I have been researching herbal remedies for adhd and have no way to decipher which products are truly effectiv

Question

I will not put my young boys on meds. Can anyone please let me know of their own experiences with herbal remedies positive and negative? How do you learn which companies are reputable? Serious replies only.

Answer 1

Please pay a visit to a naturopath. They will use kinesiology to determine which herbal therapies will help bring your child back into balance. You can check at your local health food store to see if there is one they recommend. If not, listed below is a web site for graduates of Trinity College of Natural Health. I have worked with several of their graduates and found them to be knowledgeable, caring individuals. The second link is to graduates of Clayton College of Natural Health.

Consulting a naturopath will save you time and money -- you won't be spending either on trial and error. Please feel free to email me with any questions

Answer 2

The main thing to keep in mind is that just like with "traditional medicine" the same thing does not work for every person. If you were working with an MD looking for the right med, you would have a variety of meds to choose from and then would work to find the correct dosage. You cannot realistically expect anything different when looking at a natural cure.
Here are a couple of suggestions:
Keep a food diary and note any drastic behavioral differences accordingly. Sometimes a food sensitivity can produce adhd-like symptoms. The Feingold diet is something to consider. My daughter goes nuts when she has anything with red 40 in it (food dye)...just an example.
Magnesium is often deficient in people with any type of mood disorder and/or impulse control disorder.
There are some great online support groups for parents of kids that are adhd, including some that prefer natural remedies instead of stimulants, etc.
There are also some homeopathic blends that may possibly help. Hyland's has one called "Calms Forte" that may help.
Lastly, if your children have opposite responses to most things, even a little bit of coffee may help with short term focus.

Answer 3

My suggestion would be to first determine what is causing anxiety-life stress, interpersonal troubles, housing market crash, or a physical ailment? Either way, I know from experience that chamomile tea works as a herbal remedy. Also, I would try a supplement called GABA (gammabutyric acid) available over the counter at any local drug store or pharmacy. This has a neurotransmitter calming effect. Perhaps also, if older, say over 40, melatonin supplements will help quell anxiety and give a good sleep, if taken before bedtime. But of course, exercise probably is the simplest and best remedy. Hope this helps.

Answer 4

To decipher which remedies are truly what is on the bottle Get a copy of Comparitive Guide to Children's Nutritionals by Lyle MacWilliam it tested over 500 nutritional supplements! Or I will scan to you the top ten supplements guide for children nutritionals. I can also e-mail you a specific recommendation by Dr.Strand for children with ADHD. The company I recommend is Usana. It manufactures ALL of its products to Pharmecutical grade NOT food grade like almost every other supplement and it ranks right at the top in the guide, which by the way, is a totally indepent 3rd party research group. Check out my website and you can contact me from there

Answer 5

Welcome to the club. I've attended about 180 lectures in the past 16 years on the subject of ADHD. Most psychologists and psychiatrists claim that all of the parents do not want to medicate their kids. CHADD may have something on the subject of alternative remedies these days (4th source below).

I have found help with the use of a generic of Focus Factor, called FocusSmart by YourLife, purchased at Costco. I am an adult with ADHD. My ADHD children are grown now, but haven't tried it. UC Berkeley has interesting information on Focus Factor. The Focus Factor has a list of herbals, vitamins and other supplements that they consider helpful for keeping one's brain focused (2nd source). They are also rather expensive. I have seen some other similar products at drug stores in the vitamin & supplement section.

In reality, our ADHD brains don't produce enough of certain neurochemicals. We can't take neurochemicals, but we can take psychostimulants, Medications, to increase the production of the neurochemicals. That is why most doctors recommend meds. Compared to other meds, stimulants are best to help an ADHD child/adult stay on task, focused. Other medications can come close, but stimulants have been proven, in controlled, double blind, scientific studies to be the most effective.

