Why Adult ADHD Often Leads To Anxiety & Depression

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ADHD’s Knock-On Effects On Mental Health

We’ve written before about ADHD in adult life, often late-diagnosed because it’s not quite what people think it is:

ADHD… As An Adult?

In women in particular, it can get missed and/or misdiagnosed:

Miss Diagnosis: Anxiety, ADHD, & Women

…but what we’re really here to talk about today is:

It’s the comorbidities that get you

When it comes to physical health conditions:

  • if you have one serious condition, it will (usually) be taken seriously
  • if you have two, they will still be taken seriously, but people (friends and family members, as well as yes, medical professionals) will start to back off, as it starts to get too complicated for comfort
  • if you have three, people will think you are making at least one of them up for attention now
  • if you have more than three, you are considered a hypochondriac and pathological liar

Yet, the reality is: having one serious condition increases your chances of having others, and this chance-increasing feature compounds with each extra condition.

Illustrative example: you have fibromyalgia (ouch) which makes it difficult for you to exercise much, shop around when grocery shopping, and do much cooking at home. You do your best, but your diet slips and it’s hard to care when you just want the pain to stop; you put on some weight, and get diagnosed with metabolic syndrome, which in time becomes diabetes with high cardiovascular risk factors. Your diabetes is immunocompromising; you get COVID and find it’s now Long COVID, which brings about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, when you barely had the spoons to function in the first place. At this point you’ve lost count of conditions and are just trying to get through the day.

If this is you, by the way, we hope at least something in the following might ease things for you a bit:

It’s the same for mental health

In the case of ADHD as a common starting point (because it’s quite common, may or may not be diagnosed until later in life, and doesn’t require any external cause to appear), it is very common that it will lead to anxiety and/or depression, to the point that it’s perhaps more common to also have one or more of them than not, if you have ADHD.

(Of course, anxiety and/or depression can both pop up for completely unrelated reasons too, and those reasons may be physiological, environmental, or a combination of the above).

Why?

Because all the good advice that goes for good mental health (and/or life in general), gets harder to actuate when one had ADHD.

  • “Strong habits are the core of a good life”, but good luck with that if your brain doesn’t register dopamine in the same way as most people’s do, making intentional habit-forming harder on a physiological level.
  • “Plan things carefully and stick to the plan”, but good luck with that if you are neurologically impeded from forming plans.
  • “Just do it”, but oops you have the tendency-to-overcommitment disorder and now you are seriously overwhelmed with all the things you tried to do, when each of them alone were already going to be a challenge.

Overwhelm and breakdown are almost inevitable.

And when they happen, chances are you will alienate people, and/or simply alienate yourself. You will hide away, you will avoid inflicting yourself on others, you will brood alone in frustration—or distract yourself with something mind-numbing.

Before you know it, you’re too anxious to try to do things with other people or generally show your face to the world (because how will they react, and won’t you just mess things up anyway?), and/or too depressed to leave your depression-lair (because maybe if you keep playing Kingdom Vegetables 2, you can find a crumb of dopamine somewhere).

What to do about it

How to tackle the many-headed beast? By the heads! With your eyes open. Recognize and acknowledge each of the heads; you can’t beat those heads by sticking your own in the sand.

Also, get help. Those words are often used to mean therapy, but in this case we mean, any help. Enlist your partner or close friend as your support in your mental health journey. Enlist a cleaner as your support in taking that one thing off your plate, if that’s an option and a relevant thing for you. Set low but meaningful goals for deciding what constitutes “good enough” for each life area. Decide in advance what you can safely half-ass, and what things in life truly require your whole ass.

Here’s a good starting point for that kind of thing:

When You Know What You “Should” Do (But Knowing Isn’t The Problem)

And this is an excellent way to “get the ball rolling” if you’re already in a bit of a prison of your own making:

Behavioral Activation Against Depression & Anxiety

If things are already bad, then you might also consider:

And if things are truly at the worst they can possibly be, then:

How To Stay Alive (When You Really Don’t Want To)

Take care!

