In our most recent newsletter, March 2013, we shared 6 of our favorite tips from the posting below. Rather than make everyone email us for the posting, we've decided to post the entirety of the success secrets here on our blog for easy access!
If you, your child, or someone you know suffers from ADD/ADHD, the below tips are an excellent resource! They speak to how holistic health and thorough testing can help your child achieve maximum health.
Treatment Success Secret #1
Lab Testing
Is VERY Important BUT Lab Ranges Are EXTREMELY Broad!
Blood
tests are VERY important when treating ADD/ADHD because they can give critical
insight as to what is EXACTLY happening with your child--BUT they can be extremely
broad.
Why
do patients continue to suffer when the MD has told them that all of their lab
tests are “fine.” The answer is because
the MD’s lab tests are extremely broad.
The ranges vary WIDELY!
Let
me give you one example. Let’s say you
suffer from a thyroid problem. Because the thyroid controls your body’s
metabolism, your MD orders a test, which usually is the TSH (Thyroid
Stimulating Hormone). From your MD’s
perspective, if your TSH level is within the very wide lab range of .35 to 5.0-- you're normal, there’s nothing
wrong with you! BUT---and this is a HUGE
“BUT”---the OPTIMAL LEVEL or “functional level” for TSH is 1.8 to 3.0. So you could still be “normal” in the medical
doctor's eyes but abnormal in the functional or optimal range.
The
same holds true for all of your child’s lab tests, every single one of
them. There are “lab” ranges, which are
very broad and “optimal” or “functional” ranges which are much narrower.
Your
child’s lab tests could be “normal”! There
is NOTHING wrong with the tests themselves--the problem is that you need a
doctor who is going to examine your child’s lab tests from a “functional/optimal”
range perspective and NOT from a “lab” range perspective.
Treatment Success Secret #2
ADD/ADHD Can Be Caused By An Autoimmune Condition.
An
autoimmune condition is where the immune system is attacking a part of your child’s
body, and in your case, it could be attacking multiple systems in your child’s
body including the thyroid gland, adrenal gland, nerves, joints and
muscles. This could be your child is
suffering, and no other doctor or therapist can tell you WHY?!?!
So,
the problem isn't just the thyroid if your child is fatigued; the adrenal
glands if your child isn’t sleeping; joints, nerves and muscles if your child
is in pain or suffering with numbness, tingling and burning: it is their immune
system. They have an immune system
problem, and what is needed is to heal their immune system. The problem is that medicine has no clue on how to heal the immune
system, either in your child or in you!
Vaccines
can cause an autoimmune condition by OVER-stimulating the immune system. There
are two parts to the immune system, TH1 and TH2, and they should be in balance,
kind of like a teeter-totter effect. Vaccines
can throw the balance out of whack! TH1
and TH2 should be equal: one should not be higher than the other. If the immune system goes out of balance
because of stress (physical emotional or chemical {vaccines, toxins}), one
system (TH1 or TH2) will become dominant. This will cause the immune system to
attack the body.
There
are specific blood tests that can be run to determine if you are autoimmune and
if one part of the immune system is dominant.
Your child needs to have these tests done to get to the bottom of the
problem. My guess is that no other
doctor or therapist has made this recommendation to you which is why you
continue to run around in circles looking for answers!
The
problem with an autoimmune condition is that it doesn't attack just one area of
the body--it can attack multiple areas.
It can attack the thyroid, causing extreme fatigue; the pancreas,
causing diabetes; the nerves causing numbness, pain, tingling or burning. It can attack the gut – the stomach lining,
(causing IBS), or it can attack the joints (rheumatoid arthritis). It can attack the entire body! You need to be
tested to see if you are having an autoimmune condition, and if that is what is
causing your child’s ADD/ADHD. You need
to get to the TRUE CAUSE of what is going on in your child’s brain and body. The only way to know is to run the tests!
Treatment Success Secret #3
GET YOUR CHILD’S
THYROID TESTED …NOW!
I
have treated thousands of ADD/ADHD patients over the years and I have yet to see
an ADD/ADHD patient in which the thyroid wasn’t involved at some level! Think about it: your thyroid controls your
metabolism-- it HAS TO BE INVOLVED! Patients suffering from ADD/ADHD can have a
condition in which their thyroid is being attacked by their immune system. This condition is known as Hashimoto’s
thyroiditis.
Most
likely, your MD has only ordered only one thyroid test, which is TSH (Thyroid
Stimulating Hormone). If you are lucky,
maybe he has ordered a couple more. From
your MD’s perspective, if your TSH level is within that very wide lab range of
.35 to 5.0, you're normal-- there’s nothing wrong with you! BUT---and this is a HUGE “BUT”---the OPTIMAL
LEVEL or “functional level” for TSH is 1.8 to 3.0. So you could still be “normal” in the medical
doctor's eyes but abnormal in the functional or optimal range.
