Jaime shares: 

• the circumstances around her ADHD diagnosis
• why ADHD mothers make great parents
• how her and her husband manage their household of five children under normal circumstances
• how her family is actually doing in the midst of COVID19
• good news on the resilience of children
• what she works on paying attention to during this time 
• her advice around learning and children
• why rituals are important during times of stress
• her personal ADHD workaround

Resources:

https://www.facebook.com/heynewmamas/

As a college dropout, Fran mined her creative talents for skills she could use to pay the rent in New York City. Along the way she carved out a career as a children’s book illustrator, professional actor, co-founder of a downtown theater company and eventually, as a filmmaker and CEO of MovieBaby Productions, a Tribeca-based media company creating innovative videos, independent films and tv promotional campaigns.

After 9/11, Fran went back to the basics, earning her degree in Media Arts as well as the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence. While making her mark in the fine arts and interior design, she penned and performed three theatrical productions, curated The Cinema-Femina film series and, created Believe Women, a rape activist initiative that championed the Cosby survivors along their journey to justice.

Fran is one of the founding members of ADHD for Smart Ass Women and is now one of our administrators. I regularly introduce her as the most creative person I know. I have talked about her in my podcast and actually have women request to join the ADHD for Smart Ass Women’s FB group just because they want to meet Fran.

Fran shares with us:

• The circumstances surrounding her ADHD diagnosis
• Her ADHD symptoms
• How her symptoms got worse in midlife?
• How important interest is to her driven brain
• The ADHD traits that she feels are responsible for her success?
• What she feels is the key to living successfully with ADHD
• Some ADHD workarounds

Resources:

MESSAGES - Facebook PM 

WEBSITE - http://www.francescarizzo.com/

FACEBOOK - https://www.facebook.com/francescarizzo

INSTAGRAM - https://www.instagram.com/francescarizzonyc/

GREAT DAMES MEDIA - https://www.facebook.com/greatdamesmedia/

FRANCESCA UNLIMITED - https://www.facebook.com/francescaunlimited/

IMDB -  http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0729883/

VIMEO - https://vimeo.com/francescarizzo

YOUTUBE - https://www.youtube.com/user/Francescanj/videos

Learn about:

• BMW - and it’s not the car
• The science behind why rumination is bad for our brains
• Why what we say to ourselves matters
• What my definition of high-functioning with ADHD looks like
• What kinds of people I choose to have in my life

Discover:

• A different way to see your ADHD and it’s not disordered
• What demotivates the ADHD brain
• What you need to focus on to drive your motivation
• How to become the hero in your own life
• The importance of mindset
• The importance of gratitude
• The easiest thing you can do to start slowly shifting your mindset
• What makes the ADHD brain happier

Tracy then shares an amazing lesson that a young woman in her FB group taught her about her own beliefs around the brain, honesty, her own power and abilities.

Resources:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/adhd-and-rumination-ep-23/id1443678424?i=1000440657223

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/learned-helplessness-and-adhd-ep-12/id1443678424?i=1000432464141

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-is-cognitive-behavioral-therapy-how-can-ithhelp/id1443678424?i=1000446344745

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/meditation-that-even-you-can-do-especially-if-youre/id1443678424?i=1000459956149

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tracys-strength-focused-adhd-book-list-ep-26/id1443678424?i=1000442848440

Discover:

• The history of cannabis in the United States
• Why the name was changed from cannabis to marijuana
• How immigrants popularized the recreational use of marijuana
• What state first passed the Cannabis Prohibition law. 
• How the propaganda film Reefer Madness effectively criminalized marijuana
• What happened to cannabis in the 60s and 70s
• What the reports commissioned by Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson said about marijuana

Tracy then shares why she initially thought that cannabis was safer than substances like alcohol and her experience at a cannabis dispensary close to her home.

Learn:

• The truth about whether or not there really are medicinal and or therapeutic benefits of cannabis to the ADHD brain.
• The two active compounds that make up cannabis
• If research supports the use of CBD oil as a treatment for ADHD
• At what age the frontal lobe is fully matured in the ADHD brain
• What THC actually does in the brain
• What the FDA has approved medical marijuana for
• What rates of cannabis use look like for adolescents and young adults. 
• The negative affects of cannabis and how this mimics the symptoms of ADHD
• How dendrites help a healthy brain process and learn better
• How THC can alter the architecture of your brain
• Why fully formed brains are at much less risk for damage by THC
• If THC is a gateway drug
• Cannabis’ effect on the heart
• Cannabis’ effect on mental health
• If cannabis is addictive and if so, who is more likely to be addicted
• What it means to be chasing dopamine and why those with ADHD are at a greater risk for this
• What Cannabis Use Disorder (CUD) is
• What the link between CUD and psychosis is
• Why cannabis is so appealing to the ADHD brain
• How to treat CUD and ADHD

