Son with ADHD

I'm 32, but when I was a baby I would have high fever spikes. they never really knew what from - perhaps teething, perhaps allergies - my family has a predisposition to febrile seizures, whatever. point is, a pediatrician suggested ritalin to my mother. we quit seeing him.

I'm with most of the ladies on this list - no drugs for kids. The Well Being Journal issue September/October 2006 has a great article by Lynn Shansky titled Mental Health, Supplements & Nutrition which you may find helpful. Also, even Dr. Sears et al regard diet as the primary treatment for ADD and ADHD. Sally Fallon and dr. Mary Enig have brought up simple issues such as a mild gluten intolerance not showing up anywhere else may show up in personality. or, something as seemingly simple as flouride supplements - we're still learning so much about how they affect people via injestion.

stick to your guns! you're the mommy.

PS, we also see an ND for our family. very, very helpful.

My son has been going to a naturopath for almost two years to treat food allergies. We have treated all of them (he was allergic to everything except rice, chicken and vegetables) and are currently working on his severe peanut allergy. In the course of going to her office over the past couple of years, and reading literature and books, I have discovered a naturopath can help with a lot of things. I am currently seeing her for cysts on my ovaries. My doc wanted to put me on the pill to supress my ovaries, in turn reducing the cysts. I didn't want to go on the pill because of all the side effects. He said that was the only solution short of removing the ovaries entirely (I've already had my uterus removed from cancer). So, I went to my naturopath and she has helped me considerably. I'm no longer on pain meds and not on the pill. I feel great.

So, what I'm trying to say is...try a naturopath. I would be willing to bet your son will make great progress and never have to be on meds. I agree with you, I would not consider drugging my child. I would try all other alternatives first.

The gal I see is in Vancouver. Her name is Dr. Heather Roberts, ND. If you didn't want to travel to Vancouver, she may be able to refer you to someone closer to where you live. Her phone number is ###-###-####.

Also, you may want to go to the NAET website (www.naet.com). I have the book 'Say Good-bye to Illness', which is written by the doctor who developed NAET. I just read in there that ADHD can be caused by many allergies, including enviromental allergens. The biggest allergy is milk (or the protien in milk).

I know I've rambled on, but I wanted to give you some information and some examples of how a naturopath has worked for us.

I wish you lots of luck. Respond back if you have any further questions.

K.,
I don't know much about adhd, but I've been told by professionals that until age 7 they can't completely diagnose add or adhd until then, cus developementally they change alot by that time. And did they mention anything about diet ? That can play a huge part too. Sounds like your fairly healthy minded anyways, but just a thought.
P.s. I have a 12 wk old daughter, congrats on your new arrival.
L.

I have not been through what you're going through and unfortunately only know people who opt to drug their children. I too believe as you do that children should not be drugged, there are other options in my opinion.

I do know of some great books available on ADHD and an outspoken advocate named Thom Hartman is a good one to read. He's extremely knowledgable on the issue, http://www.thomhartmann.com/home-add.shtml

I'm also a firm believer that diet is everything, especially to children as their little bodies react to the smallest things. I do lots of reference against the following website: http://www.westonaprice.org/index.html. If you type in ADHD in their search you may find some interesting advice/information. You make also want to do a search on the following website as well: www.mercola.com , this is another very knowledgeable website on health related issues.

I don't believe the school can make you drug your child, I'm not 100% sure on this, but they can make life pretty difficult for you, I do know that. I would do research as fast as you can and as thoroughly and know your rights as a parent. Read, read, read and then ask questions. There may be more options out there for you than what you may think at the moment.

This is a good book that I've read: The Truth About Children's Health: The Comprehensive Guide to Understanding, Preventing, and Reversing Disease By Robert Bernardini, MS

Good luck to you.
T.

K.,
I don't have advice on the ADHD portion of your question but I do have an idea regarding the school. David Douglas District has a public charter school called Arthur Academy that is ran very similar to a private school, with the emphasis on academics, smaller ration of students to teachers, teacher assistants and some great acadmeic focuses. Its a private school setting at a public school price....free. You may want to look into them. They are on the web..arthuracademy.org. Or give them a call. They are a k-5 school. Good luck to you and God Bless!
H. P.

