Tag Archives: ADDiva

Was Horton the Elephant an ADDiva?

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"I meant what I said and I said what I meant: an elephant's faithful 100%!"

Dr. Seuss knew just what he was doing when he put those words in good old Horton the Elephant's mouth.  Like Horton and his Who, sometimes we ADDivas say EXACTLY what we think...and sometimes we embarrass, offend and are a bit too transparent -- 100%!

It's about time we talked about ... talking ... er, blurting ... er, impulse control (is that an oxymoron or what?).

So it is honesty or is it impulse (or both) that allows those sometimes-blunt messages to come out of our mouths? My guess is that our wild brains are simply reacting to whatever is happening in the moment. It's almost like Pavlov's dog: see the food = salivate. The parallel for ADDivas is:  see the situation = speak first response that come to mind.

We truly have the mind of an innocent child in that respect, we react from a place of truth, perhaps one of the many reasons that it's hard to BS an ADDiva. We like our information straight from the hip, no fluff please.

It reminds me a bit of a tea kettle on verge of boiling 100% of the time. We are always ready to bubble over with the slightest nudge from the outside world ... or our inside world. We like to share what's going on with us...even when nobody else really cares to hear it!

I've done my share of ADD blurting. Once, I told a new client that her promising new apartment complex had a name that sounded like a pregnancy clinic! Not popular, I assure you. Surprisingly, she didn't walk out of the room and we had a strong business relationship for years in spite of my comment.

Careless words do cause serious problems in relationships, business,  families and even with ourselves. Sometimes those blurts are self talk that denigrates us and imposes even lower self esteem than we deserve ("That was SO stupid of me!" we say out loud, or loudly to ourselves).

It's not all bad, though. Sometimes the honest truth DOES need to be spoken, as in Horton's case. We ARE like the elephant, often faithful (to the truth) one hundred percent. The world needs our reality check every now and then. Perhaps more often than we realize. So, within reason, our ADDiva honesty is a good thing ... just not in the midst of a business meeting.

What about you? Do you blurt out "too honest" comments and suffer for it? Or is your truth a welcome relief? Tell me about it! And mean what you say!

OMG- Confessions won First Prize for Women’s Issues!

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 I am ecstatic!

Confessions of an ADDiva won first prize in the Women's Issues category at the Indie Book Awards! I wasn't officially notified, but wandered over to their web site, feeling sad already that I hadn't even placed among the thousands of entries.

I scanned through the top prize winners (not me) and then scrolled through the 60 categories (!) noticing that there was a First Prize winner and a four finalists. I had forgotten what category I had entered, to be honest. So I pulled out the entry form and saw that I had entered in THREE categories...Health, Self Help and Women's Issues.

Nuttin' in Health, nuttin' in Self Help and I perused the finalists in the Women's Issues category with a heavy heart...then glanced up at the winner. it was ME! OMG! My heart burst with gratitude and pride!

I won a $100 prize and a gold medal (pretty impressive, eh?) but most important, I found out that the First Prize winners will go to a New York literary agent for review and possible publication with a major publishing house! OMG!!!

No guarantees, but how cool is THAT? The stats are frightening -- in 2009 there were 1.3 million books published. In 2010 (one year later) there were 3.1 million books published and of that number 2.77 million were self published. That means that there was a heck of a lot of competition for that First Prize and yet....I won!

OMG- I can't stop saying that! I am really really proud and really happy. Which is a good thing. I needed this boost. I think we should throw a virtual celebratory party! Wanna come?

60. 60? OMG 60

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 OK - I'll fill you in on the details tomorrow but suffice it to stay that I had a birthday Sunday. A Big Birthday. A not-so-wonderful birthday. And don't tell me that age is all in your head and that you're only as old as you think you are and that age doesn't matter. Pooh-pooh.

I've never been affected much by birthdays. In fact was kinda proud that I was either ahead of the curve (important when I was a teen) or behind the curve (important when I was over 35). But 60. Well. I can't be a midlife ADDiva any more. Can I? Does midlife include 60? I am panicked, slightly.

This birthday was kinda like menopause for me. I knew it was coming. I didn't want to deal with it. I hid my head in the sand and finally, when it hit me smack in the butt, I read all the menopause books in one weekend and accepted the inevitable.

The same would apply to turning 60 but I didn't find any books about it. Which leads me to think that perhaps writing a book about turning 60 would be apropos right about now...

So, I guess I am asking a tentative, quavery question: will you still let me be part of the tribe even when I'm not "midlife?" Oh that sounds ridiculous, even to me! Of COURSE you'll accept me as I am...just as long as I accept me for who I am.

Instead of cowering in the corner, fearful that "they" will discover the truth about my birth year, how about standing up proudly and telling folks (ala Sally O'Malley on Saturday Night Live) ;

"I'm SIXTY. I like to KICK, I like to STRETCH. I like to KICK 'cause I'm SIXTY - SIXTY YEARS OLD!"

