In this talk we will be looking at two distinct clinical diagnoses: ADHD and Chronic Pain and how they are surprisingly connected. People with ADHD are more susceptible to chronic pain conditions and often experience pain in a different way. Both conditions are poorly understood from a clinical standpoint and co-occur with many chronic health issues that can become complex and overwhelming for even experienced practitioners to work with. In this talk we will be exploring the possibility that chronic pain, especially Fibromyalgia, is a neurodivergence itself.
Overview
What is ADHD?
- The neurobiological differences and what the DSM criteria is missing to understand the full ADHD experience
- Who gets a diagnosis and who gets missed? (Discussing masking/camouflaging and how ADHD may present differently across the sex/gender spectrum).
- How the pathologizing of traits without understanding the context can be harmful and lead to more stress, trauma and harm to the individual
What is Chronic Pain & Fibromyalgia?
- We will be highlighting the lack of recognition in how pain and stress are experienced differently females and different gender identities
- How the majority of pain and medical research is conducted on male subjects, animal models and cells, and is not appropriate as an ‘evidence-based’ treatment approaches for all
- The current understanding of Fibromyalgia (including the functional medicine perspective)
Claire Sehinson will explore the intersection of ADHD and Chronic Pain through a combination of research, case studies and lived experience. She will also examine co-existing health conditions such as:
- IBS, food sensitivities and unexplained gut issues
- Pre existing trauma, anxiety and depression
- HPA axis and burnout – how ADHDers might burnout in a different way
- Atypical pain experiences in neurodivergent people
- PMDD
- Dysautonomia
She will round out her presentation with a discussion of the role of sensory processing and interoception (pain perception, emotional regulation, Alexithymia, and aphantasia), along with tips on supporting patients in a neurodivergent-affirming way.
Claire Sehinson, MSc
Claire is an educator, researcher with a functional medicine and nutritional therapy clinical practice. She brings to her work her passion and lived experience of being multiply neurodivergent and diagnosed with Autism, dyslexia and ADHD as an adult, whilst navigating her own recovery from ME/CFS and dealing with many mental health issues throughout her lifetime. Claire has over a decade of specialist clinical experience working with complex illness, trauma, CFS, Fibromyalgia and chronic infections. Claire is the Head of Research at the Optimum Health Clinic (an integrative body-mind clinic) where she researches and trains practitioners on cutting-edge protocols to support complexly ill clients.
She created the IHCAN award winning Therapeutic Nutrition course- a 6 month post-graduate practitioner training program supporting patients with CFS/ME and complex illness. Claire continues to advocate for marginalised groups to raise awareness and share knowledge of intersectionality in healthcare. Her research focus is the overlap of Neurodivergence, hypermobility spectrum disorders and chronic complex illness.
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