Did alternative treatments work for you ADHD child?

amother

Sun, May 18 2014, 5:52 pm

Medicate , medicate!!
I'm a parent to 2 ADHD kids both in their 20's. One married.
Older one was just like your son. Was kicked out from class age 5, not allowed on school trips & made everyone stressed & crazy.
20 years ago ADD diagnosis was still pretty new but I read an article about it & was at the pedistricians office pronto.
What can I say? Ritalin saved our lives, his life, his siblings & his teachers.
Would he be a frum & married father today without it? I can tell you without any doubt that he wouldn't . No way, no how.
The younger son was diagnosed later due to learning issues & his behavior was really ADD not hyper. Concerta went a long way to helping with learning issues & concentration. He's a wonderful , very frum bochur today.
We tried biofeedback - no avail.
We have little sugar & no colorings.
Medication also did wonders for both kids socially.
Was it easy to medicate? Not at all. However the benefits were so immediate I felt like dancing for joy! It was as if the clouds parted & we were finally able to enjoy our family.
Do it for your kids & yourself.

chani8

Mon, May 19 2014, 6:11 am

debsenr@gmail.com wrote:

Quote from Chani8-[I]Your son sounds hyperactive and impulsive. That's a complicated brain, actually. If you try ritalin, then the way you'll know if it's matiim or not is how he does on it. If he calms and focuses, it's good. If he gets violent and moody, it's seriously wrong for him. If he mentions wanting to kill himself, again it's the wrong stuff or way too strong. IME, this type of kid needs something like Valerian Root drops to calm the brain and help with focus. But one can never know for sure unless you try stuff. You can get herbs like valerian at the health food store. They also have other natural remedies, but your child is ADHD, not ADD, so that is trickier and harder to help."[/I] end quote

Chani - a lot of what you said makes sense - reading Dr. Amen's book is a good idea, and so is not getting locked into one particular medication but rather working collaboratively with the MD to figure out what is best dose, type of medicine, etc for him.
However, I want to caution you about recommending a particular herbal supplement - like Valerian root- Herbal supplements need to be given with caution just like medical ones. Valerian has side effects, especially nervous system suppression. It shouldn't be given without an MD's consent. If you're going to recommend something herbal and give a specific recommendation, you should really caution OP to ask her Dr. or ask a natural health practitioner who knows everything about what other medicines the child takes, allergies, symptoms like insomnia (which valerian can either help or seriously worsen) and any other medical conditions OP may have not mentioned.
Debs

Medical doctors in Israel prescribe Valerian root for adults and I had a pediatrician recommend it for a child.

shoshana11

Mon, May 19 2014, 11:36 am

Please do not listen to anyone telling you to : "absolutely medicate", and "absolutely don't medicate"! It really depends on the type of ADHD or ADD your child has. For some meds work wonders for others it makes them anxious, OCD and suicidal for others makes hyper behavior even worse! You need a good psychologist who's only agenda is the well being of your child. And please don't say you can't try limiting sugar and dyes. If your child would have an anaphylactic reaction to dyes and sugar, would you continue giving it to them? There are multiple articles from respected sourses that say that eliminating these foods helps +/- meds, depending on cases. Good luck!!!

m in Israel

Tue, May 20 2014, 9:01 am

shoshana11 wrote:

If you are considering medication a psychologist will be useless as psychologists are not MDs and cannot prescribe medication. A (pediatric) neurologist, psychiatrist, or possibly a very good developmental pediatrician would be better options.

And although I agree that running to medicate is not the answer, there has still not been even ONE person on this thread responding that alternative treatments alone has helped their kid. I'm sure some of these supplements may be somewhat helpful, but for a child who truly has ADD/ ADHD (I.e. they were diagnosed by a good diagnostician), the ONLY clinically proven treatment has been medication, ideally combined with behavioral therapy.

m in Israel

Tue, May 20 2014, 10:06 am

shoshana11 wrote:

Probably need both psychiatrist to prescribe meds and psychologist for therapy. There are many people who manage their children's ADHD and for sure ADD without medication. In today's society people are Ritalin-happy. Again some children absolutely need it but not all kids and meds shouldn't be the first thing one runs to. If limiting screen time, cutting out sugar, coloring dyes and adding a multivitamin and omega 3 will improve the particular behavior, why not try that first??