Resources:

• 1-800-662- HELP to locate a treatment center
• https://findtreatment.samhsa.gov/
• Reefer Madness! The Twisted History of America's Marijuana Laws
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4882033/
• https://www.additudemag.com/treating-marijuana-abuse-and-adhd/
• https://chadd.org/attention-article/adhd-recreational-marijuana/
• https://www.additudemag.com/podcast-marijuana-cannabis-use-disorder-adhd-brain-olivardia/
• https://www.additudemag.com/the-truth-about-adhd-and-addiction/
• https://www.additudemag.com/cbd-oil-adhd-symptoms-natural-treatment/
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0376871613003025

Laurie has a bachelor’s degree in Special Education. She spent 8 years teaching students with learning disabilities in grades K-12. She has a Master’s Degree in Special Education with an emphasis on assessment and a second Master’s Degree in Professional Counseling. Laurie is also the mother of two boys.

Learn about:

• the circumstances around Laurie Peterson’s ADHD diagnosis. 
• Laurie’s symptoms in childhood
• how she got into diagnostic testing
• the difference between neuropsychological testing and diagnostic testing
• where diagnostic testing falls in the ADHD picture
• what signs parents should look for in their kids when considering diagnostic testing?
• the cost of diagnostic testing?
• how testing for giftedness and ADHD differs from standard ADHD testing?
• how Laurie’s ADHD makes her better at what she does?
• what Laurie feels the key to living successfully with ADHD is?
• Laurie’s number one ADHD workaround

Resources:

How to use a bullet journal - https://bulletjournal.com/pages/learn

https://diagnostic-learning.com/

https://ediagnosticlearning.com

She has co-authored a book related to preschool literacy curriculum, written numerous articles found within national journals regarding literacy instruction, and presented across the country at education conferences, sharing her knowledge and passion about how to best help students succeed. Brandi is also the mother of three. 

In 2016, while recovering from her second major hip reconstruction due to hip dysplasia, Brandi founded the Bucket List Adventure Company Ohio. Her focus was on bringing people together by encouraging them to step outside of their comfort zones to overcome their fears. 

Over the last few years Brandi has jumped out of a perfectly good plane, free-dived with sharks in the Atlantic Ocean, walked across fire, kayaked in alligator-infested waterways, ice climbed, rock climbed, and rappelled her way through much of the United State’s most strenuous and iconic trails.  

No surprise that Brandi’s also one of us. She has ADHD! 

Brandi shares: 

• How she completed her Ph.D. in three years while working two part-time jobs with three children
• The circumstances surrounding her own ADHD diagnosis 
• Symptoms that she always wondered about but now with the benefit of hindsight she recognizes as clearly ADHD?
• What has changed since her diagnosis?
• Why she decided to start her travel company?
• Why she started the “Adventure Club?”
• The knowledge that Brandi imparts on every one of her students
• What she believes the key to living successfully with ADHD is?
• Her number one ADHD workaround
• Her advice to a young woman just diagnosed with ADHD

Resources:

https://www.facebook.com/bucketlistadventurecompanyohio

https://www.instagram.com/bucketlistadventurecompanyoh/?hl=en&fbclid=IwAR37cFKgc8hnjnS0lgrsOEFn6HKLeH2PAT_HXjGu5oArZmkpGbWxuEESw6E

Email: [email protected]

Attorneys volunteering with Annunciation House provided legal consultations and pro bono reunification to more than 400 separated families. Currently, Taylor focuses her work on asylum-seeking families who have been returned to Mexico under the “Remain in Mexico” program. She also mentors attorneys from around the country on these cases and does advocacy, media, and policy work centered on protecting vulnerable asylum seekers arriving at our border.

Taylor talks about an article that ProPublica just published about her clients, Honduran refugees Mirza, David and their kids. 

Taylor also shares:

• How she ended up in law school while working full time and raising a child as a single mother
• The circumstances surrounding her own ADHD diagnosis 
• Symptoms that she always wondered about but now with the benefit of hindsight she recognizes as clearly ADHD?
• What has changed since her diagnosis?
• How she ended up representing immigrants and asylum seekers before she even went to law school
• What she believes the key to living successfully with ADHD is?
• Her novel approach to medication
• Her number one workaround
• Her advice to a young woman just diagnosed with ADHD
• Information about the Mitchell Hamline School of Law Hybrid Program

Resources:

Taylor’s email: [email protected]

https://www.propublica.org/article/women-to-one-side-men-to-the-other-how-the-border-patrol-new-powers-and-old-carelessness-separated-a-family?fbclid=IwAR1cyQ24MclMBGa0MPWZpsrZH13O1Nl6bxMsz_NzdTLryah4zpZCe5dUt2U

The nonprofit that Taylor mentioned: www.santafedreamersproject.org

The Santa Fe Dreamers Project provides free legal services to immigrants and refugees to promote economic empowerment, community development, family unity, and liberation from detention. 

