ADHD Treatment
Sharon De Jesus, NP, APRN-BC is dedicated to helping students and professionals working in the New York City, Metropolitan area to get rapid relief of their ADD/ADHD symptoms. She provides targeted and efficient, psychopharmocologic interventions. She has office hours that can fit into any work day, break time, lunch time or before/after normal business hours.
What is adult attention deficit disorder?
Many adults have ADHD and don’t know they have it. Like ADHD in children/teens, ADHD in adults can make life challenging. ADHD can make it hard for adults to feel organized, enjoy their work, or get to work on time. Adults with ADHD may have trouble in relationships. The disorder can also make adults feel restless. Problems generally associated with ADHD include inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsive behavior. Adults with ADHD can struggle with difficulties in one or more areas of daily life.
Common signs and symptoms of ADHD in adults include:
Poor concentration
Short attention span
Disorganization
Forgetfulness
Difficulty starting and/or finishing projects
Moving from one task to another, being involved in too many projects simultaneously
Time-management issues, overestimating available time or time it takes to finish the task
Making impulsive decisions, poor planning, impulsive spending
Difficulty interacting with others, interrupting others, blurting out the answer
Not every person with ADHD experiences every symptom, or experiences the severity of ADHD symptoms to the same degree. Most adults occasionally experience inattentive, impulsive, and hyperactive behaviors from time to time. Every person has an occasional experience of misplacing keys, getting distracted at work, blurting out something on impulse or interrupting inadvertently. However, for adults with ADHD, these symptoms appear more often and may create challenges in the work place. There’s no single laboratory test used to determine an ADHD diagnosis. The sooner you get an evaluation and an ADHD diagnosis, the faster you can start effectively managing your symptoms.
How is the Adult version different to childhood ADHD?
Unlike other mental disorders such as depression, ADHD does not start in adulthood. However, many adults who had symptoms of ADHD as a child did not get formally diagnosed. As a matter of fact, adult parents of children with ADHD often first notice their own ADHD symptoms at the time that their children get diagnosed. Adult ADHD is a continuation of ADHD from childhood. The main difference is in the type of difficulties and symptoms experienced. Adults are less likely to have intense hyperactivity. Instead of hyperactivity, adults with ADHD are more likely to feel restless, fidget a lot, have difficulty relaxing and feel on edge a lot of the time. A typical ADHD adult may have gone through life being constantly misunderstood. A diagnosis of ADHD is frequently very liberating to a person who struggled all of their life with symptoms that they could not define or understand. Smoking, drinking alcohol and, in some cases, drug taking are also more common among ADHD adults.
Prevalence of Adult ADD/ADHD Adult Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder is very prevalent in our society. Estimated 4.7% or 9 million adults in the US have Adult ADHD. Of that 9 million, only about 15% have been diagnosed and treated, only 1 in 4 of all adults with ADHD was diagnosed in childhood—and even fewer are treated. Experts used to believe children would grow out of ADHD by the time they were adults. However in recent years, it’s been recognized that ADHD can continue on into adulthood.
Why is ADD/ADHD underdiagnosed so frequently?
Many barriers exist to timely diagnosis and appropriate treatment of ADD/ADHD. Parents frequently avoid diagnosing and treating their children out of mistaken fear of identifying their child as being ‘different from others’. Some parents can not tolerate the thought of their children being less than perfect. For children who get ADD/ADHD treatment, it is frequently terminated prematurely due to mistaking the natural progression of ADD symptoms for improvement. As ADD symptoms progress from hyperactive/impulsive to inattentive/disorganized, the child is seen as improved and the treatment is terminated too early. Frequently, adolescents and young adults, showing symptoms of inattention/disorganization, are viewed as being lazy or in need of harsher parenting. Most Primary Care Providers, by self-admission, do not feel comfortable diagnosing and treating Adult ADD/ADHD. As a result, most Adult ADD/ADHD patients are not screened for their symptoms when they see their doctors. Often, adults first recognize the signs and symptoms of ADHD in themselves when their child is diagnosed.
Life Long Progression of ADD/ADHD
A common misconception is that ADHD affects only children. In fact, 60% of children with ADHD may continue to have symptoms as adults. Over the years, some adults developed strategies to minimize the impact of ADHD symptoms on their professional and personal life. The average age of an Adult ADD/ADHD patient in treatment is 35. It is not surprising that Adults with ADD/ADHD need the most help in their 20’s and 30’s: it is the time of life that is more professionally challenging. Most young professionals do not have a choice which task they must perform themselves and which can be delegated. Moreover, most young professionals do not control their work environment. Professionals can frequently ameliorate ADHD symptoms later in their career by adjusting their work environment, delegating tasks and getting assistants.
Medications
Most ADHD symptoms improve safely, quickly and effectively with medications. When patients experience the positive effect of medication for the first time, they feel profound relief. The effect is so sudden and dramatic; it is frequently compared to the effect of putting on glasses and seeing clearly for the first time. Stimulants are believed to enhance the availability of the brain’s chemical messengers Dopamine and Norepinephrine. These messengers play a role in behaviors like attention and movement. The stimulants include medications like Ritalin, Concerta, Adderall, Adderall XR, Vyvanse, Focalin, and others. As long as stimulant medications are used as prescribed, they can alleviate symptoms safely. Some patients with family history of heart disease or history of cardiac anomalies may require a cardiogram. Stimulant medications have a history of being diverted and misused. Sharon De Jesus, NP enforces policies and procedures that prevent misuse/diversion of stimulants, including keeping careful records and performing regular self-audits. Sharon De Jesus, NP has a policy of prescribing stimulants only to patients who need stimulants to improve their productivity and to use longer-acting stimulants first, whenever possible.