I have recently heard from Adam whose son had very bad ADHD symptoms. Following advice, the family went to medication and experienced extreme side effects - their story is one that I hear so very often from families which is why I want to share this story with you.

We look at diet and nutrition in Stepping Stone 3  - this family had a complete turn around with dietary adjustments and in this letter they kindly share the regime that worked so well for them.

"My name is Hafiza Khan. Before I share with you my story I would like to share a bit of my background with you so that you have an understanding of where I am coming from. I earned my Bachelors degree in Canada and had worked for the Ministry of Social Services and Mental Health as a Certified Behavioral Therapist and Residential Counselor with individuals with Autism, Down’s Syndrome, Schizoprenia and other Mental Health Disabilities. I also have a Masters in Education and I taught Middle School for three years so I have a lot of experience working with kids with special needs.

I was first introduced to isotonix when I was searching for an alternative to dealing with some of the challenges that my 14-year-old son was facing. Due to my background and all the research I had personally done, I knew my son had ADHD when he was five but I didn’t have him diagnosed until he was in 5th grade and started failing. I also knew that medications do not cure ADHD but rather help the individual focus enough so that they can learn the cognitive skills they need to cope with their ADHD. Upon diagnosis we chose to put him on meds. At first the meds seemed to be very successful in treating his ADHD however after a year being on Straterra he wasn’t able to stomach it any more – within half an hour of taking the meds he would start vomiting and it didn’t matter how much protein he ate. So we switched to Adderal XR. This worked for a little while but by the end of 7th grade these meds weren’t working as well either so now not only did we increase his dosage but we also started him in monthly counseling sessions. By the time he hit 8th grade the meds were ineffective and he was now in weekly counseling sessions and in addition to his ADHD diagnosis he was also being labeled as “being defiant” having “Oppositional Conduct Disorder,” “Depression” and “Major Mood Disorder.”

We tried different meds and we tried different dosages – Concerta which made his behavior worst, daytrana which gave him a horrible skin rash so we decided to stick with Adderal but increase the dosage. Increasing the doasages didn’t help because now he was having anger management problems and was becoming quite defiant. In fact he was so angry that he had tried to run away. That scared us and we promptly took him in to be evaluated and at that point it was recommended that we pull him from school and put him into a day program with extensive counseling – in which he was getting 6-7 hours of group and individual therapy per day. He was also put on anti depressants and mood stabilizers (2 different ones to control his anger and defiance). The behaviors did not get better. In fact not only had he gained 100 pounds but his behavior worsened – he was now suffering from delusions and we were concerned that he may be having suicidal thoughts. Here he was 14 years old very angry, wanted to drop out of school, and was on a way road to self destruction.

To make a long story short over the next 4 months (January through April) he had been hospitalized for a period of 12 weeks. This included being transferred to a residential treatment center 300 miles away in Austin, TX. The only comfort I had was that he was in a high risk suicide lock down unit so I knew that they would have eyes on him at all times and they had teachers there who were trained in working with children with ADHD.

When he was released they were giving us all his meds and I asked them were his ADHD meds were. That’s when they told me that they never gave it to him and he did fine in school. However when we took him back to regular school the issues started back up and the mandatory group therapy that he was attending 3 times a week didn’t seem to be helping. So we put him back on to the Adderall in addition to the anti depressants and mood stabilizers he was taking.

He continued on the meds for another 6 months when he started getting really sick (October) – we thought it was a stomach virus that he kept getting. We took him to the doctors and they gave him medication and antibiotics but they never helped. I even asked his doctor if he thought my son could be getting a toxic reaction to the meds but the doctor assured me that was very rare and highly unlikely. Then in November he got up one day and came to our room in the middle of the night telling us that he couldn’t breathe and he felt as if there was a 25 lb weight on his chest. We thought he was having an asthma attack. We gave him a breathing treatment it didn’t get better. When we took him to emergency they diagnosed him with gastritis and told me that his esophagus was raw and bleeding and yes it could be induced by stress and they gave us more antibiotics and other medication. Two weeks later he is still vomiting and he now has yeast in his mouth. So at that time I made a decision – I could take him to his MD (which would be cheaper because insurance would cover it) or I could take him to someone who practiced a more natural approach. I chose the latter it was the best decision I made.

My child walked into my natrupaths office holding a bucket because he couldn’t hold anything in. After treatment which included acupuncture, cupping, and being put on a detox diet he was smiling for the first time in weeks. That was the last day he ever took his meds because I chose to take him off. Instead of his we put him on a supplement regimen that included:

Specturm Multi Vitamin
OPC-3
Vitamin B Complex
Calcium
Vitamind

My son has been on this regimen for almost a year and he his more like himself again. He is doing well in school, communicating more with his teachers and taking responsibility for his learning. He is currently taking 3 AP classes (Biology, Algebra and World History) and is one of the 30 students chosen in the Student Ambassador program to study in the Galapagos Islands this summer. Now when people meet him they describe him as a very polite and compassionate young man so full of life and how wonderful he is with his younger brother."

I have included here the links that Adam sent fot those who want to find out more about these particular products

http://www.marketamerica.com/nuyou/categories-435/childrens-health.htm

I have also included below some basic information on how you can start to look at working with your chuild's diet and nutrition, looking at additves and diet, food processing and how nutritional quality  varies.

Please add any questions or comments on the Diet forum

Tags: ADHD Diet