Charles T. Wild
Ever heard of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) syndrome? It's gone through a large number of name changes over the last fifty years. Previous terms have included: ADD, Hyperactivity, Hyperkinesis, MBDysfunction, and Minimal Brain Damage. There are several types of ADHD and I have the rarest: it's called ADHD - Inattentive type predominantly. With me, there is little or no impulsivity or hyperactivity present which is part of the other types of ADHD. The symptoms which I experienced were a high level of involuntary distractibility, a subtle hearing challenge/communication challenge called CAPD (Central Auditory Processing Disorder), and a very short attention span (measureable in seconds). ADHD can be severe, moderate, or mild. Mine is mild. I am one of those persons who responds extremely well to the right alerting agent which works quite well for limited periods of time (like about 4 hours or less and the second dose does not work as well as the first). For me an FDA approved alerting agent, a special caffeine compound made by Bristol-Myers (NoDoz, 100 mg caffeine, St. Louis, MO type only) works better than Ritalin, a factual observation which surprised my doctor, Anita Uhl Brothers, M.D., of Berkeley, California, who allowed me to better understand how in some people, an underaroused central nervous system present from birth can be temporarily boosted and mended with the right ADHD medicine, most often a central nervous system stimulant of some kind. One of my favorite movies is "Awakenings" with Robin Williams, based on a true story and the book by Oliver Sacks, M.D. In the movie "Awakenings" it shows a very dramatic short term response to a medicine which allowed people with severe motor difficulties to move a lot better for short periods of time like about 30 days or less when tolerance developed to the medicine and the medicine no longer was effective. I tend to live with that type of response, the medicine can relieve the ADHD symptoms for a few hours a day but not for the entire day. In some ways I am very lucky because there is a small group of those with ADHD where the medicines only work for about 1 hour. The ADHD medicine for me temporarily improves my fine motor control, especially on the left side of my body, apparently by changing the level of neurotransmitters involved with human movement including the chemical messenger dopamine. The reticular formation of the brain stem governs the level of attention and is a factor in some cases of ADHD/Attention Deficit. Oversimplified a little yet still in the ballpark, the underlying cause of ADHD is believed to be a spotty neuron. Good nutrition helps a little so I believe in the idea of a fresh, whole foods, additive-free approach to daily nutrition; however, bottomline, the only thing that really helped me was finding the right ADHD medicine which for me contained the alerting agent, caffeine. I was born in 1946 but it was only in 1978 when all the puzzle pieces tended to come together and I could understand what ADHD was and what it really wasn't. The credit goes to Dr. Brothers, M.D., of Berkeley, California, the first doctor who had the background needed to provide some of the answers, remedies, and solutions needed for me to understand and deal with ADHD a little better. That's my view. Thank you for reading this. Appreciate it. If you have an interest in ADHD, please do not hesitate to contact me.
CTW, Sacramento, California
Email Charles
