Posts Tagged ‘Concerta’

In today’s world we eat much more high-carb foods than ever before. Refined (white) carbohydrates turn quickly into sugar in our body, and sugar gives a boost of energy. For children with symptoms of ADD and ADHD not exactly what they need…

Sugar causes hyperactivity and irritability in many normal healthy adults – if you are on the low carb / no sugar diet now, you will feel the effect when you take a sugary treat of any kind. It makes me restless, I have a kind of unpleasant tingly feeling all over my body, and my concentration definitely goes way down. These are often the symptoms that children with ADHD describe when you ask them! If sugar does that to me, just imagine what it’s effect will be on a child – with a much smaller body and less control over it. Apart from leaving the sugar out (with the exception of 1 day per week) it helps a lot to have a critical look at the pastas, bread and other carbohydrates you serve. Wholegrain bread, crackers, pasta.. they all help to stabilize the blood sugar levels – instead of creating a peak. Have a critical look at breakfast cereals too, most of them are not suitable for any children if you are honest, let alone for children that are as sensitive as ours for symptoms of ADD and ADHD…

I more and more discover the devastating effect of food colorings, preservatives and other additives. We ourselves have opted for a food pattern without any of those, and the whole family feels much more energized and with a more stable mood. So, additives are a big no-no if you ask me! This, by the way, includes artificial sweeteners!

Protein should be an important part of your child’s diet. Fish generally has a good influence on the symptoms of ADD and ADHD – due to it’s content of essential Omega-3 and 6 fatty acids and other vital ingredients. Eat fish once per week – not more often, because the oceans are so polluted that we would get a too high mercury intake.. Which in itself is sad enough.

In addition to the diet, you might try some of the following herbal supplements: St. John’s Wort, Passion Flower, Ginkgo Biloba, Green Tea Extract, Chamomile, Lemon Balm, or American Ginseng. Obviously, you try them out one by one, and see how your child reacts. Some of them might work, while other’s won’t in your specific case. Be careful about the other ingredients of the pills or capsules, read the list of ingredients carefully, and if you have any doubt, don’t do it. I discovered that in the Centrum vitamines for children, which I used to give to my daughter, E-124 is part of the formula – which is exactly the food coloring where most ADHD children are extremely sensitive for. Unbelievable but true. They assured me they were about to take it out, but still… And then they did not talk about the sweeteners in the pills, which are almost as suspected… Even in scientific literature.

Do not forget to include the daily routine of EFT tapping into your day. Alongside the diet this is the powerful bit which makes your child not only behave normally without medication, but which will make him or her thrive – and your family as well!

Omega 3 fatty acids are a vital building blocks for our brain, and many children suffering from symptoms of ADD and ADHD actually have a shortage of essential building blocks in their body.

Why does the ADD/ADHD brain have an extra need for Omega-3 fatty acids?
The brain has the most active metabolism of all the organs in the body, and it uses enormous amounts of energy; it never is completely at rest. The more active the metabolism, the more free radicals, and the brain thus has one of the highest rates of free radical production. These free radicals destroy the connections between the cells, the cells themselves and the structure of the brain. The brain starts to function less and less effectively, if it has not enough resources to repair itself.

If you are deficient in Omega-3 fatty acids, your brain changes it’s structure already within 2 weeks.

The role of sugar in Omega-3 deficiency
Apart from the role sugar plays in the blood sugar level, it also increases free radical generation. Sugar produces cross linking of the proteins in all cells, which means that the free radicals can do much more damage in a much bigger group of cells. Through the influence of free radicals, your cells age faster; and your braincells are even more prone to this process. Research at the University of Connecticut in 1986 by Dr. Jane Goldman showed that sugar, equal to one Coke, produces a significant decline in mental performance. (Students were making twice as many mistakes on tests.)

Other vitamins and minerals also play a role in the health of our brain, and particularly in children with symptoms of ADD and ADHD, one can often find shortages of essential micro-elements and vitamins. On the other hand, ADHD and ADD symptoms have been linked to an overload of toxic substances suchs as lead in the blood of the affected children. Apart from lead, also aspartame, MSG, pesticides, herbicides in food, aluminum in deodorants, fluoride in the water and mercury in vaccines have been proven to have a major role in brain toxicity and brain function decline.

What does this mean in everyday life?
Make sure your child does not eat refined sugar is the obvious step one, because it is easy to do. Avoid aspartame and other additives, buy and eat organic fruit and vegetables, be very cautious with vaccines and get yourself very well informed about the risks and the benefits of every single vaccination.
Give your kid a healthy balanced diet, and give additional nutrients as needed, but be very aware of food colorings and other additives that hide in vitamin pills and other supplements! They will probably increase the symptoms of ADD and ADHD: the detrimental effect of these substances is manyfold bigger than the beneficial effects of the essential nutrients your child is probably lacking.

