Many of the ideas expressed in “3 Steps To Conquering ADD” fly in the face of our current medical solution for ADD ADHD.

While many countries have become more progressive (like Australia) the USA is still very entrenched in the “drug only” approach to ADD ADHD.

Dr. Mary Ann Block is surely an Ally in the War against ADD ADHD misdiagnosis and miss-treatment.

She sums up the situation nicely.

Enjoy  :-)

Jon

ps – please leave your comments below

It seems that the world is about to become a much more mentally unstable place! All that it will take is the publication of a revision of a very important book: The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).

This publication is the ‘Bible of Psychiatry’ as it describes all the mental disorders known to man (and then some!). It is therefore the first thing that a psychiatrist will reach for when attempting to make a diagnosis.

The proposed new edition of the DSM is attracting widespread criticism as it is felt that the psychiatrists working on it must suffer from a disorder off their own namely “Over Definition Addiction”!

Many things that were previously just seen as being part of the scale of normal human behavior are described as disorders in the manual. Whatever you are struggling with, it seems that the new DSM will have a label for you:

•    Rudeness – Antisocial Behavior Disorder
•    Temper Tantrums – Temper Dysregulation with Dysphoria
•    Overeating – Binge Eating Disorder
•    Rebelliousness – Oppositional Defiant Disorder
•    Promiscuousness – Hypersexual Disorder
•    Attention Seeking – Histrionic Personality Disorder

•    Selfishness – Narcissistic Behavior Disorder

All of this labeling would actually have been extremely funny if it was not so very dangerous. Those of us who have been working in the field of ADD/ADHD for a long time are acutely aware of these dangers and I will therefore be at the forefront of warning people not to be sucked in by this ‘medicalization’ of everyday life.

Allow me to point out a few of the dangers:

Increased levels of psychiatric treatment: I do not think that it is overly cynical to point out that for every new ‘disorder’ that is described, new treatments will also be needed. It is therefore in the best interest of psychologists and psychiatrists to keep inventing new categories of disorders.

The more there are the busier they will be! In labeling everyday challenging behavior in this way mental health professionals make sure that they will be in business for a long time to come!

Blame shifting: It is a well-known fact that taking personal responsibility is a vital first step in achieving lasting behavior modification. This is why an important part of any ‘12 Step Program’ is to admit that you have a problem. If, however, you have a convenient label for your condition you will find it hard to step up to the plate and take personal responsibility for making things better.

People will now be able to say things like: “It’s not that I want to act like a total jerk, my problem is that I have oppositional defiant disorder!” If these revisions are accepted we should all expect a world where more and more people will shift the responsibility for their problems to other people.

This will be a world that will keep lawyers happy (e.g. lawsuits by obese people against fast food companies will have so much more chance of succeeding if they can point to the fact that they have a recognized mental disorder i.e. ’Binge Eating Disorder’!)

Is this really the kind of world we want to live in?

A world in which very few people take responsibility for their actions and in which we will continually be told that we cannot even hope to deal with daily life without some form of treatment.

Increased rates of medication: Perhaps the most serious implication of the proposed DSM revision is the fact that many psychiatrists will choose to treat these ‘conditions’ with drugs. The implications of this for the young generation are simply staggering.

Can we really afford to have an even bigger proportion of people drugged out of their minds simply because of the perception that they suffer from some kind of disorder.

We tinker with the workings of the human brain at our peril and this revision will certainly be interpreted by many in the mental health field as an invitation to tinker on a massive scale.

What are the implications of all of this for people with ADHD? I suspect that we can prepare ourselves for an onslaught of ‘combination diagnoses’. The growing public awareness of the dangers of medicating kids with ADHD (and of the fact that there are alternatives available) means that an increasing number of parents are asking some hard questions before resorting to medication.

This trend obviously makes the drug companies very nervous. My suspicion is that they will try to maintain sky-high prescription rates by encouraging medical professionals not to stop at simple ADHD diagnoses. Coupling the ADHD with something else (e.g. ADHD with ‘Oppositional Defiant Disorder’) make it sound much more serious and therefore beyond the scope of alternative methods to deal with ADHD.

I am quite sure that this is the reason for the increase in double-barrel diagnoses (ADD/ADHD and …). These will obviously only increase once all of the new disorders have been made official.

So what should we do when people want to take away our responsibilities as human beings and put us on medication to ‘make things better’?

I think our response should be the same whenever we are confronted with something dangerous: Just say no! The ‘3 Steps’ will help you to do exactly this.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

PLEASE COMMENT BELOW!

For more information about the DSM Revision Project see:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/10/AR2010021000009.html

“Welcome to the first episode of ADHD Crossfire!  This podcast is meant to tackle the hard-hitting, controversial issues where research and science come head-to-head with real life experience.

In today’s episode, I am joined by best-selling author Jon Bennett.  Jon’s book, ‘3 Steps To Conquering ADD / ADHD: How To Eliminate Your ADD / ADHD With Scientifically Proven Natural Methods’ flies in the face of modern medicine and science, suggesting that medication is NOT the only answer (and should NOT necessarily be the first line of defense).

Pull up a chair, sit down, and join us for a red-hot conversation around ADHD Medications and Substance Abuse.”

Download MP3 HERE —->

Most major drug companies would like us to believe that there is only one possible route that we can take after the diagnosis of ADD/ADHD. This route is the one that always ends in the prescription of powerful drugs with which to ‘manage’ the condition. There is, however, a growing realisation that these drugs are not the miracle cures that parents are so often promised.

Research is pointing to the following very troubling consequences of long term ADD/ADHD drug use:
•    Stunted growth
•    Loss of long term motivation
•    Mood swings (Leading, in very extreme cases, to suicidal thoughts)
•    Substantial risk of abuse and addiction

As if the above were not bad enough it is becoming clear that the effectiveness of these drugs decrease over time.  They are therefore often not much more than temporary ‘band aids’ and do not make any difference to the underlying causes of the condition.  These facts are causing more and more people to ask the question: “Is there not a better way!?” Here at ‘3 Steps ADD’ we have always answered the question with an enthusiastic ‘Yes’. This is, in fact, exactly what the three steps are about: A better, natural, way to cope with and triumph over ADD/ADHD.
Pharmaceutical companies tried very hard over the years to paint those who advocate natural responses to the condition as being part of a lunatic fringe.  This is getting harder and harder to do as modern research is pointing to some real successes with natural approaches. 

The fact that there are a number of treatment options that can produce positive outcomes points to the fact that every person is unique. Different techniques will therefore work for different people. It is also a confirmation of the emerging scientific consensus that ADD/ADHD is not a single unified condition but rather a range of conditions.  It therefore makes perfect sense that different ‘ types’ of ADD/ADHD will have to be treated in different ways.

A major article in a recent issue of US News and World report provides an excellent overview of the different drug-free methods that have proven successful in the management and treatment of ADD/ADHD. This article confirms the philosophy that we have been teaching here at ‘3 Steps ADD’. Many of the methods that are detailed in the article are discussed at length in ‘3 Steps to Conquering ADD-ADHD’ and on this website. They include:

Positive Parenting: ADD/ADHD is a recognised neurological condition. This does not mean, however, that positive behavioural techniques and parental guidance cannot make a difference in addressing the condition. Tried and tested parenting techniques (e.g. setting routines, providing a stimulating and nurturing environment and adapting your interactions with your children according to their personalities) can go some way towards alleviating many of the more challenging aspects of the condition.

