ADHD, Oreos & Quirky Brains

Presented at Swiftly by Jennifer Kramer

September 22nd, 2021

Introduction

Hi, I’m Jennifer, and I have ADHD

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I was clinically diagnosed in 2020

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I have a 7 year old son with ADHD

who was diagnosed in 2019

ADHD & ADD

Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is the new, standard name for the disorder

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Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) was the old name for specifically the inattentive type

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ADHD has inattentive, hyperactive, and combined types

Table of Contents

01.

02.

03.

04.

05.

Story Time

Wherein we set our stage

All About ADHD

The whos, whys & hows

ADHD Symptoms

Self-Diagnosis time!

Treatment & Coping

What do we do about it?

Allyship & Resources

Support and reading

Story Time

01.

A tale of two unique brains

Jennifer’s Story

• Frustrated a 4th grade teacher with a masters into early retirement
• Specialized in flunking (or nearly flunking) Honors & AP classes
• Graduated (barely) around 53rd percentile of my high school class
• When I was 22 I turned down the CTO of Whole Foods Market when she asked me to rebuild her programming team
• Finally got a corporate job at 33 through a friend (I asked if it was pity)
• Have written less code in my life than any software developer you know
• Finally settled into management to get out of the way, but mostly in less critical places
• 2 fixer uppers in a row, I live in a mess of piles and unfinished projects

Jennifer’s Son’s Story

• Terrified of failure, can’t play games
• Can’t sit still, would roll around during pre-k circle
• Needs to touch other people to be grounded
• Combined Type ADHD, then Dyslexia diagnosis
• Needs lots of accomodations
• “I forget things very easily!”
• “Salami, cheese and lemonade, please.”
• The Oreo tragedy part 1

The Bad Stuff

Life with ADHD is often difficult, because of:

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• Distractibility: Environmental noise, daydreams, interruptions, hyperfocus, Slack resulting in overlooked details, missed meetings, incomplete projects, losing track in conversations
• Disorganization: Hard to multitask, hard to prioritize maintenance and regular, non-interesting work, put off things which could have negative outcomes
• Impulsivity: Interrupting people during conversations, not thinking about the long-term consequences of actions, being socially inappropriate, rushing
• Negative Self-Image: Long history with failure, rejection, and inadequacy
• Fatigue: Sleep side effects, exhaustion from hyperactivity

Source: https://www.healthline.com/health/adhd/adult-adhd

But Also...

• He’s the sweetest, kindest kid (Oreos pt 2)
• My son’s teacher’s love him and he’s super creative when he’s inspired
• He tests in the 98th percentile for Visual Spatial work (puzzles) and in the 95th percentile for Verbal Comprehension

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• I setup Austin’s first streaming radio station, built an e-commerce site from scratch in 1997, co-founded a web consultancy in 2001 and ran it for 10 years building apps for Mitch Kapor, Specialized Bicycle Components, Whole Foods Market, etc.
• At HP I created a serverless cloud platform like AWS Lambda years before they did and filed two patent applications on it

The Good Stuff

Hyperfocus

When doing things we’re interested in, hours can pass in the blink of an eye

Resilience

Things aren’t easy, so we build a lot of experience overcoming difficulties

Creativity

We have to approach tasks differently, so we see unusual solutions

Humanity

We’re talkative, deeply understand feelings, and need to be positive

Courage

We can be impulsive and don’t always think about the long term impacts

Energy

Hyperactivity can give us extra oomph when we need to move

Source: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/adhd-benefits

All About ADHD

02.

A neurodevelopmental disorder marked by an ongoing pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that interferes with functioning or development

10%

14% & 6%

4.4%

Some Prevalence Numbers

Percentage of children clinically diagnosed

Percent of boys vs girls

Adults with ADHD

Source: https://chadd.org/about-adhd/general-prevalence/

What is ADHD Mechanically?

People with ADHD have lower levels of dopamine and norepinephrine neurotransmitters, making it harder for our brains to communicate, especially in these four regions with these possible effects:

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• Frontal Cortex: Impacts Attention, Organization, and Executive Function
• Limbic System: Emotional Regulation, can result in Restlessness and Inattention
• Basal Ganglia: General brain relay, can cause Inattention or Impulsivity
• Reticular Activating System: Major input/output relay in the brain, may cause Inattention, Impulsivity, or Hyperactivity

Source: https://www.additudemag.com/adhd-neuroscience-101/

How do you know you have it, and what causes it?

There are diagnostic criteria for children and adults. Psychiatrists and Neurologists are trained in identifying it, but it usually comes down to educating yourself, cataloging symptoms, finding a doctor, and trying medication. Most are stimulants, and work differently in ADHD brains. Sometimes the diagnosis is the treatment.