I am not dealing with this, but my sister is. My nephew is 6 and in kindergarten. He is a very active and smart little boy. He was in Head Start last year and they kicked him out and refused to allow him back unless he was medicated. My sister took him to the Dr and was told that they “could” medicate him, but he does NOT have ADHD. Nonetheless, Head Start continued to refuse him.

Now in kindergarten, his school wants him to be deemed “Special”. The Dr even stated that there are several Drs and teachers alike who jump right into diagnosing and medicating. There are so few that actually try to work with the child for a better outcome.

I have brought him to my home for a couple of weeks and I can handle him just fine. I honestly believe that if you control the hyper ness with diet (control sugar intake and give mostly fresh and not processed foods) and allow him to get plenty of play time, he will be fine.

And this brings me to my advice to you. Do what you feel is best for your child. I believe that starting a child (at the young age of 5) on “speed” could be one of the worst things you could ever do. I would tell the teachers flat out… “You are NOT medically trained and have no ground to stand on. It is not in your scope of practice to diagnose or treat medical conditions. And you definitely should not be prescribing medication for a disorder that you most likely don’t understand yourself.”

Good luck on your venture.

Hi there. I don't blame you for not wanting to medicate your five year old. I would be very reluctant to do that as well, so I think it's good that you're looking into other options.

That said, I am compelled to say that it is extraordinarily trying and difficult to teach not only the child who has ADHD, but the rest of the children in the class he or she is a part of. Kids with ADHD have a tendency to either zone out and slip right under a teacher's radar because they're so quiet, or they are doing something disruptive every five minutes. And then there's the difficulty of discerning behavior that is a result of ADHD and behavior that is a result of a kid being a kid.

I hope you can appreciate the teacher's side of this- so I encourage you to continue to actively do everything you can to help your son manage the ADHD. I had a child, who I absolutely adored in my class several years ago whose mom refused to medicate, but she never did anything else either. The poor boy basically had a wasted year, because despite all of my hours and hours of extra work to support him in the classroom (charts, visuals, small group instruction, individualized instruction, alternative seating arrangements, and much much much more)his brain simply couldn't handle all of the incoming stimulus- not his fault. One frustrating side affect was that the constant checking in with him to help him along meant I was neglecting other students. A teacher never feels good about that.

The kids I've had who have been medicated still need extra support; the difference is that the extra support actually works.

Here are some sites that seem worth checking out. If either of my daughters were to be diagnosed with ADHD, I would do absolutely everything else possible before medicating, but in the end, I would medicate if nothing worked.

http://www.healing-arts.org/children/ADHD/mri-imaging.htm
http://www.akidjustlikeme.com/id92.htm
http://user.cybrzn.com/~kenyonck/add/Links/links_categori...
http://www.adhd.org.nz/neuro1.html

I just remembered one boy in my class whose parents told me halfway through the year that he had ADHD and was on medication. It came up because he had been having some difficulties in class and that was very unusual for him. Turns out he had gone off of medication. I would never in a million years have guessed that he was ADHD.

Okay, I've rambled on and on and maybe not said the things you want to hear...but I do wish you the very very best.

J.

Here's one more: http://www.schwablearning.org/
It looks really excellent.

Hi there!

I thought they could only disagnosed with ADHD AT 7YRS old? I the reason I ask is because I thinking my son who just turned 5yrs might be.......

Much Care,
A.
West Linn

Google the "ADHD diet" or the "ADD diet". There are some researchers who believe that ADD and ADHD are reactions to/or allergies to foods. THere are many previously diagnosed kids who do wonders by just avoiding certain food additives and coloring. Check it out and try it. It can be a great alternative to medication.
For example my son gets very ADD/ADHD when he eats eggs. Since we've taken him off them, he can concentrate and is less impulsive. It's a miricle!

ok this may seem a little like lying heck it is lying, but what I finally had to do with my daughters teachers is just tell them she was on a once daily medicine. Even though she was not on any medication the teachers treated her a lot differently, they treated her just like anyone else in class. It is horrible for them to do that but it did make her schooling experience better.