I don’t think that ADD is a disease, I think it is a part of our DNA make up. So trying to treat the disease is a bit of a misnomer. Look at the heavy component of genetics that play into this. So then you have to look at all the other personality traits which are also part of our DNA and you see why this is so complex. Then there is the whole nurture vs nature thing. I was raised by two ADHD parents. Who were raised by two ADHD parents. I myself am married to another ADHD. Who was also raised by two ADHD parents who were raised by two ADHD parents. It is extremely scary looking at the genetics that my children are now having to deal with. Was I attracted to my spouse because I recognized something in him. Was that what attracted him to me. Is our marriage more successful then my siblings because I found a partner who is familiar with what I deal with. But ADD research is still in its infancy and even the so called experts can not agree because like all mental illnesses this is so misunderstood. While we can identify common traits with a segment of the ADD and ADHD population no two of us are identical. Even my own children and siblings are different from me. ADHD cycles in my life. I have periods where I am highly successful and efficient but then something will happen and I am like a child struggling to understand what went wrong. The clutter builds up and then the patterns of my brain get cluttered. My moods cycle and I change.
With certain medications we can control parts of our behaviour. But at what price is that control. What does it do to our biological make up. My spouse is outgoing and boisterous at work. He is extremely focused and driven. He can control his outbursts and keep everything negative bottled up for the 10 or 12 hours he is working. But when he gets home he has an overriding need to be alone. He goes upstairs and holes up for the rest of the evening. He is usually grumpy and sensitive and anything can set him off. But he isn’t like this at work. No they don’t know him and wouldn’t recognize him at all. Yet when he is off work and able to relax and not worry about others opinions he is funny and sarcastic. We go out and have fun and he is himself and is able to just let it all hang out. The whole family can also work better. My daughters respond directly to dad. If he is in a good mood they are relaxed and say whatever comes to mind. When he is tense they are usually tense as well and everything leads to a confrontation.
Our daughters have distilled ADHD down to an almost pure form. So many inherited traits combined from both sides of the family and you wonder what they will have when they start to have children. I have seen in our oldest that she often picks a person with most of the same traits she exhibits. Her relationships are usually volatile. She has no impulse control and now she is a alcoholic and a drug addict. She has already been treated for these conditions for 5 years even though she is only just turned 18. She abstains from drinking and doing drugs except on weekends. Then she tells us she only does the safe ones. She still doesn’t understand that for someone with her history there is no safe use. But addiction seems to go hand in hand with ADHD. So many of mine and DH’s family suffer from addictions of one form or another. Smoking, drugs, alcohol, food, gambling, gaming and others.
With every new doctor they want to talk about my pregnancies. Were they normal, did you use drugs or alcohol, are there any environmental anomalies. By the time we get to the family histories on both sides they are boggling. I really think that if doctors want to understand ADHD they should do a family study. Look back at all alive family members that are willing to participate. Since we now can decode so much of our DNA that this is the perfect time to really understand where these traits are coming from. I certainly didn’t come fully formed into the world and when you do complete home studies coupled with DNA decoding I think it would unravel a lot of things. There are the uber successes and the dismal failures. What makes them different, the same. How is it that so many are successful in one aspect of their lives but everything else falls apart. What kinds of partners do they marry, what causes one marriage to be successful and another with a similar partner be an unmitigated disaster. 