ADHD/ADD
PLEASE NOTE
Much of what I discuss under this rubric also can be said regarding other “psychological” issues or symptoms such as depression, anxiety, irritability and many others.
BE AWARE
Many issues which are thought to be “psychological” are in fact disruptions in the normal functions of the brain. Questions to begin with: What disruptions are happening and what is causing them? The next is: What can we do about actually healing the brain? But in order to heal the brain, we have to have some idea of what is making it unhealthy.
Today’s “knee jerk reaction” to any perceived psychological diagnosis is to take a medication for it. Is this really the best thing to do, especially for children with developing brains?
It’s true that the medications will often settle down the symptoms being complained of, but at what cost? Not meaning financially, meaning the impact on the body and brain long term.
As an example, we’ve had many mass shootings in America recently. Are you aware that most all perpetrators of the killings are either on psychoactive prescription drugs or have just recently gone off of them? There is good reason to believe that there is a direct cause and effect between the medications and the actions of the killers. If you are not aware of this, there is a great deal of documentary evidence to support the assertion.
The Las Vegas shooter illustrates this as he had been prescribed valium as far back as 2013. Benzodiazepines have been shown in several studies to cause violence, aggression, the desire to kill people, and they heighten the likelihood of suicide. Were his actions due to valium? We don’t know. But time and again, there is a similar story associated with the shooters.
Psychiatric drugs are known to cause many side effects including mania, hostility, violence and homicidal ideation (thinking about killing people). Clearly not everyone taking these drugs will have these effects, but across the country many will.
Kelly Brogan, a well known psychiatrist, has this to say about the casual use of these psychiatric drugs: “We know that all drugs have side effects. That’s just part of the deal, right? But is it really possible that an antidepressant can cause a sane person to act like a cold-blooded criminal?” The implied answer is “yes”!
Leonard Sax is both an MD and a psychologist. He is quoted in the New York Times as saying, “The next time you hear a doctor say, with regard to prescribing the stimulant (Ritalin and related meds) medications, ‘Let’s try it and see whether it helps,’ I suggest that you run - do not walk - to the nearest exit.”
We could explore for some time the potential downsides of casually taking these psychiatric medications. But we simply wanted you to be aware that there are reasons to seriously look for other good options before resorting to the use of drugs.
To Be Clear: I am not unreservedly opposed to all psychiatric medications. There are times and places, when adequate monitoring is in place, that some people can do very well with them. But understanding the causes of brain dysfunctions such as ADD might help us become less dependent on the potentially problematic drugs.
WHAT CAUSES THE SYMPTOMS OF ADD/ADHD?
According to Russell Blaylock, a nationally recognized neurosurgeon, many of the diagnosable psychological/mental issues we face are, simply stated, due to inflammation in the brain. When the brain is inflamed, it doesn’t work right and the effect can be a wide range of what we categorize as psychological problems.
Whether the problem is depression, anxiety, ADD/ADHD, Alzheimer’s, and even issues like Parkinson’s, they could well be due to this inflammation which he refers to as “immunoexcitotoxicity”. The immune system is itself overly pushed and it makes the brain inflamed. What comes out of the inflamed brain can carry a variety of labels such as depression, ADD, and anxiety. But the cause is essentially the same.
There are other ways to think about a problem like this.
For instance, if there is a lack of certain necessary nutrients like vitamin B12, the correct form of folic acid which is known as folate, or not enough vitamin B6, then the brain is also not going to work appropriately and the effect can be what appear like a psychological issue.
Dr Marty Hinz has done a tremendous amount of work on issues related to a functional nutritional deficiency of factors that are needed to create sufficient serotonin and dopamine in the brain. When one is nutritionally deficient of the building blocks required to make adequate serotonin and dopamine, the effect can also be a variety of what appear to be psychological issues - but they really are not, they are manifestations of specific relative nutritional deficiency.
Many of you are aware of the drugs know as SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) and SNRIs (Serotonin-norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors). These include medications such as Prozac and Wellbutrin. The goal of these medications is to increase the perceived amount of neurotransmitters in the synapses between nerves. It tricks the brain into “thinking” that there is more of these chemicals than there actually are. These meds do nothing to increase the amount of neurotransmitters such as serotonin.
A very reasonable question here might be: How can we actually increase the amount of serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine rather than use the trickery employed by the drugs? The good news is that there are effective ways to do just that. Hold on for bit and we’ll explain.
Since the cause of these types of symptoms will often include untoward immune reactions, or inflammation, or a lack of certain nutrients needed to keep a well functioning brain, what is the treatment?
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) can also trigger an inflammatory process that may not decrease notably with time. This could include known concussions, falls off of bikes/skate boards/roller blades, motor vehicle accidents even when there didn’t seem to be a major injury, football/soccer injuries, etc. There are powerful ways to lower the inflammation in the brain due to TBIs.
Living in an environment that is mold toxic. Mold toxins can be mightily neurotoxic.
TREATMENT
In light of the above, how might we treat ADD/ADHD?
By finding foods that trigger the immunoexcitotoxicity mentioned above, and then avoiding those foods, we can help lower the inflammation and help the brain to work better and people to feel better.
By avoiding specific ingredients that are often put in out foods and will trigger brain inflammation. These include: MSG, food colorings (generally), glyphosate/RoundUp and other pesticides/herbicides (eat organic and grow organic), and fluoride (black tea/toothpaste).
Avoiding aluminum and mercury as much as possible. Aluminum is present in significant quantities in all vaccinations. Be aware and careful. Mercury is often used for a dental filling, to fill cavities. It is called silver amalgam, but is usually about 50% mercury - thus the name should more accurately be mercury amalgam.
Providing appropriate nutrition for proper or excellent function.
Dr Hinz’s approach is very helpful for many people with these issues. It’s a carefully designed, precisely dosed program to provide the ingredients necessary to make optimal amounts of serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine.
TBI’s can be treated in a number of ways, all designed to bring the brain back to its best function.
I mold toxins are an issue, it much be dealt with appropriately.
And please note: Almost all chronic disease is associated with a poorly functioning gut to some degree. This needs to be addressed via proper foods and drinks, probiotics, prebiotics, and other factors