ADHD Medication Rules [Kindle Edition]

Dr Charles Parker (Author)

Book Description

We may be the most scientifically advanced country in the world regarding identification and medical treatment of ADHD - but a serious medical inconsistency remains: too many simply don't pay enough attention to the meds for paying attention.

Both public and professionals regularly overlook essential ADHD treatment elements, important scientific data points that outline more predictable treatment mapping strategies. From superficial diagnosis by appearances, to medication dosage management by cookie cutter strategies, the uninformed use of stimulant medications is too often based upon criteria that vary from whimsy to hearsay.

"ADHD Medication Rules" is the only book available that spells out and simplifies those essential medication details for both patients and professionals. "ADHD Medication Rules" offers those medical answers in the form of understandable, practical solutions for everyday practice, for every medication review. "Rules" is based upon the latest brain science, and includes a variety of associated treatment topics that address the real complexity of ADHD medical management.

The variables that effect medication effectiveness range from sleep, to breakfast, to biomedical interferences that can dramatically change the way medications burn in the body. Without "Rules" the possibility of missing potentially dangerous drug interactions and associated diagnostic challenges, such as depression and anxiety, adds to the greater possibility of treatment failure.

A key objective for "Rules:" engaging your medical team in more participatory dialogue with more clear expectations for medication outcomes and improved discussion at every medication check.

Your anticipated "Rules" net result: Saved time, saved money, more predictable improvement, with better understanding of the entire ADHD medication treatment process at any age.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Author's Note:
This copy is the original eBook for Kindle. The much improved New ADHD Medication Rules Edition for Kindle is available by clicking on the main New Rules Title, and look for Kindle just under the paperback availability - the Format Box below the price.

This improved New Rules Kindle edition is downloadable now, I'm told, so you can give it a try! - 11/22/12

Another point: These wonderful testimonials don't transfer over to that new Kindle list, so if you want to see what others thought about the 'original, outdated' version to make up your mind - take a look down below here.

Thanks!
cp

From the Author

I organized ADHD Medication Rules after years of picking up the pieces during difficult second opinions in my office - both from my own treatment failures and my colleagues who missed aspects of the medication treatment process. To this day far too many simply write for ADHD meds without remotely thinking about the complexity, the details or the long term implications of medication management.

ADHD Medication Rules reports understandable, data driven standards that arise directly from the extensive literature on medications, and from the newest information on SPECT imaging, immune system challenges, metabolic problems and simple genetic issues that often go overlooked when using ADHD meds. Symptom targets need improvement, and dosage strategies need far more attention.

Science works if you work it.

I've taught others to use Rules understandings since 1996 all across the USA, from LA and Seattle, to NYC, Boston and Chicago, and know that they work because the Rules have improved over the years that new science has become available.

Rules is a book that addresses the same underlying theme as Deep Recovery: Labels absolutely don't cover the complexity of human beings - and the biology is far too often underappreciated. "Codependency" and "ADHD" simply don't do justice to the living dynamics of the recovery processes.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 761 KB
• Print Length: 190 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B005JZ932W
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #198,836 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #22 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Psychology & Counseling > Psychopharmacology
  • #46 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Psychology & Counseling > Psychopharmacology

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally Some Answers September 4, 2011

By Juls in VA

Format:Kindle Edition

For the last 10 years I have been searching for the right help for my two wonderful but challenging children. Extremely mild autism? OCD? Anxiety? Depression? ODD? ADHD? Bipolar? Nothing quite fit, but problems were real and ongoing. These are kids that initially present as normal. No special ed or noticeable special needs, both high IQ and generally doing well in school. But parenting challenges have been overwhelming! One has emotional/anger issues the other struggles with more sensory/social issues. We've seen multiply professionals and tried counseling and a host of other non-medicine interventions (supplements, diet changes, interactive metronome, occupational therapy and more). Over the last year we did try an anti-depressant, mood stabilizer (caused night mares) and two stimulants (both dosed too high) for my oldest- all short term attempts that ended quickly because of horrible side effects. I thought I had run out of options and felt pretty hopeless until I began reading, listening to and watching the blogs, podcasts and cinchasts that Dr. Parker has freely available online. His explanation of THINKING ADHD (cognitive overabundance) was exactly what I had been trying to describe to professionals for ten years! I had been calling it "stuckness". This is primarily what my kids struggle with. My children, and perhaps many of our family members, fall into this ADHD subset that I had never had fully explained before this book. I now also know why the medicines that were attempted failed so miserably. In all attempts they had been used incorrectly and had failed in the exact ways that Dr. Parker predicts in his book. The unique way that each individual metabolizes medicine must be considered when dosing, drug interactions must be accounted for when dosing and first and foremost you must know what you are treating!

I also now realize that there is likely more to this picture than just cognitive overabundance and depression. These cognitive brain issues are often caused by, or at least highly influenced by, problems in the immune, endocrine or hormonal systems of the body. Both of my children show hints of problems in these areas as well. Tests are available to help sort out these issues. I know we have a road ahead of us, but I finally have a clear path that makes sense. And, by the way, for the last ten days my oldest has been on new medicines (ones that should work for him and are dosed very low just according to Parker's Rules) and he has never felt better. This is a teen who angrily swore off all medicine and is now, with this attempt, very pleased with how he is functioning. And finally we now know what exactly we are looking for when it comes to medication. This is so much better the "take it and see approach" that sorely let us down.

