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TeamFive Specialist Lee Jordan Takes An In-depth Look At ADHD
CLEVELAND, Posted 6:12 p.m. November 5, 1998 -- You've got ants in your pants used to be something parents would often say to their children who were hyperactive.Parents still may use the saying. But, now we understand the condition as Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder.
TeamFive Health Specialist Lee Jordan says about 3 to 7 percent of children have the condition that is characterized by distractibility, impulsivity, overactivity and inattention.
Jordan reports that medical professionals have recognized that about 70 percent of kids with the inattention brain dysfunction continue to display symptoms as adults. For the most of them, the condition doesn't just go away.
"I think a lot of adults have learned to live with and don't recognize there's a problem until something happens at work or at home," says Dorothy Lyons, a neurologist at Lake Hospital System.
Lyons characterized the behavior of adulthood ADHD."They are frequently impulsive, (they are) inconsistencies in job performance, (they) forget tasks, (they) forget follow through on what their boss told them, she says."They frequently have trouble with interpersonal relationships."
Theresa Aikey, who has the condition, offers a personal account of the ADHD.
"(I felt) out of control most of the time, for the most part," she says. "Putting it into words is hard. (I) kind of (felt) like a failure -- like I could start things, never finish anything. No matter how hard I tried. I made lists. If running errands, I would forget the list."
Michael Manos, a psychologist at Case Western Reserve University, says it's imperative that the medical community starts to understand the condition."Many people have spend a long time being told they weren't adequate, good enough or even if they weren't told that. They then looked around at other kids and saw that other kids could do something they couldn't do, so they ultimately made themselves wrong," he says.
There is one theory about ADHD, however. It is that those with it have brains that evolved more from our hunter gatherer ancestors than from the farmers.
"When people look at hunter gatherer tribes, the hunters were those people who were highly attentive to their environment. They responded extremely quickly to their environment.So when they heard a rustling in the bush they turned around, threw a rock and killed a pig and fed people.
"Their brains were selected for this. People later on then settled down. There became a farmer mentality. People who could do repetitive tasks, wait a long time for something to happen, rather than have an immediate result. Hunters fit perfectly in their environment.
If you put hunters on a farm they have a problem so they hear a rustling in a bush, turn around throw a rock and kill a milkcow--that's a problem," says Manos.
In schools and in business's people with ADHD often fit about as well as a hunter on a farm.
Lee says all the news isn't bad for adults with ADHD, however.
"Emergency room doctors can be ADHD, love being there, high stimulus environment because it requires fast decisions, actions dictated by what's occuring around them," says Manos.
There also are other areas where people excel highly in if they have ADHD.
"People in entertainment do great. What is required of their behavior is often dictated by what's outside of them." Manos says. "Trial court lawyers because there is high stimulus, and the charge that it gives. People in sports, successful ADHD athletes are not golfers, they are more like football players or soccer players." Although Ritalin is usually a drug associated with childrem, Aikey takes the drug to help her condition. She also tries behavior management.
"I still do lists, now I don't forget them," she says. "I got my life more structured."
Her relationship with her husband has also improved.
"We get along better because I start things I can finish. We don't have constant bickering," she says.
Jordan suggests the following for managing ADHD:
- Scheduling
- Regular Exercise
- Eliminating negative self statements
- Reducing or eliminating alcohol usage
"The rule of thumb is not to try to change yourself drastically," he says. "Change tasks around you. Your brain is what it is. (Don't) adapt brain to task, adapt task to your brain."
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