Wellness Wednesday - Should ALL children with ADHD SYMPTOMS be medicated?

These days it seems like every second child has been diagnosed with ADD/ADHD and is on Ritalin or Concerta or some other medication meant to help them, and their parents and teachers, cope. For a while now I've been thinking about doing a blog post on it, but first I wanted to do as much research as I could on the topic.

I've listened to mother's talking about their kids and, what I have noticed is that they think GP's are VERY quick to diagnose and prescribe medication without even referring the child to a specialist first. It doesn't surprise me. There are very few doctor's that I know of that would actually take the time to try different options and make absolutely sure that medication is the only option.

I, for one, would be terrified to put my child on permanent medication. I refuse to even take a panado myself, so the thought of having to keep my child medicated on a daily basis is anathema to me. There is a time and a place for medicine but, in cases where they may be another option, I would be far more willing to consider that first.

There IS another option, but unfortunately, there are very few doctors who are open to it right now. However, there have been enough tests to prove that it is a very real and relevant option and I wonder why more parents don't try it. It's called...

Food.

Hear me out before you roll your eyeballs at me. You know I am a firm believer in using food as a medication. It works for me and it works for countless others out there. I'm not alone. So please hear me out?

My issue with an ADHD diagnosis is that it really sometimes seems like it's more convenient for the parents and the teachers then it is for the children. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely cases where the parents and the teachers clearly want what's best for the children and doctors try to find ways to help them and try to figure out what exactly is going on. But there seem to be more cases where the doctors simply diagnose, write the script and move on. Parents don't know any different. They think it's the only alternative and so the child ends up on chronic medication, no questions asked.

ADHD symptoms are caused by problems with the frontal lobe of the brain, and while several neurotransmitters are involved, it seems that it is an inefficiency of dopamine transmission that may be the key issue. There ARE families who seem to have more instances of ADHD than others and have known genetic issues with their dopamine receptors. It's natural, therefore, to simply assume that the problem is genetics related to dopamine and that, if a child has the symptoms, we need to hand them dopamine in the form of a ritalin tablet, and that's that.

Here's the problem with that: A LOT of different issues can cause problems with the frontal lobe and other associated ADHD areas. It's not just genetic. Here are some examples of things that will affect our ability to stay focused:

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Lack of sleep 
• Inflammation
• Eating habits

How you fare when faced with all of these will probably be linked to your genetics as well as your environment. A family with bad sleeping or eating habits may ALL end up having ADHD symptoms JUST as the family with a genetic dopamine problem does. Ritalin will help perk up the frontal lobe for sure, regardless of the cause. No doubt that you'll see an improvement. The problem is, you are basically ignoring an ongoing environmental issue that is actually damaging the brain while you mask the symptoms with, what is effectively, nothing more than a plaster.

That's the problem with medication in general. It never actually fixes the problem, it merely masks it. Your child may be hyperactive and have trouble concentrating because they react badly to sugar or to processed foods or grains. They may be anxious, depressed or not getting enough sleep. Getting to the root of the problem might be all that it took to help them focus. That would allow your child to still be the person they need to be, instead of transforming them into a little robot that simply acts like all the other pupils in their class.

That is an unfortunate side effect of Ritalin. It stops people from feeling, thinking and reacting in their natural way. While it may help them focus on school, I have to wonder if school is ALL that it should be about. Isn't their development as a person just as important? If not more so? What they study, and the marks they get, shouldn't be what defines them. It's their personality that ultimately makes them who they are and helps them to succeed in whatever they do. It's what drives them.

A HUGE amount of ADD and ADHD diagnoses have been linked to food sensitivities. Doctors won't talk about and yet it's true. There have been MANY tests done.

One of them was a study done by Dr. Lidy Pelsser of the ADHD Reserach Centre in the Netherlands. The study determined that food may be the key to treating ADHD and was published in The Lancet journal. It suggests that with a very restrictive diet, kids with ADHD could experience a significant reduction in symptoms.

According to Dr. Pelsser:

“The disorder is triggered in many cases by external factors and those can be treated through changes to one's environment. ADHD, it's just a couple of symptoms, it's not a disease. The way we think about, and treat these behaviors is wrong. There is a paradigm shift needed. If a child is diagnosed ADHD, we should say, 'OK, we have got those symptoms, now let's start looking for a cause.' “

Pelsser compares ADHD to eczema. He says, “The skin is affected, but a lot of people get eczema because of a latex allergy or because they are eating a pineapple or strawberries."

What he's basically saying is, how can you possibly prescribe any kind of medication without knowing the cause? If you can find the cause, you can eliminate it and, voila, no eczema OR medication.

A whopping 64% of kids diagnosed with ADHD are actually just experiencing a hypersensitivity to food. If all parents knew that I doubt they would actually CHOOSE to just put their child on medication without trying to find out if their child is one of the 64%.

Pelsser's study was done with a group of children at a school, who were all ADD/ADHD diagnosed. They were put on a VERY restricted diet for 5 weeks and their behaviour was documented throughout the study. Teachers and parents were AMAZED. After the study the kids turned into “normal” kids with “normal” behaviour. They ceased to be distracted or forgetful and the temper tantrums stopped altogether.

This doesn't mean that diet is the answer for all kids, of course. Diet is the biggest cause, but, as I said, there are other causes. Work your way through ALL of them BEFORE YOU decided to simply put them on medication. Once you have eliminated every possibility, THEN you can resort to the meds. They should honestly be the absolute LAST resort.

So, what is this diet? Well, there are quite a few variations but the ones that seem to work the best are paleo-based, real food diets. ALL processed foods need to be eliminated completely as well as gluten, sugar and dairy. I know a lot of you will say' “How is this possible?!” But the question you should be asking is, “Do I have a choice?”

If you had to choose between putting your child on chronic medication or depriving them of ice-cream, chips and sweets, to me it would be a no-brainer. No child should be eating that stuff anyway. It's laden with chemicals that will be causing a lot more issues than just ADHD. You'll be doing your child the hugest favour if you teach them how to eat real food. You'll be prolonging their life and helping to prevent them from getting a far worse, chronic disease in the future.

Life doesn't end when you eat real food. In fact, there is a whole world of delicious, wholesome food that you have yet to discover! And it's an amazing world! I have uploaded MANY recipes that you can try out for your family. They include cakes and other sweet stuff too. Your child doesn't have to never eat any treats again. It's the nature of those treats that will change. Have a look through some of my Real Food Friday Feast posts for ideas on what to cook and bake and put your child on a diet for a few weeks. If the behaviour improves, you are on the right track. If it doesn't, you may need to revisit things. Do this in conjunction with a health professional who is going to SUPPORT you, not ridicule you or tell you you are wasting your time.

Your child deserves the best help they can get, and so do you. I hope you have LOTS of success with this!