Interestingly, years ago I had read through some of Dr. Amen's books and online information. Amen and Parker have worked together. Dr. Amen's six ADHD categories still left me at a bit of a loss when considering my children specifically. And the idea of a SPECT scan, while interesting and very likely valuable, seemed a bit too invasive, expensive and controversial for my children. In contrast, Dr. Parker explains ADHD in three categories: acting, thinking and avoidant, each with subsets. This framework finally fit my experience. It's amazing how hopefully I now feel about the future.
If you are on the fence about buying this book, I would read through a bunch of the free information you can find from Dr. Parker online. He is currently hyping the book quite a bit on his blog which was honestly was an initial turn off for me, but once I realized how much info he was freely providing and how much I was learning from him, I was ready to spend the $ for the kindle version. It's an easy, clear read with very specific recommendations about ADHD types, medicines and dosages, sleep issues, breakfast and finding a doctor who will treat you as a full person and look beyond ADHD for underlying issues. I don't normally write a book review, but I am more than pleased with what I have learned and the path that we are now on.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical Advice for Patients, Parents, Partners...& Physicians September 7, 2011

By Roger C. Parker

Format:Kindle Edition

At last there's a practical, readable guide for those suffering from ADHD...and the side effects that frequently accompany ADHD medications.

Dr. Charles Parker's (no, not a relation) ADHD Medication Rules offers a practical guide for patients who want to know more about their options, as well as their parents, their partners

ADHD Medication Rules is also relevant reading for physicians and general practicioners who often lack specialized expertise in ADHD medications (psychotropic medications) and how they interact with other existing conditions.

Where ADHD Medication Rules comes into its own is the light it shines on the multiplicity of factors that determine an individual's reaction to prescribed ADHD medications. ADHD medications not only interact with other medicines patients may be taking, but their effectiveness is influenced by a host of physiological, psychological, and lifestyle factors.

Most important, as Dr. Parker points out in several chapters, ADHD symptoms often mask other conditions, i.e., depression, brain injury, or underlying physical conditions.

Not a textbook, and not an overly-simplistic "cure all," ADHD Medication Rules delivers a readable, learned perspective that can save patients, parents, their partners a lot of wasted time and unnecessary pain. It will help you ask the right questions to your prescribing physician

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Life Changing Resource for Anyone with Questions about ADHD medications - A must read! September 8, 2011

By Ariane Benefit

Format:Kindle Edition

As a Life Design coach who has ADHD myself and coaches people with ADHD, I often get asked about medications. I am so grateful to Dr. Parker for writing this book! I recommend it to all my ADHD clients. It's truly a life saver in a world where, unfortunately, there are still many doctors who believe that the best way to medicate is to ask "is it working?" you say no or I don't know and they just keep increasing the dosage. It happened to me - my meds psychiatrist was highly recommended to me, but clearly, she actually knew very little about ADD and I suffered terrible side effects from overmedication. I now have the right meds at the right dose, and so do many of my clients thanks to Dr. Parker's work. This book should be required reading for ALL medical students and anyone who diagnoses, treats, parents, or teaches people with ADHD.

More About the Author

Dr Charles Parker (1942-present) was born in Philadelphia, PA - in West Philly to a war-nomad family - father Navy, mother a family practice physician. As a neuroscience consultant, child and adult psychiatrist with more than 43 years of experience in the office-trenches Parker brings a fresh, comprehensive street sense to the variety of clinical challenges seen in everyday psychiatric problems.

From addiction recovery to specific neurotransmitter measurements and SPECT functional brain imaging, Parker encourages a fresh perspective for chronic psychiatric treatment failures. Parker's mission is simple: translate contemporary brain and body science for practical office applications. Available new biomedical data weaves a complex, interactive mind-body web that can improve current treatment protocols.

When Parker wrote "Deep Recovery" in 1992 the world reveled in recovery and "codependency" labels. "Deep Recovery," however, proves useful even today, as it demonstrates with specific examples how those labels can impede self management in any recovery process, from any repetitive/addictive disorder. Today Parker finds abundant medical support as recovery experts now recognize the complexity of biological problems present in any recovery process. Dopamine receptors matter. Genetics, nutrition and immunity issues matter.

Currently Parker regularly reports new science findings on the award-winning CorePsych site [from 2006], and recently finished the second edition of "New ADHD Medication Rules - Brain Science & Common Sense." The same reductionistic thinking of 1992 - present in the recovery movement during those days - remains daily at play in current ADHD psychiatric treatment protocols orchestrated through misleading and superficial diagnostic appearances.

Superficial labels for ADHD simply don't provide adequate dynamic targets for the brain complexity of the multiple, often changing, faces of ADHD. Most importantly, those superficial labels too often encourage unpredictable results - especially in the face of abundant new brain and body science. Fresh laboratory data encourages improved outcomes. "New ADHD Medication Rules" provides a clarification of available new biomedical science in conversational terms.

"New Rules" aims at one target: to change the simplistic way too many think about diagnosis and treatment for ADHD, indeed most psychiatric challenges. Appreciation for the details of new biological insights on every level of ADHD diagnosis and treatment will encourage improved medication results.

In psychiatry a new standard of care will soon find firm footing in everyday office practice. New biologic details require that we rethink outdated, reductionistic categories predominantly associated with only feelings and affect. We must now enter the additional world of thinking, cognition, and executive function, joined with the common sense fact that mind function is directly connected with body imbalances. The brain is the new canary in the coal mine.

The best outcome: understanding new biomarkers for ADHD treatments will encourage more comprehensive, evidence based treatment strategies across the entire psychiatric spectrum.