My ADD / ADHD Blog

ADD / ADHD and Internet Addiction

This Wednesday at 2:00 pm EST I will be joined on ADHD Coach Talk by Kevin Roberts. He and I will be talking about ADD/ADHD and Internet Addiction. I'm really excited to have Kevin on ADHD Coach Talk and am sure this will be an excellent show. You can listen to us live at 2:00 pm EST or if you can't make the live show you will be able listen to it in the ADHD Coach Talk archives or via iTunes.

Are You Keeping up?

We are more than a week into 2010 and like many people I have some goals for the new year. I don't really make "Resolutions" anymore (you can read more about my thoughts on New Years Resolutions over on ADHD Allies) but I use the new year to come up with new goals and reevaluate previous goals. One of my goals this year is to practice being more positive. 

I don't think I'm really a negative person but I can sometimes get sucked into focusing too much on negative things. These negative things can be stimulating to my brain too and can take me away from the things I really want and need to be doing. 

I have to tell you - Practicing Positivity has been really challenging for me this week!! It's been really hard not telling people off and moving away from negative thoughts. 

So what about you? If you set new goals or made New Years Resolutions how are you doing with yours? 

Gratitude and ADHD

There's no question that being affected by ADHD can bring challenges into our lives. Some of us are more negatively impacted by ADHD than others. It's only natural to focus on the negative or what we would like to improve in our lives when we are affected by ADHD. It is very important for those of us with ADHD to find ways of managing our ADHD challenges and to thrive.

Sometimes we get so caught up with the things that stress us out and hold us back that we forget to look at the positive parts of our lives. I have been guilty of this too and for me it wasn't until I was pretty much "hit over the head" that I really began to pay attention and appreciate what I do have in my own life.

For a lot of us is does take a major live event to wake us up and force us to pay attention to the people and the things in our lives that we value. However, sometimes it is just as simple as stopping for a moment and asking ourselves some questions.

• Who are the important people in your life?
• What are things in your life that you really value?
• What are you thankful for in your life at this moment?

During this hectic time of year it so important to find time to stop and reflect on what it is you are thankful for in your own life.

Over 1500 Members

Our Online Support Community for Women with ADHD now has over 1500 members. Terry Matlen and I started this site earlier this year and we are both so happy with the Women with ADHD site. It's become a very active community for Women with ADD / ADHD. So many of the members have found a place for connection, comfort, and support.

If you are Women with ADHD stop by Women with ADHD. Be sure to check out the Forum which the most active part of the site. The Groups section has also become quite active! Our members have create some helpful groups like ADD Women and Money, Weight Problems and ADHD, and  Career Women with ADD/ADHD.

Call Your Doctor!!

I think that online support communities for ADD / ADHD are great. Sites like ADD Forums and Women with ADHD really help people connect with each other and learn more about Attention Deficit Disorder. However, online Attention Deficit Disorder support communities are not a one stop place for everything related to ADHD.

People who are taking medication for ADHD need to communicate with their doctors about side effects! If you are having chest pains or trouble breathing you should not be over at ADD Forums writing a detailed post about it. You should be contacting your doctor, calling 911, or on your way to the Emergency Room.

No, I am not kidding! I have seen people do this!

Can't Focus on Sex

It's quite common for Women with ADHD to have trouble paying attention while having sex. Their minds often wander while having sex. For some women that's not a bad thing. I guess it all depends on what the mind wanders to. For many women their mind starts wandering to things like housework, bills that haven't been paid, and countless other things which ruin the mood.

Recently there has been some discussion about this in some the online ADHD Communities. The forum post called Sex & ADD: Can't focus, can't get in the mood has become quite active over at Women with ADHD. Ned Hallowell also offered some advice in his post Distracted During Sex? over at ADHD Marriage.

So the good news is that there is hope and women are able to connect with others who are also dealing with this same issue.

Interview with Terry Matlen

Yesterday on ADHD Coach Talk I interviewed author and ADHD expert Terry Matlen. If you missed the live interview you can still listen it here. We talked about many of the great resources Terry Matlen offers people who are affected by Attention Deficit Disorder. Terry and I also talked about a brand new resource that she and I will be launching next month. Make sure you take a listen to ADHD Coach Talk to find out how to "get into action" next month!

Support for Women with ADD

The Women with ADHD free online Support network is really taking off! We now have more than 500 members. If you are a woman with Attention Deficit Disorder stop by Women with ADHD. While you are there take a look around and consider becoming a member.

ADD Forums Change

I've been a member over at ADD Forums since 2002 and was an administrator over there for a couple years too. It's a wonderful volunteer based online ADHD Support community and the volunteers work VERY hard. Though I haven't been on staff there since 2005 I still participate as a member.

I am very happy that ADD Forums finally changed their reputation system. For the longest time people were able to anonymously take points away from people's reputation. As you can imagine it caused some issues over at ADD Forums. Some people got really hurt and upset while others tried to get reactions from people by anonymously giving bad reps.

ADD Forums no longer allows for people give reputation points anonymously. Their usernames show up when both positive and negative reputation points are given. Here's the catch though...It's retroactive!! So some people who thought they were anonymous have now been identified!

Adult ADHD and Blogging

Blogging regularly when you have Adult ADHD can be quite challenging at times. Today for example I wanted to write blog post but could not think of anything to write about. Then all of a sudden I got a bunch of different ideas and couldn't decide which one to start with.

I could have written about all of them in one sitting and scheduled them to be posted some time in the future. However, that really doesn't work for me when it comes to blogging. I need instant gratification and want to see my blog posts posted immediately after they are written.

I did end up getting myself out of my natural all or nothing mode of thinking. Instead of not writing at all or writing a bunch of posts at once I chose a middle ground. I started with this blog post and wrote down my ideas for the other blogs posts in a notebook.