Take THAT!

Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler admits to being wildly ADD!

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 It's not exactly a news flash, but yes, Steven Tyler told the world that he was "ADD personified" on 60 Minutes (http://www NULL.cbsnews NULL.com/8301-18560_162-57394902/aerosmith-livin-on-the-edge/?tag=contentMain;contentBody) during a tribute to Aerosmith's 40th anniversary tour. And there's no question that his ADD includes the Big H-"Hyperactive."

"I used to say my train of thought makes all the stops!" said Tyler, grinning broadly at his own joke.

In a post-show interview (http://www NULL.cbsnews NULL.com/8301-504803_162-57394683-10391709/lara-logans-backstage-adventure-with-aerosmith/?tag=contentMain;contentBody), 60 Minutes producer John Hamlin was taken aback by Steven's wild mental leaps. "Interviewing him was a challenge. When you ask him a question about Subject A, he ends up on Subject D, E or F," he said. "A lot of times [the answer] has nothing to do with the question we've asked."

Shocking. Yet so familiar to we of the ADD tribe. Tyler's brain, like ours, beats to a different drummer (and not just Aerosmith's percussion guy, Joey Kramer). And it beats fast. Tyler needs a heaping helping of stimulation to maintain a modicum of focus, which might be part of the reason he was deep into the drug scene early in his career. Cocaine, heroin - you name it, he was doing it. But drugs are often part of the ADD coping arsenal. Most of us aren't wildly rich and famous while we're doing it, though.

Hamlin also seemed surprised that Tyler needed some brain fidgets to help him stay on track during concerts. "A lot of artists these days have things they call "in ears" so they can hear a perfect mix of all the musicians on stage.

"Steven Tyler has a guy who's Stage Left with a sound effects board and [he] fires sound effects [into the earpiece]. Crazy wacky [sounds] sorta like "wooboobooboo!" like the Three Stooges or "Boing!" to keep Steven entertained!

"I would think that if you're onstage, the front man of a rock and roll band in front of 15,000 people, that you're pretty focused on what's going on. But he's got a guy in his ear keeping him entertained!"

Yep, sounds like ADD to me. In Steven's own words:

(Reporter) Lara Logan: So you will actually write lyrics while you're driving?
Tyler: Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah. Uh, you know what? I'm ADD personified.
Logan: And OCD?
Tyler: I'm not sure about that. But I'm ADD.
Tyler: Um, uh, now I forgot what I was saying.
Logan: Sorry. I interrupted you.

I think I'll send Steven an ADDiva T-shirt. He'd get a kick out of it. For 6.5 seconds. Before he's off to his next shiny object. Gosh, it's good to know that I have something in common with 63-year-old Steven!

Breakthrough in brain mapping?

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I just watched a replay of 60 Minutes from earlier tonight and I am blown away by the possibilities.  A new way of mapping the brain's neural pathways? In full color? In high def? Incredible!  The info on the brain scan is at the end of the story. Not that the iPad info isn't miraculous, but the brain scan/mapping is extraordinary for the ADHD community!

Watch it here, following the iPad autism piece, or it can be viewed offsite directly at CBS News (http://www NULL.cbsnews NULL.com/video/watch/?id=7363040n)





I have emailed this guy already. Hope he isn't inundated after the show!

Warnings on generics: Supreme Court rules against consumers

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I am outraged!

And more than a little scared.

This week, on Thursday, June 23, 2011, the US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 against two women who claimed that they were not properly warned about the risk of taking a generic equivalent drug, (http://www NULL.latimes NULL.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-generic-drugs-20110624,0,5484443 NULL.story)saying that consumers were not allowed to sue for side effects not listed on the label. The justices said the generics companies didn’t have the same responsibility as brand name pharmaceuticals to update their warning labels when new side effects were discovered.

Are you kidding me?

Those generic drugs, the ones pushed hard by insurance companies because they cost less, the only ones that some people can afford to take, are not even required to toe the same line for warning labels as Big Pharma?  Ridiculous. Absurd. And dangerous.

The two women, Gladys Mensing of Minnesota and Julie Demahy of Louisiana took a generic equivalent of Reglan (originally developed by Wyeth) to treat acid reflux for about four years and developed serious neurological symptoms (involuntary muscle movements). Although the Supreme Court did not dispute that the symptoms were side effects of the generic drug, it said that companies who manufacture generics should not be held to the same standards as research pharmaceutical firms to add new warnings to their labels. Their contention is that the original warning label is sufficient for a generic equivalent.

Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the reason generics were granted special exemption was that "It is the special, and different, regulation of generic drugs that allowed the generic drug market to expand, bringing drugs more quickly and cheaply to the public."

