José Schrijver was 28 when she suffered severe emotional burnout and finally had to face her suspected reality. The root of her struggles was attention-deficit disorder (ADD), and she was asked to do what she dreaded most—to take medication.
“I didn’t want to use medication, but they wouldn’t treat me if I didn’t try,” she said. “I was desperate for treatment at that time, so I tried medication for a year.”
Schrijver initially also received group therapy and personal coaching. She tried at least six types of pharmaceuticals. She appreciated her improved ability to focus, but was tormented by side effects such as weight loss, an elevated heart rate, extremely dry skin, blood in her stool, and even blackouts.
“I lost all my spontaneity, creativity, and enthusiasm. I’m very sensitive. My liver got damaged, too. My body was clearly rejecting the pharmaceuticals,” she said.
“When I told my doctor I’d found some research about vitamins and minerals that might help, she told me that she isn’t allowed to talk about that with me. That was the moment when I decided to stop the consults and to go and find my own way.”
Once considered childhood disorders, it isn’t uncommon for adults to be diagnosed with ADD or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). At certain intervals of life—particularly in transitions such as leaving home for college, moving, changing jobs, or retiring, or even at times of high stress—a person is more likely to be diagnosed with the disorder or to have a flare-up of symptoms.
ADHD is a complicated medical diagnosis, often made by a behavioral health expert such as a psychiatrist, but sometimes by a primary care physician. Adults diagnosed with ADHD often recognize similar patterns in themselves at the time their child receives a diagnosis. Symptoms, especially for women, are often dismissed or mistaken as anxiety or depression.
Both ADHD and anxiety disorder overlap with symptoms of restlessness, distractedness, excessive worry, and sleeping troubles, according to ADDitude, an online resource of expert advice and research for caregivers and adults with ADHD. Symptoms of depression, a mood disorder that causes sustained periods of unprovoked sadness, irritability, and fatigue, are also common with ADHD.
ADHD is a lifelong neurological disorder that impairs executive function, attention, and self-control. All three are separate, and yet they can often be found existing together.
As many as 80 percent of adults with ADHD have one or more coexisting conditions, according to the Chesapeake Center in Maryland, which specializes in ADD and ADHD. Such conditions include sleeping and eating disorders, dyslexia, and oppositional defiant disorder.
Kathleen Nadeau, founder and clinical director of The Chesapeake Center, said that stimulant medications can be useful in many cases of ADHD. But even when they work well, they aren’t a cure. That’s why it’s often useful to have a team that involves a behavioral health practitioner.
“My job is to teach the myriad of ways to improve cognitive function. There’s no one simple thing you can do,” Nadeau said. “You need to change your lifestyle anyway. It’s really important.”
Seasons of Change
New situations offer a large number of distractions. This is most evident when young adults leave home to attend college and when older adults retire.“I find times of transition are particularly challenging for people with ADHD,” Nadeau said. “We function best when we have adequate structure and support.”
High school life is very structured, and students with ADHD—whether they are diagnosed yet or not—often aren’t ready for life outside the home. Parents in European countries, Nadeau said, tend not to send their children as far away for college as those in the United States do.
In fact, she often recommends that her ADHD patients stay close to home until they’re 20 years old and focus first on learning basic adult skills. If they do, they will see benefits, she said.
“They have a much better brain. They’re able to organize their thoughts,” Nadeau said. “A lot of kids don’t think this is a very sexy solution. I am a huge fan of community college.”
On the other end of the adult spectrum, seniors with ADHD aren’t very good at initiating or planning in social situations. Often, an undiagnosed retiree can easily get stuck without the routine of work or taking care of children.
“It’s the ultimate in staying connected,” Nadeau said. “I often use that as an example of what would be an ADHD-friendly environment.”
In a regular community, it might mean plugging into a church, community center, or volunteer opportunity to add structure to life.
Why Get a Diagnosis?
Nadeau is commonly asked if it makes sense for older adults to pursue a diagnosis, and her answer is a resounding “yes.” Implementing support and structure can improve quality of life and even lengthen life expectancy.- Receive cognitive behavioral therapy or support group therapy,
- Rethink their self-image,
- Heal from past regrets,
- Learn better coping skills and strategies, and
- Get appropriate help with diet, supplements, and/or medications.
“Exercise, nutrition, stress management, exposure to nature, sleep—all of these have significant impacts on ADHD,” Nadeau said. “We need to get back to the way we used to live.
“We know there’s a real vitamin D deficiency in kids because they’re not out in sunlight. There’s an obesity epidemic in kids because they’re not outside moving.”
Schrijver said that despite being against medication, she’s grateful for having tried it because it allowed her to experience how “normal” people feel and to finish her bachelor’s degree. Now, she’s learning how to support the self-healing abilities of her body from a holistic perspective.
“I also believe it’s better to change our environment, instead of trying to change ourselves to ‘fit in.’ Everybody is different, and the world would benefit if those differences would be respected and even encouraged,” she said.
Nutrition as a Solution
Schrijver discovered that her ADHD symptoms worsen when eating foods with gluten and dairy.Inflammatory foods—which are prevalent in the standard American diet consisting of industrial seed oils, processed sugar, and refined carbohydrates—can contribute to brain inflammation. Other causes of inflammation include poor gut health, diabetes and high blood sugar, high digital media use, stress, infections, and toxins.
Nadeau suggests eating less red meat and significantly fewer high-glycemic (insulin-spiking) foods.
