Nephew was very, very badly off. On ritalin. He’d vandalize anything he got close to.
Parents dropped the medication and went to diet. It just melted away. He’s grown now, and a journalist.
My son was told he had ADHD. I let his mother put him on Ritalin and was the proud father of a zombie. After 6 months I told her the experiment was off. I took him off, and treated him like any young boy, made sure we were active in his life at and away from school. No diet, no weird vitamins, just love. He is now a 21 year old and an EMT studying to be a paramedic.
I would have been diagnosed with ADHD as a boy as well. Instead I managed to graduate summa cum laude, have a great military career and graduated from college with honors. To me, ADHD is nothing more than part of making little boys be something they are not.
I can only tell you what my brother did with his son.
They did not give him meds on weekends, holidays or summers.
They kept him busy.
Used his talents in an active way.
When he was in high school, he asked he not go to high school in the US and went to Columbia with a missionary family built homes, farmed and studied independently.
He asked not to take the meds any longer, they agreed together.
That was the highest academic year he had.
He is a healthy happy married adult with four kids.
He is still really busy.
Being busy and full of energy is not an illness.
Unfortunately, I think schools don’t want to deal with busy active children (especially boys) so quickly go for sedating them after convincing parents there is a problem with active and busy.
My son was diagnosed almost 20 years ago.
The meds then were particularly awful.
I did the research, and reduced refined sugar to almost nothing, and got rid of caffeine all together.
But, I think the big difference came by adding quality omega-3 to the multi vit+min that he was on.
Try omegabrite.com. Their kid suppliments are wonderful. They take at least a month to six weeks to fully kick in, but it made a big difference.
BTW, my son was never on any meds and did just fine.
http://www.parenting-child-development.com/lyme-disease.html
Lyme disease and ADHD have the same symptoms. Check with the Western Blot test from Igenex lab in California. The only problem is so many doctors are ignorant about tick illnesses. You have to be proactive and request this test. Lyme disease is the number one vector borne disease in the US, and I’m shocked at the lack of medical knowledge about this disease.
Two of my three children were diagnosed, one with mild ADD and the younger with ADHD. We were urged to put the younger on meds.
We did not.
We did keep both in a small private school through elementary, working closely with teachers on setting boundaries and teaching venues for appropriate behavior. For example, it’s fine to talk to yourself and run in circles at recess, not so much in math class. This comes naturally to the child with normal attention, but not to one with ADD.
Puncturing the daydeams of the one with ADD was a real challenge. Sometimes took all evening just to get simple assignments done, because his mind wandered even when he wanted to finish and go play.
Behavior management worked, but it was, in itself, a lot of work. They have always been square pegs in round holes, but they learned to adapt. Sometimes teachers didn’t like them, but other teachers urged me to keep them off meds to preserve their creativity.
Today both are grown, both have graduate engineering degrees and are successful professionals. They are not your stereotypical tech types, still have wandering and creative minds, and I love them dearly.
When I was a kid there was no such thing...just kids.
I’m now 48 and have fully recovered from that hell, which I suffered as a child until age 34. In hindsight, I would recommend weight lifting, running, and/or any strenuous sport for exercise. Then, at age 18 or later, begin ritalin. As per diet, low carbs and high on fruits and vegetables. Lastly, at least 8 hours of sleep. As per mental simulation, good books and visually intensive classes are a huge help. This is where I disagree with Rush Limbaugh... This disability is quite real and (can be) horrible!
I STRONGLY encourage you to visit this site: LDONLINE. Here you will find a wealth of information on ADHD as well as other learning disabilities. It is through this web site that I was able to connect with the professor who directed me to that local college that assisted my daughter and helped to get her on track.
ADD and ADHD is a result of magnesium deficiency. Take mag malate, glycinate or citrate. Do not take oxide.
You’ll definitely see the attention deficit go by the wayside if you give mag regularly and high enough doses.
They learned control by collage and have gone on to do great things.
I can not say it was a lot of fun but they were mine to love and raise and I wanted the best for them. At the time I did not think drugs and labels would give them the best in the long run.
1) Boy diagnosed at 5 years old by a young doctor with the latest up to date education and training.
2) Sister 16months older, raised exactly the same way, totally normal.
3) Difference between the two is black and white, night and day.
4) Both very intelligent, in gate-advanced education programs etc.
5) Boy treated with concerta (slow-release) a few years. Became less effective with time. Switched to ritalin.
If he does not take meds, it’s obvious. If he takes the meds, he’s able to concentrate and focus and control himself.