Nutrition: I firmly believe that nutrition is one of the most important keys to addressing the growing epidemic of ADD/ADHD. Many are the effects of the condition can be traced back to neurotransmitters in the brain not functioning as they should. Very often this is due to the building blocks needed for these transmitters (i.e. fats, vitamins, minerals etc) not being present in the body. This situation can often be very effectively remedied by following a balanced and carefully worked out anti ADD/ADHD diet.

Sufficient sleep: I have already pointed out in an earlier article that many instances of ADHD misdiagnosis can be traced back to a lack of sleep. Ensuring that a child gets the right amount of sleep appropriate to his/ her developmental stage can therefore be one of the most important things that a parent can do to improve attention.

Exercise: There is growing evidence that aerobic exercise can have a marked positive effect on children’s ability to pay attention. Many people would say that you certainly do not need academic studies to tell you this! Earlier generations were very aware of the positive benefits of physical activity and reaped the benefits in the form of better physical and mental health. In our day and age it is perhaps a bit more difficult to make exercise part of your daily routine but it is a discipline that is certainly well worth pursuing.

Exposure to the natural environment: One of the most interesting and most effective approaches to dealing with ADD/ADHD is to make sure that children are regularly exposed to the natural environment. More research is needed on why this is the case. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that the natural environment is so effective in stimulating the whole range of our senses. The bottom line is perhaps that we all need to realise that time spent outside should be seen as an essential part of growing up.

The approaches listed above should make it clear that there are many options available for the treatment of ADD/ADHD. These options may perhaps not have the endorsement of ‘Big Pharma’ but that is perhaps exactly the point. None of them involve pumping your kids full of dangerous drugs! I am convinced that natural approaches can work, otherwise I would not have invested so much time and energy into ‘3 Steps ADD’. It is for this reason that I am delighted with the growing willingness to challenge the accepted orthodoxy on how the condition is to be managed.

(Please check back next week when I will discuss some of the other natural methods that was mentioned in the US News and World Report Article)

The study conducted by the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (and published in the September issue of the journal Pediatrics) analysed calls by 13- to 19-year-olds to poison control centers between 1998 and 2005. Its findings make for sobering reading to say the least. During the period under review, calls related to teenage ADHD medication increased by 76%. This figure is roughly in line with the staggering increase in prescription rates for these kinds of drugs.  This fact underlines one of the basic problems with the industrial scale medication of a significant proportion of an entire generation.

The basic laws of economics teach us that an increase in the supply of a given product almost inevitably leads to a corresponding increase in demand.  This principle acquires an especially vicious edge when it comes to the abuse of illicit drugs.  Drug dealers create artificial conditions of abundant supply (by supplying free samples) only to then create conditions of scarcity once the addictive properties of the drugs hooked the client. With psycho-stimulant drugs that can be legally bought (at least if you have a prescription) the dynamic is slightly different.  Abundant supply is created by over-prescription which means that increasing numbers of young people who are curious about the effects of narcotics, or who perhaps had previous experience with drug use, will make use of the opportunity to get a ‘legal’ high. At least some of them will be keen to use ADD/ADHD drugs on a regular basis as their drug of choice.  The fact that these drugs can be more or less legally acquired makes them all the more appealing as they are a) easier to get hold of b) cheaper and c) more socially acceptable.

It is a sad situation when something that is supposedly designed to help struggling young people creates the perfect conditions for exposing large numbers of them to dangerous habit forming drugs. The study referenced above confirms that this is not merely a hypothetical danger but that many teenagers are in fact being harmed on a daily basis.  What is even more troubling is that misuse of the most dangerous ADHD/ADD drugs (i.e. those based on amphetamines) are far outstripping rises in prescription rates. This is especially true in the case of Aderall. Anecdotal evidence for the growth in demand for Aderall as one of the drugs of choice on school and college campuses has long been dismissed as hearsay by drug companies. This report shows that these dismissals were nothing more than PR exercises.

Can we really afford to believe the bland reassurances that ADD/ADHD drugs are the best solution for dealing with attention problems in our society?  I believe that simply taking this on good faith is a dangerous position.  We need an honest debate in our society about the effects of drugging so many people over such a long time with such dangerous chemicals.  During this debate close attention will need to be paid to the role of the big drug companies and especially to the huge profits that they are making from their flagship ADD/ADHD products.

No one expects large pharmaceutical companies to be in the business for purely philanthropic reasons.  We all understand that these companies are businesses first and foremost and that they have shareholders to keep happy.  However, most of us would also expect these companies to refrain from chasing after profits at any cost. Especially if this means promoting products that can actively harm some of the most vulnerable members of society. I believe that many companies have crossed this line.

The issues surrounding addiction are but the tip of the iceberg of what I believe to be the harmful societal impact of ADD/ADHD drugs. I will use next week’s article to discuss the reasons why I believe this to be the case.  In the meantime I urge you to tread carefully by refusing to accept the soothing reassurances about the safety and efficacy of these drugs at face value.  Instead, ask probing questions and do some research.  Your findings will surprise and shock you. See you next week!

Last week’s article

Simply put, provenance is about where something is from.  This is important because production standards and methods differ from place to place and country to country. It is common, for example, to see chemicals that have long been banned in North America due to adverse health effects still being used in other parts of the world.  This is a serious issue for people dealing with the effects of ADD/ADHD.  Many of the symptoms of the condition can be traced back to signals in the brain not being transmitted properly.  This is often due to chemical imbalances.  Anything that can contribute to such imbalances should therefore be avoided at all costs.

So how can you get serious about provenance as an ordinary consumer?  I think one of the keys is to stop seeing food shopping as a health-neutral activity, but to rather view it as a valuable investment in the health and well-being of your family. Some suggestions on how you can ensure that every bite that your family put into their mouths is safe include the following:

Grow your own: Most people would recoil at the very idea of growing their own food, but what can be more natural?  If you have a bit of land it would be quite easy to utilise it to grow some basic foodstuffs.  The fact that you are cultivating the food yourself means that you can control to the finest detail what chemicals and pesticides (if any) are used on it.  Growing your own food will also serve as a wonderful lesson to your family about the value of sustainable food production.

Buy locally: Do your best to source as much as possible of your food from your local area.  Buying locally produced food will not only support the local economy, it will also mean that you will eat food that did not have to travel halfway around the world to get to your table.  This means that no chemicals or refrigeration technology were needed to help it along on each part of a long journey.  Getting hold of locally produced food is perhaps not as difficult as you might imagine.  Most large towns and cities play host to farmers markets these days.  This is where local producers get the opportunity to market their products directly to the public. Visitors to the markets are often pleasantly surprised: Both by the pleasant atmosphere and by the reasonable prices.

Go organic: Foods marketed as organic was produced under strict guidelines governing the use of pesticides, chemicals and harmful production methods.  Buying organic produce is therefore an excellent way to reassure yourself about provenance. Increasing demand for organic products means that going organic is certainly not as expensive as it used to be. If price is a significant consideration you should at the very least consider going organic with certain high-risk foods.  A list of foods where the risk of ingesting pesticide residues are the greatest can be found here.