It's
only when that range is above 5.0 that the medical doctor will put you on a
thyroid hormone such as Synthroid or the generic, levothyroxine.
BUT,
as I mentioned, in a medical doctor's eyes, if your thyroid TSH is within .35
to 5.0, YOU ARE NORMAL! There is NOTHING
wrong with you. “It’s ALL in your
head!” “You don't need medication,
because you don't have a thyroid problem!”
Even though you still may have all the thyroid symptoms: extreme fatigue,
hair falling out, etc., you’re NORMAL!
Well…you and I both know that you are not “normal”. If you were, you
would not be suffering from symptoms! You
could be within the “normal” TSH range of .35 to 5.0 but still be outside the
optimal range of 1.8 to 3.0. Your TSH
level could be at 4.2, and that's why you're having the problem; it’s outside
the “optimal” or “functional” range. The
same is true for any other of the thyroid blood tests such as Total Thyroxine
(TT4), Free Thyroxine Index (FTI), Free Thyroxine (FT4), Free Triodothyroxine
(FT3) and the three or four other tests that need to be run on your thyroid to
get to the EXACT cause of your child’s problems.
In
ADD/ADHD Treatment Success Secret #2, we talked about the fact that the number-one
cause of hypothyroidism is an autoimmune thyroid, and there has to be a reason
why your body could be attacking the thyroid. That's what we're going to
address in this Treatment Success Secret.
There are certain tests that need to be run on the thyroid--not just a
TSH or a free T3 or a free T4-- there are specific antibodies called TPO and TGB antibodies. If these antibody tests are positive, you have an autoimmune thyroid. My guess is that your child’s doctor has not
run these two tests.
Now,
there are many other tests that need to be run for the thyroid, but these are
the two big ones to determine if your child has an autoimmune thyroid. And if they’re autoimmune, you have to find
out why they are autoimmune. Remember, I said there are two parts to your
immune system, TH1 and TH2. They need to
work in balance. If one is dominant or working
harder than the other, it's usually because there's something called an active
antigen. And what is an active
antigen? It can be a parasite. It can be a virus, bacteria, mold or
fungi. It can be a food protein, such as
gluten (the protein in wheat, barley and rye) or casein (milk protein).
Your
child’s immune system could become imbalanced because of dysregulation due to
hormonal surges and/or extreme stress. Blood
sugar problems and/or chronic inflammation and/or high cortisol levels can all cause
your child’s immune system to run amuck which can lead to ADD/ADHD.
Treatment Success Secret #4
How To Know If Your Child
Is Autoimmune!
How
do you know if your child is autoimmune?
How do you know if their immune system is attacking their body? Well…we just talked about the fact that we can
run tests on the thyroid, specifically TPO and TGB antibodies, to see if their
immune system is attacking it, as well as running the immune panels. The
reality is…most people already know that
they're autoimmune just from the fact that they already suffer from a
current autoimmune disorder such as psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative
colitis, Sjogren's syndrome, scleroderma, and/or lupus.
Another
way that people will know if they're autoimmune is that their symptoms may wax and wane. Symptoms
that wax and wane are a sure sign that you are likely suffering from an autoimmune
condition.
The
third way to know if a patient's autoimmune is that they will come in with a
basket of supplements--I mean a truck-load. I've had people bring in so many bottles of
supplements it wasn't funny. In many
cases, the supplements that they were
taking were actually making them worse!
A
fourth reason…their life fell apart
after they got sick. That's how they
know they're autoimmune. They've been to
12 or 15 or 20 different doctors and they have a sky-high stack of medical
records …all because it's an undiagnosed autoimmune condition.
Another
reason is if mom developed an autoimmune condition following a pregnancy.
Usually, women are TH2 dominant in the third trimester and TH1 dominant
postpartum. It could have happened, and
the ONLY way to know is to test for it!
And
finally, there's positive testing via specific immune panels. You see, the immune system is designed to
protect you. When your immune system
runs amuck, it starts attacking different parts of your body. It's important to
know that once you realize that your child may have an autoimmune condition,
you need to get them checked, and you
need to manage that autoimmune condition.
Treatment Success Secret #5
Know the Autoimmune Triggers!
One
of the most common questions I get is…”How
did my child develop this autoimmune condition?” Well…it's pretty much genetics and the
environment. It's a matter of what came
first, the chicken or the egg? We all
know that genetically, you may be at risk for developing certain problems
and/or conditions.