Anyone who still believes (in 2012) that ADD/ADHD is a made-up disease is operating off extremely old steretypes and misinformation. I used to think it was just an excuse for bad parenting. Having a kid with real ADD, and seeing the irrefutable affects of the medication, converted me to being more open minded.
Supposedly, many grow out of it.
We try to keep him off medication on weekends, or during the week after homework is done. However, anyone who wants to roll the dice and let their kid suffer through the formative educational years, don’t buy it.
A lot of ADHD is complex mixed up mess:
(1) a kid frustrated by their own limitations,
(2) usualy (badly) mishandled by adults in their world who are looking for the most convenient solution.... AND
(3) Add considerable levels of boredom.... there ya go.
***********
The student needs to be comprehensively tested for ALL learning disabilities & learning style issues.
We had one child with some mild dyslexia. It was good that we were homeschooling at the time.... so "We the Parents..." made all the calls in finding the right solutions.
We found some very simple explanations and effective resources in a book by Ron Davis - "THE GIFT OF DYSLEXIA".
Hope this helps....
God bless...
Another vote for checking on food allergies. Our six-year-old daughter would go into screaming fits occasionally for no obvious reason. Dr. William Rea in Dallas tracked it to an allergy to cane sugar. We realized that her problems at school happened after she drank school-served chocolate milk.
Check out naturalnews.com website’s archives.
First thing the doctor said was take him off wheat and heavily processed foods. I haven’t succeeded in doing that completely buts king him eat proteins to balance out carbs and sugars have made a big difference
get your kid involved in sports, the more energy burned off before school, during school and after school, the better. Try everything you can before drugging. Mostly adhd is a war on boys, and comes from the commie take over of school and equal outcomes. I would get out of traditional schooling and find a charter that can handle it. Diet can also be a factor. Get ride of sucrose, find a low glycimic diet. But mostly, the more activity, physical, the better concentration you’ll see. Lastly if your kids is smart, boredom is an extreme exacerbation.
Reading these replies I wonder if one can’t tell if it’s really ADHD until the child becomes an adult?
I don’t agree that it is a made up illness but I believe it is over-diagnosed. The neighbor kid was a constant motion and talking machine. She would be constantly into something and always tormenting the siblings for not being equally active (she called them lazy, stupid etc.). When told not to put a magnet next to a mechanical wrist watch, she looked at the adult who gave that instruction and immediately stuck the magnet to the watch. When chastised she became over wrought and demanded to know what she did wrong. And then she was in motion again, asking to bake a cake and then begging and eventually crying because she wasn’t allowed to bake a cake and there’s “nothing to do” and she’s bored. She stomped out of the room to go torment her siblings for being lazy and stupid.
She found the youngest sibling reading a book so she sat next to her and began whistling in the reader’s ear. When the younger child protested, the older child yelled that no one ever wanted to play or do anything and that she was bored. “You just SIT there and READ!”
When ‘invited to do the dishes’, she accused mom of being ‘mean’ and protested that she was the only member of the family who ever did anything etc. She was angst driven that others could entertain themselves or sit reading a book; it meant she was alone and bored.
When she reached high school she was said to have an IQ of 120 but brought home D’s because she wasn’t able/willing to sit and study. In each of these instances, no amount of parental involvement seemed to do anything and it was prior to the idea that this was a syndrome or there were drugs to help.
As an adult she readily identified with the commercials re ADHD which said it was like listening to multiple television channels with the radio going and someone talking to her - she couldn’t concentrate at work.
The drug Concerta actually helped - something she thought was impossible. She had never been able to sort through the garage due to lack of attention but if taking Concerta, she could stay working in the garage for 4 hours, a novel experience for her (never stayed with any task that long before). She said her mind would wander as it always did but then there was the strange sensation of her attention being pulled back on task by 4 or 5 rubber bands.
I do think ADHD is real and that some drugs help some people; what I haven’t seen yet is how to tell if you’re dealing with an over prescribed situation or one which would respond to treatment. Sorry I don’t have info but I guess I wanted to encourage and root for you; it won’t always be like this (stating the obvious, I know)
Back in the 90s both my boys were diagnosed with ADHD. The determination wasn’t based on any particular scientific standards. My thought was that it was a way for school teachers to lul young male students into some kind of drug induced passive conduct. Yep, if the kid doesn’t fit, drug him or her!
I refused to drug my sons.
One son is an A student in college and leads a productive life. The other son is a decorated combat veteran of the war on terror. Twice, no less!
My advice. Stay away from drugging your kids! Better living through chemistry is a bad joke!