It's important to understand medication

On Wednesday, Laurie Dupar, PMHNP, RN, PCC, a certified ADHD coach and a nurse practitioner, answered questions from two readers. But I had some questions too.

So I took the opportunity to ask a real expert and satisfy my curiosity.

What great answers did Laurie have for me? Read on …

Clearing up the fog around ADHD Medication.

I’ve always been willing to answer questions regarding ADHD medication, but I’m not a health care professional. I’ve read a lot on this subject, but I’ve always had to qualify my answers.

So it is with great pleasure that I get to tell you all that today’s blog, and Friday’s, will be answers to some of the questions that I’ve heard most often. And these answers will be given by someone whom I am honored to have share her expertise on my blog.

Laurie Dupar, PMHNP, RN, PCC is a certified ADHD coach and a nurse practitioner. Her web page can be found at www.CoachingforADHD.com and her contact information is there as well (at the bottom of her page).

A fun and educational place to spend an evening ...

Is it possible that putting more than one ADHDer in the same place might be counterproductive?

About a month ago I attended an ADDiva Webinar. I got into a private chat with another attendee who knows me. The fact that I am a divo and not a diva is not obvious at these webinars, but some of the participants know that I’m a guy and I don’t hide the fact.

These webinars are available for replay. Thank heaven for that.

The private chat was not on topic, in fact it was like an excerpt from a burlesque comedy routine. Much of it was centered around my gender, a naughty conversation about me being found out.

Define me!

I’ve looked. I’ve looked through all my dictionaries (I tend to collect them) and through all the online dictionaries as well. Overwhelm is a verb. A transitive one in fact, one that has no meaning without an object. Some one thing must overwhelm some other thing.
And yet …
I have to say that on the rare occasions that I’ve seen “overwhelm” being used as a noun I was uncomfortable with it, but it does make sense. To feel overwhelm in one’s life is exactly the sensation that many of us experience just before we shut down, break down, blow up or blow off our responsibilities.

Aren't lists wonderful?

• Assistance or Distraction?

“I made a list of all my piles and put it on the pile of all my lists, now if I can find that pile of lists I’ll know what all these piles are …” ~ @kbriter – twitter comment

Aren’t lists great? We make them, we hold on to them, file them, cross things off on them, and love them. They itemize our lives in bullet point format. They hold us to schedules and remind us of deadlines. They rule!

• Really?

Okay, I admit that I don’t always get results from lists. I often make too many of them, or make confusing ones, and I’m always misplacing them. I’ve gotten into the habit of putting my current list in my watch pocket of my jeans. (That’s that little pocket above the main pocket that you keep your right hand in when you’re trying to look cool and nonchalant.) And yes, I’ve laundered a few lists in my time.

• Do you want a life?

If I live by my list, I don’t have a life, I have a list. If I use the list as a guide, I have a life.

I find that a list can be a wonderful tool, so long as I respect it as a tool and am not a slave to it. If I live by my list, I don’t have a life, I have a list. If I use the list as a guide, I have a life. And within that life I have a list of things whose completion will make my life easier or better in some way.

Here's where I live physically, where do I live mentally? ©2012 Kelly Babcock

Having ADHD means I live in a fast, tumultuous current of high-speed thoughts. And that can mean not having time to gather my thoughts and contemplate them as a whole. You’ve maybe heard me talk about our lack of self awareness? Maybe? This is a big part of it, not being able to collect my thoughts, not being able to analyze them.
I like the night life
I try to do that at night. When I go to bed I think “What did you do today? What did you think about? What did you learn? What could you have learned?” And then, in answer to these questions, I respond: “ ….. zzzzzzzzzzzz ….”
Except for the differences, we’re exactly the same
Yes, I know, an anomaly. I’m supposed to have trouble sleeping. My mind whirling around should keep me awake for awhile, right? Sorry. We ADHDers weren’t cut out with a biscuit cutter. I lie awake tossing and turning for 15, sometimes 20 … seconds. Then I’m gone. I can’t help it.

Max in flight

Today, I have to confess that I’ve been suffering from a bit of hero worship lately.

Max and Millie (not their real names) can be seen in my town on the local sled hill, or skating, or they can be found chasing each other on main street in playful hide and seek fashion. Or they can be in hiding at home, spending a Saturday morning dueling on their game console or having tickle fights.
Meet Max & Millie
Max is six years old. Millie, his mother, is the object of my hero worship.

As a child growing up, I was not diagnosed. In fact, we had no idea what ADHD was. We’d never heard of it. I’ve told you before that I was not encouraged to think of myself as normal, but I was also not allowed to think of myself as abnormal or subnormal.

I know now that my mind fits neatly on the Autism spectrum. So does Max’ mind. He has Asperger Syndrome.

Creative Commons License photo credit: greeblie

I always thought my decision making skills were pretty good. If I was having trouble making a decision I would stop waffling, step back and ask myself which choice would be the hardest to undo if it were wrong. Then I’d choose the other.

The result of this is that I have no piercings, no tats, and no baroque plaster statues with clocks embedded in their stomachs. You can’t get un-pierced or un-tattooed, you’ll always have it in your past, even if you let the piercing grow in or get the tattoo removed.

And the clock? Just try to return something like that. Okay, I never bought one so I’ve never tried to return one, but I imagine it wouldn’t be easy.

I’m not the sort of person that needs to be coddled. I take my medicine when I’m told to. And, though I don’t always admit the need, when there’s no denying the need, I don’t.

The sugar, for me, is the curing of whatever the medicine was prescribed to cure. A bitter pill is not so hard to swallow if there is a resultant healing in the foreseeable future.

Unfortunately, my ADHD is not curable, at least not yet. My meds are a temporary fix, and only a partial one at that. They help me keep calm-minded, but I must direct my own focus. Being mindful is only part of the plan, I have to be vigilant of what I am mindful of.

I always called it “being numb.” I reach a point where stress and confusion accumulate to a level that leaves me unable to function, unable to think in a straight line.

Okay, I can’t think in a straight line much of the time, I do well to skip around two or three concurrent trains of thought … with my meds.
This year was going to be different!
Okay, this year couldn’t help but be different. Christmas, 1983, marked the first Christmas I spent with the woman who would soon be my wife. Christmas, 1984, was the first Christmas we spent together as husband and wife. And we spent every subsequent Christmas, until 2010, in each others company. Now I’ve been left to try to find Christmas on my own.