Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler admits to being wildly ADD!
Breakthrough in brain mapping?
I just watched a replay of 60 Minutes from earlier tonight and I am blown away by the possibilities. A new way of mapping the brain’s neural pathways? In full color? In high def? Incredible! The info on the brain scan is at the end of the story. Not that the iPad info isn’t miraculous, but the brain scan/mapping is extraordinary for the ADHD community!
Warnings on generics: Supreme Court rules against consumers
But what about our safety and our right to full disclosure? Is the tradeoff for cheaper prescription prices an incomplete warning label about a potentially long-term, debilitating neurological condition? In this case, apparently so.
What does this mean for generic manufacturers? That they may skip merrily down the road producing medications that may or may not negatively impact the end user without telling us about newly-discovered problems.
What does this mean for ADD medications? It means “caveat emptor” – let the buyer beware. The drugs that are “off patent” may or may not have new, serious side effects. But if we take a generic we’ll never know, because there is no requirement that we be told about them. And now, no way to seek legal recourse against the company that produced the drug.
Neurotoxicity and meds
Finishing my book
CogMed Day Two
This CogMed computer stuff is so hard. I get so anxious that I am not “doing well” that I want to throw in the towel.
Huh? I am not the kind of person who gives up easily. Or am I? In the past, I have hung on far too long to lost causes, but give me two days of excruciating mental ping pong and I want to quit. It doesn’t make sense.
Except that CogMed pushes my weaknesses front and center so I have to notice them. Hmmm. The very same weaknesses I have been hiding from the world (and perhaps myself) are now “public.” The CogMed computers now know how nuanced my attention can be – here, not here. There, not there.
CogMed – Take 2
A few weeks ago, I plunked down more money (not quite as much, thankfully) and decided to give CogMed another try, especially in light of the buzz at CHADD this year that working memory is the key to ADHD problems and perhaps treatment.
I’ve always said that most of the advice given to ADHD folks is just the same old advice given to linear people. The only problem is that linear people can IMPLEMENT that advice. I actually heard a noted psychologist tell someone to “just DO it” – like we haven’t tried that already! But if CogMed can help my brain actually conform to those linear standards a little better, then it might be worth a shot.