Six Year Old with ADHD.

There are so many studies now that are finding that many kids with ADHD actually have sleep apnea and when properly diagnosed, and get the right sleep function well. I have also had friends put their kids on a gluten-free and dairy free diet with amazing results in their ability to focus and function. My own friend says it is like night and day and the diet makes a difference. You can read my family health column about ADHD and lack of sleep, there are great links included...too many docs are prescribing drugs w/o looking for the root cause.

Good Luck and feel free to email me if you have more questions.

J. W. MPH
Maternal and Child Health Educator
Chicago Examiner Family Health Expert

If you have a moment, please read through my responses to others. I will try to come back and revise this with more info for you, but it has been a long rd with getting correct diagnoses for my daughter and we have been through a lot, esp in the "alternative" medicine field.

A couple of things-

Homefirst (a local homeopathic ped office) does MSA testing, which is alternative allergy testing- it is not painful, no needles, and gives amazing results. Often we react to allergies with distraction, hyperactivity, aggression, etc. It cost us $100 out of pocket, but was worth it!

Also, try www.feingold.org- it is a complete program for eliminating foods that often cause issues in children and has amazing results as well.

Feel free to contact me, and again, there is more info in previous posts of mine in relation to exactly the paths we have taken with my daughter (diagnosed with ADD as well as a few other things.)

Hugs,
M.

I am getting my Masters in Special Education and learned about a more natural medication for AD/HD called Concerta. You should ask your Doctor about it if you want a more natural approach. I have seen many students do very well after being on medication for AD/HD. I wish you the best of luck! The way my professor explained putting children with AD/HD on medication - if he was diabetic you would give him insulin. If he needs it b/c he has been diagnosed with a medical condition and other interventions have been tried and did not work or were not enough then there is nothing wrong with medication. Best of luck!

Hi A.:

I know you will get a flood of responses for your request for info. Let me give you my perspective since I have walked in your shoes. My son, who is now 14, was diagnosed with ADHD in 1st grade at age 7. I knew he was "different" than other kids when he was a toddler. When he was in first grade, he didn't have the ability to stay in his seat for longer than a few minutes and he had severe focus issues. I had him tested by two different psychiatrists and both suggested medicating him. I was very hesitant to start him on meds at such a young age. But I weighed the pros and cons and had many long discussions with my husband. We ultimately decided that medication was the way to go. He also started out with Adderall but he had some weight gain and stomach issues after about 6 months. I will say that I could see that the medication worked like a charm within about a week. I also had very open communication with the teacher and she also noticed a remarkable improvement. Over the years he has been switched to a few different medications...but they all worked very well for him. He is currently on the Daytrana patch and it is fantastic for him. He is a high honors student and is now extremely focused. The bottom line is that you have to do what works best for your son and for you. Always get a second opinion. Also check out the CHADD website at www.chadd.com. It is a great website and you can subscribe to their Attention magazine, which is wonderful. I still refer to it. Best of luck to you and your son!
K.

PLEASE call Dr. Laurie Philipps - ###-###-####. She does amazing things for kids with ADHD! Adderall is not safe in the long run and does not treat the source of the problem, only deals with the symptoms. Don't make your family suffer another minute! Her office is in Arlington Heights.

You're such a good mom to look for alternatives to drugs. I don't have personal experience with ADHD and choosing drug therapies, but there is a homeopathic center run by MDs called the Center for Integral health (centerforintegralhealth.com) where they would likely be able to help you. There's also been quite a bit of research to indicate that yoga has tremendous benefits for children with ADHD. And if you'd like a second opinion from someone who can pinpoint the brain areas that need attention, Dr. Val Nowinski in Orland Park is a pioneer in neurological testing and therapies for all kinds of brain issues. Good luck to you.

A.:

look into craniosacral treatment....

try... www.upledger.com

Warmly,

P., RLC, IBCLC
Bbreastfeeding and Parenting Solutions

My daughter was diagnosed with ADHD midway through kindergarten. Medicine for me was the absolute last resort. We googled 'ADHD diet' and found a detox diet. We strictly followed it and after a full 2 weeks noticed a HUGE change in our daughters behavior. It states that you are to then reintroduce each food, but we never did. All those thnigs we took out of her diet were not necessary anyway. We also kept a food/behavior journal to see if there were any links to certain foods and how she behaved that day. We also kept her on a strict sleep schedule and tried to keep her daytime hours pretty much on schedule also. Her bedtime got moved up by about an hour and a half. She was doing great. Everyone noticed the difference. However, about a year later, midway through first grade, we started to get the phone calls from the teacher that things were getting a little harder for her. Now mind you, her K and 1st grade teachers were WONDERFUL with her, helped come up with little tricks to keep her settled and focused. They really worked exceptionally with her and us. But her fidgeting became more and more. Her talking and noise making became more and more. All the while we were still being strict about food and schedule. She was starting to become very tempermental again and hating everything, etc. We really didn't have anything left to try except the medicine. She is now on Concerta. We started on the lowest dose and went from there. We still implement the new diet, but I really have to think that for her, she needed the extra help from the medicine. As she gets older we will have her off it for summers and weekends and let her get used to controlling herself more. Good luck to you. Definately try the diet and see if that is enough for you guys...

I have a daughter that has had a hard time foccising she was in kinderdarden last year and did not do well at all she couldnt finish any of her work. so i took her to her doctor he said she did have ADHD and he put her on Ridilin i know its spelled wrong sorry. He said that is is #1 choice. she takes 1 tsp every morning and has been on it for 6 months. we held her back in kindergarden this year she has done so much butter she finishes her work her test scores are all passing. she is learning to read now shes doing great. yhr medicine is really helping her.