Then there are environmental
factors, one of them being chemicals such as cigarette smoke. There are
over 519 chemicals in cigarettes. Here
are just a few of them… Now, you don’t hear too often anymore that a mother smoked
cigarettes while she was pregnant, but it does happen from time to time and
this could have triggered your child’s autoimmune condition. Even ONE cigarette could have triggered
it. SECOND-HAND SMOKE can have the same
effect! So you didn’t even need to have
smoked a cigarette; second-hand smoke could have been the culprit.TSNAs: Tobacco-specific N-nitrosamines (TSNAs) are known to be some of the most potent carcinogens present in smokeless tobacco, snuff and tobacco smoke.
Benzene: Benzene can be found in pesticides and gasoline. It is present in high levels in cigarette smoke and accounts for half of all human exposure to this hazardous chemical.
Pesticides: Pesticides are used on our lawns and gardens, and inhaled into our lungs via cigarette smoke.
Formaldehyde: Formaldehyde is a chemical used to preserve dead bodies and is responsible for some of the nose, throat and eye irritation smokers experience when breathing in cigarette smoke.
Lead is the second biggest culprit and it just isn’t lower income children being exposed to it. If your house was built prior to 1970, there is a good chance that there is lead-based paint in it. Paint dust containing lead is the number one source, so you need to be aware of this fact! Also, lead exposure from plumbing.
There’s a new study that shows that a very common insect repellent, DEET, affects the brain and the nervous system the same way as nerve gas. DEET, which is in a lot of common spray and liquid insect repellents, affects the breakdown of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine in your brain.
Chemicals
such as pesticides can trigger an autoimmune response as can toxins in
household products or heavy metals in vaccines.
Chemicals
in general can trigger an autoimmune response, like the latest chemical that's
hit the news…BPA. This is a very nasty chemical called
bisphenol A. It's used in a lot of
plastics, and BPA is extremely bad for thyroid health; it can trigger Hashimoto's Thyroiditis or autoimmune thyroid.
Rocket
fuel is another! You heard that correctly,
I said rocket fuel! You may ask…”How
am I exposed to rocket fuel?” Studies
have shown that 30 to 40 percent of women in America have remnants of rocket
fuel in their body. It gets into the
ground water and it stays there for a very long time.
Treatment Success Secret #6
HORMONES!
The imbalance will
show up on your lab,--if you’re lucky--as
the TSH is low, but not quite out of the reference range. This is why it’s important to know that there
are “optimal” or “functional” levels.
Prolactin also
suppresses luteinizing hormone (LH) in women.
Excess prolactin can cause infertility.
In men, excess prolactin depresses testosterone so they have low
libido. High prolactin can cause tumors
that are called prolactinomas.
Another common female hormone disorder is PCOS, or
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. It affects
5-10 percent of menstruating women, and it is one of the most common causes of
infertility. PCOS symptoms include the
inability to lose weight, hair loss, fatigue after meals, hormone imbalances,
and sugar cravings.
Using blood chemistry tests, PCOS can be identified by
insulin resistance. Again, insulin
resistance (pre-diabetes) is a blood glucose level from 100-126. This is a fasting blood glucose level. PCOS is also indicated by elevated
triglycerides and cholesterol, especially IF THE TRIGLYCERIDES ARE HIGHER THAN
THE CHOLESTROL LEVELS.
Insulin resistance is a condition in which the body’s
cells become resistant to insulin due to a high-carbohydrate diet, which leads to excess testosterone production, and this leads to
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. As
testosterone levels rise, the cells become further resistant to insulin, and
it’s a slow downward spiral. Cell
resistance to insulin in turn promotes testosterone elevation, which continues
that downward spiral.
Insulin resistance also
promotes inflammation and immune system problems, which can lead to an
autoimmune disease. In children suffering with ADD/ADHD, can you see why
it’s important to address Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) in the pregnant
mother?
The bottom line is that excess levels of any hormone could have caused your child’s
ADD/ADHD.
Treatment Success Secret #7
Anemias
I’ve mentioned
that ADD/ADHD can be caused by an autoimmune condition in which the body is
attacked by the immune system. What if
the patient isn’t autoimmune? Since there are a small percentage of patients
that are not autoimmune, what else could be causing the problem?
Anemia is
the answer! Anemia in and of itself is a
deal-breaker for nutritional support of any kind, including support for ADD/ADHD,
since anemia literally starves your body
of oxygen.
Oxygen is
very important in healing your body. The
brain and nervous system need two things to survive: fuel and activation. Fuel comes in the form of oxygen and
glucose. We’ll talk about glucose in a
future “secret, “ but when you deprive your body of oxygen, you deprive your
red blood cells (RBCs) of oxygen. The
basic function of the RBCs is to maintain, regenerate, and heal the body. With no RBCs, the body simply cannot
operate adequately!
