Thanks for telling your story. I am going to look into a possible chemistry imbalance and pray that we have similar results to yours. I hate that she is on ritalin and I hate that she is misunderstood even by teachers....

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Thank you for responding. Since your daughter has been diagnosed with ADD, there are several body chemistry and brain chemistry issues to deal with. Generally, the kids have over active adrenal and thyroid glands and under active neurotransmitter levels in their brain chemistry. That's one reason Ritalin works on behavior.

Two things you can do. Give her a B-6 50 mg. in the morning and a Cal/Mag/Zinc at night before bedtime. The Cal/Mag/Zinc should be 500/250/15 mgs. This slows down the glands and really helps them get beneficial sleep. It may surprise you to know that even though they may sleep alot, they never really slow down, so the rest is not that beneficial. You may have noticed that they wake up tired or have a hard time waking up at all.

The results with my son were amazing. These supplements are very safe and effective. If your daughter is over 12 years old you can double the doses.

I welcome your comments.

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My child has been on medication previously for ADD but not until he reached 7th and 8th grade. We had used natural treatment up until that point but unfortunately did not utilize a nutrionist as we should have. At best I would have to say we were a "hit or miss" type of help for him. There are other issues that affect his school work, but my main interest is to find out if there could be other physical/health issues with a child that could be highly associated with or go hand-in-hand with the chemical/physical issues that are present with an ADD child.

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Beyond the normal physical symptoms associated with ADD, I'm not sure what you may be referring to. The difficulty sleeping is a common but hard to understand problem. Although once they are asleep, it may appear as though they sleep soundly, it is really not beneficial sleep. Their glands keep them wound up and they may even wake up tired or have difficulty waking up. The kids must have their glands slowed in order to rest.

Please let me know what other issues may be of concern to you.

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Thanks for the post. We have been having trouble getting our 7 year old diagnosed. We've known that something is not quite right since very early on, and we've had him for all the help we can afford. We have him working with a psychologist now who has been observing him for over a year, but still can't bring herself to put him on medication. I understand that if the problem is not ADHD, putting a child on ADHD meds can actually damage the brain; for example, if the child has manic-depressive disorder. In any case, without access to medication, I've been forced to look elsewhere for solutions. We did try fish oil, which seemed to help a little, but did not make the problem go away. Later we discovered he had a 90% blockage of his airway by adnoids/tonsils, so he just had surgury for that. Again, noticeable improvement, but still not resolved. I will be anxious to try your suggestions, although at appropriate dosages for a younger child.

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It would seem to me that you don't want to do any treatment until you know what your dealing with. How can a pscychologist take a year to determine what's going on?

My son had been diagnosed with ADD at 9 and he was classical ADD. Couldn't concentrate in school, didn't complete his homework, had trouble with other students and was easily agitated. He was tall and slender and had some sleeping problems.

After three years on Ritalin, he was better behaved but his school work was lousy. He was failing 8th grade. My nutritionist/MD treated only the physical aspects off ADD, way overactive adrenal and thyroid glands. We were very successful.

There is no way I would use pyschoactive drugs on my child without a diagnosis. However, if you think your child is ADD there are several supplements you could use to help him. They wouldn't hurt your child in any case.

Have they mentioned your child may be a highly functioning autistiic? My nephew had this and the adnoids, tonsels and ear blockage problems because the idiot peditrician was a "no tonselectomy" doctor. The doctor developmentally disabled my neephew for four years because he wouldn't recommend the procedure. My nephew couldn't hear correctly and therefor couldn't speak correctly. He didn't improve until he had his tonsels out.

You are your childs best advocate, keep trying, don't give up.

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I just wanted to say that greta needs to get a correct diagnosis for sure, but if it is ADHD, you also need to adjust your expectations considerably. You mention that treatments made symptoms better but not solved or "resolved". You cannot expect ADHD to be solved. It is simply managed. There is nothing that will make it go away. Your child will be trying to manage his condition his whole life. It won't ever be gone so prepare yourself now for that. It is a long journey. If some treatment makes it better that is a success, keep going. If it doesn't help, try something else. But there is no cure.

Good Luck

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