Is ADHD real? | ADHD Information

Has anyone else had read the "is ADHD curable?" site advertised down the side of the message board?

www.adhdcure.com

It just basically says that ADHD isnt real and that you can fix it without medication, and the only reason the doctors and pschs prescribe drugs is that cos they are helping to support the sales of the drugs. And some other stuff too.

Just wondering if anyone had read it and whether anyone believes it.

Depends....I think that without my meds I would not be where I am today...like when I think of my 8 yr old bro like holly crap he really needs his meds...but when mom didn't give my bro his meds he was off the wall but when he had is meds well he was nice and calm and let me tell ya he was off my back...

Neldy

I personally believe there are two levels of ADHD. One is what I call organic in that it is from refined and processed foods and with a dietary change it is possible to reverse the ADHD effects. The second I call inorganic where it is purely a symptom of something else. In this instant there may be no cure as such and I believe many ADHD people fit into this category but the cause is never explored since once the ADHD label is given the professionals have no desire to do anything more because it all goes into the "too hard" pile.

Lets face it, every day kids are born and ADHD causing situations arise. We immunise our kids even tho it is researched that it can cause ADHD, Autism etc. We feed our kids sugar rich foods or diet drinks and foods even tho they are full of aspartame which is a poison that contains formaldehyde. We eat meats etc injected full of antibiotics and other things bad to our health. We pump flouride toothpaste and water into our kids even tho we know it is poisonous for our systems. We also fill our teeth with amalgam which is full of mercury and then wonder why we have these illnesses? Totally not logical!

Lets face it, drugs suck but its no worse than the other crap we put into our bodies so makes no difference. If its for the benefit of the pharmaceutical companies etc then they are winning hands down anyway as are the other rich money hungry moguls and we are buying into it hook, line and sinker.

I don't believe that for a second. Hell, I couldn't even read the whole thing, it was such a crock.

None of my buddies daydream like I do and can concentrate on things when they want. This person obviously doesn't have ADHD and so doens't have a clue as to what it feels like.

By the way, I eat fish for lunch everyday and I don't eat fast foods, junk foods, candy, etc. I try to avoid processed foods as much as possible too. Helps a little but I still can't keep a train of thought for more than a few minutes.

As to the rigorous scheduling, that helps too if you can follow along with it for any length of time.

Also, my life has been a breeze other than not being able to keep friends or get good grades (tests have shown that the grades do not in any way reflect my intelligence level as it is quite high). No trauma or anything radically bad has ever happened to me and my parents support me with everything I do (and my that must have tried their patience by now).

Also, if you have ever encoutered a child with sever autism, you would discount this in 1 second flat. Those kids-adults just aren't cured. My mom has been working with them for years and they do see therapists to no avail (or very little).

I was actually quite offended by that article. If I could use the intelligence I have, why wouldn't I? I get almost perfect on every assignment I do but can't keep a train of thought long enough to answer complex questions on tests.

Sleep: my parents took great care of me and love me tonnes, they still do. I could do anything and that wouldn't change and I know it. I don't sleep much at all but it has nothing to do with lack of love.

What he is trying to say is that I can't keep focused cause of my diet (not true), lack of sleep (I don't sleep all that much but am never really tired, if I am, my body sleeps longer), I have succumbed to some sort of trauma (never broken a bone and have never really cared enough about others to have my heart broken).

The last thing is the part about God. Though there may or may not be a god, what does he say to budist kids that have ADD? That they're religion is wrong? Most people I know are scientists or doctors of some sort and completely atheist but they aren't ADD. I also prayed and went to church my entire childhood although I don't now as christianity has cause more death in this world than anything ever (the church burnt hundreds of which's alive for no reason, justify that). Please don't flame me for the religious comments as everyone is entitled to their opinions.

mattJust to add another little something:

The meat I eat is AAA grain fed, I don't drink any pop and have never swallowed a signifigant amount of toothpaste. I also grew up in the country and we had our own private well, no chemicals in the water. The fish I eat is yellofin tuna, water and salt, no preservatives unless the label is lying.

matt

Matt I havent read the article, no idea what the author said about God or anything else but I still can't help but wonder if your ADHD isnt still a symptom of something else that is yet to be diagnosed? In some ways by what you say you off the typical ADHD mark in the sense that it isnt "organic ADHD" but I just can't put my finger on it so wonder if there may be more going on somewhere somehow that nobody has yet clicked on to. Oh and as for the toothpaste, you dont need to swallow significant amounts just to let you know. Dont forget the amalgam that so many are poisoned by and the vaccinations as well, maybe you might want to check it out, that latter seems to be a very common one that most dont pick up on.

