=================================================
The ADD / ADHD GAZETTE
Knocking down the walls of ignorance

Gail Miller
==================================================

*** ISSUE #8 *** 15th May 1999

The ADD / ADHD GAZETTE. A FREE online ezine all about
the issues surrounding ADD / ADHD and co-morbid
conditions and syndromes. Authors' views are not
necessarily the views of The ADD / ADHD Gazette.

This community has now grown to 1,435 subscribers!

==========Sponsor=================================

The Mental Health Matters Newsletter
-----------------------------------------------------
Mental Health Matters!
The User-friendly Mental Health Directory
FREE search Service available.
http://www.mental-health-matters.com/

=======================================================

IN THIS ISSUE:

#1 -- NEWS & VIEWS

#2 -- UK FOCUS

#3 -- ARTICLE: My Son Has Diabetes ~ He Couldn't Posibly Have ADD Too!

#4 -- RESOURCES

===================================================
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER
Items in this newsletter are published for educational and / or
informational purposes only. Any therapy, product, service, or
featured web site mentioned here, does NOT imply endorsement
or approval by The ADD / ADHD Gazette. The accuracy and
content of any web sites featured here cannot be guaranteed.
Thoughts, views and and statements written by contributors are
not necessarily the views of The ADD / ADHD Gazette.
==================================================

# 1 News & Views

New Jersey author, Judith Rich Harris, in her book The Nurture
Assumption
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684844095/theaddadhdgaze
tells us that we, as parents, have much less to do with how our children
grow up to be than was once thought. Her ideas on child rearing have
shaken up the psychological community, as she puts forward the view
that environmental factors have a greater effect on our children's
personalities than individual parenting methods.

Miss Harris says that parents play only a minor role in their children's
emotional and / or mental development. Drawing on countless studies,
she opposed the 'blame' laid on parents of difficult children and has
refreshing views about 'professional parental advice-givers'.

This book is thought provoking; even controversial and any parent
concerned about their nurturing style will find the book fascinating
reading. Here Miss Harris states that sometimes good parents have
bad kids and this will bring relief to many parents struggling to make
sense of why they seem to be banging their heads up against a brick
wall bringing up their children. This profound work brings together
psychological, socialogical and evolutionary ideas which offer a
startling and refreshing new view of accepted beliefs.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------

Can anyone help please? I am trying to track down a watch that was
advertised a while ago, it was for people with ADHD and an alrm could
be set for about 10 different times a day to remind them of a task or to
take meds, it also displayed a text message to tell them which each
alarm was for. Can anyone help please? If so contact me at
lynn@...

------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------

Here is a brilliant idea donated by one of our readers, for when your
child
is fond of cursing and swearing - something we mums are used to!

Find out something affordable that the child wants, maybe a CD, a movie
ticket, something you can afford to purchase. Get enough quarters to
purchase the item and put them in a jar at the beginning of the week.
Tell your child that the quarters are his at the end of a given time
period. Usually a week . But every time he cusses or calls someone a
name you're taking out quarters.

This is suppose to be good for visual learners and to help teach cause
and effect. If he doesn't have enough quarters to make the purchase at
the end of the week, then he has to go another week not cussing and not
loosing quarters until he has enough saved to make his original
purchase. Hopefully after he adds the two weeks worth of remaining
quarters together he will have enough to make his purchase and a little
left over. The councilor also suggested that he have a certain number of
times that he could screw up and not be penalized . Maybe 3 cusswords a
day or something . This gives him a chance to be reminded a few times of
the quarters. This idea can be manipulated to fit your needs or for
whatever behavior you are shooting for. The idea is positive, visual,
reinforcement. These kids (including my foster son) really don't
understand that their actions affect the others around them. They are so
wrapped up in their own world they don't care who they hurt or how. My
foster son doesn't understand why I get upset over him walking across a
wet, freshly waxed floor. It's not in his reality, so why should it
matter to me. He has yet to learn that the world (my world) doesn't
revolve around him. Good Luck ~ K

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------

Gail, I would like the following letter to be included in the next ADD
gazette. Thanks.

Hi.
I've been reading the info provided in this gazette for a few issues,
and
there's something I want to inform readers about.

ADD is not a genetic disease.

As a scientist trained in genetics and immunology, I can confidently
state
that any claim that ADD has a genetic cause and is therefore not
curable,
is a claim that should be dismissed outright. I do acknowledge that
genetic
factors have an effect on ADD. It is also true that genetic factors
have an
effect on every single behavior, good or bad, that has ever been
exhibited
by a human being. It is just as easy to say that speaking english is a
genetic condition, because overall the people who speak it are
genetically
different from speakers of other languages. This is the kind of
genetics
involved with ADD and many other behavioral disorders.