Hi A.!
We switched our son to the Feingold.org diet about 18 months ago and we saw changes within 2 weeks. Less agitated, better focused, body rash (plagued with since infant) disappeared.
Most kids cannot digest the additives, chemicals, colorings and synthetic junk put in our food.
Feingold compiles a food list by region of foods that do no include these things. It was challenging at first but once we got the basic foods down - it was much easier. We also removed gluten and dairy about 85%. Anything with gluten or dairy is from the Feingold listing. There are testimonials on their website you can read.
We are what we eat!
Good luck.
S. in Lisle, IL

Hi A. Right off hand I don't know of any natural products. Personally I don't like to see children so young on those drugs. Sometimes doctor are to quick to medicate them. Try searching the internet for natural product for ADHD. If you find anything, consult his pediatrician first before using them.

Nature's Sunshine products are highly rated. there is a shop in Glen Ellyn on the street the theater is on that runs parrallel to the train tracks. sorry I cannot be more specific, try the yellow pages.

Check out www.fixaddnomeds.com We are just starting the program and see improvments already!

There is great book by Dr. Doreen Vortue "Care and Feeding of Indigo Children", which talkes about natural approch, through diet and helps parents understand what our kids are experiencing.
good luck!
D.

I recommend the following resources...

http://drphil.com/articles/article/150/

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/5/t050500.asp

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/5/t050200.asp

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/5/t050400.asp

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/6/T060300.asp

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/5/t050600.asp

Best wishes,
J.

Both posts are absolutely correct and food sensitivities are a huge factor. When you do a diet elimination and take out all processed sugars and limit gluten and dairy intake there is always a huge behavioral change.

Definitely go organic!!

Many ADHD children improve dramatically with detox and diet change. In fact, I was originally thought to have developed adult ADHD when in fact it was nothing but a food allergy! If I eat eggs I actually get hyper (like I can't contain myself in my skin) and can't stop moving and certainly can't concentrate. Some kids' symptoms disappear completely. Have him tested for allergies and candida.

ADHD is usually NOT a mental disorder, but a mental response to a physical problem. So why they treat it with mind-altering drugs is beyond me!

Check out this site, it has triggers of ADHD listed:

http://www.unhinderedliving.com/ADHDcauses.html

Most ADHD kids have symptoms at home AND at school. If he's just having trouble listening, following directions and concentrating at school he could have one of two issues:

1. Being six. Six year olds have trouble listening and following directions because they are SIX! They have small attention spans. They are not used to sitting all day and learning. Plus schools are cutting down on recess and art and music.

2. He could have a learning barrier. Usually it's a lack of understanding what the teacher is explaining and lacking the mental maturity to recognize this and ask questions. The result is goofing around and not understanding the work.

I believe 100% that ADHD can be resolved without the use of drugs!

I worry when kids are put on drugs. WHen my nephew was 8 they labeled him ADHD the doc wwanted him on meds. Thank goodness my sister didn't do it. She brought him in for 2nd and 3rd opinions. WHat they found was he was having problems becasue he didn't understand the schoolwork. Once they got him a tutor and worked with him at home he not only started to get good grades but he started to pay attention and listen. I fear not all kids are actually ADHD when diagnosed. Please get a 2nd opinion and of course change of diet is always better then drugs. Good luck!

http://www.feingold.org/

I send all the parents from my organization who have children with ADHD to this site to use this diet. There have been great results. Children focus better, slepp better and their behavior is better.

Thanks
R. Christiansen
President - Celebrate Differences
www.celebratedifferences.org

I would suggest that if you don't agree with your doctor about putting your son on medication to find another doctor who would be more in line with a holistic approach. I would definitely not just try suggestions from other moms because in order to not do medication you often have to have an entire system in place.

I just read a book called The Ultramind Solution by Dr. Hyman (can't remember first name). In it, he talks a great deal about ADD and the true causes of it--in his words, ADD is not caused by a ritalin defieciency! There is mercury toxicity, and deficiencies in omega-3's, and other nutritional deficiencies that he goes into great detail about. I personally found it enlightening, being a person with strong ADD tendencies, and wanting to avoid medicine like ritalin if I can. I would definitely recommend reading this book--it will give you some great ideas. Good Luck to you!

I was an ADHD kid. They put me on Ritalin. When they took me off I had very severe drug withdrawal. I do NOT agree with drugging these kids. My daughter and my nephew have ADHD. My sister has chosen the drug options. My nephew has side effects from the drugs (they have tried Adderal, Concerta, Ritalin).....I don't think this is the answer. She feeds me mostly "processed" foods. I had found that controling my daughter's diet was/is more effective (she is now 21yrs old and has graduated college this year with High Honors (straight A's all 4 yrs) ) I am very proud of her to be sure. Here's what we did for her.....I elimated all dairy products from her diet (this is NOT easy as dairy is a food additive in MOST processed foods). We eliminated as much GLUTEN and refined sugar as we could (again, not so easy). My daughter learned to eat mostly fresh fruits and vegetables and lean meats. Things like KOOL-AID can push an ADHD child into overdrive....even the classic peanut butter and jelly sandwich can be deadly. There is so much sugar and preservatives and depending upon what brand you have selected, dairy products and food color for it to take days for all of it to clear a sensitive child's system.
I would suggest you look into an allergy scratch test if your insurance will cover it ( they are not cheap) It will tell you what your son's sensitivities are and then you can build a food routine from what he doesn't react to. It is surprising how different foods create strong reactions in many people without notice. I myself can't eat things like strawberries or sunflower seeds as both will make me jittery. Caffeine makes me sleepy. No, I am not a nut job. I raised 3 sons who could eat nearly everything with no issues....I just had to adjust to offering my daughter things that were similar to her brother's when I could, and convince her that her special needs were just that "special" like her. She now follows a vegan diet and is quite happy with it.