It is vital
that the clinician address the anemic patient.
Anemia can be due to a variety of reasons and factors, including B12
anemia or pernicious anemia, an autoimmune disease. Some forms of anemia don’t seem to respond to
iron supplements because the red blood cells break down.
So when
this happens, supplementing won’t increase iron levels and can, in fact, make
the problem much worse. Too much iron in
the body is much more toxic than mercury, lead or other heavy metals. As I’ve said and will continue to say, if the
patient does not have an autoimmune condition but suffers from a chronic
condition such as ADD/ADHD, you want to look at the Four Priorities, which are:
#1, anemia; #2, blood sugar or glucose;#3,
gut function/liver, and , last but not least; #4, fatty acid metabolism.
ALL of these systems need to be checked.
Again, an
autoimmune condition trumps all of these, but if it’s not present, we need to
address the possibility of anemia causing your child’s problems.
Treatment Success Secret #8
Blood Sugar/Blood Glucose
From a
medical standpoint, normal blood glucose levels have a broad range of 70 to
105, while functional or optimal blood glucose level ranges are 85 to 99. According to the American Diabetic
Association, a blood sugar level reading of 106 to 126 is termed “insulin
resistance” or “pre-diabetes,” and anything above a reading of 127 is diabetes.
Granted,
those are fasting blood glucose levels and it is important to note that because
many times I will see patients who have been tested and I’ll ask them if
they’ve fasted before their test and they will tell me, “No.” You need at least
a 12-hour fast, which means absolutely no food, no drinking orange juice or
coffee or anything! All that you should
have for 12 hours before your test is water, so you can get an accurate reading
of your blood glucose levels.
Supporting ADD/ADHD is futile
if your child’s blood sugar level is too high
or too low.
A reading
below 85 would be termed hypoglycemia
and a reading above 99 would be termed hyperglycemia. This is called dysglycemia and this is a stepping-stone to diabetes. Diabetes is becoming so prevalent in the
United States that authorities are
predicting that it may bankrupt the healthcare system.
Hypoglycemia
is a condition in which the blood sugar level repeatedly drops too low in
response to high-carbohydrate foods.
Refined sugar is a good example of a high-carbohydrate food.
Hypoglycemia can also be a result of going too long without eating: and too many Americans are skipping
breakfast.
If your blood
sugar is below 85, it’s extremely important that you eat every two to three
hours. You should have a breakfast,
a snack, lunch, a snack, dinner and a light snack before bedtime. The snack can be vegetables, fruit, nuts,
and/or seeds but it truly SHOULD be something healthy.
Insulin resistance is high
blood sugar that hasn’t yet reached the point of diabetes. It’s called “pre-diabetes” and is a result of
the cells becoming resistant to insulin, so that no glucose can enter the cells
to make energy.
You need
glucose in your cells to make energy.
It’s a vital, important part of life.
Your brain and nervous system need two things to survive: fuel and activation. Fuel is oxygen and glucose. You see, unabsorbed glucose travels in the
bloodstream until it’s turned into triglycerides for fat storage.
This is
why it’s important to monitor triglycerides as well as glucose. The process of turning glucose into
triglycerides demands an increased amount of energy causing you to feel tired after eating. So when you eat a high- carbohydrate diet
filled with white bread, pasta, and refined sugar, you cannot keep your blood
sugar level stable.
If your
child feels sleepy or craves sugar after eating a carbo-loaded meal, you know
that they just ate way too many carbohydrates.
If they feel sleepy after a low- or no-carbohydrate meal, they are most likely insulin resistant.
It is
literally impossible to support hypoglycemia or insulin resistance unless your child
eats a healthy breakfast with ample high-quality protein. They need to eat protein in the morning, not carbohydrates. They
need to eat eggs--they need to eat lean meat such as turkey or chicken sausage.
They need to eat protein in order to support their blood sugar levels.
Even if
they feel nauseous first thing in the morning upon waking, eating breakfast is critical
and eating a breakfast of high protein will most likely relieve their
nausea. Finally, if they suffer from
hypoglycemia they should NEVER go
without eating a meal. It will make matters much worse due to altered blood
sugar levels!
Treatment Success Secret #9
Brain Function
As I have
mentioned in previous secrets, brain function is extremely important in
treating ADD/ADHD! Our brain
needs two things to survive: fuel and activation.
Fuel is glucose
and oxygen, which is why we use
Exercise With Oxygen Therapy (EWOT) in our office. We have addressed the glucose end of the
equation: now let’s address the importance of oxygen.