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  • What you need to know about PCOS

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    In 2008, microbiologist Sasha Ottey saw her OB-GYN because she had missed some periods. The doctor ran blood tests and gave her an ultrasound, diagnosing her with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). She also told her not to worry, referred her to an endocrinologist (a doctor who specializes in hormones), and told her to come back when she wanted to get pregnant. 

    “I found [that] quite dismissive because that was my reason for presenting to her,” Ottey tells PGN. “I felt that she was missing an opportunity to educate me on PCOS, and that was just not an accurate message: Missing periods can lead to other serious, life-threatening health conditions.” 

    During the consultation with the endocrinologist, Ottey was told to lose weight and come back in six months. “Again, I felt dismissed and left up to my own devices to understand this condition and how to manage it,” she says. 

    Following that experience, Ottey began researching and found that thousands of people around the world had similar experiences with their PCOS diagnoses, which led her to start and lead the advocacy and support organization PCOS Challenge

    PCOS is the most common hormonal condition affecting people with ovaries of reproductive age. In the United States, one in 10 women of childbearing age have the condition, which affects the endocrine and reproductive systems and is a common cause of infertility. Yet, the condition is significantly underdiagnosed—especially among people of color—and under-researched

    Read on to find out more about PCOS, what symptoms to look out for, what treatments are available, and useful resources. 

    What is PCOS, and what are its most common symptoms? 

    PCOS is a chronic hormonal condition that affects how the ovaries work. A hormonal imbalance causes people with PCOS to have too much testosterone, the male sex hormone, which can make their periods irregular and cause hirsutism (extra hair), explains Dr. Melanie Cree, associate professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and director of the Multi-Disciplinary PCOS clinic at Children’s Hospital Colorado. 

    This means that people can have excess facial or body hair or experience hair loss. 

    PCOS also impacts the relationship between insulin—the hormone released when we eat—and testosterone. 

    “In women with PCOS, it seems like their ovaries are sensitive to insulin, and so when their ovaries see insulin, [they] make extra testosterone,” Cree adds. “So things that affect insulin levels [like sugary drinks] can affect testosterone levels.”

    Other common symptoms associated with PCOS include:

    • Acne
    • Thinning hair
    • Skin tags or excess skin in the armpits or neck 
    • Ovaries with many cysts
    • Infertility
    • Anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions
    • Sleep apnea, a condition where breathing stops and restarts while sleeping

    What causes PCOS?

    The cause is still unknown, but researchers have found that the condition is genetic and can be inherited. Experts have found that exposure to harmful chemicals like PFAs, which can be present in drinking water, and BPA, commonly used in plastics, can also increase the risk for PCOS

    Studies have shown that “BPA can change how the endocrine system develops in a developing fetus … and that women with PCOS tend to also have more BPA in their bodies,” adds Dr. Felice Gersh, an OB-GYN and founder and director of the Integrative Medical Group of Irvine, which treats patients with PCOS. 

    How is PCOS diagnosed?

    PCOS is diagnosed through a physical exam; a conversation with your health care provider about your symptoms and medical history; a blood test to measure your hormone levels; and, in some cases, an ultrasound to see your ovaries. 

    PCOS is what’s known as a “diagnosis of exclusion,” Ottey says, meaning that the provider must rule out other conditions, such as thyroid disease, before diagnosing it. 

    Why isn’t more known about PCOS?

    Research on PCOS has been scarce, underfunded, and narrowly focused. Research on the condition has largely focused on the reproductive system, Ottey says, even though it also affects many aspects of a person’s life, including their mental health, appearance, metabolism, and weight. 

    “There is the point of getting pregnant, and the struggle to get pregnant for so many people,” Ottey adds. “[And] once that happens, [the condition] also impacts your ability to carry a healthy pregnancy, to have healthy babies. But outside of that, your metabolic health is at risk from having PCOS, your mental health is at risk, [and] overall health and quality of life, they’re all impacted by PCOS.” 

    People with PCOS are more likely to develop other serious health issues, like high blood pressure, heart problems, high cholesterol, uterine cancer, and diabetes. Cree says that teenagers with PCOS and obesity have “an 18-fold higher risk of type 2 diabetes” in their teens and that teenagers who get type 2 diabetes are starting to die in their late 20s and early 30s. 

