"ADD & Mastering It!" Live Blog

[Wgreen]

That’s it.

The guys did a great job. There were some bits some of us would question, but Rick and Patrick stayed on their message—as you would expect. Be sure to catch the program when it airs in your area.

Over and out!

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[Wgreen]

Alrighty, here’s a summary of the first ten minutes or so, gleaned from the second broadcast (sorry everything isn’t in order):

Strategies and tips for dealing with ADD.

36 strategies. (Wow!)

1) Acceptance. Ya gotta understand you’re “built” differently.

2) Educate yourself. It’s neurological. It exists on a spectrum. It’s NOT about a lack of willpower. It’s NOT about laziness. It’s NOT about stupidity. It’s hereditary/genetic. It frequently leads to secondary disorders. It’s difficult to diagnose. It’s very impairing—potentially devastating. It’s treatable. Education helps.

3) Understand your particular “flavor”—ADD is different, very different, in different people. Target the challenges that trip you up. Beware the comorbidities.

4) Bend the world to you.

5) Chunk it up: Carve your tasks up into manageable chunks.

6) Take action. Forget inspiration—you’ll be waiting until 2045. Just do it. Now.

OK. I think I’m repeating myself now. I may not have gotten everything, but I’ve got most of it. Now go buy the video…

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[quizzical]

Thank you so much! I tried to record the broadcast but the signal just wasn’t strong enough down here in Silver Spring; I ended up getting a lot of black screen with occasional three-second words and pictures; I guess you could call my recording The Unmanaged ADD Version! I actually fast-viewed the whole thing just in hopes that my reception had magically improved somewhere during the show. No such luck, alas. Reading your blog version really helped calm my frustration! Hugely appreciated!

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[Anonymous]

Wow, thank you Wgreen. Being in Australia, I probably won’t be able to watch it till 2013, so I really appreciate the tips. Already I can see the areas where I will struggle. For the life of me, I have never been able to meditate. It’s so boring and unappealing – I know, theoretically your supposed to empty your mind, but mine goes at 100 miles an hour when I’m supposed to be focusing on my breathing, plus I can’t keep still. Then there’s the ‘one master schedule’ thing – I’ve got about three going at the moment *sigh*. But your blog was very cool and much appreciated Wgreen.

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[Wgreen]

Well, I hope Rick and Patrick don’t sue me for copyright infringement.

The TV presentation only touched briefly on dozens of “tips” for dealing with AD(H)D. I would imagine the actual video product puts some more flesh on the bones. While I don’t know how much of this will be news to long-time forum members, it’s still useful information.

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[Rick Green – Founder of TotallyADD]

Hi Wgreen.

Thanks for doing the blog. It was an incredible experience doing the PBS broadcast. Live television. A small crew… A big studio…

We were so excited and yet nervous, 90 minutes live, winging it, mostly.

Well, not 90. The program itself is 56 minutes long, But still. The pledge breaks flew by.

We made some mistakes and small flubs but it was great. We had fun. The program looked terrific, and the phones were busy, especially when people realized that they were seeing one of four new videos, each about as long as ‘ADD & Loving It?!’

I don’t think we’ll be suing you for copyright infringement, but I do hope people will order the programs. What I keep hearing from everyone is that videos eliminate the fear and the stigma, more than a book, or a visit to a doctor. What I hope is that people use the videos for themselves, to get re-motivated and keep on track, but also to hand them to family members, teachers, colleagues, spouses, etc. to get them to understand what is going on and that it’s real.

It’s also amazing how many spouses or parents of ADDers have bought the DVD’s to gently introduce the idea of ADHD to the person who they are pretty sure has it.

One of the people who helped with the DVD’s told us that her son couldn’t bring himself to watch any of the DVD’s she had bought him on ADHD, but that he loved and raved about ADD & Loving It?! Now he’s taking his ADHD on for the first time in his ife.

On, and while we were in Baltimore yesterday, a woman told us that a neighbour, a fellow she knows casually, mentioned how much trouble they were having with their grandson who had ADHD.

She said, “PBS ran this program on ADHD. I’ll get you a copy.” She didn’t know this neighbour well, but as it turned out he was interested, and he told her, “Sure. I’d like to see.” She dropped off a copy of ADD & Loving It?! that week. Months went by. She assumed it hadn’t helped. And then, out of the blue the neighbour called. He wanted to thank her and tell her how much better things are now for the whole family and especially his grandson. The program had made a huge difference, getting everyone on the same page and moving forward, and their grandson was doing great. The joke is that this neighbour was a psychiatrist!

And so was his wife! But it was the program, the video, full of good information but laughter as well, and presented by a third party, rather than another family member, that had made the difference.

Love it. Love making a difference.

We have worked so hard. And so many people have contributed to the website and the videos and all the live stuff we’ve done…. And it’s been fun every step of the way. And what you all post in these Forums, it’s so great. So great. I can’t tell you how moving it is, how often I laugh and get misty reading what you’re sharing.

I’ll tell you, I hope these programs reach as many people as possible, and allow us to continue doing this full time, and not have to get real jobs! (Not that I’ve ever had a real job.)

More later, I’m toast. Jet lagged and it was the same time zone.