As you
age, your ability to utilize oxygen decreases by one percent per year after the
age of 25. If you are 50 years old,
you’ve lost 25 percent of your ability to utilize oxygen in your body. This is called oxidative phosphorylation, which is a big fancy three-dollar term
meaning you’re not using oxygen as well as you did when you were younger. Again, this is why we utilize Exercise With
Oxygen Therapy or EWOT in our office. (Please note, if your child is under the
age of 16, we will most likely NOT use oxygen.)
Secondly,
the neurotransmitter serotonin plays
a major role in brain function. There’s
a place in the brain called the hypothalamus and there’s something called the
periventricular nucleus. I know these
are big fancy three-dollar words, but it’s critical that you know this if your
child is suffering with ADD/ADHD.
Serotonin acts on the hypothalamic periventricular nucleus in the
central nervous system. If your child’s
central nervous system is not functioning at optimal levels, he or she can
suffer with chronic migraines, insomnia and symptoms of ADD/ADHD.
The biggest influence on serotonin is blood
sugar. That’s why we addressed glucose
in ADD/ADHD Success #8. If your child is
hypoglycemic, insulin-resistant, or diabetic, it is vitally important that they
maintain their blood sugar levels within an optimal range.
This is
why it’s important that they eat healthy food.
Don’t skip meals. Quit eating
junk food! Every time they eat junk food
they are literally eating away at their body and they are making their ADD/ADHD
worse.
By allowing
your child to consume a poor, junk-food-filled diet, you will increase and
worsen your child’s symptoms.
Treatment Success Secret #10
The Evils of GLUTEN!
Gluten is
the protein in wheat, barley, rye and oats.
The reason that so many people across the country are gluten-sensitive
is that we’ve been eating genetically-engineered wheat since the late
1940’s. Our bodies were not made to eat
genetically-engineered wheat. Our bodies
were not made to eat chemicals and that’s exactly what we are consuming!
In order
for your children to be healthy, one of the best things that they can do is to
avoid gluten. If they are sensitive to
gluten, it will cause their immune system to attack their body, whether it’s
their thyroid, their joints, their pancreas, whatever. Remember we talked about an active antigen a
while back, and an active antigen can be something that causes their immune
system to run amuck or attack.
The
T-cells are attacking the body and the cause for the T-cell attack can be a
parasite, fungi, yeast, mold, virus, bacteria, and it can also be gluten. It could also be dairy, yeast, soy and/or egg.
This is not a guessing game--your child needs to be tested and the tests should
include a DNA swab, where you’re taking a swab of their left cheek and a swab
of their right cheek.
Usually,
gluten testing with a medical office for gluten sensitivity is not done with a
DNA component--you really don’t know if they are gluten-sensitive or not. There has yet to be an autoimmune patient
walk in my office who is not gluten-sensitive, and they could very well be
sensitive to dairy, egg, soy and yeast too!
Treatment Success Secret #11
Vitamin
D
You
always seem hear in the news that there’s some new vitamin or a new deficiency to consider, but when it
comes to ADD/ADHD or any autoimmune condition – it’s very important that
patients are taking Vitamin D to help their immune system.
Low levels of Vitamin
D in the mother leads to really low levels of Vitamin D for the developing
child. This can cause abnormal brain development. Vitamin D is what
we call a "neurosteroid." It has hundreds of different
functions, but it is directly related to brain development. If an
expectant mother wants to prevent or reduce the risk of ADD/ADHD, she
needs to make sure she has adequate levels of Vitamin D.
Modern
diets are lacking in Vitamin D-rich foods.
What are Vitamin D-rich foods?
Liver (to be honest with you, I can’t stand liver), organ meats, lard,
many forms of seafood, butter and egg yolks (remember what I said about eating
eggs for breakfast and how important it is in your blood glucose level?).
Sunlight
is another important factor and source of Vitamin D. BUT, you should NEVER take Vitamin D without
having your Vitamin D levels tested, specifically, 25 OHD and 1,25 OHD. Most MDs will only test 25 OHD but it is very
important to have both levels tested.
This way, you are eliminating the guess work. You could be low in Vitamin D or on the low
side of normal; either finding would constitute a different recommended dosage.
Why is
Vitamin D so important? Vitamin D
deficiency is associated with many, many autoimmune conditions. Frankly, autoimmune rates have been
skyrocketing in the past 20 years, which correlates with decreased levels of
Vitamin D in the general population.
Adequate
Vitamin D levels help to keep the immune system in balance so it doesn’t swing
out of control into an autoimmune disease.
When it comes to migraines, the problems with Vitamin D deficiency are
made worse by genetics.
Many
people, especially people suffering from ADD/ADHD, need higher amounts of
Vitamin D to maintain health, even if blood tests show sufficient Vitamin
D.
