From
http://www.alternativemedicine.com/


How to Reverse Hyperactivity and Get Your Child Off Ritalin


Caroline was a six-year-old girl who couldn’t sit still at school.
Caroline’s mastery of speech was delayed, she had a chronically runny nose,
she was on Ritalin for her hyperactivity, and her doctors and teachers were
ready to pin on her a label of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), reports
Constantine A. Kotsanis, M.D., medical director of MindBody Health Center
International in Grapevine, Texas. In fact, her hyperactivity was such a
problem in the classroom that her teacher felt Caroline’s parents needed to
find another school for her.

Dr. Kotsanis doesn’t like putting medically-convenient labels, such as
ADD, on children because it can stigmatize the child and often obscure the
real causes of the heightened or uncontrolled activity. Many times one of
those real causes is an undiagnosed allergy, Dr. Kotsanis says, as it turned
out to be with Caroline. Her parents first noticed she had a problem at age
seven months; intermittently, she had high fevers accompanied by seizures
until she was 18 months old.

When she was four, Caroline had frequent urinary infections and was
diagnosed with hyperactivity and borderline ("high function") autism. At
this point, she was put on Ritalin; by the time her parents discovered Dr.
Kotsanis, they were eager to get their child off the drug.

Studying Caroline’s face, Dr. Kotsanis saw many signs, familiar to him,
of unresolved allergies. The nasal drip, for example, was indicative of mold
and food allergies, says Dr. Kotsanis, who frequently sees children
diagnosed with ADD bearing mild to severe (and untreated) allergies. A skin
prick test for the IgE and IgG immunoglobulins (two of five specialized
immune system proteins, useful for identifying immediate and delayed
reactions, respectively) confirmed that Caroline had allergies to certain
foods, trees, histamines, and glycerins.

Caroline’s symptoms were "a little bit of a mixed bag," says
Dr. Kotsanis. "They were a little bit autistic, a little bit ADD, and a
little bit ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). Her
symptomatology, on a scale of one to ten, with ten being the worst, was
about a five."

Dr. Kotsanis took Caroline off all sugar products, both natural and
synthetic (such as NutraSweet), and had her avoid all milk products, food
dyes, white flour, gluten, and canned or processed foods. Red dye
especially, her parents said, tended to get Caroline "climbing the walls."

Dr. Kotsanis asked Caroline’s parents to feed her exclusively at home
(restaurant food or anything prepackaged or canned had to be avoided) using
organically-raised produce. In consultation with Jay Apte, a specialist in
Ayurvedic nutrition on the MindBody Health Center’s staff, Dr. Kotsanis had
Caroline avoid all cold foods and any foods that would create mucus in the
body, such as dairy and "junk" foods.

To get a more detailed understanding of Caroline’s digestive system and
nutrient absorption, Dr. Kotsanis ordered a comprehensive stool analysis.
This gave him the information he needed to prescribe specialized nutrients
to correct the digestive underpinnings of Caroline’s problems. The analysis
showed that Caroline had a malabsorption problem and a yeast overgrowth of
Candida albicans.


To ADDress the Candida, Dr. Kotsanis started Caroline on a short-term dose
of Nystatin, a conventional drug for fungal infections, which she took in
capsule form two times daily for four weeks. He also gave her a series of
four injections, at two-month intervals, containing homeopathic remedies for
food, inhalant, mold, and dander allergies.

Typically, a patient receives 11 shots during a three-year period, then goes
on to a maintenance schedule of occasional injections. The homeopathic
remedies (made from the allergens themselves) are low potency and
"piggy-backed" onto shark cartilage as a carrier, says Dr. Kotsanis. "The
contents program the immune system’s T-lymphocyte cells to fight the
allergens," he says.

Next, he gave her Permeability Factor, 1/2 capsule, three times daily
between meals for six weeks, followed by the same dosage for one week per
month for one year. This is a "nutritional stabilizing formula" containing
amino acids, oils, and vitamins derived from marine sources, borage and rice
bran oils, and lecithin. Its purpose is to regulate the lining and activity
of the gastrointestinal tract, especially the intestines.

