Attention Deficit (Hyperactivity) Disorder

Attention Deficit (Hyperactivity) Disorder

Stephen B. Edelson, M.D., F.A.A.F.P., F.A.A.E.M.

The Edelson Center for Environmental and Preventive Medicine

What Is It?

This medical problem is a very disturbing one, filled with many handicaps for the patient. It affects thousands of infants, children, adolescents, and adults. It affects behavior, learning processes and communication. A child is usually affected before birth, and this is most likely preventable. If not prevented, serious disabilities occur which threaten the child's future development. If left untreated, the condition may continue to affect the person through adulthood, in some form or other, although some remission may occur at puberty. During pregnancy, there is usually a great deal of fetal activity, coupled with very hard kicking. Hyperactive babies of ten suffer from "colic," need very little sleep, cry and scream a great deal, are restless and fidgety, will not feed properly, and are "rockers" and "head bangers." No amount of nursing or comforting will calm such a child. They often reject affection and mothering. As the child becomes more mobile (sometimes at a very early age), he is into everything, rushing from one thing to another. His attention span is very short and he is easily distracted. He touches everything and leaves a trail of destruction and havoc. He is not deliberately destroying things, but his lack of control and coordination and general clumsiness leads to breakage of items about the house. He is driven by what appears to be an endless source of energy-both day and night. The speech and thinking processes of the hyperactive child often reveal multiple defects. Some cannot integrate what they see and hear because of visual perception difficulties. This, in turn, leads to an inability to understand. Hyperactive children may often suffer with a wide range of other ailments and disabilities, such as eczema, asthma, chronic infections, hay fever, headaches, stomach aches, etc.

Symptoms In Brief Infancy and Young Children:

crying, screaming, restlessness, needing little sleep, difficult to feed, cannot be pacified, spurns affection and cuddles, excessive dribbling, increased thirst, head banging, rocking, fits, tantrums.

Older Children:(in addition to symptoms in infancy)

clumsiness, impulsive, accident prone, erratic, disruptive behavior, compulsive touching, constant motion, fatigued, disturbs other children, weak, weary, listless, aggressive, nonstop talk, repetition, lacks concentration, loud talk, withdrawn at times, restless sleep, normal or high IQ but fails at school, poor appetite, nightmares, poor eye-hand coordination, nervous, uncooperative, irritable, defiant, depressed with wild mood swings, disobedient, self-abusive, oversensitive to odors, lights, sound, cold, hair pulling, picking skin, sleep problems, enuresis (bed wetting), muscle aches, 'growing pains,' bladder problems, facial changes, dark eye circles, puffy below eyes, red earlobes, red cheeks, swollen neck glands, fluid behind ear drums, ringing ears, dizziness, excessive sweating, low-grade fever.

There are degrees of the problem and not every child has all of the symptoms described. More boys than girls are hyperactive by a ratio of 3:1 (with a high percentage of blond hair, blue eyed).

What Is The Cause?

There probably is not one etiology for this process. It can be caused by genetic abnormalities, birth injuries, endocrine abnormalities, emotional problems, biochemical disturbances, toxins, enzyme defects, stresses in life, or previous infections. The item that brings all of this together is that when you investigate environmental sensitivities on these children, you find they are "allergic" to foods, dyes, chemicals, inhalants, and other incitants. Not all children have food sensitivities, but a large percentage do, and they improve dramatically when avoidance and desensitization are done. During an evaluation of a child with this problem, we must individualize and look for the causes that lead to the sensitivities, like: hypoglycemia, lead poisoning, yeast syndrome, parasites, amino acid abnormalities, and other nutritional biochemical abnormalities.

What Can Be Done?

As a result of research and the practical evidence of substantial improvements in the health and behavior of many hyperactive children, it has been shown that in many cases hyperactivity is aggravated (if not caused) by an intolerance to foods, chemicals, additives, dyes, and inhalants (pollens, molds, etc.)