I myself have ADHD (diagnosed, and at one stage medicated) and I am
doing the seemingly impossible. I am gradually curing myself of the
symptoms of ADHD. Before I explain how, I want to make one thing
very clear. ALL the symptoms associated with ADD have been found to
be associated with two very common causes of STRESS, no matter who
the sufferer is or whether or not they have ADD.

1. FOOD AND CHEMICALS. As the human race begins to get a bit
more open minded about what goes in mouths, a very obvious pattern of
mental effects is developing in association with certain foods and
chemicals.
Any biological response to food or chemicals or allergens is mediated by
the immune system. Parents with children suffering from ADD well know
that certain foods are associated with increased symptoms. It's time to
get
more systematic about excluding bad foods. One school of thought
associated with great advances in preventing undesirable food reactions
is
the ER4YT (eat right for your type) diet. This involves recognising that
there is a strong association with blood type (A,B,AB & O) and reactions
to certain foods. Many people trying this system have had amazing
results
with all kinds of mental and physical problems.

2. TRAUMA. The nature of the symptoms of ADD are consistent
with the effect of adrenalin. That's why all the symptoms of ADD appear
in just about every human being at one time or another. Adrenalin is a
response to stress. Other than food, a major cause of stress is trauma.
Trauma occurs when a human being is disempowered by psychological,
physical or sexual means. I have added the second of the two
possibilities
because of my personal experiences, and the experiences of other abuse
victims. Healing the effects of the child abuse I suffered has resulted
gradually in the automatic healing of the symptoms of my ADHD.

I can't stress enough that I believe ADD is not caused by child abuse,
but by STRESS. The most common source of stress is from the food we
eat and the chemicals around us. I am not claiming that people with
ADD are victims of child abuse. I am claiming that they are sufferers
of
unusually high levels of stress. It is my opinion, based on my personal
research, that ADD is a stress disorder. It seems primarily associated
with inappropriate food intake and chemical exposure. I have also found
a lesser link with child abuse and the stress caused by such trauma.

I believe every single person suffering from ADD can expect to live free
from the symptoms of the disorder by addressing the causes. o.m.

--~~--~~--~~--
*NOTE* I have asked o.m. to provide us with a 'proper' article on the
above with references / websties to back up his or her claims. Also what
they are actually *doing* or has done to cure themselves. They tell me
that there *is* an article to follow, but I haven't received this as yet
after
a number of weeks, however I saw no reason not to publish the above
at this stage. I am sure o.m. would be delighted to receive comments on
his or her letter which I will pass on to them. Please *don't* address
comments to me personally - I will pass them straight on to the author.

=================================================

# 2 UK Focus

Are you home ducating your ADHD Child? Find encouragement,
support, and meet other families like yours through a new mailing list.
HE-SPECIAL-UK http://www.onelist.com/subscribe/HE-SPECIAL-UK
is a UK based mailing list which has been started with the aim of
providing support and encouragement to families who home
educate children with any kind of special educational need. (SEN)

The main aim of the list is to provide a supportive meeting place,
where the special, day-to-day issues involved in home educating
children with special educationl needs can be discussed. Where we
can all offer encouragement to one another, sharing our difficulties,
and celebrating our success stories.

If you are home educating a child with ADHD, or if this is something
your family is thinking about, then I'd like to invite you to join us.
You
will be very welcome - june@...

================================================

# 3 My Son has Diabetes--He Couldn't Possibly have ADD too!
by Robin Nobles

When my son, Ryan, was 8 years old, he was diagnosed with diabetes.
We immediately were thrust into the "fun" tasks of checking his blood
sugar four times a day, giving him two shots, monitoring everything he
ate, carefully watching his exercise, and the list goes on and on.
Before he was diagnosed with diabetes, I strongly suspected that Ryan
had an attention deficit. He had all of the "classic signs." But, I
refused
to put him through the tests and let them medicate MY son. I'd seen
what the medicine did to other kids--how they became perfect little
zombies.
I liked my "all boy" son, and I wanted to try it without the medication.

Then diabetes hit, and there was no way I would consider putting him on
medication for ADD. Diabetes presents enough problems as it is, and
adding
anything to its already complicated scenario was unthinkable. Besides
that,
Ryan already had ONE major problem in his life. It was inconceivable
that
he could possibly have ADD on top of it. Surely I was wrong.

Throughout elementary school, I worked with Ryan every night on his
school work--fought with him every night too--and I finally resorted to
hiring tutors. He barely passed. His self-esteem was non-existent. He
thought he was dumb, and he totally quit trying. So, I finally gave in
and
had him formally tested for ADD. Ryan was 12 years and 3 months old at
the time. He tested as a 7-year 11-month old child--in other words, he
was
operating as a 7-year old in class, trying to keep up with 12-year olds,
and failing miserably.

