On April 24, 2008, the US Food and Drug Administration approved Lisdexamfetamine - known as Vyvanse - to be used for adult ADD and ADHD. Prior to this announcement, the medicine was just approved for use in children aged 6-12.

Although people often think of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder as just a disorder of childhood - it often carries on into adult life - and studies have shown that over 4% of US adults have ADD or ADHD.

Despite the fact that Vyvanse has just received approval for use in adults - it has been used by some doctors previously, through ‘off label usage’ (see my previous article on this: Vyvanse in Adults).

The study which led to the approval included 414 adults, aged 18-55 years old. Over 4 weeks, they were tried on Vyvanse or placebo. Generally, the adults noted significant improvement within 1 week of starting the medicine. All doses used (i.e. 30 mg, 50 mg and 70 mg) were all found to be helpful.

The most common side effects experienced by the adults in the study with Vyvanse were: decreased appetite, difficulty falling asleep, and dry mouth.

To read more details about the study, please click here.

Does this mean that you should try Vyvanse if you are an adult with ADD or ADHD?

Not necessarily…
It just means that this is a good treatment option, and that the research has now been done to prove that it is effective for use in adults with ADD and ADHD.
It is best to talk to your doctor about your medication (and non-medication) treatment options.

As I have previously mentioned, as a doctor working in Canada, I have not been able to prescribe Vyvanse, because it has not yet come to Canada.
So, I have asked readers of this blog if Vyvanse works. To read over 275 responses, click here: Does Vyvanse Work?

Other Vyvanse articles on my blog:
Vyvanse Overview
Vyvanse Dose
No Addiction with Vyvanse

Please leave your thoughts or comments below.

Dr. Kenny

Technorati Tags: Vyvanse, ADD, ADHD

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Yesterday, the site for our new program, Unwrapping The Gift of ADD went live for registrations.

We knew that a lot of people were interested in our program, and the ‘buzz’ was building…
We had 479 spots for our program, but based on all of the feedback that was coming in, it was obvious that wouldn’t be enough…

And then, at 11:55 am eastern time (5 minutes before the site was supposed to go live!), the server went down.
Despite all of our planning - when the traffic started to hit the site hard, it crashed. It turned out that there was a problem with a ‘mysql database’.
Hmmm…. Thankfully, my webmaster ‘diagnosed this’, and got us going by 12:09 pm (i.e. 9 minutes late). [Thank you Mike!!!!].
It was a very long 9 minutes for us (And many of you too…)
Despite all of the planning, technology is technology…

Needless to say, I was inundated with emails - frustration, upset, anger…
People wanted to get into our program - Unwrapping The Gift of ADD.

I was tied to my computer (as was Dr. Hallowell’s list manager), answering questions and helping people sign up for hours.

As the day went on, I was able to arrange for more spots for our program. We will be using ‘webcast’ technology - meaning that you will be able to listen in via your internet connection. Because of all of the chaos yesterday, I didn’t email you again to let you know that we would have extra spots, we just kept the site live and taking registrations.
(Just as an aside - this webcast technology works on dial-up too…)

Many people emailed in saying: “I had to miss the signup at noon - will you run this program again?”

The answer is - ‘no’, we have no plans to run this program again…

BUT… You can still sign up now.

I am speaking with the president of the webcast company (when you need A LOT of lines, I guess you get to speak to the president…) this afternoon. At that point, I’ll be able to gauge how many spots our program will have.

In other words - if you want to make sure to secure a spot - go to our site now and sign up. If you get in before by this afternoon, then you will have a spot for sure.
(I really hope we’ll just be able to keep the site live for ongoing registrations, but I can’t be sure until later today…)

A final word: thank you to all of you who have been sending in your positive emails and comments. We really appreciate it!

We’re so excited (and humbled) to be able to share our ’strength based approach’ to ADD/ADHD with you.
Because at the core of it - we know that the information that our experts will share can literally change lives….

Looking forward to having you participate in the live event!

