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Forum -> Parenting our children -> Our Challenging Children (gifted, ADHD, sensitive, defiant)
Did alternative treatments work for you ADHD child?
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smss




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Feb 16 2015, 10:32 pm
Sparkle wrote:
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.


your post was very inspiring. I'm just curious, what was your motivation for going off the meds? were they not working well enough, or did you just prefer to use natural methods?
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Sparkle




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Feb 16 2015, 10:53 pm
It was because of some side effects. They actually were helping, and at that point in my life I thought natural methods were ridiculous and anti-science.
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Sparkle




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Feb 16 2015, 10:55 pm
[code]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.[quote]

This is so beautiful. I hope my son feels the same way when he grows up. He actually was diagnosed on the spectrum initially, but now only has ADHD b'h.
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Sparkle




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Feb 16 2015, 10:57 pm
OK, I see from the above post that I am not that great at quoting, lol.
To the poster who asked about my naturopath, she works in a small town here in my state in the middle of America. I highly recommend you find someone qualified - and with good references who is in your area.
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seeker




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Feb 16 2015, 11:14 pm
Sparkle, do you think that with good guidance and support it would be possible for an average person to go the natural route without having to quit their job, homeschool, etc? Is there a way to do this within the realities of today's world? Of course every child is different but surely each parent doesn't have to fully reinvent the wheel?

I wish there were someone I could pay to do for my child what you did for yours! I mean, besides parent, obviously. Things like help figure out what lifestyle changes to make and how to make them happen within our life, or even someone who could advise about behavior and health and such all in one place - I can handle the idea of paying a couple thousand to professionals out of pocket but what throws me the most is that EACH person wants that much and only does one piece of the puzzle. Leaves me not knowing where to look first, and feeling overwhelmed and discouraged thinking there is no way we can handle this. I cannot quit my job and spend every minute researching and homeschooling, and feel like it's silly to learn by trial and error when others have already figured this out. I don't even know how to find a "good" naturopath, they all sound a little quacky to me, not to mention highway robbers.

I also find that regarding food the hardest part by far is the emotional/psychological. I think I could handle transforming my kitchen, not easily but not impossibly, on at least a decent level. But my child has a super sweet tooth and already seems to be getting a complex about my healthy food kick even though I have tried to be balanced and smart about it. Whenever she gets near any nosh she gorges, it's all I can do to try to stop her from picking strangers' crumbs off the floor, and this is WITH trying not to deprive her at all, plenty of healthy treats, and still having occasional junk because with this personality I have not had the guts to try cold turkey yet. And school is full of garbage and I don't think that is going to change much, I tried a polite request and got nowhere, and only a small percentage of the parent body cares. Any advice about this?
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chani8




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Feb 17 2015, 1:46 am
Healing by diet is very time consuming and restrictive and from personal experience, it can even be dangerous. Any child who is having trouble, well, cutting out excessive sugar and possibly gluten or any food that seems to trigger bad behavior, just makes sense. If a child has tummy trouble, OTOH, then that could be causing adhd symptoms and must be dealt with by diet. But, proceed with caution when using the often effective GAPS diet. Never stay on an intro diet for more than a week or so.

That said, there are many over the counter herbal remedies for ADHD that may be effective for your child.

No matter what you try, think of it as an experiment. Observe closely. If your child has side effects that are problematic, then something must be adjusted or changed. Don't make the mistake of adding more Ritalin if it's not working perfectly. For example, I had one child who needed Ritalin and Valerian. Another who needed Ritalin and St Johns, two who did perfectly on Ritalin with no side effects, and two who can't touch Ritalin without a straight jacket available. If Ritalin causes a violent response or the child hates it, it's wrong for them!
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mazal555




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Feb 17 2015, 8:51 am
seeker wrote:
Sparkle, do you think that with good guidance and support it would be possible for an average person to go the natural route without having to quit their job, homeschool, etc? Is there a way to do this within the realities of today's world? Of course every child is different but surely each parent doesn't have to fully reinvent the wheel?

