ADHD

I’ve recently become very interested in ADHD because of the mind boggling similarities between the symptoms of ADHD and EHS (electrical hypersensitivity). Literally hypersensitivity is a common attribute of those diagnosed with ADHD. 🤯

Their are three theories of causes for ADHD. Trauma, biological or environmental, and genetic. I’d love to synthesize a story here of all three. Because in my opinion, they are all, a blind person describing a different part of the elephant. Correct, but incomplete.

In the book Driven to Distraction, Edward Hallowell MD. sums up ADHD in this one statement:

“You don’t mean to do the things you do do, and you don’t do the things you mean to do”

I like this summary as well.

The trauma approach

The Gabor Maté theory, as I’ll be calling it, says that ADHD is a cognitive dissonance starting in childhood, between a felt need, and the experience of your environment not meeting that need, or meeting it in a way that doesn’t work. That unmet need, is also usually not fully understood, as children don’t have a fully developed prefrontal cortex / capacity to analyze their needs, in order to understand and communicate them. This can result in a disconnect from your felt sense of the world, and your conscious perceived outward sense of the world. A disconnect from your prefrontal cortex’s ability to regulate and connect with your limbic system that governs safety. In other words, when needs are not met during crucial developmental stages, people may struggle to recognize and articulate their emotional and physical needs later in life.

Within this framework, a child’s inability to pay attention in school for example, can take on new depth. Maybe its that the child doesn’t trust their parents judgement of what is important to have a successful life. Perhaps its that the child is hungry, thirsty or has to use the restroom. These are two examples of the many I could think of with the same commonality.

It’s learning to interact with a world that is reflecting to them that their inner world and judgement is wrong. “Don’t fidget and pay attention!” … Means choosing between personal discomfort and social acceptance.

Which in turn disconnects them from their ability to be present, and accurately judge whats true for them in their life.

This study offers evidence for this framework by showing that internal perception accuracy for satiety is lacking in people with ADHD, often resulting in either binge and/or restrictive eating. In other words, people with ADHD have trouble perceiving whether they are hungry or full.

Every framework carries with it its implications for treatment. That’s why I believe its so important to fully explore all of them.

The one based on genetics potentially implies a brute force approach with emphasis on systems of controlling the self such as lists, calendars, and medication. While this genetic framework has merit that I will explore soon, I encourage you to not fall into the mental trap that implies that you are broken, and can be fixed only by forcing yourself into compliance. This approach de-emphasizes the necessity for self inquiry, understanding, and working with, or optimizing your internal world and its harmony with the external. In my opinion, the original problem would still be present and waiting for resolution.

Your internal world is telling you something different than what you’ve learned to consciously tell yourself. And the manifestation of the symptoms of ADHD are an opportunity to develop into a deeper sense of wisdom and true present understanding of the world, and what you need, that takes into account but is not beholden to, the framework that has been given to you by others for a world that does NOT exist anymore.

The genetic explination of ADHD

I think its really very important not to fall into the trap that because a lot of doctors, youtubers, and psychiatrist say that something is definitive, that you believe it is. Look into the scientific research on any topic and you will find evidence for and against whatever it is. And none of these people who are telling you what ADHD is, are probably doing that research. They heard the conclusion from someone who heard it from someone else, who may have been selling a medication, or who may have been a scientist working for a pharmaceutical company. I don’t know that anyone can understand the full complexity of a dynamic disease like AD-[maybe H]-D, who’s symptoms are not always consistent, and often overlap with many many other syndromes | disorders | diseases | pathologies. But here we go, lets explore the evidence for the genetic factors of ADHD.

The loudest argument for genetic factors in ADHD is that ADHD usually runs in the family. But in my opinion this is not conclusive for the theory of genetics as it can just as easily be indicative of intergenerational trauma, aka. the Gabor Maté theory. The reality is that even when you compare adopted children with ADHD and their adopted parents vs biological parents and see a signal that supports genetic influence, you can’t fully rule out the influence of potential traumatic experience of the mother’s stress, or biological capacity to support their child before adoption. Even if specific genes are found in common for many ADHD’ers, it is still not definitive because culture also has genetic similarities, in that families and lineage create culture. In my opinion genes don’t prove it, until they are altered specifically to find a behavioral change. But determining definitely whether genes are factors are only relevent if we can intervene biologically, and we can already do that without blaming a specific gene. So onward, to the biological component.

Biological Impacts on ADHD

There is a lot of science around the connection of environmental and biological factors in ADHD, so I will be having fun in this section.

Explore this very well written systematic review connecting inflammation with ADHD. It is thorough and thankfully saves me from having to gather the evidence for it myself. Here are some snippets:

… cytokines can influence cognitive processes, including reaction time and working memory (29), that can be impaired in ADHD.

… The authors reported statistically significant correlations between cytokines levels and ADHD symptoms (11).

