Are You Doing All You Can to Treat Your ADHD?
By Dana Rayburn, Adult ADD Coach

ADDed Success Is The Monthly Online Ezine for Adults with ADHD from
ADD Coach Dana Rayburn.

Welcome to ADDed Success!
Have you ever thought through how every basic area of your life is
affected by your ADHD?

Home? Work? Relationships? Play?

Everything you do, you do through the lens of ADHD.

That's why ADHD is much more than a diagnosis; it's a way of life!

Yet I find most people who are new to the world of ADHD don't do
enough to fully treat their ADHD.

Sure, after getting a diagnosis they may take medication and possibly
read a few books.

Then they go on their way thinking that's all there is to outsmarting
this monster controlling their brain and the frustration of living with
their ADHD continues.

Outsmarting your ADHD takes much more than medication. To take
back your life from your ADHD you must venture down a path of self
discovery and action. You must go on a mission to understand your
past and reinvent your future.

In addition to medication, here are a few of the pieces necessary to
effectively treat your ADHD:

• Build awareness of your ADHD symptoms and their impact on your
  life.
  
• Adjust your world to focus on your strengths and minimize your
  weaknesses.
  
• Modify your current lifestyle (diet, sleep, exercise, social support,
  hobbies) to better support your brain.
  
• Build new life structures, habits and systems to support your ADHD
  brain.
  
• Create a life that inspires you and naturally pulls you toward your
  goals and full-potential.

These elements are why ADD coaching is so vital to treating ADHD.
They are the things you will explore and master with an ADD coach.

Are you doing all you can to effectively treat your ADHD?

The Last Word
One of my biggest frustrations with ADHD is when cracks develop in
my carefully constructed systems and structure. Cracks that cause
pure havoc in my own life and disrupt the lives of those I love.

My trip home from Tucson and the ADDA conference is a prime
example.

A classic 'ADD moment' at the Salt Lake City airport caused me to miss
my connecting flight to Oregon.

Confused by changes in time zones and distracted by watching
airplanes landing, I thought my layover was two hours instead of one.

By the time I realized my error, my flight home was pulling out of the
gate. Without me. It was an awful moment that meant spending ten
more hours in the Salt Lake City airport waiting for the next flight
home.

Making matters worse, my goof messed up my husband's plans and
disappointed my anxiously awaiting young daughter (though there was
the dubious consolation of staying up much later than usual that night
in order to meet me at the airport with her daddy).

After I finished beating myself up for my goof, I did a quick analysis
and figured out the cause of my mistake. This awareness helped me
build new structures that will keep me from missing flight connections
in the future.

Here's what I’ll do the next time I fly anywhere: Never again will I stray far
from my next flight's gate. And I won't trust my watch for the local
time. I'll depend instead on the time displayed by my cell phone or the
airport’s wall clocks.

Because I've worked hard to treat my ADHD these kind of goofs don't
happen very often anymore, but they still occur occasionally. And they
still embarrass me and leave me feeling like a dope.

At least I'm better at getting up and brushing myself off and plugging
the cracks. And I'm profoundly grateful to have an understanding
husband. A supportive spouse or partner is key to effectively treating
ADHD.

To Your ADDed Success,
Dana