ADD Treatments for Adult ADD/ADHD, MY JOURNEY TO FIND THE RIGHT FIT
It all started back in Elementary school where I got into trouble on a daily basis and still continues today. In the constant quest to find proper ADD treatment for my adult ADD I have run across quite a few different methods to get some normalcy in my life.
When I was a kid there was no such thing as ADD, it was called hyperactivity or mischeviousness. It wasn’t until I was in college that I got diagnosed with adult ADD.
I have been to Psychiatrists, Psychologists, ADD Coaches. All have seemed to get me on the right track, as long as I kept seeing them. But I have ADD and I get bored easily, so I have bounced around a little.
I have been prescribed various stimulants, some actually worked pretty well. This feeds into the notion that a lot of people with ADD self-medicate with stimulants, most notably cocaine.But in the end, the stimulants left me feeling sketchy and weird. I also had some issues with loss of appetite. So I really didn’t want to make this a long term strategy.
I have looked at the ADD diets that are being touted as a great solution. I think the most notable of the bunch is the Feingold Program. The Feingold Program removes the consumption of food dyes and colorings. This isn’t all bad since all the synthetic dyes are allowed to contain harmful contaminants like lead, mercury, arsenic, and benzidine (a carcinogen).
I have briefly even looked into Neurofeedback, and other alternative approaches. Neurofeedback seems interesting to me in that it is a long term solution that involves learning to work with your ADD via feedback, either positive or negative depending on the results.
Rewards/Reinforcements can be as simple as a change in pitch of a tone or as complex as a certain type of movement of a character in a video game.
There is even some current research that has shown that certain strains of marijuana can provide focus to people with ADHD and many people have successfully used marijuana as a replacement to other medications (such as Ritalin or Methylphenidate).
So where am I now in my journey? Done with meds and doctor types, leaning towards more organic approaches like the last two.