Do not
give your child Vitamin D without having your child’s blood levels tested. They need both 25-HD and 1,25-OHD tested. 25
is the storage form and 1,25 D is the active form. They need both levels checked!
In many
cases, patients will come in to my office with only one level checked and their
Vitamin D levels will be on the low side of normal. Their MD has told them, “You’re fine, there’s
nothing wrong with you,” when actually if they’re on the low side of normal,
they need to be supplementing with Vitamin D.
I recommend that all patients with ADD/ADHD or any autoimmune condition
take extra Vitamin D, after checking levels of both forms.
Finally,
here is another reason to have your child’s Vitamin D levels checked…
A new research study from Sweden found that low levels of 25-Hydroxy Vitamin D was almost 100% linked to an Autistic Spectrum Disorder diagnosis.
Treatment Success Secret #12
Essential
Fatty Acids (EFAs)
Healthy
hormone production depends on Essential Fatty Acids (EFA’s). You’ve probably heard about these nutrients;
fish oil, flaxseed oil, evening primrose oil, black currant seed oil.
In our diets,
EFA’s can be found in cold-water fish and in many raw, unprocessed nuts and
seeds. EFA’s not only contribute
nutrients for hormones but also for proper cellular communication, brain
function and much more.
The ideal
ratio between Omega 6 and Omega 3 fats in EFA’s is estimated to be from 3 to 1
up to 5 to 1. In the average American
diet or S.A.D. (Standard American Diet), the ratio is more like 25 to 1, thanks
to junk food diets that are loaded with vegetable oil. You child needs to take a well-rounded,
fish-oil-based, high potency EFA supplement if they intend to be healthy.
If they’re
insulin-resistant, it causes a condition in which the body cannot properly
metabolize the EFA’s in flax, evening primrose or black currant seed oils. This is why fish oil is the predominant
recommendation. Essential fatty acid
deficiencies are so common in the United States it’s estimated that up to 80
percent of the U.S. population failed to get enough essential fatty acids each
day thanks to our Standard American Diet (SAD).
It’s
because our diet is so filled with junk: high fat, high salt, high sugar or
high refined sugar. I had a patient come
in one time, and she was drinking 12
cans of diet Mountain Dew a day!!I told her if she wanted to become my
patient she would need to stop drinking the diet Mountain Dew immediately. She did and went through withdrawal symptoms
for a week.
If you’re
serious about getting your child healthy, if you’re serious about correcting
your child’s ADD/ADHD, you need to change your child’s diet! You need to get them to eat healthy foods; you
need to eliminate junk food; you need to be giving them essential fatty acids,
especially fish-oil-based essential fatty acids, and especially high-quality fish-oil-based
essential fatty acids.
How do
you know if you have high quality essential fatty acids? Well, consider more than price: if you cut
one of your fish oil capsules and you put it in the freezer and it freezes -
that’s not good. Oil should not freeze.
Treatment Success Secret #13
The
Adrenal Glands!
Your adrenal glands
make a hormone called “cortisol”. They
sit atop your kidneys and they are your “stress glands.” They make a lot of hormones for your body in
addition to cortisol, such as aldosterone and androgens. Your adrenal glands are vital for optimal
health. When your adrenal glands are not
working, this causes high levels of cortisol in your system, and this could be
why your child still has symptoms, even when their other lab tests may be
normal. Cortisol is one of the main
factors that regulate blood sugar levels, not insulin. Everybody thinks that it’s insulin, but it’s
actually cortisol. When cortisol is
released by your adrenal glands, it’s accompanied by cytokines.
Your adrenal glands
make cortisol in response to a stress, whether it’s physical, chemical, or
emotional stress. And cortisol also
promotes inflammation, which makes your adrenal glands pump out more
cortisol. As cortisol is released, the
cytokines come out along with it and suppress your pituitary. There are common causes of elevated cortisol,
some of them being chronic stress, post-traumatic stress disorder, or hidden
gut infections, such as parasites. You’d
be surprised how many people have parasitic infections. Other causes of elevated levels of cortisol
include blood sugar dysregulation, high or low blood sugar, hypoglycemia,
insulin resistance, and diabetes.
You need to make
sure that your child’s blood sugar levels are stable. And you need to understand that, when your
child has these problems; when their blood sugar level is going up or down,
their cortisol levels are going up and down, which means their cytokines are
going up and down, which means there is inflammation throughout their body.
And remember, there
are several types of blood sugar problems--not just diabetes, but also
hypoglycemia, low blood sugar, and insulin resistance. Hypoglycemia is a blood sugar level of 85 or
lower. Insulin resistance is a fasting
blood sugar of 100-126. Diabetes is a
fasting blood sugar level of 127 or higher.
