Eliminating the Illusions: Part 2

Welcome back, my wonderous Chime. Diary of a Bipolar Pixie returns with one of the most loved series on the blog, to which I mean I love this series because I have gotten zero feedback about any of this so far. I don’t blame anyone though. I’ve only just started actively advertising and promoting this blog, so if you’re reading this, whether you’re new here or have been reading since the beginning, know that I appreciate your support and love you unconditionally!

Now, back to the topic at hand. “Pixie, you haven’t told us the topic, yet.” You’re right, my bad. Today’s most exciting topic is ADHD/ADD. I’m grouping them together because they tend to be grouped together when anyone and everyone talks about them. Hopefully with today’s content we can work together to distinguish the major differences between them, and to destigmatize talking about them. Also, Leppy has ADHD and researching more about what she goes through is one way I can show my love and support for her.

Similarly to how we did Part 1 of this lovely series, we’re going to start by discussing some common “myths” (yes, I’m still doing that) about ADD/ADHD. For most of this, consider ADD and ADHD interchangeable unless I say other wise. Then we’ll get into some fun or strange facts. Also, because I don’t have ADD/ADHD (I’ve been tested, I really don’t have either) there may be sometimes that I get Leppy’s help with this. I’ll make sure to quote her so you all know what it’s like to talk to her. Also, interviewing her will be great practice for future classes I have to take.

Now! Let’s get this show on the road!

