Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD)

@dorisena - thanks for the further information about your granddaughter and other relatives having ADHD. Since you have personal experience with multiple people with this condition, do you have any thoughts for @ina123 who is seeking ways to manage ADHD without medication for a young person?

My experience is that medication or no medication is an individual decision based on the circumstances, and that varies as well. I am not pro or con on the subject, but the effects of too much sugar in the diet affects some children as well. I have seen that happen. My granddaughter begged to go off the meds because of headaches for the summer and then refused to take them again when school started. She had a school reading tutor whom she responded to and got along well in some subjects but not in math. In high school she was reevaluated by a psychiatrist and he recommended no meds. She went to an easy college and learned to work around her "learning disability" whatever that means and then transferred to a big state college where she thrived because she wanted to be there, graduated and is thriving in her chosen career job. She is a 'work horse" and I think her hard work ethic does more good than anything.
She is a people person and we are very happy for her. She will always be a person who doesn't stay on one thought for very long. The psychiatrist guessed that she could learn to work around the problem and that it could be genetic in nature. Perhaps he was right. Another friend was a good worker and his ADHD seemed to go away in young adulthood. We will see. I know one friend who thinks he has outgrown his ADHD but he has been an unstable employee. People seek definite answers for indefinite problems. We just keep working on it. Dorisena

@dorisena When my children were younger we found that artificial coloring caused children to be hyper much more than sugar. A birthday party that my children went to had a brownie cake with bright orange frosting (Halloween). Even the children who were generally pretty mellow were off the wall! There were no naps that afternoon!

My son and daughter did end up using a medication in late HS. It made a huge difference. My son was amazed that he could be attentive in class. He stopped taking the meds in college, I suspect he was drinking a bit and smart enough to know to not mix meds and alcohol. My daughter discontinued them too, but I’m not sure why.
JK

I know nothing about food coloring but read about it some years ago. We only used coloring for Easter eggs and didn't eat the shells. Over the years some of my family had low blood sugar issues so we cut down on sugar quite a bit and avoided much sweets. We always attributed the low blood sugar to stress issues, but perhaps there is a genetic issue as well. My late sister's children and grandchildren had ADHD and OCD problems which were definitely diagnosed as genetic in their father's family. Some of them are not stable adults and most are confirmed alcoholics and do not take meds, which is unfortunate for them. One relative burned down the bedroom at age five, and was later diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorders. He had six specialists on his IEP contract at school and was eventually expelled. I don't know what happened after that. We don't have contact. I have friends whose children excelled in school on certain meds and did well in college. Their work ethic did not develop as well, however. I don't know the reasons behind that. Dorisena

In some families, alcohol is the cultural drug of choice for just about any ailment and a few manage well with that for everything from a cold to a nervous disorder. My husband viewed alcohol the same as the rest of the world views Aspirin, or other over the counter analgesics. He never went to the doctor because he believed it was a sign of character weakness to not keep working when you felt bad. That was his grandmother's culture. Dorisena

@dorisena As I said, my son had ADHD and my daughter ADD. I discovered through them that I had ADD myself. When I was in school and did not get grades commensurate with my IQ I was thought to be a "lazy student" or an "underachiever".

Both my son and daughter have done excellently in the working world, he is a VP of a business and she is a content strategist for a major financial firm. They both have an excellent work ethic. We always knew if we could push/shove/drag our son through school he would succeed in the working world. Even when he had jobs while in school he was highly regarded.

I suspect the people you are referring to had more problems than attention deficits.
JK

I noticed long ago that our bodies were born not perfect, so I suppose that includes the mind. I really keep the mind connected to the body and think of it all as a whole. So one arm or leg is longer than the other, and so on. My brother was dropped as a baby, and he had a hematoma on the side of his head. I often blamed his tantrums and illogical thinking on that accident because I couldn't reason out why he would think and act the way he did. Amazingly, he quit the attacks and tantrums late in life and was mild and friendly to me. He realized that the fuss wasn't worth it. With problems like ADHD some people can learn to work around it and lead successful lives. But not if they choose to live in denial and belligerent thinking. I don't have the answers. But I have learned some understanding. And I was successful teaching students in a vocational school. We rescued some with a change in desire and attitude. Dorisena

After raising three children, countless neighbor children, five grandchildren and a husband, I am firmly convinced that children learn maladaptive behaviors from adults early in life just by observing. Whether or not we realize it, we teach them bad habits, bad words, bad attitudes, and some good behaviors without much effort. I was a full time mother, so I easily had great success, now that I analyze my past experiences. If you take away that opportunity in young people, they are free to exhibit whatever behaviors they come up with. Few children are self taught to become exemplary citizens, kind, loving, and generous. They get it from us. Add a genetic problem to the mix, and yes, they are more problems than attention deficits. I am an old lady now. Yes, I have attention deficits. I don't think about what I am doing, and I do dumb things like falling on the floor. I have to get the squad to get me back up. It is embarrassing, and the root cause is that I don't pay attention. But I do not have a diagnosed disease and I am not yet feeble. I have to work on it. I need to get an alarm to wear and I loathe the idea. I plan to sew a small cloth bag to carry it, like a purse on a strap. I am still working on the problem. Dorisena

Yes, alcohol abuse is a very old, common problem and still very socially acceptable. I like a glass of wine myself now and then. It is fruit juice, well preserved. It is the root cause of my relatives' problems and some have been to court because of the problem. Some of us choose to do something about it, and some do not. It destroyed my beautiful husband. It does not control me, however. Dorisena

Hi, @ocp11 - just wanted to check in with you and see how things are going? How are the challenges with attention and feeling excessively hyper recently?