November 19, 2005

The Best Wealth is Your Health

Attention Deficit Disorder: What’s happening to our children?

By Dr. Beatrice Tapia, DC
Special to the Times

Attention Deficit Disorder or Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder is the fastest growing diagnosis given to children and adolescents in the United States.

We’ve all heard of it; the “problem-child” label placed on children who display symptoms of having difficulties learning or paying attention, or who may be judged as being overactive with behavioral problems. Parents and teachers perceive these children as unmanageable or hard to control.

ADD over-diagnosed
Why is this diagnosis becoming so common among children? What may be happening in a child’s mind/body to cause them to be affixed with this label? First of all, many kids diagnosed with ADD/ADHD are not actually learning disabled or hyperactive.

ADD/ADHD is sometimes diagnosed based on a five-minute interview with the parent and a quick rating sheet from a rushed doctor. Over-diagnosis is a huge problem. Many of these children have no disorder at all; they are simply healthy, highly active, exuberant, strong-willed kids who can be very irritating to teachers trying to teach within a rigid system.

Giving Children Labels
Children are naturally active, exuberant, easily distracted and, at times, very uncooperative. Unfortunately, this society does not understand and honor the truly amazing exuberance of a remarkable child.

Our public schools are not designed to embrace these qualities in children. Nor do they honor a child’s unique learning style and developmental readiness.

Usually, when children are allowed to develop their own natural, innate learning abilities to the full extent in an unconstrained environment and know that their parents and teachers believe them to be capable, they will excel.

I don’t want to minimize what is happening with children who really do have a problem. I just want to point out that there are children being diagnosed with ADD/ADHD that are perfectly fine, but misunderstood.

However, symptoms of ADD/ADHD are definitely real in some children. Many parents are at their wits end with trying to find help for their children who really are “out of control.” Some children do have serious learning and behavior problems that need to be addressed. However, placing a label on them, telling them they have a brain disorder and giving them dangerous drugs is harming rather than helping them. What does this do to a child’s self-image and respect for his or herself? As in any health problem, the root cause needs to be addressed first for healing to take place.

Known or suspected causes
What causes ADD/ADHD? There are many known or suspected causes, including exposure to toxins, alcohol or drugs before birth, poor nutrition, chemical or food allergies, toxins in the environment, metal toxicity and yeast overgrowth.

Are drugs the answer?
The high numbers of children being prescribed mind-altering stimulant drugs are staggering. These drugs, including Ritalin and Dexedrine, don’t help a child to learn better; they just calm them down.

With drugs, children become more compliant and easier to control, but suffer from serious side effects. These side effects include nausea, stomach aches, headaches, facial tics, insomnia and depression, loss of appetite and weight loss. Children on Ritalin can become robotic, spacey, listless, anxious and emotionless.

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, there has been a 1,000 percent increase in drug abuse injury reports involving Ritalin for children in the 10 – 14 year age group. The DEA classifies Ritalin and Dexedrine as Schedule II drugs, along with opium and morphine, both addictive drugs.

Children without prescriptions are buying or stealing these drugs from children who have prescriptions. More importantly, it is a tragedy for children to believe that something is wrong with their brain and that a pill is the only thing to make them “normal” and be able to control themselves or function properly.

This way of thinking strips children of all power and ability to make their own decisions and think for themselves. Another problem with drugs is that they do not address the cause of the problem; therefore it continues and even gets worse, due to more toxic assault on the body.

Why does the medical industry continue to prescribe these dangerous drugs to children? Why do parents accept these prescriptions? One answer may have to do with big profits.

There are huge profits for pharmaceutical companies in the drugs themselves and making this into something that needs a medical diagnosis provides more business for doctors. Understandably, parents want desperately to see their child functioning well and welcome the drugs as an easy answer.

Another answer is simply that the drugs do calm children down. However, in using these drugs, there is too big a price to the child’s physical health and mental state.

