The rise of ADHD diagnosis: Growing awareness through shared experiences

04 August 2025: This week Hamish and Kyle we delve into Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder - the rise in diagnoses, growing public awareness, and the increasing number of people sharing their experiences. They explore what it means to receive a diagnosis later in life, how others respond, and why open conversations about ADHD are helping to reduce stigma and build understanding.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
You're listening to a podcast from News Talks ed B.
Follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
This is the Nutters Club, thanks to New Zealand on
air on News Talks EDB.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
You're infantra.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
Well.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Good evening and welcome to The Nutters Club, the show
that talks about your mental house every Sunday night and
Monday morning and try to see if we can't help
you out along the way. My name is Hamish Williams,
and a very good evening to you wherever you might
be listening around the country, around the world. Don't really

(01:03):
have anyone to say special good evening to you as
except all of you who are just listening here tonight.
It's actually been an amazing week. I'm not sure where
you are or where you've been yourself, but I've been
very much at home. As you may remember if you
were listening last week, my voice was a little bit
gravely and I didn't get much better. So actually I've
been a bit under the weather this week, but I
have bounced back in time for the show and just

(01:27):
wanted to think what an amazing week of weather that
we've had him And it was a bit stormy on Tuesday,
because of course, you know, it was all sorts of
threats of tsunamis and the light coming here. But we
managed to survive that and the weather has been quite nice.
I've recovered. I mowed the lawns today, just all kind
of falling into place. So really, it's just lovely to

(01:49):
have your company, and I hope wherever you are that
you've been able to have a productive weekend as well.
Speaking of productive, he's my psychotherapist, he's your psychotherapist, and
he's Cale McDonald. He's here in the studio with me, Kyle,
good evening. You are to done anything productive this weekend
for yourself.

Speaker 4 (02:07):
I went to lovely midwinter Christmas party last night. I'm
not sure how productive it was, but it was only fun.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
Well that's a nice mid mid year thing to do,
is it not?

Speaker 5 (02:15):
It is?

Speaker 4 (02:16):
And actually, you know, very much in line with a
lot of things that we talk about on the show.
You know, my business partner and good friend who you
you know as well, has an annual couple of annual parties.
But the midwinter Christmas when we were sitting there last night,
my good partner and I Meredith, and we were thinking
I think it must be about twenty years we've been
coming to this and you know, so there's some people

(02:36):
who've been coming for the same length of time, and
there's people that come and go. But it's just it's
those kinds of rhythms in life and connections I think
are really important.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
And did you have a good Christmas?

Speaker 6 (02:48):
Though?

Speaker 2 (02:48):
Light? You did? You dresses, Sandi? We just have to
put a hat on you really and you did to.

Speaker 4 (02:52):
Go no, no, But I did have a Christmas shirit
in fact, and there were a couple of extremely ridiculous
Christmas jumpers which I was very impressed by, with flashing
lights and everything.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
So a bit of a sucker for a Christmas jumper.

Speaker 4 (03:02):
Yeah, And the problem with some of those is you
can't wear them. But to see, if you have a
regular midwinter Christmas party, then you can wear your ridiculous
get up every year.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
And it works, it does you know what, Carl, I
want to talk of tonight because tonight, by the way,
to all of you listening tonight, it's very much your
show tonight, So really want your calls, want to hear
from you. Oh, eight hundred and eighty ten eighty is
the number where you can text us on nine two
nine two. Tonight, I really wanted to talk about diagnosis,
about mental health diagnosis, because we've actually talked about this before.

(03:32):
I think last time we talked about it, we took about,
you know, what getting a diagnosis is like, to kind
of understand that experience. But tonight is a little bit different.
I wanted to talk about the fact that people seem
to be sharing their diagnosis, or at least some kinds
of diagnosis quite openly. People kind of really going all out.

(03:54):
And I've seen this a lot on social media increasingly,
so on all the different platforms. Really, I wouldn't say
that one's more prevalent than the other, but the one
which I've heard and seen a lot of people being
really open about is ADHD. So ADHD, if you don't know,
stands for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and it seems to

(04:16):
be a lot of people have been very public about
it and sort of sort of saying, you know, I've
been diagnosed, I'm on my ADHD journey. I've seen people
sharing insights into how medication has been affecting them and
all the light. Now, all in all, I've got no
issue with this in fact, it's not about having an

(04:37):
issue with it or not. It's just interesting because I
don't know sixteen seventeen years ago, you wouldn't have heard that,
let alone in conversation. I don't remember anyone really ever
bringing up their mental health diagnosis. But I wondered in
our evolution of wanting to be able to be more
open about our mental health, being able to articulate it.

(05:00):
It was interesting to me that I can see a
lot of people talking about, say adhd anxiety is another
one which people will seem to be quite open about.

Speaker 5 (05:10):
That.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
Very famous Hollywood star has been talking about his anxiety.
Petro Pascal, the Mandalorian, the Mandalorian, mister fantastic God. He's
in everything and the Last of Us Game of Thrones.
It's pretty much he's in everything these days. But he's
been talking about his anxiety very openly. But it doesn't

(05:31):
extend to all mental health diagnosis. So like, for instance,
I don't see a lot of people saying, hey, I
suffer from bipolar. You know I have bipolar disorder and
you know or you know I've got schizophrenia. Yeah, I
don't see that coming out a lot. So why are
we talking more openly about some mental health diagnosis and

(05:54):
not so much about others. Is there some sort of
correalation or a ranking where we feel that some have
become i don't know, socially acceptable and others we still
don't want to go near.

Speaker 4 (06:04):
Yeah, it's a big question, but let's just start specifically
with eighty H. So ADHD is a diagnosis that's been
around for a long time. It used to be add
they put the chin to recognize the hyperactivity. So it's
a difficulty that people have with It's a very particular
difficulty istuale. It's easy to say, oh, their attention is disordered,

(06:26):
so therefore they're distracted all the time, which is not
true at all. Actually, what you find with people who
really struggle with ADHD is there's particular kinds of attention
that they struggle with, and that the hyperactivity is the behavior.
So it's the leg jiggling, it's the fiddling, it's the twitching,
it's the externally noticeable behavior. What's interesting is that it's

(06:47):
a diagnosis that historically has always been diagnosed first in childhood.
In fact, technically there have to have been symptoms present
in childhood, so it's a lifelong disorder, and as you say, Hamish,
historically it's tended to be something that people get diagnosed
with at school because they're struggling with learning or sitting
still in education, and historically predominantly a diagnosis of of

(07:09):
boys and men. What's changed, and we don't know why.
There's lots of theories, but it is true that more
and more people are the rate of diagnosis is increasing.
Some people think that maybe something's changed. I think what's
generally happened is that we've actually got a better understanding
now of what the internal experience of ADHD is. So

(07:31):
the distractability that the internal experience of not being able
to focus or having a busy mind to the point
where people feel really anxious and uncomfortable or feel exhausted
by just trying to do quote normal things, and often
that we've seen alongside that it increase in the rate
of women girls being diagnosed because the sort of the

(07:55):
stereotype is that girls are quieter with ADHD. They don't
tend to get the behavioral response in schools, so they
often fly under the radar. One of the things though,
that when we come to think about diagnosed more generally
is somewhere we draw a line and we say it's
either a problem for you or it's not a problem,

(08:15):
because something like ADHD, for instance, exists on a continuum
like people can recognize aspects of themselves, and most diagnoses
that they look hard enough. But for it to be diagnosable,
it has to have caused negative impacts in your life.
And so what's I think happening with a lot of
people is they're getting to adulthood and they've learned ways

(08:35):
to cope with their ADHD, with the way their brain
is wide, they've made it through school, they've got a
you know that their life has been a relative success,
and so it hasn't been really obvious. But what they're
finding is that they're struggling mentally and emotionally with this
sort of the load of the way in which their
brain works, and then trying to sort of force themselves
to sit at a desk and do a job that

(08:56):
doesn't require a lot of moving around or a lot
of engagement with different things, which is how often ADHD
brains work. Having said all of that, there's also an
idea which is that actually ADHD is in a disorder
at all. It's actually just a way that some people's
brains work that are differently, in the same way that
we look now at autism as it existing on a spectrum.

(09:18):
And so actually what we're looking at is, you know,
maybe this isn't quote pathological. Maybe we've actually just expected
everybody to sit at a desk when they were seven
and learned their time stables when some people just aren't
wired that way and they need a different kind of learning.

Speaker 2 (09:32):
Yeah. And I think, you know, just when you're sort
of talking about the you know, diagnosing people as well.
You know, I have heard conversations with parents sitting around
diagnosing each other's kids. Yeah, you know, I have has
this person got a bit of autism? And things like this.
This has become part of the conversation.

Speaker 4 (09:52):
Yeah, well that's a I mean, I was gonna say,
that's a whole nother conversation, but that's the conversation we're
having tonight. It is because that's the part of it
where actually the flip side of the wonderful destigmatization work
that actually, you know, this show and many many others
have done over the last couple of decads, is the
level of literacy now about diagnosis about mental health issues

(10:13):
about learning and developmental issues like ADHD and autism is
much much higher than it was twenty years ago. The
flip side of that is that it can start to
feel like everybody's sort of diagnosing each other. And of course,
you know, there's one of the things that people get
concerned about, particularly with neurodiversity and autism and ADHD diagnoses,
is the so called kind of TikTok diagnosis, right where

(10:36):
people are seeing things on social media and kind of
going that's me, which I'm sure feels really nice and
it may actually be validating, and it may be that
you are discovering something about yourself. But what's also true
is that when we're looking to understand ourselves, we can
also get drawn into these ideas in ways it can
be unhelpful as well.

