Is it possible to have a case of ADHD ...m

[JohnBark]

that nothing but MEDS will help?

[finnmom]

Hi Johnbark

Just my personal opinion here, dont want to offend anyone.

Answer to your question; I dont think so. I consider med´s to be only the little extra to get thing´s settle down ,so you can figure out the way´s you´re gonna handle it. Behaviour mod. structure´s, boundarie´s etc. If you get my meaning.

Med´s are no cure, but sometime´s they are a helping-hand, like in school. But everyone respond´s differently to all alternative´s.

Marja

[Jorgy]

I think different things help different people. No one responds the same way to each approach and sometimes, like us, you have to use all the approaches.

[AustinsMom]

John, When is your Pfeiffer appointment? I believe that whatever the cause of the ADHD, meds can improve attention and behavior in many kids. I know my son responded with improvement in behavior when he was on meds. However--there were other problems that were created with the meds: appetite problems, sleep issues, tics. If you keep searching, you may be one of the lucky ones who is able to determine WHAT is causing the symptoms, not just treat the symptoms.

All the things you have done so far are clues to the puzzle--that is, you are finding out what doesn't work. I'm hoping Pfeiffer will give you a good plan of action that will help. We continue to do well. This week Austin had 2 tests that he got in the 80's in percentile. That makes 4 all together, all in the past month when before he was getting 40-60%. So take heart; I'm hoping Pfeiffer works as well for you as it has with us so far.

[catatonic]

I've come to the conclusion that ADHD is a "garbage pail" diagnosis. It describes a cluster of symptoms that can have myriad causes. The problem is, how difficult is it to uncover those causes in your particular child? How much time and energy and money are you willing to invest in this detective work? How urgent are your child's behavioral problems.

Some parents feel the behavior must be addressed immediately and meds are certainly a rapid solution -- to the symptoms. They don't cure anything, any more than extra strength tylenol would cure a brain tumor. But just as the need to dull the pain of a tumor can be critically important, sometimes the need to bring behavior under control immediately is the primary concern.

I'd urge you to give it a little more time. This school year is almost over and there's much less pressure during summer, so you have some time to figure things out. I know how hard it is, and how terribly frustrating, and my prayers are with you.

[dfp]

Please, please, please, can I ask one thing?
We are at one of our lowest points in our son's short life. It feels as if the world is crashing around us because of the awful trouble my son is going through.
We are on the Feingold diet and he faithfully takes his supplements. We are an organic family and have overturned every stone in our quest to find out what is disturbing our child.

Never EVER have we OR ANY OTHER PARENT I've spoken to has considered meds an EASY or happy choice.

Considering or taking meds is an ENORMOUS ENORMOUS decision and ALL the parents I know have been overwhelmed with concern and worry for their children. Perhaps there are others, but I've never me them.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't generalize and lump us into a category of finding an easy way out.

It just makes an already awful situation worse.

Thanks.

-dfp

[Jorgy]

dfp, I am sorry you are going through such a hard time. My thoughts and prayers are with you. I think catatonic is refurring to parents that never consider any other alternative whether it be due to misinformation, lack of info, incentive, etc. I don't think she is saying that parents that use meds are taking the easy route as no route is easy when dealing with ADHD. I do think she is saying that once a child's behavior is stabilzed that maybe we should all be looking for an underlying cause. You are not at that point yet with your son unfortunantly.
As in all desease and conditions there are several factors that can be the cause. A lot of things can be done to change them such as diet, unheathly habits to name a few. Unfortunantly there maybe one factor in all diagnosises that can't changed and that is genetics.
Please know that my thoughts and prayers are with your family, Sue

[AnneM]

I don't think I am either pro-meds nor anti-meds ... I am also not pro-natural altenatives nor anti-natural alternatives... Every single one of us is trying to find the very best solution for our kids ... My own son is on a mixture of meds (Concerta) and a herbal treatment (St Johns Wort) ... this combination has for him been nothing short of "awesome" ... but I know it wouldn't work for everybody - way too many different factors come into it!

Meds are not ever a lazy "short-term" solution ... in fact IMHO sometimes they are extremely necessary ... for example I personally have not seen ANY convincing evidence that bipolar can be successfully treated in ANY other way ... As for adhd itself ... meds help millions of children worldwide butI also believe so do the natural alternatives... but individually it is usually found that one works better than the other ... and at the end of the day we are all aiming for the same thing - a better quality of life for our kids...

