It’s a list that would make any health-food storegoer proud: Vitamins. Fish oil. Giving up processed foods, sugars, or food additives. Herbal therapy with St. John’s Wort, echinacea, gingko biloba, or ginseng. Biofeedback. Massage. Yoga.
All healthful pursuits, for sure, but are any of these …
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It is encouraging to read about alternatives to pharmaceuticals for ADHD; pills are not, after all, magic.
I know anecdotes aren’t exactly reliable research, but I will be reckless and share one anyway…
A family member with several children swore up and down that sugary foods led to bad behavior — but only in her oldest. He was later diagnosed with childhood bipolar illness. She has since found that sugar has no effect on him at all; it’s the food dyes and other additives that are in most sugary foods that affect him. We even had an accidental “single-blind test” one day, when he had some pepperoni without her knowledge. She knew from his behavior, asking him “What did you have?” Like I said, only single-blind, since HE knew he ate it (and he knows he isn’t supposed to, and why). Still, I found this really compelling.
So, no mention of applied behavioral therapy? Shame, shame, shame
The article mentions biofeedback, meaning neurofeedback, brain training. There are a couple of dozen studies and lots of supporting evidence that brainwave training is a highly effective way to heal the underlying disorder permanently. Some studies document that brain wave training is as good as ritalin. Others that neurofeedback can replace ritalin. Another line of research shows real changes are being made in the brain as seen on fMRIs. But most of the studies simply show improved attention and reduction of ADHD symptoms. This is the consistent finding.
There certainly are a lot more neurofeedback practitioners as seen on isnr.org, eeginfo.com aapb.org and bcia.org that on the pediatritian list. Fix the brain, heal the life.
So let me get this straight. They took out the sugar, but added artificial sweeteners? And how is that an improvement or a good experiment? People have reported problems from these chemical fake sugars at least as much as sugar itself. It’s like substituting a hammer for a shovel – you hurt if someone bonks you on the head with either.
As a teacher in a residential psychiatric treatment facility for children, I see children all the time who are havily medicated for ADHD. One fo the first goals of the program is to get the children off as much medication as is safe as quickly as possible to see what we are really dealing with. So many times, ADHD ends up not even being a diagnosis for the child who is on medication for this disorder. People are so quick to give prescriptions for stimulants to kids who appear hyperactive. Many times, behavioral interventions are effective! The problem with these interventions often lies in the way they are implemented. In other words, human error is often responsible for their failure. Websites such as http://www.goodtherapy.org often have wonderful blogs by therapists who have had outstanding success with behavioral interventions for ADHD. If you are seeking some sort of alternative treatment, I would recommend looking there. Of course, your doctor needs to know of anything you may be planning to try. But, it is worth it in the end! Having a child obtunded by medication is definitely not the solution to ADHD.
ADD Natural Cure
OneVeryGoodMan
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Greetings.
I would like to share my own experience with ADD and how I discovered a natural cure. I had all of the classic symptoms of ADD and I would consider my case to be severe. I was held back in the first grade due to my ADD and during that time period ADD was unknown or at least not labeled. Today, I am completely cured and hope my information could help someone else.
Through research via libraries, bookstores and, the Internet I have discovered a natural cure that consists of the following vitamins and supplements:
In the morning I take the following:
Note: Avoid all sugars.
1. One (high quality) Daily Multi-Vitamin
2. One Twin-Lab 100mg DMAE capsule (Only take during the morning hours)
At noon I take the following:
Note: Drink plenty of water for good absorption
1. Three 1000mg Salmon Oil capsules
2. One Twin Lab B Super Complex capsule
3. One 1000mg of vitamin C
4. One 1000mg Calcium-Magnesium
5. One 50mg Zinc
6. One 100mg Alpha Lapoic Acid
At night I take the following:
1. One (high quality) Daily Multi-Vitamin
These vitamins and supplements have changed my life as I am able to focus, concentrate, have less anxiety and, I am able to sleep much better. I have experienced no adverse side effects from taking these vitamins and supplements. I would recommend to anyone to try this natural cure first before taking ANY drugs.
I hope this helps.
