¶ Intro / Opening
We have to come up with different tools to navigate the ADHD, making sure that everything is visible all the time. It's just very helpful
for me. But that's just my journey and I am just here to support others and how to not only navigate if they do want to do life without stimulants, that's great if not navigating adhd with stimulants to because there are dietary changes that you can make to heal your gut to heal your brain, as well as emotional regulation, stress dealing with cortisol, circadian rhythms, you know, like getting outside in the morning instead of looking at our phone all day long, so that we can sleep
better sleep is huge for ADHD, if you're not sleeping is you know, postpartum. I've never had such bad students when I didn't know how to sleep
Welcome to successful with ADHD day, I have Audrey Stinson. She's a certified functional nutrition counselor. And she specializes in ADHD, autism, autoimmune disorders, gut brain health. She is also a wife and mom of a beautiful two year old with cystic fibrosis. Originally an internationally published master photographer in New York City by trade and before I go on about Audrey, where Audrey and I have similar but different journeys, we both have ADHD, she does not
take Adderall. I do. So we're going to be talking a lot about an Adderall free life today. So it may trigger some people but we're not promoting one or the
other. We're just giving you all the information so you can make your own decision, of course with your doctor, so continued on about Audrey, she's now made it her sole mission after being a published master photographer in New York City to help others heal after learning how to navigate her own health issues, including ADHD, hypothyroid, anxiety, depression, and it's truly her journey that makes her the best person to help others. So she uses a functional nutrition root cause approach
with a focus on gut healing. And I'm sure she'll tell us more about that. Audrey actually grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, home of the blues, and she is there still right? You're in like by Tennessee. Okay, so, Audrey, welcome to successful with ADHD.
¶ Audrey shares her ADHD diagnosis story and early struggles.
Thank you so much for having me.
Yeah. So what did you discover that you had ADHD.
So I was diagnosed at age seven, by three different practitioners, I had a lot of mood instability issues, a lot of, you know, my mom would put me in timeout, I'd bang my head for like, you know, and so much so that I was just not controllable. I couldn't sit still I was fidgeting all the time, I couldn't focus in classrooms. Everything around me just seemed very intense. And it always it's still intense, you know, but learning how to manage that, as an adult, I feel felt
everything so deeply. And I now know a lot of that has to do with, you know, trauma and ADHD connection, as well as like, you know, what we're eating and all of those things daily, but they took me to three different practitioners, and they all diagnosed me they after, you know, talking to everyone, Adderall had just come on the market. I think they started me on Ritalin first, and then Adderall maybe like a little bit later, just because I couldn't
eat it all on Ritalin. That's when I was put on Adderall at seven at
seven. Okay. Gotcha. And you said before that you were beating your head up against the wall? Were you having a difficult time expressing your emotions? I
think yes. I mean, I grew up in a home a divorce early on. First, you know, from one year old on, I was going back and forth from home to home. And I think that I just never felt really safe. I never felt. And that's, I mean, my parents are amazing people but it as a child, you don't really differentiate what is trauma, you just don't know how
to deal with it. And you don't feel safe, because you don't ever have a specific place that is a safety and so it's having a lot of time, a lot of trouble regulating my emotions, just in general, I was very depressed and anxious as a child. And I've struggled with that my whole life. So the focus was just always, you know, always fidgeting I now know that I have more of like on the spectrum as well, in addition to
ADHD, and when you say on the spectrum autism Yes, on the autism
spectrum, you know, because I'm very like rigid about certain things and but there is a spectrum that's another thing that there's just so much that they didn't know back then that they do know now when they're doing diagnosis sometimes people are diagnosed with odd OCD, ADHD, as you know, as well as project them spectrum so it can get very complex but yes, that's in a nutshell, why they decided to put me on them. medication. At first. Yeah.
Okay. So what was your journey with Adderall? Because you said that Ritalin, you weren't able to really eat, you weren't hungry. So you started your journey with Adderall. And what was life like at seven, being on Adderall,
I was able to focus. But I went from being the friendliest. Like I got, you know, friendliest nomination when I was in like, first grade and all these things to like, not really having that friendly, like, very, like kind of isolating myself more alone. But I was able to focus, I was able to make good grades. But I felt very different and uncomfortable on my own skin more and more anxious even. And I did begin to use it later to suppress my
appetite. But I mean, for years, I just never thought I couldn't live without it. And it really did help until later, when I realized that it was starting to exacerbate some gut issues, and that I needed more medications, because I needed to come down in the evenings, I was like, super, you know, I couldn't sleep. So I would be drinking more. And then I would need an anti anxiety, Pell and antidepressant for like, the highs that I was
getting from the Adderall. And so I think that that over time, I just became on a lot of different meds at the same time just to navigate side effects of another. And I'm not, you know, saying not to take these meds. I'm just saying this is my experience. And what happened to me over time.
