Homeopathy for ADHD

My mother in law lives in Switzerland.  She suffers from irritable bowel disease.  As far as I know, she only has one physician, a homeopathic physician, who she swears by.  She claims that he is the only physician who has been able to help her.  Homeopathy works by a law that I call, "killing fire with fire".  Homeopaths believe that if you give someone a little of something that will cause the same mild symptoms as the symptoms that they are having, the body will recognize the tiny irritant and will produce its own cure for that particular problem.

Homeopathy is hugely popular in Europe and in South and Central America.  They Royal family has their very own homeopathic physician and people in Switzerland and in Germany use homeopathy with much more ease, confidence, and frequency than we do here in the U.S.  Homeopathy was started in Germany by a physician who practiced traditional allopathic medicine.

It was a Cholera epidemic in the 1830s which put homeopathy on the map.  Patients treated with the homeopathic cure survived the epidemic at rates that were 50-60 percent higher than those treated with traditional medicine.   Pharmacist, traditional physicians, and homeopathic physicians have been trying to figure out why ever since.

From my research I found that no one knows with 100% certainty exactly why, how, or if  homeopathy works.  There have been published case/control trials that have shown that it is more effective than placebo in a number of studies.  There have been some studies on the treatment of ADHD symptoms done in Switzerland which have found the treatment to be highly effective provided that the child is placed on the correct homeopathic remedy.  Homeopaths believe that you must treat every individual with the exact medicine that will help that individual and that a 'one medicine fits all' approach does not work for ADHD or for any disease.

A search of the ADHD forums finds some homeopathy advocates who swear that the medicine has helped their hyperactivity, inattentiveness, and focus.  There are as many, if not more, people on these forums who report that the homeopathic medicines are a HUGE waste of money.

Homeopathic physicians argue that one treatment may help one person while another treatment for ADHD will help another and that the treatments have to be tailored to the person.  One study done in Switzerland first identified the medicine that would work for a child with ADHD and then followed them for several months.  The researcher from this study reported that these children, who had tailor made treatments, did very well controlling their symptoms of ADHD with their individual ADHD cures.

There is absolutely no harm in homeopathic medicine. It is considered to be extremely safe.  I do not believe in giving people false hope but I believe that, if the ADHD symptoms are not dangerously impairing, that anything is worth a try.  I tried Vaxa Attend with my 11 year old son and it did not work for him.  Maybe a tailor made cure would have made the difference but I was trained in traditional medicine and do not and did not have enough confidence in homeopathy to pursue this further.

If there is a homeopathic physician reading this who would like to interview me or my un-medicated inattentive son and send us a sample of a homeopathic remedy that I might review on this website,  I would be more than happy to give this remedy a try and report back to all of you.

I noticed recently that Vaxa Attend was advertising on this website.  I am afraid that I cannot give them my endorsement but if this homeopathic medicine happens to help your symptoms of ADHD,  I am very happy for you!

An ADHD Coach and a Housekeeper May Change Your Life!!

I gave a good friend of mine with Inattentive ADHD a baby gift of a weekly housekeeper for a month. I thought that the challenges of the new baby coupled with the demands of two children and a household might prove too difficult for her.  Someone had given me this baby gift after my eldest son was born and it was, by far, the best baby gift that I was given.  Some housekeepers do nothing but clean and some housekeepers do much more.

The greatest housekeepers organize drawers, cabinets, laundry closets, and individual rooms in such a way that will enable the housekeeper and you to keep things clean and organized.  Great housekeepers can start you on a sustainable cleaning schedule and teach you the tools and tricks of keeping a house clean and organized.   If you cannot afford to hire someone to come in weekly, get cleaning help on a monthly basis.  Having someone organize and clean your house once a month will make it easier for you to keep your house neat and clean.

When you have ADHD anything that helps you get and stay organized is a huge blessing.  A good housekeeper is especially helpful but a good ADHD coach can make an even greater positive impact in the life of a person with ADHD.

The strategies that ADHD coaches can help you with include:

The use of watches, timers, and deadlines both for accomplishing tasks and for the planning phase of task completion.

Some people with ADHD spend so much time planning what they need to do that they never actually do anything.  People with ADHD also have a very poor sense of the amount of time it takes to complete a task and they can spend hours on something that should have taken 20 minutes.  Perfectionism is the enemy of production and people with ADHD can find themselves over focusing on some minute detail of the project while ignoring the fact that much of the task is yet to be completed.