Speaker 2 (10:55):
So Lock, let's put the question into your listening tonight,
because we want to bring you into this conversation. Have
you been diagnosed with ADHD or perhaps something else and
do you know anyone else who has being diagnosed and
what has been your reaction to them? You know, what
has been your experience perhaps receiving the diagnosis or even

(11:19):
being told by somebody about the diagnosis. I mean we
we're talking about ADHD, but it could be something else
as well. So we'd like to hear if you've been diagnosed,
what was the reaction that you had for yourself or
perhaps when somebody else told you, what was that experience
O eight one hundred and eighty, ten to eighty, or

(11:39):
give us a text if you like. On nine two
nine two. We're going to take a break and we'll
take your calls straight away. Back soon here tonight on
the Nutters Club. Nutters Club now on News Talks. It'd
be hey, welcome back to the show. I'm going to
get them to the calls. But look, just on the break, Kyle,
we were just having a quick conversation here about the
medication side of ADHD, because it's one thing to say, Mabie,

(12:02):
you've got ADHD, you've been diagnosed with it, but actually
with the diagnosis often can come medication, retalin.

Speaker 4 (12:12):
Being the one that most people have heard of, right, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (12:14):
But you say, there's something about the way that the
medication works which really ends up being the absolute diagnosis
of ADHD, because you can have symptoms of ADHD, but
the medication ends up really being the acid test.

Speaker 4 (12:30):
Yeah, so it's not the only treatment for ADHD, but
most people will try the medication at some point if
they're diagnosed. Now, methyl fenidata is the technical generic name
for rettalin. It's a kind of stimulant. It's actually a
chemical cousin of methamphetamine. And what it does for people
who have ADHD that the way their brain is wired

(12:50):
is they don't experience the stimulation effect that we would
expect because it's quite a powerful stimulant. If you were
right to take it, Hamish, we'd be up to you know,
four or five in the morning and feeling very uncomfortable
and overstimulated. People with ADHD actually find that it clears
their mind and actually they experience a sense of subjective
of relaxation and calming. And that's because it's what we

(13:11):
call a paradoxical effect. Their brain is constantly trying to
stimulate to get to a level of comfort. That's what
all the twitching and the hyperactivity and the agitation is about.
With the medication, it stimulates them to a point of comfort.
And so it's possible that people may self diagnose with THEIRDHD,
but if they trial the medication and find that they

(13:31):
have that paradoxical effect, then it's a big green tick
in terms of the diagnosis. It's kind of a diagnostic
test in some ways.

Speaker 2 (13:38):
Okay, well let's go to the lines. Tom, good evening,
to you, good evening.

Speaker 7 (13:45):
I was I got EARLYHD that I was never diagnosed
or ADHD, but I definitely have it because I had
two children. One of them died, dropped dead than a
house and Harmilton morblely obast it couldn't eve chairs in

(14:09):
my eyes. He had to sit on the floor and
he had a heart attack in the hall. And Hamilton,
I've got a daughter who's still alive, and both of
them would buy those with ADHD.

Speaker 2 (14:25):
I'm terribly sorry to hear about your son, Tom, that's really,
really terrible.

Speaker 3 (14:30):
The terrible.

Speaker 7 (14:31):
I have learnt to live with it using cycling and
even though it's seventy to nine. Usually exercise as a
form of therapy. You've got to use positive things as
a form of therapy.

Speaker 2 (14:51):
When you say exercise, Tom, how much how much exercise
are we talking about? What do you do that that
helps sort of keep everything in balance for yourself?

Speaker 7 (14:59):
Well, I would do about I've done one hundred today,
one hundred to night, hundred exercises to night and it's
to do it. They can't because I've had a heart file. See,
I'm not being negative. Tried not to be negative because
because I've had a major heart operation and I've had

(15:21):
it's taking me two years. I'm I'm one hundred percent.
Now I'm jumping out of my skin at the moment
and I'm lying in bed. But that's the way, that's
the way it happened. But you've got to deal with
it positively. And anger management was a great thing for me,

(15:42):
for them to deal with your anger and not use anger.

Speaker 8 (15:45):
As the tool.

Speaker 7 (15:47):
And that includes the children. Ritlin I don't I had
two of them, one rittling, but just I had a
daughter who is I have a daughter who was very
destructive in class and as soon as they put her
on rittle and she was the best behead child in

(16:08):
the class. And that's how much it had changed her.
But in seeing that, I'm going to be very negative
here when I see things. But now I believe, and
I've had enough years behind me, I believe if people

(16:31):
would die in Norse earlier enough, I don't think they
should have any children. And that's a terrible thing to say,
because they end up with swiftling because the father gives
the written to the kids that are born. Am I

(16:52):
correct in seeing that?

Speaker 2 (16:53):
Well, look, that's that's an opinion, Tom, and you're most
welcome to have yours. And there there it is. But
I think it's a it's an interesting observation that you've had,
especially around the exercise, you know, self self inflicted exercise.
And it's to say, not for nothing, but at age
seventy nine, as you have revealed yourself tonight doing one

(17:15):
hundred exercises, whatever they may be, that's pretty damn good
at seventy nine, Tom heads off to you.

Speaker 7 (17:22):
But yeah, but I had no choice. You've got to
think along those ways. I was I can't take a
fish oil anymore. I couldn't take certain to relieve my joints.
I was in hell of a pain in my low back,
and certain exercises come up on my telephone. There was

(17:46):
a man who was ninety four. I can't remember who
he's doing. You should have seen this man at ninety four,
and all of the exercises he was doing was offered cheer.

Speaker 5 (17:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (17:58):
Well, look, I mean that's the thing. You don't even
actually need that much to do it. I mean bless them.
Sir Michael Hill who died this week, and I saw
a story about a guy who just two months ago
was in the same gym as him, and Michael was
on the rowing machine and telling yelling at the young
guy on the bike. He put us back into it. Hey, Tom,

(18:23):
thank you so much for the call. We've got to
keep going. We're going to exercise is.

Speaker 4 (18:26):
A really effective way of managing ADHD symptoms too, by
the way, so big tick on that front.

Speaker 2 (18:31):
Okay, all right, it gets the clinical tick. Good to
know we're going to take a break and we come back.
I've got Peter on the line. I would love to
hear from you as well. Have you had a diagnosis
an ADHD diagnosis in your life and what was your
reaction to it? Or have you known somebody in your
life who has to Tom had both of his kids

(18:52):
there who've had it, and perhaps you have as well.
What's been your experience with that diagnosis, How does it
affected life for yourself? Helpful or did it bring up
more questions than answers? Let us know. One hundred and
eighty teen eighty back in the mine. This is the

(19:12):
Nutters Club. Thanks to New Zealand on news Dogs. That'd
be okay, welcome back to the show. Interesting point. I
just wanted to pick up from tom Our last chord there. Yes,
you know, when he was sort of saying that his
kids had it and he and he's pretty sure that
you know, he might. And the exercise was really interesting
because you know, exercise is legitimately, like you just said, it,

(19:33):
a way to deal with it. But there is there
common sometimes, like you know, the the kids get diagnosed
and then the parents go, hey, maybe there's something going
on here with me.

Speaker 4 (19:44):
Look, anecdotally, I've heard of a number of people whose
experience of being diagnosed as an adult has been a
consequence of their children being diagnosed. And you know, just
quietly sometimes that looks like, hey, maybe I'll just try
my kids medication and see if it makes it feel
the same way as it does them, And strangely enough,
it does, and so they turn up at the doctors

(20:05):
and find out that they've actually had the diagnosis their
whole life too.

Speaker 2 (20:09):
Hold on here, you say, the parents are just like jumping,
you know, hewing into their kids.

Speaker 4 (20:12):
Riddle a big life. It happens, Let's give it a home.
It happens because if you understand it. That's the dog
I mean, I'm not advocating that, right. It's actually a
scheduled medication, so it's a very naughty thing to do,
but it is something that happens.

Speaker 2 (20:26):
Yeah, well look within the within the privacy of your
own Well, there's quite.

Speaker 4 (20:31):
A strong argument that is genetic, which doesn't mean that
it's a life center. It's not the same thing. Not
everybody who has a parent will develop ADHD as a
parent who has ADHD, but it does seem to run
in families for lots of reasons, and so it's it's
not that uncommon.

Speaker 2 (20:49):
I got a text here that says my son was
diagnosed with ADHD this year and he copes better in school,
which has been life changing. And yes he's medicated.

Speaker 4 (20:57):
Yeah, and that's that's the thing is And the good
thing about the medication too, with particular, if you're out
there listening and you might be worried about your kids,
standard prescribing instructions by almost at Monday to Friday and
then give them a break over the weekend, because it's
not something you have to take every day, and it's
also not dependents creating, so you can stop and start
the medication in a way that suits.

Speaker 2 (21:18):
You to what. I have a quiet compliant CID for
the teacher Monday to Friday, and then you have to
stomach at a weekend.

Speaker 4 (21:23):
I just seen them out running and cook the football around.

Speaker 2 (21:27):
Sounds good, Yes, all right, let's go back to the lines. Peter,
good evening to you.

Speaker 6 (21:33):
Oh good usually just bringing about ADHD. Yeah, how I was,
how I was nosed, was started all by I was
going to kick out of residential home.

Speaker 2 (21:48):
Right, uh?

Speaker 6 (21:51):
Yeah, well you got kicked out out a residential home
by one of the social workers. I had nowhere to go,
so I just thought, oh well, I'll sit down there,
pop into the doctors and see him. And as I
want to see the doctors, the doctor SEITD me. Can

(22:16):
I help you?

Speaker 2 (22:17):
You know?

