Anorexic teen's lonely and slow slide towards death - what social agencies knew and the online friends who tried to save him
Warning: This story may be distressing to some readers.
Ateen who starved alone in emergency accommodation had multiple encounters with professionals who could have saved him in the days before his death.
Alex, 17, described being so weak he fell over in a
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Otago Daily Times
2 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
My flighty ADHD is not actually a case of mind over matter
My whole life I've believed that getting things done is simply a mind-over-matter thing — if you possess enough willpower you can force yourself through anything. Until I couldn't. You may recall my previous article on burnout, where I came to the realisation that I actually had nothing left in the tank to draw on. In February this year, I was diagnosed with ADHD — sure, I'd suspected it over recent years, but I hadn't really explored things formally until, post-burnout recovery, I was still finding it hard to motivate myself to get things done. A couple of friends of mine who are ADHD — one diagnosed recently and one since childhood — suggested I might be one of them. I think it was the 100 tabs open on my screen that gave me away to the latter, and a particularly frazzled conversation at a conference with the former. A three-hour trip down memory lane with a psychologist — who also interviewed my family and pored over my school reports — and I was off to the psychiatrist for a script. See, I'd always thought ADHD was just a hyperactive person bouncing off the walls. A behavioural problem that, through mind over matter, could be disciplined out. But after a bit of research, some things sounded really familiar: focusing on many things at once, or becoming so overstimulated you can't focus on anything at all; hyperactive conversations — jumping topics within a breath and losing everyone along the way; hyperfocus when something has your attention — including wandering through your daily motions in a distracted state; intense boredom and lack of motivation for things that don't interest you — like housework. ADHD isn't just a brain thing — it's a dopamine thing. Dopamine is the chemical that motivates us to start something and rewards us with that feel-good hit when we enjoy it. People with ADHD have a deficit, which means we don't have enough of it to push through the boring, everyday stuff. We literally can't make ourselves do it without extraordinary willpower or clever systems. That's why we can look hyper one moment and catatonic the next: when something is interesting, it's really interesting — the dopamine spike feels like a drug, and when it wears off, we crash. I can wake up at 5am and spend every spare waking moment obsessed with my latest project. Right now, it's admin process automation and data visualisation. In the last couple of months, I've built new software for our anodising system using an AI no-code platform, taught myself Python, integrated our ERP system into Microsoft Power BI and built an entire maintenance programme into Slack. Yet I still feel lazy. Why? During hyperfocus, I'll literally have my head in the clouds and have tuned out all else. Much to the chagrin of Alex and Fin, who catch me and roll their eyes: "Mum, Mum, Muuuuuuum. "What are you doing on your laptop, Mum?" "Teaching myself to code on AI." "Good one (eye-roll). What's the time? Is dinner ready?" It's ironic — I can manage a company and directorships (most of the time), yet I can't be organised enough to defrost stuff for dinner (or even have stuff to defrost, to be fair). I literally folded 52 pairs of socks in the weekend and counted another 89 unmatched socks in the lost-socks bin. I constantly forget the washing, so I just buy us more socks with the groceries. Anyway, back to the point — I've come to realise that ADHD is not a brain disorder, but a superpower. It's a different kind of brain than the mainstream. Sometimes it's a secret weapon, other times — when I'm trying to conform to a world where I don't fit — it feels like a massive barrier. I didn't conform at school. And hormones seem to play a huge role in aggravating ADHD. Thus the rise in teenage diagnoses — it's not just rampant hormones making young people crazy, but an until-now manageable ADHD being given steroids to run wild. Which brings me back to the present. I'm 44 — apparently in the early stages of peri-menopause too. Makes sense really: the last time my life went off the rails and my brain fell out was puberty at 15-17. And now I'm at the other end of it, and the ADHD has gone rampant again. I love the Māori definition of ADHD — aroreretini: "Attention goes to many things". Or the blog post I found by Associate Prof Byron Rangiwai — Flighty like the pīwakawaka — describing how the fantail's agile, unpredictable movements serve as a symbol for ADHD, highlighting adaptability, creativity, responsiveness and resilience rather than seeing it as a deficit. I've also been listening to the podcast ADHD for Smart Arse Women — fantastic, and not just relevant to women. One early episode calls the ADHD brain an "elite hunter-gatherer brain" not suited to modern society — but with competitive advantages in hyper-vigilance, curiosity and exploratory skills. Handy for entrepreneurs, not so much for a repetitious office job. You can tell when you meet another ADHDer — it's hectic, you'll talk non-stop, go on a rollercoaster of stories and really enjoy it. Whereas some neurotypical people find it too intense and might think you're self-centred for always bringing things back to yourself. For an ADHDer, you're actually just trying to show you relate and empathise by drawing similarities. To others, it can look rude or self-absorbed. It brought a whole new perspective to where conversations have gone wrong, when people seemed to be slowly. Backing. Away ... As to where I'm at now, I've been trying medication for the last six months. It's not a forever thing and I don't take it on weekends or when I've got lots of fun work on. But it has helped enormously with feeling calmer and more able to manage stress without overreacting or ruminating. Like managing my washing, remembering groceries, establishing a better routine at work, paying the bills and getting on top of emails. Anyway, I hope this article has helped anyone else out there who feels a bit overwhelmed — whether it's ADHD or not, it isn't simply about mind over matter, but about understanding your own mind that matters most. • Sarah Ramsay is chief executive of United Machinists.
