OUR JOURNEY TO MANAGE MY SON TROY'S ADHD
WITHOUT MEDICATIONS
I am new to blogging so forgive me if I make a
few mistakes here. I have a story to tell about my son Troy and how this
awesome diet has helped him so much. It's a long story and informative to
those of you struggling with your child's adhd, please read this, it
could change your life as well as give your child a new start.
I always thought that
my son Troy was a little different, not in a bad way but still different.
He has always seen things differently then the average child. If we went
to the park and he saw a duck, he would say “look at the white feathery bird”
where the other children would say “duck”. Or if there was a square
written on a piece of paper, most kids would say “I see a square”. Troy would
say “I see a white rectangle with a square in the middle”. I am not the
type of mom that compares my kids to other kids; I feel each child is
unique. And this was just Troy’s uniqueness and I loved that about him,
but it made him stand out from the other kids and soon he noticed he was
different as well.
I noticed him saying
negative things about himself. He would say “I’m stupid” and “I wish I
didn’t exist”. Those phrases became quite common and I started to get
concerned for him. As you could imagine, those words are very upsetting
for a mom to hear her child say. He also started to have terrible
nightmares. He would wake up in the middle of the night crying out.
He started to have more and more tummy aches and seemed to vomit a lot more
then the average child. I wasn’t sure if all of this was somehow related,
but I knew I wanted to find out.
In November of 2010 I
took Troy to a center that tested children’s intellect as well as giving them a
psychological evaluation. We were told that Troy had ADHD, anxiety and
mild depression. He also had mild sensory integration disorder, auditory
processing disorder and a problem with his eyes ability to tract words properly
which they call amblyopia. “O.K.” we thought, “this is a lot to wrap our
heads around but at least we have an answer.” The center we took
him to had given us a few different ideas that didn’t involve medication to
try, but thought if we didn’t see any results that we would need to start him
on medication. Medication was not something I wanted for him, so I
decided it was time to do research on other options.
It’s really difficult
to know where to start. There is so much good information out there, but
with all the good there is just as much bad. My first step was to try to
see what doctors were out there to help his external issue with his eyes and
ears. So I researched doctors that dealt with auditory processing as well
as for his amblyopia. Believe it or not, there aren’t of a lot of doctors
out there for either, at least not in my area. My first appointment was
for his auditory processing disorder.
Auditory processing
disorder basically is that what goes into his ears get’s so garbled he can’t
make out what is being said. Now if he is spoken to in one of his ears
and there isn’t any distractions in the room, he has no problem. But in a
class like setting, it’s really difficult for him to hear. His ears work
perfectly fine, so it’s not that. I think of it like a highway from your
ears to your brain and from there to where ever the information needs to
go. With Troy, there is usually a traffic jam and the information takes a
bit longer to get where it needs to go. We took him to a specialist for
this disorder and he told me “you have much bigger fish to fry then the
auditory processing”. I thought wow and this guy is a doctor? I
later on knew what he meant. It’s hard to tell where the ADHD begins and
the auditory processing disorder ends. I didn't push this issue
just yet as there was plenty other issues to work on.
Troy’s poor reading
skills were due to something called amblyopia, an eye issue. Amblyopia is
when the eyes can’t focus on what is being read. Troy would say things
like “the words just keep disappearing on the page” and “what line was I on”
because his eyes couldn’t hold his place. So I used what I call a ‘line
keeper”. I took a rectangle shape index card, the kind without lines, and
cut a smaller rectangle out of one corner. Try not to get a white colored
one if you use this technique, white is too bright for some kids and it’s
distracting to them. I used the vanilla colored ones. When he read
he would put the word where the cut out is and move it along the page.
This really helped him keep his place within the paragraph. Even though Troy
was scoring 50’s and 60’s in math and reading comprehension, he tested as above
average in math and reading comprehension on his intellectual evaluation.
But that was only when the passages were read to him, not if he tried to read
it himself. The most frustrating thing for Troy was he knew he was smart
but just couldn’t show it. I started to understand why he was so
frustrated, anyone would be. Knowing this, I explained to Troy that it
isn’t his fault, that there is something going on in his brain and we will
figure it out together. I can tell you that I actually saw the weights
being lifted off his shoulder. He was holding onto this frustration for
so long, it was a relief for him to know he wasn’t responsible. It was a
good day for him when I actually acknowledged what he felt.
So we decided to take
him for eye therapy to treat his amblyopia. This is like exercising the
eye and building the muscles so they function properly. If you want to
start this process look for a doctor that specializing in eye therapy.
They may also call it vision therapy, or behavioral vision therapy.
Keep in mind that this is expensive and most likely not covered by
insurance. It cost us about 500 dollars a month for 8 sessions a month,
each session was 45 minutes. They will test your child’s vision, but not
only the regular vision like you and I would have. They also test for the
ability to see 3D, for possible dyslexia, do a developmental vision evaluation,
a diagnostic workup, and visual acuity. As well as eye teaming, tracking,
focusing, visual perception and eye hand coordination. Troy was
prescribed what they call prism glasses that help to work the eye muscles on a
daily basis. It’s possible that one day he will not need to wear them
anymore. He will be very happy if that day comes!! I can tell you
by experience that eye therapy worked for him. To this day his teachers
say he does wonderful oral reports and just the other day he did a reading at
our church. That is a big difference from last year when he couldn’t read
well at all. Of course there was a lot more things we did to get this far
as I will share with you.