And Taylor’s law school! https://mitchellhamline.edu/academics/j-d-enrollment-options/blended-learning-at-mitchell-hamline/

In Episode 58 of ADHD for Smart Ass Women, Tracy shares five hacks that have changed her professional and personal productivity and play well with her ADHD brain. 

They are:

• Stickies app for IOS (or Sticky Notes for Windows),
• Multiple Desktops which is available for both IOS and Windows, 
• TabResize app,
• Bear app; and 
• New Kajabi, a platform for online businesses

Tracy talks about:

• Her love - hate relationship with Post-it-notes 
• The two things that new applications need in order to work well with her ADHD brain
• How to organize your computer workspace with multiple desktops
• How to automatically organize your desktop so it’s never a mess
• The application that keeps her the most focused because it allows her to stay within the four corners of one computer screen
• The application that ensures you will never lose another note, book or restaurant suggestion or link again
• The application that finally allowed her to understand all parts of her online business rather than delegating that which she didn’t understand

Resources:

https://support.apple.com/guide/stickies/welcome/mac

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/work-in-multiple-spaces-mh14112/mac

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT209101

https://www.howtogeek.com/355173/how-to-get-macos-mojave-style-desktop-stacks-on-windows/

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/tab-resize-split-screen-l/bkpenclhmiealbebdopglffmfdiilejc

https://bear.app/

https://www.tracyotsuka.com/kajabi

In Episode #57 of ADHD for Smart Ass Women, Tracy invites her good friend Sandra Centorino to the podcast to talk about her recent mid-life ADHD diagnosis. Sandra is currently the founder of RealWomenGoLive where her mission is to help, inspire, share and connect real women to the power of their voice through audio and video. Prior to that, Sandra ran a non-profit called The CUREchief Foundation where she recruited and trained thousands of volunteers for more than a decade. 

Sandra shares:

• Why she decided to seek a diagnosis
• How her symptoms got worse in midlife
• Her families response to her diagnosis
• What has changed since she was diagnosed
• Her experience with medication
• Her number one ADHD workaround
• Her advice to anyone who’s listening who has not yet been diagnosed 

Resources:

https://www.realwomengolive.com/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/realwomengolive/

https://www.instagram.com/sandracentorinolive/

Linda shares with us:

• Her symptoms in childhood 
• Her ADHD diagnosis
• How she figured out that she had something more than just ADHD
• Her Non-Verbal Learning Disorder (NVLD) diagnosis
• What NVLD looks like 
• What percentage of communication is verbal vs non-verbal and why that matters 
• Why those with NVLD actually talk more, not less
• What it means to not understand the meaning behind words and take things literally 
• How to tell the difference between ADHD and NVLD
• Why those with NVLD are often misdiagnosed with ADHD
• Why NVLD is still not recognized in the DSM even though they are both brain-based conditions
• What happens to those with NVLD who are left untreated

Linda then shares the current treatment options for NVLD and explains why she believes they don’t work. She also shares what she has discovered does work. 

Resources:

Join Linda's new Facebook Group, NVLD Pioneers here.

Addvantageslearningcenter.com

Symptom test for adults, Could I have non-Verbal Learning Disorder? https://www.additudemag.com/screener-nonverbal-learning-disorder-symptoms-test-adults/

Article that appeared in Additude magazine on NVLD: https://addvantageslearningcenter.com/adhd-vs-nv

Another article by Linda Karanzalis for ADDitude magazine.

https://www.additudemag.com/what-is-nonverbal-learning-disorder-symptoms-and-diagnosis/

If you’d like to write a review for the podcast ADHD for Smart Ass Women, click on this link ON YOUR PHONE ONLY. Scroll down to the very bottom after all episodes to Ratings & Reviews. There you will find a link that states “Write a Review.” Thank you!

Tracy talks about what she’s learned in the year since she started her podcast, ADHD for Smart Ass Women. She is hoping that her story might inspire you to tackle that one big bucket list item that you really want to do but are scared to start. After all, she’s been there.