Scoop
4 days ago
- Scoop
Faster, More Accurate Brain Tumour Diagnoses For Kiwis
Minister of Health More than 100 New Zealanders have already benefited from a groundbreaking diagnostic tool that is delivering faster, more accurate brain tumour diagnoses, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. DNA methylation profiling, the international gold standard for diagnosing brain tumours, has been rolled out at Auckland City Hospital over the past year. 'This technology is a game-changer for brain tumour diagnosis in New Zealand. It enables doctors to pinpoint the exact tumour type with greater precision and in less time, meaning patients can start the right treatment sooner,' Mr Brown says. 'Until now, diagnosis was typically made by microscopic examination. In some complex cases, samples were sent overseas for methylation profiling, but that could take up to six weeks. 'Having this cutting-edge capability in New Zealand means more Kiwi patients can access this advanced diagnostic technology locally. Turnaround times are faster, around four weeks, and quicker for urgent cases. 'It also means we can prioritise urgent cases, deliver answers sooner, and give patients and their families greater certainty.' In some recent cases done locally, methylation profiling has significantly altered the initial diagnosis. In others, it has identified rare or unexpected tumour types that may have been missed using traditional methods. The Auckland-based service is one of only three in Australasia, with samples from hospitals around the country also being sent to Auckland for analysis. Along with improving access and outcomes for patients, it is also significantly cheaper than sending samples offshore. 'Delivering faster access to cancer treatment is a key focus for the Government, which is why it is one of our five national health targets. Faster, more accurate diagnosis for brain tumours that may be cancerous is a vital part of that. 'By providing local access to the world's best diagnostic tools, we are improving outcomes for New Zealanders,' Mr Brown says.
Newsroom
13-08-2025
- Newsroom
Swabs, scans and Star Trek: How healthcare is getting personal
Personalised medicine is moving beyond one-size-fits-all treatments, using genetic, clinical, demographic and lifestyle data to tailor care to the individual. In cancer, for example, some therapies now target mutations unique to a patient's DNA, improving outcomes and reducing side effects. But that's only the beginning. Genome sequencing of some of our sickest Kiwi newborns – and their parents – is already helping guide diagnosis and treatment of children with rare diseases. Meanwhile New Zealand is at the forefront of global research into the human digital twin. This field is about creating virtual replicas of patients built from their health data, including DNA profiles, medical history, imaging and biomarkers. Digital twins could allow doctors to test treatment scenarios, including surgery or medication, in a risk-free environment, predicting how a patient might respond before starting therapy. This year's free Raising the Bar event – where a selection of the University of Auckland's most interesting (and entertaining) academics talk about their research in some of the city's best watering holes – features two top researchers in the field of personalised medicine. Professor Justin O'Sullivan's talk, 'Swab, sequence, surprise! How science is personalising your health' explores cutting-edge science around gut bugs, DNA and metabolic fingerprints. O'Sullivan is director of the world-leading Liggins Institute, focusing on health research, and an expert in gut bugs and in DNA sequencing. Meanwhile Professor Merryn Tawhai, director of the Auckland Bioengineering Institute, is 'reimagining healthcare with human digital twins'. As well as heading the lung team of the institute's human digital twin project, Tawhai sits on the board of directors for Cure Kids and was recently appointed to the Prime Minister's Science, Innovation and Technology Advisory Council. Oh, and she's a committed Star Trek fan. 'Swab, sequence, surprise': What's that all about? Justin O'Sullivan: So you can swab different areas of your body, right? You can get cells from your mouth and that can tell you about your genetics and that's really important for predicting disease risk. But you can also swab your butt and find out about gut bacteria. And having healthy colonies of bacteria are really important because they modify how our bodies are working, and they are our interface with our environment. Science is personalising our health not just looking at our electronic records but looking at our body as a walking ecosystem. Sure, you're affected by your environment, but other factors, particularly your DNA and the organisms you carry with you, are working along with the environmental factors to determine your health. When we bring everything together we can ensure diagnosis and treatments are personal to you. How do you feel about talking in a bar environment? It's a bit of a thrill, to be honest. At an academic conference, you look around and a lot of people are on their phones, their laptops; they're not interested in the talk. At Raising the Bar, you are talking to a group of people who have gone there specifically to listen to you. They're engaged. And that engagement is a really important thing. Professor Justin O'Sullivan is talking at 6pm August 26 at Wynyard Pavilion, 17 Jellicoe Street, Auckland tickets here. I hear you'll be talking about Star Trek and digital twins at Raising the Bar. Sneak preview? Remember in Star Trek when somebody got ill there was that little handheld device that just scanned over them and they miraculously knew what was wrong with them and how to treat them? Okay, we're not quite there yet but we're surprisingly far along that pathway. The human digital twin project is about doctors being able to predict how your body would respond to surgery without ever touching you. Or being able to see exactly how you would react to new medication before you take it. As a Trekkie myself, I like to imagine bringing the Star Trek tricorder to life. In a few years' time, if you get sick we will have a digital twin of you, and we will be able to scan part of you and get new information that tells us about your current condition, and that is linked to the digital twin. And that will allow us to make more rapid diagnosis and determine a personalised treatment plan for you. Professor Merryn Tawhai is talking at 6pm August 26 at Good George, 1 Jellicoe Street, North Wharf, Auckland tickets here.
