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- Written by: Dave Pughe-Parry
I went into a MRI similar to this with a mask tighter than in this picture. ©Salisbury Healthcare HistoryOn Monday 11th August I had an experience that is a nightmare for anybody with ADHD - despite the title of this article.
As part of my recovery I had to have an MRI scan. MRI stands for ‟Magnetic Resonance Imaging.” The machine is a beast to put it mildly.
It doesn´t hurt you, it performs no invasive actions on your body, but it creates pictures of whichever part of your anatomy the doctors want to study. I have attached a picture so you can visualise how confined you are.
What it does do however, is roar - it has a repertoire of strange electronic ‟outer space” sounds that blast loudly through the cotton wool stuffed in your ears and the noise cancelling pads over your ears. The noise levels can reach 120db - which is like standing next to a jet plan taking off.
This is just 2 minutes of the MRI sounds sourced from Pixabay Freesound Community
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- Written by: Dave Pughe-Parry
Dave Pughe-Parry
This information applies to our sister site Living ADDventure Training
He was diagnosed with ADHD in his mid forties after a working life of spectacular successes and devastating failures. The ultimate ADHD rebel child who attended 15 schools found much needed structure in the army where he qualified as an officer.
His background as a professional news photographer, a pioneer of industrial theatre, multi-media large scale productions, and corporate training were unwittingly ideal career choices for an ADDer who is highly imaginative and creative and thrives on constant change and challenges.
With his customary passion, once he was diagnosed with ADHD, he set about finding out how to manage this complex condition. He set up weekly Support groups and quickly realised that ADHD Coaching – new at the time - offered excellent results. He formed Living ADDventure™ offering coaching services to adults with the condition.
Our 60's style weddingIn 2007 after his marriage to Pat who was also diagnosed late in life with ADHD they focused their passion on the education and training of parents, educators and medical professionals about ADHD by running talks, workshops and courses throughout South Africa using schools as venues. Dave has been a guest on radio talk shows and a speaker at ADHASA conferences.
Their first book which they wrote, edited and self published, "I'm Audacious, Original and Innovative .... I Have ADHD" is sold as a package with the book recorded on 2 audio cds for those who don't like or can't read. It sold out within the first year of publication
Dave Is busy with a multimedia book covering his ADHD lifes-work, which includes is uniques Impairments Assessment, all of the approxiamtely 40 coaching modules he has created, all the writing and illustrations,, plus all of his public presentations, a large body of work.
Living ADDventure is registered as a supplier of services to PANDA (the Paediatric and Neurological Development Association of South Africa).
Dave was diagnosed with ADHD at age of 45, and since then has committed his life to researching the condition in all its complexities.Through his research he discovered why his enormous successes were sometimes matched by spectacular failures and how they impacted on his family and other relationships.
Dedicated to helping others living with - or along side ADHD, Dave created a successful ADHD Coaching Programme and training courses for Educators and Parents. He raises awareness about ADHD through radio interviews and informational talks at schools and other public events.
About Pat Pughe-Parry
One of the greatest benefits of having ADHD is our curiosity and our willingness to try new careers and explore new places. I love meeting new people - everyone has a story to tell.
No-one gets to 70 without making loads of mistakes, a fair share of successes and endured the loss of loved ones or battled long term illness and other trauma.
I try not to judge and I do my best to listen. Their stories inspire me to weave the different stories together and I have several novels in various stages of construction. Keeping focus is hard as my brain churns with many new ideas at 3am in the morning.
I have been writing for more than 40 years - marketing material for companies I have worked for, blogs on many different topics, social media content and email newsletters.
Dave creates ADHD courses and coaching content and I am tasked with getting his hard work out there and bringing in clients.
Together we have run numerous ADHD Talks, Workshops and Conferences for parents, educators, teens and medical professionals around South Africa.
My Writing Portfolio is on my website.
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- Written by: Pat Pughe-Parry
Do children still need to learn their number bonds and tables by rote?
As an elderly person with ADHD I am feeling rather conflicted about a conversation I had with a very lively 76 year old, who still does relief teaching to Junior Primary children.