The use of family, friends, coworkers, and neighbors as partners and reminders of the tasks that need completing.

Assembling a 'team' of people who will hold you accountable and that will cheer you on as you trudge through your tasks makes the task completion more thorough, more predictable, and more satisfying.

Breaking down tasks into smaller pieces and making goals that are accomplishable.

Rome was not built in a day but when you are so far behind, the urge is to try to do everything in an attempt to 'catch up'.  When the task at hand is huge, it is likely to appear undoable.  Dividing the task into smaller pieces makes it something that appears manageable.

Recognizing and removing the obstacles that are getting in the way of your task completion.


If every time you set out to accomplish something, you get sidetracked by something else. It is time to recognize and remove that barrier from your ADHD life.  For many people with ADHD, things like the phone, email, computer surfing, friendly neighbors, and disorganized homes and/or offices can occupy them for hours and keep them from accomplishing their goals. Recognizing and removing these barriers is an essential component of managing.

For people with ADHD, getting the right home care and coaching help is as essential as being on the right medication.  Good housekeepers are best found by word of mouth and this link can help you find a great ADHD coach.  Don't delay, these two professionals may change your life.

With A Little Help, and a Little Get Up and Go, You Can Conquer Anything

Have you ever had one of the weeks where you go to the grocery store, it is raining, you are in a hurry, the cashier is in training, you've forgotten your recyclable bags, your paper grocery bag is overflowing  and as you are putting the groceries in the car, the bag bottoms out and that much needed wine bottle splatters on the asphalt spraying the last clean clothes that you had left in your closet.  I had a week like that last week.  I had so much to do, I felt totally overwhelmed.

I always have lots to do but last week was exceptionally stressful.  It was March Madness.  The cars needed to be inspected to get our tag stickers, I needed to get all our tax papers to the accountant, our Spring break airline tickets had gone from $249.00 round trip to $300.00 and I still had not booked them, the vet told us that our cat who is in renal failure and who I give IV fluids to weekly would now need the fluids twice a week, Summer camp registration was filling up and the kids could not decide which camps they wanted, I was working at the hospital 36 hours a week instead of 20 because someone was on maternity leave, the school lunch volunteer program which I run was starting a brand new order period and parents, volunteers, and vendors had a million questions, my youngest son needed help with a Native American Project, one of our friend's mother died and we were having them over for dinner,  the laundry needed doing, there was something really sticky on the kitchen floor, my partner was knee deep in work, and I felt as though I was going off the deep end.

I rarely let my life spiral out of control.  I think this is because with my history of inattentive ADHD, I have had a lot of experience with doing things at the very last minute.  I know that I am much more efficient and effective if I stay on top of what needs to get done.    When life throws you a week like I had last week, however, staying on top of things is far from easy.

I ended up asking my co-workers to help me figure it all out.  I told my co-workers my dilemma and together we forged a plan to get started on everything.  Once I had started scratching tasks off my list, I gathered momentum and before I knew it, I had survived the week and I had accomplished everything that needed doing.  I think that there are two key factors that helped me last week.

The first factor was asking for help.  My partner was unavailable, we do not have family in town, our friends would have helped except that I was at work.  It was my co-workers who were around and I called on them to 'talk me through' what I needed to get done.  Talking to a friend, co-worker, or family member sometimes helps you to prioritize and get organized.  They can give you a perspective that you lack because you are in the thick of it and it becomes progressively harder, as things pile up, to see the washing machine from the mound of laundry.  They also become your coach and cheer leader in the process, making you accountable to the plan that they have helped you forge.

The second factor is just getting started.  Sometimes things are so overwhelming that you become paralyzed.  My father died when I was eight and my mother married an ex-Jesuit priest.  He was very interested in poetry, literature, and a great many other things and he encouraged us to try to do things that we did not think we were particularly good at.  He loved to recite poetry and whenever someone in the family said, "I can't do that!" , he would recite this poem;

"Somebody said that it couldn't be done but I with a chuckle replied, that maybe it couldn't but I would be one that didn't say so till I tried, so I buckled right in with a bit of a grin on my face if I worried I hid it, I started to sing as I tackled the thing that couldn't be done and I did it.  Somebody scoffed, oh you'll never do that, at least no one has ever done it.  But I took off my cap and I took off my coat and the next thing you know, I'd begun it."

