The Unritalin Solution 14 Keys to Overcome ADHD Naturally

1 st edition

Dr. Yannick Pauli The UnRitalin Solution 14 keys to overcome ADHD naturally

How to Use this Book...... 1 Our Commitment...... 3 Dicslaimer...... 4 About Dr. Pauli...... 5 Editorial...... 6

Part I Understanding ADHD

1 What is ADHD?...... 8 2 How is ADHD traditionally diagnosed?...... 12 3 Is ADHD even real?...... 15 4 What other problems do children with ADHD have?...... 19 5 Can we grow out of ADHD?...... 21 6 Is it true that my ADHD child’s brain is different?...... 22 7 What causes ADHD?...... 24 8 Medications and why they are not a real solution...... 25

9 Where do the 14 keys come from?...... 29 10 Key No. 1 – Taking Inventory...... 31 11 Key No. 2 – Back to Basics...... 38 12 Key No. 3 – Access Healing Physiology...... 42 13 Key No. 4 – Balance Electro-Magnetics...... 45 14 Key No. 5 – Balance Neurology...... 46 15 Key No. 6 – Balance Structure...... 50 16 Key No. 7 – Eat Right for your Genes...... 53 17 Key No. 8 – Heal the Gut...... 59 18 Key No. 9 – Balance Metabolism...... 61 19 Key No. 10 – Desensitize the Body...... 62 20 Key No. 11 – Detoxify ...... 63 21 Key No. 12 – Free-up the Emotions ...... 65 22 Key No. 13 – Engage the BodyMind ...... 66 23 Key No. 14 – Grow Spiritually / Embrace the ADHD Gift ...... 68 24 The 14 Keys in Action: Matthew, Kevin and Elisa...... 70

Part III Putting it altogether: The UnRitalin Solution 45–day Home Program...... 73

How to Use this eBook

Our goal is to serve you.

This eBook has been created with you in mind. There is so much information in the field of ADHD that it would be impossible to include everything in this eBook. This is why we have created a special resource section on our website for the people who have bought this book.

This special section is called The UnRitalin Solution Resource Vault. In this book, it is referred as The Vault. You can access it by clicking on the special link that you will find on the Home page of www.unritalinsolution.com. In order to enter The Vault, you will need the following access information:

Password: Health43 (case sensitive) Bonus Material from The Vault

Each time you see this icon in the eBook, you will know that there is some additional bonus material available for you in The Vault.

Since the field of ADHD is evolving rapidly, this book will have to be updated on a regular basis to accom- modate for new breakthroughs. But don’t worry! You won’t have to buy every new edition to stay up–to–date.

When you buy this eBook, you will receive: n Every updated version of this eBook for FREE! n Lifetime access to The Vault so that you can benefit from upcoming new additions.

Let Us Know Your Needs

My goal is not only to update this eBook with the latest scientific information available. I also want to update it with what best serves your needs. New technologies in the field of the Internet now allow us to have a dis- cussion. I want to know what your needs are so that I can serve you better. This is why, in The Vault, you will find a section with a link to a survey that will allow you to give me some feedback and suggestions on how to improve this eBook. Please take advantage of this opportunity. I would appreciate if you could take the time to fill it out. This way, you will help me help you better.

By the Way…

I am also interested in making the www.unritalinsolution.com website a platform that serves you also. This is why I also need your feedback and suggestions for the site. I would love, if you could take a few minutes, go to the home page and click on the “Your needs” link. You will then have access to another quick survey that will allow me to know how to serve you better. I even offer you a very special gift for filling this survey!

Dr. Yannick Pauli [email protected]

Our Commitment

The mission of Unritalin Solution is to help families who are directly or indirectly affected by ADHD. Your wel- fare is our primary concerns. Dr. Yannick Pauli has set for himself high levels of excellence. In his practice, he is known as someone who goes above and beyond to help people restore and maintain their health.

At Unritalin Solution, we have a commitment to you. And we would like you to have an agreement with us.

If you benefit from this eBook, we would appreciate you telling as many others as you can about it by referring them to our website.