Speaker 6 (22:17):
Yeah yeah, but real been shaking my hear here, be
chopping up and down. Can you help me? Yeah? The
doctor year And the doctor was asking all these questions
about ADHD study from number one or the waight teen.
I was not in my head, you know, yeah, yeah,

(22:40):
and oh you've got ADHD of what we're going to
see you at the meetward you know, sideboard or are
we it's please?

Speaker 9 (22:50):
Oh?

Speaker 6 (22:50):
I was so happy. You know, I had a bet asleep,
so I stayed at the sideboard for about two months
after they have to play real free read.

Speaker 2 (23:07):
There you go and hopefully you know, getting some access
to some good help as well.

Speaker 4 (23:14):
Yeah, and just to be clear, I mean, ADHD on
its own is not something that people are usually hospitalized for.
In case people were out there getting concerned. Yeah, but
I mean it often does present as part of a
cluster of mental health difficulty.

Speaker 2 (23:26):
So some people do, right, So it can be one
thing of many, correct, right, Okay, so it's not always
an isolation, that's right. Okay, Well, look, we have touched on,
you know, quite a few of the different ways that
the diagnosis can come about and the like. But I've
still got this text here, Kyle, and I'm mentioning your
feedback on it says it's become quite fashionable to say

(23:47):
you have ADHD or anxiety, but like gluten intolerance, where
it feels sometimes like every second person seems to say
they are gluten intolerant. Of course, many of the above
are simply not legitimate diagnosises. So just before we go
into too that part, Now, what constitutes a legitimate diagnosis?

Speaker 4 (24:08):
Well, there's a set of criteria that are very clear
and written down and you have to meet those criteria
and they have to cause difficulties in your life. So
just very quickly, because we haven't actually touched on it
in any detail. Generally, what we expect to see with
ADHD as a series of inattentive behaviors like distraction and
so on. Often hyperactive behaviors, restlessness, fidgetting, often impulsive behaviors.

(24:31):
So impulsivity is part of the diagnosis, as is emotional impulsivity.
I mean, our first caller talked about Tom talked about anger,
for instance, and what we call executive function functioning. That's
the being late, losing things, trouble organizing those sorts of things.
So that's a broad swathe of what the symptoms look
like in terms of a legitimate diagnosis. Technically, in New Zealand,

(24:56):
at least a psychiatrist or a clinical psychologist or a
psychotherapist can make a clinical diagnosis of a psychiatric disorder.
Most people go to a psychiatrist because they can prescribe
the meds as well, and it is something that some
people specialize in just to come to the thrust of
the texts thoughts, though, I think there's a counter argument,
which I believe very strongly, which is whether it be

(25:18):
you know, gluten intolerance or whether it be ADHD for
that matter, I think we're always learning more. And so,
you know, the stereotype of the kids who used to
get diagnosed in ADHD of being the most naughty, the
most disrupted, the most difficult, those were the really obvious ones.
You couldn't miss them, right, yeah, yeah, yeah. What we
now understand is that there's actually also an inattentive presentation,

(25:39):
which were the kids who were sitting at the back,
who looked fine, but we're a million miles away and
didn't learn very much and came out of the school
system having it not really served them very well. And
so what we now understand is that what often presents
is quote naughtiness is actually difficulty being able to regulate
oneself in the same way that actually some people who
have ADHD don't present in an obvious way at all

(26:02):
and don't discover it until later in life. So as
we understand more the number of people diagnosed growth.

Speaker 2 (26:08):
Okay, excellent thoughts there, Let's keep the conversation going. We'd
love to hear from you your experience with the ADHD diagnosis.
Was it a surprise when you win and got your diagnosis?
When you know, and let's be honest when I say
you go and got your diagnosis, it's not like you
turn up at the psychiatrist and be like, I'll just
have one diagnosis off the top shelf, please. It's not

(26:30):
quite how it works quite a big deal, does it.
Actually there's quite a legitimate process. And I think that
that's an interesting thing that the texts said, you know,
how do you how do you know it's legitimate? Yeah,
so I think we've established that. But also to what
I haven't heard from people yet so much is what
others reactions are when you hear that? Is it? You know?

(26:51):
Do people go are they really supportive to you and
they go, hey, it's fantastic, good for you, you know,
great that you know it? Are they weary? Do they
ask questions about it? What does that look like when
you get that ADHD diagnosis? What was it like for
you or perhaps somebody that you know, someone close to you?
What was your reaction when someone you work with told

(27:12):
you we'd love to hear from you. O eight hundred
and eighty ten eighty. We're going to come to Kerry
after the break here tonight on Another's Club, Nuss's Club.
Now on News Talks. I'd be hey, welcome back to
the show. I'm just going to quickly go to a
couple of texts. This one says, I'm forty eight and
have just been diagnosed in the last few months with ADHD.
My husband was researching it for our daughter. Next thing,

(27:37):
he's telling me everything he's read perfectly explained me. I
was surprised, as I'd always wondered. Once diagnosed, no one
was surprised. It's been very helping. I'm less reactive, frustrated,
and overwhelmed. Thanks Lara, Yeah, thanks Larah.

Speaker 4 (27:52):
I mean it's the thing about a diagnosis, when it
goes well, it helps us to understand ourselves in way
which makes us more conscious and more aware.

Speaker 2 (28:00):
Quick question here, Hey guys, how can you get assessed
for ADHD for a teen if the doctor won't refer you?
Also some different in girls and boys is from Mary.

Speaker 4 (28:11):
So first question, you can self refer to a psychiatrist.
You don't need to be referred by a GP. So
if the GPS where you're hitting a brick wall, get
on the old Google machine, find psychiatrists in your area
and do a ring round as so when you can
get an appointment to see somebody. Second of all, yes,

(28:32):
it does present often differently in boys and girls, the stereotype,
and obviously these categories are always a bit blurry in reality,
but the stereotype, as boys tend to present as more hyperactive,
so they see the behaviors more. Girls tend to present
as more inattentive. So often it's an internal subjective experience
of distraction and inattentiveness with less of the hyperactive and

(28:54):
physically impulsive behaviors.

Speaker 2 (28:56):
Okay, thank you very much. Let's go back to the lines. Kerry,
good evening to you, Good evening.

Speaker 10 (29:02):
Home, shinkyos. Yes, when I was a child and lived
in a count and all my schooling I was a
lonely child, couldn't concentrate. My school days were really hard,
just because I felt different from everybody else. And we

(29:26):
then we moved down to them edan and life went on.
But we moved down to the needing and then I
found I was talking to a friend and she had
given me a book by doctor Greene, The ADHD Child.

Speaker 7 (29:41):
Okay, and that was exactly me to achieve.

Speaker 10 (29:46):
And also my middle bush and now I had two
grandchildren and they are adhd for the Mets as well,
and it's just it's just such a lonely, horrible it
can be such a lonely horrible life.

Speaker 2 (30:04):
Well, what makes it lonely and horrible? Caring?

Speaker 10 (30:08):
Because she you're different to other people? Well, you can
be different to others. You are different to other people.

Speaker 2 (30:18):
How how so what what what are the what are
the major differences as you see them?

Speaker 10 (30:23):
Well, my days at school, I just didn't get on
with people. I don't know what. I don't know what
it was, but always felt left out. Couldn't it wasn't bright,
couldn't do what other people could do. Yeah, it was
just nearly it was the school year. Years were really

(30:46):
really hard. And my mother said, she used to say,
and that even the school teachers did you know, we
could take it to as psychologist, but that would only
make make the problem, make a problem knowing. But I
already felt different and and like that was that was

(31:08):
fifteen years ago, and so nothing you know, there wasn't
written and around or there wasn't you know, they.

Speaker 7 (31:15):
Just said it.

Speaker 10 (31:15):
Some people just said, oh, she's just a naughty child that,
you know, because there wasn't anything to help. But now
my daughter, she's been on with her and she was
a different child on that and so are my grandchildren too,
And how.

Speaker 2 (31:34):
Does that make you feel now when you know you
can sort of see them and perhaps you know behavior
or scenarios that might feel familiar, but see them now
with the diagnosis and the support.

Speaker 10 (31:48):
Well, it's just it's just it's just made them. It's
just made them, made them better. Like my middle daughter
was always you know, we'd go to the supermarket and
she'd say I want this and I want that, and
she was always naughty in the supermarket, every revery rich
was always naughty. And and my grand children often I

(32:09):
take them out and you know, they start arguing and
fighting and pairing on and they're not normally meditated at
the weekend, so then it has to take them when
they're not medicated words at school they are and they
really are different children. They you know, they're really quite
harsh and it's and it's it is a shame because

(32:32):
they just don't the weird boy. My grandson hates school
and I hated school, absolutely hated school. With being hated it.

Speaker 2 (32:40):
What was it that you hated about it, Carrie.

Speaker 10 (32:43):
Well, it was just it was just I couldn't concentrate.
I couldn't do I couldn't I wasn't right, I couldn't
do I couldn't do anything. Maths was always the problem.
Couldn't answer the questions, couldn't you know the numbers, just
couldn't do the mass and it was just literally horrible.

Speaker 2 (33:06):
Just felt like a really negative place to be.

Speaker 10 (33:08):
Right, Yeah, yeah, yeah, really really negative. Had no friends,
you know, and kids used to have parties since and say, oh,
scientists having a birthday, and of course I never got invited.
And that used to happen to my middle daughter as well.
Kids would be having parties, but she never got invited

(33:29):
because they were sort of always you like a nuisance.
Yet you're impulsive, and yes, you want to know what's
going on, but other people don't want you to know
what's going on, and you just feel you just feel
that you're different from everybody else.