Update your skills: The farm where something was produced is not the only issue when it comes to provenance.  It is sometimes the case that perfectly healthy food is turned into something altogether more sinister in a factory somewhere.  Mass-produced foods often contain very high levels of oil, salt and harmful chemicals.  Weaning yourself from commercially produced foods by learning to prepare your favourites at home will not only benefit your waistline but also quite possibly your brain!

Always read the label: The importation of food from countries with lower environmental standards is a significant health risk.  It is therefore important that you educate yourself about where your favourite foods come from and about the standards that prevail in that location.  One way of doing so is to spend some time on the website of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation. One of the areas that this arm of the United Nations deals with is pesticide management. Their website contains massive amounts of information about environmental standards and pesticide use in different parts of the world.  Familiarising yourself with some of this information will put you in a much better position the next time that you pick up a piece of foreign fresh produce at your local supermarket.

The steps highlighted above do not represent some kind of silver bullet that will instantly deliver perfect health.  Taken together, however, they should at least place you in a much better position to enjoy food in a way that will not exacerbate the symptoms of ADD /ADHD.

Research on this topic is still in its infancy and it is clear that we might be dealing with a kind of chicken and egg situation. In other words: Are children suffering from ADD/ADHD more likely to become addicted to video games; or is it the case that videogames exacerbate the symptoms of ADD/ADHD? This very important question will only be answered by focused research.  What is clear, however, is that parents of children struggling with ADD/ADHD should at the very least actively monitor their children’s involvement with videogames.

The monitoring and perhaps even control of gaming will not go down too well with most dedicated gamers, especially as many of them view their gaming identity as such an important part of who they are. I am convinced, however, that this will in some cases be unavoidable if you have your children’s best interests at heart.  I suspect that the best way to deal with this issue is not to go in with all guns blazing but to rather attempt to have a rational discussion about the content and possible ‘real-life’ consequences of videogames.

I would strongly recommend that you carefully analyze your child’s video gaming before you attempt to have a discussion about it with him or her.  This does not mean that you should follow them around with a clipboard for a number of days but rather that you take an active interest in what they are playing and how often they do so.  Some of the things that you should pay attention to are:

Content: Modern videogames often have highly complex storylines. These storylines (and related activities) can sometimes be highly questionable from an ethical point of view (e.g. Players are rewarded for killing policemen in the Grand Theft Auto series). This is perhaps enough reason for restricting the playing of some games. From the perspective of a parent dealing with ADD/ADHD there are also several other reasons. Many videogames make use of shock tactics, repetitive actions, lighting, music and sound to create heightened levels of attention and awareness. This kind of adrenaline induced ‘hyper-reality’ will often make it very difficult for a gamer to return to the real world and pay attention to rather more mundane things such as chores and schoolwork. Many concerns in the first area (e.g. questionable ethics and morals) will be pointed out by the rating systems used for games. The second set of concerns (i.e. the creation of a stimulating hyper-reality that will spoil a child for the ‘ordinary’) will not be. It is therefore highly advisable that you do your own research into the kinds of games that your child is playing instead of merely relying on the ratings system. If you would not feel comfortable trying out a game for yourself you should, at the very least, read some reviews on the internet.

Time: You may have gotten used to your son’s position in front of the console as his ‘natural habitat’! However, many parents would be shocked by how many hours some children routinely spend playing videogames. This is obviously very worrying from both a health and a social development point of view. The interesting thing is that most gamers would themselves be rather surprised by the amount of time that they spend playing. Keeping an informal tally and discussing it with your child could help clarify the problem when you do get round to a discussion.

Activity displacement: Every hour spent playing is automatically displacing other activities. Could it be that your child’s playing habits is crowding out activities that could be very beneficial in helping him/her deal with the effects of ADD/ADHD? You can attempt to determine whether this is the case by making a list of things that your children enjoyed before taking up gaming and that they can’t find the time for anymore. Sometimes these activities can be something as basic as sitting down for a balanced ‘ADD/ADHD busting’ meal with the rest of the family!

Carefully investigating the three areas listed above (content, time, and activity displacement) should give you a very clear idea of whether your child’s gaming has strayed from innocent leisure activity to significant contributing factor to ADD/ADHD symptoms. This is obviously a very tough call to make and the resultant discussion is likely to be even tougher! I am convinced however that going through this exercise could be extremely important in helping parents to protect their children from long term harm. Next week we will discuss ways in which you can encourage responsible and healthy gaming habits.

I believe that part of the solution lies in the (take a deep breath!) de-commoditization of food. Complex word, simple concept! Commoditization refers to the process where the internal differences and competitive advantages between certain products give way to a mass market where price is the only differentiating factor. A product is thoroughly commoditized when the only question that I ask is ‘How much does it cost?”. Gold, iron ore and copper are classic commodities. Buyers simply do not care where it was mined, or which company is marketing it, as long as the price is right.

Many parts of the food market (e.g. eggs, flour, sugar and milk) have been commoditized for decades. This is reflected in the fact that this is the products where buying decisions are typically the quickest. (When last did you hold a bottle of milk in your hands to study it from all sides!?)  What is really scary, however, is how more and more foods are joining the ranks of the ‘classic commodities’ every year.

Massively improved transports infrastructure, genetic modification, cooling technology, chemical pest control methods and super efficient distribution methods all combine to bring us foods that can often only be distinguished on one level: (you guessed it) price! “Where is the harm in that?” you may ask.

I have already explained in my article on superabundance that the ‘superabundant’ foods are often exactly those that cause the worst health outcomes if taken in excess. This superabundance is made possible by commoditization as it streamlines the delivery of vast amounts of products based on the lowest common denominator. More information about dealing with superabundance can be found here.

Another problem with commoditization that we will all (but especially those dealing with the effects of ADD/ADHD) have to address has already been hinted at above: Provenance. Another of those ‘big word/simple concept’ cases! In nutritional terms ‘provenance’ simply means: “Where something comes from”. The less commoditized a product is, the easier it is to determine provenance. Think of all the ‘Chateau so-and-so’ wine labels, or the well written ‘word pictures’ of where something was produced that you commonly find on high-end products. In a fully commoditized market provenance is virtually impossible to determine. Who knows, or cares, where the lump of sugar that you just threw in your coffee came from!?

Why is provenance important? Simply because where something came from will often determine what effect it is going to have on you. This is true in two ways (the second of which will somewhat expand the classical definition of provenance): 1) Production location can have a huge impact on the final composition of a product. For example, some countries will allow the use of pesticides and chemicals that have long been banned in North America. 2) Production methods can have a huge impact on the final composition of a product. This is not only true when talking about primary production (i.e. farming) but also when it comes to processing. Additives, cooking oils, sugar, fats etc. can all play a part in turning essentially healthy products into disaster zones. You should therefore always ask the following questions: Where was this produced? By whom was it produced?

Giving in to the easy availability of convenient foodstuffs by not asking the questions above is a very risky business as it could lead to exposure to the very factors (e.g. certain additives, High-GI concoctions etc.) that are known to exacerbate the symptoms of ADD/ADH.

My first piece of advice in dealing with the easy availability of food is to make sure that you play close attention to provenance. Doing so will allow you to enjoy the convenience of our modern food culture without being damaged by it. I will devote next week’s article to ways in which anyone dealing with ADD/ADHD can get serious about provenance. See you then!