Alternatives to drugs
Centering and grounding. Fortunately, there are alternatives to dangerous drugs that do not simply mask the symptoms, but actually get to the cause of the problem and allow a child to be vitally healthy. They say the key to recovery is centering and grounding, which is lacking in children diagnosed with ADD/ADHD.

The tools and techniques that they use to promote centering and grounding include breathing exercises, balancing the brain with music and poetry, eye focusing, and working with root points and acupressure techniques to rebalance and calm a child’s energy.

Brain Gym/Edu-Kinesiology. This was developed for children with learning disabilities by Dr. Paul Dennison, Ph.D., a learning specialist. Brain Gym/Edu-K balances and integrates the whole brain using simple and enjoyable movements and exercises. It helps children to focus and center, empowering them to use their brain more effectively. It has been endorsed by the National Learning Foundation.

Diet and nutrition. This is a huge part of the problem and solution. Children have specific and complex nutritional needs that are not met with the standard American diet. It is absolutely essential to take a look at what a child is eating.

As Sandra Hills, N.D. and Pat Wyman, M.A., the authors of “What’s Food Got To Do With It?,” point out “health and your child’s wellness mean much more than having a child who can remain quiet long enough so the adults in his or her life can get something done.”

They go on to say that “learning requires optimal health and brain function; if a child is eating the wrong foods or those foods which are deficient in the proper nutrients, his or her ability to learn will be compromised.” There is no question that food affects behavior, memory and learning ability. Diet and nutrition may be the cause and the remedy of a learning disability or ADD/ADHD.

A typical child’s diet contains large amounts of packaged foods with unnecessary, harmful ingredients. These over-processed foods are vitamin and mineral deficient and full of pesticides. If you shop in a typical grocery store, 85 to 90 percent of foods you buy are refined and processed.

Our soils are depleted of essential minerals. In addition, freezing, frying and overcooking minimize the vitamin content. Too many children begin their school day with sugary donuts or other sweets and continue to eat them throughout the day. Sugar can affect a child’s ability to pay attention and can cause them to be overactive and irritable.

From 1979 to 1983, 1 million school children in New York City were involved in a study based on the Feingold diet. During this four-year period, the schools eliminated artificial colors, flavors and preservatives and reduced the amount of sugar in the cafeterias’ food. This resulted in a 41 percent increase in national test scores. For more information on the Feingold Diet, contact the Feingold Association at http://www.feingold.org.

Sugar can be a contributor to learning disabilities and hyperactivity, as well as a destroyer of general health and immunity. It literally robs the body of important vitamins and minerals, particularly the B vitamins, which are needed for thinking, coordination and memory.

A child’s blood sugar will drop about 20 minutes after eating sugar, leading to a lack of oxygen to the brain. This can cause forgetfulness and affect ability to concentrate. Sugar increases adrenaline levels, which can also interfere with learning as well as increase anxiety and irritability. Sugar can be an addiction as severe as any other drug addiction. Many children are addicted to sugar, eating it regularly instead of the important nutritious foods their bodies and minds need to function well.

A poor ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3 has also been found. Omega 3 is important for brain development, and treatment with Omega 3s like EPA and DHA is being used as part of a treatment plan for ADD/ADHD. It’s also being used to help treat mild depression, rheumatoid arthritis and other disorders.

One of the most important factors in the solution of ADD/ADHD is optimal intake and absorption. Many children are deficient in important minerals, fatty acids and enzymes, which are essential for proper body and brain functioning.

One or more of these deficiencies are usually found in children classified as learning disabled, and supplementation may be necessary. Be certain you are getting a high quality supplement since some contain sugar, food colorings or other fillers. They should be in the appropriate ratios and toxins removed. Pancreatic enzymes, Omega 3s and Lecithin have been found to be common deficiencies in ADD/ADHD patients.

Concentration and memory are specifically connected to levels of certain neurotransmitters in the brain. Too many or too few neurotransmitters will cause over or under reactions, such as acting out, feeling depressed or hyperactivity.