Speaker 2 (33:45):
Yeah, okay, I hear. And And in terms of what's
going on with your grandkids now, they are they sorry
I'm not sure if you said it, but are they
getting medicated or not?

Speaker 10 (33:55):
Yeah? They are.

Speaker 2 (33:56):
Yeah, And are you seeing a difference?

Speaker 8 (34:00):
Oh?

Speaker 10 (34:01):
Is there is? There's a huge difference when you medicated.

Speaker 7 (34:04):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 10 (34:05):
And the grandson just hates school. Then you know, he's
only few teens.

Speaker 2 (34:11):
Yes.

Speaker 10 (34:11):
And then the granddaughter, she's a living and she she
just I don't even know whether she could. I don't
even know whether she could really write an actual story.
So I speak to my son and he said, she
will find your way a bit like I did. Just
I mean, the school system isn't for everybody.

Speaker 2 (34:32):
Yeah, yeah, it's not. No, it's not a one size
fits all. And you know, here's the thing. Here's the thing, Kirian,
And if you haven't told them already, then you can
pass it on from Hamish and Kyle here at Another's Club.
Is that your grades that you get at school will
not define who you are as a person. They really don't.

(34:52):
And that can feel really hard at thirteen to believe.
But I'll tell you what. Tell you what. I had
a math teacher, evil old bat and I don't like
talking bad about people, but she really was. And she
used to stand over us at Saint Kevin's College there
in Omruh. She used to say to me, you know

(35:14):
if you don't pass school certificate maths, you'll never get
a job. Well guess what I passed with fifty one percent?
Five one percent? Baby, and look at me now, so
look here, and honestly, Kerrie, tell them that, because that's
the thing sometimes at school where really we can feel crushing,

(35:37):
absolutely crushing pressure that you know, if we don't conform,
if we don't do this, we don't do that, that
we're no good, We've got no value, You're not going anywhere.
And I'll tell you what, it's rubbish.

Speaker 10 (35:51):
Yeah, but that's the way they made you feel.

Speaker 2 (35:54):
Oh yeah, one hundred percent. I was there. I felt it.
But do you tell your wonderful, beautiful grandchildren that you
know it's it's not the bell and end all. And
I'll tell you what, once you finished high school, it's
really amazing how quickly no one ever really cared. It's
quite quite something.

Speaker 10 (36:15):
When I when I was at high school, they were
having a study camp before exams, and one teacher said
to me, you're not going on study camp because you
won't you won't really be you won't really come to anything.
You know, it's not really much point you're going because
you won't come to anything, you won't give a pass
exams or anything. And I mean you already before you

(36:38):
even go, you think, well, what's the point. But I
did end up going, and at the end I said
to the teacher, see, I did manage to do it.
I did do what everybody else was doing, you know.
And I felt proud saying that, yeah.

Speaker 2 (36:53):
And you should carry because you know what, there's one
thing I've learned in life. It's that people will surprise
you again and again and again. So good on you,
and good on you being such a support of grandmother too.
They're lucky to have you.

Speaker 10 (37:07):
And see, thank you for this wonderful program because they
listen to it every Sunday night.

Speaker 2 (37:12):
Well thanks Carrie, Sunday night.

Speaker 5 (37:14):
It's great.

Speaker 10 (37:16):
And the guests that you have on have just been
absolutely amazing.

Speaker 6 (37:21):
Well, thank you, Thanks, that's amazing.

Speaker 2 (37:23):
Thank you, Carrie.

Speaker 4 (37:25):
Okay, Carrie raises a really important point. And actually there's
some research around this. I forget the exact numbers, but
the point is is that actually some people think that
a cluster of the symptoms that people experience of ADHD
is actually the negative and critical responses they get from
the traditional school system growing up So another way of

(37:46):
saying that is, if you don't fit and you get
told that you don't fit, are you the problem or
is it the problem that you're trying to fit somewhere
that you don't fit right? And what that leads to
is a very negative self idea and a lot of
negative self beliefs, when actually, as I think her son
was saying, he just hasn't found his way. They'll find
their way, you know.

Speaker 2 (38:05):
And great, absolutely fantastic advice and a lot of love.
I could hear coming through on that, cos Hey, we're
going to take a break desperately behind time, so bear
with me. Will be back shortly here in the Nudders Club,
the Nutters Club on news talks, they'd be, hey, welcome
back to the show. Let's go straight to the lines
and Nick, good even to you.

Speaker 11 (38:24):
Good evening, How are you?

Speaker 9 (38:25):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (38:26):
Good, good to hear your voice.

Speaker 11 (38:29):
First time calling you guys.

Speaker 5 (38:30):
I think welcome, Thank you.

Speaker 11 (38:35):
I've been really struggling with my child, so they are
eighteen years old. Moved out of home when I was
seventeen and went to live with the dead for a
bit and then went flatting because apparently she didn't feel

(38:57):
safe in this environment because she was talking about like
a transitioning to from female to male, right, and yeah,
it's just one part of the journey. But anyway, she's
moved out and I am really struggling at the moment

(39:17):
with her self care really like everything because so she's
not looking at so I'll say they because they want
to be called day. They are not looking after themselves,
like not taking good cure of the oral hygiene or anything,

(39:39):
or not opening any accousions, you know, just simple things.
Going to the laundromat today and I took her and
she they didn't realize that they'd put washing powder in
the washing machine stuff like that. And when I get
really really frustrated and like, I'm just trying to teach

(40:02):
you how to teach you, you know, do things, and
she's I've been diagnosed with autism last year, the year four,
last year. But yeah, so now they've got that diagnosis
as well as ADHD diagnosis, which was a wee while

(40:25):
ago also got dyspraxia, and that's so they don't distracted.
Is diagnosed a lot earlier, like about five of Fox.
But yeah, I don't know how to get because people
are always saying you need to talk to her about,
you know, getting their teeth done or whatever or and

(40:48):
it just does my head in.

Speaker 2 (40:49):
Well, Nick, what you're going through first and foremost here
and I want to be really really focused on saying
this is that you and they are not alone, and
it's and and what you're going through as intense as
it feels, it's not. It's not unique for a start
ar eighteen. And when it comes to some of those

(41:10):
basic life things, they're going to be doing what they're doing.
But in terms of some of those questions around the
transitioning part, we had a wonderful guest on the show
a few years back, guy called Joe Stockhausen, and Joe
actually ended up going and making an incredible series. It's
a podcast called Let's Be Transparent, and it's all about

(41:34):
his relationship with his mum after he came out as
being trends and it's a really great piece of work.
Rainbow Youth recommend it quite regularly, and I would say,
go and have a listen to that and then suggest it.
Suggest it to your kid as well, because sometimes it's
easier to talk about other people than it is to

(41:57):
talk about yourself, and that that's a really great one,
so you can examine the relationship between Joe and his
mum Pauline, rather than you having to talk about it
about Nick and and you and and your child. So
just that there would be just a bit of a start.
But most importantly, Nick, just know that you're not alone

(42:19):
in this. There's lots of pearance going through it, and
the number one thing is that you obviously care. So look,
thank you so much for calling us and reaching out tonight,
and I hope that can go so that that that's
some way to help you. So that podcast is called
Let's be Transparent.

Speaker 11 (42:36):
Yeah, I mean, like I do call this their food
known by Israel other people that I know.

Speaker 2 (42:41):
Sorry, Nick, I gotta I gotta pause you there because
I've got to go a new sport and weather. But
we'll be back soon.

Speaker 1 (42:47):
This is the Nutters Club, thanks to New Zealand on
News Dogs.

Speaker 2 (42:50):
That'd be welcome back to the Nutters Club. We have
tonight been talking about the diagnosis of ADHD. Now, just
to be clear, I'm more than happy to talk about
any kind of diagnosis, and our last caller, Nick was
very much in that that realm as well. But I'm
really interested to talk about what your diagnosis has been

(43:12):
and also to what it's been, your reaction, your experience,
as well as that of others when you've shared it
with them. We're seeing now that people are sharing their
diagnosises publicly and openly, more so than any other time
that at least any of us have ever known. And
it's really interesting that ADHD seems to be one that

(43:35):
people seem really open to sharing, but also too that
there's others, sort of like anxiety. Some people tend to
talk more about autism and how that's being diagnosed. But
I've always found it strange that there are some that
you still don't hear people saying, well, you know, turns

(43:56):
out I've got bipolar, turns out I've got schizophrenia. So
is there a ranking there somehow? And I'm just interested
in what your experience with sharing your diagnosis has been
and how it's affected you. But specifically on the ADHD one,
we've had a lot of calls tonight and more than
happy to keep that going. The phone number, of course
is oh eight hundred and eighty ten eighty. But look

(44:18):
just before New Sport and whether we had a call
from Nick, who's a mum really just kind of going
through those challenges that you do get did one way,
shape or form with our beautiful teenagers. And she was
talking about her child has come out as a transgender

(44:39):
and is going through some of those challenges in terms
of what to do, where to go, how does an effect,
But then also too, just struggling with some of the basic,
the basic self care parts you talked about, just general hygiene,
how to keep yourself your clothes clean, but just not
opening curtains in the morning, the kind of stuff which

(45:01):
we all know is quite basic and fundamental, but when
someone doesn't do it, especially that teenager in your life, Yeah,
it seems to really grind your gears a whole special way.