If you like this article, please share it on one or more of the social bookmarking sites below; that way you help other parents with children suffering from symptoms of ADD and ADHD, to find this information!
I look forward to read your comments, experiences and questions!

Image by Kriss Szkurlatowski

I stumbled upon an article from the University of Miami, School of Medicine. It is probably quite an old study, and I was even more amazed by the results and statements. Could it be that we just do not learn? We are probably talking about a study that was conducted a decade ago!

Maria Hernandez-Reif, Tiffany M. Field and Eric Thimas, observed thirteen adolescents with ADHD symptoms that participated in Tai Chi classes twice a week for 5 weeks. Teachers rated the adolescents’ behaviors before the test began, after the 5 week Tai Chi period and two weeks later. After the 10 Tai Chi sessions the adolescents displayed less anxiety, daydreaming behaviors, inappropriate emotions and hyperactivity and improved conduct. These changes persisted over the two-week follow up (no Tai Chi) period.

In their report, Hernandez-Reif, Field and Thimas state: “Although short-term improvements have been reported in academic and social functioning, drug therapy such as methylphenidate or Ritalin (Schachar & Tannock, 1993; Swanson et aI, 1995), side-effects such as motor tics, insomnia, headaches, and social withdrawal make this treatment controversial (Handen, Feldermann, Gosling, Breaux et al., 1991; Parraga & Cochran, 1992). (…) Of the non-drug treatments, relaxation therapy has alleviated depression in adolescents (Platania-Solazzo, et al, 1992), but is has shown limited effects in treating ADHD (Field, Quintino & Hernandez-Reif, 1997) perhaps because of its demands on concentration. Massage therapy, in contrast, has been effective in increasing time spent on task, reducing fidgeting, improving mood and lowering hyperactivity scores in adolescents with ADHD (Field, Quintino & Hernandez-Reif, 1997)”.

The adolescents in this study engaged in Tai Chi postures for 30- minute sessions twice a week for 5 weeks. Each mid-afternoon session began with slow raising and lowering of the arms in synchrony with breathing exercises for 5 minutes. The adolescents were then taught to perform slow turning and twisting movements of the arms and legs, shifting body weight from one leg to the other, rotating from side to side and changing directions in a sequence of Tai Chi forms.

Statistic tests suggested the following baseline to Tai Chi therapy changes:
1) less anxiety,
2) improved conduct,
3) less daydreaming,
4) less inappropriate emotions, and
5) less hyperactivity during Tai Chi versus before Tai Chi
These improved scores persisted over the two-week follow-up (no Tai Chi) period.

I think it is worthwhile to investigate the effects of martial arts and massage on symptoms of ADD and ADHD; in addition to EFT it seems a good way to go!
If any of you has experience with the influence of martial arts and/or massage on the symptoms of ADD and ADHD, please let me know.

PS: If you find this post useful, please comment and share it on the social bookmarking sites below!

 

I found this press release, about medication commonly prescribed to control the symptoms of ADD and ADHD..
Just read for yourself:

ROSWELL, GA, August 30, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ — Drugs commonly prescribed for hyperactive children are increasingly being abused, causing a rising number of poison control calls, according to a study published in PEDIATRICS.

The study tracked calls to U.S. poison control centers from 1998 to 2005 among 13- to 19-year-olds and found that during the eight-year study period, calls by teens to poison control centers for all types of stimulant ADHD drug abuse rose by 76%.

“Calls related to teenaged victims of prescription ADHD medication abuse rose 76%, which is faster than calls for victims of substance abuse generally and teen substance abuse,” wrote researcher Jennifer Setlik, MD, of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and colleagues.

The use of stimulant medications to treat ADHD is on the rise. The drugs often have adverse effects and children are unwittingly introduced to increased risks for drug addiction as well as a lifetime of taking medication for a problem which is not well understood.

Stimulant medications, including Adderall and methylphenidate (Ritalin), have a high abuse potential. Due to the fact Adderall has a powerful effect of increasing blood pressure, it carries the same risk of sudden death, stroke, and heart attack in patients with pre-existing heart conditions, as does methylphenidate and other stimulants used to treat ADHD, as well as the same risk of seizures in patients with a history of seizures.

According to Mary Rieser of the Narconon of Georgia drug treatment center, “We see many clients who were prescribed these medications as children and are now addicted to other drugs. We find that many times if the client is taken off these medications they find that they no longer suffer from the symptoms associated with ADHD.”

(With thanks to Narconon of Georgia