OneVeryGoodMan@Gmail.com
(From Kansas City, MO.)
Symptoms of ADHD can be triggered by many things, including some of the synthetic chemicals routinely added to food. The Feingold diet is a test to enable you to determine if certain additives are to blame. Since most of the additives addressed (food dyes, artificial flavorings and 3 preservatives) are made from petroleum, there’s really nothing to lose by ditching them. And for every product that is removed, there’s a natural alternative available. This is the sort of information provided by the non-profit Feingold Association of the US. See http://www.ADHDdiet.org.
I have had ADHD for over 40 years and was subjected to all these theories as a young child. The truth is that with such a large number of people having the disorder there will always be a % that respond to things like diet etc. What upsets me is seeing people push these things as the only way to help or the new batch of snake oil salesman who only care about making $$ while complaining about Big Pharma doing the same. As for biofeedback, all the credible research I have read to date on that shows that the effects do not endure over time.
I also get upset when certain children are in need of medication and are scared away from using it by people and the child suffers for it. As a child I had to endure all these crazy things as my parents searched for an alternative. Behavioral mod, diet mod, biofeedback, and on and on. The finally realized that it was absusive to not give me the medication.
Want a good site to check on alleged “new therapies” for anything? Try Quackwatch
I wrote what happenned to me in a blog that mentions adhd treatment leading to drug abuse. On This very site! A true story… I found that in the long term you can end up in worse condition, (symptom wise) than when you started. You can rely on it for energy and concentration and build a tolerance to the other benefits. Thats how people end up dependant on it. Now I wish I had the attention span I used to (before I started it) My personality changed completely when I ran out (and slept it off for a few days) I felt happy and relaxed and when I was on it again I was obsessive and wired. Sadly, other people pointed out that “They hated to be around me when I took it” I was too irritable and socially inept” Give it time to see how it long-term effects your life and then weigh the pros and cons (when your dependant on it just to clean your house or stay awake at times) Its effects can be brutally life altering, especially when your friends notice it first! I needed to exercise and take nothing. Your energy will keep you attentive enuff to get by happy!! Its not easy… I kept my old email address to remind me because years later I still crave them…
Here is my two-cents worth:
From my experience, Developmental Disorders (including ADHD) are a problem in the developmental process. Because the child’s developmental process is blocked or sluggish, some neuro-development does not occur properly.
Symptoms are no the problem; they are a symptom of the problem. The problem is that the developmental process is stuck and needs to be re-engaged.
From my experience, re-engaging the developmental process involves finding out what blocked the child’s developmental process and removing it. Our theory is that the child is having non-allergic hypersensitivity immune reactions to stuff in the child’s environment.
Think about it, for some children the Feingold or GFCF diets or chelation gets the child back on track, but other child have no improvement with these approaches. You have to test to see what the child is reacting to and then remove those things from the child’s environment. Those who are improving with those diets or chelation are improving because their regimen happens to eliminate the things they react to.
We find that with solid testing, and then removal of “offending” factors, the developmental process re-engages in just a few days.
Of course there is more to it, because there are certain “windows” in which appropriate development occurs and these are often age-related. So, after re-engaging, we have to encourage the developmental process to continue so the child matures and catches-up with peers. For instance, how do you get a 15 year-old teenager who used to have Asperger’s to learn some lessons he should have been able to learn naturally when he was 4? The context is totally different and those interaction windows so open at 4 and now closed for this teenager.
We have mode great progress in re-engaging the developmental process, but now we face other issues which need to be overcome.
Rodger
What I mean by we’re the 10% is that our experience with medication is that the doctors an schools are quick to say they need to be medicated that they dont think of the long term effects of things like concerta an ritalin,,,my son was on concerta for 4 years an even though we went to the doctor every three months an reported severe changes all they wanted to do was up the medication,,,an with doing that my son has became the 10%. He suffered,,from seeing things,,racing heart,,not wanting to eat,,not sleeping,,depression,,,an started to effect his mental state so badly it caused bi-polar disease,,which became to him harming himself by cutting himself. I so urge parents to seek alternative methods,,,medication doesnt always work!