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ADHD in the News

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ADHD in The News Roundup: July/August 2010

August 9, 2010 in ADHD in the News, science of ADHD, The Basics | No comments

Lots of ADHD in the News for July and early August. Environmental groups call for ban of pesticides linked to ADHD. Western diet linked to ADHD. Lots of links, but what are the facts?

Please remember as you read some of these reports: Association is not causation. A “risk factor” is something that is associated with a condition. Whether that factor causes the condition or results from the condition, that is often the question that remains to be answered.

For example, in the first news story below, note that there is a link between the Western diet and ADHD.  As the study’s researcher rightly points out (far down in the story):

“This is a cross-sectional study so we cannot be sure whether a poor diet leads to ADHD or whether ADHD leads to poor dietary choices and cravings,” Dr Oddy said.

NUTRITION:

Western Diet Link to ADD, Australian Study Finds

ScienceDaily, July 29

A new study from Perth’s Tlethon Institute for Child Health Research shows an association between ADHD and a “Western-style” diet in adolescents. Read the rest of this entry »

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ADHD, Alzheimer’s, and the “Paisa Mutation”

June 15, 2010 in ADHD in the News, Brain Storming, science of ADHD | 6 comments

For generations, the “foolishness” has suddenly struck middle-age members of an extended family in Colombia’s Antioquia region.  It starts with mild forgetfulness but soon reduces its victims to infantile incapacitation.

People here have long attributed La Bobera to a host of superstitions: a mythic priest’s revenge or touching a mysterious tree. Scientists now know it is a genetic mutation, concentrated by the intermarriage that’s not unusual in this rather isolated area. The malady is a type of early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease.

It’s called the “Paisa Mutation” because this clan of 5,000 are called Paisas. They are descended primarily from a group of 16th Century Spanish immigrants. By studying this mutation, researchers hope to learn more about other forms of Alzheimer’s and its treatment. Pam Belluck shares the dramatic details on the disease and its discovery, along with hopes for treatment, in a recent story in The New York Times.

This isn’t the first time genetic discovery has taken place in the Paisa population. In fact, researchers studying this unique group of people have learned much about ADHD from them, too. For example, a genetic link between ADHD and conduct disorder/oppositional defiance disorder was discovered by studying selected Paisa families (multi-generational). Read the rest of this entry »

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ADHD in the News Roundup: March 2010

April 12, 2010 in ADHD and Parenthood, ADHD Diagnosis Issues, ADHD in the News, ADHD medication | 5 comments

newsboyWelcome to a new department here at the ADHD Roller Coaster blog: ADHD in the News Monthly Roundup.   In this spot,  you”ll find  links and summaries to key ADHD-related news stories, starting now with the March 2010 headlines. (Please note: Some sources might require registration or a fee.)

Topics include: Vision therapy for ADHD, Adderall abuse on college campuses, sensory integration disorder, George Will’s opinion on the new DSM, requiring health insurance policies to cover mental health treatment, and  more.

As always, your comments welcome!

The Washington Post:

Parity law requires mental health benefits comparable to physical care benefits

Summary: An estimated 140 million Americans, most of them covered by employer-provided group insurance plans, are the beneficiaries of a new federal law designed to guarantee mental-health parity in insurance coverage.  In other words, the brain is finally being acknowledged as a physical body part!

Excerpt:

Denise Camp was resigned to the double standard that had long applied to her medical bills, forcing her to skimp on other expenses so she could pay for mental health treatment. While visits to her internist for physical problems required a $20 co-pay, her weekly therapy sessions with a social worker cost $50 and trips to the psychiatrist who prescribed her medication were $75. A similar disparity applied to medicines: Drugs to treat the crippling depression that ended her engineering career cost her twice what she paid for an antibiotic. Click here to read the rest of the story.

Science Daily:

Mouse Model Reveals a Cause of ADHD

Summary: To better understand the mechanisms of ADHD, particularly the dopamine pathway, scientists created genetically modified mice.

Excerpt:

Although it’s typically considered an adolescent curse, ADHD actually affects about five percent of adults as well. New research in a mouse model of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder suggests that the root of the psychiatric disorder might be the over-activity of a protein that regulates dopaminergic pathways. The work suggests a path toward new treatments for symptoms including inattentiveness, over-activity and impulsivity. Read the rest of this entry »

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Happy Valentine’s Day — with ADDed Love

February 12, 2010 in ADHD and Relationships, ADHD in the News, Questions about Adult ADHD, The Basics, View from the Roller Coaster | 7 comments

umbrellawedI knew something was up when a greater-than-usual  number of “help, please!” e-mails appeared in my in-box this morning.

Then my friend Doreen gave me the heads up on Facebook: MSN.com had featured a “When Your Lover Has ADHD” tag on its Valentine’s-themed homepage.  It linked to an interview I’d done last year with Health.com: “When Someone You Love Has ADHD: Frequently Asked Questions About Helping Your Partner and Yourself.”  It begins this way:

When journalist Gina Pera married a man with undiagnosed Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) she embarked on a wild ride that took her from frustration and confusion to understanding and advocacy. Today she runs support groups for people with ADHD and their partners, and her book Is It You, Me, or Adult A.D.D.? was published in 2008.

“Wild ride” indeed. But our marriage started out more on the rainy side. (That’s us at our outdoor wedding in 1998.  Despite the huge two-person umbrella, my husband still managed to position the dripline right over me. Fortunately, that kind of center-of-the-universe tendency is a relic of the past — or neither one of us, not to mention our marriage, would have survived!) Here’s a sample of the questions:

Q: How did you realize that your husband had ADHD?