Here’s two more reviewing evidence of allergens and environmental factors and oxidative stress in developmental disorders like ADHD.

Now that should raise the question, what causes inflammation? Well it sucks you asked, because there’s a lot of things. Here are just a few.

Highly processed food, sugar, trans fats, allergens, PFAS, plastic, the volatile organic compounds found in a LOT of things, trauma, PTSD, anxiety… I emphasize these because that takes us back to Gabor Maté. But please don’t think I believe Maté is the winner here, no no no, we still have more to go!

Here are some things that reduce ADHD, that also happen to reduce inflammation.

Being in nature, antioxidants, and reducing toxin exposure to name a few.

EMFs

EMF’s also cause inflammation, with the caveat that not all EMFs are created equal, and duration and intensity matters. Here are a few studies and reviews supporting this claim. [R] [R] [R] [R] [R] [R] [R]

Besides the inflammatory and oxidative mechanism of EMFs potential impact on ADHD, there is another mechanism. Voltage gated calcium channels. [R] [R]

EMFs are thought to be mediated in part by activating voltage gated calcium channels, which are responsible for activating cell activity. VGCCs regulate neuron firing in the brain, and contraction in the muscles. The prefrontal cortex is responsible for regulating activation (or firing) of neurons in different areas of the brain, as well as contraction of the muscles. So if VGCCs are activated without prefrontal cortex control, it may be that the PFC must work harder to regulate the body. This could result in an elevation of dopamine, which helps the PFC inhibit various parts of the brain, and depending on exposure, an eventual exhaustion of this system, which could lead to ADHD, as ADHD is associated with low dopamine [R]. There is evidence for this activity in the table below in the “Neurotransmitter Disruption” section. Which shows changes in many neurotransmitters following exposure of EMFs within FCC safety standards. The second study in fact shows initial elevation in dopamine, followed by a drop in dopamine.

This model means that dopamine stimulating medication would help, as it would help the PFC gain a measure of control over the unruly processes in your body. These are the reasons I believe EMFs should not be taken for granted in the diagnosis of ADHD.

However, just to complicate things, because in reality, they are complicated… trauma and PTSD are also associated with low dopamine, which is associated with inflammation. So if low dopamine is associated with the lack of ability to get the processes in your body under control, its somewhat unclear to me whether trauma exacerbates EMF harm and sensitivity, or EMF harm makes trauma more likely. Just as those who get a good nights sleep can handle more emotional difficulties than those that don’t.

So if trauma creates sensitivity, and sensitivity induces harm from EMFs then you should probably be mindful of your EMFs, at least until trauma is healed.

But if EMFs create sensitivity, and sensitivity induces potential emotional trauma from difficult events, then you should probably be mindful of your EMFs.

But in some sense the chicken or the egg first doesn’t really matter. Because it always comes down to being present with your body, and listening to what it’s trying to tell you… and you can’t judge whether your body has something to say about EMFs, if you are not consciously aware of them.

Lets Take a Step Back

I’ve gotten into the weeds here on EMFs out of necessity, as EMFs impact on biology is not commonly accepted and requires more evidence in my articles, but I want to take a step back. I’ve talked about trauma causing ADHD, inflammation impacting ADHD, trauma impacting inflammation and EMFs impacting ADHD… But in my opinion, these can all really be wrapped up in a nice bow with the original quote from Edward Hallowell.

“You don’t mean to do the things you do do, and you don’t do the things you mean to do”

And…

… the necessity for self inquiry, understanding, and working with, or optimizing your internal world and its harmony with the external. This includes, experiential, emotional, and physical. Why DO you do the things you do if you don’t mean to do them?

Your internal world is telling you something different than what you’ve learned to consciously tell yourself. And the manifestation of the symptoms of ADHD are an opportunity to develop into a deeper sense of wisdom and true present understanding of the world, and what you need, that takes into account but is not the slave of, the framework that has been given to you by others for a world that does NOT exist anymore.

This means learning to take care of yourself. With proper food, sleep, reduced exposure to toxins including but not limited to EMF, and emotional safety. Because they all matter.

With this understanding, stimulants like Adderal and Ritalin can be very helpful, but I don’t believe they will offer long term relief without also addressing the biological and emotional influences of ADHD. And now lists and reminders can serve in a wholistic way. In that if you don’t end up doing the thing on the list, you can start to ask why, opening up a dialogue between you and your inner self, making ADHD and its treatment, the start of something beautiful.

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For funsies, here is some more EMF talk on ADHD…

EMF Exposure During Pregnancy

In a longitudinal birth cohort study conducted in 2020 [R], researchers followed 1482 mother-child pairs to investigate the association between maternal exposure to non-ionizing radiation from magnetic fields (MF) during pregnancy and the risk of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in offspring.

