Is your ADHD treatment effective?

Well, you have just discovered that you or your child have Attention Deficit Disorder, with or without Hyperactivity (ADD or ADHD). What’s next?

If you are like most people, the next logical step is to decide whether or not you wish to start an ADHD treatment, an important decision by itself, and if so what kind of treatment.

But, wait!

There is an important question you should ask before starting any treatment. A question many of us fail to ask the doctor or therapist before starting the treatment.

How would you know that the treatment is effective?

This question might not be easy to answer, but certainly a crucial one. Otherwise, if you can’t tell whether or not the treatment is improving your life, or that of you kid, why start one in the first place.

In a perfect world, the expert who prescribes the treatment (your physician, psychiatrist, nutritionist, coach, etc), should also be responsible to evaluate and re-evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment. Unfortunately, this is not the reality in many cases.

Personally, I like to be in control of the situation (possibly because I have ADHD myself), so whether or not my doctor is reevaluating my condition, or that of my kid, on a regular basis, I’d rather have my own measures of the effectiveness and progress.

If you are like me, you would probably be happy to know that you can now monitor the effectiveness of the treatment by your own. I found out about this tool when I was first diagnosed with ADHD. As a matter of fact, the doctor who diagnosed me used the same assessment tool, as part of the diagnosis procedure. The thing I most liked about it, is that this ADHD Test can generate a comparative report of two separate tests taken at different times. This is a great way to know whether or not a treatment is effective.

Here is a step by step example of how you may use the ADHD test to check the effectiveness of a stimulant medication.

1. Order the “Dual Test package”.
2. After you complete the purchase, sign in to your account.
3. Take the first test without medication. Make sure you are well rested, hydrated and fed before you rush into it. The objective of the first test it to create a benchmark.
4. After the first test take your medication and wait one hour.
5. Take the test again under the effect of the medication.
6. Go to the report page and check both reports, then click the “Compare” link at the bottom.
7. The comparison report will open.
8. If ever wish to view the same report again, you can go to the “Comparative Report” tab and open each of the reports as well as the comparative report.

Important Notes:

• Use the above method only if you have been prescribed to stimulant medication, such as Ritalin, Adderall and similar stimulants.
• This is only one example of what you can do with the ADHD Test and its advanced reporting feature. There are other comparisons you can make with this tool, but I will cover this in a future post.
• The suggestions in this post is in no way a substitute to a the advice of an ADHD professional. It only serve to accompany a treatment. If in doubt, please consult your doctor.

Have fun, and let us know what you think.