Natural treatments for ADD/ADHD?????

[rainplace]

Quote:
Why do you need him to focus on school work just as much? Some children are just better hands on. Personally I think this should be encouraged. Maybe change the focus of the books to mechanical engineering. Maybe books that can't show him how to build something different than he can now. Books that show why things work the way they do. Robotics could be another good outlet. Maybe if he's given those sorts of books he'll see that he has to know some of the other basic school taught things to be better at the hands on stuff.

 

[Hoosiermomma]

Quote:
I won't disagree with you.

My nephew has ADHD and video games really helped him. I do let mine play them but in moderation. I kind of use it as a reward/bribe.

I will defintely get some tea with caffeine. I'll just stay away from it.

 

[Hoosiermomma]

Quote:
Why do you need him to focus on school work just as much? Some children are just better hands on. Personally I think this should be encouraged. Maybe change the focus of the books to mechanical engineering. Maybe books that can't show him how to build something different than he can now. Books that show why things work the way they do. Robotics could be another good outlet. Maybe if he's given those sorts of books he'll see that he has to know some of the other basic school taught things to be better at the hands on stuff.

That's what I am going to do with him but he needs to be able to get through some of the books that we have though. If he cannot get through these then he'll have a heck of a time when he goes through college/vocational school. A big portion of what I'm going through now is want versus need. He wants to do what he wants to do so....couple teen hormones (a 6'2" 200 lb teen) with ADD. Not a good mixture. LOL They do have vocational training through the local high school and so I think I may contact them to see if he could get involved while being homeschooled. I think he would really benefit from classes that interest him. He learned welding via 4H this year and loved it so I am encouraging him to pursue that avenue as well as any other he might be interested in....plumbing, a/c, electrical, etc.

 

[rainplace]

Quote:
Why do you need him to focus on school work just as much? Some children are just better hands on. Personally I think this should be encouraged. Maybe change the focus of the books to mechanical engineering. Maybe books that can't show him how to build something different than he can now. Books that show why things work the way they do. Robotics could be another good outlet. Maybe if he's given those sorts of books he'll see that he has to know some of the other basic school taught things to be better at the hands on stuff.

That's what I am going to do with him but he needs to be able to get through some of the books that we have though. If he cannot get through these then he'll have a heck of a time when he goes through college/vocational school. A big portion of what I'm going through now is want versus need. He wants to do what he wants to do so....couple teen hormones (a 6'2" 200 lb teen) with ADD. Not a good mixture. LOL They do have vocational training through the local high school and so I think I may contact them to see if he could get involved while being homeschooled. I think he would really benefit from classes that interest him. He learned welding via 4H this year and loved it so I am encouraging him to pursue that avenue as well as any other he might be interested in....plumbing, a/c, electrical, etc.

Thank goodness!

So many parents try to force their children to well with traditional school smarts and often it's like trying to push a square peg into a round hole. That's what happened to me. lol I was in my 30's before I realized that just because I did poorly in school didn't mean I couldn't learn to do the things I was interested in learning about.

 

[Chicken Fruit]

cut out suragar, boxes/canned/plastic wrapped food. If it comes packaged, avoid it. Especially crackers, snacks, pasta mixes, and things like that. Cut out MSG, its in freaking everything.

The preservatives, MSG, and flow agent chemicals found in all our foods (save the ones from animals and the ground, for the most part) are stimulants. They cannot be readily exceted or metabolized, especially in children. Theyre stored in the tissues and build up until the body is so over stimulated it cannot react properly. Think I am making it up? Research the side effects of the chemicals in your foods. They include everything from heart failure, obesity and sugar issues, to mental issues, to ADD/ADHD symptoms. Everything our country ails from, suddenly, since their insertion into our foods in the 50's.

Look up how to avoid MSG, you'll soon learn about the awful flaw in our food industry's laws and regulations that allow for it to be unnamed and placed in countless ingredients. Even ones labled as "natural". They can even inject these different toxins into our meat, and all of them do. Even our ground beef. We buy direct from a slaughter house/ butcher who doesnt inject. Totally worth it- the price is similar to the store, and the taste and texture is unbelievably better.

I nannied and worked with kids for 16 years, plus am raising my own. In my experience I have never come across a child labled with ADD or ADHD who wasnt easily remedied by eating healthy foods, cutting out the chemicals, and getting good exercise. I have NEVER seen a child labled with ADD/ADHD that ate healthy. Not saying it doesnt happen, there are times when children really truly just have an inability and handicap when it comes to such a condition. but after so many kids in my care, and so many years with them, and so many repeated sucesses just by changing their diet and activity I seriously have to say I dont put much faith in the diagnosis, or the medications.

most cases are confirmed in schools, in an environment that studies have proven over and over does not cater to the needs of all children. Boys especially. Some children learn at different paces, and many children, even older ones cannot process information without their bodies being in motion.

I have a cousin who works for families with learning disabled children, most are "ADD/ADHD", and even she believes the same- and she's only 22. She's often helped parents wean their kids off medication and onto a better diet, and found it had the same effect, or a similar one to the medication.

Our family suffers from a line of women who have crippling panic disorders. I am the third generation, and I promise you I stopped having panic attacks (my doctor describes them as a heart attack, without the damage to the heart muscle, the pain and experience is the same) when I cut out MSG. Our toddler started sleeping better, well, we all did, and we all felt as though some fog lifted from our minds- one we didnt even realize was there.

Beyond all that, how well the family core and structure functions plays a big role in behavioral issues like this. One reoccurring factor I've found in a lot of these cases, and heard repeated by other care givers is that there is an unstable home environment. Parents who are not home, bickering, lack of attention, lack of time spent together as a whole, and especially fathers who are minimally active in their children's lives. I doubt there's been much study done on the subject, so i cant tell you to research it, but its just what Myself and others in the industry have noticed as a trend.

