MY CHILD WITH ADHD
Every child develops and grows at his or her own rate. When my son, who is now 10 years old and my daughter, who is now nine were very little, I didn’t make much of it when my son, Jacob was better at academics than my daughter, Corissa. I often played word games and other academic games with my toddlers while in the car or grocery store, for example and Jacob would be much quicker to come up with the answer while Corissa would sit quietly and allow him to do his thing.
Not a big deal, I thought. It wasn’t until Corissa started school that I noticed the problem. After a couple years of struggling with the basics we finally had Corissa tested for ADHD and other learning disabilities. It turns out that my extremely creative, loving child had both problems. She struggles with staying focused on the teacher and the school assignments given to her to complete. She was often getting into trouble for talking, fiddling with her hair, or doing anything besides what she was supposed to be doing. School assignments would come home incomplete and homework took hours.
As I said, Corissa was also diagnosed with learning disability. She has a difficult time processing the information given to her. When asked to complete a rather easy math problem, it takes Corissa some time to come up with the answer, especially if it has two or more parts. Example: What is 2 x 2 + 5? Thankfully, she can figure out this problem and with very recent extra help from some teachers at school and I, we are working to give her the mental tools she needs to make simple problem solving such as this a little easier.
There is still the problem of the ADHD. I really didn’t want to put my child on any medication, especially not Ritalin. I try to steer far away from medications as much as possible. After my 32 years of medication because of asthma, I am finally mostly free from medication thanks to meditation (Meditation and Health Help), breathing techniques (Asthma Relief), and herbal supplements:
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months with a psychiatrist only seemed to put her further behind academically. After a couple years of trying less evasive strategies, I finally asked the doctor to put her on Stratera, a once a day medication for ADHD. This has helped her to some degree but she still struggles with staying on task and now she was suffering from mood swings and my once happy child was slipping away from me.
Unfortunately, my attempt at meditation with Corissa made her upset and several months with a psychiatrist only seemed to put her further behind academically. About a month ago, after Corissa came home one day from school crying because another child had teased her at school, I decided to do a search online to find out what else I could do to help her feel better about herself. My study revealed that a lot of ADHD symptoms stem from incomplete nutrition. I should’ve known. Most illnesses can be almost eliminated by the proper diet, water, sleep, and exercise. So after looking into it further I found a website called “Native Remedies� that sold herbal supplements for all sorts of ailments from weight loss struggles to sexual dysfunction. And I found a huge write up on two supplements for ADHD that when used together could almost turn a troubled child into one who succeeds and feels great about him/herself. Could it be?? I had to try.
A few days later our supplements arrived in the mail and I immediately started Corissa on them. I don’t know if it’s just my imagination but she seems like a totally different child. After months of watching her slump in front of the television or walking around depressed and uncertain, she’s back to the happy, sweet girl that I love. I still have her on the medication but I hope to eventually get her off of it all together. Already she is having an easier time completing tasks. Her homework was done in 20 minutes instead of the usual two hours. Her teacher has been sending home good reports of Corissa having “good days�. I can’t believe the change. I’m beaming as much as she is.