That's me! Tee hee! Some of you may remember a request from a reporter a
few weeks back; if you were wondering what ever happened to that, well...

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> Finally getting attention
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> After years of frustration, some women are learning their difficulties are
> due to ADHD
>
> By Kimberlee Roth
> Special to the Tribune
>
> July 21, 2004
>
> This story contains corrected material, published July 22, 2004.
>
> Tolonda Henderson's accomplishments--graduating Phi Beta Kappa from
> college,
> working toward a second master's degree, a job as a library assistant that
> she loves--all belie a daily struggle.
>
> Last year, the 26-year-old Hyde Park resident was diagnosed with attention
> deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. The suggestion first came from a
> professor during a conversation about Henderson's master's thesis and oral
> defense, "the most miserable experience I've ever had,"
> Henderson said.
>
> The conversation about Henderson's difficulty pulling her extensive--too
> extensive--research together reminded Henderson of another paper ... and
> another ... During the wending conversation, her professor asked whether
> anyone ever thought she might have ADHD.
>
> ADHD is a neurobiological disorder that affects "executive
> functions," which
> include planning, organizing, setting priorities and considering
> consequences. Symptoms start in childhood but they're often missed in
> girls
> because there tends not to be as much hyperactivity displayed as there is
> in
> boys. Left unaddressed, challenges persist in adulthood, resulting in lost
> opportunities, social troubles and emotional distress.
>
> ADHD afflicts 6 to 8 percent of children and about 2 percent of adults,
> according to Mark Stein, director of the ADHD Clinical Research Program at
> the University of Chicago. It affects boys at a rate of 3 to every 1 girl,
> but in many clinics ratios range from 9- or 10-1 to 4-1.
>
> Why the disproportion?
>
> "Girls [with ADHD] are less troubling to other people," says
> Kathleen
> Nadeau, co-founder of the National Center for Gender Issues and ADHD in
> Washington, D.C. "Not less troubled, but less bothersome. As a
> general rule,
> girls with ADHD aren't going to misbehave, talk back to the teacher, throw
> footballs across the room or knock their desk over."
>
> Research on the disorder in girls is indeed scant. In 2002, Stephen
> Hinshaw,
> chair of the psychology department at the University of California,
> Berkeley, published two studies on the subject. In Hinshaw's studies,
> girls
> with ADHD did make friends, but they had fewer and a harder time keeping
> the
> ones they made. They were hard for others to get along with, being
> intrusive
> and unable to read social cues clearly. Study subjects also showed
> impairments in executive-processing functions, which "aren't [related
> to]
> your intelligence or what you learned in school, but your ability to plan,
> to say, `Wait a minute, this is not going well; I need to change my
> strategy,'" Hinshaw said.
>
> Girls, or boys for that matter, don't necessarily outgrow ADHD when
> puberty
> arrives as was once believed of boys.
>
> "We're really just sitting on the tip of the iceberg--there's a
> bigger
> problem of ADHD in women than if you just look at what's going on in
> childhood," Hinshaw said.
>
> Park Ridge psychologist Alan Graham said, "a lot of the women I see
> were
> initially diagnosed with depression and anxiety. They were [thought of as]
> the `ditzy girls.'"
>
> Struggles continue, if not grow, with adult responsibilities at home and
> work. "What typically happens is they get down on themselves and get
> depressed," Graham said.
>
> At the time of Henderson's conversation with her professor, she was being
> treated for depression and anxiety by a psychiatrist who subsequently
> diagnosed ADHD. She read up on it and the "a-ha moments" began.
>
> Once she was diagnosed, she understood why she never felt she connected
> with
> others, why she has always gone "in fits and starts,"
> enthusiastically
> taking up new hobbies but soon losing interest and, perhaps most
> important,
> why she wasn't living up to her own expectations. Although she got
> excellent
> grades, she was frustrated because she knew she could do better.
>
> "I knew I had the candlepower, but it's like someone stuck it under a
> bushel," Henderson said.
>
> Jennifer Garrison, 32, who conducts computer training for a university,
> also
> was being treated for depression. One day, her therapist mentioned ADHD,
> based on observations of Garrison's behavior over time: changing the
> subject, difficulty focusing, fidgeting, starting and not completing
> tasks.
> The therapist suggested Garrison read "Driven to Distraction:
> Recognizing
> Attention Deficit Disorder from Childhood Through Adulthood"
> (Touchstone
> Books) by Edward Hallowell and John Ratey.
>
> "I cried the entire time," said Garrison, a Near West suburban
> resident. "I
> could've written it myself ... I went and got tested and, sure
> enough."
>
> Evaluation for adult ADHD entails a thorough evaluation, including
> discussion of current symptoms and how they affect daily living as well as
> childhood symptoms that may not have been noticed by parents or teachers.
> It's important to rule out "mimics," said the U. of C.'s Stein,
> including
> thyroid problems, seizures, sleep deprivation, medication side effects,
> too
> much caffeine, and certain psychiatric disorders.
>
> Garrison's diagnosis, made three years ago, explained frustrating habits
> like being late no matter how much she hurried, and constantly forgetting
> and losing things.
>
> Treatment for adult ADHD involves helping sufferers identify their
> strengths
> and weaknesses, and redefining their sense of self, Graham said.
> Behavioral
> therapy also is used to target specific areas, such as scheduling.
> Medication--namely stimulants such as Ritalin, Concerta, Dexedrine and
> Adderall, and a relatively new non-stimulant medication, Strattera--may be
> prescribed as well.
>
> Henderson has chosen to remain on the medication she was taking for her
> depression and anxiety, Effexor. She also has learned to be "much
> kinder" to
> herself. She worries less and is more selective about what she gets
> involved
> in.
>
> Garrison takes Adderall and she has developed her own organizational
> strategies, such as using different colored pens to write notes and
> organize
> her work files.
>
> She has mixed feelings about her diagnosis.
>
> "I think especially as a woman, you just push yourself so hard and
> develop
> ways to cope," she said. "Luckily, I think a lot of people with
> ADHD are
> extremely intelligent and creative, so I always managed to pull myself
> through. ... Even though most days I'm frustrated, it also gives me some
> of
> the great characteristics I have."
>
> - - -
>
> Resource list
>
> Here's more information on ADHD:
>
> - Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, at
> www.chadd.org
>
> - National Resource Center of ADHD (a CHADD program), at
> www.help4adhd.org,
> or call 800-233-4050
>
> - CHADD of Chicago, at chaddofchicago.tripod.com/
>
> - National Center for Gender Issues and ADHD, at www.ncgiadd.org.
>
>
> Copyright (c) 2004, Chicago Tribune
> http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/women/chi-0407210221jul21,1,1699210.s
> tory?coll=chi-leisurewomannews-hed
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