Replied by T (Baltimore, Md, USA) on 08/25/2009
Hi Penny,
I strongly believe that the first thing to look into is diet. Remove ALL sources of artificial colors and flavors, MSG (check online for all the names it hides under), aspartame and any other artifical sweeteners, and cut way back on sugars of any kind. Ditch the high fructose corn syrup-containing stuff (be diligent - it's seemingly in everything). You might have to do like I did - totally empty the cupboards of all the packaged and processed stuff and teach yourself to cook from REAL scratch for the first time. I'd never been taught real cooking and I was crying the blues over the time and labor for awhile! But it gets easier and faster as you learn and we are both so much better off now.
My son was 'diagnosed' ADD at age 7 by a highly esteemed doctor here through a 2-hour office visit. He totally blew off my questions about behavioral counseling, diet, etc. His ONLY way was medicating. I declined. They can't show me exactly how/where this supposed problem exists in my son physiologically, but they can give him a potentially dangerous class B substance for it anyway? No thanks. My son is now age 10 (11 in 2 months) and about to start 7th grade. He is intellectually advanced, skipped a grade, and is in all Gifted & Talented classes. He greatly outscores his grade-level peers - kids up to 2 years older - on every standardized test. He might have seemed unfocused and distracted in classes, but obviously he was taking a lot in! I wasn't about to dope him for someone else's convenience. Thankfully we changed schools and ended up with some excellent teachers who dealt with him as the gifted child he is. Some kids just process things and react differently as their minds are so active - this to me is NOT a disorder. It just doesn't fit the "Stepford children" setup we're all supposed to goosestep to. I believe a lot of my own son's problems stemmed from his old school where he was being forced into a pigeonhole ("Sit quietly on the carpet while we learn ABC's even though you can already read entire books" - at age 5, how can he do that, dying of boredom??). I don't believe young children should be expected to sit perfectly still and silent with hands neatly folded for hours on end. Many adults can't even do that! ;-) Yes, he certainly must behave and not disrupt the class. And when he got some good teachers who actually knew how to deal with advanced children, he was much better! Something for you to bear in mind if he is having school problems. You must be his advocate and work with his teachers, assertively if needs be, on how to best accommodate his special ways of learning, no matter what level he is at. He is entitled to that.
I suspect my son may have some low-level food allergies or maybe even "leaky gut" due to some problems he had when he was smaller - is this a possibility in your son's case? These things are not always readily apparent. I can't afford the testing right now for it, so I keep working on the dietary front. I can say that with the dietary changes and the addition of some supplements, he has noticeably improved. I give him fish oils (not cod liver oil), and he takes Epsom salts baths to absorb some magnesium. I also give a drop of liquid selenium every couple of days. This can help remove mercury. During the worst of it I was giving him L-tyrosine (one that also contained C and B6) and evening primrose oil. The EPO really seemed to help when he was irritable. He doesn't usually take those now; I guess the dietary changes have helped enough. I also had given him a supplement specifically made for 'attention disorders', but found it had aspartates in it so I stopped that one - be sure to check labels. Extra B6 and zinc are usually recommended (be sure to balance the zinc with copper - generally 2mg copper to 30mg zinc). There are many things out there that supposedly help ADD/ADHD. I didn't try them all, but I do suggest reading as much as possible as there's a lot of info out there that could help you. And of course you'll want to thoroughly research any supplement before giving it to him.
I realize that some kids are a lot worse off than my son was. I've seen kids that were totally bouncing off the walls ALL the time. I'd still recommend this same route before giving in to meds, but perhaps with more intensive intervention - deeper investigation into possible food allergies or yeast or metals, for instance, and consulting with a professional that's truly knowledgeable on supplementation. If EC will allow it, this link is from a lab (they also offer an option for doing your own testing if your doctor won't test what you want) - it contains a few links of info you might find useful:
http://www.greatplainslaboratory.com/home/eng/adhd.asp
The "breaking the cycle" link there is quite interesting. Any doctor who disregards these factors is, in my opinion, incompetent at worst or willfully ignorant at best. To actually believe that things like diet, metals, infections and allergies can have nothing to do with these issues is so utterly ridiculous that I am always surprised anew when I encounter these brick-wall minds. It's like saying your car should always run the same no matter what you put in the gas tank - gasoline, turpentine, baby oil, etc. - and if it doesn't, it can only be that your spark plugs are bad!
I think you may find the focus issue improving along with hyper-type behavior if you work on the diet and supplements. But if you do this for a time and it doesn't seem enough, look into the allergy/yeast/metals issues. Sorry I've crusaded on you but this is a topic I feel very strongly about. I think a lot of kids and parents have been very badly done by, and the repugnant ADD/ADHD industry - for that is what it is - seems to just grow and grow. Please do check back with us and let us know how it's going. Your info could help someone else on the same road. Good luck to you and your wonderful boy!Replied by Candy (Fort Madison, Iowa, Usa) on 08/26/2009
get him some transdermal magnesium. you will be amazed!
