The exact cause of Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) is not really known but research does point to a likely genetic connection. So if your family has an ADHD history, there could be a small possibility this can be encoded on the "X -- Y" chromosome linkage of off springs. Consult your family doctor.

Albert Einstein happened to have lived at a time when the diagnosis of ADD or ADHD was not listed in medical dogma. While we must encourage the work of today's bio-chemist, clinicians and physicists, we must be grateful, such ailments were not listed or treated, and god forbidding we would have been denied the law of Relativity and quantum mechanics and the entanglement between atoms.

Although we have not as yet been privileged to the memoirs of Bill Gates, there are strong rumors that like Albert Einstein, he too was expelled from school. Albert Einstein was preoccupied with a bizarre persistent internal question of wanting to know the feeling of traveling along side a beam of light. This annoyed and was beyond any reasonable challenge to his teacher as to why the need to know, consumed student Einstein. The natural course of events followed and of course Albert Einstein was expelled but continued to study at home. Without not so much as an apology to his father who worked as a civil engineer in the family business, Albert told his father he had lost respect for his professor and would probably achieve his grades by studying at home.

In Germany there was zero tolerance for students who exceeded the art of processing complex equations faster and more accurately than their teacher. In time will no doubt be informed whether Bill Gates' childhood was a mirror image of Albert Einstein. I find it ironic these days that student in bio-chem, often look down at their colleagues in arts or technical vocational computer studies, and yet they eventually meet at the apex when the equation e=mc2 finally meet. 'No Man is an Island' - John Donne.

Before I loose my audience, it was important to set the scene. The crust of this article, as silly as this may sound and the stereo-typical attitude the general public entertain towards students of arts and computer sciences, speaks directly to kids diagnosed with ADHD who think and act outside of the norm. It also begs the question; could this compulsive incessant, physical or mental activity be a substitute for Ritalin or Adderall? To understand this question is to get a better grip of ADD and ADHD.

People with ADHD are very creative. They see time in seconds or even nano seconds and for them every second should be used or accounted for. This may explain the in vogue tongue "barbell". The continuous swirling of the tongue around the barbell completes a continuous figure "8" pattern or configuration and in the world of an ADHD brain process person, this completes an endless loop and acts as a pacifier. When ADHD people have no outlet or are restricted from being creative, this is when problems start to escalate.

Here is how the true story was told. Any names have been changed to protect the identity. "I finally got the nerve to take my 10 years son to the dentist. He needed quite a bit of work to be done, and as I dreaded and delayed, it became more and more foreboding. I questioned and worried myself into a bundle of nerves, just thinking what was going to be the outcome.

First was what would be the opinion of the dentist who would be coming face to face with a kid who wears a tongue barbell? Those of you who are on the outside the world of an ADHD child will probably advise "tough love". Let me counteract and remind you of Albert Einstein. Tuff love would have robbed us of a genius. Paul (our son) would object to the removal of the metal object if X-rays had to be taken, to which he would question the dentist's ability as to why he (the dentist) could not readily observe an object which was radiolucent as opposed to radiopaque. Furthermore what does it matter since I have silver amalgam fillings. Do you want to remove them also before you can take an x-ray"?

Questions are never ending with an ADHD kids. They are not meant to confront but rather to learn. Paul was on Ritalin and therefore any anxiolytics like Ativan would half been counter productive. Most clinicians send a double message. Knowledge is welcomed and encouraged so long as it does not require him/her to recite the Krebs cycle. If the questions are perceived as passive, then all is well.

The dentist was secure and it showed. No panic was ever evident, even when the nitrous oxide and the local anesthetic was attempted to be administered. Paul was intrigued and was more interested in the mixture combination and what effect he would feel. Paul looked like any normal 10 year old. The procedure was terminated mostly because of unknown sequela of multiple meds. He showed no symptoms of Tics, bipolar episodes or Parkinson's disease. An appointment was rescheduled.

People with ADHD are highly sensitive. Many ADD people appear to be the exact opposite though. This may be because society does not want us to show our feelings. This is especially hard for males. We wonder why little boys with ADD/ADHD are fighting a lot. If they cry like they feel like doing they may be told that crying is for babies and to "suck it up".

Comments to localanesthetics@yahoo.ca M.Sc. PharmD. CCPE Please visit WWW.AnestheticNews.com