Tracy shares:

• Why she started the podcast
• What her biggest fear was around having a podcast
• How she feels about planning
• Her thoughts about accountability vs. responsibility
• The importance of structure
• Why she listens more and talks less
• How her podcast helped her to develop more tools and strategies for herself
• The importance of reminders
• How starting a podcast solidified for Tracy, her beliefs around ADHD not being a disorder but rather a brain difference that just requires another way of doing things
• How those with ADHD are gold star people
• How the members of her ADHD for Smart Ass Women Facebook Group and listeners of the podcast helped her to grow in her knowledge of ADHD
• What her podcast taught her about confidence

Resources:

https://addca.com/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1541724249266515/

Esther shares:

• why learning to breathe properly is a powerful tool in managing the ADHD brain 
• how she connected breath to so much of her own personal struggles stemming from ADHD and how it changed her life
• how proper breathing reduces stress, stabilizes emotions, and makes us more mindful
• how breathing balances the autonomic nervous system and helps us to be more attentive (focused) and more relaxed.
• some simple steps for breathing properly and doing it anywhere
• her FREE 10-day breathing course

----------------

Resources:

https://spacetobreatheacademy.com/

https://spacetobreatheacademy.com/smartassbreath/ (this is the FREE 10-day breathing course that Esther mentioned)

https://www.additudemag.com/deep-breathing-exercises-for-adhd-meditation/

Tracy introduces the book, Mindfulness Prescription for Adult ADHD, An 8-Step Program for Strengthening Attention, Managing Emotions and Achieving Your Goals by Lidia Zylowska, MD. 

Learn:

• what neuroplasticity is and how it affects not only our ability to learn but also the brain’s ability to change and adapt
• when neuroplasticity occurs in our lifespan
• several interesting examples of neuroplasticity
• what one thing is a key factor in neuroplasticity
• how the concept of neuroplasticity has completely changed the thinking around meditation
• what long term meditators brains’ look like in regions related to attention, self-monitoring and emotional regulation 
• what long term meditators brains’ look like as they age
• what attention blink is and how it is affected by meditation
• how long you must meditate in order to start seeing its benefits
• what areas of the brain are enhanced by mindfulness or meditation training and why this is important to those of us with ADHD
• why meditation is especially important to those of us with inattentive ADHD and especially those suffering from Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria
  
  Resources:
  
  Mindfulness Prescription for Adult ADHD
  

  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4921925/

  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4403871/

  https://www.additudemag.com/mindfulness-meditation-for-kids-with-adhd/

  https://health.usnews.com/health-care/patient-advice/articles/2017-12-27/yes-the-adhd-brain-can-be-trained-to-improve

  https://www.neurocorecenters.com/blog/does-mindfulness-help-adhd

In Episode #52, Tracy shares a New Year hack that has helped her to be more productive and move her life forward in a manner that is consistent with her values and purpose. It also happens to work especially well for her ADHD brain in that she’s able to stick with it throughout the entire year.

Discover:

• how the word NERVY helped her to get completely comfortable with live video and visibility in her business
• how the word CONSISTENCY helped Tracy create this podcast and show up every week for a year to consistently deliver it
• why choosing just one word every year works so well for our ADHD brains
• how to choose a word that represents what you’d like to have more of in your life
• how Tracy chose her word for 2020

Tracy tells us what big project she has planned for 2020 and how her word will help her achieve it. 

Tracy also lists some resources for options beyond the traditional one word bracelets that she’s been using for the past two years. 

Resources:

https://www.myintent.org/\

https://www.etsy.com/listing/475757830/stackable-name-ring-dainty-name-ring?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=personalized+ring&ref=sr_gallery-1-2&organic_search_click=1&frs=1&bes=1

https://www.etsy.com/listing/674496457/dainty-name-ring-name-ring-custom-name ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=personalized+ring&ref=sr_gallery-2-18&organic_search_click=1&pro=1&frs=1&col=1

https://www.etsy.com/listing/674496457/dainty-name-ring-name-ring-custom-name?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=personalized+ring&ref=sr_gallery-2-18&organic_search_click=1&pro=1&frs=1&col=1

https://www.etsy.com/listing/614268558/personalized-bar-bracelet-with-name-date?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=my+word+ring&ref=sr_gallery-2-10&organic_search_click=1&frs=1

https://www.etsy.com/listing/714697080/personalized-unisex-name-ring-custom?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=my+word+ring&ref=sr_gallery-1-8&organic_search_click=1&pro=1&frs=1

https://www.etsy.com/listing/503449221/word-ring-stacking-personalized-rings?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=my+word+ring&ref=sr_gallery-1-33&organic_search_click=1&frs=1

In Episode #51, Tracy talks about an article that she wrote for ADDitude (It’s the leading media network for parents and adults living with ADHD and for professionals working in the field of ADHD). Since the article touches on the importance of hope, positive emotion, focusing on strengths and how her 17-year-old son did just that to successfully crack his learning code, she invited him on the podcast as her guest and he accepted! If you’re looking for a real ADHD underdog success story you’ll like this one. 