If you feel that this eBook has not helped your child or your family in any way shape or form, we do not deserve to keep your hard–earned money and we want you to contact us within 30 days for a full refund, no question asked. Moreover, as an apology for not meeting your needs, you can even keep your free lifetime access to The Vault.

This is our commitment to you.

Disclaimer

This eBook is provided for general educational purposes only and is not intended for replacing: n medical advice or counseling; n the practice of medicine including psychiatry, psychology, psychotherapy; n the provision of health care diagnosis or treatment; n the creation of a physician patient or clinical relationship.

Although we cite several resources, these recommendations are not intended to constitute an endorsement, recommendation or sponsorship of any third–party product or service by the author of this eBook.

If you have or suspect that you have a medical problem, contact your health care provider promptly.

About Dr. Pauli

Dr. Yannick Pauli is a chiropractor who has advanced training in functional neurology, nutrition and functional medicine. He also has advanced education in chiropractic paediatrics.

He is the Director of the Centre Wellness NeuroFit in Lausanne, Switzerland.

It is in this clinic that he runs Brain Potential, a holistic brain-based stimulation program that integrates various therapies to help children suffering from ADHD, dyslexia and other learning disorders, as well as other developmental disorders such as autism.

Dr. Pauli has served as an expert on chiropractic and alternative and complementary medicine at the World Health Organization. He has also been the recipient of the “Chiropractor of the Year” 2004 by the World Chiropractic Alliance.

Dr. Pauli has published research on the effects of chiropractic on children suffering from dyslexia, as well as the effect of Network Spinal Analysis (a low-force approach to chiropractic) on the ability of adults with ADHD to concentrate.

He is also the founder and current president of the Swiss Chiropractic Pediatric Association.

Dr. Pauli is married with Cecilia and has two children: Noah and Megan.

Editorial by Dr. Yannick Pauli Introduction – A Guiding Philosophy Families who come to see me at the Centre Wellness NeuroFit in Lausanne, Switzerland are all at different stages on their “ADHD journey”. ome families have been repeatedly contacted the family is lucky, some form of behavioral therapy has been by the school and told that their children had added, as well as some support in school. For some behavioral problems, or that they could not families, medication acts like magic. Not all problems are Sconcentrate, or were always daydreaming, or resolved of course – far from it – but the whole situa- had a hard time socializing with other children. They are tion becomes more manageable. They however wonder starting their journey and are looking for more information if there are no other ways to help their children than by to understand why their children are different and what having to take a pill everyday – surely, they ask they can do to help them. themselves, hyperactivity is not caused by a lack of Ritalin in the blood supply. For still other families, the child cannot Other families have already seeked helped with their be maintained on medication due to side–effects. Some family physician or school psychologist. Depending on the children did not get any benefits from the medications. level of understanding – and sometimes personal beliefs Others benefitted at first, but then the benefits decreased of the practitioners, they have been told that their children over time, often in spite of increasing dosages. Therefore, are just having a hard time at the moment and that they they are all looking for an alternative, and if possible, a should be patient and wait until they outgrow it. Some drug–free approach to overcoming ADHD. parents have even been told that they themselves had a problem, that they themselves needed help because There exists also a fourth type of family. In this case, they could not properly take care of their children, that it ADHD has been managed through the classical medical was their life circumstances that were responsible for the model of diagnosis and treatment with medications. And situation – although, in the majority of cases, the other the family is happy with the results. I do not see these children in the family did not exhibit any behavioral families because the treatment meets their expectations, problems. For some families, the pediatrician, the school even if it might have some side–effects and/or long–term nurse or the psychologist quickly suggested that their negative consequences. children suffered from ADHD and that they should be medicated with, for example, the infamous Ritalin. When I started my knowledge quest in the ADHD field Parents were then left to their own devices to find more in the mid–nineties, I was very adamant against all sorts information. Once they searched the Internet, they were of medications. My training in chiropractic had exposed exposed to a plethora of facts, opinions and beliefs, me to the amazing power of the human body to heal itself promulgated by numerous experts or experts–would–be naturally when given the opportunity. I could not conceive who all seemed to have their own take on the subject and that someone would have to take mind–altering drugs to seems to disagree more than they agree. be able to function at their best. I thought medications were evil. My in–depth investigation of the field and aware- Still, some other families are further down the road ness of the dirty relationship between drug companies, of the ADHD journey. They underwent full psychiatric politics and money only supported my point of view. When work–ups and received an official diagnosis of ADHD. families had their children on medication, I would go on a Therapeutic measures have already been taken to assist their moralistic rant about how bad, uninformed parents they children. Most often, a medication has been prescribed. If were. Today, I am ashamed of such behavior. Over the

