IUBio

Lets talk about diagnoses and the technical details

Michael S. m.sabino at comcast.net
Mon Dec 8 22:57:33 EST 2003


Hello,

When I was 5 years old, I was diagnosed with ADD (without hyperactivity).
This is ususual since I'm a male, and most of those who exhibit symptoms of
ADD without hyperactivity are female.
There are a few reasons why I think this may be the case. But I think there
is an early-childhood origin in rearing that led to these symptoms in me.
Mostly, I was educated from my parents in areas that differed from the
material tought in school. As an example... when I was 5 in preschool, my
dad would teach me about electric circuitry at home, while at school the
teachers would watch in amazement as I'd drift offtopic while they were
teaching something as commonplace knowledge in that agegroup as the letters
of the alphabet.
I also notice that this parallel exists when females are tought less
education-orientated topics than males from their family, so I wonder if
that's the reason why females more often develop the add without
hyperactivity than males. Does encouraging distraction by barbie dolls allow
the brain to be deficient in long-term thought processes (such as those that
occur in the prefrontal cortex)?
Anyway, I digress. There were many family troubles that gave me problems
with what I perceived as depression at an age as young as 10. I would easily
be distracted from the task at hand, or become anxious due to the negative
thought patterns that enveloped the task that I should've been completing.
My mom suffered from depression, and I'm concerned that I may be developing
this same condition.
There's even a more significant parallel between my mom and I than that of
general depression. I've become really concerned with what others are
saying, and have been completing conversations in my head without being
completely sure of what's going on. These conversations that I believe I'm
overhearing are almost always about bad things about me. This may stem from
my fear of actually becoming involved in the conversation, since I'm afraid
to be around people (somewhat because of acne).
I get so nervous at school sometimes that the whole world seems to tune out.
Sometimes I've considered suicide, and sometimes I've feared that will be
how I'll meet fate.
Right now I'm 16 and having difficulty focusing on schoolwork because of
this anxiety, and my dad keeps stalling about seeing a counselor or a doctor
since he doesn't like their advice. The counsoulers apparently give me
advice that's too much towards my own aims, and not much towards his, while
the doctors always prescribe medication. I don't believe this to be true,
but if he does, there's nothing that I can do.
My last counsoler was "too intellectual". Perhaps my dad would be more
satisfied by the cajun women downtown who can give me some all-natural fruit
juice to remedy my problems. Then again, that would be too easy, wouldn't
it?
I get very distracted by things outside of school, and it's constantly been
driving me away from schoolwork... I'd much rather read about general
relativity than about how to draw stupid conceptual models in junior
chemistry.
These problems don't exist during the summer regardless of whether I'm
waking up at 6am for summer school or not (though summer school lasts 4
hours, compared with the usual 7hrs of school). Does melatonin have
something to do with this? (I think I read somewhere that melatonin
concentrations are higher during the summer due to a reaction involving
sunlight)
Would pure melatonin pass the blood brain barrier? do you know of any sites
that provide a list of chemicals that cross the blood brain barrier and are
synthesized into a particular neurotransmitter?

After searching on google I can across: "Some people become more depressed
in the winter months when days are shorter and darker. The sun and bright
light seem to trigger a response to a brain hormone known as melatonin
(produced by the pineal gland), which is, in part, responsible for
preventing the "blues." Stay in brightly-lit rooms on dark days. Research
reveals that two hours of morning sun is very effective in lifting
depression. The evening light had comparatively little results."
What drugs can I take to make me feel this way during the winter?


Thanks.

Michael S.

I stayed home today to complete my homework and I didn't really get any done
:(





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