Natural remedies for kids with ADD

Natural treatments - like meds - can be frustrating becuase what works for one child may not work for another; these kids are so unique!

A few great books are "The ADD Nutrition Solution" by Marcia Zimmerman, "the LCP Solution" by Jacqueline Stordy PhD and Malcolm Nicholl, and "Healing ADD- The Breakthroug Program that Allows You to See and Heal the 6 Types of ADD" by Dr. Daniel Amen.

My son reacts to artificial dyes, chocolate, corn syrup and all dairy products.  He also had an essential fatty acid deficiency and by adding Efalex we completely eliminated most of his behavior problems, dyslexia and he no longer wears glasses. We also had to add supplements because he was not getting the nutrients he needed from the foods he eats. Most of the ADHD kids tested are deficient in calcium, zinc, magnesium and B vitamins, and deficiencies in these can cause behavior and ADHD problems. Kyle also had a Candidia yeast overgrowth that we are constantly treating and is allergic to Candidia.

One great thing to do is go to either the Great Plains Labs or Great Smokies website.  They have test kits you can order that will allow you to find what problems you have and you can go from there.  The test results have to be sent to a doctor; we used an excellent osteopath in our area.  Osteopaths and chiropractors are trained in supplements and treating the causes of problems not just giving meds to treat the symptoms.

My boy was diagnosed with Auditory Delay, at age 4.  There are many things that cause attention deficit. and the general medical population lables it as ADD and wants to medicate it.  Auditory delay means he has difficulty understanding what is being said in a confusing or noisy environment like a classroom.  As a result, our son was really out of synch with what was going on around him, and became disruptive out of frustration.  It was after he hit someone that we took action and got him tested.

I worked with Dr. Gerry Schwartz, the owner of the Learning Centre in Vancouver, B.C. Canada (she has a website)  to help our son with his learning difficulties.  She taught us that children need to learn to use the brains God gave them, and that it is the parents job to figure out how to support and advocate and fight for them.   She also recommended a communication workbook that our son took to school everyday from Kindergarten until this year.  The teacher reported daily with a smiley, so-so, or a frowny measuring his Focus, Behavior, and Cooperation.  This way we knew on a daily basis how our son was doing, rather than waiting for the meeting your usually get 3x a year.  In this way, things don't get too out of control, and you can stay on top of your child's progress.  Your child also wants to try harder when they are accountable on a daily basis.   As a result, our son became excellent in reading and Math, and his marks when way up.  He also developed a gift in music.  We kept him out of team sports and focussed more on sports such as tennis, skiing, karate, as it is hard for these kids to understand what is going on in a team dynamic. We also put him in the Montessori kindergarten for 3 years from age 3-6 as these kids really benefit from a structured environment.   I have an interest in food allergies and the effects on the brain, because I am affected in this way, and so chose to do my research for our son in this direction, and totally changed his diet, even though I had Psychologist PHD friends who claimed it wouldn't make a difference, it sure did!

He is now 12 years old,  is in one of the best choirs in the Country, has been on the honour role in a private school, is doing better in team sports, and got a scholarship there for choral singing.  We got him in this school when he was in grade 4, as private schools can be more accomodating to kids with special needs, epecially if your child is bright and has special talents.

I have had him on a vitamin called kid3.com (put this into Google for more info)and had all his food allergies figured out by a Naturopath.  He also takes  Effalex (containing EFA's Essential Fatty Acids and Fish oils)Vitamin B complex,vitamins, Vitamin E, an antioxidant, IQ by Albi, from Blaine, Wash, which contains natural stimulants (just started on this one.)  A great book is by Dr Michael Murphy and is called "IS YOUR KID'S BRAIN STARVING'

Dr Murphy has a vitamin company called NATURAL FACTORS which makes a great vitamin smoothie product called "Learning Factors"  it is very helpful.