I wish there were someone I could pay to do for my child what you did for yours! I mean, besides parent, obviously. Things like help figure out what lifestyle changes to make and how to make them happen within our life, or even someone who could advise about behavior and health and such all in one place - I can handle the idea of paying a couple thousand to professionals out of pocket but what throws me the most is that EACH person wants that much and only does one piece of the puzzle. Leaves me not knowing where to look first, and feeling overwhelmed and discouraged thinking there is no way we can handle this. I cannot quit my job and spend every minute researching and homeschooling, and feel like it's silly to learn by trial and error when others have already figured this out. I don't even know how to find a "good" naturopath, they all sound a little quacky to me, not to mention highway robbers.

I also find that regarding food the hardest part by far is the emotional/psychological. I think I could handle transforming my kitchen, not easily but not impossibly, on at least a decent level. But my child has a super sweet tooth and already seems to be getting a complex about my healthy food kick even though I have tried to be balanced and smart about it. Whenever she gets near any nosh she gorges, it's all I can do to try to stop her from picking strangers' crumbs off the floor, and this is WITH trying not to deprive her at all, plenty of healthy treats, and still having occasional junk because with this personality I have not had the guts to try cold turkey yet. And school is full of garbage and I don't think that is going to change much, I tried a polite request and got nowhere, and only a small percentage of the parent body cares. Any advice about this?



That's interesting. Have you checked if your daughter has a candida problem?
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seeker




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Feb 17 2015, 8:56 am
What do you mean by "checked"? I have only ever seen candida assumed. I am not aware of any actual test for this supposed condition.
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mazal555




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Feb 17 2015, 11:44 am
seeker wrote:
What do you mean by "checked"? I have only ever seen candida assumed. I am not aware of any actual test for this supposed condition.


IDK, I'm not an expert on this. But I remember a friend of mine had a daughter acting similar about sweets and she told me it turned out to be a yeast/candida issue.
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amother


 

Post Tue, Feb 17 2015, 1:21 pm
I Know 2 children (different families) who were placed on the GAPS diet with amazing results.
It was majorly time consuming for the parents but the results were life changing.
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Sparkle




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Feb 17 2015, 10:38 pm
Seeker, getting a child to be compliant with food changes is very challenging, and is one of the reasons home schooling worked for us (besides for the main reason of him being kicked out of school, lol!). I'm not sure how else I would have been able to monitor every single morsel of food that went into his mouth. At this point (3 years in) I am super super strict about the food in our house, but I do allow my kids do have some treats when they are in school or shul at this point (but I only started doing this since a year in. You need to be super strict at first to do a "detox" of sorts). Now I always offer to trade them for healthier nosh (non food color candy, "healthy" soda sweetened with cane sugar only, etc). Sometimes they do, sometimes the don't. But I do take time to explain to them how powerful food is, and how HKBH meant for it to nourish us - not harm us, and how additives and food dyes can cause disease, etc. They more and more are making the choice themselves to forgo junk. Lest everyone think I just have weird kids who enjoy cod liver and hate candy, let me tell you that they are VERY normal kids who enjoy nosh. If someone would have told me a couple years ago that I'd have kids turn down soda and candy because it isn't healthy, I would have laughed long and hard! (And BTW, they don't always turn it down - but often enough for me).
I'm not sure what to tell you about how to make all these changes when working, and with kids in school because that's not the way I did it. I'm sure it's possible - though challenging - but I don't have any advice since I did basically give up my life for a year for this.
In terms of a naturopath - yes, there definitely are quacks. There's no unifying body governing who becomes a naturopath and how, so you really need to do some digging. I'm not sure what else to tell you...I went through 2 other naturopaths before I found one who really resonated with me. She also was pretty reasonable priced and I did start to see results from another child who had severe acid reflux within a week - so at least I knew she knew something!
Hatzlacha Rabbah. It's quite a journey.
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SorGold




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Feb 17 2015, 11:43 pm
Sparkle, what were your dietary changes?
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Sparkle




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Feb 18 2015, 12:03 am
Real Food (read a book by that title by someone named Nina Planck):
Raw milk
Pastured butter
farm fresh eggs
lacto-fermented foods (in our house that is homemade yogurt, pickles, sauerkraut, and kefir)
lots of healthy fats - avocadoes, coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, homemade mayo etc.
Lots and lots of fresh vegetables and fruit which I am not makpid on being organic. If it's affordable than yes, but other things are a priority for me.
I try to do low grains and sugar, but we still eat raw honey, real maple sugar, coconut sugar - as sweetners. I try as much as possible to prepare my grains and legumes properly by soaking them to make them more digestible.
Bone broth
Meat and chicken - when I can afford it then I buy organic and even grassfed. But I don't always have the $.
Wild salmon