I have been told over and over by psychiatrists etc that ADHD is something that meds work for but mainly that it is something that is outgrown. If it is still going on as an adult then it is just a symptom of something else underlying not found yet.

Your quite persistent on that aren't you. What could it be a symptom of? It has been there my whole life and still is.

Have you read "Driven to Distraction"? I keep mentioning that book because it is written by two doctors who themselves have ADHD and are looking to help others. They have spent years studying it.

You keep saying it is a symptom of something else to everything but you offer no suggestions as to what. It would have to be something that either happened in the womb or very shortly afterwards. There is nothing in my past that would suggest something like that.

The thing is, the idea that it can be outgrown is so far a myth and is used most commonly by parents who have a hard time dealing with the fact that their child has some sort of brain disorder for life.

One can, however, learn to deal with it but that is about it. That is what is suggested of the few children that "outgrow" the disorder. The best treatments so far are Therapy, coaching, proper diet and sleep patterns as well as drug treatments. Some folks respond well to just the non-drug treatments but for the most part they work.

Last question: Who cares what caused it. It is never going away and so therefore must be treated.

Now, there are ample other disorders that seem similar to ADHD and so it is necessary to get a proper diagnosis and in most cases more that one opinion.

The thing is, it is recognized by the American Psychiatric Association as being a disorder and they have included it in their DSM manual (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). This manual is the standard world-wide for diagnosis of mental disorders.

If you want to know more, open your web browser, go to www.google.com and look up things like:

adhd outgrow
adhd DSM

and other such things
I could be quite narrow minded indeed. I've had a life oh hell wishing I was dead more often than not cause I can't keep friends, know I'm smart but can't pass school, etc. I've finally stumbled onto something that explains this (yes, I have been diagnosed just have had not treatment as of yet).

I might, perhaps be a little more open-minded if dwebble would explain a little. She says I don't have add and that it is a symptom of something else. She and yourself have not offered any explanation just that I'm wrong and narrow minded.

Please explain, expand my mind. I have done terribly large amounts of research into this situation.

I ask that you explain your comment. Offer up some something I can look into, don't just be vague. My powers of research are very vast and I like to learn as much as possible. The psychiatrist that did my assesment suggested that I have ADHD and put his signature on the assesment making it official.

You guys are obviously doctors so please enlighten me.

You mention that I have "tunnel vision" in another post:

Stimulus overselectivity is a term used to describe a phenomenon whereby a person focuses on only one aspect of an object or environment while ignoring other aspects.

I've looked up many disorders that have similar symptoms but even the doc agrees that ADHD it is.

I also looked up everything I wrote in the last post up there in many sources. Never argue or make a point unless you are highly qualified or you can back yourself up with multiple sources.

Please, just don't make comments like that without some form of explanation, dwebble too. If I have "tunnel vision", please let me know what you have noticed about me that would suggest autistic tendencies.

dwebble says she personally believes there are two forms of ADD. Where is her medical certificate and what research has she done?matt i agree with dwebble and can see that you are narrow minded

Ok matt here we go again. Matt I explained things well enough for you, you are just chosing to close off and ignore what I say on purpose. You could very well go to www.google.com and type in stuff like dangers and effects of immunisation and of amalgam, flouride and anything else you like so dont try to patronise me by making out like you are a victim here. When I first said about that stuff it wasnt even directed to you, just a reply to the initial comment the thread was about but you were quick to pick up on what I said and justify that many of those things didnt pertain to you. I mentioned that you had said nothing about immunisation or amalgam as another two options to explore but chose to ignore that.

Again never said you didnt have ADHD so stop trying to twist words I said your ADHD MAY be a symptom of something else based on what I have heard you say about yourself. Does it scare you that this might have a slight chance of being true? Nowhere did I say you didnt have ADHD!!!! There is a difference of it potentially being a symptom compared to it not being there at all.