The shifts that we looked at over the past few weeks were: 1) Natural to Artificial 2) Scarce to Superabundant

With this week’s article we will begin to discuss a shift that is perhaps a bit more difficult to pin down than the two mentioned above but that are no less significant. I am referring to the historical perception that food almost always equalled hard work.

Most people, especially those responsible for getting meals to the table, would perhaps unreservedly welcome the fact that this is not always the case anymore. The fact that we do not have to spend days and months cultivating our own food, followed with hours behind the stove to prepare it, has undeniable benefits. Time previously spent in food preparation can now be used for leisure or work in other areas. I am, of course, not advocating a return to the time when the main meal of the day took, on average, four hours to prepare. I am merely asking you to consider what we as a society lost due to the fact that it is now possible to put the words ‘easy’ and ‘fast’ before so much of what we eat. Consider the following:

The cost of ease of access: Modern methods of cultivation and distribution means that we have left the link between cultivation (or hunting!) and consumption far behind. While there was nothing romantic about tilling the fields, previous generations were in no doubt about where their food came from. These days our food can just as easily come from the other side of the world as from a farm in your county (with the former perhaps more likely). Most of us do not spend any time thinking about this fact, aside perhaps from the occasional amused glance at a food label spelling out the name of some obscure third world country. Our forebears couldn’t help thinking about the origins of their food – especially since they had to gather, hunt or cultivate it themselves. Our foods often have much more ‘interesting’ stories but we can afford not to worry too much about where it came from. Or can we? Foods shipped from the other side of the world are a) often grown with the help of pesticides that are banned in North America and b) Preserved with chemicals that could have a marked negative effect on optimum brain function.

The cost of ease of preparation: We spend less and less time preparing for mealtimes. On one level this is perhaps not a bad thing as it frees up time for other activities. We need to realise however that the trend towards ‘food on the fly’ is not without consequences. We need to remember that: a) Faster methods are often much less healthy (think slow cooker vs. deep fryer!) b) ‘Ready meals’ can contain ridiculous amounts of salt and saturated fats c) In some cases ease of preparation is down to the addition of chemicals to aid the cooking process or to act as preservatives.

I think you will agree, after weighing up the cost, that easy does not necessarily translate into good! It is for this reason that I strongly believe that we have to recapture something of the old ways of thinking about food. It is, of course, a bit of a challenge to think about food as ‘difficult’ when you know full well that access and preparation is relatively uncomplicated. Next week’s article will focus on ways in which we can rebuild our lost ‘connection’ with food that will allow us to value it as a precious and life giving gift. I believe it is possible, as I will show, to do so without having to engage in the back breaking work and long hours in front of the stove that used to characterise food cultivation and preparation. See you next week!

Recent studies have shown that symptoms associated with fetal overexposure to alcohol are often mistaken for ADD/ADHD.  Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is a serious condition (or perhaps, more correctly, range of conditions) that afflict many children whose mothers used too much alcohol while they were still in utero. The impact that FASD can have on a child’s health and wellbeing can be nothing short of devastating and it is one of the reasons why alcohol is best avoided during pregnancy. Some of the most common effects of FASD include the following:

Stunted growth: Children with FASD tend to show up on the lower percentiles in terms of height and weight.

Skull and facial abnormalities: Some studies suggest a strong link between facial and cranial defects and alcohol overexposure.

Damage to the central nervous system: Perhaps the most serious impact of FASD is the havoc that it wreaks on the central nervous system. This can range from stunted brain growth to the development of serious neurological conditions (e.g. epilepsy and seizure disorders). This damage can also manifest itself in the  form of functional disabilities or development disorders. The most common among these are:
•    Problems with social/adaptive skills
•    Reduced memory capabilities
•    Lack of impulse control, attention, social perception and judgment
•    Sensory problems
•    Difficulty in mastering motor skills

It is obvious that this last list can very easily be mistaken for a description of what medical professionals are looking for when attempting to diagnose ADD/ADHD! This fact has serious consequences for those suffering from FASD. The abovementioned study, conducted by the University of Toronto in conjunction with the Hospital for Sick Children at Surrey Place Center, found that it is likely that many FASD children are not receiving appropriate help and care because of ADD/ADHD misdiagnoses.

The main area of concern that the study (which compared 33 children with FASD, 30 ADHD children and 34 children with no disorders) flagged up was the issue of social interaction. It is suggested that FASD children who are not correctly diagnosed early on are in grave danger of developing serious behavioral problems if the condition is not responded to correctly. One of the authors of the research report, Joanne Rovet, had the following to say about this: “In terms of social cognition and emotional processing, the core deficit in FASD appears to be in understanding and interpreting another’s mental states and emotions. These problems with social cognition and emotion processing may underlie the severe conduct problems seen in children with FASD.  It is imperative that these children receive assistance in social and emotional processing domains, specifically targeting interventions to deal with their unique deficits.”

This study shows, once again, how dangerous the current ‘trigger happy’ attitude to ADD/ADHD diagnosis can be. It also underlines that the problem of misdiagnosis can cut both ways. On the one hand it leads essentially healthy children into a system where they have to have to unnecessarily take dangerous drugs on a daily basis. It also keeps, on the other hand, children who need highly specialized care and treatment (as is the case with FASD) from receiving it because many physicians are almost conditioned not to look beyond the ADD/ADHD label.

If you suspect that FASD could be a factor in your child’s problems you should take heart. Many excellent interventions and treatment methods for the condition exist. It should therefore never be seen as a ‘life sentence’ to a low functioning and problem filled life. The most important thing is to simply get together the courage to take the first step. Many parents of FASD children hesitate to seek help, or to flag up maternal alcohol use during pregnancy as a possible factor, because of the social stigma that is sometimes attached to the condition. I want to urge you however to refuse to allow possible past mistakes to overshadow your child’s future. If you have the courage to seek it you will find that help is available and the condition can be successfully managed in most cases.

_____________________________________
More information about the University of Toronto study can be found here.

More information about FASD, and about managing the condition, can be found here.
_____________________________________

Last week we began our exploration of the issue of ‘Food Superabundance’. I pointed out that the easy availability of food in our society is something that previous generations would have found very hard to even begin to comprehend. It is unfortunately the case that the fact that most North Americans do not have to give a second thought to where the next meal will come from is a decidedly mixed blessing. No one can lament the fact that actual instances of starvation have largely been eliminated. The rising incidence of bad food choices, obesity and food related health problems is a bit more difficult to get excited about however.

It is my opinion that food superabundance has a particularly negative effect on those struggling with the effects of ADD/ADHD as the kinds of food that are the most abundant are often precisely the kinds of food that should be avoided because of their effects on human attention and brain function. So how to best live in this world where it is much easier to be a contented ‘grazer’ than the ‘lean mean hunting machines’ that we were designed to be? Some suggestions (continued over two weeks) for doing so are the following:

Listen to your body: Our bodies have very specific ways of reacting to the oversupply of food. The most obvious sign that you are overindulging is obviously the one that you see as you get on the bathroom scale every morning! The signals that your body are sending goes way beyond weight gain however. The following can sometimes (although not necessarily always) be messages from your body that you should change your eating patterns:

A bad taste in the mouth: This can often be due to the prolonging of the digestive process due to excessive amounts of food.

Heartburn: Heartburn could have many underlying reasons but can in many cases be blamed on overeating.