“It’s not a dreadfully complicated diet. It just makes such a huge difference,” she said. “I think our lifestyle has become hugely less healthy over the past two generations. Kids never stayed inside, filling themselves with junk food and sitting behind screens.”
But, Nadeau suggested, the brain has tremendous plasticity, and pivoting to a healthy life later can still have a dramatic effect on focus and other symptoms.
Schrijver has reduced her caffeine consumption to one cup of coffee a day, and she avoids processed sugar because she doesn’t like how it affects her brain.
Structure and Support
There are dozens of strategies to help with time management, life management, and coping with symptoms. But one vital key is to find or build a supportive community.Nadeau, who has written hundreds of articles on ADHD for her website and others, advised in one article to avoid friendships with people who have perfectionist expectations, and instead to gravitate toward those who appreciate you without judging you for shortcomings.
“Joining a women’s ADHD support group can be the beginning of finding this kind of friendship,” she wrote. “Often, in a support group, women with ADHD report that it’s the first time in their life that they have been in a group of women that truly understand and appreciate their struggles.”
It can be particularly challenging to navigate social situations for women and girls, because their diagnoses are more likely to be missed for years and discovered in adulthood.
“My friends in high school used to be very annoyed with me when I found out I had an appointment with two people at the same time, or when I was late—again—because I lost my keys, phone, or bag,” Schrijver said. “I’ve learned to manage this better, and my friendships are very good now.”
Another strategy Schrijver uses is calming her nervous system—both during an overwhelming moment and as a regular practice.
- Meditation and mindfulness,
- Yoga, tai chi, and qi gong,
- Breathwork, including Wim Hof techniques,
- Cold showers,
- Grounding techniques, often by walking barefoot outdoors,
- Essential oils,
- Routines, and
- Dance.
Nadeau also recommends academic coaches and tutors. Chesapeake Center also offers coaching for parents of children with ADHD.
Schrijver admitted that her relationship with her mom was complicated because it was hard for her mom to understand her and her needs.
“She cried when I got diagnosed and apologized for not knowing,” she said. “As a child, it’s important that parents understand us, listen to us, and give us space to regulate ourselves. Now, the relationship with my parents is very good.”
Nadeau said it’s wise to develop a sense of humor while coming up with strategies. She joked about how she has six distinct thoughts and ideas while pouring her morning cup of coffee.
The Power of Nature
There’s a growing body of research on the power of the outdoors to restore focus. Researchers have looked at the effects of a wide range of nature experiences, Nadeau said, everything from photos of nature, to potted plants, to walking in the woods for a day.“The more you’re exposed to nature, the less your ADHD symptoms are,” she said.
Forerunners of the environmental restoration movement, Stephen and Rachel Kaplan from the University of Michigan, called it “attention restoration theory.” They were involved in research dating back to the 1960s that showed that even small doses of nature—for instance, a window with an outdoor view—can reduce unwanted symptoms.
- Improve short-term memory,
- Reduce stress levels,
- Improve job and life satisfaction,
- Boost mood,
- Improve attention span, and
- Reduce physical and emotional pain.
“At the moment, I’m living in a self-built campervan,” she said. “I value freedom, health, love, and connection, and I don’t care about possessions and prestige.”
This allows her to stay focused on being healthy and happy. Her long-term dream is to buy land for a place of healing that involves community connecting with one another and the earth.
“In a different, healthy environment, people with ADHD thrive. I see that in myself, but also in others,” Schrijver said.
“For example, I met a mom with her daughter in France a few months ago who are both autistic and with ADHD. They were struggling big time in society. A few years ago, they stepped out of the rat race and are now creating a beautiful retreat center in rural France. They’re happy and healthy, and they’re making the world a little better by taking care of nature, each other, and all the people who cross their paths.”
Rethinking ADHD
In less than a decade, the majority of people with ADHD will be adults—not children. A 2019 study in Psychiatry found that four times as many adults than children were diagnosed with ADHD between 2007 and 2016.ADHD is a public health concern, Nadeau said, and there needs to be a revelation in the workplace. She would like managers to begin to realize the assets of a person with ADHD, including the ability to hyperfocus and to be creative problem-solvers.
“I’ve seen our understanding of it evolve and change,” she said. “It’s not a catastrophic disorder. It’s not something you either have or you don’t have. It exists along a continuum. You’re going to find at some times of life, your symptoms will be much worse. Stress levels increase ADHD symptoms.”
That continuum of symptoms can also be exacerbated by trauma, life transitions, a poor diet with high blood sugar levels, and a sedentary lifestyle. She added that certain brains are naturally more sensitive to stress and more distractible. Those who utilize coping mechanisms experience less symptom prevalence from day to day.
While ADHD isn’t linked to these kinds of brain changes, there are similarities in terms of memory issues and inability to focus. Then there is the question of long-COVID’s impact on ADHD itself.
Nadeau focuses much of her work on those most underserved populations. Her latest book, “Still Distracted After All These Years,” centers on the growing number of ADHD adults who are now retiring.
“Seniors have to be very self-advocating, and many seniors aren’t good at that,” she said.
Schrijver says she’s encouraged by the abundance of resources for the growing neurodivergent population. The Facebook community she started has been growing steadily with people looking for novel, natural solutions.
“Most of them are highly intelligent and want to contribute to the world in a good way,” she said. “When I started my journey, little information was available about natural ways to manage ADHD symptoms. I wanted to change this and make it easier for people to take the step and try a different way.
“I wish to inspire people to follow their own path, to make their own choices and to find happiness, balance, and success, on their own terms.”