Be aware, if your
stress levels are high, your adrenal glands are going to pump hard, and
cortisol levels are going to increase.
Cytokine levels are going to increase, and it will cause massive
inflammation. High cortisol will
sabotage your attempt to combat you’re your child’s ADD/ADHD problems.
If your child is suffering
with adrenal fatigue, they need to avoid refined sugar, alcohol (hey, I have
seen 15 to 20 year-olds drinking alcohol!), and caffeine (not just in coffee
but in colas) because these are high stressors to their immune system. And don’t think they can get away with eating aspartame or MSG
because these are the worst things you could do for your adrenal glands!
Treatment Success Secret #14
Cytokines!
Cytokines are the messengers that your immune
system uses as part of the inflammatory process, and…inflammation = decreased
brain function!!! When
a patient has an inflammatory condition like arthritis, IBS, asthma
or an autoimmune condition like Lupus or rheumatoid arthritis, they have
usually high levels of cytokines.
Remember, I said
there are two parts to your immune system, TH-1 and TH-2. If your child has high interleukin-2,
or TNF-alpha,
then he’s probably TH-1 dominant. If he
has high interleukin-4, or interleukin-10, he’s probably TH-2 dominant. If he’s dominant with those cytokines, he’s
probably creating more problems for ADD/ADHD condition.
The key is to get your child tested for that
cytokine function to make sure everything
is within the optimal or functional range.
Treatment Success Secret #15
Intestinal
Fortitude…LITERALLY!
Gut function is
extremely important because of the gut-brain connection. What happens in the gut, also happens in the
brain. If there is inflammation in the
gut, there is inflammation in the brain.
Have you ever heard
of something called “Leaky Gut Syndrome” (LGS)?
Leaky Gut Syndrome is where the lining of your intestines have become
more permeable, so it allows things like food particles and large molecules to
permeate your system and create havoc with your immune system. It’s also important in gut function to be
tested for parasites. Many people suffer
from parasites and don’t know it.
Some
people who suffer with ADD/ADHD also suffer from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). They have problems with constipation or
diarrhea, or both. Repairing your gut
begins at the plate. Chronic
inflammation is caused by poor
diet. When you have increased intestinal
permeability (another name for LGS), you will also have chronic inflammation,
because a healthy GI tract is a tightly woven mesh of tissue that does not
allow the absorption of bacteria, harmful foods, or undigested particles in the
bloodstream. When you’re suffering from
Leaky Gut Syndrome, this is exactly what’s happening.
Once in the bloodstream,
these particles are recognized as foreign invaders or antigens, which the
immune system attacks. And,
unfortunately for many people, especially those with insulin resistance,
this response happens almost every time they eat, resulting in chronic
inflammation or irritable bowel syndrome.
This sets the stage for development of an autoimmune disease.
So the first step
in repairing the gut is to remove the foods that are creating a chronic immune
response: gluten, soy, milk, egg, yeast.
And then it’s important to heal your body. You can heal your body with a 4R colon
program, which means removing or eliminating problems - gluten, milk, soy,
yeast, or parasites - inoculating, and using a probiotic. On a 4R colon program you replace specific
enzymes to repair your gut and utilize specific neurological compounds. This is why it’s important to have healthy
gut function in regards to treating your child’s ADD/ADHD.
Finally, there has
recently been a new study released entitled, “Gut Bacteria and Brain Development Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences” by R. D. Heijtz, S. Wang, F. Anuar, Y. Qian, B.
Bjorkholm, A. Samuelsson, M. L. Hibberd, H. Forssberg, S. Pettersson. This study further proves the
gut-brain-immune system connection.
Treatment Success Secret #16
Don’t
fall into the false belief that… “Everything has been done!”
Believing that all
of the lab test results are normal is WRONG!
I can't tell you how many times a patient walks in my office and tells
me that their medical doctor told them that all their labs are ‘normal.’ Yes, they may be normal in regards to lab
values, but not in regards to optimal or functional values. Remember that I said the lab value for TSH is
.35 to 5.0? And the optimal level or
functional level is 1.8-3.0? This is a
huge trap that many patients fall into and they have to avoid. They believe that all of the correct tests
have been done, and that all those tests are normal, just like their medical
doctor said they were.
The truth is that
functional testing has not been done.
Your child needs specific lab tests.
Your child needs a complete metabolic panel. Your child needs a lipid panel. Your child needs a complete thyroid panel
that includes seven or eight thyroid tests.
And they need a CBC with auto-differential. They need sensitivity testing done. Sensitivity testing will determine if they’re
sensitive to gluten, milk, soy, egg, or yeast.
They need the immune panels done.