But what about our safety and our right to full disclosure? Is the tradeoff for cheaper prescription prices an incomplete warning label about a potentially long-term, debilitating neurological condition? In this case, apparently so.

What does this mean for generic manufacturers? That they may skip merrily down the road producing medications that may or may not negatively impact the end user without telling us about newly-discovered problems.

What does this mean for ADD medications? It means "caveat emptor" – let the buyer beware. The drugs that are "off patent" may or may not have new, serious side effects. But if we take a generic we’ll never know, because there is no requirement that we be told about them. And now, no way to seek legal recourse against the company that produced the drug.

I am reminded of the severe warnings issued to cash-strapped consumers who ordered prescription drugs over the internet from foreign countries. There was no published warning of the purity or efficacy of the mail order drugs. Isn’t that exactly what is going on here? Granted, it is not a contamination or substitution problem, but we are buying (and taking) life-saving drugs without updated information about their potential for damage. So how can we know whether the generic we are taking is prone to cause problems that appeared after the original FDA approval? We can’t, thanks to the Supreme Court.

If Reglan was still under patent, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals (now part of Pfizer) would certainly be held responsible for warning the public about these serious side effects. But not the generic companies. This ruling allows generic drug manufacturers to hide the bad news from us. Until we experience them first hand.

Now I am even MORE outraged.

I will continue to request brand name prescriptions from my doctors. Thank goodness my health insurance still pays for them. My fingers are crossed that yours does, too. Which doesn’t mean those side effects on the label make me feel safer. But at least I know the possibilities.

Tell me about your prescriptions — do you take generics or not? Are you outraged too?

Neurotoxicity and meds

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Buried in the fine print of an article in Wikipedia, I found some rather disturbing information.

A number of releasing agents, notably many of those derived from amphetamine (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Amphetamine), have been found to be neurotoxic (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Neurotoxic) to serotonin (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Serotonin) and/or dopamine (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Dopamine)neurons (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Neurons) via damage to axons (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Axon) and dendrites (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Dendrite), enzymes (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Enzyme), mitochondria (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Mitochondria), DNA (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/DNA), plasmalemmal (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Membrane_transport_protein) and vesicular transporters (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Vesicular_transport_protein), and the cell membrane (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Cell_membrane), ultimately causing cell death (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Cell_death) or apoptosis (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Apoptosis) as a result. Examples include amphetamine, methamphetamine (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Methamphetamine), MDMA (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Methylenedioxymethamphetamine), fenfluramine (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Fenfluramine), and PCA (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Parachloroamphetamine), among others.

What this says essentially is that amphetamines can damage neurons and cause cell death. But the piperidine compounds aren’t as  toxic – that’s Ritalin, Concerta and Daytrana:

In contrast, piperazine (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Piperazine), aminoindane (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Indane), and oxazoline (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Oxazoline) releasing agents, as well as those from various other chemical families (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Chemical_family), are considered to be either fully nontoxic (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Toxicity), or significantly less toxic (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Toxicity) in comparison.

Methylphenidate belongs to the piperidine (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Piperidine) class of compounds and increases the levels of dopamine (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Dopamine) and norepinephrine (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Norepinephrine) in the brain through reuptake inhibition (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Reuptake_inhibitor) of the monoamine transporters (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Monoamine_transporter). It also increases the release of dopamine and norepinephrine. MPH possesses structural similarities to amphetamine (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Amphetamine), and, though it is less potent, its pharmacological effects are even more closely related to those of cocaine (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Cocaine).[1] (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Methylphenidate#cite_note-0)[2] (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Methylphenidate#cite_note-1)[3] (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Methylphenidate#cite_note-2)

I’ve written here previously about Dr. Tracy Ware’s assertion that amphetamines aren’t such a good choice for our ADD brains, even if they do help our focus and concentration. And that Ritalin (methyphenadate) isn’t quite so bad. This article supports her opinion.

Darn it. Just when we found something that would at least wake up our brains a little, allow us to focus, the ultimate effect is negative. I sure don’t want cell death in my neurons. I think it’s back to caffeine for me. But in small doses so my heart doesn’t go pitty-pat in ways it shouldn’t.  (sigh)  Don’t you wish this was easier?

“Focus Factor” on sale til 2/28/11

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Hie thee to Costco (http://http//www NULL.costco NULL.com/Browse/Product NULL.aspx?Prodid=11507373&search=FOCUS%20FACTOR&topnav=&Mo=0&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&lang=en-US&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&N=5000043&whse=BC&Dx=mode%20matchallpartial&Ntk=Text_Search&Dr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ne=4000000&D=FOCUS%20FACTOR&Ntt=FOCUS%20FACTOR&No=0&Nty=1&Ntx=mode%20matchallpartial) this month if you want to save some money on “Focus Factor, (http://www NULL.focusfactor NULL.com/?gclid=CMTc9My5nKcCFSVe7AodOGANbA)” a supplement that is supposed to  help attention and focus. Normally the price for 150 tablets is about $50 in drugstores but at Costco this month the price is $18 and some change. AND with a Costco coupon, you save an additional $4 per bottle! That means you can buy three bottles for less than the price of ONE bottle retail.

