So I Married an ADDer

ADD by Proxy

So none of you commented on my last post about the new brain imaging patent. I was hoping to get a response like, "Fantastic! Now I can prove to my husband/friend/colleague that ADD is a neurological condition and not the psychobabble he thinks it is!" But alas, you don't seem to dig my posts about neuroscience. But you do seem to dig my posts about life, so today I will regale you with a tale of transmittable ADD.

Typically, one of my best qualities is that I'm calm under pressure. I don't get riled by airports, bad drivers, tax deadlines, or really much of anything. It's a good quality to have when you're the partner of someone with ADD. I'm pretty good at helping Jen stay centered and focused in stressful situations.

But I do have my moments, and lately I feel like Jen and I have switched places. She has been even keeled and I have been reactive and overwhelmed. The impetus is the young man in the photo.

Rascal is my first puppy. (I came into Punky's life when she was 3 years old.) We adopted Rascal from the North Shore Animal League last week, and although he's adorable, he's a holy terror. He bites, he steals; he generally behaves in a way that, if he were human, would land him in jail. Some of it can be chalked up to normal puppy behavior. But Jen has been through puppy-rearing before, and she has never seen anything like this.

We "Cesar" him as much as possible. We take every opportunity to establish dominance over him, and we encourage Punky to do the same. Jen and I keep saying we can't wait for someone to kick his ass. Not literally, of course, but it would be very helpful if even one of the family dogs would step up.

Jen has been handling him very well. She disciplines and redirects him with authority and calm/assertive energy. When she raises her voice, it's not because she's freaking out. I, on the other hand, have ADD by proxy.

If I see him peeing on the carpet, I scream and lunge towards him. If he bites my shirt, I yell and rip it out of his mouth. All I'm doing is rewarding bad behavior, because he's learning that he can get a rise out of me by doing certain things.

I can't keep track of his feeding and walking schedule. I can't remember when to put him in his crate. I keep misplacing his leash. I don't notice when he wanders out of the room. I forget to put my shoes away and he eats them. On the whole, I'm a day late and a dollar short.

The puppy has made me overwhelmed and disorganized. He's brought out my inner ADDer. Jen, on the other hand, is just fine.

Patent Issued for Brain Imaging Methods to Aid in Diagnosis and Treatment of ADHD

And now, the news (important parts highlighted in red so you don't get bored):

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued a patent...that covers methods of diagnosing and monitoring attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) by assessing the level of dopamine transporter (DAT) in at least one region of a patient's central nervous system...The patent claims a variety of diagnostic and monitoring methods for assessing ADHD utilizing labeled compounds that bind to the dopamine transporter and are measured using any imaging technique including single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET).

In addition to methods used to objectively diagnose ADHD in adults or children, the patent covers methods that could enable physicians to determine the most effective ADHD drug treatment and/or dosage level for an individual patient, monitor the long-term progress of treatment for ADHD, and aid in identifying individuals at risk for ADHD.

Mark Hurtt, BLSI's Chief Medical Officer, comments, "The use of imaging techniques and dopamine transporter specific imaging agents has the potential to provide an objective, biologically-based diagnosis for ADHD. We are very pleased with the potential scope of this patent. We believe that the new patent enhances our position in this significant area of medical need. According to the Centers for Disease Control, between 3% and 7% of school-aged children and 2 to 4% of adults have been diagnosed with ADHD. We believe that imaging agents may assist physicians in confirming a diagnosis, resolving conflicting diagnoses, calling into question a diagnosis or non-diagnosis of ADHD, or selecting medication." (dBusinessNews.com, 8/11/06)

What do you think?

50 Ways to Love Your Liver

Some recent hullabaloo over my liver (see photo at left) has got me thinking about nutrition. There's a ton of information available about ADD and nutrition, and I'm not going to pretend to be an expert, but I do want to address a couple of nutrition issues as they relate to my life with an ADD partner.

The experts say you should eat small, balanced meals every three hours. By "balanced" they pretty much mean it should contain some protein (so for example, buttered bagel = bad, apple with nuts = good). But you know as well as I do that acquiring food every three hours is no easy task. There is no conveyor belt in my kitchen that ushers in healthy snacks on cue. And for those of you with ADD, stopping what you're doing every three hours to eat may seem unthinkable.

It's very hard, but there are ways to make it work. I will let you in on my secret. Are you ready? ZIPLOC BAGGIES. No, seriously. Ziploc baggies are the healthiest thing in our pantry. At night before I go to bed, I measure 1/3 cup of roasted, unsalted nuts and 1/4 cup of raisins into one baggie, 1/2 cup oatmeal into another baggie, and 1/2 cup of whole grain cereal into another. I grab an apple out of the fridge, an Amy's Organic burrito (or something similar) out of the freezer (unless there are leftovers, in which case I take those), and put the whole lot in my bag for work. For Jen, who works from a home office, having the ready-made baggies in a basket on her desk works just swell. They take less than two minutes to prepare, and we have all the food we need until dinner.

"Okay," you say, "But what about dinner?"

Dinner is a challenge for so many families, and my personal opinion is that the food industry and mass media don't take it seriously enough. I remember one commercial for a supermarket...I don't know if it's still airing...but the narration went something like, "Monica works a full-time job and still has to come home and make dinner for her family. Our store makes Monica's life easier. This week, bottom round roasts are only $6 a pound." And every time it would come on, I would yell at the TV, "HOW EXACTLY DOES THAT HELP MONICA?!"

Monica does not have time to make a roast beef, and chances are neither do you. So you probably do what my mother did every night when I was growing up. You wait til 6:00 and then hop in the car. On a good night, you run into the supermarket and pick up some chicken breasts and a bag of pre-cut salad. On a bad night, you hit McDonalds. Either way, it's stressful and aggravating and the thought of doing it again tomorrow is enough to make you go on a hunger strike.

But again, there are ways to make it work. To me, the most critical aspect of making a big change is to have realistic expectations and forgive yourself for slip-ups. If you eat healthy for three nights in a row, and then on the fourth night something comes up and you have to hit the drive-thru, IT'S OKAY. With that said, let me tell you what works for me and Jen.

First of all, Jen gets all the credit here. Jen is the one who plans and cooks our meals (including Punky's) and without her I'd be eating cereal every night. This is how she does it:

1. She knows what's healthy and what's not.
2. She goes to the supermarket once a week.
3. She writes down what she's going to make for dinner on index cards, one for each night of the week.
4. She cooks three or four nights a week, depending on her schedule. We have leftovers once or twice and usually go out or get take-out once or twice.
5. When she doesn't have time to cook, even if it's for four or five days in a row, we get take-out AND IT'S OKAY.

Seems like a pretty efficient system, doesn't it? Especially for someone with ADD. It just goes to show that it is possible to provide yourself and your family with nutritious food without going to the ends of the earth. It takes practice and patience and (like I said) forgiveness when it doesn't go perfectly. But it can be done. And it's worth it! Because you can feel the difference in your body and your mind when you eat healthy.

All dogs go to our house.

This weekend, in addition to our canine child Punky, we had the privilege of babysitting two other family dogs whose owners are on vacation.

Jen beat me to the punch as far as blogging goes, but I will say it's been a very stressful week. We're both completely burned out, and I'm starting to question whether I'm ready to have children. I've been exhibiting my share of ADD symptoms lately -- even though ADD is not in my repertoire of issues -- as a direct result of running after three animals while working a full-time job and trying to maintain a household. I can't wait to put my systems back in place when the dogs are gone!