The-F-Word.org

Today is National AD/HD Awareness Day, as sponsored by the Attention Deficit Disorder Association.

As one who suffers from Adult ADD, I can personally attest to just how frustrating the disorder really is. It’s impacted my relationships with others, my abilities at work and in my academic research, and also simple, day-to-day activities. For instance, I have to drop my keys in the same place every day. Same too with my work badge, which I need to get through the security doors. The problem is, I often forget to drop these off in the same place, which means most days is a mad hunt for either or both of said items. My husband can attest to how maddeningly this ritual becomes as he is often the one to find my lost items.

I bring this issue up not just because more awareness of ADD and ADHD is needed. It is. I still get odd looks from others when I say I have ADD - they often think it’s a disorder only affecting children, or remark that I don’t appear “out of control.” I bring this issue up because of the intrinsic link between ADD and eating disorders.

Wendy Richardson (no relation) has written an excellent overview of how ADD interconnects with a broad array of eating disorders, from anorexia and bulimia, to binge eating disorder. Richardson is the author of The Link Between ADD and Addiction: Getting The Help You Deserve, as well as a licensed marriage, family, and child therapist, and addiction specialist in private practice.

I remember an initial visit to a therapist I used to see. She asked me if I’d ever used cocaine, to which I indignantly replied in the negative. The reason she asked, is that because people with ADD who use cocaine often report feeling no change except that they are more focused and clear-thinking. In fact, stimulants are often the most prescribed ADD medication because they work by increasing the levels of the chemicals epinephrine and norepinephrine in the brain. The elevated levels then helps the brain to transmit signals between nerves, which improves an ADD person’s ability to pay attention for extended periods of time.

For some people with ADD, food is the first substance that helped them feel calm, writes Richardson. And since food is legal, it’s more apt to be used as a vice instead of drugs or alcohol. But people with ADD can manifest these traits differently. Because the ADD brain is slow to absorb glucose, it can trigger binging, usually of food high in sugars and carbohydrates. For bulimics with ADD, the rush of planning a binge followed by the satiation of the binge and relief of purging, can be very stimulating. Whereas anorectics with ADD focus their chaotic ADD brains by focusing on food, exercise and thinness, as well as food-related behaviors.

“Too many people are struggling with their eating disorders because they have undiagnosed or untreated ADD,” writes Richardson. “When ADD is properly treated, the individual is better able to focus and follow through with treatment for their eating disorders.”

For more information on ADD/ADHD, visit the Attention Deficit Disorder Association.