ADHD and Natural Care
The first issue to deal with is the occurrence of ADHD (Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder). There are numerous children given this diagnosis in our society. One study showed that 1 in 20 children in North America are diagnosed with ADHD while one in 2000 is in Great Britain. Are our kids that much worse than kids in Great Britain, I don’t think so. The European tendency is to give more weight to social causes and a reluctance to rely on medication.
The International Narcotics Control Board found numerous regions in North America where up to 20% of all students were diagnosed with ADHD and were on Ritalin or other psychotropic drugs. They also documented that 80% of these were in boys.
A study done at McGill University showed that 75% of the children diagnosed with ADHD were tested by laypeople and not by health care professionals. Then they informed the doctors and asked that the children to be placed on Ritalin or other psychotropic drugs. This in itself should be alarming.
How many children right now are on these drugs in our community needlessly? How many are potentially in harms way?
Are many of the children normal-developing children that parents and teachers just cannot keep up with? Are we drugging these children because we can’t move at their pace? Possibly, we are slowing down their brains with drugs, just so we can keep up.
ADHD is changing our lexicon of childhood. Where once boys were rambunctious, now they are hyperactive. Day-dreamers now suffer from inattention. The over-eager student who blurts out answers lacks proper self-control.
For the much smaller number of children that realistically suffer from ADHD there are natural methods to look at that may solve many problems.
Many children have food or environmental allergies that parents are not aware of. Apart from the changed behaviour, there are commonly other symptoms associated with it; sinus congestion, headaches, asthma, frequent colds, constipation, etc. Referral for testing needs to be a part of care for these children.
Commonly these children have had some type of early life trauma to their spine that has created subluxations. This blocks off nerve supply from the brain to the body so as decrease vital communication for proper body function and activity. All children need to have a spinal exam for knowledge of nerve function.
Many times, it is simply the fact that parents and teachers have to realize that some children need more attention than other children for proper learning and that these children have no abnormality in how they do function. With increased pressure on teachers these days, increased class sizes, and decreasing budgets this task no doubt becomes harder. Still it is important that we don’t jump to drugs for the answer, because you may be doing more harm than good.