You told michelle that her and I ***"have not offered any explanation just that I'm wrong and narrow minded.*** First of all as I have said I suggested amalgam and immunisation both of which you have chosen to ignore. I also said I didn't know exactly what it could be I was honest as I could be since there are many other things out there that are unknown to me as well as probably unknown to even the professionals. Also I never called you wrong or narrow minded just tried to give you suggestions that you may like to explore. Forgive me for wanting to help.

You said ***"I've looked up many disorders that have similar symptoms but even the doc agrees that ADHD it is."*** Thats great to be forwarned is forearmed and learning is the only way to understand nobody arguing there. As for the doc, great too but then I had a psychiatrist tell me my son was ADHD also and I knew it was more and when I asked him he said he wasnt qualified in FAE or anything else like that. All I was suggesting was that maybe there was more going on than the doc was aware of or knew about? Get a second opinion by all means if that is reassuring but dont stop researching is all Im getting at. Not all docs are perfect and get it right every time, just be open minded. Hell I even had docs that said my son was normal and nothing wrong with him at all! ahahaha.

You said ***"Never argue or make a point unless you are highly qualified or you can back yourself up with multiple sources."*** Ditto!

You said ***"Please, just don't make comments like that without some form of explanation, dwebble too."*** I gave you plenty of explanation you chose to ignore it. And what I didnt know I said I didnt

You said ***"If I have "tunnel vision", please let me know what you have noticed about me that would suggest autistic tendencies."*** Now that is just being childish and you wont win friends making comments like that. Where does autism come into it? And before you try to justify that, remember that comment michelle only said as a pun or term of speech not literally so dont attempt to be literal with it.

You said ***"dwebble says she personally believes there are two forms of ADD. Where is her medical certificate and what research has she done? "*** My two terms is based on the research I have done only to simplify it I call them organic and inorganic as I heard it referred to once by a professional as this and thought it sounded quite good. If you are so put out by it go do your own research on it Im thru with having to justify myself to you

I never professed to be a doc or anything just a mother of a FAE son who has ADHD and a 12 yr old with ADHD what would I know? Only been researching it for more years that I can remember no biggie. All I tried to do was make suggestions and offer ideas but hey, sorry for trying to help. I never tried to dictate to you or tell you that you definitely had some other condition just said based on what you said it could be.

Matt, Im sure you are a nice guy, and it is always hard to communicate online coz a board has no emotions so things can be confusing but you need to just relax a bit and stop overreacting to what I sayand not pick and chose bits that you want to hear, take it into context. If uncertain by what I mean just ask no need to question my qualifications coz I believe families that live through it know more than most docs for sure.

I understand that those two docs you mentioned earlier are ADHD and that is cool, but they are just two in a whole big world of ADHD people so they are not the only sources of info so keep open minded to other sources as well to build on what they say.

Have a good day and chill out man!

dwebble, I feel from the way mattm writes his stories, that he truely is ADHD - neurologically, not because of his food intake or other reasons. mattm seems to be following a plan in place by his professional and therefore I respect his accountability for his life.

ADHD can be a stand alone disorder and it does not require a reason for its existance - it just is.

And mattm, I fully understand what you feel, I go through these feelings often, I believe in God myself, and was rather obsessive with religion throughout my childhood, My religious obsession I believe was part of my ADHD. I was extremely lonely and extremely imaginative. So God filled these too Gaps.

Now I am still a Catholic, but I have beliefs in reincarnation also, so I am sure that God looks after the buddhist adhd kids too

And personally for me and my son - Our behaviours never Vary, they are consistantly annoying. So I do not necessarily agree with the comment that ADHD behaviours vary.

But what I do believe is that if a childs behaviour varies in a normal way, then this is a normal child not an ADHD child.

But ADHD children can also experience daily shifts in emotion just like normal kids do. Just because a child is ADHD does not mean that they do not exhibit the normal behaviours of normal children at times also.

But once again I would like to stress, ADHD people cannot control some of their behaviours, but we can remove ourselves from situations that create us to behave at our worst. Sometimes I think, loneliness is a path that ADHDers have to travel.