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We don’t know precisely what causes ADHD, but we do know:

• It’s often parents, 3/4s of people with ADHD have a genetic relative with ADHD!
• Environmental exposures and other toxins early & during pregnancy can cause it
• It isn’t: Sugar, TV, video games, parenting, economic status

Sources: https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/adhd/what-is-adhd & https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/facts.html

Symptoms

03.

You might have a neurological disorder if...

A Quick Screener 1/2

This is the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale V1.1 Screener, a diagnostic tool for adults with ADHD.

Think about the last 6 months at home, work and school, and whether you have this Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Often, or Very Often.

• How often do you have trouble wrapping up the final details of a project, once the challenging parts have been done?�
• How often do you have difficulty getting things in order when you have to do a task that requires organization?�
• How often do you have problems remembering appointments or obligations?

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A Quick Screener 2/2

Think about the last 6 months at home, work and school, and whether you have this Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Often, or Very Often.

• When you have a task that requires a lot of thought, how often do you avoid or delay getting started?�
• How often do you fidget or squirm with your hands or feet when you have to sit down for a long time?�
• How often do you feel overly active and compelled to do things, like you were driven by a motor?

Did you answer Often or Very Often to most of these? Interesting! Were I a Doctor, I might have something to say about that!

Source: https://www.hcp.med.harvard.edu/ncs/ftpdir/adhd/6Q_ASRS_English.pdf

Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria

Extreme emotional sensitivity and pain triggered by the perception that a person has been rejected or criticized by someone important in their life. May also be triggered by a sense of falling short - failing to meet their own high standards or others’ expectations.

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When internalized it can imitate a major mood disorder with suicidal ideation. When externalized it looks like instantaneous rage at the person or situation responsible for causing the pain.

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It can make adults with ADHD anticipate rejection and become vigilant about avoiding it, sometimes resulting in symptoms of social phobia.

Source: https://www.additudemag.com/rejection-sensitive-dysphoria-and-adhd/

Treatment & Coping

04.

What to do, what to do...

Treatments

Medication

• Generally Stimulants, effective for 70-80% of ADHD patients
• Increase the neurotransmitter levels in the brain, flush quickly
• Adderall aka Amphetamine & dextroamphetamine
• Ritalin aka Methylphenidate
• Others include Focalin, Vyvanse, etc

Getting Treatment

Your GP can prescribe as well as psychiatrists and neurologists, educate yourself first!

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• Occupational Therapy
• Coaching
• Parent Training

62% of children with ADHD take medication, 47% had behavioral treatment

Source: https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/data.html

Coping Strategies

• Keep a daily agenda of what you need to do
• Make checklists, the Todos app on your phone can work wonders, record things when you think of them, ‘Hey Siri’ is your friend
• Time block your calendar to make sure tasks are completed before deadlines
• Make sure you see your calendar reminders, 5 minutes can be better than 10
• Structure your work environment, remove distractions, background noise can be good but talking or understandable lyrics often isn’t, keep the door closed
• Try to just do one thing at a time
• Break big projects into small tasks, and just take on one small task at once
• Exercise can theoretically be as effective as medication
• Partner with more organized people to help keep you accountable
• Get enough sleep
• Try not to take it too seriously, try to have a sense of humor

Source: https://www.marquette.edu/counseling/documents/Structure.PracticalStrategiesforCoingwithADHD.pdf

Allyship & Resources

05.

If you or someone you know has ADHD

How to be an ADHD Ally

At Home

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• Educate yourself about ADHD
• Help collaborate on checklists, calendars, and reward systems
• Encourage interests and self-care
• Help ensure ADHD risky things get done, like bills being paid, Dr appointments made, medications refilled, etc - without judgement
• Help them understand their ADA covered disability & accommodations

At Work

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• Educate yourself about ADHD
• Schedule breaks in long meetings
• Understand people’s strengths, give them interrupt driven work or pair them with people who are good at organization
• Give feedback, set shorter milestones
• Group calendar interruptions and encourage calendar time blocking if they have more production-type tasks

Source: https://medium.com/@HelloArbit/allies-for-adhd-in-the-workplace-dc62114f6fe & https://www.additudemag.com/adhd-at-work-time-wasters-and-productivity-killers/

ADHD Resources

• #neurodiversity (ping Jennifer K.)
• Black Girl, Lost Keys (René Brooks)
• ADHD Comics by Dani Donovan
• ADHD Alien by Pina Varnel
• ADDitude Magazine (WebMD)
• Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD)
• Book: Driven to Distraction

Thanks!

If you have more questions, please feel free to DM me or email me at: objectfox@gmail.com

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Lots of ❤️ to Anita Davidson and the folks in the #neurodiversity ERG for their support and encouragement.

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