ADHD Brother Who Is Struggling with His School Work...

Have you tried the DAN! protocol, beginning with GFCF diet (no wheat, milk products), treating with proibotics and antifungals to eliminate yeast overgrowths in the body?

The diet is the first step. There is much you can do with a physician following that, but three months GFCF comes first.

There is a book called "Healing the childhood epidemics" by Kenneth bock. Recovery and healing is waiting. J.

Hi Renee'

First I must agree with with your supporters on this wonderful site. Fundamentally, the diet content is the true first transition to address.
I'm sure no one is more frustrated than your brother. There are some additional approaches that can be taken from a nutritional standpoint, and I must say that I am happy to hear the MEDS have been done away with. I know of some natural supplemental products that are specifically designed to address ADHD. Please remember that his brain has undergone quite a shocking change chemically since having gotten off the MEDS. Please only encourage your brother and have the utmost patience, being that he seriously cannot control this by himself. Also please remember that he has an additional culprit only adding to the issue. The havok of normal puberty is enough to drive a person looloo, but he has so much more going on. Hormones and chemicals. They are our central control factors. I will be glad to guide you on this. You are welcome to call or write. ____@____.com or ###-###-####

Sincerely,

L.
Stone Soup on Assignment(community outreach)

Hi,
I am a retired principal who now markets health nutritionals. We have a product - Future Star - which essentially is a natural brain food with a proven track record of success. I am positive your brother would benefit from using it, it's also good for baby boomers like me who have frequent "senior moments."
I'd be happy to share specific info with you.
Thanks,
Dr. Lewis

Hi Renee', I have a ADHD son that is the same grade as your little brother. (I homeschool though.) Anyway, my son is going to non-medicated therapy. Before that, we had him on herbs. We don't do prescriptions meds. Thankfully the place that we go to, does not promote meds either. I mean, there are times they do prescribe it, but they'd rather the kids get off of it and deal with it through therapy. Besides, they really don't know the long term effect of these narcotics some kids are on (taxing the heart, liver, and brain for some).

But you can help him out by using the following herbs that you can get at a health food store. (not GNC):

Omega 3
(we could all use more of this for better brain functioning)

DMAE H3 (helps with the concentration (I had the drops)

Primrose Oil

5-HTP (we used this for his sleeping problem, but you may not need this)

ADHD kids need a good diet. Eliminating sodas, dyes from koolaid, etc. sugary things, processed things. They basically need protein and veggies. Staying away from the processed foods/carbs will do a world of good. Just using the whole grain carbs would be much better. But honestly protein they do thrive on.

You may wonder why I got my son off of these particular herbs? I wanted him to be tested to make sure that there wasn't anything else I was missing. I diagnosed my son as ADD with an auditory processing disorder, myself. When I took him in to be tested, I was told that he was ADHD with an auditory processing disorder. I wasn't too far off, but glad that I did this. They didn't want me to put him back on the herbs after the testing because they want to see what works and what doesn't with the therapy. It's been going great.

He has just finished Neurofeedback Therapy and will start the Interactive Metronome Therapy in about 2 weeks.

Good Luck!
Mother of 4

try giving him some pycnogenols. Natures ADD drig.
You can get it in liquid or capsules.
he should be able to handle 200 mg a day for a week and then 100 mg a day on going.
Also, make sure there are no chemicals in his diet. no gatorade, aspartame, nitrates...
Also , magnesium can help too....
good luck.

Renee' - We had a similar issue with my Son. While he was never clinically diagnosed with ADD/ADHD we observed a lot of the same symptoms. (Not paying attention, failure to stay on tasks’) My mother is a retired school teacher and suggested that we give him a small amount of caffeine. I have never been fond of kids and sodas but I did a little research and figured we’d try it out.
I would give him one of those 100 calorie Coke during study time and/or during in after care. All I can say is it made a believer out of me and several of his somewhat reluctant teachers. Below are a couple of links that I found, but google it yourself…

http://www.myomancy.com/2008/04/caffeine-and-adhd-update
http://newideas.net/adhd/adhd-diet/caffeine

Now for the most part we are only using 'Attentive Child' from the GNC store combined with the DHA(Omega 3). On a daily basis and watching the dyes he eats. (We had to cut out the regular Doritos completely, his favorite snack).
Best Wishes! You seem to be a great big sister!

