Cristina Okoniewski Disease

The disease named Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD for short is much more complex than you
would think. This disorder may seem like not a very big deal, but it really is harder to live with it than you would think.
It causes a great amount of difficulty in your life and causes you to have to be able to overcome many obstacles that
come along with the disease. As I research more and more about this specific disease I learn much more. In this paper I
am going to go into depth about the various symptoms you could experience and the different types and many other
interesting things many do not know about ADHD.
any people believe that they have some sort of ADHD or assume that they do but, they do not reali!e that there is
more to this disorder than "ust not being able to concentrate. The symptoms people might experience if they have the
disorder will depend on the type they have. This paper will focus mainly on the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder also known as ADHD but there are different types. The specific types are ADD which is attention deficit
disorder, ADHD which looks like the next one but this one is "ust the predominantly hyperactive one, and finally
ADHD the one this paper is written on. The various symptoms that are associated with this disease are going to be put
into three categories the first is inattention then hyperactivity and finally impulsivity. #irst off some symptoms of
inattention are forgetfulness about activities, procrastination, failure to complete things such as homework, easily
distracted by irrelevant stimuli, and difficulty to pay attention to details $%eb D, &'A(. &ext, some symptoms of
hyperactivity is someone that talks excessively, constant fidgeting, and someone that has difficulty playing )uietly.
#inally, some impulsivity symptoms are impatience, initiating conversations at inappropriate times, and blurting out
answers before the correct time $%eb D, &'A(. These are not all possible symptoms but these are some main ones.
The rate of those diagnosed with this disorder is rapidly rising each year. #igures say that *.+ million adolescents
aged between + through ,- have been diagnosed with this disease $.chwar!, /0,1(. %hat this means was that there was
a ,* percent increase since /00- and also a +- percent rise in the past decade $.chwar!, /0,1(. .tudies show that one in
five high school boys have this disease and one in eleven high school girls have this $&ational .urvey of 2hildren3s
Health, /0,,(. 4esearchers are not exactly sure why this disorder is more common in males than in females. %hen a
person is diagnosed with this disorder many parents panic but, you "ust have to do the right things to make it better for
their child. Having this disorder does not affect the life expectancy of a person that has this. 5ut, people that are
Cristina Okoniewski Disease
affected by this disease are more opted to having or developing other diseases as an outcome of having it. .tudies have
shown that a person with ADHD is that about /6 percent of those suffering from this disease also suffer from anxiety
and or depression, and 7 percent suffer from bipolar disorder. $Dr. 8owlin 9. anuel, &'A(. 4esearchers believe that
this occurs because it can be difficult for some people to cope with the difficult symptoms of ADHD and that causes
the person to get anxiety about school and things like that $:arry .ilver, &'A(. Although things like this do happen
there is a wide variety of things you can do to make life with the disease not so bad.
Although there isn3t a complete ;cure< for ADHD there are ways to help it. As always there is medication to help
this disorder, but there are benefits and side effects to the medication. The various medications that you can take are
Adderall, 2oncerta, #ocalin, 4italin, Intuniv and there are many more. .ome side effects from these medications are
sleep problems, "itteriness, decreased appetite' weight loss, and headaches $%eb D, &'A(. Also, another treatment for
this disorder is going to psychotherapy, many parents have found that sending their kids to therapy helps them. %hen
the doctor prescribes the medicine to the patient it takes )uite a while to get the right dosage and the right medicine
because of all the different types. Doctors these days aren3t really researching into more medications for ADHD
because there is already so many but, they are trying to find a complete cure but so far, they have not found one. :iving
with this disorder can be pretty difficult from what all the research says, that the direct annual cost for ADHD treatment
is ,,6-+ dollars a year $5riody, /0,1(. The life of someone with this disorder is different than those without the disease.
In my experience when you are diagnosed you have to learn how to do things differently and you have to learn to
understand that it is not as hard for everyone to concentrate. 5eing diagnosed made me feel like there was something
wrong with me but in the end I understand now that it helped me a lot. As for the parents, they have to learn how to talk
to their children and they have to understand how people like me think and why we act a certain way. =n the other
hand, you can be very successful as a person with ADHD. .ome people include, 8ablo 8icasso, ichael 8helps, 4alph
%aldo >merson, alcolm #orbes, %ill .mith, Albert >instein, and ?ustin Timberlake.
The name for ADHD came from a man named .ir Alexander 2richton in ,-7@ in his book he described a condition
called ;mental restlessness< $ADD treatment, &'A(. The term for ADHD was not yet adopted until a later time. The
disease ADHD is a gene disorder that affects different genes. The genes are dopamine $D+(, dopamine $D6(,
Cristina Okoniewski Disease
DAT,'.:2*A1, D5H, and DD2 $?ane 2ollingwood, &'A(. This disorder is a dominant one because if you have it
more than likely your child is going to have it.
In conclusion, this disorder is a fairly difficult one to live with. I know that it is for a fact because I do have it and I
live with it. During my research I learned a lot about this disorder it isn3t as a small disorder as I thought previously.
Doing this paper helped me reali!e how complicated the disorder really is.