9 Drug-Free Approaches to Managing ADHD

As a former "ADHD" kid growing up in the 80s and 90s my mother refused to put me on Ritalin (the miracle cure at that time) or any type of medication. I thank god every day that she made that choice. I had many friends who were on the "miracle drug" and they were either zombies, who still acted up or they spit out their pills, or when we were older hoarded them so that they could abuse them.

Also we all had the great excuse "that we were off our meds" to get into trouble. ADHD was a great way to avoid taking personal responsibility for our actions. This diagnosis, and its accompanying effects actually prevented me from growing up, until I decided to take life on its own terms. I had to realize that i was in control of my destiny, a message that I missed growing up, largely in part to many of my childhood learning experiences being lost, by falsely blaming poor behavior on a "made up" disease.

I see kids now a days on effexor and other more modern drugs for ADHD. It is absolutely disgusting. These kids are made spaced out zombies by drugs that are supposed to help them, often leading to drug addicted and drug abusing teenagers and adults. Supposed drugs which are less prone to abuse as Ritalin.

I strongly believe in caring, nurturing behavioral therapies. What me and my peers with ADHD needed most was extra time, extra attention and patience. Not just from our families but from other adults in our lives and other children. Tailored treatment, designed to teach rather than special treatment designed to segregate.

People need to be taught the tools to deal with themselves on their own terms, not offered drugs and excuses. Maybe it will be more painful for some in the short term, but the long term damage by drugs and a culture of its not my fault is much much worse for everyone.

john of WA 1:15PM August 24, 2009

As a mother of and advocate for two little boys with ADHD and other disorders, I find that, first and foremost, you need to get a good doctor to help with diagnosing problems s you can treat the problems - not just the symptoms.

A lot of people and doctors think that ADHD is just a diagnosis but, as this article points out several times, ADHD needs to be looked at as a bunch of symptoms.

For example, my kids ADHD-like behaviors are somewhat based on General Anxiety Disorder, OCD and Tourettes. So we treat one disorder and then look at what else is left. Then we treat that. Whatever is left over at the end, can be diagnosed as ADHD proper and we can treat that.

I believe that once we're treating medically, we can use other treatments, such as behavioral therapy, meditation, to teach the child how to sooth themselves.

After a child can sooth themselves, there may be no need for medications.

Marjorie

Special Ed Examiner

http://www.examiner.com/x-18686-Boston-Special-Education-Examiner

Marjorie Golden of MA 6:23AM August 20, 2009

This is very encouraging news that Transcendental Meditation can help with ADHD. I was familiar with studies on TM and blood pressure and anxiety, but this is wonderful news that TM can also help with ADHD, and so desperately needed in our schools.

jammyman of VA 8:17PM August 19, 2009

ADHD is a term used for a collection of symptoms that can be caused by a variety of conditions. No single approach works for every child and medications are effective in covering the symptoms about half of the time. Many more than 9 alternatives exist for controlling ADHD. Maturational stimulation of primitive neck reflexes, provided by OTRs for example, can be so effective that the behavior change is so immediate and profound that onlookers are stunned (when reflex immaturity is the cause). Intestinal parasites (worms) can make a child squeamish. Restless legs can be calmed by a nutritional supplement. Allergies can likewise create discomfort, and the list goes on and on. To consider ADHD a single distorder with a single treatment is absurd. A clinician will be able to test for many problems, moving through a series of empirical trials can identify the cause (or combination of causes). The main thing to keep in mind is that the child is not purposely misbehaving or taunting the teacher. ADHD is not a misconduct to be dealt with by punishment. ADHD is a real physical disorder that requires persistent searching for the causes of attentional disconnection and lack of control. The searching is time-consuming and unlikely to be pursued by pediatricians or other medical clinicians. When medication is prescribed, a log must be kept by the classroom teacher in order to provide efficient feedback to the pediatrician and subsequent adjustment of dosage. Some of the dosages I have seen have been outrageously high. Regular communication is necessary between the school personnel and the clinician in order to refine and coordinate the approaches used.

Recognizing the complex nature of ADHD makes us aware of the impossibility of typical clinical trials on subjects without controls for the various causes. Instead, an empirical approach with the pattern of RTI (Response To Intervention) using a single-subject design over periods of at least three weeks should be used. Empirical approaches are fine: If it works, use it. The bottom line is that individuals vary considerably and patient-centered rather than medication-centered approaches should be more widely used. We have several ways to determine effectiveness and we should use them. Every case is a separate trial. Cooperation among clinics and practitioners can accumulate information from multiple cases to develop a database for generating guidelines and syndromes.

In the meantime, children are waiting, trusting that we know what we are doing. Up to now it has ALL been trials. Fortunately, some parents keep trying.

Lyelle Palmer, Ph.D. of MN 9:28PM August 15, 2009