¶ Discussion about the challenges and side effects of being on Adderall.
So you
were struggling
with a lot of different medications and managing those. So you, you jumped from seven to adulthood. So you had mentioned before you got on Adderall, you had a lot of like emotional outbursts, you weren't really able to communicate in a way that was effective, because you were dealing with the trauma, the divorce, and then you got on the medication and your grades got better, your focus was better, what was the emotional piece like for you, I know, the social piece was not the same for you. My
anxiety was worse. And my depression was worse. But I was able to focus, I felt very isolated. And I also focused on things that I didn't love. Because it made me feel like I could do a lot of things instead of focusing on what I loved. And I began to say yes to too many things and things that I didn't really enjoy. And that's another thing is like, I went into a whole career as a photographer and this ego based
driven career and hustling. And yeah, and I needed the stimulants like to be able to function in the city, I couldn't do it without that. And so it became kind of an addiction as well, like, I started, you know, abusing it, because I needed more and more to be able to accomplish that lifestyle. Yeah, I mean, I feel like for me, it exacerbated a lot of underlying issues and made me feel like, it made me think that I love things
that I didn't love. And now I realized that that was ego driven, and not really who I was. So I've had to learn who I am for the first time after being on it for 23 years. Without it. I do think that there it does, in certain situations, it can be the only option for low income areas. When there's no choices for EMDR therapy, or dietary changes, and gut healing or, or emotional regulation techniques. Just trying those things first, I think can be very, very helpful.
For me, it just may. And I do also think that there are other medications for ADHD that can be very helpful. For me the Adderall just wasn't something that was good long term. Because it also started to, you're always in a constant fight or flight. So your body is never in a parasympathetic, rest and
digest state. And Dr. Ellen Bora actually talked about this recently, she's a holistic psychiatrist in New York City, and she had so many patients that were struggling with their gut health, then they were doing all the right things, all the emotional regulation things, all the food, and then they weren't healing. And in order to heal, you have to be able to be in a rest and digest state. And she started to realize over time that it was the stimulant that was not enabling their body to
rest and digest. So there is this inability to get into that calm state. Because we're always like, go go go. So that I think is something that I recognized for myself. It also just I felt very isolated from my peers and from friends and I felt very dependent on
and how do you feel now off of it?
¶ Insights into life off medication and finding passion-driven work.
I feel so much better off of it. Not going to say I never want it. Only time that I really struggled with being like, I would really like it Adderall right now, was probably postpartum when I was having no sleep at all. And I was like, I can't do this. But now, I mean, I'm able to see what it is that I love. And I think that's a big thing with ADHD is that we need to focus on something that we love. And that is a purpose driven career purpose driven path. And that's
just so important. And, and now I know that if I love it, it doesn't feel like work. If it's authentic, if it's true, it's just gonna go easily. And also just knowing that how I work, I don't work well like a nine to five, I work well, building my own schedule, like I can get a
lot done really quickly. Like, I can build a whole website in a day or an hour, they need a week to like crest, like, I mean, I'm just differently made and like learning like also not to overcommit, you know, at the beginning of your cycle when you're really excited, you know how periods and hormones and then when we get into our luteal phase, and we're like, what did I do? I can't like manage all
the things. So it's just learning to set those boundaries, these different tools that I've come up with. And you know, we have to come up with different tools to navigate the ADHD, making sure that everything is visible all the time. It's just very helpful for me. But that's just my journey.