For privacy purposes I will call her Helen. She has just completed a 3 month relief posting at a private school where the majority of the grade 3 children do not have English as their mother tongue.
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- Written by: Dave Pughe-Parry
As the last sounds of the final school bell on a Friday fade away, so everything fades out of an ADHD child's brain. This has serious effects on our ADHD children's schooling.
In effect this means that Mondays for ADHD kids are "Start-over days." When they arrive back at school on Monday morning, the activities of weekend is still paramount in their minds.
In the USA studies have shown that the long 3 month summer holiday has serious effects on all children unless they are stimulated during that period. The group left to their own devices fall behind and keep falling behind!
Since June of last year, South Africa has been smothered in public holidays. The 5 weeks during the World Cup, the long summer holidays, and now nearly a month over this Easter time, and to crown it all, another day to go and vote.
The effect of these holidays on ADHD children is more severe than non-ADHD children.
Some good ways to counteract this are:
- Get your children to go over their work in short bursts - not longer than 30 minutes at a time! Short bursts more frequently will deliver much better results.
- Educational camps or tours
- Have study parties - don't laugh - you can create your own peer pressure!
- Get them to do non-school related projects in areas they have a passion for.
Point is, strive for balance in everything. Too many holidays are just as bad as too few!
Image by Dimitri Vetsikas
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A Red-Headed Piper - Photo by Clement ProustThere are studies that prove that everything is both good and bad for you! Dare I say it, it depends who is paying the piper who is playing for her or his supper!
It seems to me that all you have to do is dream up something you would like to see, or better still, something that fits your view of your world, ask a few people some questions you have carefully created so that your point will be proven, check the figures, and make a huge statement.
As ADDers we are bombarded all the time by people telling us what we mustn't eat or drink, and rather less frequently, what we must eat and drink.
Have you noticed how the things that are "good" for us are so-called healthy things like raw carrots and broccoli, while the "bad" things for us are the nice things we love, like chocolate, and coffee.
My large collection of more than 13 000 files of ADHD documents, books, digital audio and video files is a place where I can spend hours happily reading, watching and listening to all things ADHD.
Delving into this trove of information requires sustenance and as I am a coffee lover of note, I often quaff up to 6 cups a day! I was very happy to find a piece in the 2011 edition of the Huffington Post by Delia Lloyd that one of our favourite so-called sins was in fact good for you!
At last, I thought, I don't have be defensive about drinking the king of beverages, coffee, without some rabid health fanatic giving me the evil eye - or worse, trying to convince me earnestly that I should rather drink green tea, or some other foul tasting poison.
Ms Lloyd lists 5 reasons from a study to prove her point.
Drink coffee for depression
Women won't be as depressed if they drink coffee - a whole 20% less depressed. This follows another study that shows the more coffee you drink, the less likely you are to commit to suicide!
Men who drink more than 6 cups of coffee per day will have 60% less chance of contracting "lethal prostate cancer." This is a revolutionary statement, as drinking that many cups of coffee per day was absolutely certain to send you post-haste into an early grave, according to earlier studies.
Coffee provides for a 39% reduction in you getting head and/or neck cancers - provided you drink at least 4 cups per day.
A study on mice show that if we drink 5 cups of coffee per day, it's unlikely that we will get Alzheimers disease. Scientists are so excited about this, that if the study proves their point, coffee - or caffeine - will be used as an effective treatment against the dreaded disease.
Her last point is that coffee provides protection against diabetes, the Type 2 version. I am an insulin-dependent diabetic, I drink at least 4 cups of coffee per day, which clearly didn't provide any protection for me.
The point of this is, should we believe any of these studies? Following them leads to a life of misery having to eat foods that if prepared properly - as opposed to raw - would be marginally palatable.
Food is not an ADHD Medicine - Photo by Tony LeongAs ADDers we are bombarded by people - well meaning people - who honestly believe that a neurological condition like ADHD can be cured by eating less of one thing, and more of something else.
There is even a study that says that the much vaunted multivitamins will actually decrease your life span!
Life is simply too short to pay heed to all these scientific studies.