Now, before you run out and spend alot of money. The best thing a parent can do first is get the child on a balanced diet. The National Institute of Mental Health was keen on the idea that removing artifical colors, flavors, presertives, etc. and a balanced diet would overcome the whole ADHD issue. I believe it was done in the 1980s. It was a double blind study, using ADHD and non-ADHD children. The study showed good nutrition improved the performance of children in both groups. Some children with mild ADHD may not need anything more than a balanced diet. While others may need some behavior modifacation too. Those that had stronger ADHD could not control their symptoms with diet alone. Maybe these new focus supplements may help some of these children to the point where they don't need meds. But, I would never recommend taking any supplements with meds without a doctors permission and careful monitoring of the patient. My doctor told me that vitamins are OK with meds as long as I didn't give my child mega-doses of vitamins.

Scientific studies are so expensive that, it seems, the only way to recoup the financial loss is if you have a copyright on the product. No one can get a copyright for herbals, so scientific studies have not been done to prove the safety and effectiveness of them. Clinical studies are anticdotal, "patients that come to my clinic have taken ____ and have had improvement". The improvement could be a placebo effect. There have not been enough people in the study to prove it is safe for everyone, to say nothing of your children.

In short, buyer beware. Methylphenidate (Ritalin, Concerta) has been used safely by children since the 1950s, maybe longer. It has been proven over and over in many scientific studies, to be safer than almost all over the counter medications (Cough syrups, etc.). That was a claim that I thought was a bit overstating but apparently it is true. At one time, it had had more scientific studies done on it than any medication ever created. I think that something may have had more in recent years.

Behavior modification is extremely important. It may take considerable effort at times but the rewards are great (your sanity). Good luck with the education system.

Answer 6

One way to do it is to learn about making herbal remedies yourself. I've been learning, and it really isn't all that difficult if you just take it a step at a time. Then you'll know which products are effective just by reading the ingredients, or you can just make something yourself. There are a lot of products out there that market themselves as "herbal", when in fact they only have traces of herbs in them.

Short of that, I'd have to agree with Ohio Healer--take your kids to a naturopath. Or ever better, do both.

Answer 7

I don't have any information on herbal remedies, per se.

However, you may want to look into dietary changes for your sons. I've discovered this year that I'm sensitive to MSG and have done extensive research on the topic. You may not think you're feeding your children MSG, but I can almost guarantee they are consuming free glutamate (the business end of MSG). It's in virtually every processed food, every fast food, almost every frozen, canned, seasoned, etc. meal, but it goes under about 40 different names ("natural flavorings", "soy protein isolate", "yeast extract", "malted barley", even soy sauce). That, along with its cousin, the artificial sweetener aspartame (Nutrasweet) can cause ADHD symptoms. A more natural, from-scratch diet may help, and isn't as difficult as it may sound at first. Good references are http://www.truthinlabeling.org , http://www.msgtruth.org , http://www.msgmyth.com

Also, if they've got any digestive issues, family history of GI issues, diabetes or autoimmune problems, it's worth having them tested for Celiac Disease or doing a gluten-free diet, since the ADHD can actually be the result of CD, which is treatable through diet alone. Best if diagnosed as young as possible! http://www.celiac.com would be the place for that information, although i believe there is also a site especially for children with celiac somewhere... Oh, here it is; http://www.celiackids.com

Hope that helps!

Answer 8

Did your boys get lots of crawling time when they were tots or were they always in swings, walkers, and such? They are discovering that ADHD does not exist in countries where kids actually get floor time. There are studies. The NPR program, "New Dimensions", had such a one. You might be able to find it in their archives at www.npr.org.

Floor time has to do with the brain wiring. Exploring, learning how to move, etc. You might want to find that program. Kids as old as 14 were being helped with therapy.

As for learning what works, be sure you also look at the diet your kids are getting. High carb diets will give them a sugar rush followed by lethargy. Protein stays with you for a longer period and gives you a steady flow of energy. Try feeding them hamburgers for breakfast and see if it helps.

Answer 9

Magnets worked in one small study (Magnet Therapy - Dr Lawrence and Dr Rosch); Pycnogenol was helpful to some (Miracle Cures - Jean Carper); See Prescription For Natural Cures - Balch & Stengler, and Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine - Murray & Pizzorno, for expert info and discussion with suggestions.
Good luck and God bless!

Answer 10

No herbal remedy works effectively. Ritalin is a wonderful drug and has been around forever and helped 10s of thousands of kids and adults. I don't mean to be rude, but weather or not your kids need to be medicated is not about you, but giving them a more quality life.