How to keep your ADHD brain sexy as you age

Hello Fireworks Brainers!

I promise this is the last time I push a video because it makes me feel about as dirty as a public toilet, but seeing as I’ve just started my channel I need to show YouTube that people tolerate like my vids. Specifically this one: "3 things to do as an ADHDer if you want to feel like shit”.

Anyways…

This week’s topic is a little different, because a subscriber asked me to write about ADHD in the elderly and its connection to dementia. If I’m totally honest, that is not something I knew a whole lot about, but I’m always happy to learn. Also, I found out some deliciously important things for my fellow ADHD Millennials and Gen Xers or older who are watching their parents (and themselves) age.

Aging, ADHD-style

As we get older quite a few things change, and all of these milestones bring different responsibilities, expectations and realities with them. This can put more pressure on our executive functioning or take away what helps our ADHD brain to brain.

Here’s one possible path of those milestones:

Birth → elementary student → teenager → college or university student → expectations-and-pressure-induced angst vortex young professional → sleep-deprived-and-overstimulated angst vortex new parent → midlifer → retiree.

Let’s take retirement as an example, which especially fucks with the “S” word of my SHEET framework (not that S word, calm your crotch please). When ADHDers lose the structure and surrounding routines of employment, their less productive ADHD traits can get worse.

There are some fairly well-established symptom patterns for ADHDers over 60, which may not have been present when they were younger. Let’s have a looksee:

• Having a memory that’s as unreliable as a Latin American politician (just kidding, this is obviously a global phenomenon 😉)

• Being easily thrown off course in the middle of a task

• “Blanking out”, forgetting words or names and misplacing things

• Talking too much and interrupting others (a.k.a. verbal diarrhea)

• Finding it hard to follow conversations

• Having issues with keeping in touch and maintaining relationships

• Struggling to keep up with boredom inducers chores in their home

• Having difficulties with learning new things

And when 60+ ADHDers were asked about their most important challenges, this is what they said:

1. Productivity: not being able to get shit done because of procrastination and self-discipline issues

2. Emotions: feeling cranky more often, having to deal with anxiety or mood disorders

3. Time-management: struggling with time blindness, getting and sticking to a daily routine

4. Hyperactivity: feeling restless, talking too much, dealing with random “thought hurricanes”

5. Relationships: speaking impulsively, feeling misunderstood or judged, missing social cues

Now of course, the only logical conclusion after reading this list is that your parents lied about your age and you are actually 60+ (just me?). Which would mean I am over this shit heap called peri/menopause… Oh, if only!

To ADHD or not to ADHD…

Sadly we now have a bit of a problem on our hands because people didn’t get diagnosed with ADHD before the 80s, and if they were, they were rowdy school-aged boys. Which means that there’s a fuck ton of people out there who have no clue they have ADHD.

On top of that, our brain does this funny thing called “aging”, which starts in our mid-thirties. As we age, many executive functions start to fade, like selective attention (to focus on one thing), working memory (to recall a recent thought or idea after being distracted) and response inhibition (to think before we act). All things which are already challenging for ADHDers.

… fuck.

And then there’s mild cognitive impairment. MCI is the stage between normal aging and dementia, and 10 to 15 percent of cases progress to full-blown dementia. It can look like executive functioning issues, memory loss, and acting impulsively. So unfortunately, when a senior brings up any of their ADHD symptoms to their doctor, it is often assumed that the problem is MCI or even dementia instead of ADHD.

… fuck sandwich.

This is the question

Now here’s the problem: how in the Willy Wonka would a doctor know if someone over 60 simply has an aging ADHD brain, or if they are suffering from mild cognitive impairment?

Well, they can look at the timing of the symptoms and the family history. If the symptoms span the patient’s lifetime, it could rule out MCI. Then, to be diagnosed with ADHD specifically, typical ADHD symptoms should have been present in childhood. Also, ADHD is one of the most heritable “disorders” in medicine, so if there are any family members with this diagnosis, that could give the doctor a clue.

There’s a third option. Someone can have ADHD and mild cognitive impairment. And seeing as we ADHDers have an increased risk of developing dementia, there’s a fair chance some of us will end up in that situation. There are a few theories to explain this, one of which has to do with lifestyle patterns. Which brings me to my last point (thanks for sticking with me, you beauty!).

Keeping your brain sexy

The lifestyle patterns which could explain why ADHDers specifically have more risk to develop dementia are the bad sleeping habits, physical inactivity, poor diet, smoking and chronic stress that are so often a part of our lives. I also know from previous research that social isolation and loneliness, which are more common for ADHDers than neurotypicals, are linked to a higher risk for dementia.

Now here’s the really amazing news: while you can’t change your genetics, you can abso-freaking-lutely change your sleeping habits, activity levels, diet, smoking habits, overall stress levels, and relationships. I help my clients with it all the time. Is it easy? Of course not, nothing worth a damn in life is “easy”. But it is so fucking worth it.

PS: if you could use some help building brain-protecting habits right now, check out my ADHD unpretzel sessions. After you fill out a click-through form, I walk you through your most important life blockers and a priority roadmap with clear, practical next steps to tackle each blocker in a 30-minute session. Find more details and a testimonial by clicking the link!

Me as a 60-year-old, according to AI. I’ll take it!