Speaker 4 (45:12):
Well it does, of course, because there's a parent you care, right,
And I do just want to sort of say a
few things in response to to next cool, because I
think it's important. No, imagine there's probably quite a few
people out there listening who may be in similar sorts
of situations. Sure, because that transition from adolescence into adulthood
can be really rough. So the first thing I would
say is it's perfectly legitimate for a parent who's in
that situation to access help from a psychologist or a

(45:34):
therapist themselves to help strategize and think about how to
organize their responses and their famili's responses, because you do
have to be quite strategic. So I think the natural
impulse with parents is to care, and care means doing
for or helping out, and I think sometimes that can
be unhelpful. So I'm not talking about tough love, which
is a kind of the extreme and stereotypical version of

(45:56):
you know, cutting them off or kicking them out or
whatever it might be. But I think that it is
okay for us as parents to say, in technical language,
our help is contingent, which is to say, we will
help you if you do X, Y and zed right.
And at the very minimum, if you're living at home,
you've got a bed, you've got three square meals a day.

(46:17):
Beyond that, you kin'd of on your own. You know,
you want a new device, you want to access this,
you want to access the internet. You actually need to
get off your bum and do some things, whether that's
helping out around the home or whether that's actually going
out and getting some kind of paid work. And also
if they're struggling, then actually, well, yep, we can help you,
but you will need to access some help, right. So

(46:38):
it's about the idea that we're rewarding the behaviors that
we want to see, and if we're not seeing those behaviors,
then those rewards don't get applied, not to the point
where we kick them out of the house and you
leave them sleeping under a bridge. But if they want
the extras in life, or they want to extend their life,
then actually they need to be working on bettering themselves
in some way as well. If they're living somewhere else,

(46:59):
that's much easier to do, of course. It's what's emotionally
hard is to kind of say, well, if you want
to make mistakes, then you're going to have to fall
on your bum and learn from those mistakes yourself. I'm
not always going to scoop you up. So it might
be that the help is quite minimal until the person
starts to hear the message which you give all the time,
which is if you get off your bum and go

(47:19):
to university or do this, or access therapy or whatever
your wish might be, then I'm more than happy to
help you.

Speaker 2 (47:25):
Yeah, we've been We've been somewhat that way with our teenagers,
and you know, one one was actually something this is
really harsh, but I mean here we are, we're all
sharing tonight, I'll jump in. But it was in terms
of supporting you know, as some to go to university
and said, if you go to university outside of Auckland

(47:46):
you get all the support that you could think, all
the support in the world. You want to go to
you want to go to Auckland Unity, I'm not going
to give it to you. And you know, he was like,
well why you know, like why you know Auckland University
is ranked number one in New Zealand. He's not wrong.
You can contest at it, we like, but the point
is he was sort of wondering why they can find

(48:06):
and it was actually was saying, yeah, because I actually
know that you're going to just end up back here. Yeah,
if you're in the same city as us, you're just
going to end up back here, which is fine in
some in some cases, but it's sort of like for
us as Mum and I we both knew that we
wanted to actually see that challenge. It's a really good example.

Speaker 4 (48:24):
You made a parenting decision that the intervention he needed
was to be away from home, yep, And so you
put all the resources towards rewarding that outcome.

Speaker 2 (48:34):
And guess what, he's absolutely thriving down there in the targo,
you know, down there in Dunedin.

Speaker 4 (48:40):
Excellent.

Speaker 2 (48:40):
So yeah, thanks Dunedin for looking after him.

Speaker 4 (48:43):
So sometimes it's actually okay to guide our children and
to put the carrots out in front of them, but
actually make them realize that actually there's some things they
need to do to work.

Speaker 2 (48:52):
For the other line, I've always used, you know, if
they ask you for something, you go, sure, great, what
do I get out of it? Yeah? Sometimes get I
get really glib Arts is like you get to you
get to have the joy of knowing that I'm happy
and you providing the opportunity for me. I'm like, yep,
sure what else do I get? Yeah? But yeah, look,

(49:15):
I'm all the best to your neck, and thanks very
much for calling up. You know, I really appreciate that.

Speaker 4 (49:20):
Don't hesitate to get some support for yourself if you
need to talk about it.

Speaker 2 (49:24):
I did say that we want to talk about ADHD,
but I said any other diagnosis. I'm good as well.
Mister T like the name nice. Mister T texted in
and he just said, Hi, is dyslexia considered a brain disorder.

Speaker 4 (49:39):
I'm not an expert in the educational diagnoses of which dyslexia, dyspraxia,
and so forth is, but the short answer is yes,
in that it seems to be something to do with
the way in which some people's brains are wired to
process information. That's not to say that it's a life
center though, I mean, there's lots of things that people
with dyslexia can learn to help them regulate and work

(50:04):
with the way that their brain functions.

Speaker 2 (50:06):
Well, I mean, look, a lot of people end up
living really full and productive lives with dyslexias, so you know,
let's not forget that as well.

Speaker 4 (50:14):
Early inputs are really important. We understand this now, so
actually getting because what tends to happen with those learning
issues is that it's not that people can't learn, it's
that they need extra input and they end up sort of,
you know, taking a detail earlier in the education, and
that's actually what's harmful to them.

Speaker 2 (50:29):
Speaking of diagnosis, and I may need your help in
pronouncing this one because it's a word I've not read
until tonight. Okay, it says my husband was diagnosed with amyloidosis, emeloidosis,
amiloid dosis, it's.

Speaker 4 (50:44):
The word I'm going to have to use the old
Google machine, But carry on with the text.

Speaker 2 (50:47):
So it says my husband was diagnosed with amyloid dosis.
He died on Saturday morning, twenty six of July. He
was six. He was sick for eighteen months before he
was diagnosed. There are only now forty nine people in
New Zealand with the cruelest disease in the world. More

(51:07):
research needs to be done, so first and foremost, our
deepest condolences to your text. And haven't got a name
on there, but that's not important, and the condolences are sincere.
And I would say that sometimes diagnosises can come with
very cruel and harsh outcomes, especially when it's related to

(51:29):
our health in that regard, and I think that you
know that's the thing too, right when we do get
a diagnosis, I would say that the most important thing
is actually understanding what it means. Yeah, does it mean
that we've only got a certain amount of time left?
Doesn't mean that we need to actively look for treatment,
you know, in terms of we've got to try and

(51:50):
fight this thing, or does it mean that you're going
to have to find different ways in which to balance
your life, and a diagnosis can demand different things of you.
But first and foremost, you know, really really am sorry
to hear that that's been the case for you and
our thoughts and care with yourself tonight. Yeah, would be.

Speaker 4 (52:09):
It would be a terrible diagnosis to receive because it
is fatal. It's a physical, rare disease which occurs when
a protein called amyloid builds up in various organs and
is terminal.

Speaker 2 (52:19):
So not all diagnosises are the same.

Speaker 9 (52:23):
No.

Speaker 2 (52:25):
On that note, the calls are coming in thick and fast,
so I think we need to get to that. I'm
just going to do one more text, take a break,
and come back to you. This text says, got up.
A few people in my life are ADHD diagnosed. I
find a lot of people I've met with ADHD diagnosed
undiagnosed use marijuana as it relaxes them and is able

(52:47):
to let them focus. So, Kyle, is that something that
we know about in terms of you know, what people
are doing with ADHD symptoms? Yep, to be recommended.

Speaker 4 (52:58):
Look, I mean, actually it is legal to be prescribed
medicinal cannabis in New Zealand, so it's certainly something that
people do try. It's one of those things you know.
I mean long term listeners of the show will know that.
For a period of time in my career worked in
addiction services and it is something you always look for.
Is ADHD in here somewhere cannabis is common and of

(53:21):
course because often people are quite impulsive, it can lead
to addiction issues, and addiction issues are quite more prevalent
than normal and people with the diagnosis of ADHD. Okay,
but yes, cannabis is something that people do use to
manage their symptoms, often with you know, whether that be
illicitly or actually can lead to some problems associated with it.

(53:44):
But it is also a legitimate reason these days to
access medical cannabis. So it can for some people be
quite life changing.

Speaker 2 (53:52):
Thank you very much. Very interesting. We are going to
take a break and we come back. Will come straight
to the calls back in the moment here tonight on
the Nots Club, not His Club, now on News Talks.
It'd be welcome back to the S. Let's go straight
to the line, shall we. Good morning to you, David, Hi.

Speaker 9 (54:09):
Hay mission child. Just first off, I'll talk about how
I was diagnosed in the almost last seven years by
an ADHD coach but not a psychiatrist, so right in
the almost last seven years of ADHD. But first of all,
starting off, I got absolutely bollied at school as a

(54:31):
sixteen and seventeen year old and basically almost from a
twelve year old, I really got bullied. And then at
seventeen almost eighteen, at a private hospital by a psychiatrist,
I was labeled schizophrenic and put on lots of psychotropic
medication that made me worse and that and so that

(54:54):
probably complicated any diagnosis. And so at twenty six I
had get so effective disorder and mania. And now my
friend Alisair, who's dying those men in the last seven
years and was still my friends with ADHD has not
been made yet. He thinks I've been miss diagnosed. He's

(55:16):
actually studied ADHD, has seen lots of YouTube videos, he's
done a paper and everything, and he sees this pirofectivity
and the lack of concentration in the way I talk
as ADHD, and he thinks it's been missed diagnosed. He's
he's talked to the people at the mental health people

(55:36):
that give me the psychotropic medication, that it's probably not
even really working, and that that if I was given
a real psychiatrist diagnosis another psychiatrist that with ADHD it
may help me better than what I'm currently on, and
so that's good. So he's the only thing I take

(55:59):
at the moment, which he's told me I should tack.
I haven't had any today. These nicoteene lozenges, and I
get those from the chemist for free, and they do
help me. He reckoned, keep when I have them, I
sucked them, will choose them, usually stuck them. But he says,
I actually slow down, I focus, I concentrate. I really

(56:19):
have a good effectause the nicotine is a slight samelan
that actually blows my mind down for some reason, he reckons.
So I really should have ADHD tools. They would help
me better. Okay, thanks paymiss and Kyle. I'll keep listening.

