Wouldn't kids be stronger in the long run if they learned how to cope with ADD naturally through diet or biofeedback or therapy?

Answer 1

Yes, I suspect they would. Drugs are much, much easier (and cheaper) on the medical delivery system and get grossly overprescribed. (diagnosed this year, am 35 and now on Adderall)

Answer: I don't believe so. ADD is a chemical imbalance--not a behavior problem. Some children with ADD do "overcome" it by the time they are adults, but this is attributed to brain development, not personal effort. Therapy can help to minimize the behavioral tendencies that one develops as a result of ADD, but it really has no effect on the root problem, which is purely biological. Therefor, therapy should be used in addition to medication, not in lieu of it. There is some evidence that children with ADD who modify their diet are more likely to grow out of it, so to speak, because diet can affect brain development. I am 15, and I was diagnosed a couple years ago. High school was the first time my grades reflected the disorder because until then the workload was not difficult enough for my grades to suffer. If your child is smart and resourceful, they might be able to compensate for their ADD all the way through grade school. But speaking from experience, they won't have gained anything from "coping" with their disadvantage. It's extremely frustrating to feel as though you're not reaching your potential. I personally suffered from depression as a result, and have heard that this is quite common for undiagnosed ADD. You wouldn't deny a diabetic insulin, would you?

It depends on Parents, Siblings, Peers, Teachers, and anyone who matters to them... their support structure. If they don't know that they are simply wired differently, then teenage and adult years can lay depression, frustration, and resentment upon them. Do try the Natural options, first. If they are sufficient, it will save a lot of money, and avoid negative stigmatization. Intense aerobic exercise (Basketball, soccer) is one of the treatments. With the obesity crisis, exercise training could also be an excellent lifestyle skill to learn, early. The fast pace of those sports can provide positive reinforcement, since it requires quick thinking, and can be less boring than solo sports. Herbal supplements like chelated magnesium for mood, damiana tumerica for mood, DMAE for focus, and avoidance of foods that cause blood sugar spikes (aka, South Beach Diet, or L.A. Weight Loss) will also stabilize mood, all to make it easier to focus. Any medicine that is required for acceptable function will disqualify people for occupations such as military service. Some people give up on life, after they are labelled, or if they become convinced that they need drugs, to seem 'normal.' Again, it depends upon the love, care, support, discipline, opinions and attitudes of the people in the child's world. If you believe that kids with seeing deficits would be better in the long run by not wearing glasses and doing eye exercises instead (and we all know that once you start wearing glasses, your vision just gets worse and worse), then you would also think in the same manner for ADD. Of course, those seeing deficit kids are going gto have a lot of bruised noses and won't get called on to play Baseball. But at lease they will be doing a "natural" treatment. I just hope that you don't treat a heart attack in the same way. I was lucky enough to have a son whose behavior changed overnight from horrible to wonderful (more or less) due to Ritalin. He went from hating school to loving it (and will be getting his master's degree in a few months. Yes, he is still medicated. I was lucky to have ADD myself so I knew first hand what a help the medication was. I tried everything I humanly could to change my behavior and when nothing else worked, I reluctantly went to a doctor. I never believed the medication would work. Then I took my first pill and I suddenly saw a different way to look at the world. I was able to control my impulses for the first time in my life. And I knew ADD could be treated I was ADHD and totally untreated for the first 19 years of my life and I learned how to cope. but my ways of coping were failing school, having panick attacks and being a huge annoyance to everyone around me. You learn to deal with the problems you have but sometimes its like doing backflips instead of just walking, it makes everything much harder than it needs to be. for example. with out meds I can not sit still in a class. so I would leave. or I would bring something else to do in class. Sure I got through but does it help to go to class every day when in the end you just fail the class and have to take it over again? meds and a good diet and therapy are the real answer