Markus shares: 

• his experiences at his various high schools (he went to 3!)
• what worked for his ADHD brain and what didn’t
• whether he now regrets any of these experiences
• how a summer in Europe changed his life 
• what made him decide to reconsider going to a four-year college right out of high school. 
• the good news he received a few days ago
• the invaluable lessons he’s learned
• how being open about his ADHD serves him well
• his advice for a teacher who has an ADHD student
• how his creativity makes him different
• advice for a teen who might be listening to this podcast and might be where Markus was a year ago

Tracy talks about:

• The fact that there is no such thing as failure, only lessons
• The importance of focusing on strengths
• The importance of understanding why we have to learn something in order to learn
• How environment is so important to the ADHD brain
• The importance of structure to the ADHD brain
• Positive emotion
• How focusing on weaknesses ruins our self-esteem
• How you don’t find your purpose, you step into it because its always been there

Markus also shares a song he wrote, performed and recorded as part of his college portfolio.

Resources:

ADDitudeMAG article - https://www.additudemag.com/adhd-pride-hope-expectations/

Korematsu Kuraun

This episode of ADHD for Smart Ass Women is definitely among my favorites. In fact, it might be my favorite. In Episode #50, I invite ADHD expert, psychotherapist, former USC adjunct professor and life coach Diann Wingert back to discuss meditation for the ADHD brain.

Look, I don’t really get meditation. My thoughts are: I have ADHD and you want me to sit still and stop my brain from thinking, thinking, thinking? It’s an oxymoron, I tell ya! Or at least that’s what I told Diann. That’s when she took on the challenge of selling me and my ADHD brain on meditation. 

You have to listen to this episode because it completely changed my beliefs about what meditation is and how it will work for my ADHD brain. And she made it stupidly simple. Even I can do it! Bottom line, Diann knows ADHD and she knows meditation for the ADHD brain and with her guidance, even I was successful.

Resources:

https://pemachodronfoundation.org/ 

https://choosemuse.com/

https://insighttimer.com/

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/calm/

https://www.headspace.com/

Diann's podcast The Driven Woman will launch February 6, 2020 

www.diannwingertcoaching.com 

LINK TO SCHEDULE FREE 30 MIN CONSULTATION FOR POTENTIAL COACHING CLIENTS 

https://calendly.com/diannwingert/free-consultation

Our podcast on Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria or RSD (Ep. 19) is among our most downloaded episodes. Members of our Facebook Group also continue to post about RSD. Since it’s such a popular topic, I wanted to close the loop on RSD with the optimism that you have come to from me. I do not feel that I delivered that in Episode #19. 

Since recording that first episode on RSD, I’ve discovered that there’s actually a lot you can do to reduce and even eliminate symptoms of RSD and that’s what this episode is all about. Here we discuss:

• The Cliff Notes version of what RSD is (If you haven’t listened to Episode #19, you can do that here.)
• How RSD and social phobia differ
• How RSD and bipolar disorder differ
• The reason why those of us with ADHD and RSD tend to have low frustration tolerance, less patience, and more difficulty with temper and excitability than those without the conditions 
• What flooding is

Join us as we discuss what women with RSD have done to reduce and even eliminate their symptoms? This includes:

• Learning about their ADHD and RSD
• Medication
• A change of environment
• Discussion of the new term VAST
• The importance of choosing your Gold Star people and resources
• The three things that will always help to motivate those with RSD
• What it means to be an amplifier
• The importance of acknowledging your creativity
• How planning ahead prior to an RSD episode can help to reduce and even eliminate symptoms
• The importance of “taking the emotion” out of it and considering other perspectives that may be more accurate than what we can see when our RSD flares up
• Why you need to continue to trust your own intuition
• Tracy’s suggestions on RSD, ADHD, and dating

Resources:

I have created the Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD) Protocol for ADHD as a resource for you. When we have a plan, we’re less reactionary and more successful in managing not only our RSD but also our ADHD. You may download it here.