Dr. Kenny Handelman

p.s. if you skipped to the bottom - the short summary is: we can still take registrations today, so sign up now here.

Technorati Tags: ADD, ADHD, Attention Deficit Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

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Dr. Hallowell and I just met at the Hallowell Center a few days ago - to put the final plans together for the ‘Unwrapping The Gift of ADD‘ program which will be launching in a few days (The website will go live on Wednesday April 16th at 12 pm EDT, 9 am PDT).

I flew down to Boston for the day (and then had to drive to Sudbury, MA to get to Dr. Hallowell’s office). I thought it would be fun to bring my camcorder - and let you join me for this journey. In this video, you’ll get to:

• See Dr. Hallowell’s office
• Listen in as I ask him some of the questions that have come up about ‘Unwrapping the Gift of ADD’
• and hear more about this program

Even though you may not ever be able to visit the Hallowell Center - you can check it out with me on these videos…

This video runs about 15 minutes - so it had to be broken into two parts (Youtube only allows 10 minute videos…)

Enjoy!

…and as always, please leave your comments below.

Dr. Kenny

Video 1:

Video 2:

Technorati Tags: ADD, ADHD, Attention Deficit Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Dr. Hallowell, Dr. Handelman

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ADD Coach and fellow ADD blogger Tara McGillicuddy just blogged about the fact that she is confused that Dr. Hallowell and myself have discussed a ’strength based diagnosis’ for ADD (we shared this in a special report called: Find the Genius in ADD). She expresses confusion that we’re sharing this message with the general public, when this is a message that needs to get to doctors and health care providers who actually do the diagnosing. She feels we should have focused on the ’strength based approach’ rather than a ’strength based diagnosis’(Visit Tara’s blog to read her article).

In short - I agree.

…And I do spend a lot of time teaching other doctors about a strength based approach to ADD/ADHD (and medical students, and psychiatric/pediatric residents, and educators, and school principals, and social workers, etc.).

The idea of a ’strength based diagnosis’ relates to the evolution that we want to see in the field of ADD/ADHD. In our report, we discuss the fact that ADD used to be a moral diagnosis (and unfortunately still is in some circles), and then it became a medical diagnosis. Now, we want that evolution to continue toward the ’strength based diagnosis’.

Why would we share this message with the consumers of health care, rather than the providers?

Firstly - we’re sharing it with everyone who will listen

Secondly, the reality is that as more patients go to their doctors, psychologists, educators, etc. and request a different approach - the more likely doctors are going to listen and pay attention (though we all know that doesn’t always happen… but change has to start somewhere).

Since we released our special report, our Unwrapping The Gift of ADD blog has had numerous comments, and we’ve received numerous emails - of people who have shared this information with their school, their psychologist and their doctor. This suggests that the information is getting into the right hands.

Most importantly - it is helping people to realize that the strength based approach is the best one.

Also, this is just one aspect of our report. In our report, we focus on the gifts of ADD/ADHD, and the fact that there can be genius in the ADD/ADHD mind.

Thank you for your thoughtful comments.

Dr. Kenny

p.s. If you want to read the report that Tara was referring to - please visit: Find The Genius in ADD.

p.p.s. Do you have a thought about this issue? If so, please enter a comment below:

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Last week, I released a special report that I co-authored with Dr. Edward Hallowell, best selling author of Driven To Distraction, Delivered From Distraction and other top books.

We believe that ADD and ADHD have gifts within them, but they’re gifts which are hard to unwrap. We intend to change the paradigm of ADD out there - to help to improve the lives of those people touched by ADD and ADHD.

This week - we have released two interviews which can be listened to for free, and can be very helpful in helping you to understand the ’strength based’ approach to ADD and ADHD:

1) I interviewed Dr. Hallowell himself about his ADD and Dyslexia. He provided excellent insight into his own story and how ADD/ADHD and dyslexia can be positive or have gifts within them.

