Mental & Emotional Health

My oldest son is 5.  He is in kindergarten and within week two he had already found himself sitting at the back of the room alone.  He talks incessantly.  It just goes on forever.  I’m certain he is going to grow up to be a radio sportscaster because the kid doesn’t even breathe between sentences.

His teacher assures me that he is a good kid, follows directions, stays on task and is good to his classmates.  He got his first report card yesterday and it too tells the same story.

But…you knew that was coming, right?  We had him tested when he was three.  There were several reasons for it.  One, he wasn’t talking much.  He communicated fine, he just wouldn’t string words together.  Another reason was his intelligence level (although not in speaking) was out of this world.  And, finally, he had about as much attention as a gnat. 

Yes, the good doctor (and I do believe he was good for several reasons, I’ll mention those in a minute) believed that my son very well may have been on the edge of some ADHD issues.  The reason I believed in this doctor so much also comes in parts.  One, the doc agreed with us that we should tolerate as much of his antics at home as we could, choosing no medication for him until much later.  He agreed that once he started school and the teacher was calling me every day and he was making everyone in the room miserable, then we would talk about medication.  But, incessant talking does not ADHD make!

Anyway, this doctor also explained that our next source of problems would come as he got older and matured.  You see, at the ripe age of 3 years and 3 months, he tested out at 2nd grade 7th month.  That’s pretty self explanatory even for the non-education people I think.

Anyway, I refuse to medicate him until I see that he is out of control.  And, for now, his teacher seems fine with his ability to talk until everyone falls over in their chair and she seems to get a kick out of some of the stuff he can dream up. 

Do I still think he might have a edge for ADHD?  Absolutely.  Is it a problem?  Absolutely not.  Will we medicate?  NO way!  My husband has ADD and he was only diagnosed a few years ago.  He says he wished he had been given the opportunity to take medication as a child.  His grandparents figured a good spanking was the best cure.

Anyway, in my reading, researching and writing, I have found numerous sites to be helpful.  We recognized before my 5 year old was ever born that he had an aversion to anything grape.  Yes, I was pregnant and drinking good ol’ sugar-high grape kool-aid.  After about 5 trips to labor and delivery, we figured it out. 

He still can even drink grape juice, 100% grape juice.  It sends him way over the edge.  And, he doesn’t tolerate sugar well where my 3 year old seems to be unaffected by its effects. 

I recently received an email from Jane Faus regarding this very issue.  I thought I’d share some of her thoughts here as well .  They are in the comment section but this just makes it easier.

"take a look at the research that has shown omega-3 essential fatty acids to be very helpful for both depression and ADD.  One benefit is that they do not have negative side effects, including depression — which is sometimes a side effect of ADD drugs."

"Another trigger for many of our modern ailments is the enormous amount of synthetic chemicals being added to our food"

Although I am OCD in many ways, I don’t get so close to the ADD or ADHD spectrum as my husband and son, but, read this…this is me,

"My husband used to get horrible 3 and 4 day migraine headaches from the dyes and a few other synthetic additives."

"You can read all of part one of my book "Why Can’t My Child Behave?" on our web site www.ADHDdiet.org; it will give you quite a lot of information on the diet/behavior/learning link."

Anyway, for anyone who thinks that they have ADD or ADHD or that their child has problems, you should definitely go read some  of the information on Feingold before you take any action by the way of drugs.  There’s so much to learn there, I can’t imagine trying to work it all in, but we are modifying as needed until we can get a bit calmer version of my wonderful little boy.  (My husband is trying some diet modifications as well.)

If you have any questions, shoot them my way and we will see what we can come up with!!