And I am just here to support others and how to not only navigate, if they do want to do life without stimulants, that's great, if not navigating adhd with stimulants to because there are dietary changes that you can make to heal your gut to heal your brain. And as well as emotional regulation, stress dealing with cortisol, circadian rhythms, you know, like getting outside in the morning, instead of looking at our phone all day long, so that we can sleep
better. Sleep is huge for ADHD, if you're not sleeping is you know, postpartum. I've never had such bad when I didn't know how to
sleep. Oh, yeah, yeah, sleep affects everything. I just had an interview with a sleep doctor. And we all have different Chronotypes. Right? I'm a dolphin. So that means that, you know, my anxiety impacts my sleep. So I could have the best laid plans to have this reliable sleep cycle, go to bed at the same time wake up at the same time. But that doesn't mean that I'm going to actually have reliable sleep during those
hours. So it's fascinating how much that really does impact everything, including, like you said, the ADHD symptoms, they exacerbate. And some people actually think they have ADHD because they have insomnia. Because it can, it can come out like ADHD symptoms. But I wonder if it's okay with you, I want to go back to the tools and a lot of people will come to coaching and they'll say, hey, what do you recommend? Should I start medication right now, or, you know, work on behavioral stuff.
And obviously, it's personal for them, right. But like you said, skills aren't coming from pills, and it could help you focus, but it's not going to tell you what to focus on. So you have to understand what is a priority of yours to focus on how you're going to focus on it. Like you said, there's lots of tools out there. And then if all that works for you, great. If still, you need some more support, then fine. My whole family is on medication, it works for us. But
we also have the tools. So because I received coaching for a year before I started ADHD coaching, I received all the tools before I even knew I had ADHD. So that was super helpful for me in understanding how to cope with ADHD. But everyone's journey is different. And as you mentioned, there's many different types of medications out there. It's not just stimulants. There's other medications. So anyway, you had said that when you were on Adderall, you were socially
isolated. How do you feel now, as far as the social abuse
¶ How Audrey's social interactions and emotional health improved post-meds.
scale is much more friendly, much more outgoing, much more able to, to really connect, and have meaningful relationships, it's harder, there's more emotion there. And sometimes that can be hard to regulate, but I feel more you feel and for me, I can feel and I feel like when I was on Adderall, I didn't feel it helped numb a lot of things that I didn't want to deal with. And that's what I've you know, discussed with others too, that
did have issues with it. And cuz you know, ADHD and addiction can also kind of so like, if you don't have problems with that, then that's great. But it can be something that helps numb those feelings. You were
telling us that you came off Adderall as a young adult. Because for you it made you feel ways that were disingenuous. Tell me are you off of all of your medication right now because very often ADHD is complex and we don't I just put a microscope on the ADHD, it's everything that we need to look at.
So I did come off everything all at once I did it for about a year. It was it was very hard, but I did feel better off of the Adderall. I needed something for the depression at that time, especially postpartum. And I did go back on something that was a non stimulant, depression, medication Wellbutrin. But that also has a lot of side effects. And it doesn't work for everyone. So it's very complex. And I would always say, consult with your doctor before starting any kind of start with
medications. But for me, it's been helpful with the depression and the anxiety, especially postpartum, a hormonal issues that I had postpartum lack of progesterone postpartum. And the imbalances I am in the process of trying to come off of that, I don't know that I will be completely successful. But I am doing some deeper work on metal toxicity, some deeper gut healing right now, as well as neurofeedback, I am planning to do the brain based wellness emotional regulation program. So
that's my goal. I do I know that that's fully possible for me, I don't know. But I do know that it's been helpful in this time of transition for me, from coming off of a lot of meds to just being on one has as helped me. Yeah.
And I thank you for being vulnerable about that. Because it's not a one size fits all approach. And very often, we can't figure out the right medication for us, if we're going to stay on medication for like, two years. So for people listening, if you are trying, and you're ready to give up, don't speak to your doctor, and really just make sure that you know, you're looking at all the risk rewards, you're being patient in the
journey. I know it's hard. But I've worked with many clients, some of them that you know, Audrey, and they had a similar situation as you they came off Adderall. They came off their antidepressant. And then they said, Oh, wait, I need something, right, because it's a different phase of life, for whatever reason. It could be postpartum. It could be, you know, a transition that's really difficult to deal with, right?
