Archive for October, 2011

A Doctor’s Perspective on Adult ADHD

Untreated attention-deficit disorder (ADHD/ADD) can be devastating for adults as well as children. Up to 60% of children with ADHD continue to have symptoms into adulthood. It is estimated that 4% of the adult population has ADHD, mostly untreated.

As a physician specializing in both ADHD and addiction medicine, I have seen how adult patients with attention deficit issues are many times more likely to have substance abuse problems, such as addiction to prescription drugs and/or alcoholism. ADHD sufferers develop addiction problems earlier and have more difficulty overcoming their addictions than those without this condition. In addition, I have seen the financial and personal chaos that ADHD can create.

There are effective treatments for Adult ADHD including medications that are specifically FDA approved for use in adults. These include stimulants such as amphetamines and methylphenidate as well as non-stimulants, such as amoxetine.

In my practice, I find that over 90% of patients will improve with a stimulant. Some patients will respond better to one class of stimulants(ie, amphetamines) than another so there is a bit of trial and error involved in prescribing.

Some patients are nervous about taking stimulants, fearing insomnia or feeling jittery. Fortunately, these symptoms usually improve after a few days. If not, the dosage can be reduced or a different type of stimulant can be tried. A non-stimulant medication can also be used, although in general, stimulants are more effective for most people.

It is important for the doctor to obtain a good health history and make sure that it is safe to give stimulants since they can cause serious problems in patients with underlying heart problems.

Occasionally patients will ask if they can get addicted to stimulants. The answer is that stimulant use almost never results in addiction in ADHD patients as long as they are taken as prescribed. Because the underlying problem in ADHD involves a deficiency of neurotransmitters, including dopamine and norepinephrine, in the synaptic cleft between neurons in the brain, medications are the foundation of treating ADHD.

Although ADHD coaching and counseling usually helps, I rarely see any significant improvement without the use of medications. (In my experience, dietary changes that help ADHD are limited to excluding MSG and MSG-like additives.) When the most right type of medication and dosage is determined, the results are dramatic. Patients can pay attention easier, think more clearly and make better decisions.

No Welcome Back for the Patients

There is one simple, yet troubling fact, about those of the drug addicted patients: they keep coming back. Therefore, if you want to find out one of the best drug rehab facilities, try to find one that have the least patients coming back. For, that simply means the said facility does have the kind of the treatment that cure the patients from their addiction for a very long period of time, if it cannot be forever. It is for your ultimate necessity to seek something such as that achievement from the history of such facility in question. You may get the information by browsing the facility’s background in the internet, asking questions to lots of people, or even try to get such info by contacting the said institution itself.

 

For whatever matters in this matter is that you do get the information with you. That information is really important to decide the future of the patient his or herself. For, especially if the patient is the member of your own family, then you are talking about the future of your own family yourself. For such an important future, you need to make it very clear that once your member of your beloved family is entering the facility, he or she will never ever need to come back.

 

If you could decide over such an important issue for your drug institution, you know at least that your family member, the addicted one, will get the most useful treatment that suits with his or her best condition to cure the addiction. And for you, having your family member getting cured is exactly the same like you are all getting your future again, and this is without the need of worrying to lose it ever again! Yes, you are getting your life back, for once and for all.

Helping Addicts Live a Normal Life

Sometimes, the most important process in drug and alcohol rehab is not the detoxifying process. Instead, it is the one when the addicts go back to the society and live a normal life outside the facility. Very often, many addicts are successful in finishing their rehab program, but fails when they have to meet their old environment and society that might bring the back to the dark times of drug and alcohol addiction. This is exactly what people need to consider before they select one among so many Florida drug rehab centers, to give the best treatment for the addict during and after the rehabilitation process.

Unfortunately, many people cannot see the importance of the aftermath process, which will determine whether or not the addict can really solve their problem and be sober. This is what is offered by drug rehab Fresno. Many years of service makes them able to understand well what the addict and their closest people want and need from a rehab facility, which is not only to help the addict be sober but also to solve their addiction problem once and for all. This can be done by the facility since they have done some experiments to know the basic cause of each addiction case, enabling them to aim to the cause and help the addict live a normal life forever, without any medication or further treatment.

With such a great offering from the drug and alcohol rehab facility, there is no more reasons not to select them as the best place for the addict to solve their problem. Moreover, it is easier to reach and get the most complete information by the official online site of the facility, enabling people to check and select the most suitable programs for the addict, enabling them to solve the problem in the most effective methods.