He is off of foods containing molds (ie cheese) soy, dairy, chocolate, sugar, wheat products, artificial colours, aspartame (lots of this in diet drinks and gum), so called 'natural' flavours,(just another name for MSG, as is hydrolyzed vegetable protein.  He brings junk food and cupcakes home from school, and eats it after dinner occasionally as this food on occasion on a full stomach doesn't do much harm, and helps him to not feel deprived.  At school, you have to be very strict with the teachers, as they hand out all kinds of candy and junk to your kids.  They are only recently getting smart about peanuts as an allergy to this can cause death, but they aren't up to speed about sugar or sugary drinks as many teachers are addicted to this stuff themselves, and don't want to understand the harm it can do to kids that are sensitive to it.

What a difference.  Our son is still very slow in doing his work, and has difficulty writing essays, but he has a 78% average in one of the top schools here in Toronto. 

I have been tempted to put him on drugs, as it takes a lot of time to support our boy in doing his homework,  He takes 3x longer to do everything, but he does it with excellence.  He uses the computer and TV in moderation, as the screen can make his symptoms worse.  Nintendo needs to go in the garbage for these kids. Staring at a flickering tv screen definately makes them worse. A modern computer monitor can be rigged up for tv and games, and is not so over-stimulating as its  screen flicker rate is much higher than tv screens.

But he feels loved and knows who he is, and can sing solos in church in front of 600 people without being a bit nervous.  He may not be the most socially adept or popular kid, but I don't know if drugs would change this either.  There was a boy in his choir who was on Ritalin, and was the most difficult and nasty kid imaginable, and didn't stay for very long.  He had difficulties staying awake, and never ate when the other kids did, unless it was to eat candy.  It was heartbreaking.

Perhaps when my son is older he may use medically prescribed amphetamines (that's what Ritalin, Concerta, etc are.)

But at that time, he will have had his brain mature without chemicals, and can self medicate when he really needs it for university studying, etc to increase his focus abilities.

I am constantly researching and looking for ways to help my son and myself deal with focussing problems.  I became a practicing Architect and have managed with the the help of my Architect husband to have a great business, and raise 2 challenging teenagers.  It hasn't been easy, but I am so greatful for all the support I have been able to find on the internet and from friends and relatives who deal with ADD symptoms.  I am heartened and encouraged by all the parents out there who are sticking to their guns and choosing the non medicated, clean up the diet  route.  I know it may not work for everyone, but it is worth a try.  Anyone who reads this post is please invited to ad other ideas that have worked for you and your family.

Best wishes on your journey,

Marilyn

Kim,

    I'm sure you can find it at a GNC or somethng similar but I have not looked. The pills can be swallowed and as far as when they are taken is up to  you. I give my daughter 2 before school and 2 after school. Remember tho with the MIN-TRAN you also have to cut back on the sugar intake in thier diet.

Jenny:

Is the chiropractic office the only place you can get the MIN-TRAN?  and do you have to crush the pills up?  Can the child take the pills whole?  Are all 4 pills given at one time?  Thanks in advance for answering my questions.  I may give this a try.  Kim

WE TOOK OUR 6 YR. OLD OFF CONCERTA AND RESPERDAL, AS HE WAS ON THE HIGHEST DOSAGE, AND STILL NASTY, AND ARGUMENTIVE.  YOU CAN FIND ALMOST ALL, AND IN THE RIGHT AMOUNTS OF VITAMINS, AND MINERALS, (AS SUGGESTED ON THE AMOUNT OF SUPPLEMENTS FOR ADHD, WEBSITE0 IN A POWDERED PRODUCT CALLED 'ALL ONE'  ON THE NET, THEY SUGGESTED I GIVE MY SON 2-3 TSP OF THE RICE ALL ONE, WHICH THEY ARE OUT OF FOR THE MOMENT SO WE ORDERED BOTH THAT AND THE ORIGINAL.  I FIGURED OUT THE SUGGEST SUPPLEMENT AMOUNTS, AND 3 TSP COMES OUT EXAC TLY RIGHT WE ARE ALSO GIVING 2 CAPSULE be CALMED, - BE CAREFUL THERE ARE OTHER PRODUCTS CALLED THAT, THIS IS A SUPPLEMENT, CONTAINING 5 HTP, vitamins, minerals, DL Phenylalanine - L Glutamine, etc.  Ben is getting