Hang in there! My son is in the 5th grade also. we kept him back a year and it used to take 4 - 5 hours for homework. I had his teachers modify his homework. I have to agree with the first advice. I also gave him the oils - EFA for children from GNC and his vitamins but the key is protein. Because he didn't eat much meat I buy the protein powder and put it in his food and smoothies. One of the best thing that ever worked when I could afford it was a gluten and dairy free diet. I don't know what you believe but I recently had a breakthrough after going down on my face every morning and have everyone praying. I pray psalm 144, I pray for a sound mind, a desire to learn. I use the power of a praying parent and the bible. They work wonders. Every child is different so any therapy, would be the one that fits his need for instance we did chiropractic and that helped but we couldn't afford after a while but God therapy is working wonders!

First of all I feel sitting at the table that long at night has got to be complete misery for you and the brother. I do not suggest it .Nutrition is a big key to helping children with ADHD. Do some research on the right foods and wrong foods. Also boys hate too sit still for periods of time. I homeschool my 10 year old son and he does not sit down over 20 min at a time. Then he gets up and takes trash out , then comes back to the table to do a math sheet then goes and folds his laundry . Then we will go on a short bike ride to get our blood pumping, that helps us feel and think better. Let him know you believe in him and that he can do it. If he hears you speaking negatively about him too others it will hurt his self esteem.Good luck too you and your family. I am here if you need too talk.

Renee-

God bless you and your brother! It is difficult for some kids to focus. Have you worked on diet? Get him off white food and sugar immediately. The problem with working with him at night, is the fact all day of school and then 5-6 hours more........his brain is on "tilt"! You may need to find him interesting ways to learn......make it fun. If he can relate it to something more concrete, he may retain it. Also, check out my website msbetty.unfranchise.com. Go to the childrens area and read up on the vitamins. This company has had great success with children that are autistic and have ADD or ADHD. My great nephew was having problems at age 3. We put him on the digestive enzymes as we found out, he was having difficulty going to the bathroom. The enzymes helped tremendously. Then we had to calm him down a bit and added the vitamins. Within just a few months he became a different child. One of the employees of the company's son turned 11 and became a behavioral disorder at school. They were threatening to put him out. He had never been in trouble before and they could not understand it. He would work and do everything good at home. They had him tested and found out he had a high IQ and was not being challenged. When they took him to the dr he put him on Ritalin. She took him off the ritalin and started him on the vitamin program............within 1 year he was a straight A kid and on the honor roll. I have another client that has an autistic child that was 4 years old, showed no emotion and could only speak a few words. Her motor skills were that of a 2 year old. After one year on the vitamins, she could speak 3-4 word sentences, was showing some emotion and her motor skills had improved. That may not sound like much to you, but for an autistic child........it is huge!!!

BTW, has he been tested? What is his IQ? Is he hurtful to other kids or just energetic? What does he have a keen interest in? Sometimes if you will let a child explore the areas they really like, they will work to make other areas better. Does he like science? Find a project for him to work on "after" he completes his studies and passes them. You can also find out by doing this if he really has an attention deficit disorder. I have worked with children that could sit for hours working on projects they enjoyed and blow off others. It they are truly ADD, they can't focus on anything for any length of time.

My husband who is "older" now was and still is ADHD! Yes, he gets on my nerves too as we are both "high energy" and in sales! He was a problem child all the way through school, of course back then, there were no options. He dropped out of HS, went into the Navy. Now that, straightened him out. He had no choice.......had to focus. It was not until he was in the Navy that they realized he had a photogenic mind. He only had to see things once and he was good to go. He never studied in school, but passed. He was not challenged. The Navy took care of that. When he was out of the Navy, he went to work at Coke. Started out driving a route truck and going to school at night to get his degree. Passed everything with "A's"!! Went through all the ranks up to a Marketing Manager calling on Oil companies! He loved his job so focus was not a problem. To this day he still remembers everything he reads, can quote stats, number, etc, etc. So instead of harping on the negative, while you work on the ADD area, fill a void with some positive things he enjoys! Hope this helps! B. ###-###-#### cell

Dear Renee,
Your brother needs to have a complete educational and physical evaluation. Your school district should do the educational part for you-that is the law. You need to write a letter requesting a complete education eval to the person in central office-who is in charge of special ed. Do you have a large city near you. You need to go there to a teaching hospital and have a physical and psychological eval done. Almost all insurance, regular and governemnt will cover this. There are many types of ADHD meds and some have almost no side effects. If that is his problem he needs to get back on drugs right away. I know you are trying to help by sitting at the table with him for so many hours but let him work for 15 minutes and then play for 15 minutes. Try to keep him away from the TV and video games. The School district is required by law to help your brother sometimes you just have to fight to get it!! Meg