They found that children whose mothers were exposed to higher levels of MF nonionizing radiation had more than twice the risk of ADHD compared to those with lower exposure levels. This risk was even higher for ADHD that persisted into adolescence.

* Just as an FYI, that study had some controversy over removing data from mothers who’s EMF measurements did not reflect a typical day in the life of the mother. With only measurements that reflected typical days included, there was a strong signal between EMF and ADHD. With atypical measurements included, the signal was much lower. Do with that information what you will.

Neurotransmitter Disruption

This study explored how exposure to electromagnetic radiation (EMR) affects key brain chemicals in adult rats. [R] Researchers found that daily EMR exposure at the levels found in typical RF devices led to significant changes in dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin levels in different brain regions. These chemicals play vital roles in memory, learning, and stress responses.

In other words, EMF seemed to disrupt the balance of important brain messengers, potentially impacting cognitive functions like memory and attention. This finding raises questions about how EMF exposure might relate to conditions like ADHD, where similar brain chemical imbalances are observed.

Below are two tables from this study showing a collection of scientific publications on neurotransmitter impacts of radiation from RF. All of the ones I’ve included here (if they have the data available) are performed at levels below the current FCC safety standards. The neurotransmitters measured are dopamine (DA), norepinephrine (NE), epinephrine (E), acytlcholine (ACh), nitric oxide (NO) and GABA. All important for regulating symptoms of ADHD.

Neurotransmitter	Reference	Sample/Model	Exposure condition	Typical Exposure Level	Results
DA	Maaroufi et al. (34)	Rats	900 MHz, 1 h/day for 21 days, 0.05 W/kg < SAR < 0.18 W/kg	📱 1/30 of phone call, 🛜 1/3 of a modem @ 4ft	DA decrease in in the hippocampus
DA	Ji et al. (35)	Pregnant Wistar rats	900 MHz, 3 times daily for 20 days; 10, 30, or 60 min each time		DA increases in brain tissue of both pregnant and fetal mice in the 10 min group; DA decrease in the 60 min group
NE and E	Megha et al. (36)	Male Fischer 344 rats	1800 MHz, 1 mW/cm2, 2 h/day, 5 days/week for 30 days	📱10 times lower than a phone call, 🛜 30 x modem @ 4ft	NE and E decrease in the hippocampus
NE and E	Cao et al. (37)	Male LACA mice	900 MHz, 0, 1, 2 and 5 mW/cm2; 0, 0.22, 0.44 or 1.1 W/kg; 1 h/day for 35 days	📱0, 1/10, 1/5, and 1/2 of phone call, 🛜 between 66 and 330 x modem @ 4ft	NE increase at 1 mW/cm2
NE and E	Ji et al. (35)	Pregnant rats	900 MHz,0.9W/kg, m 3 times daily for 20 days; 10, 30, or 60 min each time	📱10 times lower than a phone call, 🛜 30 x modem @ 4ft	NE increase in the 10 min group; NE decrease in the 60 min group
NE and E	Aboul Ezz et al. (14)	Adult rats	1800 MHz, 1 h/day for 1, 2 and 4 months, 0.843 W/kg, 0.02 mW/cm2	📱500k times lower than a phone call, 🛜 same as a modem @ 4ft	5-HT increase in the hippocampus, hypothalamus and midbrain
NE and E	Maaroufi et al. (34)	rats	900 MHz, 1 h/day for 21 days, 0.05 W/kg < SAR < 0.18 W/kg	📱 3 times lower than a phone call	5-HIAA decrease, the 5-HIAA/5-HT ratio decrease in the cerebellum
Glutamate & aspartic acid	Ahmed et al. (39)	Rats	1800 MHz, 0.843 W/kg, 0.02 mW/cm2; 1 h/day for 1, 2, or 4 months	📱 500k times lower than a phone call, 🛜 same as a modem @ 4ft	Glutamate and glutamine decrease in the hippocampus after 1 month
Glutamate & aspartic acid	Zhao et al. (40)	Male Wistar rats	2.5, 5 and 10 mW/cm2, 6 min/day, 1 months	📱1/4, 1/2, and 1 times that of a phone call, 🛜 much higher than modem @ 4ft	Glutamate and aspartic acid, increase in the 2.5 and 5 mW/cm2 groups and decrease in the 10 mW/cm2 group in the hippocampus
Glutamate & aspartic acid	Wang et al. (41)	Male Wistar rats	2.856 GHz; 0, 2.5, 5 and 10 mW/cm2 for 5 min/day, 5 days/week and up to 6 weeks	📱 1/4, 1/2, and 1 times that of a phone call, 🛜 much higher than modem @ 4ft	NR2B and p-NR2B decrease in the 10 mW/cm2 group; NR2A decrease in the 10 mW/cm2 group at 1 day and 6 months
Glutamate & aspartic acid	Huang et al. (42)	Female Wistar rats	1800 MHz, 0.5 mW/cm2 and 1.0 mW/cm2, 12 h/day for 21 days	📱 20 times lower than a phone call, 🛜 30 x modem @ 4ft	For the 0.5 mW/cm2 group, NR2A decrease in the CA3 region, NR2B decrease in the CA1 and CA3 regions. For the 1.0 mW/cm2 group, NR2A decrease in the CA1 and CA3 regions and an NR2B decrease in the CA1 region, CA3 region, and DG
GABA	Zhang et al. (43)	Male mice	1.8 GHz, 4 weeks		GABA and aspartic acid decrease in the cortex and hippocampus
ACh	Kumar et al. (44)	Mice	2.45 GHz, 2 h/day, 1 months		M1 AChRs upregulated; AChE activity increased in the hippocampus
ACh	Gökçek-Saraç et al. (45)	Wistar rats	2.1 GHz, 45 V/m and 65 V/m, 1 week		AChE, ChAT, and VAChT decrease in rat hippocampus after exposure to 65 V/m
ACh	Gupta et al. (46)	Rats	2.45 GHz, 1 h/day for 28 consecutive days		ACh decrease, AChE activity increasedin the hippocampus
ACh	Kunjilwar and Behari (47)	Rats	147 MHz, subharmonics of 73.5 MHz and amplitude of 36.75 MHz modulated at 16 Hz and 76 Hz, 3 h/day, for 30-35 consecutive days		AChE decrease in the brain

