The ADHD Focused Blog

  I started taking my new ADHD medication yesterday morning.  I was prescribed Elvanse and have started on 20mg for a week, and I will then increase my dose by 10mg each week until I get to 50mg.  The plan is to get the most benefit from the medication while keeping any side effects to a minimum or at least a tolerable level.  I guess different people have different levels of tolerance. I had a great day yesterday.  I felt calm all day, very settled.  I was productive and got quite a few outstanding tasks done.  I didn't think about food constantly, which can be an issue for me.  While I woke up a few times in the night, I managed to get back to sleep quickly each time.  I only became aware recently that being off my previous ADHD medication impacted my sleep because my mind would be so busy at 3 or 4am, I couldn't get back to sleep.  So, I am very relieved to be medicated again after a couple of days without medication. So far, the only...

It occurred to me during a class about ADHD medication that my medication may not be as beneficial as it could be.  I have been on Methylphenidate for over a year and a half.  The main difference I noticed is that my brain is a little quieter.  I am still restless, fidgety, impulsive, and struggle with focus and concentration.  Which is basically almost everything I struggled with at the start of my journey!   I will be honest-I rushed through titration-I was assessed privately, and it was expensive to pay privately for ADHD medication, so I was reluctant to extend the process any further than I needed to.  I was happy that my brain was quieter and settled for that.   I've been exploring natural ways to increase dopamine levels, one of the neurotransmitters that impact ADHD: sleep, exercise, a healthy diet (with enough protein), and meditation. I'm doing all of these, apart from sleep, as I'm really struggling to sleep well. I can't even reme...

This doesn’t relate to my ADHD coaching training but to my ongoing frustration with myself over my diet. I have lost about two stone in the last year, so I have definitely made improvements. However, I fluctuate so much between being healthy and almost binge eating. I’m also pre diabetic and have high cholesterol, both further evidence of my unhealthy diet, and the importance of a consistently healthy diet.  We’ve been on holiday for the last week and my diet has been shocking. All inclusive and all the cakes and treats I could possibly eat! Too hard to resist!  I’ve started reading Jaylen Fleming’s book, ADHD diet for women: How to become healthy and stay healthy (ADHD and women). He advises that eating healthily helps to decrease symptoms of hyperactivity and impulsivity. This strikes me as a bit of a vicious circle. If I impulsively eat a bar of chocolate, that will potentially increase my levels of impulsivity. I actually feel better when I eat healthily-it’s the one thing...

 We are on day five of our holiday in Turkey.  It’s just as well because it doesn’t sound as though summer is happening in the UK any time soon!  I had lots of plans for this holiday, and I am at risk of feeling as though I have let myself down.  I have attended my three ADHD coaching classes this week and done all the required preparation for them, which some people may consider going above and beyond whilst on holiday.  However, my other main plan was to write and publish two blog posts a week.  My initial goal was to blog at least weekly about what I’m learning in my ADHD coaching training, and how it is impacting on me.  I haven’t got very far with doing that yet!  That then creates a bit of a dilemma-do I go back to the beginning of my training and catch up with the backlog?  Or do I start from here, six weeks in?!  While I ponder that dilemma, I will share some of my own experiences and thoughts about ADHD.  I have definitely ...

  Following my ADHD diagnosis a year and a half ago at the age of 52, so many things started to make sense. I had underachieved my whole life. Some of my most vivid memories from my childhood were of me catching up with school work while my friends were out playing. My parents insisted I catch up over weekends and holidays because I’d not studied when I should have done.  With the benefit of a diagnosis, I now know that my parents approached ‘the situation’ in completely the wrong way. In their defence, ADHD, which was know as Hyperkinetic Disease of Infancy in the 1970’s, wasn’t something considered to affect girls. Also, it’s now known that girls present differently to boys. Girls are more likely to be inattentive rather than behaving like the stereotypical hyperactive boy. What my parents and teachers saw was an intelligent child who wasn’t reaching her potential. I should add that my mum was an educational psychologist, and she used to regularly give my brother and myself ...