ADHD and diet and homeopathy

[bejeezus]

you may have seen my first thread. I have a 6 yo DD about to be assessed for ADHD. This is quite a recent concern/revelation for us and so I havent read an awful lot yet.

There seems to be conflicting views regarding the effect diet has. Does anyone have any experience of this? If you dont feed sugar or concentrated fruit juice do you manage to make cakes or biscuits? if not what do you give as a pudding/ treat?

ANy experience of homeopathy and ADHD?

[narmada]

tallulah, I am sure ADHD does cause sleep disorders, honestly, I didn't mean to suggest it doesn't, but I think it's a feasible hypothesis that some sleep disorders may cause ADHD-like symptoms (for example, central sleep apnoea).

[bejeezus]

some really interesting information, cheers.

will look into zinc and elimination diet- interesting about it increasing sensitivity though

looked at GAP diet; it kind of sits right for me but its pretty hard core for a 6 yo child IMO, especially one who has the appetite of a very small sparrow at the best of times

Personally, I think add is more of a set of personality traits than a sn ( even if it does cause sen)

THIS is how I feel about it right now, to be sure. (Maybe because my DD seems fairly mild ADHD (if at all-still waiting to be assessed)) but if those parts of her character were taken away, it wouldnt be her. Its hard sometimes and exhausting but I feel its more positive than negative. SHes lovely.

[Blueberties]

Wrt to zinc we did have very good results. It's a good idea not to tell anyone what you're doing - then you get an absolutely unbiased report when teachers comment on improved concentration (it happened to us!) But it can definitely make a child nauseous so it might be worth trying out different mg and maybe starting with 15.

To be totally, absolutely honest, I think all the other ideas are very good but zinc is so easy that I would try it on its own so that you know exactly what's having the impact. If it makes no difference you could try something that could be equally effective, elimination diet for example, but might be more difficult to introduce.

[MadameSin]

Homeopathy is based on treating 'like with like' ... and as we choose to treat ADHD with a stimulant, it would appear that conventional doctors are replicating the way homeopathy works. My son has a dx of ADHD, he's not medicated as we control his behaviour mostly with diet. All the obvious stuff .. not rocket science. From our experience, during the Summer hols when we were 'slack', he was a bloody nightmare. Needless to say we are back on the 'regime'. Look here: www.uclh.org/OurServices/ServiceA-Z/INTMED/IMCC/Pages/Home.aspx (this was formally the London Homeopathic Hospital) It is, I understand, the only NHS funded hospital in the UK using doctors qualified in both conventional and complementary medicines ....

[tralalala]

My cousins lo has adhd and found these to hlep:4

no computer games
restricted tv (and no fast paced stuff like ben 10)
Low GI
routine and clear rules (not always easy!)

I love a lot of alternative medicine but think from experience and from the vast array of clinical trials do on it, it does nothing more than placebo.

hope you find something that works

[narmada]

Homeopathy does not treat like with like, nor does conventional medicine ape Homeoptahy. Homeopathy treats illnesses with sugar and water pills. Conventional medicine at least employs drugs that have been shown to be more effective than placebo, which is more than can be said for homeopathy.

[bejeezus]

Madamesin Bristol Homeopathic hospital is also NHS and manned by conventionally qualified doctors also - although funding may be cut soon I hear

[ppeatfruit]

notadude i am not dogmatic about homeopathy, it didn't work for DS's asthma either nor did the steroids, and ABs that the docs were giving him. Just made him into a fat angry child with asthma! (There is evidence to show that people only started DYING of asthma after the hospitals were O.D.ing people on sulhponamides) correct spelling??

What worked was chinese herbs and the Buteyko system (easy mouth closed method) and cutting out dairy, tomatoes and orange juice from his diet.

[ppeatfruit]

I often think (as a teacher) that the british education system has to take a lot of blame for all the diagnoses of ADHD.

If you try to make some (not all of course) under 6 yr olds sit down for too long and not give them enough free play etc. then you're going against nature and they 're bound to rebel!! There's a thread on here saying the school has said to the poster that her 3 yr old couldn't concentrate !!!!!

[WorriedMum23]

My DS has ADHD. He had clear problems from the age of "1/2 and was diagnosed at 7/8. He was breast fed and being PFB I cooked organic foods from scratch when weaning. He went to a nursery that employed a cook who also cooked from scratch but not organic. Sweets and chocs were limited but not banned. As he grew older we tried vitamin supplements and fish oil- evening primrose combinations, we also tried cranial osteopathy, art therapy and parenting classes. We would give all these options a good 6-12 month trial at least.
We found that:
Some colourings do have an adverse affect - he once had a fruit pastille ice lolly and his pupils changed and he became completely hyper. We banned all sweets with colourings and he would refuse birthday sweets brought into school or ask to save then for later so I could check.
The fish oils/supplements made no difference but he had a good diet and so probably wasn't lacking anything.
The cranial osteopathy helped him sleep. The 2 nights after a session he would always sleep well even when he was too young for a placebo effect.
TV: I limited and would not let him watch programmes that showed bad/cheeky behaviour. I would video BBC programmes for schools so he would watch Tweenies/Come Outside and Magic Granddad rather than TracY Beaker - he was quite capable of being cheeky/overexcited without any outside inspiration.
Video/PC Games: A complete ban until 7. Then a ban during termtime and limited in school hols. When playing the game he is v focussed but the adrenaline created is not then countered by physical exertion as it is in sport. He is now 15 and the term-time ban is still in place.
Medication: It worked really well. It was our last resort, but it does help. His confidence was rock bottom, he was unhappy because he did not want to be badly behaved. Within weeks the school was commenting on his maturity and he had more friends (no-one knew about the medication so this was a genuine change).

I think ADHD is like asthma - it is a physical condition, but in some people certain things make the condition worse and unfortunately it is trial and error discovering which things affect your DD.

Sorry for the long post. I hope it helps.

[ppeatfruit]

Worriedmum and bejeesus i follow the blood type way of eating and it is miraculous in that DH is totally allergic to wheat (even whole organic) O types are known to be intolerant to wheat .

I saw a T.V. programme about autistic children who calmed down completely when not eating wheat. I know your DCs are not autistic but it might be some help to look at this (especially if they have inexplicable exhaustion and rages).

You can download the app. for Dr. Peter D'Adamo Eat Right for your Blood Type. i have no health probs. since being on it