Remember, I said there are two parts to the immune system, TH-1 and TH-2. You want to find out which one is
working. So you’re testing those
cytokines that we talked about, interleukin-2, TNF-alpha, interleukin-4 and
interleukin-10. You’re testing the
CD-4-CD-8 ratio. I know that sounds like
a big term, but the CD-4-CD-8 ratio is normally between 1.2 - 2.4. If it’s 2.4 – 2.5 or above, they have an
active antigen. There’s something that’s
causing their immune system to run amuck.
There’s something that’s causing their T-cells to attack their body.
If it’s below 1.2,
they have a problem with dysregulation, an anemic condition, a blood sugar
problem, a gut function problem, or a liver function problem. So it’s important that all the tests are
run.
Don’t get into the
false belief that everything possible has been done—if you do, then you’ve
missed the point and you will stop searching for answers and information that
will help your child.
Treatment Success Secret #17
Do Not
Allow Your Child’s Health Condition to be Labeled and Placed into a Nice, Neat
Box!
Do not accept
“ADD/ADHD” as a label for all of your child’s symptoms. There’s no simple explanation for why
your child has this problem. That’s why
ALL of the testing needs to be done.
When your child was first diagnosed with ADD/ADHD, you might have been
happy to finally have somebody or some doctor call it, or name it, or put it in
a box.
It’s scary to have
symptoms that nobody can explain—it leads your mind to worry. But don’t accept the label for all your
child’s symptoms. Remember, ALL of the tests
need to be done. If your child has been
diagnosed with ADD/ADHD, realize that there are things that can be done to help
your child! There are answers out
there.
The key is—your
child needs to be tested thoroughly.
They need to be tested, correctly treated and retested. THAT is the only
way they will achieve health!
Treatment Success Secret #18
Don’t
Use Medications as a Crutch!
Are you relying
solely on medication to treat your child’s symptoms? Google the side effects of some of the
medications that you are currently giving to your child. Ask yourself if you really think all the medications
that you’re giving your child are actually making their brain and body
functional or healthy. Is it really
fixing their ADD/ADHD? Think about this:
If you gave the medication that you’re giving your child to a healthy person,
would that person remain healthy or become sick? They would become sick! ALL medications have side effects
All you’re doing
with medications is covering up symptoms.
You’re also creating unwanted side effects, which may in the
long run make your child worse. I can't
tell you how many people I’ve seen in their eighties that started off with one
or two medications in their thirties, ended up with four or five medications in
their fifties, and now in their eighties, they’re taking thirteen to fifteen
medications.
Don’t think that
you need a medication to be healthy. And
don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying to stop giving your child medications this
minute. But…as we test them and
we’re treating them and we’re retesting them, they’re bound to improve, and,
eventually, you can go back to your medical doctor, and you can ask him to take
your child off of these medications or decrease the dosage.
We want to work at
getting to the cause of your child’s problem.
We want to reverse their symptoms.
We want to get the root cause and get the problem taken care of
at the very beginning.
Treatment Success Secret #19
Control
Your Child’s Health Destiny!
No one else is
responsible for your child’s health! YOU
are responsible for your child’s health!
Take your child’s health care into your own hands! We’re trained to believe that medical
doctors know best, and what the doctor says is the best thing for me. It’s true, medical doctors are doctors; they
treat people, they want to help people, but the reality is that just writing a
script and throwing a medication at a person isn't actually treating the
patient and it isn't in the best interest of the patient. Proper testing must be done.
With something as complex
as ADD/ADHD, you have to literally grab the bull by the horns and take
charge. It’s your child’s life! What kind
of life your child has for the next 70 to 80 years is in your hands TODAY! Are you going to accept the status quo and
continue to push from MD to MD only to find out that they have no answer for
your child? It’s up to you. Nobody is going to care about your child more
than you. You need to take action. You need to get the testing done on your
child. You need a thorough work-up on
your child. Nothing else is going to
help you eliminate your child’s ADD/ADHD more than the proper testing and
treatment.
Treatment Success Secret #20
TAKE
ACTION NOW!
Take action! Do not
think that your child is going to get better on their own. Many people think that once their child is taking
medication, their problem isn't going to get any worse or there’s nothing to
worry about. And this isn't true. The reality is your child is either getting
better or getting worse - they’re not staying the same.
So if you sit and
wait around for it to just go away on its own or you sit and think that you can't
do anything and that they will be just fine, you’re falling into a deep, dark
well. Avoid this type of thinking at all
costs. Remember to get your child tested,
treated, and retested functionally or optimally. Remember that MDs use lab values that are
extremely broad and wide. And you want
lab values that are much narrower, those optimal or functional levels. Once you get your child properly tested and
treated, then, and only then, will their symptoms go away.
