Try some of these
Every kid wants to feel happy and enjoy their day, so if they’re constantly out of sorts, there is sure to be a good reason for it. With most ADHD kids, their ADHD is not ‘them’. If there is no obvious reason why a child is hyperactive, can’t learn, continually misbehaves with all the best management techniques not helping, there is almost certainly an underlying metabolic or physiological reason for their symptoms. Because there is no blood or lab test that can diagnose ADHD, it is a most frustrating condition to live with and treat.
When kids with ADD, ADHD, ODD (the Alphabet Kids) receive specific, personalised internal treatment, they are often able to settle down, begin to learn, interact with their family and enjoy life more. The trick is finding the underlying cause of the array of symptoms, for which there is some testing that can be done.
Healthy Diet
Diet is sometimes all that’s needed – take out sugar, processed foods and additives from the diet and you have a different child. Just adjusting food can make a huge difference. You’ll know this when you have a child who is a devil on sugar and an angel off it
Salicylates
Some ADHD kids respond well to a low salicylate diet. The low salicylate diet was developed in the 1970s, when Doctor Feingold from the US developed the Feingold Diet which has helped a lot of children slow down and start learning. The website has charts of foods with low to high salicylate in them.
It would be great if ADHD treatment was as simple as making dietary changes. But for some kids, the best low sugar, low additive, organic and fabulous diet makes absolutely no difference. There is another reason for their ADHD, which has to be found to get the desired result of a calmer child able to learn, socialise, respond to discipline and enjoy life.
Mineral Testing
Mineral analysis, where an in-clinic scan is done or sample of hair is sent to a lab, reveals the nutritional status of essential minerals and if there is an imbalance of copper and zinc. Children who have ADHD often have extra-high levels of copper. High copper levels can even influence hair colour; have you noticed how many ADHD kids have red hair? One documentary I saw there were five kids on a special behavioural programme for ADHD and four of them were redheads!
High copper levels are usually caused by a metabolic problem known as Pyrrole disorder, or kryptopyroluria which can be tested for via an integrative GP or naturopathic practitioner.
Lowering copper levels often has a really positive impact on kids. It can be quite a sobering moment when you realise that all ‘that behaviour’ is actually your child dealing with a mineral imbalance. With good nutritional treatment, it can be done.
The Science
There’s science behind the notion of high copper levels and hyperactivity. The Pfeiffer Medical Centre has a long history of treating mineral imbalances for mental health issues in children and adults.
Mineral imbalances that cause behaviour disorders were researched by physician and biochemist Doctor Carl Pfeiffer (1908-1988), who was involved with the development of orthomolecular psychiatry, which uses nutritional supplements in large doses to treat mental illness. He ran the Pfeiffer Treatment Center in Illinois and conducted a 12-year study which led to him classifying behavioural disorders into four categories based on trace mineral patterns. Two of Dr Pfeiffer’s publications are: Nutrition and Mental Illness: An Orthomolecular Approach to Balancing Body Chemistry (1988), and Mental and Elemental Nutrients: A Physician’s Guide to Nutrition and Health Care (1976).
Nutritionists, naturopaths and integrative doctors all over the world now use the Pfeiffer Protocol to treat children with ADHD and other mental challenges.
There are two successfully treated cases of high copper in unmanageable children in Good News for People with Bad News – one of them diagnosed with ADHD, the other not. These kids were in an undiagnosed wilderness for years, until they had treatment addressed to the cause of their behaviour.