I might be young, and I might not know a whole lot about the medical field, but I know what BS smells like, and to me ADD and ADHD is typically one of those things.

Maybe some of that might help your situation, or maybe it doesnt, but its at least worth looking into. The food thing is hard. We survive on the convenience of frozen meals, and ingredients that are not whole and untouched- things that cook easily and quickly. Its a rough change to make as a mom, trust me I know. Especially if you're a working mom. But if you do it a little at a time and find the balance you can make it just as easy as the current style is for you now.

 

[Wifezilla]

I have ADD. I was never diagnosed as a kid. I also have a son with an "interesting brain" even though he is not add, he is autistic.

Diet plays a VERY big role. It might not be a cure all, but it will make things easier and eliminate a possible aggravation if you clean that up first.

• Eliminate sugars and high fructose corn syrup from the diet
• Also limit foods that rapidly convert to sugar after digestion. This includes wheat, rice, soy, potatoes, high sugar fruits (bananas, pineapple, etc...). Whole grains are not much better than refined grains so don't think switching from white rice to brown rice or white bread to whole wheat is going to make much of a difference.*
• Have your child's vitamin D level tested. A lack of vitamin D has profound effects on brain development. If you end up supplementing, make sure d3 is used...NOT d2.
• Learn about healthy, natural fats. They do not cause heart disease and aid brain development. The human brain is mostly cholesterol. Cream, egg yolk, cheese, lard, and especially coconut oil are "brain foods".
• Meat and vegetables should be the focus of meals. Some low sugar fruit like strawberries is good, and a little starch isn't bad, but these are side items...NOT the main component.
• Fruit juice is no better than kool aid. Sure there are some vitamins in it, but these same vitamins are also in vegetables, dairy and meat. There is no need to package them in a pile of sugar.

I lived on Mac & Cheese, breakfast cereal and kool aid as a kid. I paid for it dearly as I got older.

*This is where the confusion comes in about diet changes in ADHD kids. They gave them foods without sugar BUT they were high in wheat, rice, etc... So even though they didn't get table sugar, they were still loaded with sugar because these foods rapidly convert to sugar during digestion.

 

[rainplace]

Quote:
Very good point there, Wifezilla.

I've been trying to get my husband to understand about foods that rapidly convert to sugar... he's having a hard time understanding /sigh

 

[Chicken Fruit]

Quote:
Very good point there, Wifezilla.

I've been trying to get my husband to understand about foods that rapidly convert to sugar... he's having a hard time understanding /sigh

Starch, so many people missed that chemistry lesson. If its high in starch is digested as and used as sugar. Processed foods come right into that. Our flours are bleached and heated and thus processed- making the starches simpler. Whole grain, true whole grain without bleaching or processing, or additives, doesnt have the same effect- especially if the darker nuttier grains are selected. As an ingedient, not as the product. The whole grain breads in this country are a joke- as anyone from italy or france, or a place like that can tell you. Cake eaters, thats what the fins call us.. LOL!

Apparently its something no one in our country understand, or at least more than half of us, as its a major culprit in weight gain- not to mention diabetes.

Sorry to post again. Its just something I am flaming passionate about. I hate that so many people suffer without understanding of how to avoid something that is truly just this simple.

 

[Elite Silkies]

My son is ADHD and is currently taking Vyvanse. I took him off for the summer and one month into school and I let him choose if he wanted to take it or not. He chose to take the Vyvanse. He says it helps him concentrate. Luckily, he is on Soonercare, so they pay for it.

I do on occasions give him Energy drinks. I went through several Ma'am do you want him to have this? I said sure he can, unless you would like to take him to your house.

I also give him Coffee, but the Energy drink works much better.

No red dye foods.

ADHD kids are highly intelligent. Their minds just go to fast for them to keep up.

I praise you mother's that home school, I just don't know that I could. I try to help him with his work and he tells me that his teacher does not teach him that way and gets angry with me.

I often could not understand how he could set and play a video game that long, but not do his homework. I finally realized that if something bores an ADHD child, their minds wonder elsewhere. If it is interesting to them, they do great. So, sometimes it hard to balance out. But, they have to learn to control their minds and focus.

I do hope that you can find something that will help. If you children have been diagnosed ADHD, I think you can apply for disability and get their meds paid for.

 

[ChooksChick]

It's dangerous to suggest ADD/ADHD doesn't exist.

I was raised as hippie/natural as a kid could get in the 70's, never ate processed/packaged foods, and was allergic to most of the items which are suggested as omissions in a kid's diet.

I had life-threatening reactions to dairy and eggs- triggered asthma attacks which hospitalized me, turning into chronic pneumonia.

I was as ADHD as a child could get, to the degree I was constantly injuring myself- yet bright, gifted, and functional...just radically annoying and only needing 4 hours sleep daily.

When my little sisters came along, they suffered from what eventually was diagnosed as celiac, and the whole family went gluten-free. My ADHD WENT AWAY!

My daughters have ADD and are at the tops of their classes because of gluten and casein avoidance. I can tell when one of them has eaten something.

There is a study out on the web written at least a decade ago that was written by a woman who ascertained that the gluten protein molecule was nearly indiscernible from neurotransmitter molecules. Neurotransmitters receptors are in the gut. If the wrong molecule is taken in, you misfire.

ADHD/ADD/OCD/BPD/Autism spectrum are all neurotransmitter disorders. Many can be treated with diet change, but not all respond to the same substances the same way. It takes diligent experimentation to determine which dietary restrictions are best for the person.