Not only was Ryan diagnosed with "severe" ADD, but he was also
diagnosed with "severe" dyslexia. In fact, we were told that if we
didn't
get him special help, he would have to go to a language disorders
boarding school in New York. (We live in Mississippi--no way would
we do that!) So, his ADD doctor put him on Ritalin. Now here's where
it gets fun. Ritalin is an appetite suppressant. Ryan has to eat at
certain
times because of his diabetes--not to mention the fact that he was a
growing boy. Not only that, Ritalin causes the blood sugar to go up.

Throughout all of this, we constantly had to monitor his diabetes to
make sure the medicine wasn't creating too many problems. Actually,
I found that in many ways, the appetite suppressant aspect of Ritalin
counteracted the fact that it caused his blood sugars to go up, so
we were really okay, for the most part.

For a while, Ritalin worked beautifully. It was as if Ryan "woke up"
to the world, and all of a sudden, he started participating in class,
even offering to help other kids. His teacher said it was like teaching
a totally different child. We discovered that Ryan doesn't have severe
dyslexia, because the medicine worked. If he had had severe dyslexia,
the medicine wouldn't have worked. Then, as his body adjusted to
Ritalin, even after increasing the dosage, it quit working as it had in
the beginning. We tried several different medications, and we honestly
couldn't seem to find one that worked as well as Ritalin had in the very
beginning. Then, the doctor put him on Dexedrine. The positive thing
about Dexedrine is that the time-released pills are taken once a day, so
he didn't have to take medication at school. It seemed to work better
than most, but still not as good as Ritalin did in the beginning. This
went on from 6th to 9th grade.

Ryan is 16 now and in the 10th grade, with raging hormones and
typical "teenage-itis." This isn't a pleasant time any way. But, if
you add diabetes to the scenario, it really becomes tough. Add ADD,
and it's a true challenge. He failed the first half the year. I couldn't
get
him to take the medicine. He would tell me that he'd taken it, but I
would find pills in his pockets, behind a chair, and in the trash can.
He wouldn't tell me how he felt, whether the medicine was working
or not when he did take it, so there was no way I could help him.

After he failed 4 of his major subjects for the first half of the school
year, something clicked with Ryan. All of a sudden, he *wanted*
help. We had accommodations in place, but the teachers weren't
following them, partly because he wasn't trying. After Christmas,
though, we met with all of his teachers to point out the
accommodations and to make sure they were being followed.

Ryan started taking the medicine regularly, but he knew it wasn't
working. He was on 45 MG of Dexedrine once a day at that point.
The doctor had read this highly documented study of a group of
kids who had been failing everything. Doctors in the study started
putting them on massive dosages of medication, and it was a
complete turn around. These kids were getting between 150 and
200 MG of either Ritalin or Dexedrine a day. So, when Ryan's
medicine wasn't working, I raised his dose to 60 MG (4 timed -
released capsules). We tried that for a while, and then Ryan said
he needed more. I thought I had more playing room with the
medicine, so I raised it to five--75 MG, not realizing that this was
a particularly high dose.

However, you can't imagine the turn around that Ryan went through.
All of a sudden, he started making all A's and B's. His self-esteem sky
rocketed, and he tried harder in school. The teachers began helping
him, and he saw how it felt to succeed. When it was time to call the
doctor for more medicine, the doctor told me that Ryan was taking
over the recommended dosage. I had no idea. But, when I told him
how unbelievably well he was doing, and considering the study that
he'd read, he decided to give it a try, but we had to monitor it
closely.

Ryan made all A's and B's for the 3rd 9-weeks at his school. He
recently received mid-term grades and he has all A's in courses
that he'd failed for the first half of the year. Please understand that
the grades themselves aren't what's important--it's the fact that Ryan
can now focus and learn. His self-esteem is what's important--his
willingness to try and work hard to succeed.

When I took him to see the doctor again, he couldn't get over the
change. The bottom line is, that dosage enabled Ryan to focus and
to learn. Coupled with the fact that he began to see results, and the
fact that the teachers are cooperating, he was able to turn it around
to where he's doing exceptionally well.

How has this affected his diabetes? Everything affects diabetes!
But, we've started giving him 3 shots a day, and we're testing his
blood sugar more often. Because Dexedrine is an appetite
suppressant, and because Ryan is on a major dose, he's never
hungry--not until around 9:00 at night. So, I reduced his insulin
dosage. Ryan is prone to having seizures over low blood sugars,
so I have to be very careful. We don't give him the Dexedrine on
the weekend or during holidays, and he won't be on it in the summer.