I’ve been taking “Focus Factor” since I went off my Adderall about 9 months ago. I struggled for months,  so I tried the generic knockoff of it (no longer manufactured) and found that it made me calmer and perhaps a little more focused. That’s good enough for me. After all, it’s just vitamins and I can always use a few more of those in my body.

You are supposed to take 4 pills a day, every day! That’s a bunch of money! So I was SO happy to see it at Costco (http://http://www NULL.costco NULL.com/Browse/Product NULL.aspx?Prodid=11507373&search=FOCUS%20FACTOR&topnav=&Mo=0&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&lang=en-US&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&N=5000043&whse=BC&Dx=mode%20matchallpartial&Ntk=Text_Search&Dr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ne=4000000&D=FOCUS%20FACTOR&Ntt=FOCUS%20FACTOR&No=0&Nty=1&Ntx=mode%20matchallpartial) AND with the coupon, too (you can order it online without the coupon – but you do need a Costco membership).  The limit is four bottles, so I bought my limit and put three of them in the freezer for later.

Just thought you’d like to know.

Hugs

Linda

PS I am also taking 3000 units of fish oil as recommended by my psychiatrist — Nordic Naturals Ultimate Omega (http://www NULL.nordicnaturals NULL.com/en/Products/Product_Details/98/?ProdID=1428)which has extra potent strength. I take them with food (it’s an oil and needs food to be absorbed easily). Oh, and I keep them in the freezer, too (that’s what reminded me to tell you this!)

Finishing my book

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I am writing.

Well, I am charged with writing my book, but instead I am writing a blog post.

We are at the beach and it's a gorgeous morning (after a series of awful, cold, windy and rainy mornings). "We" refers to me and the two Shelties that are doing a good job of distracting me from writing. Milli and Boomer are here because I knew I would worry about them if they were home. But they sure require a lot of my precious attention.

They are out wandering on the deck right now. I'm at the beach house that will be occupied by the ADDiva retreat women in October, I am living in it so I will know how we can best use it for the retreat. Already I am envisioning yoga at sunrise and meetings at the octagonal deck on the sand. It's a marvelous place to be.

But my book is going more slowly than I anticipated and I have a DEADLINE. OK, I will say it out loud: my book is going to be written, edited and printed by my birthday, April 29, 2011. OMG! Are you kidding me?

The more I write, the more I need to write. I worked with Judith Kohlberg for a weekend and she encouraged me to drop out a lot of stuff I thought was important ("You have other books to write. Save something for them," she told me). But I am adding that stuff back in. It IS important. And I want this book to be rich and full of tidbits and anecdotes about life in the non-linear lane.

Here I am sitting at my brought-from-home desk with adjustable tables all around me. It's an amazing view. I wish I had more time (don't I ALWAYS Wish I had more time?) but I promise you this: the book WILL be done. DONE, do you hear me? DONE. By my birthday.

So I'd better write…see you later..and keep WRITING!!

CogMed Day Two

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It's Day Two and I cried, OK? I cried.

This CogMed computer stuff is so hard. I get so anxious that I am not "doing well" that I want to throw in the towel.

Huh? I am not the kind of person who gives up easily. Or am I? In the past, I have hung on far too long to lost causes, but give me two days of excruciating mental ping pong and I want to quit. It doesn't make sense.

Except that CogMed pushes my weaknesses front and center so I have to notice them. Hmmm. The very same weaknesses I have been hiding from the world (and perhaps myself) are now "public." The CogMed computers now know how nuanced my attention can be – here, not here. There, not there.

And with no prescription meds on board except Wellbutrin (my lifeblood), I am depending on fish oil, vitamins and FocusFacto (http://www NULL.focusfactor NULL.com/)r (which I am not sure has any effect at all).

So, the results of Day Two are (drum roll please):

I did better on the averages than yesterday, but some of my "best" scores dipped below the first day (the "easy" day). So I am feeling a little down. I made some stupid mistakes – whoops I never allow my clients to call themselves "stupid" so I guess they were "careless" mistakes. How's that for reframing?

I was mad at myself for missing some easy patterns and caught some lucky breaks when I guessed and got the right answer. Is my memory better than I think it is? Seems like I trusted my intuition but maybe it was a faint memory in disguise. Hmmmm. This will require more thought.

And there is tomorrow…Day Three. Oh.. I am traveling to Jacksonville tomorrow, so Day Three won't be until Tuesday. Stay tuned. I promise to write after each session. Uh, let's make that every other session. This could get boring. I can't stand boring.