2) PROOF that unwrapping the gift of ADD works: I interviewed Jay Mandarino - who has ADD and Dyslexia. When he was in elementary school - the teachers told his parents to send him to a halfway house and to not expect him to be more than a gas attendant. He now has 13 companies that do more than $24 million per year. In addition - he is successful in many more ways… Listen here to get the whole story.

**One of the reasons that we wanted to include this interview, is because sometimes people feel that calling ADD is a gift is nice, but the day to day struggles are too hard… And ADD/ADHD doesn’t feel like a gift. This was described well by Dianne’s comment here.

Although ADD and ADHD can be a real struggle - finding the gifts within is the best way to go. We need to convince you of that, and then help you to get that message out to more people out there in the world.

These interviews and this information is part of the lead up to the ‘Unwrapping The Gift of ADD’ program that Dr. Edward Hallowell and I are co-hosting later this month. To make sure to get your FREE spot, sign up for our VIP notification list (you can do that by getting a copy of our free report: Find The Genius in ADD).

Enjoy, and please post your comments and thoughts below,

Dr. Kenny

p.s. take a minute and sign up for our VIP notification list - you will get a free 16 page PDF telling you about the genius in ADD.

Technorati Tags: ADD, ADHD, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Attention Deficit Disorder, Gift of ADD, Gift of ADHD

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Dr. Edward Hallowell and I have just released our new digital special report - and we are getting great feedback already.

In fact, a local radio station has asked to interview me tomorrow (April 2) at 12:35 pm Eastern time. Even if you aren’t in the area- using the power of the internet - you can listen in if you’d like.

The radio station is: 610 CKTB
The live streaming player for their station is here.

Join us if you can.

Dr. Kenny

p.s. To get your hands on this digital report - click here to learn how to ‘Find The Genius in ADD’.

Technorati Tags: ADD, ADHD, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Attention Deficit Disorder, Gift of ADD, Gift of ADHD

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I am writing this blog post more quickly than normal - because I’ve just released a special ‘digital book’ with Dr. Edward Hallowell.
…And I have to tell you that the response has been a lot more than I’ve expected (tons of emails, reviews and compliments!), and it’s taking a lot more time to sift through those emails on my lunch hour than I anticipated!

As a reader of my blog - I want to make sure that you find out about his right away.

Go here and download this free digital book I’ve created for you called Find The Genius in ADD <== Click here

It’s called “Find The Genius in ADD” and Dr. Edward Hallowell and I recently wrote this… to share our closely held beliefs of the changes that are needed in the world of ADD/ADHD.

In case you don’t know who Dr. Hallowell is, he’s a VERY respected expert in the field of ADD and the author of a ton of best-selling books like his recent “Delivered From Distraction”…

Our little eBook is already getting a lot of great reviews from other experts in the field…

Anyway - here’s why you MUST read this book.

BECAUSE IT SHOWS YOU HOW TO CHANGE YOUR VIEW OF ADD FOREVER.

It’s all about finding the unique strengths and “genius abilities” that are hidden in ADD…

But here’s why this is important to you:

This is the beginning of a new method to “rig” ADD so it actually becomes a good thing… instead of the commonly held notion that it’s a “Disorder” and holds you back from a successful life.

Who is this book for?

YOU definitely qualify because you read my blog… but here’s who it’s for:

>> If you are the parent of an ADD child
>> You have ADD yourself
>> or your spouse has ADD
>> If you are an advocate for ADD/ADHD

Then you definitely need to read this book!

(Don’t worry, it’s not that long and is an EASY read even if you have trouble paying attention)

Here’s where you can get the eBook: Find The Genius In ADD.

Oh yeah, did I mention before that you can download it at absolutely no-cost?

Dr. Kenny

P.S. As you read the book, notice how this new viewpoint can literally change the world of ADD?

That’s why it’s so different than almost anything else out there, because it’s a totally new approach you’ve never heard of before…

You definitely need to read it if you think that living with
ADD has to be “hard”: Find The Genius In ADD.

Technorati Tags: ADHD, ADD, Attention Deficit Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Coaching, Parenting, Medication

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