So there's no shame in needing something, at least temporarily, to help you regulate, right, you're trying all of these things, you're doing EMDR you're doing this brain based emotional regulation program, you know, you are doing the red light therapy you're doing, you're doing everything right holistically that you can do and sometimes we need more. And that's okay. Again, you have to consult with your doctor about
it. But Wellbutrin has helped some of my clients as well, because it does help the ADHD as well as the depression anxiety,
¶ Exploring the connection between dopamine, depression, and ADHD.
it helps with the dopamine and the reward system. Specifically,
yeah, the depression, there's a risk reward in everything that we do. And really it comes down, I think, to evaluating what would life be like for you? Without it, like, can you try that? Does it feel good? Like do you feel that you're living a fulfilled life after quite some time? Or do I need to go back on it and risk the side effects? And, you know, so, again, it's really a personal and professional decision that needs to be made. But I appreciate you sharing that. ADHD
is hard. I mean, it's not how to use easy ADHD, you know, you we have to learn to not ever book ourselves to not say yes to things that we don't love to learn our trauma. I mean, trauma and ADHD are connected so heavily when you had that whole cop, you had that whole conversation with Dr. Gabor. And like he, he taught me so much about my trauma and how it is related, you know, to the
still face and all of that. And also dietary, a lot of times, you know, 70% of those with ADHD struggle with gluten sensitivity. There's a lot of dairy sensitivities out there. But also, that's usually due to gut imbalances that if we fix that we can kind of maybe tolerate that later and bring back in foods. No restriction diets for long term are good.
But it can be helpful in the beginning for an elimination period to see what it is that's causing certain issues or brain fog, or we do a lot of gut testing, gi map stool testing now. It's been really helpful for me and actually determining more about what's going on with me. There's been a lot of studies about the gut microbiome and ADHD and how we don't have
certain good bacteria. And so I learned about like having H. Pylori and I've been treating that I've been able to add that back in foods that were I wasn't able to eat. And so learning about that has also been helpful. I'm always on a journey as a functional nutrition counselor to to help others heal bio individually, we are all different. Every single person's, you know, genetic makeup is different. Some might be predisposed to psychosis, and maybe that's why they can't hurt
take certain medications. Some people might be fine with that. And also just looking at the underlying root cause to is it trauma? Is it mold in our home? Is it underlying copper toxicity? Do we have h pylori or candida overgrowth, there's just so much to look at, but starting small to like blood sugar balanced eating fat, fiber and protein in every meal, blood sugar for ADHD, like we just go up and down, we don't eat enough, and then we binge. And
¶ Key lifestyle changes for managing ADHD, including diet and sleep.
a lot of it also is like waking up in the morning. And the first thing some a lot of us do is just grab our coffee before the protein and fat or the water. We're breaking fast with caffeine.
Exactly. And that stimulates cortisol, which decreases neurotransmitters, which decreases our hormones. So if we can regulate our blood sugar, we can regulate our hormones and create more dopamine, but also eating animal protein eating protein is going to help us create those neurotransmitters complex carbs so that it can pass the blood brain barrier so that we can actually use the tryptophan and tyrosine and things to make dopamine to make norepinephrine
to make serotonin. So yeah, I'm getting outside the morning to like, that'll increase your serotonin. So like, we used to be outside more, and now we're inside and we're looking at our phones. And we ourselves need light.
Yeah, I mean, it's literally, I learned recently that walking outside, besides all the things that a lot of us know, with the dopamine and vitamin D, and the serotonin, it's EMDR. walking outside and looking at trees is EMDR. That's where it came from. It is literally gold to just go. But we don't all have that luxury to be able to do that. And that's why I know that you have
no you can add in some red light, you can add in some red light therapy, like you know, that'll help with some of that stress relief.
Oh, hey, do you feel less stressed now?
I do I actually do when I did to 15 minutes before we got on the call. But when I don't get outside enough, I use that. It's very helpful. Yeah, seasonal depression.
Yeah, so what I love about what you're saying is it's complex. There's lots of different tools and tips out there, you're always under a microscope of some sort to try to figure out what your best route is what your best health is, and your understanding because you know, hormones can change your pretty much everything. But you know, every day things can be different in your body. So you are being your own best practitioner to put your best foot forward and in now like the best things for
you. Now, with ADHD, though, as you know, a lot of us can't make a decision because there's so much overload so you just gave us a wealth of tools and information. Where does someone start when they're trying to heal their gut health. So
the number one thing I would say is eat breakfast before a drink or coffee. Get outside in the morning, move your body and eat fat fiber and protein every meal ever eating every three to four hours and sleep consistently. Like getting to bed before 10 o'clock because after 10 o'clock our cortisol spikes and we can't go to sleep and you know just kind of know naked carbs like doing the veggie then the protein fat and the carb or the
sugar or the fruit. It's not It's not saying don't eat the carbs don't eat the sugar it's saying eat them in the right
order. And make sure that we're eating enough like we as ADHD will just like not eat breakfast, not eat lunch and then we just binge and I think a lot of that is because well firstly like you know emotional dysregulation but really it's our blood sugar it's tanking because we're just not eating all day like we're like I'm not interested and then all of a sudden it drops and we're just like we got to eat food
controller. So I think like learning to manage our blood sugar with ADHD is huge wearing you know glucose monitor can be helpful but the blood sugar thing the eating fat fiber protein, getting outside, moving your body and sleep. Those are my key things. Because if you're not doing the basics, then it doesn't really matter about the other stuff.
under percent Yeah,
¶ The role of rejection sensitivity in ADHD and coping strategies.
