I’m in this weeks Georgia Straight a Vancouver based weekly newspaper along with Dr. Margaret Weiss ex BC ADHD clinic chief commenting on the $3 million dollar BC children and adult ADHD clinic donation scandal. Matt Burrows wrote the story. We need an inquiry into this scandal.

See my previous post medical bureaucrats at BC Children’s Hospital & PHSA botch multimillion dollar donation for desperately needed BC Adult & Children’s ADHD clinic. Vancouver Sun health reporter Pamela Fayerman broke this story, her follow up story here.

It’s scandalous that desperate ADHD adults and parents of children with ADHD can’t find people properly trained in diagnosing ADHD in BC. Of the few who are trained in diagnosing and medically treating ADHD,  many do not even have wait lists, and those who do often have very long wait lists.

Don James, the Harley Davidson CEO who has a family member with ADHD,  for 3 years generously tried to give a $3 million donation for an BC adult and childrens lifecycle ADHD clinic to the medical bureaucrats at:

BC Children’s Hospital

The Provincial Health Services Authority PHSA

BC Mental Health Foundation

Although there was initial interest, no one got back to him with a plan or promise to use the money, he said

For 3 YEARS!!! How often in the health system is someone offering you a $3 million donation for a badly needed service? He tries to do the right thing, and that’s how he was treated?

I have people email me every DAY asking for a some name of people who can diagnose ADHD in the Vancouver area, and outside that? Even worse. BC is very backwards on ADHD. I’ve lost track of how many horror stories that have been told to me by adults with ADHD who couldn’t get diagnosed or their doctor didn’t bother to do so or dismissed the possibility of them having ADHD.

And they had access to the money all the time to HELP those people for 3 YEARS but never used it? Disgraceful. Shameful.

I’ve called for an inquiry into this scandal. Dr. Margaret Weiss has agreed.

“I definitely think that there should be an inquiry, because this is not the only instance in which a major donation has not been accepted by the health authority,” Weiss claimed in a phone interview. “And so, given the extreme budgetary constraints on provision of medical services, the fact that they are turning down much-needed money in areas of care that are particular gaps in our system needs to be investigated.”

Matt Burrows of the Georgia Straight for Health minister Mike De Jong comment on the scandal and was told Mike de Jong was “out of the country” and would not be able to respond. Really? No phone or email available in 2012? Where was he? On an arctic ice floe?

The BC Liberal govt closed down the only public adult ADHD clinic in BC 5 years ago after having a politically embarrassing 12-14 month wait list for an entire year. Still closed. I asked then NDP health critic Adrian Dix‘s (now BC NDP leader) office if they’d do something about it, but just got a lot of empty promises and nothing in the end.

There needs to be more than one public clinic for adults and children with ADHD in BC, but we can at least start with one.

The proposed BC adult and children’s lifecycle ADHD clinic seems to be in limbo now. I’ve been told Lion’s Gate Hospital in North Vancouver has been given the money it but it’s not clear if it’s going ahead.

Why hasn’t health minister Mike De Jong done something about this? What will he do about this badly botched multimillion dollar donation?

If you think this is wrong and there should be an inquiry about this, please contact these people and ask for one.

Also ask when they will reopen the much need BC adult ADHD clinic.

Contact BC Health Minister Mike De Jong Email mike.dejong.mla@leg.bc.ca Phone: 250 953-3547

Contact BC NDP health critic Mike Farnsworth mike.farnworth.mla@leg.bc.ca 250 387-3655

Contact the BC Conservative party conservatives@bcconservative.ca Toll Free:1+866-800-9025

The CEO of Deeley Harley Davidson Canada, Don James has been trying to give a 3 million dollar donation for a desperately needed children and adult BC ADHD clinic. For 3 years. Incompetent BC medical bureaucrats have ignored him. Repeatedly.

This is disgraceful.

Pamela Fayerman, the Vancouver Sun’s medical reporter wrote an excellent investigative story on this. Check out her Blog Medicine Matters, Twitter  Facebook. But unfortunately, her 1675 word investigative story complete with a staff photographer photograph that looks like it’s written for the print edition is posted instead in her blog, not the print edition.

Why? Was it spiked? Blog spiked? It’s a great story. Did it offend the powers that be at the Vancouver Sun? Their connected friends or organizations? Vancouver Sun managing editor Harold Munro apparently made the decision. Please ask Harold why an excellent story like this is not in the print edition? Here’s his email address hmunro@vancouversun.com ADHD gets ignored or stigmatized in BC far too much.

Don James, CEO of Deeley Harley Davidson Canada explains why he offered the generous donation for a much needed BC adult and children’s ADHD clinic.