1 capsule beCALMED am 1/2 before breakfast, 

1   ""         &nbs p;         &nbs p;    around 3  or 1/2 hour to an hour before eating

  this was posted before I was done, Ben is getting

1 becalmed in am

1 late pm,  must be taken on empty stomach, or small amount of juice,Etc

3 tsp. all in one in am for breakfast mixed in applesauce,

Websites are great with info, and answering questions.  We are also going to add DMAE when I find it. 1-- mg.

all one web site www.all-one/supplements

beCALMED www.adhd-becalmed.com

ok will try again, here are websites

becalmed@comcast.net

www.healthwell.com for ADHD supplements suggestions, and amounts

www.lanspeed.com/all one  for that supplement,

sorry i am having so much trouble, these are getting posted before i am done,

Hi ~ My daughter is 6 1/2 and was diagnosed ADHD combined in September, 2003 (although I think I knew years before that).  I am trying very hard to keep her off meds too.  We had her IEP meeting in February and it was determined that she didn't qualify because she does not have a learning disability, but she automatically qualified for 504.  She doesn't know that she is on any plan and her teacher certainly isn't going to let her take advantage of anything ~ she barely gives my daughter credit for anything she does right anyway.  I started her on supplements about 6 weeks ago and what a difference.  She hasn't been to the principals office at all in almost 5 weeks (used to be at least a couple of times a week).  Her classmates have made comments about how much nicer she is lateley, telling her that they are proud of her (I volunteer in the classroom).   Through the 504 they started a friendship group with her and 3 other children to teach her how to be a better friend.  In the initial evaluations they did, one of the things they noted was that she doesn't really interact with other children in her class.  She has trouble picking up on social cues (classic ADHD from what I've read).  The 504 just makes the school follow through with giving them what they need to learn.  My daughter has a great deal of difficulty transitioning from one thing to the next.  By the time she's gotten herself and her mind set on to the next thing, the class is ready to move on to something else.  Now, they have check lists on everything that's going to happen throughout the day and give 10 minute warnings, 5 minute, so on.  She came home from school last Friday and said she couldn't wait for the weekend to be over so she could go back to school ~ she loves school now.  The one thing I've noticed that does have an affect on her behavior is red dye so we try very hard to stay away from that ~ although it has less of an affect if she has something with red dye on a full stomach. 

Hope this helped ~ good luck.  ô¿ô

Hello all,

I can't tell you how happy I am to find this discussion board and to have others who are also looking into more natural solutions for their children.  I have an 11 year old son who has been diagnosed with ADD (not ADHD) and has been on Concerta for the past 2 years.  Last Thursday, we took him off and will not be putting him back on it, or any other drug that the dr's have to offer.  He has developed a facial tic (squeezing his eyes shut and kind of grimacing), which is now diminishing without the meds, but we aren't sure how long it will take.  Our Pedicatrician has recommended a psychiatrist to review other meds, but it's a 3-4 month wait if you want to use insurance.  Regardless, we are now working harder on diet and looking at natural supplements (such as ATTEND - has any body tried that one) and hoping that we haven't destroyed his wonderful brain.

If anyone has tried the ATTEND, I would be very interested in your comments.  It seems to be a complimentary product of the beCalmed that I see some of you are trying.

Thanks so very much. 

Kathy

Songwriter -

Thanks.  I think we are going to try Attend, then if there isn't a noticable change, we may combine it with the beCALMED.   I will also look at the ginko biloba as well as additional vitamins and supplements.  My son primarily has difficutly making and maintaining friendships, and he seems to be a target for bullies.  We have been working very hard coaching him on behavior and he rarely has an outburst unless we are at home and he feels comforatable with his surroundings. 

