Dr. Peter Breggin, one of the foremost experts on the dangers of prescription drugs, writes:
In the 1970s, there was a public uproar, outraged books, and congressional hearings about one hundred thousand children being prescribed Ritalin. Now hardly anyone remembers that controversy. Instead, millions of children are taking stimulant drugs with hardly any outcry at all.
Estimates vary widely, but the total number of children on Ritalin has been estimated between 6 and 8 million children or more in 2000. The United States accounts for 90% of the world’s consumption of Ritalin, which prompted the International Narcotics Control Board to issue a warning in February of 1995 which deplored the fact that “10-12 percent of all boys between the ages of 6 and 14 in the United States have been diagnosed as having ADD and are being treated with methylphenidate [Ritalin].” The board raised concerns about doctors’ seeking “easy” solutions to “behavioural problems which may have complex causes.” It also drew attention to the “promotional practices” that were leading to the over prescription of Ritalin in our country.
ADHD and Ritalin
Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is the “disorder” that supposedly accounts for so many children having trouble in school and posing disciplinary problems to adults. Ritalin is promoted as the “cure” for this condition, on the basis that ADHD is a “biochemical imbalance” in the brain that is fixed by the “magic bullet” of Ritalin. But is ADHD a real physical disease? Can it be scientifically identified?
According to Dr. Peter Breggin and many, many scientists, ADHD cannot be physically identified:
There is no physical test that can detect the supposed existence of ADHD. There are no specific physical symptoms associated with it. The ADHD diagnosis is made by comparing the child’s behaviors with a description of the disorder as defined and accepted by experts and practitioners in the field.
Dr. Breggin also writes:
There are no objective diagnostic criteria for ADHD—no physical symptoms, no neurological signs, and no blood tests. Despite claims to the contrary, there are no brain scan findings and no biochemical imbalances. No physical tests can be done to verify that a child has ADHD.
Gerald Golden, a professor of paediatrics and neurology, put it bluntly: “Attempts to define a biological basis for ADHD have been consistently unsuccessful. The neuroanatomy of the brain, as demonstrated by neuroimaging studies, is normal. No neuropatholical substrate has been demonstrated….”
In a scientific review, Diane McGuinness called Attention Deficit Disorder “the emperor’s new clothes.” In The Hyperactive Child and Stimulant Drugs, Roger Freeman labelled the state of the art and practice in the field surrounding ADHD “a mess.” He went on to note that this area is “characterized by rarely challenged myths, ill-defined boundaries, and a strangely seductive attractiveness.”
With facts such as these, many people have concluded with Dr. Breggin that there is “no evidence that ADHD is a valid clinical entity associated with physical dysfunction of the brain.”
How does a child become diagnosed as ADHD? What are the criteria for such a diagnosis? This is a shocker. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM-IV), considered the “bible” of psychiatric diagnosis, the entire criteria for making a diagnosis of oppositional defiant disorder is the following:
A pattern of negativistic, hostile, and defiant behaviour lasting at least 6 months, during which four (or more) of the following are present: (1) often loses temper, (2) often argues with adults, (3) often actively defies or refuses to comply with adult requests or rules, (4) often deliberately annoys people, (5) often blames others for his or her mistakes or misbehaviours, (6) is often touchy or easily annoyed by others, (7) is often angry and resentful, (8) is often spiteful or vindictive.
No physical cause is described but only behavioural conflict and anger. Dr. Breggin notes that the above diagnosis is merely eight ways to say a child is angry.
If ADHD is not a medical entity, then why is Ritalin so heavily prescribed? Arthur Caplan, director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Centre for Bioethics, writes, “There’s either a strange plague of hyperactivity in the U.S., or we’ve got a lot of folks prescribing Ritalin as a psychopharmocological nanny.” Dr. Breggin hits the nail on the head: “Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has one over-riding purpose—to put a medical veneer on the use of medication to control the behavior of children.”
Drug companies and Ritalin
It should alert any parent’s attention that, with virtually no understanding of the long-term effects of stimulant drugs such as Ritalin, these drugs were heavily advertised by the drug companies for the treatment of problem children. There are enormous sums of money involved in the development and marketing of prescription drugs. Leon Eisenberg, a professor of psychiatry and social medicine at Harvard Medical School, says that the sale of Ritalin and other stimulant drugs for children are “driven by the convenience of the doctor, the profitability of the drug company, and the notion that there is nothing more meaningful to life than biochemistry.”
Read the whole original article here
With all this said, what should a parent do?
Many people come to me in desperation, usually wit words like:
The teacher says that if I do not put him on Ritalin, he is not welcome in the [boring] class.