We’ve had some experience with ADHD in our family,” he said. “My wife Ruth, and I, wanted to ensure that children treated there aren’t suddenly dropped as patients when they transition to adulthood,” he said, noting that in 2009, a B.C. Medical Association report drew attention to the need for more services for ADHD patients of all ages.

I wish there were more people like Don James in BC.

James approached various mental health experts at the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA), the BC Mental Health Foundation as well as experts at BC Children’s Hospital. Although there was initial interest, no one got back to him with a plan or promise to use the money, he said.

This is disgraceful.

As an Adult ADHD coach who runs the Vancouver Adult ADD Support group, I get people emailing me on a daily basis, asking for people who can diagnose ADHD in children and especially in adults. I’ve heard far too many horror stories by people who suffered because they didn’t get diagnosed and treated for ADHD.

Many BCers wait months on wait lists to get diagnosed for ADHD IF they can find someone who is actually knows ADHD well enough to give a proper diagnosis. Most medical professionals in BC have no training in ADHD. UBC medical students only get one hour of training on ADHD.

Don James says

If they weren’t interested in our donation, they should have had more respect by referring us elsewhere because we weren’t talking about an insignificant amount of money. We weren’t given the straight goods.

People were protecting their turf and not thinking about all the patients out there who aren’t getting proper treatment. We were handled in an incompetent, unprofessional manner

So adults and children with ADHD in BC who are severely lacking in resources for diagnosis and treatment HAD someone out there willing to fund the services they so desperately needed but didn’t get them because incompetent medical bureaucrats decided fighting ego turf wars was more important than helping ADHD patients?

Or did they just have contempt for people with ADHD? I know people who work in the mental health field who’ve went public at work with their ADHD and experienced discrimination by doctors and psychiatrists because of it.

Dr. Jana Davidson, a psychiatrist and head of mental health at BC Children’s and Women’s Hospital and Health Centre, admitted that, as one of those tasked with handling the pledge, she dropped the ball and left James and his wife dangling for three years.

“I feel badly. These were incredibly generous, well-meaning people, intent on trying to improve services for those living with the negative effects of ADHD. “The responsibility fell on my shoulders. I should have done a better job, especially in the formal communication with them,” Davidson said.

The BC Liberal govt closed down the only public adult ADHD clinic in BC 5 years ago after having a politically embarrassing 12-14 month wait list for an entire year. Still closed. I asked then NDP health critic Adrian Dix‘s (now BC NDP leader) office if they’d do something about it, but just got a lot of empty promises and nothing in the end.

Why hasn’t health minister Mike De Jong done something about this? What will he do about this badly botched multimillion dollar donation? Email mike.dejong.mla@leg.bc.ca Phone: 250 953-3547

I asked BC Premier Christy Clark at her town hall meeting 8 months ago if she would reopen the BC Adult ADHD clinic the BC Liberals closed. Her answer is on my blog post with the audio, she said “I’m Absolutely Committed To Working With You On It”. CKNW and CBC did a story on it. But nothing’s happened.

“James said he made several overtures to experts, including Leslie Arnold, president of BC Mental Health and Addictions Services, a PHSA (Provincial Health Services Authority) agency that has a mandate for ADHD services based at Children’s Hospital.

When James first approached BC Children’s in 2008, the hospital was about to stop accepting adult patients because waiting lists were too long. Even after dropping adult patients, waiting lists for pediatric patients — and their parents who may be taught new parenting skills —are still long. At present, new patients must wait five months to be seen. ”

James said he’s incredulous he’s only recently learned more about the dithering on his pledge. And he’s especially disturbed he discovered about it through a Vancouver Sun journalist (this writer), not from hospital officials.

“No one ever told us they couldn’t use our money or why. We offered money and they simply ignored us.”

Dr. Margaret Weiss head of the BC ADHD clinic, and world renowned authority on ADHD resigned in part over this. She’s worked there for 20 years. This is a big loss.

The Don James donation debacle played a role in the resignation from BC Children’s Hospital of Dr. Margaret Weiss, one of the world’s leading authorities on ADHD. Weiss had practised psychiatry at the hospital for 20 years and had led the ADHD program for about the last half of them until she left a few months ago. The McGill and Harvard University-educated psychiatrist is now seeing ADHD patients and conducting research in her North Shore home office.

She’s one of the world’s most prolific authors of ADHD studies published in prestigious medical journals. She also advises health systems around the world how to provide ADHD treatment programs. Weiss said the diversion of the James donation, coupled with the BCCH policy to stop accepting patients after their 19th birthday, was devastating news to her and her patients. It was one of the reasons she resigned, she said

If you ever wanted to do something about getting back an adult ADHD clinic in BC now’s the time.

“Someone else should do it” rarely really happens in real life. Many non ADHD people don’t even think ADHD is real let alone care about us.

