The number of our young patients who are presenting with a diagnosis of ADHD and scripts for high dose medication is increasing and hard to believe.
Treating our children with prescription medication can be tricky. Many of these medications are toxic substances that can cause more problems than they solve.
We have never really been sold on the idea of ADHD - no doubt there are some children who are actually hyperactive and unfocused. So if ADHD is not an emotional disorder, what is it?
Common factors that keep emerging in the research about this “disorder” are nutrition and sleep deprivation. For most parents who have been sent home with ADHD as the final diagnosis, this is no revelation - however we want to connect the dots from nutrition and sleep deprivation to a problem that’s so simple, it’s elegant.
Believe it or not, most school-aged kids and many adults are infected with pinworms and other common intestinal parasites such as roundworms or hookworms.
When our children present with strange symptoms (like daily headaches, fatigue, nausea, frequent vomiting, loose bowels, skin rash, arthritic symptoms, twitching, depression or other weird or inexplicable stuff) - they may have a parasite infection!
Translating these symptoms into how our children might express them:
* Inability to pay attention because of a lack of sleep at night when the parasite crawl out of the anus to lay their eggs
* Restlessness caused by general irritability in the intestines, anus, or vagina and itchiness of skin
* Difficulty staying focused due to die-off reactions that cause achiness and pain or stiffness in the joints
* Does not listen when spoken to, has difficulty remembering simple things, and often loses stuff (perhaps because of the iron deficiency anemia or b12 deficiency that often occurs with a corresponding infestation of parasite)
A child who has been diagnosed with ADHD is often described as “constantly fidgeting or squirming”. Getting up out of their seat more often than other kids, anxious, they feel the need to move around constantly, they have trouble relaxing. Their behavior is described as impulsive, but let us describe how it feels as an adult to have a serious parasitic infection in the intestines from personal experience (excerpt from patient testimonial):
“Before I knew what was wrong with me, I couldn’t sit still even though I was exhausted all the time. Whenever I would sit, my insides would “quiver”. I thought perhaps it was stress and moving around made my symptoms more tolerable, but by the end of the day, after moving around so much and all the time, I was so sore and achy that I still couldn’t relax. But I wasn’t sick and so I couldn’t do anything but just…keep going. Sometimes, my left eye would start twitching uncontrollably. And whenever I would walk from one room to the next, I’d forget why. Sometimes, I would say the wrong thing when I spoke. Like when I kept saying, “Your way,” to my husband when what I really meant to say was “Your turn” (which would’ve made a lot more sense in context). I couldn’t stop myself sometimes from screwing up my words and my sentences (a symptom of B12 deficiency that often occurs as a result of intestinal parasites). I was irritable and sometimes I got angry with my family for no reason. Each night, I’d try to sleep but would wake up 14 to 15 times to do a wee because the parasites had found their way into my bladder.”
Can you translate this experience into one your child may be having? Human parasites can, without a doubt, cause ADHD symptoms.
Our philosophy in approaching most of these conditions is to address the underlying cause - after just one session for most of our little people, parents report significant change in symptoms and behaviour. We then move forward with realign, repair, and rebuilding.
If you are in the grip of this diagnosis - the question for you is, what is causing it? Always, always ask why.
Healthy Gut | Healthy Mind | Healthy Life