I started reading up
on these disorders to see what type of supplement or dietary changes I could do
for Troy. Many many hours were spent on the computer, in the library and
listening to CD’s from some very wonderful doctors. My favorite is Dr. Amen of the Amen Clinic and his CD “Natural
Ways to Heal the Brain”.
He does a wonderful job explaining how there are more then one type of
ADHD. He also has a few different clinics over the US. You can get his cd
and books on Amazon.com as the link shows. After listening to his CD and
doing research, my first step was supplements. So out to the health food
store I went.
Please remember that
although these are vitamins that does not mean they aren’t powerful and
therefore potentially dangerous if you do not take them as advised. Also
check with your doctor or health care provider to make sure you aren’t giving
your child too large a dose.
I found that the first
most important supplement was fish oil. Fish oil supplements or omega 3
are good for many reasons. But for kids with ADHD it has been shown to
improve the function of the brain helping to unblock the traffic jam on the
freeway of the brain that I spoke of earlier. Still I remember thinking
to myself “fish oil! How the heck am I going to get my 7 year old to drink fish
oil?” Like most children his age he couldn’t take pills, so I had to find
a non fishy fish oil supplement. In my quest to figure out how to give
him fish oil pills, I tried liquid, small pills that he could swallow, and
chewable pills. He hated all of them and even though it was a tiny pill
he couldn’t swallow it. So then I thought maybe if I bought gel caps I
could break these open somehow and try mixing them with something in order to
mask the taste. After about 4 bottles of horribly tasting supplements, I
finally found Omega
3-6-9+D Juniors gel caps made by Nordic
Naturals. I get these from Amazon.com as well, I provided a link for
you. These are a very good quality omega complex for about 20 dollars a
bottle. Check with your local health food store to see if they have
supplement discount days. On Tuesday’s I get 10% off. Remember to
check your labels to make sure the supplements are gluten free. We also
make sure they are diary free, preservative free and coloring free.
The Omega 3 6 9 + D
taste pretty much like lemon with a hint of fish. In order to get past
the hint of fish, I break open the gel caps, squeeze it onto a tablespoon and
pour some honey on top. Troy says it’s his “lemon honey” vitamin and asks
for it in the morning. He doesn’t even taste the fish at all. I can
tell you that within a week I saw a change in Troy’s ability to focus and
remember his school work. Doing home work with him became easier because
he knew more and became more confident in his ability. Seeing confidence
in him for the first time was truly remarkable for me.
Note: Make sure
you get the ones I stated above, NOT the omega 3-6-9 without the D because they
taste very fishy.
I also give him a
drink of Emergen C lemon lime flavor; I use the little packets that you mix in
water. I get these at Walmart but they sell them in a lit of different
stores. It contains a good amount of b complex as well as C. He
likes the lemon lime flavor, but they come in many different flavors. He
also get’s a good quality probiotic. I use
Culturelleprobiotics for kids. I get these also at Walmart, they usually come with a 2
dollar off coupon inside. The Culturelle for kids is a tasteless
powder that mixes well in his Emergen-C drink. It really has no taste and
no grit, they won’t even know they are drinking it! A lot of people don’t
realize that the GI tract is the first line of defense for colds and flu.
Keeping the GI tract healthy and happy with lot’s of great probiotics to grow
good flora is very important. It also helps children with issues of gluten
sensitivity as this type of sensitivity usually affects the GI tract.
Choose a good quality one, it’s worth every penny.
We were surely on
track and eager to continue helping him. Some of my research strongly
suggested using supplements of vitamin D because it has been shown to improve
signs of mild depression. So I carefully looked into how much he should
have, and how much he was getting already and found a great chewable Vitamin D
for children called Animal
Parade Vit D 3. I order these
from Amazon.com. This truly helped to take the edge off of his
depression. Before the Vitamin D I felt like we were constantly talking
him “off the ledge” because everything would hurt his feelings and make him
sad. But after the Vitamin D this didn’t happen as often.
I tried a few other
supplements that didn’t help too much, but I will mention them as they have had
good scientific evidence of helping children with ADHD, just not Troy.
Not every child will respond the same way to supplements. The other
vitamins were Zinc and Magnesium. I tried liquid magnesium
that tasted horrible. It claimed to be orange flavor but tasted nothing
like orange. Magnesium can get into the body by a simple nightly bath
with Epsom salt, so that is what we did. Now for the zinc, we found Animal
Parade Kids Zinc Lozenges taste great. We bought the tangerine flavor
and Troy loved them.
Remember to ask your
retailer if your child doesn’t like the taste of any of vitamins you purchase
if you are allowed to bring it back for a refund. I learned that this was
possible, but learned it after spending a couple of hundred dollars on vitamins
I either threw away or gave away.