Take the RSD Symptoms Test here.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-love-and-war/201706/how-rejection-sensitivity-derails-relationships

https://www.additudemag.com/slideshows/adhd-emotions-understanding-intense-feelings/

https://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/rejection-sensitive-dysphoria#2

https://chadd.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ATTN_10_16_EmotionalRegulation.pdf

In Episode #48 of ADHD for Smart Ass Women, I invite you to meet Sandra Coral. Sandra is a 41 yr old black woman who was adopted at 3 by a poor, white family in Canada and was diagnosed with ADHD last year. She joins us from London, where she lives with her husband and 5-year old son. Sandra was a K-12 teacher for over 15 years. She has an MA in Educational Psychology as well as post-graduate certificates in English As An Additional Language, Gifted Education and Special Education. She has taught internationally including in the UK, South Korea, Thailand, Oman and Turkey. 

Sandra will share her fascinating story, including:

• her childhood where she and her little brother were the only people of color
• how she was bullied and traumatized and because of this suffered from emotional dysregulation and anger
• how her 7 year old brother was diagnosed with ADHD, but she remained undiagnosed until last year
• how up until recently Sandra thought her issues were solely related to her race

Sandra and I will also talk about:

• how she finally discovered that she had ADHD
• what childhood symptoms Sandra now recognizes as ADHD
• what additional issues come up for those with ADHD when you’re black and how one even starts to unravel this and figure out what is related to adoption, race, trauma, or ADHD
• The importance of focusing on our strengths when we have ADHD

Since being diagnosed, Sandra has decided to make it her mission to give children, teens, parents and adults the support that she didn’t have growing up, so that they can manage their ADHD and thrive in life. 

If you’d like to connect with Sandra, you can reach her here:

Website: wellnessandwhiteboards.com

Instagram: @theadhdgoodlife 

Facebook: The ADHD Good Life

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, Tracy talks about ADHD and gratitude. A practice of gratitude is important for every one but for those of us with ADHD it’s even more important. Why? Because processing emotions start in the brain itself and emotions motivate action. That means that if your emotions are negative you will be completely unmotivated but if you’re emotions are positive and you’re working in an area of high interest, the sky is the limit.

Discover:

• Why we can’t get anything done without positive emotion 
• How positive emotion is directly related to dopamine, memory, behavior, focus and motivation. 
• How gratitude directly influences our emotions
• How a practice of gratitude helps our ADHD symptoms
• How gratitude affects sleep
• How gratitude affects executive function including focus
• How gratitude makes it more likely that we will stick to our goals and start new habits
• How gratitude boosts dopamine and seratonin in our brains
• How gratitude allows us to focus on those things that are going right in our lives rather than focusing on what’s wrong. 
• How gratitude will make you more friends and people that want to be around you
• How to start a Gratitude Journal where you start and end every day in positive emotion
• What Tracy’s Positive Emotion Dossier is and how it can help you
• How the idea in the book 29 Gifts helped Tracy increase her gratitude and uplevel her holidays last year. 
• How Abraham Hicks can help you to change your negative thoughts to focus more on gratitude and why your thoughts will always determine how happy you are. 

Resources:

ADHD and the Practice of Gratitude by Dr. Kari Miller

The Five Minute Journal

29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life

Tracy's Positive Emotion Dossier from Your ADHD Brain Is A-OK!

In this episode, Tracy chats with Caryn Prall who is a co-owner and operator of six Keller Williams Realty locations in Illinois. In this role, she is responsible for over 900 agents and $2 billion dollars in yearly volume. Caryn wasn’t diagnosed with ADHD until she was 46 but she’s known that she has ADHD since grade school. Caryn always felt that her ADHD worked for her until one day she woke up and it suddenly didn’t. She decided then and there to go visit a doctor. Like many of our first experiences with doctors and ADHD, her doctors didn’t want to talk about ADHD because they knew little about how it presented in women. Instead, they wanted to prescribe her anxiety medication. Caryn stuck to her guns and the rest, as they say, is history.

I asked Caryn Prall:

• What made her finally seek out an ADHD diagnosis
• If she always knew that there was something different about her than her peers
• About her childhood, relationships with friends and school
• What she thinks her biggest strengths are
• How is it that she’s so successful but yet so open about her ADHD
• If she thinks she’s successful because of her ADHD or in spite of it
• What workarounds has she developed to reduce her weaknesses
• The best advice she can give to women of any age who feel that they’re not living to their potential

Caryn also shared her reasons for starting her fantastic podcast The Messy Empire which is all about what it takes to build a 2 billion dollar real estate empire and how this all relates to her ADHD. 

You can subscribe to The Messy Empire here.

In Episode #45 of ADHD for Smart Ass Women, Tracy introduces you to 27-year-old MMA fighter Emma Elizabeth Megan (“Em”) who was misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder at the age of 18. 

Em began struggling after experiencing a lot of stress in her first year of college. She was initially diagnosed with depression and put on citalopram. This medication caused her to be “buzzy” or hyper and ultimately led to her misdiagnosis of bipolar disorder.

