ADHD BreakthroughsPart one of this series examined the definitions, several types, and symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. This second and final part looks at some causes and how parents can help their children overcome its effects.
ADHD’s environmental causes are historically misunderstood yet easily avoided.
The history of ADHD has been plagued with misconceptions. Originally, it was believed caused by an injury or infection to the brain while the child was still an infant. Later, inattention or hyperactivity was linked to an over-ingestion of artificial sugar, sweeteners and food additives. More recent research has allayed parental guilt by showing that that neither is actually responsible for forming ADHD potential in the child’s brain.
In fact, modern research indicates the same factors contributing to ADHD in children are many of the same practices expectant mothers already avoid for other important reasons. Among other potential health risks, doctors warn that mothers who smoke during pregnancy significantly increase the chances for ADHD in their children. Using alcohol and drugs similarly increases the potential.
Lead poisoning is another possible factor. While the metal has been banned from paint and other construction materials for decades, children living in older buildings and homes may still be at risk.
ADHD medications are effective, but come with controversy.
ADHD varies by child. Doctors and psychiatrists usually develop a treatment regimen that combines re-organizing a child’s work and social environments in tandem with therapy and special medications. These medications are usually stimulants of the methylphenidate variety. Two of the most popular brands are sold under the brand names Ritalin and Concerta. Another popular brand, Adderall, is kind of amphetamine.
Doses are given anywhere from once to several times a day. Effectiveness varies according to the user, and physicians may try out different prescriptions and varying dosages before settling on the best choice for sustained, long-duration use. Side effects of methylphenidate and amphetamine are not generally problematic in the long term. Though some children report feeling “revved up,” the effects are not considered harmful. Additional reported side effects include insomnia, loss of appetite, irritability, and an upset stomach.
Recent research has begun to call into question the benefits of long-term medication therapy. In particular, a study related to the National Institute of Mental Health’s giant Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD recently reported that medications such as Ritalin and Concerta are no more effective after just three years than therapy administered without medication.
Therapy is a crucial step on the road to effective ADHD management.
It’s also important to understand that prescription drugs are not as effective without corresponding therapy and lifestyle management. Parents are strongly encouraged to take an active role in helping their children combat ADHD symptoms. This assistance can include:
Creating a daily routine: All children thrive on structure, and building a pattern to their daily lives helps children feel more relaxed.
Avoiding unnecessary sensory stimuli: Limiting children’s choices (in clothes to wear, what to eat for dinner, et cetera) and turning off television and video games helps their focus by removing “clutter” from their minds.
Communicate and discipline clearly and consistently: Giving clear but short instructions, and administering discipline decisively lets children understand parameters without becoming confused or distracted.
Offer rewards for positive behavior. Families may also decide to enlist the aid of a therapist, who will work with the child on building concentration and social skills. Group therapy is also sometimes effective. Parents may also take special classes and seminars to help them reorient themselves to the needs of an ADHD child.
Behavioral Disorders Related to ADHD
Between twenty and thirty percent of ADHD children also have some form of learning disability. Many struggle with writing, arithmetic, and writing deficiencies, including dyslexia. Other common disabilities include:
Oppositional Defiant Disorder: the child – usually a boy – is confrontational and argumentative with parents and authority figures. As many as one-half of all ADHD patients have some degree of ODD.
Conduct Disorder: A more serious form of ODD, children with CD are aggressively hostile. They will deliberately break rules, threaten or attack classmates, engage in theft or vandalism, and carry weapons. Up to forty percent of ADHD children have CD. Less common disabilities and problems include:
Tourette Syndrome: People suffering from this disorder frequently repeat mannerisms such as sniffling or pronouncing words. They may also involuntarily perform nervous tics
Bipolar Disorder
Anxiety and Depression
Parents worried their child is displaying ADHD symptoms are encouraged to contact a psychiatrist or psychologist for help in making a formal evaluation. Many specialize in working with children. Pediatricians, neurologists and clinical social workers are also able to diagnose the disorder.