I agree that therapy is a very important part of the picture. But again, just to be clear, a psychologist will not be the appropriate one to diagnose a child with ADHD or discuss the pros and cons of medication. You need someone with a MD -- and it is not simply a matter of finding someone to "prescribe meds" a responsible doctor will evaluate whether or not your child is a candidate for medication, and then work with you on the monitoring of the medication and dosaging. Many kids need a bit of trial and error before finding the right match.

I am not saying that there are not people who manage their children's ADHD/ADD without medication. I simply pointed out that NONE of them have shown up in this discussion yet. In my experience as a special ed teacher for over 10 years working with many students in this population, as well as a mother of a child with ADHD, I have only seen very mild cases managed well without medication. If any parent here HAS had success with this I'd truly love to hear from them. My experience was that those kids who were not on medication ended up at best in special ed settings that they truly did not need and at worse as the class problem kids. And IMO ADD is often more insidious because these kids don't make trouble -- they simply slip through the cracks and end up feeling "stupid" and like failures, but since the teachers aren't complaining about the quite girl sitting in the corner staring out the window the parents are much slower to consider medication as an option.

I also strongly disagree with your statement that "In today's society people are Ritalin-happy." IME the vast majority of parents and doctors did not rush to prescribe medication. If anything people are very hesitant and wait too long before considering meds. I do think there is somewhat of a problem of kids being misdiagnosed with ADHD when there is really a different underlying problem. But finding a good doctor to evaluate your child can help reduce that risk.

amother

Sun, May 25 2014, 9:06 pm

Hello everyone, OP here. I apologize for my delayed response, it has been quite crazy in my household.

Thank you so much for taking the time to write about your experiences and for giving me great advice. I will definitely look into Dr. Amen's book - I saw on Amazon that there were several titles he had, can you name me the specific title? There are so many books on ADHD and it's hard to navigate who has an agenda and who has really helpful advice...

Mama Bear - I used to be concerned that my son may have ASD, but that was ruled out very definitely. That's the thing with him, he can sometimes be so delightful, focused and related to the task at hand. He can play beautifully with friends at home, follow the rules and be creative. And then, without any warning, and no obvious triggers, he will switch into what we privately dubbed "autistic mode." In this mode, he retreats into his own world that has no bearing on any social norms. He will do as he pleases, act on impulse, injure others, cause extensive damage to things and generally get into a destructive pattern. He will not follow any routine whatsoever (such as getting dressed and ready for school, or ready for bed), walk out of the classroom as he pleases, and behave extremely disrespectfully to authority figures. I know him well enough to understand that it is not about being defiant or nasty, rather it is a cry for help as he becomes overwhelmed with the world around him. There is definitely sensory processing disorganization going on too.

I had him diagnosed by my pediatrician, who used the Vanderbilt tool. Both parents and a teacher had to fill it out, and without any exaggeration needed, the tool described him to a T. I was actually surprised at how he fulfilled the criteria. A psychoeducatinoal evaluation also pointed in that direction, although according to the BOE, he cannot be diagnosed until he is older. We're looking into further evaluation either by a neurologist or a neuropsychologist, it's just confusing navigating the waters. Also looking into sending him to the Diamond Program, which, if anyone has any experience with, I would love to hear.

I'm not into labeling a child, rather using a diagnosis to focus proper treatment. There are way too many days that I feel like I will crack and I will end up on meds if he doesn't. My family is very close, but I think that in this case it's really a good idea to keep this information private. Especially should he grow older and it would matter to him if he knew others knew.

Ultimately, I think I will try the Diamond summer program first, and see if that will give us tools to deal with him and modify his behavior. Maybe I will look into the Valerian Root as well, an acquaintance of mine had mentioned it to me previously.

amother

Mon, May 26 2014, 12:01 am

So interesting, I also have a child who now that you mention it is somewhat like that - sometimes SO normal, and sometimes in what you call "autistic mode." It is baffling and disturbing because sometimes I think the child might be C"V autistic but then I remember that half (or more) of the time they are not like that at all! And I can't seem to identify any triggers or warning signs in between! Is this an ADHD thing? Can someone point me to more info about this, because I have never seen it described like this before?