I think that the greatest lesson that I learned from my step-father is that sometimes you just have to begin.  Once you have started something, inertia may well carry you to the finish line.  I am glad to feel back in control of my life but if you are starting to get overwhelmed remember to ask for help and then put one foot in front of the other and get moving.

When Does Strattera Work for ADHD??

There has been considerable interest in the ADHD community in the use of a non-stimulant medicine for the treatment of ADHD.  The most commonly prescribed non stimulant medication in the United States in Atomoxetine (Strattera).  Anecdotal reports and scientific journals report that Atomoxetine works very well in some patients and not at all in others.  Most of the scientific studies done on Atomoxetine have found that it works about as well as short acting stimulants but not nearly as well as the long acting or sustained release stimulants.  As more research studies are completed a clearer picture has emerged of when Atomoxetine is most helpful.  The findings from these studies report that Atomoxetine is probably most useful in:

* Patients without Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD) symptoms

* Patients with Inattentive ADHD

* Patients with ADHD and reading difficulties

* Patients with ADHD and anxiety

* Patients at risk for substance abuse

* Patients with tic disorders

Atomoxetine was helpful for treating hyperactivity, inattention, and impulsive symptoms but was not helpful for the treatment of co-morbid Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD).  In families, the treatment of co-morbidities such as ODD is as important as the treatment of the core symptoms of ADHD.  The percentage of individuals with co-morbid Oppositional symptoms in combined type ADHD and Hyperactive/Impulsive ADHD is amazingly high.  One study found that more than 50% of patients with the combined type of ADHD had oppositional symptoms.  That same study reported that greater than 40 percent of patients with hyperactive/impulsive ADHD exhibited symptoms of ODD.  If you have ever lived with an individual with ODD you will understand how disruptive these symptoms are to a healthy family dynamic.  Most adults and families would consider Atomoxetine to be an ADHD treatment failure if the symptoms of ODD were  not improved while taking a medication.

Patients with inattentive ADHD may benefit most from Atomoxetine treatment as clinical trials have proved this drug to be very efficient in treating the symptoms of inattention and  lack of focus in ADHD.  Individuals with inattentive ADHD are more likely to have internalizing symptoms such as anxiety and less likely to have externalizing symptoms such as aggression and conduct disorders.  Patients with ADHD and anxiety are very good candidates for Atomoxetine treatment as stimulants can often worsen anxiety symptoms.  Atomoxetine has proved to be much less useful in the treatment of externalizing symptoms.

Atomoxetine improved  visuospacial deficits in children with ADHD and reading difficulties.  Children with ADHD and reading difficulties are thought to have a very specific executive function deficit.  The connection between ADHD and visuospacial deficits are poorly understood and require more study but it is this same connection which is thought to be the reason why visual therapy improves attention in some children with ADHD.   

Some other interesting facts about Atomoxetine include:

1.  Atomoxetine may work better for ADHD if you have never been on a stimulant.  Children who have never been tried on stimulants responded more positively to Atomoxetine than children who had been previously treated with amphetamine salts or methylphenidate.

2.  There is a subset of patient who do not respond at all to stimulants but do respond to Atomoxetine.

3.  Atomoxetine may be better for morning control of symptoms than stimulants because of their steady duration of action.  The stimulants work only when they are at therapeutic levels which occurs typically 30-60 minutes after taking the medication.  Atomoxetine reaches it's full therapeutic potential in about 6 weeks though some individuals report improvement immediately.

4.  Atomoxetine works better for all types of ADHD at a daily dose of  1.4 mg/kg (0.65 mg per pound) when compared to the dose of .8 mg/kg (0.36 mg per pound) and once daily dosing of Atomoxetine is as effective and as well tolerated with regards to side effects as twice a day dosing. 

5.  Side effects which required discontinuation of the medicine occurred in less than 10% of individuals started on Atomoxetine. The most common side effects in children and teenagers were upset stomach, decreased appetite, nausea or vomiting, dizziness, and tiredness.

6.  Atomoxetine can be taken in combination with the stimulants which is useful in patients who are in the process of stopping the use of the stimulants but will not receive the full effect of the Atomoxetine for several weeks.

For a certain subset of patient with ADHD, Atomoxetine may prove to be the ideal medication.  Further study into the effectiveness of this medication will allow us to understand better why this medicine is effective in certain populations and totally ineffective in others.