APRIL 6, 2011 ADHD

"I have learned to like myself for the first time and to have some serenity." -Keith Miller

I do not know which came first- liking myself for the first time or serenity. Maybe these came at the same time. I didn't like myself for the longest time. I do not know when that first began. Possibly when I was younger and realized I was different. Liking myself now brings so much peace, love, happiness and serenity to my life that it is contagious. I love life! Was there a time in your life when you didn't love yourself? Was it when your self esteem was lowest? I do know that when I started to increase my self esteem in various ways, I began to like myself. As my self esteem heightened I began to love myself. Tranquility and serenity followed.

Have you ever felt non focused? Did you have difficulty sitting still as a child? I did. I never sat still as a child. My Nanny called me the Jack Rabbit. At times my mother could not handle my brother and I, especially when company was coming over. My mother never hit either of us. When my Uncle Sonny and his family were coming over for Easter one year, my mother was not in the mood for hearing my brother and I fight. What she did might be called child abuse today, but in those days we didn't hear those terms. My mother tied my brother and I to separate wrought iron room dividers. My uncle was horrified when he arrived with his family.

In 1980 ADD (attention deficit disorder) was officially recognized and included in the Psychiatric Diagnostoic Manual - DMS-III classification. Several years later it was renamed ADHD (Atterntion Deficit Hyperactive Disorder). When reading the DMS-III classification, I know I was a child with ADHD. I do not think it hurt me as I got older, but it definitely made me different. I do not actually know if I had an extreme of normal human behavior or actually ADHD. It doesn't matter some 45 years later. I think my ADHD character defects have actually helped me to be where I am today.

Today, I feel many children are classified as ADHD. Today we have many health care practitioners who treat ADHD far better than years ago.

I am the gluten free and/or yeast free doctor when I treat children as well as adults. I do believe in a strict dietary lifestyle change. Until you try this lifestyle change of yeast free, you will never know how it feels not to be bloated and flatulent. In addition some parents have tried the old Feingold Diet. This is a diet with no artificial colors, preservatives and salicylates. This total withdrawal has not been shown to be effective. In some few instances, a gluten free and dairy free dietary lifestyle shows little result. But in my clinical experience I have witnessed drastic changes in a child's personality, irritability and attention by eliminating gluten and dairy.

I do ask parents to use fish oils. There is one problem. Most children hate the taste, so I prefer to use Cormega brand (by Orthomolecular). There are great antioxidants like pycnogenol but many taste horrible. Most things can be hidden in apple or grape juice, however.

I think a multifactorial approach to treating ADHD is most effective. Sometimes there is a role for conventional drug therapy such as Ritalin, Focalin and Strattera. There are many herbal treatments for ADHD, unknown to most conventional physicians. In upcoming blogs I will discuss the multitude of herbal treatments for ADHD.

Until tomorrow...