Dr. Kotsanis also put Caroline on Ultra Flora Plus, 1/4 teaspoon, two times
daily in four ounces of warm water for six weeks, then up to 1/2 teaspoon,
two times daily for six weeks. The purpose of this formula is to replenish
beneficial bacteria (such as Lactobacillus acidophilus) in the intestines
and thereby improve the absorption of nutrients made possible by these
bacteria, says Dr. Kotsanis.

To enhance digestion in the stomach and small intestine, Dr. Kotsanis
started Caroline on Vital Zymes, an enzyme mixture, taken once daily just
before lunch. A nutrient formula called Super Nu-Thera®, specifically
developed for hyperactive children and containing vitamin B6 (and other B
vitamins), magnesium, and ADDitional key nutrients, was next on Dr.
Kotsanis’ program for Caroline. Super Nu-Thera® #200 Nutrient Powder was
given at the rate of 1/8 teaspoon once daily, building to twice daily, then
to 1/2 teaspoon daily for at least six weeks.

Research conducted and/or reported by Bernard Rimland, Ph.D., of the Autism
Research Institute in San Diego, California, indicates that 30 to 40% of
autistic children (out of a test group of 200) responded highly favorably to
high-dose vitamin B6 in combination with magnesium. Improvements included
better eye contact, fewer tantrums, more interest in the outer world, and
more normal behavior in general.

Dr. Kotsanis also applied two other innovative techniques to improve
Caroline’s condition. First, he used an approach called sensory integration
to sharpen her ability to focus and concentrate while remaining centered in
her body. This approach involves simple but effective exercises such as
balancing, walking in a straight line, looking at a dot, and dry skin
brushing.

Caroline was to brush her skin (torso and extremities, but not head or
genitals) in a circular fashion every two hours. When possible, Caroline was
to do the brushing while walking and balancing. During the daytime, she was
also to be wrapped tightly in a bedsheet—"like an Egyptian mummy," says Dr.
Kotsanis—for ten minutes every two hours. "This stops the hyperactivity,
literally. As she lies there on the floor facing up, she plays visual
tic-tac-toe with a ball hanging over her eyes. This helps to calm the child
and integrate the activities of both eyes."

Secondly, Dr. Kotsanis used an audio enhancement training method developed
by the French physician Guy Berard, M.D., and involves music. Dr. Kotsanis
uses a special device that filters out certain frequencies to which the
patient is hypersensitive. After a while, the patient’s hearing normalizes
on these frequencies. "Patients like Caroline are usually hypersensitive to
loud noises; this technique helps to retrain them to listen more
selectively, and it teaches their auditory system to communicate with the
environment." Dr. Kotsanis has used this technique to transform nonverbal
children into speaking ones; often, they emerge with better socialization
skills and eating and sleeping patterns, he ADDs.

A third technique, not used in Caroline’s case, involves special prism
lenses to correct visual problems associated with (and possibly partly
causing) behavioral and learning disabilities. The therapeutic use of prism
lenses—they look and are worn like glasses—is part of a field called
functional or behavioral optometry. "Prism lenses are the correct treatment
for dyslexia and can reverse dyslexia quickly," says Dr. Kotsanis.

Dr. Kotsanis’ multifaceted program for Caroline yielded successful
results. By the time of her second allergy shot (about one month after
beginning treatment), she was stable and calm enough to be taken off the
Ritalin (which she had been receiving at 10 mg daily).

Caroline’s school behavior, which formerly her teachers had rated as
"terrible,"
now quickly improved to "good" and her teachers began remarking "how well
she was doing," says Dr. Kotsanis. In ADDition to the special homeopathic
allergy shots, "the key to stopping the Ritalin was the elimination of all
sugar products, both natural and artificial."

Caroline’s mother reported that her daughter’s speech abilities
grew quickly, expanding from one or two words at a time to full sentences,
after about five months on the program. Caroline was also able to sit still
for up to 21/2 hours of special education classes whereas formerly the most
she could manage before fidgeting was ten minutes. She sleeps much better at
night and can fall asleep now without the presence of a parent. Caroline no
longer needs diapers and is able to play with other children, where before
she could not, says Dr. Kotsanis.