In the study, many of the kids lost a lot of weight when they were
on the massive dosages. Ryan lost a few pounds, but not much. He's
thin, but he's not overly thin. Other side effects are headaches in the
middle of the afternoon (the "crash" effect of the medicine) and
difficulty sleeping at times. We've found that after a long holiday,
we can't immediately go back to 5 capsules a day. Instead, we have
to work up to it to prevent additional side effects.

The doctor asked Ryan if we could reduce the dosage--if Ryan
could really tell the difference between 4 and 5 capsules a day.
Ryan said he definitely could. He said that at 4 (60 MG), he still
talked in class, couldn't pay attention, and couldn't do his work.
But at 5, he can really focus and get the job done.

My point to all of this is that I would never have put him on
medication if it wasn't a necessity. Virtually all medication affects
blood sugars in some way, and I didn't need the aggravation or
worry of it. But, it became a necessity. When the medication
works, it *really* works. Sometimes you have to play with dosages,
which is a scary thing to me because of the diabetes. Ryan has to
know how he feels at all times, so he'll know when he's getting a low
blood sugar. But, even at the dosage that he's on, he knows exactly
how he feels, and there's no problem. He's far from being a zombie.
In fact, he's a typical 16-year old that you'd like to wring his neck
most of the time. The medicine simply allows Ryan to focus and to
pay attention--and to learn. It's a life saver for us, and it's turned
his life and schooling around.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------

Copyright Robin Nobles 1999
Robin Nobles is a freelance writer who lives in Mississippi with her
family. She can be reached at robin@..., or visit her
website at http://www.robinsnest.com

================================================

#4 Resources

Neurofeedback Today. A brilliant website with lots of information
articles and news from the worlds of Mental Health, Neuropsychology,
Neuropsychiatry, & Neuroscience. There is also an on line
newsletter. http://www.eegspectrum.com/nftoday/current.htm
Definitely one for bookmarking!

A Study Shows Details Of Brain Chemistry Of Autism. Results of
this Detriot study at http://www.intelihealth.com/enews?221016

May I inform your readers of the Special Hebrew Lists.
Mailto:SpecialHebrew-Subscribe@eGroups.com or sign up conveniently
at the website http://wwwegroups/com/group/jewishhebrew/info.html
Join our discussion groups on Jewish and Hebrew topics.
http://www.egroups.com
http://www.eGroups.com/group/jewishhebrew/info.ht

Magnet therapy Helps Severe Depression. A magnetic coil appears to
alleviate patients' severe depression and may eventually replace
electroconvulsive treatment http://wwwintelihealth.com/enews?220372

Differences In Brain Size Found In Hyperactive Children
http://wwwpslgroup.com/dg/f942e.htm

WILD CHILD! - A Mother, A Son & ADHD by Gail Miller (at 10% Discount)
http://www.bookshop.co.uk/ser/serdsp.asp?shop=1&isbn=1872229247&DB=220
The story of a mother, driven to despair by her unruly son, and her
fight with
the authorities for recognition and treatment for his condition. ~
Doctor
Christopher Green, Paediatricain and best selling author of
"Understanding ADHD"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0449001520/theaddadhdgaze
and "Toddler Taming"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0449901556/theaddadhdgaze
says this of WILD CHILD! :- "Gail gives a technicolour description of
her confusion and pain as she came up against a stone wall of
professionals.
This is followed by a moving account of the breakthrough"More details at
http://www.gailmiller.clara.net/Wildchild.html

Be Wary Of 'Alternative' Health Methods. En excellent and thought
provoking article by Stephen Barrett M.D.
http://wwwquachwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/altwary.html

Being The Parent YOU Want To Be; 12 Communication Skills For
Effective Parenting by Gary Screaton Page, Joseph K. Hasenstab and
Helen Strang. Parents, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Foster
Parents,Councelors, Teachers, Child-care providers and mentors or
anyone who works or lives with children can benefit from this book
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1892334070/theaddadhdgaze

===========================================

This newsletter is transmitted by subscription ONLY & sent
out only to those who have requested it. Email addresses
will NEVER be passed on to a third party. If you have enjoyed
this newsletter please forward it to a few of your friends.

To subscribe send email to gailmiller@... with
subscribe ADHD in body of message.

To unsubscribe go to http://www.onelist.com and go to the
member centre on the left where you can unsubscribe

===============================================

LINKS
If you have a website and are looking for links. I am happy
to add a reciprocal link to The ADHD (UK) Website. Take a
look at my site at http://www.gailmiller.clara.net and
email me if you would like to swap links

BACK ISSUES
If you would like back issues of this newsletter, please
go to http://www.gailmiller.clara.net and click on the
back issues link. You can then have issues you have missed
sent straight to you by autoresponder.

===============================================

SEE YA NEXT TIME ...............
Gail Miller 1999 gailmiller@...