People with ADHD don’t get services in part because far too often many in the media, the govt, and the medical bureaucrats don’t think it’s real, or a real problem. If we want services, we need to tell them why we need them.

Here are a few ways you can help:

Please read the story and pass it on to people you know who might be interested in it and facebook/twitter, consider commenting on Pamela’s blog post or writing a letter to the editor, if you do, ask them why the article is not in the print edition of the Vancouver Sun.

Please call your MLA and demand they reopen the BC adult ADHD clinic and ask them to do an inquiry on why a much needed $3 million dollar donation for BC adult and children’s ADHD clinic got ignored for 3 years.

Here’s how to find your MLA’s contact info

Also please consider politely (cursing gets deleted) explaining to these people why adults and children with ADHD need a BC adult and children clinic. If they don’t think we need resources they won’t give us it. Lots of other groups want the limited resources.

If the PHSA Provincial Health Services Authority won’t help adults and children with ADHD, they should give the resources to VCH Vancouver Coastal Health Authority to do so

1. Lynda Cranston, President and CEO of the PHSA. Provincial Health Services Authority lcranston@phsa.ca

2. Lorna Howes, Director of Mental Health Services for VCH. Vancouver Coastal Health Authority  lorna.howes@vch.ca

3. Mike De Jong. Minister of Health. Email mike.dejong.mla@leg.bc.ca Phone: 250 953-3547

4. Mike Farnworth BC NDP’s Health critic. Email  Mike.Farnworth.MLA@leg.bc.ca
Phone: 250 387-3655

Other ideas?

Another satisfied adult ADHD coaching client.

Pete Quily is an excellent coach with fantastic communication skills. He is a compassionate listener and an assertive communicator.

I’ve struggled with ADD for years and I found Pete to be far more helpful than anything else I have tried including a wide variety of medications.

He has a broad holistic approach that includes conventional as well as alternative strategies. Pete uses a combination of solid medical research that is well tempered with experience, intuition and kindness.

I have always believed that medication should be used only as a last line of defense for treating ADD and I strongly recommend using Pete as a first line of defense in conjunction with exercise and diet.

S. G.

Sometimes we just think about what we did that was “wrong” or didn’t work out.

While it is important to learn from what we did that didn’t work out, often we put most of our focus on that while ignoring what we did that DID work out. Many people do that, but arguably adults with ADHD do that more than most people.

What you focus on expands.

So why not make a list of what you did well in 2011? Well, not perfect.

What did you try and succeed at?

What new skills did you learn?

How can you continue to focus on what you did well in 2011, and do them more often in 2012?

If you want to make some New Years resolutions, maybe include some of those answers in them. Or consider an alternative to a New Year’s resolutions, a New Year’s theme.

8 years of ADHD Awareness Weeks/days for in the US starting with the original nation resolution in the US Senate in 2004

Zero ADHD Awareness Weeks/days in Canada. None at the Federal level. None at the provincial level. None at the municipal level.

But I’m happy to report that on Tuesday Oct 18th The Vancouver City Council declared the week of October 16th to 22nd, 2011 as “ADHD AWARENESS WEEK” at a ceremony at Vancouver city hall.  Mayor Gregor Robertson read out the resolution and I and Parks Commissioner Sarah Blyth who has  gone public on having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder spoke after.

Just before the ADHD Awareness week proclamation the outgoing Vancouver Poet Laureate Brad Cran in his final speech and poem to council went public that he had ADHD. Great timing! Thanks Brad. I’ll do a post later on that.

In this post, I’ll show a scan of the proclamation, text of the proclamation, photos and videos of the Mayor, Sarah and I speaking at the event.

Usually it take a several months to get city hall to do a proclamation. But I worked with Vision Vancouver Parks Commissioner Sarah Blyth who had recently gone public with ADHD and Vision Vancouver city councillor Andrea Reimer to get this through on short notice and we were able to make this happen. Thanks Sarah and Andrea.

And thanks to all the city councillors from all 3 parties who made this happen, Vision Vancouver, COPE, and NPA Vancouver.

Here’s the scan of the ADHD Awareness week proclamation, courtesy of one of my Vancouver adult ADD Support Group members.

Thanks  to Mayor Gregor Robertson and Vancouver City Councillors: Andrea Reimer, David Cadman, Ellen Woodsworth, Kerry Jang, Suzanne Anton, Tim Stevenson, Geoff Meggs, George Chow, Heather Deal, and Raymond Louie for helping to support awareness of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Here’s the text of Vancouver city council’s resolution as read out by Mayor Gregor Robertson.

