I like Dr. Amen’s approach of using meds only after trying everything else and not to rely only on the meds. Too many people take the meds but will not eat right, exercise, get enough sleep, etc.

Thom Hartmann in his many books talks about how ADDers are like the hunter/gatherers. Most of us however have to live in and interact with this linear world. To do that we sometimes need meds.

I believe if ADDers can live the right kind of life style they would not need meds. So if you can have the kind of lifestyle and job that lets you do what you love and gets you outside in the fresh air and sunshine doing something physically active you may not have any use for the meds.

In stead of paying someone to build a fence I’m out side in the fresh air and sunshine digging post holes and swinging a hammer. Yes an old fashioned post hole digger. Well so far anyway. My stepson wanted to rent a power auger but I have resisted saying “Lets see how it goes first, how hard can the ground be”. Yes I have always been optimistic but I know myself and have given myself permission to rent the auger if I need to. In the meantime boy am I getting my exercise.

Before that I was trimming my own trees with a chain saw. I can hear the comments now, “How is using a chain saw being active?” First of all a chain saw is not light. And I worked up a sweat hauling the logs from the back yard to the front curb. No I didn’t use the wheel barrow. I also have a stack of wood and a couple of stumps I’m working on with an axe.

But I also have what I call fill ins for when I’m not going to be doing things the hard way. I will go for a brisk 20 minute walk around the neighborhood and park at the far end of the parking lot if I’m shopping. Sometimes I get into the store faster than the people I see trying to find that magic parking spot by the door or the person that is parked, with the car running, waiting for someone to finish loading their car and taking the shopping cart back.

I like to walk, I know that about myself. I also know that like many ADDers I must have some variety. Do what you like to do and mix it up. Rowing, biking, running, walking, rock wall climbing, dancing, yoga… The list is endless. The only questions are do you work up a sweat and does it get your heart racing? If it lasts for twenty minutes and you do it every day it works for ADD.

Okay, back to the cornerstones. I’m starting with Self-care. For me if the Self-care is missing nothing else works. Self-care for ADHD is made up of Eat Right, Sleep Well and Exercise. The same as for almost anyone but the benefits are much greater for us.

There are some important differences though. We are often very sensitive to, or even allergic to, wheat, dairy, legumes (i.e. peanuts), tubers, some food color dies, some food preservatives, sugar, caffeine, some over the counter medications… Well you get the idea. The reaction is not always severe but it may keep you from getting to sleep at night, waking up in the morning, cause mood swings and in general intensify ADHD symptoms. The last thing I want is to intensify my symptoms!

When I first learned about this my first question was “So what am I supposed to eat? What is left? The answer is fresh or frozen meat, fruit, and vegetables. Not the processed, breaded, covered in gravy frozen food but the real thing. Frozen raw meat, fruit, or vegetables.

The protein in meat is an important part of this strategy. We need protein and lots of it but it also gives us a slow release of energy so we don’t crash in-between meals because of low blood sugar. I recommend reading the Paleo Diet by Dr. Loren Cordain. Also, Dr. Sebring has an excellent series of free pod-casts on eating right at http://www.sebringclinic.com/home.asp.

My daughter was running in the Austin 10K and I went to watch and give her my support. By the time I found a parking place and walked to the finish line and back to the car I had walked the equivalent of 10K. Now I didn’t really have any idea how far 10k was but I found out later it’s about 6.2 miles.

I have always been proud of my ability to walk but my legs were very sore the next day. I thought maybe it’s just because I’m 60 now. I could use that as an excuse but that was all it really sounded like to me, an excuse.

I have also been under a lot of stress the last few weeks and started thinking about how to deal with the stress. Because I’m ADD and an ADHD Coach I started thinking of the things I would ask my clients to try in order to see what might work for them. That’s when it hit me, I was not using the basic tools of self-care that I have been trying to get my clients to adopt. There was a time when I did, well most of them most of the time. But I had let life get in the way and now I realized that I needed to get back to basics and do the very things that I have been advocating for anyone that is ADD or ADHD.

So on twitter I wrote:
It’s time for me to start living the change I ask of my clients. If I can’t do that I have no business being an Adult ADHD Coach.
Then a few minutes later I wrote:
I guess there is no going back, now that I have told the whole world. Maybe that’s why I did it.

But twitter is too short to say all the things I want to say as I make this journey back to the basics of ADHD Success. So my blog will serve that purpose.

Yes, it is true, I have been neglecting my blog. I made the excuse that no one was reading it anyway. Yesterday I got an email saying someone left a comment on my blog. It got my attention and reminded me that I was going to blog for me not to see how many people I could get to read it. So… watch this space.

But like most tools we must learn to use it effectively. When I discovered that I could hyper-focus I thought it was great and I got busy working on my website. The down side of a short term hyper-focus was that I was not eating, sleeping or even showering as I should have. I even became dehydrated. The hours disappeared and I didn’t notice or even care. After several days I was a wreck. I learned to care.

To solve this problem I set the kitchen timer for a couple of hours and keep a tall glass of ice water next to me. When the timer goes off I get up and take a break, get some food, refill the water glass. If I don’t stop when the timer goes off though it will be hours before I notice.

The long term hyperfocus is different. You may forget appointments, or forget to pay bills. This is where an electronic PDA is worth it’s weight in gold. Most of the smart phones have a PDA built in. If you set the alarm when you have an appointment it will remind you with a chime.

Dr. Daniel Amen, in his book Healing ADD, explains his brain-imaging research regarding the increase or decrease of blood flow to particular areas in the brain. As a result of his extensive research, Dr. Amen has identified several distinct types of ADD and ADHD and described particular behaviors and traits associated with each. His long standing ability to diagnose and subsequently treat each type is highly successful. Your family doctor is unlikely to have this expertise or the equipment needed to correctly diagnose and successfully treat any of the several types of ADD and ADHD. I like to suggest the use of specifically trained psychologists and psychiatrists to help individuals and their families in the diagnostic process and appropriate treatment.

Alexander Graham Bell
George Burns
Prince Charles
Agatha Christie
Winston Churchill
Bill Cosby
Salvador Dali
Walt Disney
Kirk Douglas
Thomas Edison
Albert Einstein
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Henry Ford
Whoopi Goldberg
Ernest Hemingway
Dustin Hoffman
“Magic” Johnson
Michael Jordan
John F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
John Lennon
Steve McQueen
General George Patton
Pablo Picasso
John D. Rockefeller
Nelson Rockefeller
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt
Babe Ruth
George C. Scott
Steven Spielberg
Jackie Stewart
James Stewart
Robin Williams
Henry Winkler
Stevie Wonder
Frank Lloyd Wright

These people have all made their mark in history. I have to ask myself what is holding back the rest of us? I don’t know yet but I intend to find out and when I do you will be the first to know. To see the full list with links to biographies click on the link below.
www.adhdrelief.com/famous.html

Advantages:
A visual learner, adaptive, can see patterns in chaos, career variety, collaborative, compassionate, creative, dedicated, empathetic, energetic, entrepreneurial, good in a crisis, imaginative, intelligent, intuitive, likes learning new things, multitasking, passionate, persistent, pragmatic, problem solving, resourceful, risk taker, sensitive, spontaneous, tenacious, unconventional, versatile.

Disadvantages:
Daydreaming, blurting, procrastination, depression, disorganized, undisciplined, unfocused, emotional, forgetful, impatient, distractible, impulsive, defensive, hypersensitive, pessimistic, messy, one-upmanship, low self-esteem, getting lost, losing things, overly talkative, rarely completes jobs, lack of concentration, poor time management, zoning out during conversation.