So ... going back to the question from JohnBark ... IMHO this depends upon a huge amount of factors and definitely depends upon whether there are comorbid conditions present ... I would say give BOTH a fair chance ...

[dfp]

Sorry for my outburst earlier. My son spent yesterday in the ER and was back at the hospital today and we're all at a breaking point. Something very wrong with the child's brain...

That being said, I think Catatonic's point was the most important-- I think ADHD is actually a misnomer for a variety of conditions caused by a variety of things.

For example, I have one son that reacts VERY badly to chocolate. If he eats it, he has every symptom of adhd there is. But eliminate the chocolate and feed him a high-protein diet, and the behavior problem goes away.

With my other son, on the other hand, while he is clearly helped by our Feingold diet, there is obviously something more seriously wrong with his brain.
Whatever it is probably will need to be aided by a combination of meds and "natural" alternatives.
I only enclose that word in quotes because I understand that just because I buy those products over the counter, and they have "natural" in their names, I'm under no illusions that they are not potent chemicals too. They are meds as well, just ones that have been tried and true for centuries... ;D

So John Bark, I wish you luck. It sounds like you're on a tough road and trying many things. I think ultimately, the answer is "yes" it is possible to have a case of ADHD that is not helped by "natural" remedies because we don't know the causes of everyone's symptoms, but the effort you are putting in now to try to figure this all out is certainly worth it and will be valuable in the end.

Good luck,
DFP

[HooDunnit]

What helped my severely ADHD son was a lot of exercise. He was hyperactive anyway, so I just took him out of school for five years and exercised him a lot. He became a purple belt in Hapkido and loves to do stunt bike stuff. There is a book entitled Nature's Ritalin for the Marathon Mind which discusses exercise and ADHD.

Is it possible to have a case of ADHD that nothing but meds will help?

My son wouldn't take meds. We tried Ritalin with him and he didn't like the way it made him feel. I think there are also lots of cases of ADHD where meds are ineffective, or where the effectiveness wears off after a while.

On the other hand, many families find meds effective and helpful.

So I think that you just have to go with what you are comfortable with and proceed by trial and error.

Your signature says "Just say no to meds". I imagine that you would take an antibiotic if you needed one. That's a different situation of course. But since you seem to be anti-med, I think that you just have to hang in there with your alternative treatments and wait it out.

[ohmama]

John,
You are obviously a very loving parent who only wants the best for their child. Don't we all? I sincerely hope you find the help you need by using natural alternatives. I also hope you do not close the door on using medication if your situation should call for it. In the end it is not how we feel that matters, it is how the child feels and is able to function best. A brain that is racing and out of control cannot learn.

I think it is necessary to put personal feelings aside and educate ourselves on the pros and cons of using meds. You never know when the decision will look you right in the face. You will be better informed if you open your mind to all the possibilities now before that day comes.

As others have said, it doesn't have to be an either/or situation. You can have a good diet with supplements, fatty acids, and sometimes amino acids, etc. regardless of using meds or not. Once you learn all you can and find a good doctor the fear lessens and you can make the best decision for your child. Keep an open mind and you can learn anything.

[swmom]

My 9 yr old dd has ADHD/Anxiety. When she was initially diagnosed, the pediatrician and I had a talk about putting her on meds. The thought of putting a 7yr old little girl on such powerful medication made me sick. I asked the doctor about natural alternatives or dietary changes. His answer at the time was that yes that can help, but not enough. He felt that for her, medication was going to be the only thing that offered enough help for her symtoms. So, we put her on Concerta, then Adderall. Lost too much weight. Too many side effects. Now, we're on Strattera. For the first time in her young life, she is successful at many things because she can concentrate. I attribute this to the medication. I am still scared about being on a medication that has only been out a little over a year.
I worry all the time about the longterm effects. The longterm effects of this medication simply are not known. I very much would like to be OFF medications.
I'm reading and watching with great interest the emerging discoveries about natural alternatives to ADHD treatment. At this time, however, I think we'll stay on meds. Hopefully, soon, there will be enough conclusive evidence that a specific combination of supplements and vitamins would work for a child that
has the ADHD/Anxiety that my child does so that can we can switch to natural alternatives. I'd much prefer that.

