Question: Is my ADHD the reason why I am addicted to food? It’s weird because most people that have ADHD are all fidgety and skinny but I am fidgety and really heavy. If I take Adderall is this going to help me to lose weight even if I am a food addict?

Penny Bell Says...:

ADHD and food addiction are two separate issues that may or may not be related. Because I don’t know anything about your addiction history – when it began, what triggered it, what you have done to manage it up to now – I’m not sure of the answer to your first question.

Nevertheless, I can say this: addictive behaviours most often occur in response to emotional stress or pain. People with ADHD have a higher prevalence of addictions than is found in the general population, and it is thought the reason for this is that the addictive substance or activity is being used to self-medicate the stress of having ADHD symptoms. We self-medicate to change the way we feel, and in your case, food has become your “drug of dependency”.

I am assuming you have been diagnosed with ADHD but as yet you have not embarked on a treatment to ease your symptoms. There are several different drugs that can be prescribed for treating ADHD, one of which is Adderall. By helping you with your impulsivity, distractability, disorganisation, avoidance and other stressful symptoms, and improving focus and concentration, you may find that medication will help to ease your addiction to food by mitigating your stress levels.

If Adderall, which is a stimulant, is prescribed for you, it is also possible that your appetite will be decreased, but this is not necessarily so. Some people experience this as a side-effect and some do not. It would be a good idea to discuss your concerns about your weight, food addiction and ADHD medication with your doctor. If you decide to embark on a trial of using Adderall, and find that you are still struggling with food, your next step should be to seek help specifically for your addiction.

Other treatments for ADHD, which can be used alone or in conjunction with medication, are cognitive and behavioural therapies, relaxation training and stress management, life coaching and family therapy. All of these can help you acquire skills for living life to the full with a healthy self-esteem, manageable levels of stress, as well as giving you strategies for controlling your eating behaviours.

I hope this has helped you to move toward a decision for action for taking ownership of your health. Taking action will empower you to be more in control of your physical, psychological and spiritual health, leading to improvements in all these areas. We are at the beginning of a new year, and this is an excellent time to embark on something new and different that will enhance your life. I wish you all the best for your health and future!

Question: I just got dumped again. I do not have a good track record with relationships. My brother in law says he thinks I have ADD. I am always drifting off and not staying focused on what people are saying so it always seems like I don’t care about other people even though I do. I am also hopeless about remembering important stuff, like birthdays and anniversaryes. I am 34 and I always thought I would just figure things out when I grew up but maybe that’s not going to happen. I am not sure what to do?

Penny Bell Says...:

Attention Deficit
Disorder, or ADD, affects around 5 percent of children and it is now quite well
established that it continues into adulthood. 
Symptoms begin in childhood, and some of these are poor concentration,
inattentiveness, being easily bored, easily distracted, and impulsive.  If hyperactivity is also present, there is restlessness
and an inability to relax.

Adult ADD can look a
little different from childhood ADD. 
Rather than repeatedly leaving the seat in the classroom, running, and
excessive climbing (part of the childhood criteria) and so causing difficulties
at home and at school, there can be problems at work, in relationships and even
with the law.  The latest thinking is
that at the core of the disorder is impaired inhibition – the ability to
deliberately suppress a thought (or impulse) in order to achieve a later goal -
and this “disinhibition” drives other regulatory problems in the individual.

If you are suspicious that
you actually do have this disorder, it’s important that you have an assessment
so that you can take the next steps in learning how to manage it.  If it turns out that you don’t have it, my
advice is to seek counselling to help you explore your “bad track record” with
relationships and discover some new ways of connecting and staying connected.

Question: My brother passed away 2 years ago. My sister in law has what seems to be a pretty clearly an out of control ADHD son, who is 7. She very natural and homeopathic and she just will not consider getting him diagnosed because she doesn’t believe in conventional medicine and medications and anything that comes from a big corporation (it's all evil). My nephew is obviously struggling at school and none of the other kids in the family really want to play with him because he is so out of control. To my mind he needs some good medications, but since that’s not going to happen, are there any very ‘alternative’ therapies that my very alternative sister in law would possible go for or that could help my nephew fit in a little better with friends and God forbid, possibly learn something in class?

Penny Bell Says...:

I am sorry to hear of the loss of
your brother.  It must be very difficult
for your sister-in-law to be bringing up her children on her own.  I can see you are feeling for her seven year
old, who sounds as if he is larger than life and overly energetic!   

There is evidence that symptoms of
childhood trauma can mimic those of ADHD, and as your nephew lost his father
two years ago, and this may have impacted upon him emotionally to the extent
that he is not coping with everyday life or himself. 

Assuming however that he indeed
does have ADHD, here is some information that may be of help to you:

ADHD is a neurodevelopmental
disorder identified by symptoms of inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsivity,
and it is estimated to affect 3–12% of school-aged children. Conventional
treatments for ADHD include stimulant medication and/or behavioural therapy,
which have both been scientifically proven effective. Although widely accepted
as the most compelling ‘evidence-based treatments,’ not all children respond well
to these treatments, and some parents are unwilling to medicate their children,
and are unable to access counselling for behaviour modification.

This then opens the door to the
less conventional or alternative treatments, and studies show that
a large percentage of children with ADHD are treated with one or more complementary
and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies. 

These include restrictive diets
such as the Feingold diet, food colouring elimination, sugar elimination,
nutritional supplements, essential fatty acid supplements, mind body therapies
such as exercise, yoga, meditation, neurofeedback, Cogmed (a commercially
available working memory training computer program), and certain occupational
therapy techniques. 

There have been many studies
trialling alternative therapies but unfortunately none are held as solid
evidence for the efficacy of these therapies due to methodological flaws in the
studies, and so the American Academy of Paediatrics does not recommend any CAM
therapies for ADHD. 
This does not necessarily mean that it would be a waste of time and
money to trial any of them yourself, but it would be wise to choose a treatment
that has some good anecdotal evidence at least. 
One of the above named treatments, essential fatty acid
supplementation, was found to be modestly effective, so may be a good place to
begin.