A Guiding Philosophy last 10 years, after personally taking care of hundreds of Obviously, no rational approach can claim to have 100% children, my view has changed slightly. I have seen many, success. And mine is not different. And only one thing I many miracles with the protocol we are using and that I can truly promise you: that this eBook is about helping will share with you in this eBook. But, unfortunately, I have your child, not about me making money. I have integrated also seen some failures. the best of the scientific literature with my own experience – gained through countless successes, but some failures I am still convinced that medications are not the best also – and have poured my heart and mind into it. long-term solution. In fact, as you will learn in Chapter 8, this is not just my opinion; it is what scientific studies con- am here to serve you to the best of my abilities. clude. Medications definitely do not treat the causes of the When I decided to launch www.unritalinsolution. problem and are full of sometimes dangerous side–effects com – spending many hours after work away from – the more extreme one being death. But I have stopped Imy own family to write the content, I made the seeing them as evil. They are the best that a failing and commitment of giving the highest service possible to fami- outdated medical paradigm has to offer. lies like yours who are struggling with someone who suffer with “ADHD”. And this commitment leads to an agreement Experience has also made me aware that sometimes life that I hope we could have between us. You have read it circumstances do not allow some people the chance to in the Our Commitment page, but I would like to repeat it benefit from the 14 keys to overcoming ADHD naturally. because it is very important to me. Here it is: Our protocol requires commitment and patience. For some people, life just takes over and they don’t have (or don’t If this eBook helps your child and your family as I think it want to take) the time, energy and financial investment to will, I would like you to share our website and resources adopt our protocol. In those cases, medication can be a information with other families that could benefit from it. short–live life–saver. If you feel this eBook has not helped your child or your I have seen families who would have imploded without family in anyway shape or form, I do not deserve to keep their children being medicated. We have worked with them your hard–earned money and I want you to contact us and the medication “bought” us some time until we were within 30 days for a full refund, no question asked. able to restore sufficient balance in the body mind so that the child was able to then be weaned off medications and And if you have any questions at any time, please do not live a normal life thereafter. hesitate to contact me personally.

The UnRitalin Solution is not about judging the people who have their children medicated. It is about giving parents who are looking for an alternative or complementary way Dr. Yannick Pauli to help their children a scientific, logical, step–by–step, [email protected]. practical action plan that can help them and their children move from the road to ADHD to the road to recovery. Regardless of where you are on your journey, I know that the protocol within this eBook will help your child – and your whole family – like it has helped hundreds of other families I have had the privilege to work with.

Chapter 1 u What is ADHD?

In medical terms, ADHD – or Attention–Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder – is a developmental disorder that results in symptoms of hyperactivity, impulsivity and inattention. But as you will see in this eBook, there are more to ADHD than just those three symptoms. As you will learn, children that have been diagnosed with ADHD usually also present many other difficulties such as aggressive or oppositional behavior, anxiety or emotional difficulties, as well as other cognitive problems such as learning disorders. In fact, children with ADHD are also most likely to have other health problems such as sleep troubles, gastrointestinal issues or even food allergies or intolerances.

In my experience – and any honest experienced clinician would agree with this – there is no such thing as just “one ADHD” because each child is unique and different. And although millions of children throughout the world harbor the same diagnosis, they all struggle with – and, as we will see later, also benefit from – a constellation of strengths and weaknesses that makes them all different. This is why we often refer to ADHD as a “spectrum disorder”.

From the UnRitalin Solution point of view, ADHD is what happens when a complex set of environmental forces interacts with a specific genetic make–up. This may sound a little vague for now, but you will understand that concept better as you progress through this eBook.

Let’s also say that, although, the symptoms of ADHD are mainly expressed through one organ – the brain – it is in fact nothing more than the expression of various imbalances within the body–mind of the individual and between the individual and its environment.

