ADD AND ADHD DRUG-FREE SOLUTIONS
INTRODUCTION
The so-called attention deficit or hyperactive disorder ( ADD or ADHD) is very confusing: especially as most of the “symptoms” vanish when the child receives adequate nutrition, a bit of discipline or natural therapy and is taught by a competent teacher. Homoeopathy, Nutritional or Bach remedies are drug free solutions to learning disorders.
The causes and symptoms involving these “attention deficits” are as varied as are the individual students. Natural Health Practitioners can solve these mysteries by treating the causes and so can you. Drugging the child with amphetamines that stimulate the central nervous system is definitely not the best option: especially for very young children or for older students. The use of these drugs has sparked off a dilemma that faces parents and teachers all over the world. A channel for drug abuse has been created and the long-term consequences are being ignored.
RITALIN: Some of the youngest consumers of schedule 7 amphetamines like Ritalin are only four and a half years old! In other words, a drug with the same properties as the illegal street drug called speed is now an acceptable “medication” for young children? A seven-year old Cape Town schoolboy who was suffering from epileptic seizures was on Ritalin, despite it being contraindicated for such disorders. A brain scan revealed that a tapeworm cyst, lodged in his brain, was the cause of his “bad behaviour”. No wonder he fidgeted!
GET TO THE CAUSE: Children suffering from allergies, hypoglycemia, malnutrition, parasites, brain damage, poisoning and adverse reactions to vaccinations are being referred to psychologists and psychiatrists just because they can’t sit still: they are “impulsive” and they don’t concentrate or complete certain tasks. Something is wrong. There is no quick fix for children who are not performing well at school. The exact cause of the condition must first be established and drugs are certainly not always the solution to this problem. In some cases, the drugs prescribed are contraindicated in terms of age, side effects or heart, liver and thyroid conditions. Natural substances and techniques produce positive results without harmful side effects.
BAD PARENTS, BAD DOCTORS, BAD TEACHERS? Bad behaviour and so-called attention deficit problems are symptoms of physical, mental and emotional disturbances in children. In 90% of the cases, they indicate: bad teaching methods, shoddy parenthood and a blatant lack of discipline. Many parents react with feelings of guilt and anxiety due to neglect, ignorance or misunderstanding on their part. They accept the “opinions ” of so-called medical “experts” without questioning the long-term effects and the possible dangers that may be involved.
It is too easy to trust the person who recommends a popular drug, just because it worked for a friend’s child or another pupil at the school. There is plenty of evidence that this way of thinking is contributing to a major drug problem in this country. Are you really doing what is best for your child by handing out a substance that is the equivalent of the drug “speed”? Unfortunately, in most cases, it is the parents and the teachers who most need some drug free treatment.
THE OLD FASHIONED METHOD: A really good teacher (like some of those who taught us over 30 years ago) would be able to imbue the dimmest and most fatigued pupil with a sense of passion for learning. I remember the excitement, the thrill of sitting spellbound in those classes. For those who were lagging behind, there was always a close encounter with the cane, a wooden spoon or a severe and humiliating form of punishment to keep up the intensity. Sometimes the end of a lesson would summon a sigh of relief: just to get through the class without either: a whack, a dreaded, humiliating remark, or worse still, hundreds of lines to write out all afternoon or detention. That night we would make absolutely sure that we did our homework because the consequences would be horrendous.
What we had was a steady flow of excitatory chemicals, rushing through our brains. Under this urge to perform to survive, we gave our or best. No teacher would punish a child unless they were being really naughty and then they deserved what they got and the incident served to remind other would be offenders. The statement: “Spare the rod and spoil the child” is true indeed. I believe the main cause for 90% of all the so-called ADD and ADHD problems is due to a deficiency of immediate and hard felt blows (with control) to the seat of understanding: the gluteus maximus, the seat of understanding, the butt of corporal punishment. When caning and hitting was a way of life at school, the ADD and ADHD and drug problem did not exist. Not so?
CHEMICALS IN THE BRAIN. Unfortunately for this generation, although it is still the excitatory chemicals in the brain that produce the ability to pay attention, the methods to achieve this effect are nothing short of criminal. We are simply replacing whacks with drugs. The cold, hard fact that we are exposing our children to legal amphetamine drugs is being overlooked.
We say that drugs like Ritalin “work” because they produce results. OK? A good hard whack (well controlled) also produces results: it “works”. The child receives a shock and the necessary dopamine and adrenaline is released into the system. Whether drugs or discipline, the effect is still the same: a raised level of dopamine and adrenaline. If the cause of the problem is a naughty, boisterous child, punishment is due. If the child is bored or neglected because the teacher is incompetent or overburdened by too many pupils in the classroom, we have another problem. If the child is in good health, and does not have nutritional deficiencies and does not eat junk food, we need to investigate a bit further. It is too easy for the teacher to complain to the parents, the school psychiatrist or the occupational therapist when they have a so-called ADD or ADHD problem on their hands.
How many teachers can honestly say they are willing to spend extra time with a problem pupil until the exact cause can be detected and the communication gap begins to narrow? How can teachers deliver a lesson in such a way that the pupils are really interested and can pay attention? Good and competent teachers that I have spoken to are rare and wonderful human beings who do not accept the ADD and ADHD disorder. When there is a problem, they find a solution. In an age of information technology, we are not short of information, help or solutions. By trying to solve the learning problem with drugs, we are creating even more problems for ourselves as well as our children. Try drug free alternatives, the nutritional and natural therapies that really work and can improve the quality of life for you and your children.
(This is an extra story, a very personal one and it may help other parents)
DRUG ADDICTION: DON’T LET IT HAPPEN TO YOU. By saying it is OK for kids to take drugs we are blinding ourselves to the consequences. The after effects of a smack on the butt are soon forgotten, but the long-term benefit remains. Jack, (a true story with names changed) a beloved child who became a drug addict, suffered from chronic depression and finally tried to commit suicide: not once, but many times and almost succeeded.
We shared Jack’s agony with his parents for many years: just because a few school friends encouraged this boy to have some of their Ritalin, for kicks. This led to dagga to calm down again and then to experiments with all kinds of cheap and nasty, toxic and very dangerous drugs. Then came the stealing, to get money for more expensive “experimentation”. What nobody realized, was that Jack had autistic tendencies and the amphetamines triggered off attacks of schizophrenia, mania, violence and self-affliction. He used to run away from home and eventually return full of cuts and bruises: thin, emaciated, barefoot, with big black dilated pupils and full of hatred and disgust for his parents.
It all started very innocently at junior school, but Ritalin is a schedule 7 drug and the street equivalent is speed. Jack took it because his friends were given these pills by their parents. Think about it. Think about the fact that this boy is only alive today because of the unflagging support he had from people who loved him and prayed for him. When Jack finished school, he decided to come clean, quit the drugs, leave the country and turn his back on these so-called friends: the pupils from up-market Cape Town schools who wrecked the lives of their friends and families by becoming clandestine drug addicts.
Today his “friends” cannot survive without their daily uppers and downers because their brains were manipulated with drugs at primary school. No rehabilitation has worked so far: no expensive medication or therapy. Jack is not alone: every day, children are having their brains disabled with innocent sounding amphetamines like methylphenidate (Ritalin) as well as ephedrine and noradrenaline from slimming pills that they buy at the chemist. Are you sure you want to give your children drugs at school? Do you want an alternative solution?