Speaker 2 (56:36):
Okay, thanks David. Well there you go.

Speaker 4 (56:40):
And David's right. I mean in the sense that individuals
of ADHD are slightly more likely to smoke than the
general population because nicotine is a stimulant.

Speaker 2 (56:52):
Well, that would make sense then, wouldn't it.

Speaker 4 (56:54):
Yeah, of course it's also an addictive poison which ultimately
kills you. But other than that, it's perfectly fine.

Speaker 2 (57:01):
I talked to a guy once, he works for a
tobacco company, like any and he actually said, you know,
I said, wow, So you know, I even met someone
who actually worked for a tobacco company before, and you
sort of imagine what these people are going to be like,
and then it's in front of you, and I just said,
how do you remedy that? And he just goes, wow.
I mean it's simple. Our product kills fifty percent of

(57:22):
our clientele. And I just I did not how to
respond to that one.

Speaker 4 (57:27):
Yeah, that and all your marketing budget. It needs to
get people started, because once they started, there away.

Speaker 5 (57:33):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (57:33):
Again it's a whole other show. Anyway, moving on, let's
go to Matt. Matt, good morning to you.

Speaker 8 (57:39):
Good morning.

Speaker 4 (57:41):
How are you?

Speaker 5 (57:41):
Matt?

Speaker 2 (57:42):
You sound pretty cheaper for this time of the day.
That's a good start.

Speaker 3 (57:46):
Yes, make you sleep, it's all good. I was diagnosed
with ADHD last year.

Speaker 2 (57:54):
Okay, how was that for you? What was what was
the experience like on your end?

Speaker 3 (57:58):
That explains a lot.

Speaker 4 (58:00):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (58:01):
Yeah, going to school, I couldn't follow what the teachers
were doing I just didn't get it, no matter how
much to try to concentrate.

Speaker 2 (58:15):
It.

Speaker 3 (58:15):
Just Yeah, but when I've got something in front of
me that I can see, I can that it's good.
It's great. There's how I learned most of the stuff
that I know. It is just as practical instead of
watching someone because I don't get it.

Speaker 2 (58:40):
Well, I think it's It's sometimes helpful, isn't it, because
then you know, with the diagnosis from the sounds of
things for you, was it actually gave you insight? You know,
like you said, your first reaction was, well, they would
explain a lot, you know, and in terms of actually
coming you know, coming to fully understand that Matt has that.
Has that helped you in terms of, you know, moving

(59:02):
forward with life and kind of actually having a bit
of insight, at least from a clinical point of view.

Speaker 3 (59:08):
Yeah, it's opened my eyes because I notice things that
I do some of your previous callers, it's like, well,
that's me, that's exactly what I do.

Speaker 2 (59:21):
Yeah, there's got to be said, isn't it. There's a comfort,
there's a comfort at times knowing that you're not alone.
And I think that's really important because we can often
you know, when we get when we get confronted with
a diagnosis around our mental health, we can feel really isolated,
you know, almost you know a little bit a little
bit uneasy about it because you think, all, there's something

(59:42):
wrong with me, and the idea being something's wrong with
me means that, you know, I'm apart from everybody else.
But then when we actually share those experiences insights and
just what that means like in a practical day to
day life kind of view, you realize, ah, there's a
whole heap of us. In fact, I'm not alone at all.

Speaker 9 (01:00:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (01:00:02):
I think.

Speaker 3 (01:00:05):
My youngest daughter she displays a lot of what I do.
And yeah, it's sort of you know, I you know,
it's my fault. She's got it and that that's me
that it sits on my fips in the head a

(01:00:27):
little bit.

Speaker 2 (01:00:29):
Well, I don't think that you've done anything wrong, Matt,
you know that's that's that's that's the probably the important
thing that I want to say to you. But you know,
this is this is the thing is that you know,
the genetics are a thing and it goes on, but
you know, there might may actually be some good things
in there as well, because you know, you actually understand
what she's going through and you're able to actually be

(01:00:52):
there and help support and guide as you as you
go along.

Speaker 3 (01:00:55):
Yeah, she's she's more practical that like shes and as
she can't learn from sitting in a desk watching a blackboard.
It's just it's you're explaining what you go through. And
I'm like, well, that's it's me. That's what I was
like at school. And my wife perhaps give her something

(01:01:20):
that she's interested in, and she was and yeah, she
she took to it like a duck to water.

Speaker 2 (01:01:30):
Fantastic. And that's the thing, man, is like, you know,
we all learned things differently, and and and again it's like,
you know, this idea that we've also got to conform
and there's a one size fits all. It's just rubbish.

Speaker 3 (01:01:42):
And that's what my school was, right. It's just it's
going to be done. Then that's you. We're not going
to change it. Sorry, Yeah, it's something you do it
this way otherwise you're forgotten.

Speaker 2 (01:01:58):
It's it's a slight It's a slightly paradoxical thing, isn't
it that you know, like institutes of learning can end
up you know, we're going to teach you. But there's
only one way to teach you. Despite the fact that
people are completely different and there's different languages around the world,
different cultures, different ideas about it. But hey, when it
comes to this place, the place of learning, we want

(01:02:18):
you to learn that there's just one way to do it,
and that's the best way. All right, let's go.

Speaker 3 (01:02:25):
I did a certificate an automotive engineering course about fifteen
years ago, and I learned most of the stuff that engines,
you know, by taking them apart and put them back together.
And I said, well, I'll go, you know, get a qualification.

(01:02:46):
But one of the one of the classes that we
had a guy from the academic part of the institute talent,
and he, you know, waltching on the workboard and he's
still in algebra and you put numbers and letters. I

(01:03:06):
can't see it. It doesn't work. And no matter how
hard he tried to explain it to me, I didn't
get it. We nearly ended up in a bit of
a fisty cap Oh okay, tutor, He goes, hang on,
hang on, what look at this? And he drew a
picture of an engine and he said, this is this

(01:03:28):
number and this is this and I said, well, more
than he do that in the first place, because it's
something I understood.

Speaker 2 (01:03:37):
Yeah, different ways of doing it, right, Matt.

Speaker 3 (01:03:41):
Yes, but he was like, edam and this is how
you do it, and I'm like, nah, you don't put
number of leaders together.

Speaker 7 (01:03:47):
That's stupid.

Speaker 2 (01:03:48):
That's how you do it, but that's not how I don't. Yeah, No,
you make a good point, Matt. And I think there's
something in this is to actually realize is that a
lot of being able to accept that diagnosis is actually
just to accept that we do things differently, that people
are different, and don't feel threatened by it. Don't think

(01:04:09):
that it's weird. Embrace the idea that a little bit
of difference is probably what makes the world an interesting
place to be. All Right, I've got to take a break.
When I come back, I've got Chris and Carhu on
the line, still a couple of lines free. If you
wanted to jump in, we'll definitely have time to get
you on. So eight hundred eighty ten eighty back in
a mow.

Speaker 1 (01:04:28):
This is the Nutters Club. Thanks to New Zealand air
on News Talk.

Speaker 2 (01:04:32):
ZBH, they've got a good text here. Okay, just says
can the program be replayed again tomorrow. Yes, good answer. True, Yeah, no,
we can. So the way it works, you can go
and listen back to any of ZB actually on.

Speaker 4 (01:04:49):
The last twenty four hours or isn't it, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:04:51):
Well the last week actually. So you just go to
news Talk dB dot co dotting Z and when you
look around in the menu, there's a thing called Z
Beyond Demand.

Speaker 4 (01:05:00):
It's like a time machine.

Speaker 2 (01:05:01):
Yeah it is. Yeah, just go back and you can
go back to eleven o'clock on you know what twenty
three hundred is. It's listed twenty three hundred and listen
back to the show on this on the date, which
would be now yesterday. But if you're patient, little if
you're a patient little cooker burrow and wait till the
mid part of the week, about Wednesday, wednesdayish, we'll put

(01:05:24):
up the whole episode for without the ads and infect.

Speaker 4 (01:05:26):
If you are on Facebook, you can subscribe to the
Nuttis Club n Z Facebook page and it'll just pop
right up there when it's published online.

Speaker 2 (01:05:35):
Sounds too easy to be true, Kyle.

Speaker 4 (01:05:38):
Of course.

Speaker 2 (01:05:38):
The difference is you.

Speaker 4 (01:05:39):
Can't call in when you're listening to the podcast.

Speaker 2 (01:05:41):
That is true.

Speaker 4 (01:05:42):
I mean you can, but you get a completely different show,
and it'd be very confusing.

Speaker 7 (01:05:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:05:45):
I mean, you could call in and be like, I
just want to talk about eighty HD and they're like, well,
we're sort of talking about the cost of living crisis.
But I mean sure, I mean you're here now. Yeah,
all right, let's go back to the lines. I'm going
to go to Chris. Chris, good morning to you.

Speaker 8 (01:06:03):
Good morning, how are you?

Speaker 3 (01:06:04):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:06:05):
Good, good to hear.