1. DETOXIFY YOUR HOME CLEANING PRODUCTS AND PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS

Toxic scents are everywhere. They are in cosmetics, household items, detergents, magazine advertising, and personal care products. The majority of these ingredients have minimal testing for human toxicity. The National Academy of Sciences reports that 95 percent of chemical used in fragrances are synthetic compounds derived from petroleum. These chemicals can cause allergic reactions and central-nervous-system dysfunction. Most household cleaning products found in grocery stores contain harmful toxic chemicals. Many are toxic when absorbed through the skin or inhaled. Washing clothing or bedding in these household products is another source of contact. According to the National Institutes of Health, 35 million American experience allergic reactions and hypersensitivity to chemicals found in common household products.

There are wonderful, safe alternatives to help you clean up your toxic environment. Email me if you need suggestions.

2. DETOXIFY YOUR BODY

Add fiber to your diet. For many children that don't like anything but sugars this will take some work. Add a good fiber supplement to a "smoothie" and your children will love it. The positive benefits of fiber are no longer based on hypotheses or guesswork. Medical studies offer compelling and clear evidence that adequate fiber intake is vital to optimum health! The correlation between low fiber diets and a variety of chronic health issues has been documented time and time again. Many researchers believe that chronic health issues such as cancer, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, diverticulosis, high blood pressure, ulcers, flood allergies, candida, acne, and more are directly associated with fiber-deficient diets. Like a broom, fiber sweeps through the digestive tract without being absorbed or assimilated, binding bile acids, increasing fecal bulk, diluting the concentration levels of sugar and other rich foods, decreasing bowel transit time and more. Fiber's ability to neutralize, absorb, and facilitate the elimination of toxic waste is extremely crucial to our well being.

3. REPAIR AND RESTORE YOUR BODY'S DEFENSES

High quality, absorbable multi-vitamin and mineral supplements are a must. I have information regarding a vitamin and mineral supplement that is quite unique in that the minerals are chelated with fructose. That is, a carbon atom is removed from this sugar chain and a mineral atom is inserted in its place. What is interesting is that after this transformation occurs the bond angles and the structure of this new molecule, a "substituted fructose", are identical to a real fructose molecule. Therefore, since these structures are the same and the body recognizes substances based on structure, the body treats this "substituted fructose " as a true sugar molecule. Sugars, including this "substituted fructose " are completely absorbed from the intestinal lumen, or inside of the gut, into the bloodstream that goes to the hepatic portal system and is then circulated throughout the entire body. This is the first part of the miracle of this supplement, that of approximating 100% absorption. The next part of the miracle is just as interesting. Since cells need sugar to perform the functions of life, sugars are transported across the cell membrane constantly and then taken to the mitochondria and are converted to ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate ) , which is the currency of energy for cells. ATP powers the mechanisms that create the stuff of life, such as neurotransmitters, proteins of repair, bone formation, red blood cells, white blood cells, and we could go on and on. Therefore, sugars are taken across cell walls from the blood at higher rates than other substances in the blood, since we need it to convert so much sugar into ATP. This "substituted fructose " becomes an ideal carrier of minerals not only getting into the bloodstream to an astoundingly high degree but also into the cells of the body that can then use these minerals for the formation of the stuff of life. What is also nice about using fructose as a carrier is that fructose is not insulin dependent which makes it a wonderful carrier for a diabetic. Fructose uses a completely different metabolic pathway to enter a cell.

Well, let me paint a little more of this picture, using the paint brush of basic anatomy. The brain rests inside the skull. Between the brain and the skull is the dura mater, which is Latin for "tough mother." The dura mater is a tough membrane that protects the brain. Between the dura mater and the brain is another barrier, the blood brain barrier which is composed of astrocytes, oligocytes, and microglia. These three cell types act as a filter keeping everything that is circulating in the blood that could be harmful to the brain, from reaching the brain. Yet there is one thing that crosses the blood brain barrier easily, Sugar (Including "substituted fructose). Even though muscles can use sugars, free fatty acids, as well as proteins as a fuel, the brain can only use sugar as a fuel. The answer lies in the physiology of the brain. It is obvious to you that the heart is an organ that pumps blood; the lungs are an organ which exchange gases according to law of partial pressures; the kidneys are an organ which filter blood; and the brain is also an organ. But what does the brain do? The Mind is what the brain does. I am using Mind to describe the myriad functions of the brain. If this self maintaining and self regulating brain, which is an organic machine, does not get the proper nutrition it needs to function well, it subsequently is not able to manufacture those substances that are necessary for good brain function and poor Mind results.