A heavily coated tongue: A coated tongue can often be nature’s way of signalling the fact that the nutritional system is overcrowded and that intake should be reduced. This is because it is an indication that the tongue has been ‘roped in’ to assist with the dispatch of waste products.

A ‘muddy’ skin: This occurs with ‘big league’ overeating and is a sign that the body has to get rid of so much waste products that it attempts to release some of it through the skin!

Dull eyes: If too much bile is released into the bloodstream it can affect the whites of the eyes, usually by making it dull or giving it a greenish tinge.

It should be emphasised again that all of the symptoms mentioned above can have causes other than overeating. The point is, however, that excessive food intake should at least be considered as an option if you experience any of them.

Avoid the ‘Temples of Superabundance’: One of the most visible results of the food superabundance in our society is the proliferation of ‘fast food’ outlets. It is no secret that many of these establishments work on the principle of the lowest common denominator by offering the largest possible portions at the lowest possible price. This is mostly done at the expense of quality and nutritional value. It does not make sense to ‘rejoice’ in the fact that you got so much food for so little if you have to count the cost in terms of negative nutritional and emotional outcomes afterwards. I realise that going out for ‘fast food’ is almost a ritual in our society but we really need to begin counting the cost of this habit. This is especially true in the case of families who are struggling with the management of ADD/ADHD in one of its members. The average fast food meal could almost have been custom designed to exacerbate ADD/ADHD as it usually contains:

• Highly refined carbohydrates at the top end of the Glycemic Index
• Very high amounts of saturated fats that could seriously impede brain function by limiting the absorption of ‘good’ fats.
• High levels of sugar, guaranteed to shoot blood sugar levels through the roof and set the ‘Blood Sugar Rollercoaster’ rolling.
• High levels of caffeine in soft drinks. This could lead to a worsening of ADD/ADHD symptoms or even to an ADD/ADHD misdiagnosis (Due to sleep deprivation being mistaken for the condition)
• Many different kinds of additives and preservatives that could interfere with natural digestion and absorption processes.

The list above should make it clear that limiting your ‘fast food visits’ to special treats, rather than twice weekly occurrences, can be one of the easiest ways to tune out of some of the more destructive effects of food superabundance.

Please check back next week when I will continue with some more suggestions on how you can live a nutritionally balanced life in a superabundant world. See you then!

Significant new research (published in the Journal of Development & Behavioral Pediatrics) points to the widespread occurrence of the placebo effect when it comes to ADD/ADHD medication. This should perhaps be expected as the effect has been shown to occur with just about any kind of medication imaginable. What makes the findings surprising however is that the placebo effect did not occur in the ADD/ADHD patients themselves but in their caregivers! In other words, the belief that a child is being medicated was sometimes enough for parents or teachers to significantly modify their attitudes to, and expectations of, that child.

The study was conducted by pediatric psychologists from the University of Buffalo and found that, when caregivers believed that children were receiving ADD/ADHD medication (e.g. Ritalin and Adderall) they would view them more favorably and treat them more positively – whether medication was actually involved or not!

The lead author of the review Dr. Daniel A Waschbusch summarized their rather alarming findings as follows: “”The act of administering medication, or thinking a child has received medication, may induce positive expectancies in parents and teachers about the effects of that medication, which may, in turn, influence how parents and teachers evaluate and behave toward children with ADHD. We speculate that the perception that a child is receiving ADHD medication may bring about a shift in attitude in a teacher or caregiver. They may have a more positive view of the child, which could create a better relationship. They may praise the child more, which may induce better behavior.“

The findings of this research project is a damning indictment of the well documented ‘rush to medicate’ whenever there is the slightest suspicion that ADD/ADHD might be involved. The pressure to do so often comes from teachers who explicitly and implicitly signal that little Johnny will have a much tougher time in class if Ritalin is not added to the mix as soon as possible. Parents are often so intimidated by this stance that they meekly accept the ‘recommendation’ to go and see a medical professional that can be relied on to supply the ‘correct’ diagnosis and treatment. This is the exact path that thousands of young people take every year: A path that leads to unnecessary exposure to very dangerous chemicals and an accompanying label classifying the child as ‘difficult’.

The suggestion, implicit in the research quoted above, that positive outcomes can be achieved by some focused attention and high expectations is a rare and welcome nod in the direction of plain old fashioned common sense. As a society we need to be reminded that it is a fallacy to believe that every problem can be solved by medicating it away.

It is my belief that parents should educate and equip themselves to deal with the pressure to ‘diagnose and medicate’ that they will perhaps have to deal with. This preparation should focus at being ready with answers and arguments on both the side effects and the effectiveness of ADD/ADHD medication.

Side Effects: The evidence that ADD/ADHD medication can have some pretty nasty unintended consequences is mounting by the day. Medicines like Ritalin, Strattera and Adderall have been implicated in everything from suicidal thoughts to increased susceptibility to addiction. The fact is that you are dealing with powerful mind-altering chemicals: A fact that should not be obscured by comforting advertising copy and the glib reassurances of those who benefit financially (or otherwise) from their distribution.

Effectiveness: The research quoted above is another nail in the coffin of the ‘defense’ that the perceived dangers of the products are obscured by the fact that they are so effective in improving attention. This is a very difficult assertion to prove when it comes to long term use of products like Ritalin. Could it, further, be the case that all that is really needed are some lifestyle modifications (as suggested in the ‘3 Steps ADD’ Program) and a more positive engagement with the child? If the answer to this question is ‘yes’ (as I believe it is) it would perhaps leave pharmaceutical companies with radically reduced profit margins. This is, however, a negligible price to pay for giving our kids back the privilege of living their lives without unnecessary ‘chemical crutches’!

* The full article, entitled, Are There Placebo Effects in the Medication Treatment of Children With Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder? Can be found on the website of the Journal of Development & Behavioral Pediatrics

* A shorter discussion of be accessed on Science Daily.

One of the latest physicians to flag up the issue is Dr. Gregory Olmor, director of Pulmonary Medicine and the Sleep Lab at Akron Children’s Hospital (Click here for a video where he discusses his findings). He reminds parents that children need, on average (there will of course be individual variations), the following amounts of sleep:

Teenagers: 9 hours

6 – 12 year olds: 10 hours

Preschoolers: 11 hours

If they don’t get this amount of sleep (as is the case with many kids in our society!) children are likely to become distracted, irritable and impulsive. Sound familiar?