Speaker 8 (01:06:06):
Well, I look at it this. I was donosed with
ADHD back in the eighties nineties. I don't know around
that time, late eighties nineties when I was a child,
But you've got to remember, back in the days, ADHD
wasn't actually researched very well. It was referred to as

(01:06:27):
a mental illness, and I was on well, I didn't
think I had a mental illness, to be honest, but
I had a few problems. I had learning problems in school.
I was well taught, and I focused in some areas

(01:06:49):
and didn't in others. So they started stuffing medication down me.
Which the main three I'd like to let you know
is meleral, mileral, yes, tech retrole, and rutalin, And those

(01:07:12):
were the ones that I was given, and I didn't
think they did really any adjustment to behavior. I had
a hypertension probably disorders, and also had trouble focusing, like

(01:07:36):
listening to direction. Kind of found it difficult, but I
had to help and yeah, support Back then, it's different
to today, you know, and we've advanced the understanding of ADHD,
and I reckon it's all about well, they say it's

(01:08:01):
a brain thing. But whether or not the medication did
anything to you know, make it a bit better, I
don't know. But I didn't see anything any different. But
I'm coping now, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:08:18):
Well, I'm glad, glad to hear that, Chris. So it
sounds like it's been a real, real journey for you.

Speaker 8 (01:08:24):
Yes, well, I feel that it's I guess that you know, Well,
I'm not an expert, but does medications of any thought,
like what I was taking, does it actually make you
do any better in your reading and your focus and

(01:08:46):
anything like that. I don't see it did. I'm not
on any medication now, you know. So I guess I've
adapted to cope with what I had or they thought
I had. And that's one I asked, Carl. Is it

(01:09:07):
also kind of misconcepted and in a way of still
being treated as a mental health problem, like a mental illness.
I didn't see it like that.

Speaker 4 (01:09:23):
Yeah, it's a good question. I mean, technically, it's still
a diagnosis, so I mean, you know, in a very
technical sense, it is still a psychiatric diagnosis of or
a developmental disorder as the technical character category, because it's
diagnosed or the symptoms have to have appeared first in childhood.

(01:09:43):
But I mean there's a lot of thinking, in a
lot of very I think, very useful thinking these days
about it actually being a version of what we refer
to now as neurodiversity. So it's recognizing that actually some
people's brains are wired differently, and the fact that the
fact that it statistically occurs less frequently than what we

(01:10:06):
might call neurotypical brains doesn't mean that it's It just
means that it's less common and it's different from and
you know, school systems are geared towards the majority, and
some people learn in different ways. And it's interesting, actually,
I mean in a number of people have sort of
said something similar in various ways tonight. What we often
see and I've heard this anecdotally a lot, and there's

(01:10:27):
actually some research going into this now, particularly in the US,
looking at the idea that actually ADHD isn't so much
a problem with attention, but it's a problem regulating boredom.
And so that actually one of the things that often
you see with people who don't do well in traditional
school systems that have been diagnosed with ADHD is they
leave school and they find something. It might be something

(01:10:51):
in university education, it might be something in the workforce,
and they actually end up being extremely successful once they
find that thing that actually holds their attention. Because once
someone with ADHD focuses on something, they also hyper focus.
They have an ability to really zone in on something
in a way that actually can be quite extraordinary. And

(01:11:12):
so some people think that actually they just haven't found
the thing that really interests them.

Speaker 2 (01:11:17):
And that's also too, Like I've heard this said about ADHD.
So you know, people grow out of it, and I
think that's more what you're talking about. You know, people
find their natural way to make it work for them.

Speaker 4 (01:11:28):
Mass English and sciences and everybody's capity.

Speaker 2 (01:11:31):
Who would have thought, what a surprise. Amazing more revelations
to come tonight on the Nutters Club back soon. It's
overnight talk on News Talk z'b Welcome back to the show.
Context here says Hi, I found my diagnosis to be
a bittersweet. I mourned the alternative childhood I might have had,

(01:11:53):
not knowing I'm where I am now because of it.
Medication was amazing. The first thing I noticed was my
head was so quiet and my anxiety was reducing. I
was diagnosed as extreme combined type and it took a
year to get the medication right. I struggle as a
teacher when people point out that kid is neurospicy but

(01:12:15):
have no clue what they actually means for them socially
and for their learning. Thanks, And I think it's an
interesting part there too. Just a little term there, that neurospicy.
You know, it's just another It's just another put down, really,
isn't it. It's another dig at people. It's another way
to identify someone as not being normal.

Speaker 4 (01:12:34):
Yeah, it is. And I think we can we can
start throwing as we've sort of talked about today, we
could start throwing these labels around in ways that are
really unhelpful. Look, I mean again, the medication, it's not
the cure all, but it is often the first time
people have had an experience of relief from their internal experience.
It's not that uncommon for people when they first experienced
the medication to be tearful, to be upset, because it's

(01:12:58):
such a stark contrast.

Speaker 2 (01:12:59):
Often, and I think too, if it's something you've not
experienced before and perhaps want it for so long to
then suddenly have it can almost feel like, you know,
like relief. Yeah, let's go back to the lines. Carhoo.
Good morning to you.

Speaker 12 (01:13:15):
Hey, how's it going?

Speaker 7 (01:13:17):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:13:17):
Goods? Goods? Ad ehd. What's been your experience?

Speaker 12 (01:13:21):
Okay, So basically I was diagnosed when I was six.
I'm now thirty six. I don't know the nums how
to calculate the difference now, but so yeah, basically, thirty
years ago I got diagnos My parents didn't want me
to take drugs, so basically never took communication. I damaged

(01:13:44):
my spine quite bad. I fell for two story building
laying on my back. Wow, And yeah, I was pretty
much I was pretty much paralyzed about eight eight months
nine months, so I couldn't really walk and then manage
to walk again and get up and do everything. But
it's getting to the point where my spine's really bad now.

(01:14:06):
So now I'm I went back to doctors to try
and get on the the Redlin to try and help
me like stay still, because I am not good at
just sitting still, and over all these years with my
spine being damaged, I just keep going, going and going
and working and working, working when I really shouldn't be,

(01:14:27):
and I've made it worse and I've damaged it two
other times after I did that as well, So I
decided to try the Redlin to try and help me
shut myself down. So the way when I was or,
I just take the medication to try and relax. But yeah,
I like, I like the medication to try and slow

(01:14:51):
me down.

Speaker 2 (01:14:51):
But I also, oh lost them. Oh damn was it
she enjoying that?

Speaker 4 (01:14:59):
Yeah, I'll give us a call back if your phone
isn't running the batteries or something catastrophic.

Speaker 2 (01:15:04):
He calls back. Co Damn, it was the battery.

Speaker 4 (01:15:10):
It's tricky, isn't it, Because I mean sometimes people, families
often do make that decision. So the medication is bad,
and I can understand that. I was thinking about that.
You know, I'm thinking, I hope people out there, I'm
thinking we're sort of you know, trying to push the medication.
I'm all, as you know, Hamish, we're all.

Speaker 2 (01:15:23):
About what works. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 4 (01:15:25):
What we know is that this medication does work for
a lot of people.

Speaker 2 (01:15:28):
Yeah, I mean, I think I can understand it. I'd
be probably not feeling particularly comfortable about wanting to medicate
a young kid. Yeah, But at the same time, you know,
you need to look at all of your options. Ultimately,
you've got to make your choice.

Speaker 4 (01:15:43):
What's interesting is some people do find the effect tails off.
So it's not like I said, it's not a self
a bullet. Some people find the effect does tail off
over time. The good news is that you can you
can learn the behaviors as well as right. So it's both.

Speaker 2 (01:15:57):
And let's go back to the texts. Then I got
this text says, hi, guys, I was forty four and
had a crooked gut. Now I've always been one hundred
miles an hour twenty four seven and I didn't even
have a doctor. So I drove around and found a doctor,
barged in there and said can you give me something
for my crook gut? And I got asked if I'd

(01:16:17):
seen a psychiatrist for a still saw stomach I said,
I said, he thought I was severe ADHD, and I
found one called him every day until he saw me
and diagnosed as severe but high functioning ADHD. My lawyer
who I saw a day later, I told him and
he said he would have told me for free. Everyone

(01:16:39):
knew and laughter. I've always been super clever, grat at school,
and I like to be the best at everything, so
you go, Perhaps it was the intensity of coming in
being like got ak gut gott to see somebody and
they're like, okay, all right, maybe we need to have
a chat to you about something else there Champ. Yeah, interesting,
might have just been it, you know, especially if you
hadn't been into a doctor's But.

Speaker 4 (01:17:00):
It's a good example of the kind of thing we're
talking about. How how do we end up with something
like ADHD getting diagnosed more and more and more over time.
There's someone who just described themselves as successful, did well
at school, always been into things, you know, get up
and go, not necessarily causing obvious problems, but may have

(01:17:22):
been causing distress and anxiety and internal discomfort, which is
a different thing that we're starting to understand now, is
it It doesn't have to have caused the educational difficulties,
but it can often be behind people's anxiety, behind sometimes
their depression or their you know, ADHD burnout as a
term people used these days, yep, where they have where

(01:17:43):
people experience crashes because it's really hard work to sort
of stay on top of things. So you know, we're
understanding more and more about the complexity of it.

Speaker 2 (01:17:51):
Mary textan and says, Hi, guys, thank you for addressing
my concerns about ADHD and a doctor not doing a referral.
Can you tell me how someone can listen to one
of your programs if you've missed the live broadcast please, Well, Mary,
I won't go through the whole thing again, but basically,
just jump on news Talk s hedb dot co dot

(01:18:13):
m Z, or come and find us on Facebook, Nutter's
Club in z on Facebook dot com and there's a.

Speaker 4 (01:18:18):
Nutters Club page actually on the news Talks here B website. Two.
We've just got all of the past episodes. You could
just binge them.

Speaker 2 (01:18:23):
Wildly popular Facebook page apparently, if we had to believe Facebook,
over two million interactions a month.

Speaker 4 (01:18:33):
That's nearly half news Inner, It's nearly half Newshald.

Speaker 2 (01:18:36):
What strong was the other half? What did we do wrong?