I'm sure most of the contributors here know what I mean when I say I can't sleep at night and I've pratically run dry on tears trying to find ways to help him.  I've even looked for a 'social skills coach' but there isn't one in our state.  (hmmmm, maybe I should go back to school.)  Even on the Concerta, his social skills were an issue - it only seemed to help his school work.  It breaks my heart to see him try so hard to make friends, and then to see these kids turn on him and be cruel.  He actually told me one day 'Mom, I know you love me, you have too.  But, I just want one person to like me.' 

Hi Grama Kate again, BeCalmed did not work for us, as I had hoped it would, Researched for a week, tried Focus, ( no luck,)  Now are going to try Attend and their product Extress.  Both products seem to have all the stuff he needs, and they have a money back guarantee.

\We discovered we did this all wrong, we took him off the concerta and resperdal, before the vitamins, had a chance to work.  Now he is back on a lower dosage of concerta, about half of what he was on before.  He is on the supplements and vitamins, in the suggested ADHD supplement chart, and will be on 2 attend, and 2 extress as soon as they come, we are going to do this for 4 weeks, then take him off the concerta again.  Want to give the supplements full time to kick in this time.  Click on www.healthwell.com, for the supplement info for ADHD .  Also there is a great product, All One, has all - but enough B_ vitamins and supplements, on the chart, and is in a powder.  We thought this would be great as Bear was taking 8 different supplement pills a day., he would not take the powder tho, no matter what I put it in, but then he has a narrow passageway for eating, and has trouble drinking in much quantity, so guess I just had it too thick,  I sent that back, (money back guarantee too,) but if you kid would drink a smoothie, would be a great way to get all the vitamins in at once,

We have Ben on Shaklee vitamins, 2 adult vita lea, 2 B complex,. 1 C-1 omega

and 1 E, (their E has selenium and grapeseed)  This is 7 pills a day, and we have to break some in half for him to swallow them, but he is great about it. That plus the attend and Extress and concerta, sure is a lot for a kid to deal with.

Ben is 6 and weighs 63 lbs.  He recently told me, would I please unscramble his brain and make him Ben again.  For awhile on the beCalmed he seemed to do better, I did too, then after 2 weeks, we both became hyper.  I don't know why.  What a problem this is.  I understand TIREDmentally it is so draining to try to stay one step ahead, of his emotions, my husbands, non understanding, and trying to get him off drugs.  Hope you work this out, Love Grama Kate

Thanks for the input on Focus and BeCalmed.  I know that different things will work for different kids, but I seem to have found more postive stuff on the Attend than any of the other products. 

I'm amazed that your little Ben puts up with so many pills in one day, but honestly, I think my Matt man would do the same if I asked him to.  Fortunately, it's a piece of cake for him to take a pill.  I've ordered the Attend and will start with the 2 caps morning and night for the first month, and then go from there.  I didn't order the Extress because he is not hyper, just very inattentive and VERY impulsive.

One thing, though - right or wrong, he's not going back on the concerta.  The kids at school started calling him a freak when the facial tic occured and that was worse for him than not taking it.  Besides that, the last few months, the concerta didn't seem to be working as well and the dr. wanted to raise the dosage until the tic started.

I'll let you know our results with the Attend and if we feel that we need to add anything else.  Grama Kate - I'll be interested in your results, too.  Hang in there.  Much luck.  It's nice to know that I'm not alone.  Kathy

Here are a few of the things I found through reading alot of information at the websites I mentioned before.  In two studies that I read all the children (ADD) that were tested (through hair and/or urine tests, blood tests don't work) were calcium and magnesium deficient.  Also, all of them were extremely ticklish, exhibiting an inability to disregard unimportant stimuli.  Some also had zinc deficiencies, which apparantly you can tell by white spots on the fingernails.  

Medications seem to take effect within 30 minutes and nutritional supplements take at least 3 weeks.  The majority of these kids had so many other similarities (I found that my daughter has these as well).  Several ear infections with many doses of antibiotics can apparantly wreak havoc on your system, causing problems with the absorption of calcium.  I found this to be amazing.  My daughter was on antibiotics for almost the first 3 years of her life for constant ear infections until she finally had surgery to remove her adnoids and put in tubes. 

