Have you tried your kid's Ritalin yet? I had just such an opportunity to loot my elderly mother's medicine cabinet a couple of years ago. This was right around the time that the show I most Tivo'd was "Desparate Housewives" and my aha moment arrived in the form of Lynette Scavo who was stressed out and harasssed enough in her supermom role to down her son's medicine.

As I recall, that time, I hightailed it to my local organic grocer to stock up on chamomile homeopathics to cope with the stress of family and work. You can't overdose on homeopathics. I checked into it. But ADHD -attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a diagnosis on the rise for women according to author Sari Solden. She has written a book, "Women with Attention Deficit Disorder" which asserts that millions of women are suffering and cannot get the help they need. Given that the American market alone for ADD drugs is already worth over $3 billion, if women begin to get the help Solden suggests they desparately need, the potential market will double.

The frequency of diagnosis and treatment of children and ADD is a contentious battlefield. But even a middle of the road opinion that this disorder exists allows that people under stress (including mothers going out to work) may be quick to say they have it. The December 9th issue of The Economist describes the global plight of women who say they have trouble focusing their attention for long enough to deal with the problem. "Even in countries where the syndrome is recognised among children, it is hard for women to be treated for ADHD." Whether the problem stems from lack of understanding, skepticism, religious beliefs or presumed hypochondria, the growing number of women coming forward portends a new feminist cause.