If I do not give him the drug, I may upset the school, [and it’s such a good school]
I had him on the drug, but he becomes like a Robot or a Drone [but the teacher is happy now]
The Teacher is in favour of “other alternatives” but I have tried every thing, nothing works, the drug is the ONLY option out.
The Doctor says there is NO side effects to using Ritalin (schedule 6 drug), Strattera (schedule 5 drug) or Concerta (schedule 6 drug)
Well, that means your doctor does not read, if you would like to be more informed on the effects of these and other drugs, then you may click below:
Step # 1
Accept responsibility
It is and will always be YOUR responsibility to make important decisions regarding your child. Make sure you come under that weight, and carry it – you are made for it and you are the ONLY one that has your child’s best interest at heart. ANY body else, wants a quick way out, or wants to make money out of you and claim the glory. There is no, well lets first put him on the drug and then when he is better try something alternative – poison is always poison!
So with that in mind, make sure you get as much information as possible on what the (long term) effects of taking such dangerous drugs are. Study the web and related books (not sponsored by a pharmaceutical company or a doctor in favour of the related drugs, there are enough of those) by people that did find an alternative.
Children are all individuals, so with some discipline (or the lack thereof) may be the main problem, with other it may be diet, yet another may have emotional issues due to divorced parents, an absent father or mother, or some other trauma in their lives. You may find your child has a combination of these or needs supplements. You are not alone; other people have gone through the same issues.
Once you have accepted responsibility, you evolve from being a victim to being a victor, and you are ready to take action.
Step #2
What goes in comes out!
The old saying is “Garbage in garbage out.”
This is probably the most important change you can have on your child’s being. Although you may already be feeding your child a healthy diet, some foods are more beneficial than others.
There are foods that contain what we may call “Excitotoxins”
The most well known, and widely used is MSG or Mono Sodium Glutamate
It stimulates the brain’s glutamine receptors but without a purpose. Like someone once said to me: “I feel like running but I don’t know where to” This substance is to be found in:
Canned soups.
Aromat
Pre-prepared stocks (soup powders) and stock cubes.
Condiments such as barbecue sauce. And most Knor products.
Frozen dinners.
Frozen seafood.
Common snack foods such as flavoured potato chips and flavoured tortilla chips.
Most fast food.
Instant meals such as the seasoning mixtures for instant noodles.
The second BIG toxin is cane sugar. It has many adverse effects in children (and adults) but you may only see the real difference once your child is off sugar for a while and then ingests some sugar. The effect is sometimes within minutes and often lasts for 24-48 hours after ingestion.
When sugar was first refined, many years ago, it was used as a mind altering drug…
Refined sugar, as we know it today, has been refined 17 times from the sugar cane. This means that if you ingest 1 teaspoon of refined sugar, it would have been 17 spoons of the original sugar cane, of which it is not possible to consume in such large quantities. Brown sugar is simply refined white sugar with sweet molasses added, and has NO health benefit. When you consume black strap molasses, it’s a different story.
Sugar is often used in tea, coffee (another stimulant) or on cereal. If you are already living a healthier diet, then you may already be taking in less sugar, and that’s great, but sugar is concealed in many products like:
- Breakfast cereals
- Yogurt and flavoured milk
- Biscuits
- Sweets
- Coke, and other fizzy drinks
- Snacks, even the savoury kinds
- Juice
- Snack bars
- Health snack bars
- Desserts
- And Much more (read the label for Sugar, glucose or sucrose)
Using artificial sweeteners are equally unhelpful as they belong to the Excitotoxin clan.
The only healthy and well tolerated is honey.
The third HUGE culprit is wheat. Wheat in its original state is tolerated well by the human body. The body has the enzymes to digest it correctly. Unfortunately as man got involved in mass agriculture the seed was genetically modified in the laboratories. It still looks the same to the naked eye but to the delicate digestive enzymes in our intestines, it looks quite different. In fact they don’t know what to do with it! They simply start breaking apart the “new wheat” molecule as best they know. As they do not have the right “size spanner” to take the molecule apart as it should be done, we find certain by-products forming.
Some of these by-products are called lectins, and they have a range of terrible effects in the body like eczema, asthma, sinus problems, digestive disorders and then THE BRAIN. The neurons in the brain start misbehaving, (combined with excitotoxins, sugar etc) and starts firing when it’s not supposed to, or miss-firing when required to make a quick decision.
Products that contain wheat:
- Breakfast cereals like Wheatbix, Muesli, and most Boxed cereals.
