Hearts and flowers in the rear view mirror
Hearts and roses. I didn’t get any on Valentine’s Day, but it’s OK. I know Victor loves me. He’s usually great at remembering holidays and bringing home flowers and other emblems of affection. This year, though, we were out of town, preoccupied by a very different kind of love…
What you focus on (gasp!) e-x-p-a-n-d-s
My attention leaves a tell-tale imprint of what I truly think is important. Regardless of the thoughts that stream through my mind or the words I speak out loud, my true focus/priorities are reflected in the action I take. When I pay only lip service to exercise or nutritious eating or stress reduction I am saying that none of them are truly important to me. To change my life, I must first decide to change my focus
Slip sliding away
My brain in hyper drive.
Does NC really have more ADHD than any other state?
at the 2012 CHADD conference in San Francisco, Dr. Hinshaw told an rapt audience that his UC-Berkley psychology lab showed that the highest prevalence of ADHD among children was found in states that had implemented achievement-based testing for promotion from one grade to another. In other words, when children were required to pass a state-mandated test to go to the next grade level, more ADHD was discovered (as the likely culprit for failure).
Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler admits to being wildly ADD!
Warning! Doctors can sell your Rx history to Big Pharma
In yet another consumer-bashing move, the US Supreme Court ruled June 23, 2011, that pharmaceutical companies may now purchase lists of the drugs that individual doctors prescribe (without the name of the patient) for marketing purposes.
The ruling was made using the First Amendment Freedom of Speech argument that if researchers and journalist were allowed to gather such records, then marketers deserved equal access. Um, this doesn’t exactly seem like freedom of speech to me. It’s more like data mining. And that pretty much sucks.
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.
Finishing my book
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.