WHEREAS Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopment condition that affects approximately 8% of children and 5% of adults. Every mainstream medical, psychological, and educational organization in the world now recognizes that ADHD is a chronic, impairing and treatable medical condition that deserves the same recognition and access to services as depression or any other mental illness;

AND WHEREAS with Vancouver’s problems with drugs and crime, diagnosing and properly treating it’s citizens with ADHD saves taxpayer dollars and prevents needless human suffering. Research shows 20% or more of drug addicts and alcoholics have ADHD, and 21-45% of criminals in prison have ADHD;

AND WHEREAS Whereas there are high rates of school dropouts, underemployment, work problems, divorce, eating disorders, depression and anxiety with ADHD (especially untreated ADHD);

AND WHEREAS there are many positive characteristics of people with ADHD, especially when properly managed, high levels of creativity and energy, hyperfocus, willingness to challenge the status quo and create something new and innovative. 3 Billionaires, several Olympic gold medalists, artists, and entrepreneurs with ADHD have been very successful;

AND WHEREAS some believe ADHD is over diagnosed, yet one in every two children in Vancouver with ADHD and 9 in every 10 Vancouver adults with ADHD will go undiagnosed and untreated;

AND WHEREAS there is a need for education of health care professionals, employers, and educators about the disorder, anti-stigma campaigns and a need for well-trained mental health professionals capable of conducting proper diagnosis and treatment activities;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Gregor Robertson, Mayor of the City of Vancouver, DO HEREBY PROCLAIM the week of October 16th to 22nd, 2011 as

“ADHD AWARENESS WEEK”

In the city of Vancouver.

Photos of the event

Photo of Mayor Gregor Robertson reading the Vancouver ADHD Awareness Week Proclamation

Photo of Mayor Gregor Robertson Parks Commissioner Sarah Blyth and Adult ADHD Coach Pete Quily who’s still in shock that this happened with the Vancouver ADHD Awareness Week Proclamation

Videos of Mayor Gregor Robertson, Sarah Blyth and Pete Quily During ADHD Awareness Week Proclamation.

Here’s the video of Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson Proclaiming the first ADHD Awareness Week in Vancouver.

Here’s the video of Vision Vancouver Parks Commission Sarah Blyth who has ADHD talking about her experiences with it.

Here’s the video of me talking about ADHD in Vancouver and the need for more resources and of course to reopen the closed after a year long wait list BC adult ADHD clinic at an adult hospital.

Maybe you can help get your city, province or state to declare ADHD Awareness Week for next year? Maybe one day Canada will catch up to the Americans and declare a national ADHD Awareness Week?

I was quoted in an article on Adult ADHD in Monday’s Globe and Mail Newspaper (the major National Canadian Newspaper) written by Adriana Barton, Oct. 3rd, 2011 p L1 in the Life section.

Sarah Byth the Vision Vancouver parks commissioner who is the first elected politician in Canada and the US to go public with ADHD is profiled in the article.

I was quoted on Adult ADHD coaching in the article and on the positives of having adult ADHD. I think it was a great well researched article. I do disagree with Dr. Russell Barkley, there ARE advantage of ADHD, 99.9% of all research studies on ADHD are looking for the negatives of ADHD, and there are true negatives but almost no one is looking for the strengths of ADHD.

What you don’t look for you won’t find. Barkley’s done great research on the pathology of ADHD, and there are true negatives of adhd. But Barkley is not a clinician he’s a researcher. He doesn’t actually treat ADHD patients, like clinicians such as Dr Ed Hallowell who has ADHD does.

Dr Hallowell considers ADHD a strength wrapped in a challenge. Talk to clinicians or Adult ADHD coaches who focus on adults with ADHD and you’ll find them talking about the strengths of ADHD as well as the negatives. They don’t consider ADHD 100% pathology.

The title of the article highlights a huge problem with adult ADHD in Canada, Coping With Adult ADHD: First You Need a Diagnosis. But you can’t assume that you can get a proper one reasonably easily. The vast majority of  adults with ADHD are undiagnosed and untreated.

Many doctors, psychiatrist and psychologists have no training on adhd, especially on adult ADHD. At UBC medical school they only get one hour on ADHD during their whole program, totally inadequate.

Why doesn’t the The College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC  and other provinces properly educate doctors and psychiatrists on ADHD, especially adult ADHD by demanding family doctors take Continuing Medical Education courses on ADHD in adults and children?

The preamble of The Canada Health act states that

the objective of Canadian Health Care policy is “that continued access to quality health care without financial or other barriers will be critical to maintaining and improving the health and well-being of Canadians.The primary objective of the Act is to protect, promote and restore the physical and mental well-being of residents of Canada and to facilitate reasonable access to health services without financial or other barriers.” (Section 3).

