ADHD

Examining the Hyperactive Syndrome

Forty years ago, ADHD was hardly heard of. Now it appears to be quite common. In the US, 3% (4
million) children have been diagnosed as having it; in Canada and Australia, 5%. In Australia, an
epidemic of 100 children in a Melbourne suburb has recently been reported.

ADHD affects the child, his family, school and community. It mostly affects boys. The boy will be
disruptive, restless, clumsy, impulsive, can’t concentrate, sit still, learn, organize himself and he has a
short attention span. He is an underachiever, often bright. He doesn’t sleep enough. He is not a very
popular boy and tends to get left out of invitations.

More than one child in a family can be born like this, which leads to parent’s perpetual exhaustion, and
sometimes family disintegration when breaking point is reached. It is a serious condition for the child
and has wider implications for all concerned, as is the case whenever brain function is affected.

Twenty-five years ago, Dr Ben Feingold in the USA was the first to point to chemical additives in
foods and drinks, and salicylates, as being precipitators of hyperactive behavior. It is now known that
hyperactivity is only part of the problem.

Paediatrician Dr Lendon Smith (USA) says 20%T of children overproduce insulin and tend to have
low and fluctuating blood sugar or hypglycaemia. He has also noticed hat these children are very
sensitive and ticklish. He also believes 50% to 70% of children are allergic or sensitive to some degree
to milk and dairy products.

Paediatrician and allergist Dr Doris Rapp noticed that children with behavioral problems improved
when their allergies were treated. Their activity levels sometimes seemed more normal and their
schoolwork improved. Some parents also noted that their children’s chronic muscle aches, leg-aches
and headaches subsided. Early in 1976 she decided to attempt a special study of a group of children
previously diagnosed as being hyperactive. These preliminary studies appeared to show a relationship
between food sensitivities and hyperactivity. Since that time, Dr Rapp has published several books and
films on hyperactivity in children, allergies/sensitivities and the effects of chemicals on children in
schools and the home. She stated on Australian television that the medical profession generally were
not interested in her findings and that is why she endeavors to communicate direct with parents who
need help. She has published several books and produced documentaries on this subject.

Dr Bernard Rimland, world authority on autism, has been using Vit. B6 (pyidoxine) and Magnesium
with autistic and hyperatice children with excellent results. Double-blind studies comparing Ritalin to
B6/Magnesium show the latter comes out far ahead.

Dr Richard Mackarness, author of ‘Chemical Victims’ and ‘Not all in the Mind’, says chemicals added
to our foods today make shopping as dangerous as walking through a minefield. Clinical Ecology units
offer hope to many by separating sufferers from foods and chemicals. Adults also may suffer periods
of hyperactivity when affected by certain chemicals. Dr Mackarness says that it is possible for good,
wholesome food (which we are taught to regard as staple items of diet) to affect your body and your
mind.
T.E. Tuormaa in J.O/M. Med. 1994, states that follow-up studies in teenagers have shown that ADHD
children have higher drop-outs-out and expulsion fates from school; there is more drug/alcohol abuse;
more road accidents, criminal behavior, and court appearances.

immediate reactions to foods and inhalant allergens on RATS. There is a tendency to low
blood glucose (hypoglycemia) and a tendency to metabolic acidosis or low bicarbonate due
to food and chemical reactions, and low cortisol and low cholesterol.
“Many have severe food and chemical sensitivities to cows milk, gluten containing grains,
legumes and beans - all of which can cause a severe malabsorption state, flat gut villi and
thus low vitamins, minerals and amino acids. Many are missed coeliacs with gluten and
alpha-gliadin sensitivity or intolerance. Rarely, the child can be a missed juvenile SLE and
can appear autistic or psychotic or mentally retarded. One child with juvenile SLE had
Ondine’s Curse. Her parents would take turns to sit up all night to watch over her as she
would stop breathing. The condition stopped once the SLE was corrected with diet and
nutrients. Her behavioral problems also ceased.”

Unless investigative pathology is carried out there is a risk that a wrong diagnosis can easily
occur. Dr Chris Reading says that a child with coeliac disease and unable to digest grains
may actually present as autistic or psychotic or mentally retarded. “A child who is just not
growing may start ‘sprouting’ when his allergies are seen to. A child who appears to be
‘uncontrol-able’ and needing bars on the windows may become calmer when not given
‘treats’ of milk and ice-cream”.

In tests, 500 samples of ADHE hair/urine/serum have shown lower levels of iron and zinc,
and high levels of aluminum and lead (UK 1994). Tartrazine (102) and Sunset yellow (110)
coloring cause serum zinc to fall and urinary zinc to increase in hyperactive children. In the
normal control group, results were different.

It is alarming that full investigative pathology is not routinely ordered for ADHD. Instead, we
see the drug Ritalin increasingly prescribed as the only resort. Ritalin suppresses some of the
symptoms but does not rectify basic dysfunctioning body-chemistry which is causing them.
(Essential Fatty Acids help.)

Without investigative pathology there is the possibility that a child who does not have ADHD
will be given medication for the suppression of symptoms. The side-effects, contra-
indications, and warnings of Ritalin listed in the Physician’s Desk Manual are numerous and
unpleasant. There is discussion as to whether chemical control of symptoms can habituate
the body to their intake. When the child arrives at teenage and puberty, symptoms may
become even more serious and depression may arise. Investigation does appear to be the
most sensible procedure.

So we see that ADHD is not the end of the diagnosis — it is the beginning. The family of an
ADHO child needs to look to the present, and also to the future, when development into
adulthood starts to take place. The first step a worried parent can take is to arrange for a
metabolic profile on the child - whose very future may be at stake.

Article taken from SOMA Newsletter, written by Jean Sulima. Issue 3, Vol 19, January 1998.