Matthew, Kevin and Elisa Three different children, same diagnosis

Matthew had been diagnosed with ADHD at the age of nine and immediately placed on Ritalin. Although his teachers thought he was a smart child, he had problems performing in school. He would seem very distracted during class and always seemed to be daydreaming. He frequently forgot to write down homework assignments or forgot the material necessary to do his homework. His parents always had to repeat several times the same commands before he would obey. He would start talking about one subject and then, in the middle of it, think about something else and go on another conversation. On some days, he would be doing pretty good and on some other days, it would just be catastrophic. Doing homework with him was a nightmare. It would take hours. It just seemed he could not get focused on what needed to be done. Enormous amount of time and energy was spent repeating things over and over. It finally seemed like he knew his material, but when it was time to take a test in school, it was like he had forgotten everything. Paradoxically, although he had a hard time focusing on schoolwork, he could spend hours playing at the play station or doing puzzles. Because he knew he was smart but that his academic performance did not reflect that, Matthew had a poor image of himself and low self–esteem. Ritalin did not seem to help at all, so his parents had brought him in to see me if I could help him with a more natural solution.

Matthew, Kevin and Elisa Three different children, same diagnosis

Kevin was something else altogether. At the age of 8, he just could not sit still for a minute. He was always fidgety, running around, climbing and jumping. He was unable to let others finish what they were saying and always blurted ideas or change topics. The idea of thinking before acting seemed foreign to him. He would run across the street without making sure there were not any cars or attempt reckless rides with his bike – and of course, he would never wear his helmet although his parents had told him a thousand times to do so. During recess in school, he would get all excited, and lunge at other children’s games without being invited. He could never wait for his turn. He would take commands of the game for a while and then would get bored and try to have others play another game, which would often result in conflicts. “I’m bored” was his favorite expression. It seemed like he could never stay quiet even for two minutes. If he was not doing something every single minute of the day, he would repeat “I am bored, I am bored”. Kevin had also been diagnosed with ADHD at the local university hospital. The child psychiatrist had recommended Ritalin, but his mother had brought him in to see if we could help him without drugs.

Matthew, Kevin and Elisa Three different children, same diagnosis

Elisa was a bright 12 years old. She had always done well in school but with tremendous effort. Academically, she was not the best nor the worst. She was an average student. But to remain at that level, she had to put way more time than other children. This last year, she had to put almost three hours of homework per day when the other children would put only one. She also had a lot of problems getting organized and structuring herself. Her parents always needed to help her for homework. They were getting frustrated and sad to see that their daughter was struggling so much. Despite all these efforts and time invested, Elisa did not seem to make any progress. In fact, quite the contrary was true. The more the school years went by and the workload increased, the more difficulty she had. This is why her parents had taken her to the school psychologist. He had her take an IQ test that revealed that her intelligence was above average. The school psychologist, her teachers and her parents were scratching their heads. They thought that maybe she had some psychological problems. She went to a psychologist for 6 months but nothing changed. Following that, her mother had brought her to her body worker who was also working with some exercises called “Brain Gym”, but that had not helped either. The parents had brought her to me, a bit as a last resort, to see if I could help. After evaluating her with a special test, called a continuous performance test – which I will explain more about later – we determined that Elisa had a severe attention deficit problem that had gone undetected all these years.

We will meet Matthew, Kevin and Elisa again later in this eBook to illustrate how I evaluated and treated them successfully with the 14 keys protocol of the UnRitalin Solution.

Chapter 2 u How is ADHD traditionally diagnosed?

At some point, we have all had problems concentrating or staying quiet. Just remember a time in your life when you might have been attending a lecture whose boring content was only superseded by the presenter’s even more boring tone. I am sure your thoughts wandered somewhere else and you became fidgety. I know it happens to me.

Then, how do we distinguish those normal “spacing–out” episodic behaviors from the symptoms of someone who suffers from ADHD?

In medical terms, ADHD is diagnosed using a specific set of criteria taken from a book called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, version IV revised, or DSM–IVR for short. Think of the DSM as the “bible” of diagnostic criteria for mental disorders. For the diagnosis of ADHD, there are two lists of nine criteria each. The first list is concerned with inattention, and the second with impulsivity–hyperactivity.

continued next page...