    What are some treatments for PCOS?

    There is still no single medication approved by the Food and Drug Administration specifically for PCOS, though advocacy groups like PCOS Challenge are working with the agency to incorporate patient experiences and testimonials into a possible future treatment. Treatment depends on what symptoms you experience and what your main concerns are.

    For now, treatment options include the following:

    • Birth control: Your provider may prescribe birth control pills to lower testosterone levels and regulate your menstrual cycle. 
    • Lifestyle changes: Because testosterone can affect insulin levels, Cree explains that regardless of a patient’s weight, a diet with lower simple carbohydrates (such as candy, sugar, sweets, juices, sodas, and coffee drinks) is recommended.

      “When you have a large amount of sugar like that, especially as a liquid, it gets into your bloodstream very quickly,” adds Cree. “And so you then release a ton of insulin that goes to the ovary, and you make a bunch of testosterone.” 


      More exercise is also recommended for both weight loss and weight maintenance, Cree says: “Food changes and better activity work directly to lower insulin, to lower testosterone.”


    • Metformin: Even though it’s a medication for type 2 diabetes, it’s used in patients with PCOS because it can reduce insulin levels, and as a result, lower testosterone levels. 

    What should I keep in mind if I have (or think I may have) PCOS?

    If your periods are irregular or you have acne, facial hair, or hair loss, tell your provider—it could be a sign that you have PCOS or another condition. And ask questions.

    “I call periods a vital sign for women, if you’re not taking hormones,” Cree says. “Our bodies are really smart: Periods are to get pregnant, and if our body senses that we’re not healthy enough to get pregnant, then we don’t have periods. That means we’ve got to figure out why.” 

    Once you’re diagnosed, Ottey recommends that you “don’t go through extremes, yo-yo dieting, or trying to achieve massive weight loss—it only rebounds.” 

    She adds that “when you get this diagnosis, [there’s] a lot that might feel like it’s being taken away from you: ‘Don’t do this. Don’t eat this. Don’t do that.’ But what I want everyone to think of is what brings you joy, and do more of that and incorporate a lot of healthy activities into your life.” 

    Resources for PCOS patients:

    For more information, talk to your health care provider.

    This article first appeared on Public Good News and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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  • The #1 Foot Health Secret Everyone Over 50 Should Know

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Our favorite over-50s specialist physio Will Harlow is here to keep us on our toes:

    Mobility requires mobilization

    As we age, our toes are inclined to become stiffer. Stiff toes lead to balance issues and increased risk of falling.

    A study cited in the video showed that two weeks of toe mobilization improved foot-ground contact by 30% in older adults, enhancing balance and reducing falls.

    Here’s the routine:

    1. Toe flexion:
      • Apply moisturizer or oil to your hands.
      • Pull your toes downwards, then let them return their normal position.
      • Repeat for one minute per foot.
    2. Toe extension:
      • Rub hands from the heel under the toes.
      • Push your toes upwards, then let them return to their normal position.
      • Repeat for one minute per foot.
    3. Foot rotation:
      • Hold both sides of your foot and twist it in one direction, then the other.
      • This helps loosen foot joints and improve flexibility.
      • Perform for one minute in each direction per foot.

    For more on each of these plus visual demonstrations, enjoy:

    Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

    Want to learn more?

    You might also like:

    Steps For Keeping Your Feet A Healthy Foundation

    Take care!

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  • Tahini vs Hummus – Which is Healthier?

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Our Verdict

    When comparing tahini to hummus, we picked the tahini.

    Why?

    Both are great! But tahini is so nutritionally dense, that it makes even the wonder food that is hummus look bad next to it.

    In terms of macros, tahini is higher in everything except water. So, higher in protein, carbs, fats, and fiber. In terms of those fats, the fat breakdown is similar for both, being mostly polyunsaturated and monounsaturated, with a small percentage of saturated. Tahini has the lower glycemic index, but both are so low that it makes no practical difference.

    In terms of vitamins, tahini has more of vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B9, E, and choline, while hummus is higher in vitamin B6.