1. ADHD isn’t a real condition– I’m going to request that if you actually believe this one that you do us all a favor and go do some serious research. It’s a real condition that can start affecting children as young as 3 years old. People who have ADHD typically have a hard time focusing on tasks, they get distracted very easily. In my house, we like to affectionately refer to it as Shiny Object Syndrome. Leppy frequently finds herself quickly bouncing between activities because she starts cleaning, but finds a hair tie in her room, thinks about how her hair is a mess, starts fixing her hair, decided it’s too quiet while she fixing her hair, stops to put on music, but as she’s scrolling through YouTube, she finds a funny video, and ends up watching three or four videos before remembering she was supposed to be cleaning. Hyperactivity is also a common symptom of ADHD, which usually presents itself in children as rambunctiousness, but in adults, it can look more like excessive talking, fidgeting, and constantly jumping activities. When Leppy is anxious, her symptoms are much more prominent. Also, you can see it when she’s sleeping, because she gets really fidgety and rolls around a lot, and she and I have had some extremely weird conversations while she’s asleep. The last main symptom is people with these disorders are impulsive. They have a hard time waiting their turn and tend to jump the gun when being asked questions or they’re having a conversation and they can’t hold back a thought. The biggest difference between ADD and ADHD is the hyperactivity. Hyperactivity is the key symptom in diagnosing ADHD as opposed to ADD, at least in the information I can find online.
2. People with ADHD just need to try harder– if it were that simple, my mom would have beat the ADHD out of Leppy. Sometimes the harder she tries, the more frustrated she gets and the worse her symptoms seem to be. Telling her to “try harder” is like telling me to just stop being depressed. It’s not how it works and often times just makes things harder.
3. People with ADHD can’t ever focus– I would get the confusion with this one, especially since I seem to make Leppy out to be a ditzy air head, but if she’s really interested in something, she hyper-focuses on it, a common reaction in people with ADHD when they are doing something they really enjoy. For example, she loves photography. She started taking a class this spring, black and white photography, and she can run around for hours taking amazing pictures. When I go with her, I get bored easily. I can give her ideas, something that I think might be cool to take a picture of, but I can’t stand there as long as she does taking as many pictures as she does. There are also cases of people who become hyper-focused on games they’re playing, books they’re writing, projects they’re working on, and other activities that they really enjoy. People with ADHD can be some of the most focused fuckers in the world when they are really interested in what they’re doing.
4. Only boys have ADHD– if this wasn’t obviously false at this point in time, then I might have to smack someone. Leppy is born female, identifies as female, and was diagnosed at six with ADHD because she was falling behind in kindergarten and my parents took her to the doctor to find out if everything was okay with her. They found that she couldn’t focus on the lessons, which is why she fell behind so quickly. So why does this myth exist? Well, I know this one thanks to a very in depth sociology class I took in high school. There was a study done in elementary classrooms to study boys activity levels vs girls of the same age. Boys of all varieties are commonly more active than girls of the same age. They regularly have difficulties paying attention in a classroom, because all they want to do is to go play, go run around like the tiny heathens they are. This is common across all boys of all ages, and on the biological level of this, it’s because of the increased testosterone in their little bodies when compared to girls. The unfortunate effects, however, are the boys being compared to the girls in their classes. Most of the girls can sit still and pay attention very well compared to the boys. Teachers and parents complain to each other that the boys are failing classes, well it’s because they aren’t paying attention, so the boys get taken to a doctor, diagnosed with ADHD, and get put on meds for it. Most of the time, these boys don’t actually have ADHD, they have a lot of energy in their little bodies that they need to get out. So, in the documentary we watched in class, one teacher approached the problem differently. When the boys, and even some of the girls, started getting a little out of control and they stopped focusing, the teacher had them do an activity, such as push-ups or sit-ups or running in place for five minutes. When the activity was done, most of his students were prepared to return to the lesson. It was when even this didn’t help that the teacher began questioning what was going on. (Sorry, side rant over)
5. ADHD is a learning disability-this one I really didn’t know. I was always taught that ADHD was a learning disability because it greatly affected Leppy’s ability to learn, but according to the Learning Disabilities Association of America, it isn’t. It’s a mental illness that can affect one’s ability to learn, but its main symptoms due not directly correlate to an inability to read, write, or do math.
6. Kids with ADHD will outgrow it– Nope. If they’re “outgrowing” it, they didn’t really have ADHD. They were just hyperactive kids who couldn’t pay attention and no one wanted to sit down and handle them properly. ADHD will follow them into adulthood. They may learn to manage their symptoms better, just like how Leppy has learned to study like a badass in order to pass her classes, but they’ll always have it.
7. ADHD is a result of bad parenting-though I’ve spoken a lot about how I feel my parents didn’t raise us well, they didn’t cause Leppy to develop ADHD, at least not through their parenting alone. We’re pretty sure my mom has ADHD, she shows a lot of similar symptoms to Leppy, and ADHD is proven to be hereditary. So, while my mom may have passed it on to Leppy, she didn’t actually cause it to develop.
8. Medication alone is the best way to treat ADHD– Seriously, no. Just, no. I’ve already said that some people thrive off of taking meds to deal with their symptoms, but some people don’t need meds, they manage just fine without them. Also, DON’T JUDGE SOMEONE BECAUSE THEIR JOURNEY IS DIFFERENT THAN YOURS! I LOVE YOU ALL NO MATTER WHAT! Okay, moving on. There is one thing I want to add about medication. I know a lot of people who refuse to take medication because the side effects are pretty extreme. When Leppy was a kid and she was prescribed medication, it made her feel like a zombie. Sure, she was quieter in class, but she wasn’t doing any better because she was so out of it, she still couldn’t tell what was happening in class. Some people feel this well into adulthood, so they would rather have they symptoms than the side effects. One way to treat symptoms that I’ve found is cognitive behavioral therapy. This kind of therapy is designed to help the patient/client to understand and cope with their emotions while they are feeling them, not after. This can also decrease impulsive actions and emotional outbursts. It’s not a cure, but many people find it helpful when looking to manage symptoms.

While I was researching, I found a couple of sites that said ADD is a form of ADHD or vice versa. I’m not going to lie, it confuses me a little, because each site seems to say something different, so I’m not entirely sure what to believe.

Now for the little known facts about ADHD and ADD. Many people with ADHD struggle with short-term memory loss. Amazingly, Leppy’s long term memory is super sharp. She remembers things from our childhood that I can’t recall at all. I also have the trauma response to some of those memories, meaning I block them out, but she’s really good at remembering small details of events that happened.