Amino acids are precursors to neurotransmitters. They are necessary for the brain to receive and send messages. If the diet contains inadequate amounts of the essential amino acids, physical symptoms will appear. Brain cells must be fed constantly with amino acids, vitamins, minerals, oxygen and fatty acids. Amino acids boost brainpower and mental clarity and enhance memory and concentration.  

Allergies and environmental illness
Many kids who are considered to have a learning disability, hyperactivity or problems with paying attention are actually suffering from food or environmental allergies, which can cause abnormal learning patterns and symptoms.

Some of the signs to look for in detecting allergies are red cheeks, red ears, eye circles, puffy eyes, eye wrinkles, bloated belly, rubbing nose and mottled tongue. It takes some detective work to find the specific cause or causes of a child’s problem.

Cow’s milk is one of the biggest culprits of allergies in children. It may be a good idea to remove all milk products for at least a month and watch for signs of improvement. Other foods that can cause allergies are wheat, corn, soy, eggs, citrus and peanuts.

Molds, dust and chemicals used for cleaning, perfumes, pesticides and other toxics may be the cause of your child’s problem. Environmentally sick schools or homes can cause a child to become very sick and display symptoms of ADD/ADHD.

Doris J. Rapp, M.D., a leading specialist in environmental medicine and founder of the Practical Allergy Research Foundation, has a wealth of information on the causes and solutions to environmental illness on her website and through the Foundation.

Additional things to look out for are chocolate; nitrates found in hot dogs, bacon and luncheon meats; MSG; caffeine; artificial colors and preservatives and any foods with hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils. Read the labels on almost all packaged foods and you will find some of or all of these ingredients listed.

Aluminum toxicity may play a role in learning problems. Aluminum toxicity can come from drinking from aluminum cans, water with high aluminum content, eating foods with pesticides and additives in the soil, deodorants containing aluminum and heavy pollution.

Arsenic, mercury, cadmium and lead are other toxic metals. Even low-level lead exposure impairs children’s intelligence. Lead is present in certain paints, enamels, glass, ink printing materials, lead crystal, crayons and some drinking water.

Even if the water itself does not contain lead, it still may be leached into the water from lead plumbing, so it is important to check the water at your child’s school and your home. You can purchase a lead test kit for the paint in your home. There is a blood test available to test the level of lead in your child’s bloodstream.

The long-term effects of lead poisoning include learning disabilities, decreased growth, brain damage and even death in children. In children with elevated blood levels of lead, symptoms include stomachaches, loss of appetite, decreased interest in play and excessive activity, fussiness or irritability.

Yeast overgrowth
An overgrowth of yeast in the body may be a contributing factor of learning disabilities, attention deficit and hyperactivity in some children. Yeast overgrowth can occur when repeated doses of antibiotics are given to children.
Antibiotics weaken the immune system by destroying the beneficial bacteria, allowing yeast to grow rapidly. For more information, go to: http://www.healthychild.com/database/consequences_of_excessive_antibiotic_use.htm.

Yeast feeds on sugar so an overgrowth can be suspected in a sugar-addicted child. William Crook, M.D., writes about this in his books “The Yeast Connection,” “The Yeast Connection Handbook” and his booklet “Hyperactivity and the Attention Deficit Disorder.” Getting the yeast under control may be a major step in recovering from ADD/ADHD.

Chiropractic
Joan Fallon, a chiropractor practicing in New York, was recently awarded a patent for biomarkers that document the need for pancreatic enzymes. Pancreatic enzymes are one of the key deficiencies found in many people with pervasive disorders such as ADD / ADHD and autism.

Chiropractor Robert DeMaria recently published a highly recommended book “Dr. Bob’s Guide to Stop ADHD in 18 days.”

Evergreen-based chiropractor Bea Tapia has specific training in treating ADHD patients, and many of her patients have been able to discontinue medication due to this program. If you would like to learn more about the latest drug-free alternatives for this condition, contact Tapia at (408) 532-1130 for more information or to receive a free report. Her office is located on 2690 S. White Road.