Michael Kabel is senior staff writer for http://www.cornerstorkbabygifts.com. Stop by for parenting and baby resources, unique baby gifts, baby gift baskets and baby shower favors.
That is right the most common mineral deficient in the U.S. diet is magnesium not calcium. Of the American population 95% are deficient in magnesium. Of all the minerals our body needs magnesium is the most important, not calcium; without enough magnesium our bodies cannot even assimilate calcium. Calcium that is not assimilated into your body can lead to arthritis, gallstones, kidney stones, artery plaque, brittle bones, and calcium spurs. All of these have been known to disappear after taking extra magnesium supplements which assists in their absorption.
Some of the conditions where magnesium may be useful in prevention are:
Premature Aging, Arthritis, Aggressive Behavior, Alcoholism, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Alzheimer’s Disease, Heart Arrhythmia, Asthma, Attention Deficit Disorder, Autism, Brain Damage, Cancer, Cerebral Palsy, Cerebrovascular, Chemical Sensitivity, Chronic Fatigue, Cluster Headaches, Cocaine-related Stroke, Constipation, Cramps, Diabetes. Fibromyalgia, Fluoride Toxicity, Head Injuries, Central Nervous System Injuries, Heart Disease, Heart Attack, Atherosclerosis, Cardiovascular Disease, HIV, AIDS, Hypertension, Kidney Stones, Magnesium Deficiency, Menopause, Migraine Headache, Mitral Valve Prolapse, Multiple Sclerosis, Nystagmus, Osteoporosis, Peripheral Vascular Disease, Pregnancy-related Problems, Eclampsia, Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS), Psychiatric Disorders, Repetitive Strain Injury, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Sickle Cell Disease, SIDS, Sports-related Problems, Stress, Stuttering, Tetanus, Tinnitis, Sound Sensitivity, TMJ, Toxic Shock, Violence
Are You Being Treated for a Disease That is a Just a Magnesium Deficiency.
Magnesium deficiencies have been found to occur in around 11% of hospitalized patients; it was found that 52% of patients in coronary care units, 42% of hypokalemic patients, 65% of ICU patients, and between 25%-39% of patients with diabetes have inadequate levels of magnesium. “The higher percentage of fat and sugar in the American diet requires greater emphasis on magnesium-rich Foods”
Look For These Symptoms of a Magnesium Deficiency:
Arthritis, Insomnia, Fatigue, Body tension, Headaches, Heart-Disorders, Low Energy, High Blood Pressure, PMS, Backaches, Constipation, Kidney Stones, Osteoporosis, Irregular-Heartbeat, Anxiety, Muscle Cramps or Spasms, Irritability, Confusion, Poor digestion, Rapid heartbeat, Seizures, Can be synonymous with diabetes, Cause cardiac arrhythmia, Hypertension, Asthma, Chronic fatigue, Chronic pain syndrome, Formation of kidney stones.
Do you have trouble sleeping, do you wake up with muscle cramps and spasms, or feel too tense to sleep? Your sleep problem may be as simple as a Magnesium deficiency. Are you startled easily by noises, are you highly nervous, overly sensitive, on edge all the time, do lights seem too bright? Do you suffer from muscle spasms, muscle cramps, muscle jerks, muscle tics, eye tics, do you have hiccups? These are all caused by a deficiency of and can be solved by taking Magnesium. These are signs that your nervous system lacks Magnesium, which is essential for its proper functioning.
Do you suffer form low energy, chronic fatigue, do you become easily fatigued and weak; you may have a Magnesium deficiency. Each cell in your body uses Magnesium as a key to energy production. Magnesium can restore higher energy levels.
Yes. Excess calcium in the diet can deplete magnesium from your body. Milk is one of the worst culprits, the ratio of calcium to magnesium is eight parts calcium to one part magnesium; impossible for the body to utilize the calcium, excess calcium depletes the magnesium in the body even more.
After oxygen, water, and basic foods, Magnesium may be the most important element needed by our bodies. Magnesium is responsible for activating over 300 different biochemical reactions necessary for our body to properly function.