Inattention Hyperactivity Impulsivity

1. often fails to give close attention to details 1. often fidgets with hands or feet or 7. often blurts out answers before or makes careless mistakes in schoolwork, squirms in seat the questions have been com- work, or other activities 2. often leaves seat in classroom pleted 2. often has difficulty sustaining attention in or in other situations in which re- 8. often has difficulty awaiting turn maining seated is expected tasks or play activities 9. often interrupts or intrudes on 3. often does not seem to listen when spoken 3. often run about or climbs exces- others (e.g., butts into conversa- to directly sively in situations in which it is tions or games) 4. often does not follow through on instruc- inappropriate (in adolescents or tions and fails to finish schoolwork, chores, adults, may be limited to subjec- Impulsivity or duties in the workplace (not due to op- tive feelings of restlessness) positional behavior or failure to under- 4. often has difficulty playing or en- If a child meets at least stand instructions) gaging in leisure activities quietly 6 out of 9 criteria on 5. often have difficulty organizing tasks and 5. is often “on the go” or often acts the inattention list only, activities as if “driven by a motor” he or she is said to 6. often avoids, dislikes, or is reluctant to en- 6. often talks excessively. meet the “diagnostic gage in tasks that require sustained mental effort such as schoolwork or homework) threshold” and may 7. often loses things necessary for tasks or receive a diagnosis activities (e.g., toys, school assignments, of ADHD – inattentive pencils, books, or tools) type. 8. is often easily distracted by extraneous stimuli If he or she meets at 9. is often forgetful in daily activities least 6 out of 9 criteria on the impulsivity– hyperactivity list, he or she is said to meet the “diagnostic threshold” and may receive a In order to be complete, the symptoms must meet three more criteria: diagnosis of ADHD – 1. they must have been present or appear before the age of 7 impulsive/hyperactive 2. they must be present in at least two different settings (for example type. in school and at home) If he or she meets at 3. they must be present for more than 6 months and create difficulties. least 6 out of 9 criteria on both lists, he or It might come as quite a surprise that those are the only criteria she is said to meet the necessary to justify putting a child on a mind–altering drug for the “diagnostic threshold” long–term. But this is how it is done in medical practice. The clinician and may receive a might also be using other types of scales to help in diagnosis, such as the Conner’s scale or the SNAP. diagnosis of ADHD – combined type. Visit The Vault to download some scales you can use to evaluate your child.

We will see in the second part of the eBook that there are other means to help with diagnosis and, more importantly, to help understand what are the real underlying problems that cause the symptoms of ADHD.

What makes it even more difficult is that the intensity and severity of the symptoms may vary according to life context and situations. For example, the performance of a child with ADHD is worse: n later in the day than earlier; n when the task is more complex; n when the information is not “salient” – meaning interesting; n when restraint is necessary – in church, at the restaurant or when an adult is speaking on the telephone; n when there is no adult to supervise a task.

Chapter 3 u Is ADHD Even Real?

You might have heard about the controversy around the diagnosis of ADHD. At one extreme end of the spectrum are people saying that ADHD is over diagnosed and even that ADHD does not exist at all. Some of the more extremist proponents of this view have been associated with, for example, the Church of Scientology. On the other end of the spectrum, we find well–respected university professors or researchers that maintain that ADHD is under diagnosed. However, when we dig deeper, we often find that some of those individuals have undisclosed ties with the pharmaceutical companies that produce the drugs to treat ADHD. Those ties often lead to conflicts of interest. Let’s take for example the case of Dr. Joseph Biederman, a child psychiatrist from Harvard University. He is a highly respected researcher in the field of ADHD and has spearheaded very interesting scientific research. But recently, conflict of interest issues rose to the surface. In one example, Biederman said he had received payment of $3,500 from Johnson & Johnson while the company records actually demonstrated that they paid him close to $60,000 in 2001 only. Later on, while undergoing senatorial investigation, Biederman admitted receiving $1.6 million from drug companies and never disclosing it.