People with ADHD also have trouble sticking to healthy routines, or making new habits. I’m sure you can guess why, but in case you can’t, it’s because of how quickly they can get bored and how easily they get distracted. My mother, for example, can’t stick to a healthy routine to save her life. One week, she wants to be healthy, buys healthy foods, eats healthy, does yoga, drinks more water, and the next she back to sitting on the couch with her mountain dew. There was also a time in my childhood where she tried to quit smoking. Guess how long that lasted. All of two months before she was back to smoking half a pack a day.

Also, it’s possible Leonardo Da Vinci had ADHD. King’s College London did a study on him, and they believe that his hyper-focus on certain projects, not finishing others, and his problems with procrastination are all signs that the great Da Vinci suffered from ADHD. If the man was alive, I’d love to pick his brain and see if I can make comparisons between him and Leppy, but I can’t, sad.

There is also a strange correlation between what women ate while pregnant, and the chances of their babies having ADHD. A study done in 2019 (they don’t say who did the study) found that when women ate more Omega 6 than Omega 3 they had a higher chance of their child being born with ADHD. It’s interesting, to say the least, but I don’t know how much I would really worry about it. The article I found doesn’t have any other information, so I’m not sure if any of the mothers also had ADHD, or if the women were eating anything else that may have contributed. I just thought it would be an interesting point to bring up. If anyone reading this wants to do a little more investigating for me, that would be really cool of you.

ADHD may also increase the chances of an individual developing Parkinson’s disease. This study was conducting in 2018, and again has no other information, but the idea that the either the part of the brain that causes ADHD might also cause Parkinson’s is interesting. Maybe the same gene in our DNA is to blame for both. Who the hell know. Certainly not me.

Adults with ADHD are also thought to have boosted creativity. I can definitely see it when I look at Leppy. Girl is so thoughtful and creative in her photography. She thinks of things I wouldn’t have even dreamed of. And if the above claim is true, that Da Vinci also had ADHD, then I can’t deny it. That man was a creative genius.

Guess what’s considered helpful in ADHD treatment in children… Therapy dogs! I love dogs, and these good boys and girls are trained to sit it on therapy sessions with children. I think the idea behind this is to give the children something for them to fidget with while they are in therapy. Leppy has this weird quirk where if she’s doing two things at once, she tends to a lot better on the one. I may not have explained that right, but here’s an example. When she was in middle school and high school, it was super important for her to listen to her music while she was taking a test. It couldn’t be something a teacher randomly picked, it had to a playlist that she designed herself for that test. If she had that distraction she always did better on the test. I’m not sure the science behind it, I just know that concept makes perfect sense to me.

Another method for treating ADHD is taekwondo. The activity mixed with need to focus can help to train an ADHD mind to handle outside stimuli in a calmer more directed manner. I always wanted to try martial arts, but it was because I wanted to beat up my school bullies, not because I need to focus in class.

Thanks for coming to TED Talk! Wait, shit… wrong show.

Sorry guys, that’s the end of the road for today. I thought there was going to be a lot more to write about, to be honest, especially since I was under the impression that ADHD and ADD had a lot more differences to them. I’m just glad I could give you all a bit more information on this, and I’m happy I could learn more about Leppy. Also, not to make it all about me (even though this blog is literally called Diary of a Bipolar Pixie) but I’ve learned that bipolar disorder seems to share symptoms with a lot of other disorders, so to have just a little more information on some things I do and how I can work managing those symptoms is pretty cool to me.

If you have anything to add to this discussion, just leave a comment, you can also like this post, or any of my others to show your support. If you’re looking to show a lot of your support, please consider becoming a premium subscriber. I’m still in the process of trying to come up with some content for premium subscribers, but I promise it’s not something I’m going to give up on easily. If you have any ideas, or want me to talk about anything in particular, just let me know and I’ll see what I can do.

Until we meet again, fly high, Chimers!

“My thoughts are like butterflies. They are beautiful, but they fly away.”

― Anonymous