What is the best non prescribed medication for a child with ADD to take?

Question

My sister really doesn't want to put her son on anything that is doctor prescribed due to side affects. Is there anything natural that really works? His ADD is mainly not being able to focus, he isn't running or bouncing off the walls at all. Thanks for all your replies.

We have spoke with doctors and they are all way to eager to shove a med. down his throat. What's wrong with a natural way:)

Answer 1

For some children a natural product called lecithin works wonders, and it's not only harmless, it's beneficial in a lot of ways. Try it for a couple of weeks; if it doesn't work you've only lost a very few dollars. It's available at health food stores.

I would also suggest a diet free of sugar and artificial sweeteners, artificial colors and flavors, and any other added chemicals like MSG. There is no scientific proof that it works, but a lot of families have found that it does, I used to get my daughter the ice cream/candy/pop she begged for just before we got on the bus after shopping. That way she would be home before the temper tantrum hit! Finally I got smart and said no to all the junk she wanted and gave her lecithin, and the improvement was amazing.

Answer 2

A.D.D and A.D.H.D are very serious stuff. I would not try anything without speaking to a doctor. Because it deals with the mind even the doctors will tell you it is trial and error. At the same time, hit the right medication and amount and it can work miracles.

My son has A.D.H.D and in earlier grades fought for Cs and Bs occasionally also with the occasional D and that was typically with 2 hours of homework help a night from me (his dad). The teachers suggested he be tested in 6th grade near the end of the year. Came back diagnosed with A.D.H.D. and got on medication his is Medidate and once we worked out the correct amount it was a complete 180 degree turn. Now he is an A/B student and I don't have to help him at all.

Ridiline is the main medicine but others that are derivitivs of Ridiline as I understand, are Adderal and Medidate. And I've heard good things about the second two.

But whatever you do speak with a doctor. Do not just guess at this stuff. It's too important to get it right.

Answer 3

All the people who have answered this are correct, so let me sum it up and add one piece of new information.

1. Get tested by a reputable licensed psychologist. They have the appropriate training to separate ADHD from the many other causes for attention problems.
2. Exercise and a healthy diet are always good options.
3. Don't rush to medications. Teach him to focus by having him practice paying attention, time him, and have him work to beat the time, etc.
4. Many ADHD children have found that coffee or energy drinks help. It is the caffeine in these drinks that helps. For some reason, stimulants tend to have the opposite effect on these children.
4. (Here's my idea). Don't rush to the herbal remedies either. Many of these do not have to undergo the strict testing that prescriptions do. Even though we may hate giving medicines to a child, we must also remember that not everything "natural" is necessarily healthy. (Remember arsenic, cyanide, hemlock?)
5. Researchers have begun to isolate specific genes and target specific areas of the brain which are affected by this disease. It is fascinating research proving that ADHD (when properly diagnosed) is not just an imaginary disorder, but is very real, like diabetes or high blood pressure.
6. There are newer medications that are not stimulants (Strattera is one) that seem to work especially well with the inattentive types of ADHD. These are not addictive and one can't get high from them.

Bottom line: See a psychologist who can work in conjunction with your doctor to achieve the best results for your particular child because each case is very different.

Answer 4

First, we need to figure out if the child really actually has ADD, or if the little fella is just being a kid cooped up in a school for seven hours, five days a week, then goes home to be cooped up and not fed, bathed, loved and then we need to find out if he does go home to be fed, bathed and loved, but just has a very vivid imagination. I remember my little brother, 20 years ago, was so darn weird. He was always hyper, silly and even had certain words like dee and bobby that he would say just to laugh so hard about. He got in trouble at school and at home. I am student teaching right now and will graduate with a Bachelors in Elementary Education and have had a lot of experience with kids with LD and BD, and I can see my brother in a lot of those kids. Except-these kids are taking powerful drugs, and for what? They love to laugh and run and hate to sit still. I am so glad my mom never made a big deal about my brother, who is still silly, but present day would have been diagnosed with ADD! I am certainly not saying that every child diagnosed is misdiagnosed, I am just saying that I believe that Americans are too worried about being the fastest, the smartest, the richest, and the coolest. We work around the clock when the clock should work around us. Anyways, we need to stop.......sit down............and figure out a way to make our lives, our children, our schools, our markets, our laws, our medicines, etc. successful. Because I have news for everyone, you think that is what we are doing after we get the prescriptions, the verdicts, and the groceries; but what is really going on is NOTHING! The drugs don't work, the kids aren't learning, the food makes us sick, the sex offenders are walking the streets. Ultimately, just allow your nephew to be a kid. I heard Mountain Dew helps which isn't natural. Maybe these kids haven't had the wool pulled over their eyes and are the only ones who really know what the hell the world is like and it just freaks them out.