- Muffins, scones, pancakes, biscuits, Provita, Cream crackers, etc
- Bread (all) Except when it states Wheat free
- Pastas (all) Except when it states Wheat free
- Pizza base
- Sandwiches, Burgers, Hot Dogs, pies etc.
There are a number of save alternatives to wheat:
Spelt (an ancient grain, rather expensive, but almost a direct replacement for wheat) available at health stores
- Rye
- Oats
- Rice
Colourants and preservatives is an obvious no-go. These are many of these (hidden) in things like, sweets, yogurt, bottled juices etc.
The last but most important part of your child’s diet is his breakfast.
Yes grandma was right. Too often people tell me that they are too rushed in the morning and thus swallow breakfast on the way out the front door.
Breakfast then quite often comprise of a “lifeless boxed cereal” with dead milk, or no fat milk. Some people are more health orientated and have been taught that fruit is best for breakfast.
Well it simply does not do the trick. If you eat something simple and refined like a boxed cereal (or worse a microwave variant) or muesli, fruit and yogurt, your blood sugar quickly rises too much. The body then responds by secreting too much insulin, as to lower the blood sugar. Because of the steep rise in blood sugar the body secretes too much insulin, resulting in a fast drop in blood sugar. So you go from feeling “on top of the world” (hyper – bouncing off the wall) to the “world being on top of you” (a low – cannot concentrate and fall asleep at his desk)
That’s called a “mood swing”
The remedy of cause is to change what your child has for breakfast. You need to combine a non wheat starch with an animal protein, like a slice of 100% rye bread with mince or an egg on toast etc. Avoid things like just oats – rather have the oats and straight after it an egg.
This causes the breakfast to digest slower, causing a slower rise in blood sugar and thus a more stable blood sugar level which in turn prevents mood swings (and drugs) Your child will also have sustained mental and physical energy with a breakfast like that.
Have you ever seen what chaos breaks out when a preschooler’s blood sugar drops – the same is true for your child or us adults.
Step #3
Supplementation for ADD
If it’s not in the soil – you don’t get it in the diet – no matter what the dieticians hand book says.
Due to modern day food processing and mass agriculture we do not get the micro nutrients from our food that we need. If you still think you get everything from your diet, think again, you would have to get 13 portions of Non-genetically modified, organically grown vine ripened fruit and vegetables daily. On your own farm this may be possible but is a near impossibility in suburbia.
The following supplements we have used extensively over the last decade, and we get consistent good results with them. There may be others, but we have not used them like we have with the ones listed below.
Omega 3 is an essential fatty acid. This means that our body cannot make it, we need to take it in through our [depleted]diet. The best way is to supplement with a few capsules of these per day. As this is no medicine, simply food in a capsule there is no maximum dose. As a good friend put it when asked how much is needed, his response was simply “as much as is needed to make it work” We usually give a higher dose in the first few weeks, as this helps the body to regulate itself faster. This may amount to as much as 6000mg per day with meals. After that you may be able to lower the dose slightly or not, depending on the individual. We only recommend Pure & Wild Omega 3
The brain also needs a selection of amino acids, minerals and vitamins to function properly. This is as needed as the oils.
For this we use one proven product only: NuMind
The best way is to supplement with a few capsules of these per day. As this is no medicine, simply food in a capsule there is no maximum dose. The same is true – how much do I give? ”as much as is needed to make it work” We usually give a higher dose in the first few weeks, as this helps the body to regulate itself faster. This may amount to as much as 6 capsules (or more) per day on an empty stomach. After that you may be able to lower the dose slightly or not, depending on the individual.
If your child has a problem with swallowing these or other capsules, simply open them in a little (wilde/purejoy) Mango juice, stir up and swallow.
The third problem that we sometimes find is, fungi. When a child has been on a high carbohydrate/sugar diet i.e. white bread, muffins, biscuits, sweets, coke etc, we usually find that their candida count is too high.
The problem with fungus is manifold. It messes up the blood sugar control, brain sharpness, focus, aggravates mood swings and can also place an extra load on the immune system. These of cause, worsen the response/over responsiveness of the brain.
I suggest a good probiotic
What you have just read, can save your child from going onto dangerous drugs. The onus is on you, as parent, to see to it that he takes the supplements, and to see you change the diet of the family. It is of absolutely no value, tying to change his diet, while the rest of the family still indulge in the gunk that he has grown accustomed to as good food. Never look at these changes as a “burden” rather a redirection to better health for the whole family!
If you feel that your child has many health issues, or that he needs an in depth health evaluation, then book an appointment for a Live Blood Analysis by Christo. Here we take a look at all the individual health challenges and give you a step by step, info in the hand, approach.