ADHD Strategies the BLOG

There are 9 Journal Items in 3 pages and your are on page number 1

Treatment Options for ADHD

In response to many questions about treatment options for ADD/ADHD, I am developing a home study course in which I am interviewing experts on every common form of treatment.

I am trying to keep the interviews as objective as possible, so that you can see the advantages and disadvantages of each treatment type.

Many of the interviews will be in the form of a free teleseminar, during which you can hear the interview and then ask questions at the end.

If you are signed up for the newsletter (which you can do on the home page of web site) you will receive info about the teleseminar series.

I'm hopeful that this series will give you some great insight into the various treatments available.

Helping You To Be the Best Person You Can Be,

Dr. Jerry Is Online
Jerry Rodgers, M.D.

Posted by Dr. Jerry Is Online on Tuesday, October 31, 2006 at 19:22

Many with Bipolar Disorder have ADHD

United Press International reports a US Study which suggests that many adults diagnosed with bipolar disorder or an anxiety disorder may have undiagnosed ADHD.

Using large managed care databases in the US, 2.5 % of adults initially diagnosed with a depressive disorder or an anxiety disorder were later diagnosed with ADHD within a year.

We know from the National Comorbidity Survey the following:

32 % of those with depression also have ADHD
21.2 % of those with Bipolar Disorder also have ADHD
9.5 % of those with an anxiety disorder also have ADHD.

This would suggest that the ADHD is often going unnoticed in these adults with various psychiatric diagnoses.

Dr. Jerry's comments: In children and adults with ADHD, about 1/2 the time there is some other comorbid (= associated) disease. This is often missed. The result: Often the prescribed treatment doesn't work or doesn't work very well.

Often times if a patient isn't responding to the prescribed treatment, there may be a missed comorbid condition. After finding this and treating it, the patient tends to improve much more rapidly.

See the page on website: "Associated conditions"

Dr. Jerry Is Online
Jerry Rodgers, M.D.

Posted by Dr Jerry Is Online on Tuesday, October 31, 2006 at 18:28

Cost of ADHD--Before and After Diagnosis

From the October Issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine(one of the JAMA/Archives journals) comes the following information. Children diagnosed with ADHD use more health services in the 2 years before and the 2 years after they are diagnosed than do non-ADHD Children. The study was done in Oakland, Calif area by G. Thomas Ray, M.B.A.

He compared 3122 kids with ADHD with 15,899 control kids(matched for age, sex, area of the country, calender dates, but without ADHD). He matched about 6 non-ADHD with 1 ADHD .

Average age of diagnosis was 6.7 yrs.

Kids with ADHD medical costs were higher by the following amounts:

2 years before diagnosis = $488 higher cost than non-ADHD kids
1 year before diagnosis = $678 higher cost than non-ADHD kids
1 year after diagnosis = $1,328 higher cost than non-ADHD kids
2 years after diagnosis = $1,040 higher cost than non-ADHD kids

Most times the 1st visit for an evaluation for ADD/ADHD is prompted by poor school performance--often both academically and behaviorally. Many times a crisis--such as school failure, pending failure or severe behavioral problems, resulting in alternative school placement, suspension, expulsion, or trouble with the law--is what prompts the evaluation.

Often these problems have been going on, to some degree, for several years. The parents have often tried many "treatments" on their own and may have seen their primary care doctor more often during this time.

This would account for added costs before the diagnosis. The costs after diagnosis are for more frequent visits to physician or other professional and for medication costs.

In all countries of the world, the incidence of ADHD seems to be about 5 - 10 % of all kids.

This study was not really designed to determine if early treatment saves money over the long run.

However, from my clinical experience, early treatment makes a huge difference in kids' self esteem and school performance. This seems to be true whether the treatment be behavioral modification, cognitive therapy (for learning social skills and anger management), special schools, or medication.

Helping You to Be the Best Person You Can Be,

Dr. Jerry Is Online
Jerry Rodgers, M.D.

Posted by Dr. Jerry Is Online on Tuesday, October 03, 2006 at 09:41

Page: 1 2 3 Next >>