I say, simply follow your nose, eat moderately of anything that takes your fancy, exercise by walking around enough to burn off the calories, laugh a lot, and love all day.
On a personal note I admit to not eating brocolli and kale easily, and cannot be near a house where tripe is being cooked, and tinned asparagas turns my stomach back-to-front!
Image Top: Clement Proust Image Middle: Unknown Image Bottom: Tony Leong
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- Written by: Dave Pughe-Parry
The dream was vivid, bright high-resolution visuals and realistic surround sound. A roaring beast was chasing me on a mountain top and suddenly I came to a cliff edge - off to the left I desperately saw a flimsy rope bridge. I narrowly evaded a brutal toe as the beast tried sweep me up into his mouth. I ran onto the rope bridge - when I got to the middle the bridge started to sway violently - then a bolt of lightening struck the rope just in front of me and I fell into the abyss…
I woke up on my knees next to my bed, clutching the sheet, with my poor wife staring at me in horror. I dream every night, and most nights I thrash around - never waking up in the same place where I went to sleep.
The last few years have not had as many terrors as the one described above, but it is like I live in many different worlds when my eyes shut out the conscious world.
Around about the time I turned one, my mother noticed that I was scratching my pillow to keep myself awake. Seventy years on and I have simply found other techniques to avoid sleeping.
Most of my working life I thrived on around 4 hours sleep a night. Being a news photographer during a turbulent time in Southern Africa almost demanded that one be able to function on minimal sleep.
Having been involved in ADHD for the last 25 years I know that sleep problems and ADHD go hand-in-hand, as well as Forrest Gump said peas and carrots did. But I never knew just how prevalent it was. There are significant non-sleep impacts on the person affected by a sleep disorder. Sleep issues must be taken seriously.
| POPULATION SEGMENT | RATIO |
| Children | 8 Times |
| Adolescents | 16 Times |
| Young Adults | 12 Times |
| Middle Aged Adults | 8 Times |
| Older Adults | 6 Times |
| Overall in The Population | 8 Times |
One good thing I have known for a long time is that the best ADHD statistics come from Sweden where the authorities know everything about you - and their data is accurate.
Here is the relevant data - I have simplified it so it is easier to understand. What you will see below is the ratio of ADDers compared to non-ADHD people who suffer from sleep disturbances
Adolescents and young adults are the ones that suffer the most.
Further on I will provide you with the ratios of people that suffer with the different types of sleep problems, which will help you as a parent to understand that your child is not alone when it comes to sleep issues.
Now I will break the figures down into 8 different categories and how uncommon they are compared top non-ADHD people.
Here are the figures from the highest to the lowest.
| SLEEP DISORDER TYPE | RATIO |
| Narcolepsy - daytime sleepiness | 70 Times |
| Cataplexy - sudden loss of muscle tone leading to collapse | 70 Times |
| Hypersomnia - excessive sleeping | 20 Times |
| Sleep/wake schedule circadian rhythms | 19 Times |
| Insomnia | 16 Times |
| Restless Leg Syndrome | 7 Times |
| Nightmares | 7 Times |
| Sleep Walking | 6 Times |
| Sleep Terrors | 5 Times |
The Swedish team that undertook this study concluded their work saying this:
“Our findings also suggest that greater clinical attention should be directed towards addressing sleep problems in individuals with ADHD. This entails implementing proactive measures through sleep education programmes and providing both pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches such as cognitive behavioural therapy and parental sleep training.”
The Method Used by the Swedes
- Sweden has a single-payer health insurance system and a series of national population registers that track virtually its entire population.
- Using the Swedish Total Population Register, a local research team created a cohort of all 6,470,658 persons born between 1945 and 2008.
- They linked this to the Swedish National Patient Register, which includes inpatient hospitalizations from 1975 to 2013, and outpatient specialist diagnoses from 2001 to 2013, to identify diagnoses of sleep disorders.
- They also linked to the Prescribed Drug Register, covering 2005 to 2013, to identify prescriptions for sleep medications.
Dinasaur Image: Alex Bon
Print Edition is long since sold out, the revised pdf version is available now at only R75