natural treatment for ADHD

sergent · Silver Member Joined: 08 Aug 2000 Posts: 278

I have a son who was diagnosed with ADHD few months ago. His doctor prescribed him some drugs, and we treat him now. However, I have a friend who told me nowadays it is possible to find natural treatment for ADHD. Could you tell me something about this, could it be possible? I am always preferred to choose natural options, rather then drugs.

hembree · Newbie Joined: 03 Mar 2005 Posts: 18

You should know a recent study suggested that spending time outdoors might help reduce symptoms of attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder, known as ADHD. Parents of children aged 5 to 18 years old diagnosed with ADHD participated in a study, so I believe your son is in this group. Some activities were conducted inside, some outside in places without much greenery, such as downtown areas or parking lots. Some were conducted in relatively natural, green outdoor places such as back yards or parks.
Important is that researcher found that the symptoms of ADHD were most reduced in outdoor, green settings even in the same activity was compared across different settings. For example, playing ball outside in a natural, green setting would be more likely to reduce ADHD symptoms. Furthermore, it appears that it does not matter if the activity outside in a natural setting is done alone or in a group. The results suggest that regular exposure to natural settings may help reduce symptoms of attention deficit such as inattentiveness and lack of focus. Although additional research is necessary, this study’s findings offer an easy-to-implement option that parents of a child with ADHD may want to try, as you wanted to hear.

Guest · Guest

bppv exercises also help, they can be done outside also just having fun on the back varandah,throwing a bean bag through a small hole , while standing on one foot is also usefull for balance.
wobble boards and balance boards are also fun and benifit to balance and vertigo problems, associated in adhd kids.
exercise balls are great fun i have 4 of these and the trick is " can you climb over all four without touching the ground", adhd kids love being the centre of attention and dont even realise they are actually helping there little brains at the same time as having fun with family and friends.
being outdoors is great so why not benefit them and help reduce symptoms everyday (even whilst theyare at school) by doing some of these excercises.
cheers!

Guest · Guest

Hi there,

Just kinda stumbled across this thread, and found it interesting enough to post. I'm 24 and have been taking ritalin for ADD since i was in 3rd grade. In my younger years I didn't personally notice a difference with ritalin until i was into high school (I've read that at about this time due to pueberty and chemical changes, ritalin begins to act more like a stimulant (which is classified as being for non-ADD folks)).

Since I've taken ritalin for so long I never really thought to question it, until recently. Looking up the informaiton, Ritalin treatment can be effective in helping an ADD child grow to have lessened symptoms (as compared to kids that don't have the treatment).

What should be asked is what about ADD or ADHD is so undesirable or problematic? I searhced on wikipedia and found so very helpful information on ADD. It was here that I found that Ginko Biloba is sometimes used as an aid to those with ADD. I started taking 120mg daily about a month and a half ago. I have already found a profound difference in memory. Tests aren't particularly conclusive in people wihtout ADD, but I found a study among people with autism, that concluded a marked improvement in memory after just two weeks, and persisting for up to 3 months after treatment (suggesting that Ginko could have led to lasting structural developments within the brain). Perhaps its simply another case of differing chemistry in ADD brain or more evidence that clinicians don't like the idea of herbal remedies.

I can't say that Ginko would help with children, but I don't see any harm in trying. Furthermore, I agree that ADD is simply a different way of learning/percieving. What is important for people with ADD is for them to understand what "inhibits" them from "normal" attentiveness (i.e. getting better at shifting ones attention from one thing to another, percieving a lack of mental motivation to focus on one thing or another...)
Steering clear of TV and video games might also aid in development of attentiveness (physical activities, as suggested the previous guest, sound like a great alternative).

Well, I hope that helps out. I'd deffinately recomend researching ADD on Wikipedia.

~Eric

natural treatment for ADHD

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