Answer 5

There's a lot of good advice here; Nobadkids had a lot of wise thoughts. Americans tend to be pill-chasers; we want a magic bullet to cure everything. Sadly, a lot of parents of kids diagnosed with ADD or ADHD will seek out "alternatives" (and there are a huge number of websites out there promising miracles) that are basically useless - including homeopathy, which is a pseudoscience.

Bottom line: there is probably no effective alternative medication available for this diagnosis. However, as an educator and, later, a mental health professional, I have seen a lot over the years. Some kids find that medication enables them to focus and succeed for the first time in their lives. Others are unhappy because they don't like the personality change, or feel their creativity has been stifled.

One last thought: studies claim over and over that diet has no effect on ADHD. Personal experience attests that it can be effective in some cases. A child in my foster care was fine until he ate sugar in any form (including high fructose corn syrup) or artificial colorings. It will cost your sister nothing to experiment in this area.

Answer 6

I think you guys are right to question the medication thing. Doctors are too quick to pass out pills.
I agree with a lot of what Sasha said. I think kids don't get to run around and "spend" the energy they are given.
I think that High Fructose Corn Syrup is to blame for a lot of stuff. Like depression and such... I think that a dietary change, and if he's not getting outside in the fresh air... a habit/hobby change may be due.
Kids need dirt, they need to touch the earth, get dirty, know nature. To explore, and wonder. Wonder - as in be amazed at all things natural. There's something calming about getting out with the birds and the frogs...the water, the sky, and the trees.
I also think that kids these days play too many video games, and the fast paced action, of these and cartoons, make them need this stimulation in real life too. Also, the need to be entertained.... they need to be imaginative - by themselves. They need to learn about the real world, how it works, how to behave and fit (age appropriately) into society -- without being medicated out of their mind... If more kids had these things, I think the majority of them could be taken off meds.
Good luck with whatever you choose.

Answer 7

As I understand it, the concept behind the prescription medications is that they basically speed up the child's system so much that they are forced to focus. In my mind, that basically makes Ritalin, et al "kiddie cocaine" or "kiddie crystal meth". I don't nesseccarily (sp?) buy into that concept, but if you do then good, old-fashioned Vitamin B supplements could provide some help.

I know you've probably already told her this, and have heard it a million times yourself, but if she hasn't already done so she needs to get a second opinion. Too many educators and doctors today are too ready to lable a kid as being "ADD" when they aren't. My wife and I fought this happening to our son. We finally got him tested by a Special Ed. teacher in our school district and it turned out he wasn't really "ADD" after all. He was gifted and therefore bored out of his mind. If you think about it, it really is hard as heck to focus on stuff that bores you to tears. So maybe he's not ADD, just too smart to fit into some pre-fab. mold. In either case, good luck to you and your sister.

Answer 8

There aren't any certain treatments for Asperger's, google for community help communities and study coping treatments you want to have interplay her in something she is attracted to which could actually help plenty. do not flow pushing her into activities and assembly friends questioning it is going to do a touch good for her, enable her choose for herself what she needs/desires. ETA And what Rhianna stated. i'm not conscious of any drug treatments even with the undeniable fact that. yet Rhianna is extra up therefore far than i'm. There are some fields the position the amorality and absence of empathy are functional, so do not worry about time spent pulling stuff aside and tinkering, or drawing obsessively or perhaps with strikes her interest. through all debts i could spend hours dismantling previous radios (it is contained in the days of valves and HV transformers) pull them aside, lay each little thing out on the floor and placed them back mutually back, amazingly i did not deal with to kill myself. EETA No, eating water can not help. " I have friends who've consulted including her and they couldn't be happier with the outcomes." That I DO trust even with the undeniable fact that. EEETA I have ASD myself so that you'll take or leave advice as you want, there'll be something she is attracted to. interact that. obviously then you definitely flow from upload to OCD lol. hopefully the OCD will be extremely danger free and may be even functional.

Answer 9

Prescription for Natural Cures - Balch & Stengler gives:
Essential Fatty Acids (esp. DHA)
Phosphstidylserine
Calcium-magnesium complex
Pyridoxine.
Some people have gotten help from magnets and from pycnogenol.
Monavie juice helps calm some kids down.

Answer 10

Some people think that food additives/processed foods aggravate ADHD symptoms. She could look into dietary changes.

Also fish is supposed to help because of the Omega-3 fatty acids that help with brain function.