Magnesium is essential in the regulation and use in your body of the following minerals calcium, potassium and sodium. When you do not have enough magnesium in your body to regulate these minerals you may experience the following problems. Low energy, poor bone formation, muscular difficulties (such as cramping, ticks, spasms etc.), poor activation of B vitamins (and all the problems associated with each of them), irregular heart beat, problems with your kidney, adrenals, brain. inability to physically relax. This is how essential magnesium is to maintaining a normal functioning healthy body.
Your heart is a muscle that is constantly tensing and relaxing. All your muscles including your heart use calcium to tense up and Magnesium to relax. Without a proper balance of Magnesium your heart may suffer from an irregular beat or even go into a spasm called a heart attack. What can Magnesium do for your heart? It can lower blood pressure, stabilize irregular heart beat, enable the heart to pump a larger volume, relax constricted blood vessels, decrease the frequency of angina pains, keep blood platelets from clumping together, and increase beneficial HDL cholesterol.
Some allergies may be due to a need for magnesium for instance if you have an allergy to wheat, it may be relieved by adding more magnesium to your diet.
Do you suffer from PMS, too much calcium and not enough Magnesium can cause PMS. Without enough Magnesium, you can feel as though you are living your life with the brakes on. Add Magnesium to your diet and you will feel as though you accelerated your whole life.
Warning Note:
The majority of magnesium supplements are rock minerals and we cannot absorb minerals in that form it must be from food to be absorbed by our bodies. It is a basic law of nature that humans cannot absorb anything that has not been through a living plant first.
If your magnesium supplement says the following it is a rock mineral and you cannot absorb it.
Magnesium Carbonate A component of soil/ an antacid and laxative. Magnesium Chloride Ammonium chloride processed with HCL/ fireproofs wood; cathartic
Magnesium Citrate carbonate processed with acids/ a cathartic
Magnesium Oxide Soil often concentrated by high heat/ an antacid, cement, and laxative
To get your magnesium from a supplement it must say this on the label. Food Magnesium from Enzymatically processed plant material/ only used as Food.
Magnesium in Produce in the United States
Since the Industrial Revolution food processing has refined out a large portion of magnesium (and many other important minerals and vitamins). Eating these processed foods like sugar, flour, white rice, causes magnesium loss via urination. Drinking soft drinks that have caffeine and phosphoric acid in them and coffee increases the magnesium loss. Other factors that can deplete your body’s levels of magnesium are mental stress, high perspiration, and medical drugs of all types, diabetes, chronic pain, diuretics, and a diet too high in calcium.
Poor U.S.A. Farming Methods
Farming methods in the U.S.A. have also done little to help you obtain enough magnesium in your diet. See the chart below from the statistics of the Department of Agriculture showing the drop in minerals like magnesium from our produce due to poor farming methods from 1919 onward.
Food Sources: (as I said above most of the magnesium has been stripped out of commercial produce by poor farming methods)
Apples, apricots, avocados, bananas, blackstrap molasses, brewer’s yeast, brown rice, cantaloupe, dulse, figs, garlic, grapefruit, green leafy vegetables, kelp, lemons, lima beans, millet, nuts, peaches, black-eyed peas, salmon, sesame seeds, soybeans, tofu, tortula yeast, watercress, wheat and whole grains.
Whoever invented the longest name for a mental disorder such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder maybe suffered from the condition himself and was not able to focus and was all over the place! Anyway now this condition is referred to as ADHD. That’s a relief. Now it has become a four letter word! Can ADHD behaviour therapy help?
ADHD behavior therapy together with medication is now recognized as the best way of treating ADHD . The great example is Michael Phelps who was diagnosed at the age of 9 years. He was put on medication but apparently that did not last long and then went on with ADHD behavior therapy.