[rosyred45]

Just to touch on what swmom has said about the side effects.
Personally we prefer not to give meds. I was told that if I wanted to I could, BUT Mikey wasn't at a heightened stage in development where they would recommend medication as an alternative if we didn't wish for it.

Not just concerning meds, but if you look at everything around us, everyone reacts diferently to different situations. If you think of earth as a body compared to our own, each individual person is a cell. Each of these cells react differently, just as the cells in you body act differently. No two are alike, they might seem similar, but they aren't alike. You have good, bad and ugly cells in your body, like wise on earth, but each works in a different way to keep things going.

When you add or subtract something the reaction is different. Everything is trial and error. If it works for you stick with it for the time being, if it doesn't then don't.

If I remember correctly the body changes every seven years. I'm obviuosly not a scientist, btu if the basis of this is true, it just shows that there is not a cure all of anything.

I hope that doesn't sound negetive, it really is supposed to be positive.
Kaiti

[catatonic]

dfp, I want to clarify something in my earlier post that perhaps I didn't express very well. When I said that medication is a "rapid" solution, I didn't mean that it was an easy one. I meant rapid as in fast-acting. There are truly behavioral emergencies where parents don't feel they have the time to explore alternatives that are more time-consuming because it's important to stop certain behaviors at once. Aggression is one example that comes to mind.

There are also cases where it's incredibly difficult to pinpoint the source of the problem. The options are simply so many and so varied that exploring environmental toxins, metabolic inadequacies, nutritional imbalances, allergies to food or to things in the environment etc., can be an overwhelming prospect. Sometimes it's simply not possible, given the limited resources and research available, to pinpoint what's responsible for a child's symptoms.

That's not an uncommon problem in medicine. That's why doctors will say, "Well, I really don't know what's causing your stomach aches, so take this Prilosec for two weeks." Most commonly, the Prilosec will control the symptoms long enough for the body to resolve it's underlying problem. This doesn't happen with ADHD. The underlying problems don't go away.

ADHD medications aren't wrong, in fact they can be tremendously helpful. But they aren't a cure, they address symptoms only, and I find the scarcity of long-term data on how children's development and ultimate maturity will be affected a frightening lack. I don't believe it's wrong to use medications nor do I judge in any way parents who make that choice. What I do believe in is information and awareness and the importance of informed choices. If I post information on the risks of medication or the benefits of a particular natural therapy, it's in the interest of informed choice, not an attempt to lobby against medications.

Believe me, I know that none of these choices we make about our children are easy choices. My boy's school counselor once told me that refusing to medicate him was like refusing to get him glasses if he needed them. (And believe it or not, I didn't punch her in the nose or use any bad words that begin with "b" and end with "itch".) We all, at times, feel judged for the choices we make. That's why this entire issue -- to medicate or not -- is such a touchy one that pushes people's buttons even when there's no intention to do that.

What I hear in JohnBark's original question is that same frustration, fear and desperation that we've all felt, no matter what treatment we use for our children. What's wrong with him? Why can't I help him? What should I do?

And I wish to God I had the answer to that.

I only know that for my son, and my son alone, and at this point in time, and this point in time alone, the answer is not medication. The answer for you might be different. The answer might be different for me a month from now. But in my heart I believe that we are poisoning our environment and our food, and our children's ADHD is the price we pay for that. THAT is the problem we ultimately must solve and I hope too many of our children aren't sacrificed in the process.

Forgive my sermon. My boy is having a lengthy and ugly reaction to goodness knows what, so I am pretty much looking on the gloomy side today.

[dfp]

Cat,
That was a wonderful email. I'm sorry I was emotional earlier-- but you "got" what was bothering me, fortunately and wrote a wonderful note. I appreciate it.

This is all so difficult for everyone, whatever the path they choose. Sadly for all of us, I don't think that any of those that choose prescription meds or those that are going the "alternative" route are ending up with a complete cure. And I think we all want a cure without side effects, without scary substances, without expensive outlays-- I think we all just want our babies to be healthy and happy. And we're not there yet.

I'm feeling pretty incoherent these days, so sorry. But ultimately I think we're all on the same page. We just want everything to get better.

Sorry you're having a bad day. I wish there was an easier way to discover what sets our kids off than an elimination diet. It's too hard to figure out!

Take care & hang in there. Thanks again for the explanation. It helped.

dfp