great to see such a high quality piece on ADHD in the mainstream media…