ADHD Testimonial: a little background - a true story - about mild
ADHD - Inattentive type - including Central Auditory Processing
Disorder (CAPD) by Charles T. Wild

Ever heard of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)
syndrome? It's gone through a large number of name changes over the
last fifty years. Previous terms have included: ADD, Hyperactivity,
Hyperkinesis, MBDysfunction, and Minimal Brain Damage. There are
several types of ADHD and I have the rarest: it's called ADHD -
Inattentive type predominantly. With me, there is little or no
impulsivity or hyperactivity present which is part of the other types
of ADHD. The symptoms which I experienced were a high level of
involuntary distractibility, a subtle hearing challenge/communication
challenge called CAPD (Central Auditory Processing Disorder), and a
very short attention span (measureable in seconds). ADHD can be
severe, moderate, or mild. Mine is mild. I am one of those persons
who responds extremely well to the right alerting agent which works
quite well for limited periods of time (like about 4 hours or less
and the second dose does not work as well as the first). For me an
FDA approved alerting agent, a special caffeine compound made by
Bristol-Myers (NoDoz, 100 mg caffeine, St. Louis, MO type only) works
better than Ritalin, a factual observation which surprised my doctor,
Anita Uhl Brothers, M.D., of Berkeley, California, who allowed me to
better understand how in some people, an underaroused central nervous
system present from birth can be temporarily boosted and mended with
the right ADHD medicine, most often a central nervous system
stimulant of some kind. One of my favorite movies is "Awakenings"
with Robin Williams, based on a true story and the book by Oliver
Sacks, M.D. In the movie "Awakenings" it shows a very dramatic short
term response to a medicine which allowed people with severe motor
difficulties to move a lot better for short periods of time like
about 30 days or less when tolerance developed to the medicine and
the medicine no longer was effective. I tend to live with that type
of response, the medicine can relieve the ADHD symptoms for a few
hours a day but not for the entire day. In some ways I am very lucky
because there is a small group of those with ADHD where the medicines
only work for about 1 hour. The ADHD medicine for me temporarily
improves my fine motor control, especially on the left side of my
body, apparently by changing the level of neurotransmitters involved
with human movement including the chemical messenger dopamine. The
reticular formation of the brain stem governs the level of attention
and is a factor in some cases of ADHD/Attention Deficit.
Oversimplified a little yet still in the ballpark, the underlying
cause of ADHD is believed to be a spotty neuron. Good nutrition helps
a little so I believe in the idea of a fresh, whole foods, additive-
free approach to daily nutrition; however, bottomline, the only thing
that really helped me was finding the right ADHD medicine which for
me contained the alerting agent, caffeine. I was born in 1946 but it
was only in 1978 when all the puzzle pieces tended to come together
and I could understand what ADHD was and what it really wasn't. The
credit goes to Dr. Brothers, M.D., of Berkeley, California, the first
doctor who had the background needed to provide some of the answers,
remedies, and solutions needed for me to understand and deal with
ADHD a little better. That's my view.

Thank you for reading this. Appreciate it. If you have an interest in
ADHD, please do not hesitate to contact me. Email: ctw1940@...