Any parent should, in light of the above, first eliminate sleep deprivation as a possible explanation for ‘ADHD like’ behaviour before going down the path to a full blown diagnosis (with the accompanying pressure to medicate). But how can you ensure that your child gets more, and better, sleep? Here are some practical suggestions:

Establish a strong bedtime routine: This may be difficult to work into your busy schedule but I highly recommend that you make the effort, especially in the case of smaller children. The regular repetition of a bath, followed by a drink, followed by a story (or whatever else you decide on) can be very reassuring and will help the child to make the transition from wakefulness to being ready for sleep.
Keep night time interaction to a minimum: If your child wakes up at night (perhaps due to a nightmare of a bit of anxiety about the dark) you should, of course, move in and reassure and comfort him/her. This is, however, not the time to have a deep discussion about the reasons for the nightmare or the anxiety (Save this for the morning). Settle the child as quickly, and compassionately, as possible and then withdraw to allow him/her to drift back to sleep.
Use a reward chart: If you place something on a reward chart for every night during which there were no call-outs or ‘escapes’ your children will be able to see a visual presentation of their progress. This should reinforce the importance of undisturbed sleep in their minds.
Keep distractions to a minimum: For older kids it may be necessary to have strict rules for the prevention of middle of the night ‘electronic activities’ (e.g. listening to music, watching TV, surfing the web, instant messaging etc.). This will almost certainly be resented at first but could, in time, lead to the establishment of much healthier sleeping patterns.
Encourage physical activity: It does not take a rocket scientist to work out that the more active a person was during the day, the more likely he/she will be to ‘crash’ and sleep through the night. Encouraging your kids to participate in sport will therefore not only aid their physical fitness and motor development, it could also turn them into much better sleepers.
Avoid caffeine close to bedtime: As a stimulant caffeine is famous for its powers to keep people awake. Yet many people think nothing of allowing their children to drink near industrial qualities of the stuff close to bedtime. I am not, in the first instance, referring to the caffeine in coffee (which many parents would take care to avoid) but rather to the huge amounts found in many soft drinks. Drink such as this will hit a child with a double whammy: They will put the child on the ‘blood sugar rollercoaster’ and then make sure that he/she ‘hangs on for the ride’ through being wide awake! It is my opinion that drinks like these should be avoided at any time, but especially close to bedtime.

If none of the above is effective in helping your child to get a better night’s sleep it may be necessary to seek a bit of professional help (with the focus firmly on sleeplessness and not on a possible ADD/ADHD diagnosis). A medical professional focussing on sleep related issues should be able to suggest several techniques, beyond those mentioned above, with which to send your child to dreamland quicker and for longer.

There are obviously several different products on the market that claim to ‘cure’ sleeplessness. I would personally caution against using any of them on your children until you get an independent and knowledgeable medical opinion.

Many people needlessly go down the road to an ADD/ADHD misdiagnosis when all their kids need is a few nights of proper sleep. Make sure that you are not one of them: Look into possible sleep deprivation first. Sweet dreams!

For most of the history of the human race food security was one of the top concerns of just about every man and woman alive. This was because food was a perishable, finite and scarce resource. These facts manifested itself in the cycles of ‘feast and famine’ that most societies went through on a regular basis. The feast part of the cycle usually coincided with harvest time or the conclusion of the hunt. People would very often eat to excess at these times as they knew that the lean times were on their way. Lean times did indeed appear with clockwork-like regularity. They could normally be traced back to:

• Changes in the season
• Failed harvests or hunts
• The inability to keep food from spoiling
• Ongoing struggles to move food from places where it was plentiful to where it was not

The fact that food was scarce inevitably led to it being viewed as a precious commodity that should be used wisely. This does not mean that previous generations were ‘food saints’, they did however strive to use the food they had in the best possible ways. These included:
• Using as much of a particular food source as possible
• Efforts to minimise waste (“Waste not, want not!”)
• Adjusting consumption patterns to coincide with times (particularly certain seasons) when certain food sources were plentiful.
All of the above factors often translated into remarkably healthy eating patterns, especially when you consider that very few people had the opportunities for the kinds of overindulgence that are so prevalent in modern society.

It is, of course, no secret that the consumption patterns discussed above belong firmly in the past for most people. There are several reasons behind this shift:
• Improved transport links ‘shrank the world’ to such an extent that we now think nothing of eating food produced in several different countries with almost every meal.
• Pesticides and fertilisers dramatically increased agricultural yields (This did not come without a price tag attached! Please see the previous 5 articles for more information on this issue).
• Greenhouse and cooling technology allow us to virtually eliminate seasonality. We can now eat anything, anytime, anywhere.
• Industrial production methods were increasingly applied to every step of the food production process. This is nowhere more apparent than in the so-called ‘fast food’ industry where every step of the production chain is automated in the service of producing super cheap, and superabundant, food.

The purpose of this article is not to romanticise and glorify the past. No one in his or her right mind would choose to live in a society where the majority of people are not certain where the next meal will come from. The fact is, however, that the superabundance of food that most North Americans currently experience did not come without some severe consequences. The most damaging of these consequences is the ‘devaluing’ of food in our culture. The perception that food is ‘just there’ (and not a valuable resource) led to many people being much more careless in thinking about what they put in their mouths and what it is likely to do to them.

The problem is compounded even further, especially from the perspective of those who battle the effects of ADD/ADHD, by the fact that the types of food that lend themselves to successful mass production are often exactly the types of foods that should be avoided. The best way to confirm this is to pay a little visit to just about any ‘fast food’ outlet. The products on display are the result of intensive industrially inspired production and preparation methods. They are also very likely to be a) high in saturated fats b) high on the Glycemic Index and c) filled with preservatives and other additives.

It is perhaps quite easy to decry the effects of food superabundance. It is, however, much more difficult to decide what to do about it. It would surely not be advisable to wish for a return to the kind of ‘hand to mouth’ existence that many previous generations were used to. We should however recognise the fact that having so much more than what we really need is harming us in some subtle, and not so subtle, ways. Our response to this recognition should translate into some practical steps on the road towards enjoying the abundance around us without being seduced into patterns of consumption that could be very harmful over the long run. The next article will focus on ways in which this can be achieved. See you then!

The problem with chemicals in our food supply is that many of them affect human health in subtle but profound ways. This would perhaps not be much of an issue if our exposure to them was limited but for most of us it is not! The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) maintain a database of food additives often referred to as ‘Everything Added to Food in the United States’ (EAFUS). It has more than 3000 individual entries! Add to this the widespread use of pesticides, both in North America and in food exporting countries where controls are often virtually non-existent, and you will agree that we have perhaps moved as far away from ‘natural’ as it is possible to get.

How do we recover the natural aspect of our food supply? I believe that successfully answering this question is one of the keys to dealing with the effects of ADD/ADHD as it can be shown that pesticides and additives are often some of the main culprits when it comes to symptoms like hyperactivity, mood swings and inattention.  Allow me to make the following suggestions on how this all important question can be answered:

Go ‘organic’ as far as possible: Eating organic alternatives is perhaps the best possible way to avoid pesticides and additives. I do realize that organic foods are often more expensive and that organic alternatives are not always available locally, but I also maintain that in some cases the extra cost and effort would be more than justified.

Last week we began to look at the ways in which the additives in our foods can have all kinds of negative consequences including hyperactivity, lack of attention and moodiness: All ‘symptoms’ that those dealing with the effects of ADD/ADHD should be keen to avoid. This week we will discuss the identification of different additives in our food supply. It goes without saying that ‘identification’ will never be sufficient, you will also have to move beyond that to actually finding alternatives to the food sources that contain the harmful additives.

If we take a long hard look at our food supply it quickly becomes clear that there are certain types of food that are far more likely to contain harmful additives. The list presented below is certainly not the last word on the subject but it should give you a good starting point from which to begin your investigations.

Very brightly colored food: Harmful coloring is added to a variety of foods (not just fast food and candy!) to make it look more appealing.

Fruit juice: This may come as a bit of a shock since many people regard fruit juices as the healthy option when it comes to selecting beverages. The fact is that many juices contain some powerful preservatives to extend their shelf life.

Bread: Another nasty surprise! Many types of bread (especially highly processed white bread varieties) contain a host of preservatives as well as additives designed to ‘bulk out’ the flour.