Rae7038282.8365972222

It is Spring here at the moment, and I got to share an ADHD moment with my son, much to the exclusion of my muggle children . I am a sucker for sick fauna and lo and behold there was a bird on the side of the road. I always notice small animals whilst I am driving a long, they draw my attention, no matter how small, once I saw a tiny tortise.

I said to my son, Look Damian, because I am ADHD, I can see everything! He liked that

Who says Buddha isn't God? Who says the Indians' "Great White Spirit" isn't God? Isn't Allah God? Jehovah? The Bible says God is called Jehovah, it says He's called God, it uses the name "Allah". When pinned down on the question He simply says to call Him, "I Am". It's a name and a personna every culture adapts per our own needs and He deliberately left room (according to the Bible) for us to do that. Who says any religion is wrong just because they don't call their god God or see Him in the same form? God knows what every group of people needs and He can manifest Himself to meet those needs. The Indians didn't have the Bible so does that make their beliefs wrong? Of course not. God was what he needed to be for those people. He could easily be Buddha. He can be whatever the ADHD child needs too, might not be the way the rest of us see Him but that doesn't make it wrong. Like Creation vs Evolution---who says they are mutually exclusive? Couldn't He have made a world and then let it naturally evolve? No one is wrong in their religious beliefs unless those beliefs advocate harming others.

judy - where did that come from? Never said anything to start a religious debate - did I?rae70---exactly....sound and tactile sensitivity. He's probably now the first of your children to hear, say, an ambulance when you're driving, sits in the back row at movies because the sound hurts his ears, things like that. He can hear a snake from 20', can use touch in the dark to see where he is. He would have been the survivor centuries ago when man was a forest animal.

Rae:

Not a debate, just an agreement that the Buddist kids are also watched over. You said:

Now I am still a Catholic, but I have beliefs in reincarnation also, so I am sure that God looks after the buddhist adhd kids too

judy, yep for sure, but he isnt that brave, so his impulsive instincts would have helped him to surivive by running away, but I am not sure if his hunting would have been that great. So I am unsure on his survival back then . He was so scared to try to ride a bike. Only got him on one at 7 and he now rides okay, bit wobbly - but he thinks he is now ready for a mini motor bike - yeah right!

My daughter and granddaughter are hyper-sensitive to pain so they aren't brave. I'm unusually tolerant of pain so this looks to me like cowardness. I was always pushing to do whatever challenged me so I had trouble understanding my girls, especially two generations of them. But gradually I came to realize that my way wasn't all that smart and that they feel the pain I don't feel. Our ADHD just manifests itself in the opposite way. I've been injured far too many times because once I had a challenge in my mind I had to do it, and it's a wonder I survived and I'm glad they aren't like that. But it does bother me that they don't push harder because bravery helps success. It does help me to accept this in them when I realize that they feel pain in ways I can't understand.

My son does have Sensory dysfunction. But he is weird with pain. He will go days with a festering splinter in his foot and never tell me. I will just see his foot all red. But he is so scared of things too.

That's me, I wouldn't pay attention to the splinter because to do so would be to lose the battle against the pain. After years of that you stop feeling pain. I've had burns I ignored and that's the worse pain I can think of. It's really not smart to be that way but it was the way my life made me be. My childhood was filled with pain so I adjusted. My granddaughter would fuss and fuss over it until it was fixed but wouldn't let you touch it to fix it. She's temp sensitive and light sensitive and very sound sensitive and pain sensitive and sometimes I wonder how she will possibly face this world. My daughter is 27 now so she has learned to cope with pain after it happens but will avoid it at all costs before it happens. But it helped me not lose patience with them when I finally realized that the pain I can ignore really hurts them. Like a little splinter to them might feel like a burn to me. I'm ADHD too but, like always, it differs. My childhood made mine go certain ways while they had different childhoods. My daughter never felt real pain because my childhood was so filled with it that I was compulsive about keeping it away from her. Now she can't stand it. My fault? Or is this the way her ADHD would have gone anyway? Or is that even an ADHD trait or would she have had her own individual tolerance level even without ADHD? She was an unusual newborn too, life was always hectic around her.

Judy I am not sure about the pain thing. I can keep my hands under hot water that my husband cringes at. I wash up in high temperature water.