As we are talking about Michael Phelps, it is interesting to note that the best sports for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder children apparently are swimming, horse riding and martial arts. The latter is great for helping with focus and concentration which are two of the problems with ADHD children. They also learn to control their bodies and minds. So, whether you opt for ADHD behavioral therapy or not, keep in mind sports for kids is a great way to help with this condition. Buying an indoor jungle gym is a great way for hyperactive kids to let off steam and can be used in breaks from homework too.
ADHD behavioral therapy can help the parents with strategies in the following situations. The child is starting to lie and cheat and is also abusive towards his or her siblings. You can also learn about being a role model and the importance of practising what you preach. Children ape their parents in almost everything so if you never read a book and prefer to watch TV, then why should you be surprised to never find your child engrossed in a book ?
There are also great strategies to learn how to cope with a meltdown. You can learn about using the time-out technique and applying it to yourself when you are about to lose your self-control. If you despair of the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder medications which are risky for your child’s health and have neglected considering how and why your parenting techniques are going to be crucial in your child’s development, then check out the links below. Learning and adopting ADHD behavioral therapy together with a natural cure for ADHD could be the best thing you ever did to treat your ADHD child.
Robert Locke is a Health enthusiast who specializes in Children’s Health. He has written extensively on ADHD. Discover how ADHD behavioral therapy can change your life.
Enlarge ImageAttention Deficit Disorder is often difficult to diagnose in adulthood as it sometimes masked by relationship problems, mood disorders, substance abuse, employment issues, or other psychological disorders. It was previously believed that children and adolescents would grow out of ADD, but it has just been acknowledged in the last few decades that it persists into adulthood. Actually, 67% of children with ADD will continue to exhibit signs well into adulthood. ADD is very difficult to diagnose in adults and sometimes only occurs after a child of the adult is diagnosed and the genetic link is made.
How is Attention Deficit Disorder exhibited in adults? Actually, in much the same ways as in children. Adults with ADD often have difficulty in completing assignments, fail to pay close attention to details, fidget, are inattentive, are unorganized, and talk excessively. Unfortunately, adult ADD is often commingled with lack of self-control, poor memory, anxiety, depression, mood swings, employment issues, chronic lateness, and difficulties regulating motivation, emotions and arousal. Like their child counterparts, these behaviors cause an inability to function in every day activities, which can especially cause a problem in employment situations.
Adults that have grown up being undiagnosed as having ADD often suffer from low self-esteem and feel like they are stupid, lazy, or even crazy. Diagnosing them as adults may lay to rest lifelong perception issues they may have had with themselves and may allow them to improve on self-esteem, as well as work skills and performance. It is believed that these reasons could actually be the basis for the depression and other psychological issues they have as adults.
Treatment for adults often includes medication, education, behavior skill building to better cope with their disorder, and counselling. Stimulant medication, as with children, may be the first stage in treatment. However, this is not a cure and should be coupled with behavior modification to reach full potential. Counseling may very well be an important aspect of treatment, as ongoing psychologically issues have been present. Likewise, just being diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder may cause reason to seek counseling in order to come to terms with the diagnosis.
The important thing for an adult to remember when they have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder is that there is help available and treatment is easily attainable. They should find comfort in understanding the root of their behavior and actions and knowing help is available.
Sarah is an acclaimed writer on medical matters, and has written extensively on the subjects of Attention Deficit Disorder, Bird Flu and Cohn’s Disease.
For more of her articles, go to http://www.imedicalvillage.com now.
I am working on a presentation about ADD/ADHD and I need some personal feedback. What do YOU think about this ADD/ADHD phenomenon? Do you think it’s over-diagnosed? Do you think it even exists? Are you diagnosed with it? Can you tell me about some of your struggle?
Any opinion about Attention Deficit Disorder/Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
I have a chronic attention deficit problem. I cannot concentrate for more than a few seconds. I cannot remember what I did a few hours ago. Today I day dreamed through my train station and ended up further than I intended to go. If I drive somewhere I cannot remember how I got there. I forget everything. I walk out of meetings and I cannot remember what was said. It’s beginning to seriously impede my career. Is there anything that can be done about this?