Well by that definition, aren’t BC and other province are violating the Canada health act by not providing “reasonable access to health services without financial or other barriers”? The barrier being not finding enough doctors competently trained in diagnosing and treating ADHD in adults and children. I hear this complaint constantly. Will someone with ADHD have to sue the provinces to allow ADHD adults and children to get properly diagnosed and treated?

What did you think of the article?

Billionaire entrepreneurs, Gold medal winning Olympic athletes and entertainers, and pulitzer prize newspaper columnists have gone public with ADHD but up until now no elected politician in Canada or in the US has gone public with having ADHD that I’ve been able to find. I’ve searched the web and asked many people in both Canada and the US who work with people with ADHD.

This is despite many politicians going public with depression, alcoholism, drug abuse, etc.

I’m a political science major who has ADHD, coaches adults with ADHD and who started working on political campaigns at 16 and I’m a long time politics junkie. I think many politicians have ADHD but are afraid to go public with it.

There are many reasons why ADHD can be an asset as a politician that I’ll list below.  I’ve talked to others who work in politics behind the scenes who know ADHD and they agree.

So I was surprised and happy to hear the first elected politician to go public with having ADHD was in my city of Vancouver. Sarah Blyth is a Vancouver parks commissioner and a member of Vision Vancouver and she went public with ADHD in the Georgia Straight Newspaper print and online. I was also quoted in the article written by Matthew Burrows.

Sarah Blyth

Here’s more information about Sarah Blyth. Sarah was a

founding partner of the Vancouver Skateboard Coalition and helped secure the declaration of Skateboard Week, the relaxing of the ban on skateboarding on city streets, and the development of five new skateparks.

She works at the New Fountain Homeless Shelter in the Vancouver’s Down Town East Side  and is a founding member of Portland FC, a soccer team that started out from the New Fountain Homeless Shelter.

There are many problems with having ADHD and as an Adult ADHD coach I see a wide variety of them. But ADHD is not all negative, there are many ADHD strengths.

Here are some reasons why ADHD can be a competitive advantage as an elected politician:

• very curious

• good at multitasking

• good at scanning their environment and noticing what others miss, except for paperwork:) lucky many have staff for that

• high energy levels for those 14 hour days

• can hyperfocus for hours like a laser IF interested

• not afraid to question or challenge authority

• not afraid of changing the status quo

• very adaptable

Here are some quotes from staff writer Matthew Burrows’s great article on Sarah Blyth in the Georgia Straight 

Not surprisingly, Blyth said she looks back on her school days with a certain horror but has learned to have a sense of humour about what were chaotic days.

“Well, you’re more aggressive,” Blyth added. “You’re different socially, I think, when you’ve got attention deficit disorder, especially when you’re hyperactive, because you tend to be a bit impulsive. So you’re poking other kids and fighting. I was a big fighter and a big poker, you know?”

When asked why she was going public with ADHD, Sarah Blyth gave an answer I hope more politicians will one day to develop the courage to do.

Now Blyth is going public about her condition, she said, in part so that other kids won’t suffer the same way she did.

“Mainly, I want to raise it because it’s more about learning disabilities and mental-health issues and kids growing up, and I feel like, maybe if they looked at me, they could go, ‘Well, she’s sort of doing stuff with her life, even though she had challenges growing up,’ ” Blyth said.

“That’s why I wanted to, because I know that young kids suffer. When I was told as a kid that I had a learning disability, you think there’s something wrong with you. You know that you are different and you learn differently.”

I asked Sarah Blyth some questions about ADHD, here are her answers:

Pete Quily: When did you suspect you might have ADHD? Did someone else family member friend work colleague suggest you might have ADHD before getting diagnosed? How did you respond at the time?

Sarah Blyth: I was diagnosed when I was a child in grade 1.  I didn’t understand what it meant I just knew I was different

Pete Quily: Many ADHD adults stay hidden in the ADHD closet because strong stigma against ADHD, what finally made you decide to go public with ADHD?

Sarah Blyth: The only reason was that I want people with learning disabilities and mental illness to know that they can achieve their dreams just like anyone else.

Pete Quily: How have your Vision Vancouver colleagues reacted to you going public with ADHD?

Sarah Blyth: My Vision Colleagues have been really supportive. I feel really supported and accepted for who I am and my abilities. I don’t make excuses for who I am. If someone asked me if I would give up having ADHD as annoying as it is sometimes…I would say no way Jose, its what makes me, me.

Pete Quily: How have your civic political opponents NPA Vancouver, COPE and the Green party of Vancouver reacted to you going public with ADHD?

Sarah Blyth: I think this is an issue that crosses party lines. I think to go after me politically for being open about having ADHD would be a bad political move though I am sure the NPA have given it some thought. lol

Pete Quily: How have your family and friends reacted to you going public with ADHD?