Additives are, as the name suggests, chemicals that are added to food to fulfill certain functions. The vast majority of additives in use today are non-natural in the sense that they are artificially created in laboratories and then sold in industrial quantities to food companies. Additives come in three general categories. They are:

• Preservatives: Used to stall or halt natural degenerative processes in food.
• Colorants: Used to make food appear more visually appealing
• Flavorants: Used to enhance the taste of food

The use of all three classes of additives has skyrocketed over the past few decades. If you don’t believe me you are welcome to turn over just about any piece of food packaging in your house to take a look at the ingredients. You are almost certain to find a bunch of complex sounding chemical descriptions or combinations of letters and numbers between the more innocuous ingredients. This industrial scale ‘chemicalization’ of our food supply represents one of the most profound nutritional changes in human history yet it occurred almost by stealth, driven by food companies whose soothing ad campaigns ensured us that they have our best interests at heart. It is easy to see why these companies are so excited about additives. Better tasting, longer lasting and visually appealing foods are sure to increase the ‘bottom line’. We should, however, be very wary of simply accepting the safety claims of these global conglomerates at face value.

It would be rather naïve to think that you can alter the chemical composition of our food supply in dramatic ways and that there would be no negative effect whatsoever. Yet this is what we are constantly being asked to do. Fortunately the consensus that have been so carefully built up by ‘Big Food’ is starting to break down, with more and more scientists pointing out the ways in which additives are influencing everything from digestion, through sleeping patterns, to even human behavior. One of the most disturbing claims that are being made, and one that is of particular relevance to those dealing with the effects of ADD/ADHD, is that some additives (especially some colorants) significantly contribute to the incidence of hyperactivity in children.

It does not take a genius to work out that the words used above are a world away from how most of us would describe food today. Our relationship with what we put in our mouths has been so radically altered that our forebears would probably have shaken their heads in amazement at our strange beliefs and habits. The problem is that the changes in our perception had some pretty spectacular negative fallouts, the magnitude of which we are only now beginning to understand. Yet understand them we must, because I firmly believe that many of our modern ailments, including many ADD/ADHD cases, can be traced back to poor food choices. Over the next few weeks we will examine the impact of some of these choices by focussing on our modern ‘answers’ to perceptions about food listed above. This week we take a look at the wholesale abandoning of the belief that food should be natural.

It is very difficult to put something in your mouth these days without also taking in quite a few chemicals that were certainly not part of the original composition of your food source. There are several drivers behind this phenomenon. They include:

• ‘Protection’ of food sources: Humankind has always tried to protect our food sources, this is evidenced in the fact that scarecrows date back millennia! Modern man has taken this quest for protection much further by developing a vast array of powerful pesticides to protect food sources. Good crops resulted but at what price?

Gifted or ADHD (ADHD Misdiagnosis 2).mp3

Take a look at the following, real life, scenario for example: A young boy’s behavior changes so radically that his parents are almost stunned by what they are seeing. He turns from being a laid back, easy to get along with, boy to being almost uncontrollable in a matter of weeks. The parents struggle to understand why their normally compliant and obedient son now responds to them with fits of rage and erratic and impulsive behavior. They do what any concerned parent would do by seeking professional help. The diagnosis of the medical professionals is depressingly predictable and familiar: ADD/ADHD. The parents make the decision to medicate their son and for a time things seem to go a bit better. They continue to struggle with some nagging doubts however. Why was the onset of the ‘symptoms’ so sudden? Why did they have to keep ‘upping’ the medication to the stage where their son got dizzy from it? Why did they not see some of the classic predictors of ADD/ADHD during earlier developmental stages? These questions keep them on a quest to find out if something else could perhaps be going on.

The answer that they come up with astounds them and shows that all the ‘experts’ who so confidently diagnosed ADD/ADHD were in fact dead wrong. The story above describes the experience of Jenny Miner and her son Kenny and it has implications for just about anyone struggling with the ‘symptoms’ of ADD/ADHD. It turns out that Kenny’s problem was not neurological or behavioral but bacterial!

There are two very specific types of bacteria bartonella and babesia that congregate around blood cells and cause exactly the symptoms traditionally associated with ADD/ADHD. Both babesia and bartonella are transmitted by tick bites and are carried by ticks all over North America. This means that they could be the ‘hidden driver’ behind many erroneous ADD/ADHD diagnoses.

One of the most interesting pieces of research on the effects of a lack of proper sleep is particularly relevant for our discussion of ADD/ADHD misdiagnosis. The research was conducted by the University of Helsinki (Finland) and the Finnish National Institute of Health and Welfare. Under the microscope were the sleeping patterns and the behavior of 280 healthy seven and eight year olds. The simple question was the following: Are healthy children who get too little sleep more likely to display the symptoms generally associated with ADD/ADHD? The simple answer: Absolutely!

Researchers measured the sleeping patterns of the children who participated in the study in two ways, one subjective and the other objective. For the ‘subjective’ test they asked parents to fill in a questionnaire about their kid’s normal sleeping habits, they then also did their best to measure the accuracy of these estimates by actually noting down how much the children slept each evening for a week. This was done by asking them to wear actigraphs (movement measurers) to determine how long they actually rested for.

In addition to the tracking of sleeping patterns the parents were also asked to rate aspects of their children’s behavior using a measure that is commonly used in the diagnosis of ADD/ADHD. The results of this research strike a powerful blow for common sense. It can be summarized as follows:
• Most parents seriously overestimate the time that their children actually rest. This is because they do not ‘factor in’ the time that they spend falling asleep or when they lie awake for prolonged periods.
• Children with average sleep durations of less than 7.7 hours (as measured by the actigraphs) scored significantly higher in tests measuring hyperactivity and impulsivity. This means that they would be much more likely to be diagnosed with ADD/ADHD.

This study is one of the first that actually confirms something all parents know almost instinctively: Lack of sleep leads to little Johnny ‘acting out’ the next morning! If this continues over a few weeks a trend gets established and Johnny is at serious risk of being labeled as ADD/ADHD!

Dr. Juulia Paavonen who was in charge of the study lays her finger securely on both this problem and its solution: “We were able to show that short sleep duration and sleeping difficulties are related to behavioral symptoms of ADHD. The findings suggest that maintaining adequate sleep schedules among children is likely to be important in preventing behavioral symptoms. Even [an extra] 30 minutes per night has been shown to give a major improvement in objective cognitive tests, improving reaction times, impulsivity and attention spans.“

Failure to investigate alternative explanations – An ADD/ADHD diagnosis has become almost ‘fashionable’ in some circles and is therefore the first thing some medical professionals reach for when confronted with behavioural problems.
Outside pressure – Some teachers and caregivers see an ADD/ADHD diagnosis, and the resultant prescription of mind altering chemicals, as the quickest way out of their difficulties in dealing with a particular student. This results in pressure on parents to have a child tested (usually by a professional who can be relied upon to make the ‘desired’ diagnosis).
Money – The manufacturers of ADD/ADHD medication have access to multi-million dollar marketing budgets that serve to keep the possibility of an ADD/ADHD diagnosis ‘warm’ in the mind of medical professionals, teachers and parents.

This week’s article will focus on a cause of misdiagnosis that could very easily be filed under the first alternative: Failure to investigate alternative explanations. It is a well established fact that many children who have been diagnosed with ADD/ADHD were actually gifted students who ‘acted out’ in response to being bored with the educational environments in which they have been placed.