I don't have any first hand experience but I have a relative who had a very difficult child and had a great experience with the Diamond program. Sorry I don't know any details, but I love that part of their approach is working with the parents directly to give you better tools to handle your child. That is a super important component that is sorely lacking in just about every other program I have ever heard of.

Sparkle

Mon, Feb 16 2015, 9:01 pm

I'm the person that Seeker is referring to. Before I weigh in with my experience, I want to put out the disclaimer that in NO way am I judging any mother who decided that they don't have the ability to treat a severely ADHD child naturally (be it a shortage of time, energy, $, etc.) The very worst thing IMO is to not do anything. These kind of kids need help, and whatever help you can give your child - with the kochos that Hashem gave you - is the correct help to give.
I will say that in all honestly, in order for me to finally get results using alternative methods I had to quit my job, take my ADHD child out of school for 9 months, completely change the way eat/live, and spend every waking spare moment reading books and combing the internet (and I agree that Dr. Amen's books are excellent). I completely understand that attacking ADHD like that is not an option for many people. I was just feeling so desperate that I got to the point that I was willing to do that. The non med route is not an easy, quick fix and is SO SO much more than just cutting out food dyes and giving the kid some fish oil or Valerian root. I often hear from so many mothers that they just don't have it in them to completely change the way their family eats and to incorporate so many new and different things (just look at the last 2 pages of this thread - a few mothers wrote it here).
The natural way works. It will always work. The problem is that different things work for different kids because I think that ADHD - like Autism - isn't the result of one thing in all people. Both diagnosis are a result our modern lifestyle and figuring out if/how to build and maintain proper gut flora, clean out heavy metal toxicity, reverse candida etc. are different for every person.
In my son's case, he was on meds for 2 years and they worked well for the behaviors that we needed to change. However it got to the point where he had some side effects that the psychiatrist told us needed other meds to deal with. While I had no problem with my child being on meds that were needed, I did have a problem with meds that were just being taken to medicate side effects of another medication!
It took me a year of homeschooling my son, working with a behavioral specialist, working with a naturopath, and incorporating some supplements and essential oils for me to finally say that I did it (we did see some small improvements even after a few weeks already - but only small). My child is doing better now that he EVER did on meds.
Just this weekend some friends of our visited who had not seen my son in couple years, and was astounded at how well he is doing.
There are many things that Natural Health is not good at: Car accidents injuires, premature babies, etc. But IMO it is light years ahead of Western Medicine when it comes to treating the root causes of many of our modern diseases. But it does take so much time and effort. It is not a quick fix, and I understand that not everyone can do it. Sometimes I look back at my life 2 years ago, and I don't know how I managed to do what I did. Hashem just gave me the koach, bh.

rosenbal

Mon, Feb 16 2015, 9:09 pm

ShanaMatele wrote:

Sobering but fantastic video that I found to be very helpful:

It is pro-medication and very specific about why.
It's quite long, but well worth the time IMO.
HTH!!

I second this. Barkley is great.

We had backlash from some family members too nut you're the parent of your child. You know what he needs. medication doesn't fix everything, but it makes your child available for learning...in school, societal norms everything. You're not doing a favor to your child by having the current situation continue.

It's a nebach for him to live lime this and have such negative reinforcement in his life. You should still continue with therapy and all that but often meds are necessary.

(Look if you can do it without meds....great, but that has not been my child's experience nor many other families I know who after years of alternative treatments finally agreed to meds and things finally turned on a positive direction.)

amother

Mon, Feb 16 2015, 10:29 pm

I was diagnosed with autism at 2 after a bad reaction to vaccines, and then downgraded to ADHD at 7. I am completely under control without medication and was never on medication. I was strictly on the feingold diet, no cheating. I was taught from a very young age never to take food from anyone other than my parents and from around 5, I didn't. I also went to Dr. d!ck Moskowitz in Mass. for homeopathic treatments a couple of times. I took fish oil and acidophilus, had limited screen time and got lots of fresh air and sunshine. I finished high school 3 years early, did well in college, got married, have a b"H bli ayin hara beautiful family, I am very active in my community and I have a great social life, and it is all thanks to my parents who didn't give up on me. Who worked with me and my limitations, and taught me to behave in the way I could learn, not in the way everyone else learns.

It's also going to depend on how much of a priority this is to you. Going the alternative route is a lot of work for both you and your child. But it's worth it.