Sarah Blyth: They have all been really supportive.

Pete Quily: How have the voters reacted to you going public with ADHD?

Sarah Blyth: I have had so many wonderful letters. I will say that I have heard from folks that can’t speak about having ADHD for fear of being judged at work school or by family and friends. Its very stigmatized, people don’t see it as an attractive trait even though it has many benefits.

Pete Quily: What are some of the benefits of having ADHD?

Sarah Blyth: Hyper Focus, multi tasking, outgoing, take risks

Pete Quily: The only public clinic in BC diagnosing Adult ADHD the BC adult ADHD clinic was forced to shut down in 2007 after a year to 14 month wait list for an entire year. The asked the BC liberal govt for funding to deal with the wait list and they refused and they shut down the clinic. I asked the office of the then BC NDP health critic and now leader of the BC NDP Adrian Dix to raise the issue in the legislature but just got shuffled around, promises made and ignored.

During a town hall I asked BC Premier Christy Clark about reopening the BC Adult ADHD clinic and she said  “I’m absolutely committed to working with you on it”
and this was reported both by CKNW radio and the CBC, the audio is on my blog.

Drugs and crime are very common issues in the news and in politics in Vancouver yet no one is talking about the high rates of people with ADHD who are self medicating with drugs and alcohol, 20+% of addicts have ADHD vs 5% of the population.

Plus 21-45% of prisoners in jail have ADHD clinical research shows

Given ADHD is 80% genetic and only one out of ten adults with ADHD get diagnosed, do you support reopening the BC adult ADHD clinic at an adult hospital? What needs to be done to make it happen?

Sarah Blyth: I would say we need more support and facilities to diagnose and treat ADHD so I am surprised the province would be shutting facilities down. There is definitely not enough support and many needlessly suffer because of it.

Pete Quily: You’re doing a great thing by going public with ADHD but most Vancouver politicians in ALL parties totally ignore ADHD.

Sarah Blyth: Well I’m listening:) And hopefully we can raise some awareness.

Pete Quily: As a political science major and long time politics junkie I think a lot of politicians have ADHD, it’s actually a competitive edge in politics ie we’re naturally curious, have high levels of energy, not afraid to question or challenge authority, not afraid to ask questions, good at multitasking, can hyperfocus for hours like a laser IF interested, creative problem solver, good in a crisis, good at scanning their environment and noticing what others miss, except for paperwork:) very adaptable, etc

Plus many entrepreneurs, athletes, entertainers and people in high tech have gone public with ADHD but as far as I an tell by searching and asking many ADHD professionals, you’re the first elected politician in North America who’s gone public with ADHD.

Given that plus elected politicians have gone public with depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar, alcoholism, drug addictions etc, Why haven’t more politicians gone public with ADHD?

Sarah Blyth: I don’t know, perhaps they will now:)

Pete Quily: Any final thoughts you’d like to share with my ADHD readers?

Sarah Blyth: Don’t forget to breathe…

If you know of any elected politician in Canada or the US who has ADHD, and that has the guts to step out of the ADHD closet and go public, please let me know.

Girls with ADHD were 2.7 times more likely to develop Anorexia Nervosa a study in the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics showed. This post will show that girls and women with ADHD have higher rates of Anorexia Nervosa and explain some of the reasons why.

Anorexia isn’t a “trend” for some models/actresses/singers. Its a serious eating disorder and a mental health condition where people starve themselves /exercise to try and maintain a weight far below what’s normal for their age & weight.

Girls and women with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder have higher rates of ALL eating disorders.

• Women with ADHD had higher rates of past Anorexia and Bulimia, and past and current panic disorder says a study in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry.

• Girls with ADHD have 5.6 times higher rates of Bulimia Nervosa than controls according to a study in The Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics

• 8% of girls with ADHD-Combined had engaged in at least one DSM-IV defined binge eating episode in the last year …relative to 0% of girls with ADHD-Inattentive and comparison girls. Study in The Journal of Abnormal Psychology

People with ADHD also have higher rates of obesity.

26.7 % of severely obese women had Adult ADHD, more than 5 times larger then the regular population a study in the journal Eating Weight Disorders showed. They had problems with impulsivity, distractibility, attention and staying focused. Several other studies have showed the links between obesity and ADHD

A study in the Journal of Abnormal psychology showed the links between eating disorders and ADHD.

ADHD girls compared to non ADHD girls had higher rates of:

• pathological eating

• desire to lose weight

• peer rejection

• punitive parenting

• disruptive disorders

• internalizing disorders

• externalizing symptoms

• internalizing symptoms.