I ignore burns also. But I know I can feel them.

But the other night I experienced a new pain - abdominal cramps. I have never had those that bad b4, but i was reacting to some anti-biotics and OMG, talk about being a huge sook. I nearly passed out.

New pain OMG, Common Pain - deal with it very much better than others. I never used any pain relief in my child birthing. I guess that is my son also. hmmm, perhaps he is like me - should have thought about myself a bit more.

Hubby always thinks I am weird!

Mine always thought I was weird too, so I divorced him. I got tired of thinking he was right. But he is, I am weird. Took me 40 years to accept it.

This board is great for making us see our kids. To see that he might just be like his Mom and it isn't even an ADHD trait at all is great. Besides, maybe he's just smart enough to keep himself from hurting. I think maybe smart people avoid pain and injury, although it took me 40 years to understand that too. For me, it was almost like it was something I needed. I had to know I could take it. It was an internal strength, to know that the world couldn't knock me down. Maybe not an ADHD trait at all but I didn't think of that until just now. It's hard to see what's ADHD or bi-polar or whatever and what's just a product of environment or just normal kid stuff. But I lived a lot of life and people who fear pain don't go those places. I'm still always into something most people won't go in to. I live a pretty full and busy life because I don't fear pain.

My granddaughter was showing ADHD symptoms at 6 weeks old. Because I'd spent 35 years with babies I saw what others didn't see. I told my daughter that something was wrong, and, at first, I thought the baby couldn't hear on one side. Much later a doctor said the same thing, that she couldn't hear in her right ear, then that she could hear but it wasn't being processed by the brain for at least ten seconds, called it CAPD, and on and on. As she grew older we could do more little at-home tests to see where she was losing focus. She's doing very well on ADHD meds now. The point is that if we'd learn to see it in newborns we'd realize it has nothing to do with diet, etc, it is in the brain. These children have an excess of dopamine in the brain which causes electricity to flow too rapidly and too abundantly. Yes, foods can alter dopamine levels but that's a treatment, it doesn't reflect a cause. It may be that not enough norepinephrine is being produced to level out the dopamine or too much dopamine is being produced. Either way, the result is the same. Watch the PBS series, "The Brain Development of Babies", and you can see exactly how this could happen. New babies show signs but people seldom know what to watch for in new babies. You can't blame foods in that case. Also, there are too many similarities in these kids, i.e. typically solid builds, strong muscles even in the skinny kids, high IQs, muscle tone (if not control), highly alert to their surroundings everywhere but a classroom, very capable of multi-tasking as adults, sensitivity to stimuli, things that are related to genes in some way. Yes, some gene could be causing them to "mis-process" some food, but again, that's a symptom, not the cause. Most of the meds in use now alter dopamine levels in some way and they are being successful. They don't alter food uptake, they alter brain chemistry. Maybe my concept of this comes from my biology training and many, many years of taking care of babies, but this is not, to me, in any way anything but a physical problem in the brain. It can't be cured, they have to learn to work around it, but they can do that very successfully. Most of the parents of ADHD children could probably remember symptoms in the newborns if they thought about it.

[QUOTE=judy483]Most of the parents of ADHD children could probably remember symptoms in the newborns if they thought about it. [/QUOTE]

There were some differences with my son than my other kids, such as;

He never cried much, he sort of squeaked. He was difficult to breast feed, he did not attach properly and sucked excessively hard. I only breast fed him for 5 weeks, whereas my other 3 kids I breastfed for 1 year. I just couldnt stand the pain any more He hated lullabys, he would cry if sung to (or i just sing out of key ) he preferred to not be held, like being left alone, except for feedingAs for pain we are split in this house. DH & DD both could break a leg & think nothing of it, while DS & I can't handle a paper cut. Go figure!

Talking about pain, I just had to have a tooth removed - A MOLAR -. I am on here till the anesthetic wears off. But the Dentist kept asking me - are you okay, I think I will need to send you to an oral surgeon (because it would not dislodge). He ended up cutting the tooth up and removing it root by root.

His hands were shaking, but I was just lying there patiently. Now he thinks I am weird too . Sometimes I wonder if Dentists dont get their kicks from causing pain, and if we dont show them pain, they get a bit let down.