I blame the ADHD! (Ha!)

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[Wgreen]

Rick—

There’s no question that ADDers are broadly underserved. It’s amazing how many adults have NO IDEA what ADD is. (It’s even more amazing how many primary care clinicians are clueless about it.) So what you guys do really IS important. And there’s no greater reward in life than making a difference. Go get’em! Next, you guys need to dub those shows into Russian, German, French, etc. and put up a multilingual site. You can conquer ze vurlt!

I know that Baltimore-“Toronno” flight is a killer…

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[Anonymous]

Some great advice..

I use quite a lot of the tools mentioned ( even the Tibet Monk thing ).

Bottom line. Take care of yourself, everything else will follow. I promise x

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[Scattybird]

Rick and ‘the others’ in the team – I think what you do here is important. I hadn’t seen ADD And Loving It, but stumbled across the web site and started watching the videos here. Then I read peoples’ experiences and decided to get a private diagnosis. I wouldn’t have had the sense to do that, or even known where to start, without having visited this site.

I by-passed my GP and she was annoyed with me for doing that, but admitted she wouldn’t have recognised ADHD in an adult so I would still be where I was months ago if I hadn’t taken the initiative. I am very grateful that I found an excellent psych and I am very grateful for this site and for the people who run and populate it. It has made a difference to me. Medication and education have turned my life aound – if I lose my job now it’s just cut backs – a few months ago it would have been because I was floundering and overwhelmed.

So yes….this site made a huge difference to me and I have found some lovely people to ‘chat’ to and who have been very generous in sharing their experiences and advice.

Wgreen is right – Adult ADHD is not well served – at least not in the UK.

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[Anonymous]

Right on Wgreen for following the MPT broadcast and blogging about it for folks that couldn’t watch it. I was there with Rick and Patrick and was way too nervous to be blogging. I think I was way more nervous than them and I was just behind the scenes! Thanks for your thoughtful gesture for this community : )

So many people we hear from in the UK are struggling with their GP it seems. Everything from denying it exists to not having a clue it exists and how to spot it. I’m so glad you were able to get a diagnosis Scattybird and that you found us and this awesome group of people who truly are generous with their time and sharing their experiences.

I wish we could get a drop of broadcaster interest in the UK, Europe or Australia. We’ve had our distributor approach them and no one would even look at ADD & Loving It?! except for one local station in Australia who promptly said no thanks. Rick and I found that shocking and very sad. Many, many people in North America have found us because of ADD & Loving It?! running on Global TV in Canada and PBS in the U.S. If anyone has any ideas about how to get through to broadcasters in other countries let me know. I haven’t given up on that and I want as many people as possible to see it and know they’re not alone. I don’t want them to by chance stumble on this website. It may be a backward approach but if enough people like you exist Scattybird, then they can begin educating their doctors and break the cycle of shame, myths and ignorance.

And Peter – I spent so many years looking after others and wearing myself out. I now know what you say to be true. Wise words.

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[Wgreen]

Rick and Patrick might want to try radio in the UK. Back in the day, it wasn’t too hard to get local BBC stations to run audio documentaries. TV, though, was/is tough. You do need to check out MIDEM in Cannes—it’s an annual international marketplace for TV programming.

And I’m serious about porting the product over to other languages. It’s a pain, but it can be profitable.

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[Scattybird]

Hi Ava – thank you for your post. Wgreen has a point about radio in the UK. Radio 4 (BBC) ran a progmamme on ADHD last year but it was hosted by Rory Bremner who is a UK comedian and appears a lot on the BBC so could get air-time. He has ADHD so it was good publicity from that point of view, but I was a bit disappointed in the programme itself – but at least it’s a start.

TV channels 4 and 5 might be more amenable than the BBC for nationwide cover (UK).

Interestingly my GP said she wanted to learn about ADHD from me. Not sure if she meant it, but I just ordered a copy of ADD & Loving It and she’s jolly well going to watch it!

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[Anonymous]

Hadn’t even considered radio, interesting. I wonder if we can re-cut ADD & Loving It?! so that it works on radio? Or maybe it works as it is. I’ll check that out. Our distributor was talking directly to distributors in the UK, Europe and Australia. Do you think MIDEM would make a difference?

We’ve been working on translating ADD & L to three other languages thanks to help from pro-active doctors and coaches. A version with multi-language subtitles has been on my radar but you’re right, it’s a pain. Now I see it’s my pain vs a body of pain for folks out there looking for help. My pain goes away when I think of it that way. Thanks for lighting a new fire under that project.

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[Wgreen]

You can also buy time on some European cable networks—the way one buys infomercials in the U.S. You might have to settle for late night, and you may have to retool the program(me) to make it a harder sell, but… Dunno if you’d have problems with the medical establishment.

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[Scattybird]

If you want to hit big audiences in the UK you need to convince the BBC to write a character into a soap like ‘Eastenders’. Unfortunately the ADDer would have to be extreme to get a look in……

I know it’s not exactly the big time, but if national or local radio stations don’t take the bait, what about University radio stations? Smaller audience, but if you could also convince the university press offices to issue some sort of press release there’s a chance of it being picked up nationally.

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