    This is a good reason to embellish hummus with some red pepper (vitamin A), a dash of lemon (vitamin C), etc, but we’re judging these foods in their most simple states, for fairness.

    When it comes to minerals, tahini has more calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, and zinc. Meanwhile, hummus is higher in sodium.

    Note: hummus is a good source of all those minerals too! Tahini just has more.

    In short… Enjoy both, but tahini is the more nutritionally dense by far. On the other hand, if for whatever reason you’re looking for something lower in carbs, fats, and calories, then hummus is where it’s at.

    Want to learn more?

    You might like to read:

    Take care!

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Related Posts

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  • Kiwi vs Lemon – Which is Healthier?

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Our Verdict

    When comparing kiwi to lemon, we picked the kiwi.

    Why?

    A fairly straightforward one today!

    In terms of macros, kiwi has more protein, carbs, and fiber, the ratio of the latter two also giving it the lower glycemic index. An easy win for kiwi here.

    In the category of vitamins, kiwi has more of vitamins A, B2, B3, B9, C, E, K, and choline, while lemon has more of vitamins B1 and B6. Yes, that’s right, lemon didn’t even win on the vitamin C that it’s famous for. In any case, a clear 8:2 win for kiwi.

    Looking at minerals, kiwi has more calcium, copper, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, and zinc, while lemon has more iron and selenium. So, looking at this 7:2 win for kiwi, you might want to reconsider that “glass of lemon water to replenish minerals” trend!

    None of this is to knock lemons, by the way; lemons are still a very respectable fruit, nutritionally. Probably very few people are out there eating lemons the way one might eat kiwi…

    (writer’s note: I say “very few”, as once upon a time when my son was small, I remember coming into the kitchen to find he had helped himself to lemon wedges and was just eating them, so it can happen. But I also one time when he was just as small, found him drinking hot sauce directly from the bottle, so hey, he clearly already enjoyed strong flavors. Lest I seem a very inattentive mother, I’ll say in my defense that our kitchen has no real toddler-height hazards when the oven is cold, and those items were from the bottom of the fridge, so easy to access if I leave the room for a moment to grab something)

    …but what we do want to say here is: if you don’t care for lemons so much, you’re not missing out. If the lemon water isn’t calling to you, you can skip it guilt-free.

    In any case, do enjoy either or both, but kiwi’s the clear winner here!

    Want to learn more?

    You might like to read:

    Top 8 Fruits That Prevent & Kill Cancer ← kiwi is top of the list! It has some cool properties, as you’ll see, killing cancer cells while sparing healthy ones.

    Take care!

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  • Take Care Of Your Lymphatic System To Beat Cognitive Decline

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    First of all, for any unfamiliar with the lymphatic system, it’s mostly the body’s clean-up system (as well as a big part of the body’s anticancer system).

    See: The Lymphatic System Against Cancer & More

    It may not be the most glamorous job, but it’s certainly an essential one.

    There’s no lymph in the brain, but…

    Because of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) that keeps the astonishingly sensitive brain as safe as it can from unwanted things, there are many aspects of our physiology that only happen inside the brain, or only happen outside of it, as the compounds in question may be too large to get through the BBB.

    The lymphatic system is, in and of itself, an entirely outside-of-the-brain affair. So, how does stuff get cleaned out from the brain (such as beta-amyloid and alpha-synuclein clearance, to avoid Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, respectively)?

    The glymphatic system (a portmanteau of glial cells doing the job of the lymphatic system) is the brain’s own cleanup crew, and we wrote about it here:

    How To Clean Your Brain (Glymphatic Health Primer)

    Why lymph still matters for the brain

    Although the glymphatic system is doing a (hopefully) fine job of scrubbing up the brain, if the lymphatic system isn’t working at least as well, then this becomes the equivalent of what would happen if you at home were very attentive to taking the trash out, but the garbage disposal crews stopped doing their job, or did it much less well than they need to. Soon, you’d end up with a mountain of trash at home, even though you were doing your part correctly.

    In short: the glymphatic system needs to pass the waste on somewhere, and the lymphatic system is its go-to.