Q: In the title of your book, you used the outdated term “ADD.” Why that instead of ADHD? Read the rest of this entry »

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Update: Baseball Players, ADHD, and Rx

December 3, 2009 in ADHD in the News | 3 comments

Pressured by Congress to crack down  on performance-enhancing drugs and “false claims of A.D.D.,”  Major League Baseball is pleased to report that the number of exemptions for ADHD medications are tapering off.  Is this really news worth celebrating?  I’m not so sure.baseball

In 2007, the number of players receiving exemptions for ADHD rose to 108, from 28 in 2006.  That figure strikes me as reasonable, not alarming, given increasing public awareness during that time period.

After all, the players receiving exemptions represent about 9 percent of total players, which number  1,200 or so.  Extremely conservative estimates place the percentage of adults with ADHD in the general population at about 4 percent, but experts acknowledge that using more realistic criteria bumps the figure as high as 16 percent.

Yet, as reported in a previous post (“Anti-Doper Doc Dopey about ADHD?”), this spike created quite the rhubarb among sports officials, including non-savvy ADHD physicians. (“This is incredible. This is quite spectacular. There seems to be an epidemic of ADD in major league baseball,” said Dr. Gary Wadler, chairman of the committee that determines the banned-substances list for the World Anti-Doping Agency.)

This recent article in The New York Times article (“Number of M.L.B. Players Given Drug Exemptions Up Slightly“) explains the latest report on all medication exemptions.

To leave a comment, please scroll down.

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Making Progress, One Ex-Naysayer at a Time

November 1, 2009 in ADHD in the News, Denial about ADHD, Essays on ADHD, Guest Essays, The Basics | 1 comment

This week: A guest post from ADHD coach Cynthia Hammer, founder and former executive director of Seattle-based non-Cynthia Hammerprofit ADD Resources (click here to visit her blog, “Pinnacle Coaching”).

I’ve always enjoyed Cynthia’s personal essays (look for more to come), and we both appreciate the thoughtful perspectives of Judith Warner, who writes the “Domestic Disturbances” column for The New York Times.
——————-

Do you ever get discouraged about all the bad and inaccurate press about ADHD? That it is a condition that doesn’t exist? That those of us who have ADHD are seeking the easy way out by taking medicine or that we parents give dangerous medicine to children for a made-up condition?

I just finished reading an article by Judith Warner, a columnist for The New York Times who planned to write a book on these kinds of topics, but she kept putting off writing the book—and she finally realized why. Read the rest of this entry »

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More Details on New ADHD-Dopamine Research

September 28, 2009 in ADHD in the News, ADHD medication, Adult ADHD Myths, Brain Storming, The Basics | 3 comments

Since I posted this blog entry on recent research from neuroscientist Nora Volkow and colleagues, more detailed stories interpreting the study’s findings have become available. In particular, this report from MedPage today targets clinicians. That site also includes an audio interview with Dr. Volkow, below (despite a strong Spanish accent, Dr. Volkow does a good job of making complex concepts understandable to the layperson, in my opinion).

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Dancing with the Stars — and ADHD

September 22, 2009 in ADHD and Relationships, ADHD in the News, Gina Out and About, The Basics | 7 comments

Thanks to Philadelphia ABC affiliate WPVI-TV for airing this well-balanced segment during ADHD Awareness Week, and thanks to Dancing with the Stars star Karina Smirnoff and the amazing Kavanaugh family for sharing their stories. (Oh, I make a small cameo appearance, drawn from a 30-minute interview with Health producer Dawn Heefner. Astute, intelligent questions all!)

PHILADELPHIA, PA.; September 22, 2009 (WPVI) — Attention deficit disorders are common among children. But few people know that they affect anywhere from 4 to 16% of American adults too – though most don’t know it. But identifying the disorder can be a big step in learning how to live a good life with AD/HD.

Karina Smirnoff moves across the dance floor in “Dancing With the Stars” with a precision that shows hours & hours of practice.

That’s not easy for someone with attention deficit disorder – ADD….

Continue reading at KPVI’s website, and PLEASE leave a note of appreciation there for this story.

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Headlines We Love: ADHD is Biological

September 9, 2009 in ADHD in the News, Adult ADHD Myths, Denial about ADHD, The Basics | 10 comments

newsboyOkay, the headlines this week may not come as news to us. But, following the recent ADHD Hall of Shame entry, science-based reportage comes as welcome relief. The following news sources, among others, report the latest study by NIDA Director Nora Volkow and colleagues showing that, well, ADHD is real. Read all about it.

Here’s a sampling of the breaking headlines, followed by the press release from the researcher:

  • BBC News: ADHD Brain Chemistry Clue Found
    US researchers have pinned down new differences in the brain chemistry of people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). They found ADHD patients lack key proteins which allow them to experience a sense of reward and motivation. Read the rest of this entry »
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Liberals, Conservatives Agree: It’s Okay to Bash ADHD and Bully the Kids, Adults Who Have It

August 12, 2009 in ADHD Hall of Shame, ADHD in the News, ADHD medication, Denial about ADHD | 14 comments

Introducing: The ADHD Hall of Shame, a new ADHD Roller Coaster department.

Inaugural inductees: HBO show host Bill Maher and his guests Arianna Huffington, Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA), and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA). Two liberals and two conservatives who could agree on one thing only: It’s okay to bash ADHD.

“Paddling a child is inhumane but drugging a child is the way to go?” began an indignant Kingston (R-GA), implying that there’s nothing about ADHD that a good whupping won’t cure. Read the rest of this entry »

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