ADHD girls compared to non ADHD girls also had lower rates of satisfaction with their appearance. Girls with the combined form of ADHD showed higher levels of pathological eating behaviors than did both girls with inattentive ADHD and comparison girls. Have a look at Pieces of a Puzzle: The Link Between Eating Disorders and ADD by Dr. Carolyn Piver Dukarm. She’s a a pediatrician and eating disorders specialist, and her book

focuses on the overlap between eating disorders and ADD and points out how diagnosing and treating both of these disorders can fill in the missing pieces of the puzzle that hold the key to recovery.

Joanna Poppink a LA psychotherapist specializing in eating disorders says

Early in their lives, people with eating disorders have experienced, on a sustained basis, relentless boundary invasion on every level.

As someone who has ADHD, has coached Adults with ADHD for many years, who runs the Vancouver adult ADD support group and is on the board of CHADD Vancouver, I’ve noticed a large number of adults with ADHD have problems with setting and enforcing boundaries. This may have to do with the nature of ADHD.

Compared to non ADDers, people with ADHD are more likely to be easily distracted, forgetful, impulsive, time blind, disorganized, have trouble planning and prioritizing, have trouble learning from past experiences, have higher rates of anxiety etc. All factors that would interfere with setting and maintaining boundaries.

Plus ADHD is 80% genetic, so if a child has ADHD usually one or more parent have it. You can’t teach skills you never learned.

Anorexia Nervosa is a serious disease. Canadian doctors have calculated that women with Anorexia die on average about a quarter of a century earlier than other women. 50% by suicide, the rest succumb to medical problems.

Anorexia Nervosa is basically not recognized as a serious disease by society and government, in my opinion, certainly not compared to heart disease and cancer,” said Dr. Laird Birmingham, the UBC psychiatry professor who led the research.

People with ADHD have higher rates of suicide and ADHD is also not recognized as a serious disease by society and government.

I know one woman who had undiagnosed ADHD and became Anorexic, then later she became Bulimic, then became addicted to alcohol, then drugs, then later developed a Binge Eating disorder. Finally she got diagnosed with ADHD.

What would her life be like if she got properly diagnosed with ADHD at a young age instead of being neglected due to the ignorance of the medical and addiction system? How many others with ADHD have to needlessly suffer like her? How many tax dollars are being needlessly wasted because ADHD isn’t taken seriously?

Why not ask your politicians, media and doctors to start screening girls and women with Anorexia Nervosa and other eating disorders for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and if they have ADHD, properly treat it?

People with undiagnosed and untreated ADHD have much higher rates of alcohol and drug addictions, depression, anxiety disorders and crime.

Higher rates of Anorexia Nervosa and other eating disorders are even more reasons why the media, govt & health systems should stop stigmatizing and neglecting ADHD, and start taking it seriously and put resources into diagnosing it and properly treating ADHD in adults & children earlier so we develop less comorbid conditions. Wendy Richardson is a Licensed Marriage, Family Therapist, and Certified Addiction Specialist and the author of the book  The Link Between A.D.D and Addiction: Getting the Help You Deserve and the book  When Too Much Isn’t Enough: Ending the Destructive Cycle of AD/HD and Addictive Behavior. Here are some excerpts from an article she wrote called The link between ADHD and eating disorders.

As we learn more about ADD, we discover that people manifest ADD traits differently. Obsessing on food, exercise, and thinness gives the anorectic a way to focus their chaotic ADD brains. They become over-focused on thoughts and behaviors that related to food.

Frequently these people will only become aware of their high level of activity, distractibility, and impulsiveness after they have been in recovery for anorexia. Self-starvation curtails hyperactivity.

Distractibility and spacey-ness are characteristics of both anorexia and bulimia, whether or not they’re accompanied by ADD. In each case the inability to concentrate or focus results because the brain is not being properly nourished. For people with ADD, however, there is a history of attention difficulties that predates the eating disorder. Their concentration, impulse problems, and activity level may not improve when their eating disorder is treated.

As a matter of fact, their ADD traits can get worse once they are no longer self-medicating with food, or organizing their lives around food and exercise. If you are someone who has struggled with eating disorders, and suspect you may have ADD, it is important to get an evaluation. Both your eating disorders and your ADD must be treated.

It is essential that both ADD and eating disorders are treated. Too many people are struggling with their eating disorders because they have undiagnosed or untreated ADD. When ADD is properly treated, the individual is better able to focus and follow through with treatment for their eating disorders. They also have greater control of their impulses and less of a need to self-medicate their ADD symptoms.

Here are more reasons why girls and women with ADHD are more likely to develop Anorexia Nervosa than non ADHD girls and women.

Evidence suggests that children with ADHD-C in particular have trouble with accurately perceiving and regulating their own emotional states (Maedgen & Carlson, 2000). Eating pathology may be most likely to result for dysregulated girls if they lack supportive parent-child or peer relationships to buffer against stressors.