Around the end of May
2011, I started looking into dietary changes. We had spent the last 6
months researching and trying different vitamins. I felt that we tried
all the supplements we could with great success. That’s when I came
across the gluten free diet. It seemed very promising and I had read many
blogs by mom’s who tried it with success. Lot’s of articles had linked
ADHD to gluten sensitivity. I was eager to try this die so that was our
next step. This diet was very daunting. As you could imagine
I had no idea where to start. Where do I buy gluten free foods? Are
they sold at regular stores? When I went into a regular grocery store and
asked someone who worked there I usually got “what type of foods?” Or
“what is gluten free?” They had no idea what I meant. So I started
at the health food stores, at least the clerks there understood what I meant by
gluten free. We also decided to go completely preservative free, additive
free and coloring free which I strongly suggest if you can, that too improved
Troy’s behavior. Troy and I are also casein free as we have a difficult
time digesting dairy.
At first I spent
what seemed like a gazillion dollars at the health food store just trying to
find foods my kids would eat. The health food store is really the only
place I have found where they actually separate gluten free foods from regular
foods. My favorite store of all is Earth Fare. Separating the gluten free from the
regular foods makes shopping 100 times easier. But with most things, you
pay for the convenience so shopping only at the health food store is much more
expensive. Expensive was not something we could handle especially after
spending all that money on eye therapy, our money taps were getting dry.
So one day while in Walmart I found some of the foods we like were sold there,
and they were a LOT cheaper, YAY!! Keep looking in your regular grocery
store as they are getting more and more gluten free foods in as more and more
people are asking for them.
I found a yummy rice
treat that comes in chocolate, chocolate and peanut butter and berry
flavor. They are called Envirokids Organic Crispy Rice Bars.
They are perfect to throw in the lunch box for a school snack. These
treats were at least a dollar more at the health food store. We also buy
corn snacks like Tostitos, corn cereal and potato chips at Wal-Mart or Target.
One thing to watch out for is fat in the gluten free foods as well
as sugar content in the cereals. A lot of the cereals that are
gluten free are stuffed full of sugar or fat. Wal-Mart carries a lot of
the gluten free flours cheaper as well. There are something’s you can
only get at the health food store like their favorite pretzels Glutano
Gluten Free Pretzel twists or the not as common flours like teff
flour or garbanzo bean and fava bean flours.
The other lesson I
learned is just because it says gluten free doesn’t mean it will taste
good. I spend quite a bit of money on horrible gluten free products,
truly inedible. Then I found a sandwich bread that was good, actually
quite tasty. That was Udi’s Gluten Free white AND whole grain sandwich
breads. Of course my recipe for whole grain gluten free bread is
delicious as well and a lot cheaper which is the key for me. Although
these products are tasty, they are extremely expensive and I knew I would have
to figure out a way to make my own in order to save a few bucks. But it
was a start, and it was edible enough for us to enjoy and start our new way of
eating.
This diet is what
brought it all together for Troy; at least eventually it did. I had hoped
for a quick fix but what I got was far from it. About 2 weeks into this
diet, Troy had what are called “withdrawal symptoms” from the gluten, wow were
they difficult. I almost gave up he was so hard to handle. He would
get angry and blow up at everything. Little things would upset him, he
would cry much easier. His teacher actually asked me if I could keep him
out of school for the last 2 weeks because he was, as she put it “done” and she
was right he was done. All his symptoms got worse, not better. I
remember thinking “I thought this diet was supposed to help him, not hurt
him!” And I second guessed everything I did and thought maybe I should
just give up. My friend Tracy reminded me that this was normal and
actually a good sign. She too had been gluten free for a while and saw
great improvement in herself. If not for her, I believe that I would have
given up.
But slowly, everyday I
saw improvement and everyday I got more confident I was doing the right
thing. His physical symptoms of gas, bloating and diarrhea and nausea
also slowly went away. He was able to focus better at school, his grades
improved, he found a few more friends and is happy and healthy. If not
for all we did for him and this diet, I am not sure where he would be.
The key is making sure you give this diet enough time to work. You need
to stay on it for at least 6 months before you can say if it is or is not
helping. And it takes up to a full year or more to see the full
improvements. After about 3 months on this diet, I saw a different child.
I learned that this diet isn’t restricting at all. He eats most food he
loves like bagels, eggs, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, popovers, rice,
chicken, cereal, chocolate milk, dark chocolate and the list goes on. He
certainly isn’t missing out on any of his favorite foods I can tell you that.
At first I baked
everything they loved, all the floury sugary gluten free goodness they
craved. But then I slowly took away as much sugary snacks as I
could. Sugar has natural inflammatory properties that are not good for children
with ADHD or any child in my opinion. There is a school of thought that
it’s an inflammatory process in the brain that causes these types of
neurological problems and any extra outside influence of inflammation obviously
should be avoided. They are still allowed cookies and cakes, but only
once in a while. It sounds severe and they will complain, oh yes, they
will complain, but after a few weeks you will see that they enjoy these treats
so much more then before. Plus, when you’re making all their food from
scratch, you really want it to last longer. So give a little at a time.
I will be sharing all of the wonderful recipes
I have either found or created myself so check back often :)
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