Speaker 4 (01:18:38):
There must be nuts.

Speaker 2 (01:18:39):
Yeah, there you go. Good diagnosis, Kyle. Thanks, we'll take
a break. We come back more of your texts and
if you want to get a call, and now's the
chance to do so. O eight one hundred and eighty
ten eighty back soon Nutter's Club now on News talks'd
be Hey, welcome back to the show, Just Carl. I'm
just reflecting on the at break there. What a great
show you guys have been delivering tonight. You know, when

(01:19:01):
we start this off and we say it's your show
and we really want to hear from you, you know
you have not disappointed at all and been absolutely thrilled
with how wide and varying the different experiences that you've
had around diagnosis. So thank you.

Speaker 4 (01:19:17):
I have also, and we've mentioned the Facebook page a
few times. I've also chucked up on the Facebook page.
A great resource which is ADHD dot org dot NZ.
Fantastic resource for any questions or you know, support information
you might have jump on that website. There's a link
on the Facebook page and they do great work at

(01:19:37):
ADHD dot org.

Speaker 2 (01:19:39):
I got a couple of textbisges here I want to
read to you this one says, what are your thoughts
around ADHD being used as an excuse for kids tantrums
and bad behavior? Sometimes it seems like an excuse for parenting.
I have experiences and children were mostly we're mostly behaved out, Chris,

(01:20:01):
I don't know. Have you had it news as an excuse?

Speaker 4 (01:20:04):
Well, I think we have to be careful. What we
define as an excuse for right bad behavior is bad behavior,
full stop. Yes, But often what's important is we understand
what's behind the bad behavior. And often I think when
we get to the point of just calling a kid
bad or naughty, we we're not actually understanding what's going
on for that child. So it can be really hard

(01:20:26):
for some kids to regulate themselves in a classroom. And
if what is behind that is ADHD, then it doesn't
make their bad behavior back. Okay, that should still be
a tender to but it might help them regulate themselves
better if they actually have their difficulties addressed, and potentially
if it's severe enough, medicated and then actually funnily enough,
then the behavior goes away.

Speaker 2 (01:20:45):
Yeah. I wouldn't use it to excuse behavior. No, to
be like, oh, you know, there's maybe ancient incomes you
can't do anything, cause you can. Yeah, it's an explanation
absolutely as to what's the cause of it. And then
the diagnosis can actually help mean that you can treat
it because I'm tell you what, probably a kid running
around giving themselves in trouble all the time too. It's
probably not much fun for the kid.

Speaker 4 (01:21:05):
No, and you would know this, of course, having a
primary school teacher in your household. I genuinely believe there's
no such thing as a naughty child. I think there
are children who behave badly and it's up to teachers
and parents and other professionals to understand what's going on
for that child that means they're behaving that way, because
there will always be a reason, not an excuse, but
a reason.

Speaker 2 (01:21:25):
It's very good that my wife is asleep right now
because she'd hate me saying this, so I'm going to
say it anyway, and I doubt anyone that she works
with as listening. So anyway, here we go. I'll spill
the beans. Start of the year, there's always a few
names that come up.

Speaker 4 (01:21:39):
Watch out for these ones.

Speaker 2 (01:21:40):
Yeah, she has oh this one, that one, and then
by about now mid year, I don't hear the names
as much anymore. And then I kick back and I go,
how there are they going? They're actually doing really well,
because sometimes just the kid just needs to settle in,
needs to get to know the teacher. Teacher needs to
get to know the kid. But there's no excuses. Absolutely

(01:22:01):
all right, let's go to the lines. Neil, good evening
to you, evening, good morning to you. Sorry, good morning, Neil?
Is it wrong?

Speaker 5 (01:22:10):
Good morning to you, sir, just to say hello, just
to say I'm a very blessed and happy man. And
I spent my life happy, but I found that a
small thing can knock me a bit sidewards. And I've

(01:22:31):
just come through a couple of three days of depression
over the silliest thing. I was very proud, very proud
to share with someone that I had received a letter,
very beautiful letter from King Charles the Third, which I

(01:22:55):
was very proud of. And he said, huh, you're going
to hang it in the duney and it really upset me.
Isn't that funny?

Speaker 2 (01:23:09):
And what was the leader betining to Neil Well?

Speaker 5 (01:23:13):
I wrote to his Majesty about a wonderful speech he
had given. I won't read it to you because it's
a long letter, but a wonderful speech you get at
the commemoration for the victims of the Holocaust. And I'm

(01:23:35):
very old and I can remember bits, and he gave
a wonderful, touching speech, and I wrote to him and
he wrote back to me. So it was nice. But
what the point I'm making is that maybe maybe we
should be a little bit more sensitive to what means

(01:24:02):
things to other people which don't necessarily mean things to us.

Speaker 2 (01:24:06):
I thoroughly agree.

Speaker 5 (01:24:07):
New Well, I won't give the name, but I don't
listen to his program now or ring him because it
upsets me when I hear his voice.

Speaker 2 (01:24:22):
Fair enough, No, no, I agree with you, and I
think that it's actually very nice to be able to
be sensitive to others and take the time to listen
to them, because I think all of us deserve to
actually be heard, and it's nice to actually know that
someone else is paying attention to what we think, to
what we feel.

Speaker 5 (01:24:43):
I'm sure, I'm sure, I'm sure he didn't have a
bad heart, but it was very meaningful to me.

Speaker 2 (01:24:52):
Well, there you go, and nice did he write back
to you?

Speaker 5 (01:24:55):
Oh, I'm just a silly old man, really, but I
rang you tonight. Because I go through periods where I'm
not worth talking to. But tonight I feel good and
I thought, oh, I'm going to ring the nutters club.

Speaker 2 (01:25:11):
Great, well, I'll tell you what. I don't think you're silly,
old anything. Actually, i'd always enjoy a call from you, Neil.
And when you see your name pop up, it's wonderful
to hear your voice. I mean, it's sincerely.

Speaker 5 (01:25:22):
Well, that's ever the kind of you to say. I'll
just tell you a funny story. Go on very briefly,
all right, very briefly, please do and well, don't make
a big song and dance about it. It doesn't matter
to me. I'm completely content. But I've just been diagnosed
with cancer. But anyway, I had to go. I had

(01:25:48):
to go to the hospital for this test to see
what it was you see, And it was called a
column colon osclub, late play or something like that. I'm
a chairful hat. And I said to the man when
he was doing it, that's what's point in your career?

(01:26:12):
Did you decide to specialize in putting paps upon men's bombs?
I said, it's a little bit of a worry.

Speaker 2 (01:26:22):
Fair enough, fair enough, but you know what someone's got
to do it, and you've met the man who does.

Speaker 5 (01:26:28):
Am I ever grateful too? I was just being cheeky.

Speaker 2 (01:26:32):
No, I love it, Neil. Good on you mate, lovely
to hear from you.

Speaker 5 (01:26:35):
God bless your heart.

Speaker 2 (01:26:37):
Go well, Neil, yep. I suppose you do have to
ask how one strays into the field of chronoscopy. Well
you could ask, sure, but I mean most of the
people that you're dealing with when you're doing the kronoscopies
are knocked out.

Speaker 7 (01:26:55):
You know.

Speaker 4 (01:26:55):
I find that doctors who specialize in things have a
very very very narrow interest and often the biology of
the things, the diseases and the courses of things. So
you know, I'm glad that there are people who are
interested in those things.

Speaker 2 (01:27:12):
There you go. Well, look, I've got a text here
from Phil. Phil says hi, I was diagnosed by an
Auckland ADHD specialist who is now unable to practice. I'm
now relocated to Canterbury and I would like to restart
rittling or similar but find the whole process a bit
daunting and potentially expensive now to revisit. Thanks Phil. What
do we know about the process?

Speaker 4 (01:27:33):
Well, one thing that people should know about the process
and actually I've been meaning to mention it tonight, is
that actually there's been a recent law change and that
from February the first next year, general practitioners and nurse
practitioners who have done a little bit of extra training
but are not psychiatrist by any means will be allowed
to prescribe ADHD medication for people over the age of eighteen.

(01:27:54):
So the texter may very well find that comes sort
of February next year, he may be able to get
in and just see one of those specialist gps or
nurses and refire that medication up because it does require
a special level of authority. It's special authoroy number. It's
a process with the Ministry of Health because it is
a drug that can be used illicitly and can be

(01:28:16):
diverted for illicit use. It is quite carefully prescribed. But yes,
that is a positive change which is recognized that one
of the bottlenecks in the system is getting in to
see the psychiatrist in the first place, because hey, guess what,
hay much we don't have enough of those.

Speaker 2 (01:28:30):
Well, I know something you've brought up regularly, but hey,
look we are coming to the end of the show,
and so I really just wanted to say thank you
once again to all of your calls, all of your texts.
What an absolutely brilliant show, lots of insight. Really appreciate
everyone making the efforts night. Gold Star all round. Cole McDonald,
thank you so much for being here. Sure, thanks very

(01:28:50):
much to our producers Boris and Jimmy. Thanks also to
Pepees who does our podcast, and most of all thanks
to News Talks he'd be for letting us in the
door and New Zealander for paying the bills. Roman Travis
will be with you next. But in the meantime, be
kind to each other, be kind to yourself, and look
forward to your company here on the Nutters Club.

Speaker 1 (01:29:11):
This is the Nutters Club, thanks to New Zealand on
air on News Talks EDB.

Speaker 2 (01:29:16):
For more from News Talks EDB, listen live on air
or online

Speaker 1 (01:29:20):
And keep our shows with you wherever you go with
our podcasts on iHeartRadio.