I could go on ~ but there's SO much information.  I will end by saying that I had an appointment today with the psychiatrist, they want to put my daughter on ritalin, but they agree that I should try everything first.  They also recommended that I take her to her pediatrician for testing on her hair and urine ~ before I start her on supplements.  So, that is my next step as I have already ordered the supplements.  Oh, and also ~ check information about food allergies ~ it's really interesting the reactions one can have from allergies to different additives and things.  Good Luck

Hi ~ My daughter is 6 1/2, diagnosed with ADHD in September 2003 after a very rocky start of 1st grade.  I have been urged by many to put her on meds but I don't feel comfortable with that.  I'm working on behavior modification at home (mine as well as hers).  I found a website that has some really interesting info about ADHD and alternative treatments.

http://www.alternativementalhealth.com/articleindex.htm

There are several articals there that I found were very helpful and informative.  So many of them apply to my daughter.  One that I found particularly useful:

http://www.alternativementalhealth.com/articles/DrugfreeADD. htm

Hope this helps.  Good luck.

   I have been searching the web and have found information on (DMAE)it is was used in the early 50,s and it was pushed out of the way when ritalin came it is said to do the same thing as ritalin and it is found at the health food stores and is very inexpensive .you also look up information about it and give it a try it is said to be very good we are going to give it my son and hope it works for him he has adhd .

I want to take my son off of the concerta and try something natural.  I tried the BeCalmed on him about a year ago and really did not see any results. Has any got any positive feed back from a product?  My son picks himself until he gets sores on him and I think it might be due to the Concerta.  He is 7 and on a very low dose 18mg however,  I don't want to up the dosage.  

We are military and I do not have a lot of faith in some of the doctors.  He just said make an appointment with mental health for his picking and we could either stop the meds to see if he stops picking or change the meds. I am looking around just to find some good vitamins for him because he does not eat well and hopefully I can find something that is good for the ADHD to.   

Hi Marilyn,

thanks for all of your info in an email, I just can't believe you had the strength to find out and do what you did for your child.  I am glad to hear he is doing fine. I am going to try to figure out something and I'll check out those products you mentioned

Kelly

Auditory delay same as capd or known as apd. Our son has it. He get's no different stuff since he was diagnosed with this either. We did redo his langauge therapy goals though. Rn

Phytonutrients make a different in our son. Since we ran out his 2 main subjects he is failing in where as before had a c in them. I gave after his medacine. I plan to go back on this. Some say gylonutrients have helped their kids.

Today our brains are starving nutrients cause poor sol nutrient plants.

Mine was diagnosed with Auditory Information Processing problems, and problems with Speech, Fine Motor skills problems, Binocular Visual Disorder, ADHD, possible Juvenill Rheumatoid Arthrtis which so far so good on that and when smaller Hypotonia, along with Oral Motor skill problems. The problem is we move around due to military then have to start over with doctors and schools.   

Well it is nice to have others who are going through the same thing.  This get's very frustration trying to find out what is wrong with your child and then getting the help they need. Thanks for sharing your info with me and, when mine was born everything seemed to be ok other than he swallowed some Meconia or however you pronounce it.  At 3 weeks they did a spinal tap on him which was horrible to have to watch.  They had to stick him a few times to get it done right. So far mine has not had to have glasses for his binocular vision.  Did you go through visual therapy with yours for this?  Ours went for about 5 months then we could not afford to take him after that because we ran out of money and insurance did not cover it, most people think miliary families have the life but military insurance would not cover for him to have therapy on his eyes, their reason for it was it is not quaranteed to work so there for it is not covered.    

hello everyone

Im so glad to find this site. My daugher who is 6 has add and was on concerta. She started complaing of chestpains,not eating ect.  so i took her off and now i give her haliborange high dha concentration omega3 fish oil. You can find it at www.sevenseasusa.com. I did tell her doctor but not the teachers. They thank she is still on the meds and said she is doing great.