I don't know if that's
if that's no Oh, that's that's huge because my book activate your ADHD potential. And as ADHD errs we're overachievers we are we want to conquer the world and do everything all yesterday. And if we don't conquer our hierarchy of needs, and we don't get that sleep, we don't eat well, we don't. And when I say well eat for our bodies, we don't go outside, we don't drink enough water, all of those things, there's, you're not going to be productive. And then you're going to be shaming yourself and
overwhelmed. So I love that. You said start there, when it comes to your gut health, because I would say that's the gut brain connection. And that's everything right? Everything starts with the physiological needs that we need as humans before we can do anything else.
Exactly. Yeah, definitely. And that rejection sensitivity is a big one too with ADHD. And for that kind of thing, I think it's great to do coaching with someone like you to do accountability sessions. I do a lot of like, things what I don't like to do like all set up a zoom with someone else. Yeah, body journaling is key. Yeah, but there were sensitivity is one of the things I think that
doesn't really go away. I feel like you can mask a lot of the other stuff with best the one I feel like it's the the hardest to to, to, it's not that it doesn't go away. It's just that you have learned to recognize it and feel it and be like, Why am I feeling this way? What is like, what is this trigger telling me? Oh, I need to work more on that like, exactly. But it's not that it goes away. It's that we learned to recognize it and honor it.
Well, it's like ADHD, ADHD, in my opinion does not go away. It is a lifelong condition. So we have to honor how our brain works. The symptoms might change over time. And it's the same thing with RST. With RST though. Dr. Dotson does talk about some medications like guanfacine that can help treat RST. Yeah, so that's some new research out there, that anyone dealing with RST, who has tried all the behavioral approaches might want to ask their doctor about, but I
agree with you with RSD. A lot of it comes from the comparing and the negative emotions that we've had to deal with, in not being able to manage our ADHD throughout our childhood. Once we realize that, we can notice things and respond differently. And also the EMDR I'm going through it as well. It is helping me God, you know, it's helping me understand my triggers where they came from, and not having that physiological response. So is RSD still there? Yeah, but I'm not responding the same way.
Exactly.
Exactly. And, you know, it can be you know, I was bullied as a young girl, targeting that now, when I, you know, I'm triggered. I'm like, Oh, I see that from afar. I see that where that came from, but I'm not gonna like React heart, like very reactive, you know, like, if he were very reactive to, you know, to do something quickly and like rash and we don't think about it. Now. It's like, okay, wait. That's not that's, that's not real. That's
due to trauma. And I think it's more about being able to recognize that as the trauma and it's not a real thing that's going on. So EMDR has been very powerful for me as well.
¶ Addressing trauma and its impact on ADHD management.
Yeah. Yeah. And just like RSD is something that can really inhibit us, RS II, which Dr. Halliwell talks about, which is basically getting positive feedback. You know, we do need that positive feedback as ADHD is because we're not used to it. It can give us a euphoria that can make us work so much more and do so much more and beyond this natural high just by getting positive reinforcement. So Audrey, thank you for coming on to successful with ADHD and
sharing your story. It's stories like yours that our listeners can resonate with, and feel less alone and pick out things in these talks that perhaps they might want to pursue. So if someone is looking to heal their gut health or just wants to talk to you, where can they find you?
So you can find me at Audrey Stimson on Instagram, Audrey stimson.com. And then obviously, Audrey at Audrey simpson.com. You can email me with any questions or anything I'm here to support you. Thank
you. Thanks for listening to this episode of successful with ADHD. I hope it helps you on your journey. And if you need any additional support for you or a loved one with ADHD, feel free to reach out to us at coaching with brooke.com and all social media platforms at coaching with Brooke and remember, it's Brooke with any Thanks again for listening. See you next time.