Complaints & connections · borters.ch
Not a lack of will but a different steering of attention — with structure and treatment, burden often becomes strength.
Also known as: ADHD · attention deficit hyperactivity disorder · ADD · adult ADHD
Open in the tool — with search and all the links →This compilation is for information and replaces neither medical diagnosis nor treatment. If you have symptoms, see a doctor.
A disorder of attention regulation that begins in childhood and continues into adulthood for a large share. Three core areas: inattention (distractibility, losing things, unfinished tasks), hyperactivity (inner restlessness, often invisible in adults) and impulsivity (interrupting, hasty decisions). In adults it often shows as chronic procrastination, difficulty with time, and swinging between total absorption in something interesting and being unable to start anything else. Diagnosis is made by a specialist and rests partly on signs having been present in childhood — concentration problems alone are not ADHD and have many other causes such as lack of sleep, depression, anxiety or thyroid disorders. Treatment involves behavioural therapy, structure and medication if needed; many experience the diagnosis as a relief, because so much finally makes sense.
What is required is that the difficulties appear in more than one area and began in childhood. Old school reports, records and the parents’ memory are therefore worth more than any questionnaire.
Everything that makes starting easier works: visible lists, fixed times, alarms for the transition, tasks broken into small steps, someone working in the same room. That is no crutch but the treatment.
Too little sleep looks like more ADHD, in children and adults alike. Light in the morning, fixed times, movement during the day — that is the ground on which everything else can work at all.
They are well studied and work quickly and clearly for a large share of people. But they replace neither structure nor practice — and the dose is adjusted over weeks, with an eye on appetite, sleep, pulse and blood pressure.
Sleep disorders, anxiety, depression, a reading and spelling disorder or an autistic profile often come with it and change what helps. Asking about that early is worthwhile.
Stimulants raise dopamine and noradrenaline in the frontal brain and work on the day they are taken — by the next morning they are gone. They do not create structure, they make structure possible. Non-stimulants need weeks and cover the whole day.
About five in a hundred children are affected, and roughly half carry it into adulthood. Girls are recognised years later on average than boys, because they disrupt less and compensate more. A late diagnosis is therefore not a failing.
The signs must have begun before the age of twelve and stand out in more than one area of life. Old school reports and the parents’ memory are worth more than any questionnaire.
Tasks are put off until the last moment, spans of time misjudged, starting is the biggest hurdle. With it the hour frittered away before leaving and the constant lateness.
The attention is not too small but poorly steerable: hours of sinking into something interesting alongside the inability to finish a boring page. This side-by-side is typical — and the reason many doubt it.
In adults and in many girls the restlessness does not show outwardly but inwardly: a head that does not switch off, thoughts on a permanent run, difficulty sitting still in the cinema or in meetings.
Sleep trouble with falling asleep very late, strong swings of feeling within hours, a great sensitivity to rejection, and often an anxiety disorder or a depression on top.
No value makes the diagnosis. An iron shortage does strengthen restlessness, trouble concentrating and restless legs in the evening, and it can be corrected.
Both an overactive and an underactive thyroid can imitate restlessness, irritability or lack of drive. The value belongs before a medicinal treatment.
Belongs to the basic workup when trouble concentrating is new or clearly worsens.
A lack causes exhaustion, problems concentrating, low mood and forgetfulness — and it is one of the few causes that can be found and put right with a single blood draw.
Low values are common with low mood. Whether correcting it lifts the mood is not settled; that it makes sense in winter at our latitudes is.
An empty store causes tiredness, lack of drive and problems concentrating long before any anaemia becomes visible. In women of childbearing age the most common single reason.
A building block of the cell coverings in the brain. The studies on mood are inconsistent; as part of a good diet it belongs there anyway.
Needed for making the messengers in the brain. It runs short with alcohol and under certain medicines — and it is always judged together with B12.
The best-studied supplement in ADHD. 1–2 g a day with an EPA emphasis over at least 3 months; the measured effect is small and clearly below that of the medicines — larger when the starting value is low.
In children with ADHD low ferritin is more common. Replaced after measuring, not preventively — iron without a deficiency does nothing here, and in overdose it is dangerous for children.
Improved with a proven deficiency, not without one. The studies come mostly from regions where zinc deficiency is widespread — that explains part of the positive results.
Acts on the same messengers as the medicines, only weaker and shorter. Many have long found it as self-help; the price is sleep, and with ADHD that is often the weak point anyway.
Clearly worthwhile and well supported when deficient — vegan, older adults, certain drugs. No energy boost without a deficiency.
Clearly worthwhile and well studied when deficient; fewer data for the wider uses. Fat-soluble — check blood levels at high doses.
In pregnancy clearly established against neural-tube defects, otherwise mainly with deficiency. Can mask a B12 deficiency — watch both.
The messenger for drive, reward and holding attention. It explains why interest makes such a difference here — not willing, but whether the signal is available in the moment.
Steers alertness and the filtering out of background noise. Together with dopamine it is the point at which the usual medicines act.
In many it starts later than usual — falling asleep shifts back and the morning becomes the hardest hour of the day. Light in the morning works better here than any admonition.
Reviews find with 500–1000 mg EPA and DHA a day over 3–6 months a slight improvement in attention and restlessness. The effect is smaller than that of medication and does not replace it.
The Southampton study found more restlessness in some children after certain azo dyes. This does not affect everyone and does not explain ADHD — if suspected, a trial of 2–4 weeks shows whether it applies.
A breakfast with 15–20 g protein keeps blood sugar steadier through the morning than white bread and jam. In children restless in the morning a two-week trial is worthwhile.
Especially effective before tasks needing concentration — the effect lasts about an hour.
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