ADD/ADHD Barbra,Food Allergies

This is Dr. Witter http://www.thewittercenter.com/ who helped the mother telling the story below, Barbra and her daughter Atlantis, with their ADD. She also helped me after I saw what a remarkable difference it had made in the life of Barbra and Atlantis. Dr. Witter eliminated the most of our ADD symptoms by discovering our food allergies and fixing our leaky guts. If all this sounds too wild and out there, hang in there. Dr. Witter is our hero. If all this worked for us, isn't it worth considering in your own life?

ADD/ADHD due to food allergies is caused by leaky gut syndrome... the picture is to the left. Microscopic tears in the gut allow undigested food particles to enter the body and travel to the brain creating ADD/ADHD symptoms. At least hear Barbra's story.

I will be bringing you parts of Barbra's story, each day. Here's Barbra:

"It has been Dr. Witter who had brought reason and sanity to what was once confusion, and at times, overwhelming despair and sadness that I, Atlantis' mother, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Genetics from Texas A&M University, could not help my child control her behavior.

Before Dr. Witter, I had solved some of Atlantis' food problems myself. i did this through the elimination and challenge of food with the help of a group called POFAK (you can find them online) and a medical doctor who did some skin allergy testing. Atlantis went from a daily average of about five temper tantrums down to one. I, a scientist, had no idea that a reputable food allergy test existed for IgG and IgE antibodies. If I had, believe me with all the pain I routinely witnessed in my daughter, I'd have actively sought a doctor who would order it. The test has allowed us to find more food allergens, many I'd have never expected, to bring Atlantis' temper tantrums down from one a day, to virtually none."

For more information and to find a holistic healthcare provider near you that orders these tests you can contact the companies that perform the test. There are several and the two that I am familiar with are Genova Labs at http://www.gdx.com/ and U S Biotek at http://www.usbiotek.com/

ADD/ADHD Yeast

If you, or your child has ADD/ADHD symptoms as well as occasional vaginal, or rectal itching, you might want to consider a systemic yeast infection as a part of the problem.

Another way to determine a systemic yeast infection is like this picture shows. Spit into a glass of chlorine free water, and let the water sit to see if stringy things with legs grow after a few days. These strings are yeast from a yeast overgrowth in your mouth (thrush).

If you suspect ADD/ADHD symptoms could be caused by yeast, you really need a holistic health care provider, not traditional medicine/traditional talk therapy. Tradional western medicine usually has no idea of the connection.

Although.... I did see Dr. Phil do a show on ADD, and when he heard one ADD symptom child had had multiple rounds of antibiotics prior to the behavior change, he said, "I think your problem is fungal" meaning yeast, and referred the mother and child to a specialist he knew.

How does yeast in the gut (mouth to rectum) infect a brain? Simple: leaky gut syndrome. Check my blog for leaky gut syndrome.

If you walk into any good, well rounded health food store (versus nutrition for bodybuilders primarily), you are going to find a lot of ways to kill yeast and resupply the gut with flora lost through antibiotics. Ask them for what sells the most, and what people seem to have the best luck with.

For me, by far, the best yeast killing machine I have used is olive leaf extract. I use tablets, not liquid. I take two tablets, twice a day. I think most children are told by their holistic health care provider to take one tablet, twice a day. Find a good holistic health care provider and do exactly what they tell you to do. There are now a whole line of digestive enzymes made specifically to target yeast. Some people even chew up plain papaya tablets before going to bed at night, after brushing teeth, to eliminate the yeast in their mouths (thrush.)

There are prescriptions for an oral antifungal medications. For some people these work, but for some, like me, they don't work at all. If you are using a holistic medical doctor this is easy because he or she can write the presciption and reccomend all kinds of natural herbal stuff as well. If your medical doctor isn't holistic, you can still get a prescription and give it a try.

As well, it is always a good idea to check out Dr. William Crook's book, THE YEAST CONNECTION http://www.yeastconnection.com/

He, and every holistic health care provider, will tell you to take the person infected with systemic yeast, off of simple carbohydrates during the detox stage and slowly reintroduce these items into the diet one the gut flora has been re-established (yeast dead, probiotics resupplied.) Simple carbohydrates include sugar, honey, white flour and bread, etc. but don't worry, Dr. Crook even has a cookbook to help you. And relax, this diet phase won't last forever. And if yeast is the causative agent of the ADD/ADHD, the results can be truly remarkable.

Good Luck!

ADD/ADHD Dr. Janice Poole and son William

At the time of this interview for my book, William was 20. From a previous blog, you might remember that Dr. Janice Poole is person who introduced me to Dr. Amens' book, HEALING ADD.

This is a quote from her interview: "The huge precipice for intervention with William, that struck me over and over again, was Dr. Amen's phase 'the goal is not to be off medication, the goal is to be funcitonal'. And he said that over and over in the book. I appreciate him driving that home. I have a little bit of an aversion to pharmacy (she is a chiropractor). But I love my child. And I want everybody, including my child, to have whatever is available to make them functional. And if pharmacy is what it takes, then you thank God for it."

William responded well to a low dose, time release Adderal. Dr. Poole, "We tried straterra. And he had all the side effects with it that you might have with it. We were off of it in two weeks. shortness of breathe, heart pounding, nausea, the whole thing. So we didn't last long on that."

"William had two acupuncture treatments. He didn't try Chinese herbs. he just wasn't ready for that process, and it is a process."

Many of us have to try many different things that work for our health, including ADD. That is why I formed this blog. Find what works best for you. Keep looking, keep trying. Do not give up!

Dr. Amen doesn't cover acupuncture, Chinese herbs or Elisa food allergy tests...something I will cover later. What he does cover are so many other ways to be functional with ADD/ADHD, from pharmaceuticals to supplements, to herbs, to diet, to exercise, to meditation and biofeedback, to brain scans! If you, or someone you love, has ADD or ADHD, you will find this book invaluable. We did! http://www.brainplace.com/