ADHD Awareness Month: ADHD Q&A
As we continue to mark ADHD Awareness Month this October, we are thrilled to publish this in-depth Q&A with The Key Clinic's Founder, Sarah Warley.
My child has difficulty concentrating, but I’m not sure if they have ADHD?
Finding it hard to sit still and concentrate can be caused by many things - boredom, tiredness and depression, so it is worth looking at the big picture before jumping to the conclusion that your child has ADHD.
What are the symptoms of ADHD?
A diagnosis of ADHD covers a wide range of symptoms, from difficulty focussing and staying on task through to hyperactivity, impulsivity, disruptive behaviours, anger and violent outbursts - all of which are beyond conscious control.
What else can interfere with concentration?
For some children, retained primitive reflexes (little immaturities in the nervous system) can make them fidgety, interfering with concentration and causing the eyes to jump when trying to read. This can be addressed by carrying out a Neurodevelopmental exercise programme - doing some specific exercises every day for a few months to get rid of the retained reflexes for good.
Other children find it hard to focus because they have problems in the way in which they hear information, making it hard to follow what the teacher is saying. For example, hypersensitive hearing makes it hard to block out background noises.
Other children may be only able to hear certain parts of language clearly, but miss other parts of words, (a bit like being on a mobile phone in an area of poor reception). These problems can be improved with a 10 day course of Key Auditory Therapy.
Children with ADHD have an imbalance in brain chemicals.
Is the ADHD brain different?
Yes. Children with ADHD have an imbalance in brain chemicals. 1) Not enough dopamine, a neurotransmitter required for focus/learning, and 2) Too much norepinephrine, an excitatory neurotransmitter resulting in adrenaline overload.
Is there a viable and effective alternative to drugs?
There is now an alternative way to try to tackle these biochemical imbalances without the need to introduce a chemical substance. ‘Nutrient Therapy’ allows us to address these imbalances using highly targeted supplements, to give the body what it needs to rebalance itself. To do this, your child’s biochemistry needs to be tested.
What actually causes ADHD?
The Walsh Institute in the USA studied over 5,600 children with ADHD and reported that they had identified two underlying characteristic biochemical imbalances:
70-90% of ADHD children on their database had too much copper and not enough zinc in their bodies. This directly contributes to the dopamine and norepinephrine imbalance! A simple blood test at The Key Clinic will be able to tell if this is one of the contributing factors to your child’s ADHD.
30% of those diagnosed with ADHD in Walsh's database were found to have an underlying ‘Pyrrole Disorder’ - something which again, alters the biochemistry of the brain and body and tends to run in families. It can lead to more extreme symptoms such as mood swings, chronic anxiety, explosive temper, violent rages, Jekyll and Hyde type behaviours and Oppositional Defiance. A simple urine test at The Key Clinic can diagnose Pyrrole disorder.
How effective is this new method?
According to a Clinical outcome study (Walsh, et al. Physiology & Behavior, 82:835-839, 2004) Nutrient Therapy shows impressive results among those who complied with the protocol:
80% of children under the age of 14 years show improved behaviour, with more than half ceasing physical violence.
In more severe cases, 91% reporting reduced incidences of physical violence and 58% reporting this had stopped completely.
71% achieved significant improvement in academics (Ref The Walsh Institute 2004 Study of those with ‘severe ADHD’ in a high poverty, inner city school in Chicago)
What would be the first step to getting my child assessed?
Contact The Key Clinic team today to organise an Initial Screening Consultation.