    You may be wondering about the role of blood in all of this, and the answer is that no part of any of the above systems can do its job without adequate oxygenation, and our blood also assists in the transport of things removed—which is one of the reasons why there are blood-based Alzheimer’s tests that can be done; they measure certain markers of neurodegeneration that become present in the blood having left the brain:

    Early Dementia Screening From Your Blood & More ← the “and more” is actually quite interesting, but it’s the blood we’re interested in for this section

    What can be done about it

    Our first two links up above, about the lymphatic and glymphatic systems, respectively, also tell how to look after each of them, but we’ll mention a few salient pointers here.

    For the lymphatic system:

    • do lymphatic massage
    • exercise, with a focus on maximizing movement
    • eat an anti-inflammatory diet

    For the glymphatic system:

    • do vagal massage (Vagal! Not vaginal, which will not help! Or rather: it won’t help the glymphatic system, anyway)
    • exercise, and/but also rest well (good quality sleep)
    • eat omega-3 fatty acids

    For more details and suggestions on each though, do check out:

    Lymphatic health primer | Glymphatic health primer

    How this was discovered

    Until as recently as 2014, it was not known that there was any part of the lymphatic system around the brain, waiting to take things from the glymphatic system. Since then, research has slowly been done about the relationship between the two, how things work, and what affects what and how.

    Most recently (the study was published two days ago, at time of writing this) it was discovered that, in mice at least, improving lymphatic function just outside of the brain (the meningeal lymphatic vessels, responsible for draining waste from the brain) improves memory.

    Aged mice who underwent a process that rejuvenated the meningeal lymphatic vessels, performed better in memory tests afterwards.

    How this worked, step-by-step:

    • The mice were given a special protein that rejuvenated the meningeal lymphatic vessels¹
    • The lymphatic vessels were then able to do their job better
    • This meant that the glial cells of the glymphatic system were no longer drowning in excess stuff
    • This reduced levels of a protein that says “help, too much stuff!” and starts inhibiting everything it can to try to cope²
    • This meant that neural activity was no longer being suppressed, and memory improved

    Technical bits for those who want it:

    ¹ We’re not being secretive about what this special protein was; it’s just that the special protein is called adeno-associated virus 1 cytomegalovirus murine vascular endothelial growth factor C, or “AAV1-CMV-mVEGF-C” for short, so for readability, “a special protein” does the job. Suffice it to say, a) you can’t exactly buy AAV1-CMV-mVEGF-C on Amazon, and b) you wouldn’t want it anyway, you’d want its close cousin AAV1-CMV-hVEGF-C (“m” for murine, i.e. mousey, vs “h” for human)

    ² This one’s just called interleukin-6 (IL-6); perhaps you’ve heard of interleukin; we’ve mentioned it sometimes before.

    You can read the paper in its entirety here; if you don’t mind reading very technical stuff, it is very interesting:

    Meningeal lymphatics-microglia axis regulates synaptic physiology

    Enjoy!

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  • The Joy of Movement – by Dr. Kelly McGonigal

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    We know that exercise is good for us. Obviously. We know that that exercise will make us feel good. In principle.

    So why is that exercise bike wearing the laundry instead, or the weights bench gathering dust?

    Dr. Kelly McGonigal explores our relationship with exercise, both the formal (organized, planned, exercise that looks like exercise) and the informal (ad hoc, casual, exercise that looks like just having a nice time).

    Moreover: she starts with the why, and moves to the how. The trick she plays on us here is to get us very fired up on the many tangible benefits that will make a big difference in all areas of our lives… And then shows us how easy it can be to unlock those, and how we can make it even easier.

    And as to making it stick? Exercise can be addictive, and/but it’s one of the few addictions that is almost always healthful rather than deleterious. And, there are tricks we can use to heighten that, thresholds that once we pass, we just keep going.

    She also looks at the evolutionary tendency of exercise to be connection-building, as part of a community, friend group, or couple.

    And, yes, she gives attention also to undertaking exercise when circumstances aren’t ideal, or our bodies simply won’t allow certain things.

    In short: if any book can get you shaking off the cobwebs, this is the one.

    Click here to check out The Joy Of Movement on Amazon today, and get your body moving!

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