Em accepted the diagnosis because she was young and didn’t know any better. She became suicidal from the bipolar medication and spent time in psych units. During this time she also earned a Masters in Psychology in an effort to learn more about bipolar disorder. Discover:

• How her boyfriend’s ADHD diagnosis ultimately led to her rejecting her bipolar disorder diagnosis 
• Why Em had never considered ADHD
• How Em researched ADHD and then sold her psychiatrist on the fact that she had ADHD and not bipolar disorder. 
• How Em’s mood and ultimate bipolar disorder diagnosis was really an unusual reaction to citalopram. 
• Why ADHD and bipolar disorder often get misdiagnosed. 
• How they look similar and how they are different.
• Why Em has decided that ADHD medication is not for her and how she is substituting it for learning new executive function workarounds and coping strategies to deal with her emotional dysregulation.
• How Em now focuses on her strengths and not her weaknesses
• The #1 activity that keeps Em stable and happy
• The symptoms that Em exhibited as a child that are consistent with ADHD

You may reach out to Em Megan on Instagram @oddsoks

https://www.additudemag.com/adhd-vs-bipolar-a-guide-to-distinguishing-look-alike-conditions/

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/04/08/the-challenge-of-going-off-psychiatric-drugs

This week’s topic is all about bipolar disorder and why ADHD often gets misdiagnosed as bipolar disorder. Tracy posted a simple question in her Facebook Group, HAVE YOU BEEN MISDIAGNOSED WITH BIPOLAR DISORDER? She was shocked to discover how many women had been misdiagnosed and so she decided to research the subject.

You’ll learn:

• When bipolar disorder is often misdiagnosed
• What symptoms bipolar disorder and ADHD often have in common
• What bipolar disorder actually is
• The DSM requirements to be diagnosed with bipolar disorder
• Why bipolar disorder can’t be ignored and must be treated
• What mania is
• What hypomania is
• What the symptoms of a major depressive episode are
• What the greatest risk of bipolar disorder is
• The different types of bipolar disorder
• The difference between Bipolar 1 and Bipolar 2
• What the difference is between episodic and contextual emotional changes
• How sleep looks different in ADHD vs. Bipolar Disorder
• How uncontrollable talking and distractibility looks different in ADHD vs. Bipolar Disorder
• How emotional sensitivity looks different in ADHD vs. Bipolar Disorder
• How Bipolar Disorder looks different than ADHD in kids specifically around emotion
• If a diagnosis of ADHD makes you more likely to also have Bipolar Disorder
• If a diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder makes it more likely that you’ll also have ADHD
• Why it’s so difficult to get an accurate diagnosis of bipolar disorder
• The link between Bipolar Disorder and Conduct Disorder and Oppositional Defiant Disorder in kids
• If a fiery intense temper is indicative of ADHD
• That bipolar disorder is linked to the creative and artistic temperament and intelligence.
• Why heightened creativity or artistry only happens in hypomania and what part of the brain is involved in this

Resources:

https://www.healthline.com/health/bipolar-disorder/bipolar-diagnosis-guide#misdiagnosis

https://www.dbsalliance.org/education/bipolar-disorder/bipolar-disorder-statistics/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2945875/

https://www.amazon.com/Driven-Distraction-Revised-Recognizing-Attention/dp/0307743152/ref=sxts_sxwds-bia?keywords=driven+to+distraction&pd_rd_i=0307743152&pd_rd_r=e42c6b4c-039c-488c-8de3-1ee73673c519&pd_rd_w=MmbvX&pd_rd_wg=aAl18&pf_rd_p=a5491838-6a74-484e-8787-eb44c8f3b7ff&pf_rd_r=D23JDS1MMMPKD5WFVZBY&psc=1&qid=1571599484

https://www.amazon.com/Taking-Charge-Adult-Russell-Barkley/dp/1606233386/ref=sr_1_3?crid=10XCWKJ5MK5VD&keywords=taking+charge+of+adult+adhd+by+russell+barkley&qid=1571859558&sprefix=taking+charge+of+adult+adhd+russel%2Caps%2C198&sr=8-3

https://www.amazon.com/Power-Different-Between-Disorder-Genius/dp/1250060044/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+power+of+different&qid=1573092756&sr=8-1

https://www.adhdrewired.com/roberto-olivardia-could-be-bipolar-disorder/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10826661

In Episode #43 of ADHD for Smart Ass Women, Tracy speaks with the delightful Megan Margaret Burlingame. Megan is 34 years old, a wife and the mother of two very busy boys. Throughout her childhood, Megan struggled mightily with her ADHD but is clear about the fact that her struggles also led her to discover her Superpowers.