The fact that ADD/ADHD misdiagnoses do occur should, at the very least, convince all of us to make sure that any diagnosis that is handed down is accurate and based on the best possible information. Failing to do so could set you down a path characterised by huge financial costs and near incessant demands to medicate.

There are many possible reasons for the misdiagnosis of ADD/ADHD, and we will look at some of them in more detail over the next few weeks. It is often possible to spot some common factors behind the diverse forms of ADD/ADHD misdiagnosis. They are:

• Failure to investigate alternative explanations: There is an old saying that goes: “If you only have a hammer everything looks like a nail!” Unfortunately many professionals have come to regard an ADD/ADHD diagnosis as just about the only tool at their disposal when it comes to managing challenging behaviour or thought patterns. This leads to a lack of consideration of other probable causes. This problem is compounded by the fact that many professionals see the solution to the perceived problem as simple and straightforward: Just prescribe a dose of widely available medication. The pattern of ‘rapid diagnosis – rapid medication’ is very hard to break once it is established.
• Outside pressure: Many ADD/ADHD diagnoses happen after teachers (or other professionals who have to deal with the effects of behavioural problems) make a referral. Some teachers are, sadly, merely interested in having the problem ‘go away’ over the short term, without necessarily considering the long term effects of radical ‘treatments’. They also know that the quickest way for this to happen is through sedation! This situation is at its most dangerous when you have a kind of  ‘closed circle’ with teachers being very quick to refer students for suspected ADD/ADHD and the reference then being made to specific medical professionals who are usually very quick to supply exactly that diagnosis.
• Money: The big drug companies pump millions of dollars into the marketing and distribution of their flagship products. Some of this money is spent on incentive schemes to encourage professionals to prescribe certain products, instead of rival brands or alternative methods of treatment. It would, sadly, be naïve in the extreme to deny that this cold fact is not behind at least some erroneous ADD/ADHD diagnoses every year.

All of the above paints a disturbing picture but it should also leave us with hope. This is because it just reemphasises the fact that one doctor’s diagnosis of ADD/ADHD is not the final word on the subject and that, even where there are good reasons for this diagnosis, medication is not the only course of action open to you. Not even close in fact!

Over the next few weeks we will look at some specific reasons for misdiagnosis, some of which you might find strange and surprising. It would be good to, for the moment, concentrate on an immediate course of action once you do receive a diagnosis:

• Determine your professional’s diagnosis rates: It might be difficult to get this information but it is vital that you do! ‘Word of mouth’ could be very helpful in this regard. If you find out the professional to whom you have been referred does indeed have a very high ‘strike rate’ you should seriously consider your alternatives.
• Determine the ‘referral rates’ of whoever made the original referral: The same principle mentioned above should be followed when it comes to the referral behaviour of teachers and other professionals. Some are indeed ready to make an ADD/ADHD referral at the drop of a hat!
• Get a second opinion: It is vitally important that you do not make any final decisions on an ADD/ADHD diagnosis without at least taking steps to have the diagnosis confirmed or challenged.  It is obvious that you should seek such a second opinion from someone whose diagnosis rates are not ‘off the charts’.
• Investigate possible alternative causes: The symptoms associated with ADD/ADHD are certainly not unique to the condition. You should therefore continually ask yourself: Is there something else that could be causing this? Over the next few weeks I will do my best to help you to accurately answer this question.

The bottom line: An ADD/ADHD misdiagnosis could have a profound impact on your life and you should therefore protect yourself from it by getting as much information as possible and by exploring all the alternatives. You can begin by checking back next week as we continue to explore this issue.

The first, rather obvious, statement to make is that soft drinks contain sugar. Wait, let’s rephrase that, they contain a LOT of sugar. So much, in fact, that soda’s definitely deserve their description as ‘liquid candy’. The average 12oz can of non-diet soda have 40 grams of sugar in it. This translates into 10 teaspoons! This is just for a standard can, think for a moment how much sugar one of the ‘supersized’ glasses at your favorite restaurant must contain…and then add up all the ‘free refills’.

The calorific impact of sweetened drinks on the North American diet is so significant that the US Government identifies it as being responsible for 10% of the total calorific intake of the US population. This figure represents a seismic shift in the national diet. In 1950 Americans drank four times as much milk as soft drinks. By 2000 that ratio was exactly reversed! Is it any wonder that obesity rates more than doubled over the same period?

Is it really fair to point to sweetened drinks as one of the main culprits when it comes to diet related health problems, including the extreme moods swings associated with sugar rushes? The answer is an emphatic yes! I have already alluded to the first reason why this is the case: Sweetened soft drinks contain so much sugar that they can easily tip your daily calorie intake over the edge. For example, a single extra-large drink of the kind sold in most fast food outlets contains enough calories to supply in a quarter of an adult women’s daily energy needs.

The problem (lots of sugar) is compounded by the way in which the body responds to a massive injection of energy in liquid form. Human appetite is controlled by a complicated mix of hormones. Some of them have the job to let you know that your stomach is full while others (including a hormone named ghrelin) controls the hunger reflex as a way of letting you know that it is time to eat again. Eating ‘solid’ food causes the level of ghrelin to drop for a time, therefore suppressing the hunger reflex. ‘Liquid’ energy simply does not have the same effect on ghrelin levels. This means that soft drinks tend to add massive amounts of calories to someone’s diet without necessarily making that person feel full or satisfied. It is therefore quite possible to drink a large soda and then follow it with a large hamburger (that contains about the same amount of calories). However, many people will struggle to ingest the same amount of energy in ‘solid’ form by eating two large hamburgers in a row.

The sugar in sweetened drinks not only adds massive amounts of energy to the diet, it also triggers intense appetite cycles. This is because the calories come in the form of concentrated sugars that are rapidly absorbed into the blood stream, leading to a significant blood sugar spike. In non-diabetic people the body would normally respond to such a spike by releasing massive amounts of insulin in order to bring down the blood sugar levels. This release of insulin can often be so large that it will take the blood sugar level below what it was in the first place. This causes the classic responses to low blood sugar to kick in with the body releasing ghrelin and other hormones to stimulate the hunger reflex, causing us to eat even more! This effect explains why eating a huge meal with soft drinks on the side can leave you feeling so deflated and hungry after a very short period.

Avoiding dramatic peaks and troughs in blood sugar levels should be one of the top priorities for anyone who has to deal with the effects of ADD/ADHD. This is because low blood sugar levels will almost inevitably lead to the brain (as the top energy consumer in the body) functioning well below par. When you consider that some of the most dramatic blood sugar spikes are caused by massive amounts of sugar that were drunk as part of soft drinks, it therefore makes perfect sense to consider eliminating such drinks from your diet altogether. Doing so could be an important step on the way back to equilibrium and will, as a significant side-benefit, do wonders for your waistline at the same time!

Plan and record your ‘eating day’: Keeping a food journal in which you record what you intend to eat and what you actually ate can be an excellent way of gaining control of you dietary habits. Doing this for a few weeks will help you to determine the width of the gap between perception (how you think you are doing) and reality. It can also assist you in identifying times when you are especially susceptible to the lure of the sugar high. This strategy will work best if you keep an actual journal (perhaps in a small notebook that you always keep with you) rather than just composing mental lists.