This pattern is supported by our finding that negative parenting in childhood more strongly predicted pathological eating behaviors for girls with ADHD than for comparison girls. Children with ADHD are at high risk for concurrent problems in parent-child and peer relationships (Asarnow, 1988).

It is well documented that children with ADHD have more conflictual relationships with their parents than do children without ADHD (Johnston & Mash, 2001).

Parents of girls with ADHD also show higher levels of expressed emotion (EE)— composed of critical and overinvolved attitudes parents hold toward offspring—than do parents of comparison girls (Peris & Hinshaw, 2003).

Dopamaine, ADHD and Anorexia Nervosa Dopamine is one of the main neurotransmitters involved with ADHD, we have lower levels of dopamine than non ADHD people. A study showed Increased Dopamine D2/D3 Receptor Binding After Recovery from Anorexia Nervosa Measured by Positron Emission Tomography (PET)

Several lines of evidence support the possibility that disturbances of dopamine (DA) function could contribute to alterations of weight, feeding, motor activity, and reward in anorexia nervosa (AN). These data lend support for the possibility that decreased intrasynaptic DA concentration or increased D2/D3 receptor density or affinity is associated with AN and might contribute to the characteristic harm avoidance or increased physical activity found in AN.

Most intriguing is the possibility that individuals with AN might have a DA related disturbance of reward mechanisms contributing to altered hedonics of feeding behavior and their ascetic, anhedonic temperament.

Dopamine release fuels anxiety in the brains of Anorexics a study in The International Journal of Eating Disorders showed.

In healthy subjects without an eating disorder, the amphetamine-induced release of dopamine was associated with feelings of extreme pleasure in the brain’s “reward center.” However, in people with anorexia, amphetamine made them feel anxious and activated the part of the brain that worries about consequences.

It’s possible that when people with anorexia nervosa eat, the related release of the neurotransmitter dopamine makes them anxious, rather than experiencing a normal feeling of reward. It is understandable why it is so difficult to get people with anorexia to eat and gain weight, because food generates intensely uncomfortable feelings of anxiety.

If you had or have Anorexia, were you screened for ADHD?

If you know someone that might be interested in this post, please pass it on.

CADDAC, The Centre for ADHD Awareness, Canada is launching the first ever Canadian Survey on ADHD asking parents, caregivers, and adults with ADHD about their experiences with ADHD, the medical system, and the educational system. They are encouraging everyone to spend a few minutes filling in this survey online.

The information gathered will assist them to not only better understand the needs of families with ADHD across Canada, it will help them advocate to medical, education, and government systems in the future.

Please help them help those impacted by ADHD by filling out this questionnaire online and passing the link on to anyone else that you think might be interested.

Please complete the adult ADHD or parents of children with ADHD survey here

Good post by Gretchen Rubin on the 11 myths of De-cluttering. Clutter is often a very big problem for many ADHD adults and often causes a lot of stress and irritation for their spouses.

He are a few

 5. “I can’t get rid of anything that I might possibly need one day.” How terrible would it be if you needed a glass jar and didn’t have one? Do you have gigantic stores of things like rubber bands or ketchup packets? How many coffee mugs does one family use?

6. “I might get that gizmo fixed.” Face it. If you’ve had something for more than six months, and it’s still not repaired, it’s clutter.

9. “I need to keep this as a memento of a happy time.” I’m a huge believer in mementos; remembering happy times in the past gives you a big happiness boost in the present. But ask yourself: do I need to keep all these t-shirts to remind me of college, or can I keep a few? Do I need to keep an enormous desk to remind me of my grandfather, or can I use a photograph? Do I need fifty finger-painted pictures by my toddler, or is one enough to capture this time of life? Mementos work best when they’re carefully chosen – and when they don’t take up much room!

Adults with ADHD quite often have many problems with clutter due to the nature of ADHD. We’re easily distracted, impulsive, forgetful, often have trouble planning and organizing etc. For many ADHD adults the costs of clutter can be very expensive and not just in the financial sense of the word.

Physical clutter often leads to mental and emotional clutter. Byproducts may include overload and overwhelm, stress, time wasted, and social isolation due to being too embarrassed to invite friends over to your place because of the clutter.

I have some of my adult ADHD coaching clients that are reluctant to hire a professional organizer to help them reduce their clutter because they’re too ashamed of their clutter, or feel they have to get organized first before inviting a professional organizer over to their place to help them get organized.

One thing I tell them is that the more clutter they have, the happier the professional organizer will be, because more clutter = more business for them.

What are some of your tips on reducing clutter and keeping your paper and other physical things organized well enough? Versus the “perfect organization” that never occurs outside the fantasies inside your head?