NO food dyes, no high fructose corn syrup, no vegetable/soybean/canola oil, no conventional dairy, no margarine, no ingredient that I cannot pronounce nor know what it is.
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Sparkle




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Feb 18 2015, 12:04 am
And I know it's a lot, but I did not do it overnight. As I learned more and more about real nutrition, I made a new change every few weeks or so.
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SorGold




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Feb 18 2015, 12:08 am
So basically a Weston A Price model and not GAPS or paleo?
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Sparkle




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Feb 18 2015, 12:14 am
Nice! I love when others know those terms :-)

Yes, I myself eat more Paleoish because of some thyroid issues I have, but the rest of the family eats very WAPF. That is only because the naturopath determined that my kids don't have an issue with grains or dairy. We went the supplement route to deal with candida and heavy metal toxicity issues, but you can deal with both through food as well. I just didn't want to limit their diet even more.
Although we did do a sugar free month in the beginning - sort of like a candida cleanse. And after that we chose to do low grain and low sugar. So for example, I don't serve buns with hotdogs or hamburgers, breakfasts are smoothies and eggs as opposed to toast or oatmeal. But we definitely have some grains and sweeteners in our diet.
I am very pro GAPS or Paleo, by the way. I just think WAPF is easier for kids - especially when you're working with a knowledgeable natural professional who can fill in the gaps with vitamins and supplements.
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amother


 

Post Wed, Feb 18 2015, 12:26 am
Are you willing to post the supplements?
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Sparkle




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Feb 18 2015, 12:30 am
I don't see the point since they were highly individualized for my son. And many of them aren't even available to purchase online because many companies who make herbal supplements don't want their products to be available to people who don't know how to use them responsibly. Many are only available from naturopaths who "prescribe" them.
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seeker




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Feb 18 2015, 12:42 am
So how do you determine w hich naturopath can be trusted? Especially when you don't know anyone who's used one! I once went to some kind of holistic doctor recommended by a frum organization and he struck me as quackish, but I don't know if they're all like that or what... he wanted me to cleanse with coffee enemas. That was a real turnoff. He told me bubbles in my urine were a sign of my body not absorbing oxygen properly. I say it was a sign of holding it in for the hour long trip and the force of that hitting the water creates bubbles. What do I know. Then I was supposed to buy a $200 juicer and drink 16 oz of aloe leaf juice every day, in addition to some other juicy meals. It was just way too much. And that was just to get to baseline BEFORE he would treat me. At least he only charged $75 for that first visit...

So basically I feel like I oculd really use help of this nature, but am even more wary now, and don't know where to get help... is this the kind of thing that could be consulted over the phone or do you need to be treated in person?
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Sparkle




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Feb 18 2015, 12:54 am
Yeah, that sounds weird. I don't know what to say. I mean, that's why it took me a couple tries till I found one that I liked. A lot of is was just going with my gut. The naturopath that I use now has very similar food "hashgafos" to me, and she explained everything very well to me.
That's not to say that she didn't freak me out in the beginning. On our first visit there, she told me that my son had a tumor in his brain - not a cancerous tumor, just more like a ball of toxins, which was causing his very explosive and violent behavior. OF COURSE I freaked out, but since my baby stopped throwing up after every feeding after a few days of a powder that she gave me, I decided to give the herbs for the "tumor" for my older son a try. I will tell you that the result with two weeks was absolutely incredible. Even my DH (who was a HUGE skeptic at first - understandably) could not believe the results.
My son still has a short fuse, but every since that time (over 2 years ago at this point) we have never seen the crazy, eratic, and explosive behavior that had been my son before that. Just for that alone every penny I have given her has been worth it.
Disclaimer: That was the most profound chance we have seen to date. Everything else has just been him coming down a few notches to make him manageable. He still has issues - he's not very organized, is easily distracted, has a hard time sitting etc. But working with her has made him accessible to all the behavior modifications we do. Before he was just completely unmanageable and unreachable. Does that make sense?
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