Neurotransmitter	Reference	Sample/Model	Exposure condition	Typical Exposure Level	Results
DA	Aboul Ezz et al. (14)	Adult rats	1800 MHz, 0.843 W/kg, 0.02 mW/cm2, 1 h	📱500k times lower than a phone call, 🛜 same as a modem @ 4ft	DA decrease in the hippocampus
DA	Inaba et al. (15)	Rats	2450 MHz, 5 and 10 mW/cm2, 1 h	📱1/2, and 1 times that of a phone call, 🛜 much higher than modem @ 4ft	DOPAC increase in the pons and medulla oblongata at 10 mW/cm2
5-HT	Inaba et al. (15)	Rats	2450 MHz, 5 and 10 mW/cm2, 1 h	📱1 times that of a phone call, 🛜 much higher than modem @ 4ft	5-HIAA increase in the cerebral cortex at 5 and 10 mW/cm2. 5-HIAA:5-HT ratio increase in the cerebral cortex at 5 mW/cm2. 5-HT turnover rate increase in the pons and medulla oblongata
5-HT	Noor et al. (9)	Male albino rats	900 MHz, 1.165 W/kg, 0.02 mW/cm2, 1 h/day	📱500k times lower than a phone call, 🛜 same as a modem @ 4ft	Glycine increase in the midbrain after 1 month
ACh	Fujiwara et al. (25)	Mice	2.45 GHz		Transient elevated ACh content in the brain
ACh	Lai et al. (26)	Rats	2.45 GHz, 0.6 W/kg, 20 min	1/3 FCC safety standard	Choline uptake activity increase in the frontal cortex, hippocampus, and hypothalamus
ACh	Krylova et al. (27)	Rats	2.35 GHz, 1 mW/cm2	📱10 times lower than a phone call, 🛜 30 x modem @ 4ft	Decreased mAChR activity; increased number of mAChR receptors in the cerebral cortex
ACh	Testylier et al. (28)	Rats	2.45 GHz, 4 mW/cm2, 1 h	📱2 times lower than a phone call, 🛜 60 x modem @ 4ft	ACh decrease in the hippocampal CA1 area
ACh	Lai et al. (29)	Rats	Pulsed (2 μs, 500 pps) or continuous wave 2450 MHz microwaves, 45 min		Choline uptake decreased in the frontal cortex
Peptides	Lai et al. (30)	Rats	2450 MHz, 0.6 W/kg, 1 mW/cm2, 45 min	📱10 times lower than a phone call, 🛜 30 x modem @ 4ft	Three subtypes of opioid receptor blocked cholinergic activity decrease in the hippocampus induced by microwave radiation
Peptides	Lai et al. (31)	Rats	2450 MHz, 0.6 W/kg, 1 mW/cm2, 45 min	📱10 times lower than a phone call, 🛜 30 x modem @ 4ft	Pretreatment with opioid antagonists naltrexone or cholinergic agonists inhibited microwave-induced radial arm maze learning disorders
NO	Burlaka et al. (32)	Wistar rats	0.465 GHz, 1.0-6.0 mW/cm2 pulse duration 2 ms, 17.5 min	📱10 to 2 times lower than a phone call, 🛜 much higher than a modem @ 4ft	NO synthesis increase in mitochondria of neural cells, NO