Today Megan lives in Arlington, WA where she works with cities, counties and government agencies to advise them on zoning and legal land issues. In her free time, she operates a small flower farm where she also grows a large variety of organic heirloom tomatoes. 

Tracy invited Megan to her podcast after she posted this response to another member (of her Facebook group) who said she was having trouble seeing anything positive about her ADHD. 

“The more I educate myself about it, the more I realize that it makes me who I am. I am so so good with people, I understand their natures and moods. Sometimes it is like a wave of emotions that hit me when I enter a room and, while inconvenient, let's me see the true nature of people. I am also much more empathetic because of how much I was picked on for skipping around school constantly, saying the wrong things, laughing too loud, etc. I love to root for the underdog and think that cruelty from others for any reason is horrendous. In a crisis or when someone is swamped with work, I can jump in and formulate a plan, execute it with a maniacal glee, and excel beyond my peers. I am ALWAYS thinking, I constantly have ideas. This is challenging but once I make up my mind that I want something... want it enough anyway, there is no stopping me. I love to fail, it is like a challenge. My husband says, he learned a long time ago not to tell me that I "couldn't do something" and he is right because I will want to do it, even if I had no interest in it before, and then I will 95% of the time prove him wrong in the process and succeed. I am fiercely loyal, to a fault even. I love what I love and I love who I love fiercely. These are all things I attribute to my ADHD and they are all wonderful. Yes, they are also a double-edged sword but so is every other personality type I think. I used to wish everything wasn't so hard but now I realize that I would not change it for the world because I have a lot of grit and I am a living example of someone who literally failed each grade through 10th grade until leaving tiny private schools that only taught for the neurotypical brain. I had a 3.3 GPA in running start, a community college 

program that got me within 4 classes of my AA by high school graduation, and 12 years later I earned my bachelors degree summa cum laude with a 3.95 GPA. It wasn't easy but I never gave up on my dreams either. There is a lot to be frustrated with indeed but much to rejoice in as well. We are not the same as the neurotypical but that is OK.”

Tracy and Megan talk about:

• How Megan got from failing ever grade through 10th grade to embracing her strengths. 
• How important supportive adults/parents are given the 20K more negative messages ADHD kids hear by the time they’re 12.
• Megan’s revelation around taking medication
• Non-pharmacological workarounds 
• Megan’s best advice to those who are struggling with their ADHD and/or are parents of children with ADHD

Resources: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-nPM1_kSZf91ZGkcgy_95Q

https://www.summitflowerfarm.com

https://www.facebook.com/summitflowerfarm/

In this episode Tracy talks about the myth that “everyone has ADHD.” 

Discover what behavioral characteristics the general population shares with those of us with ADHD. You’ll learn about the following: 

• What distinguishes adults with ADHD from the general population who display ADHD characteristics?
• The survey that Russell Barkley and his colleagues Kevin Murphy and MariEllen Fischer conducted that finally put to bet the EVERYONE HAS ADHD myth. 
• The three different types of ADHD
• The questions that those of us with ADHD often respond “yes” to
• The domains of life in which those with ADHD often feel impaired by their symptoms
• How we often don’t even realize we struggled or we’re struggling until we really reflect back on our experiences.

Resources: 

https://www.amazon.com/Taking-Charge-Adult-Russell-Barkley/dp/1606233386/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=russell+barkley+taking+charge+of+adult+adhd+revised&qid=1571777987&sr=8-3

https://www.amazon.com/ADHD-Adults-What-Science-Says/dp/1593855869/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=russell+barkley+adhd+in+adults+what+the+science+says&qid=1571778081&sr=8-1

Lynn spoke to us about ADHD and the workplace. We discuss:

• If you should disclose your ADHD to your boss, work colleagues, human resources etc?
• What the positives and negatives of disclosure are?
• If you do choose to disclose, how do you go about doing so?
• How to make your strengths clear so you’re not just focusing on everything you struggle with?
• If tardiness can be overlooked in the ADHD workplace?
• How to ask for help without disclosing your ADHD?
• If you’re going to disclose who should you disclose to first?
• How to create a descriptive and reasonable list if you are going to ask or accommodations.
• The Top 10 challenges of ADHD employees and how to manage them

1. Time Management
2. Long-term projects
3. Paperwork
4. Procrastination
5. Poor Memory
6. Distractibility
7. Impulsivity
8. Boredom
9. Hyperactivity
10. Social Skills

You can find more about Lynn Miner-Rosen at www.lmrcoaching.com or follow her on Instagram @adhdcoachlynn. Lynn also prepared a FREE downloadable checklist for us. You can find it here.