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By GARDINER HARRIS and BENEDICT CAREY Published: June 8, 2008 Politics E-Mail SIGN IN TO E-MAIL OR SAVE THIS Keep up w ith the 2008 presidential election w ith the daily A world-renowned Harvard child psychiatrist whose work has helped Politics e-mail new sletter. PRINT fuel an explosion in the use of powerful antipsychotic medicines in See Sample | Pr iv ac y Polic y children earned at least $1.6 million in consulting fees from drug SINGLE PAGE makers from 2000 to 2007 but for years did not report much of this REPRINTS income to university officials, according to information given SHARE Congressional investigators.

By failing to report income, the psychiatrist, Dr. Joseph Biederman, and a colleague in the psychiatry department at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Timothy E. Wilens, may have violated federal and university research rules designed to police potential conflicts of interest, according to Senator Charles J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa. Some of their research is Senator Charles E. Grassley pushed three experts in child psychiatry at financed by government grants. Harvard to expose their income from consulting fees. Like Dr. Biederman, Dr. Wilens belatedly reported earning at least $1.6 million from 2000 to 2007, and another MOST POPULAR Multimedia Harvard colleague, Dr. Thomas Spencer, reported earning E-MAILED BLOGGED SEARCHED

at least $1 million after being pressed by Mr. Grassley’s 1. Butter Holds the Secret to Cookies That Sing investigators. But even these amended disclosures may 2. Colonoscopies Miss Many Cancers, Study Finds understate the researchers’ outside income because some 3. Dav id Br ooks: Lost in the Cr ow d entries contradict payment information from drug makers, 4. Obama Pledge Stirs Hope in Early Education Mr. Grassley found. 5. The Great Unraveling 6. Pushing the Limit: At 85, More Peaks to Conquer A Doctor’s Underreported In one example, Dr. Biederman reported no income from and Adv entures to Seek Transactions Johnson & Johnson for 2001 in a disclosure report filed 7. Proof: Drunkenfreude with the university. When asked to check again, he said he 8. The Demise of Dating received $3,500. But Johnson & Johnson told Mr. Grassley 9. In Successful Paris Restaurant, Jewish Roots that it paid him $58,169 in 2001, Mr. Grassley found. 10. Journey s: Le Tour du Chocolat

Go to Complete List » The Harvard group’s consulting arrangements with drug makers were already controversial because of the researchers’ advocacy of unapproved uses of psychiatric medicines in children.

In an e-mailed statement, Dr. Biederman said, “My interests are solely in the advancement of medical treatment through rigorous and objective study,” and he said he took conflict-of-interest policies “very seriously.” Dr. Joseph Biederman belatedly Drs. Wilens and Spencer said in e-mailed statements that nytimes.com/2008/…/08conflict.html… 1/3 17/12/2008 Researchers Fail to Reveal Full Drug … Dr. Joseph Biederman belatedly reported at least $1.6 million in Drs. Wilens and Spencer said in e-mailed statements that consulting fees. they thought they had complied with conflict-of-interest rules.

John Burklow, a spokesman for the National Institutes of Health, said: “If there have been violations of N.I.H. policy — and if research integrity has been compromised — we will take all the appropriate action within our power to hold those responsible accountable. This would be completely unacceptable behavior, and N.I.H. will not tolerate it.”

The federal grants received by Drs. Biederman and Wilens were administered by ADVERTISEMENTS

Massachusetts General Hospital, which in 2005 won $287 million in such grants. The Get Times Reader Free. A Digital health institutes could place restrictions on the hospital’s grants or even suspend them Newspaper That Reads Like The Real Thing. altogether. Get Times Reader Free. A Digital Newspaper That Reads Like The Alyssa Kneller, a Harvard spokeswoman, said in an e-mailed statement: “The information Real Thing. released by Senator Grassley suggests that, in certain instances, each doctor may have failed to disclose outside income from pharmaceutical companies and other entities that should have been disclosed.”

Ms. Kneller said the doctors had been referred to a university conflict committee for review. "House Wren, Plate 83" Buy Now Mr. Grassley sent letters on Wednesday to Harvard and the health institutes outlining his investigators’ findings, and he placed the letters along with his comments in The Congressional Record.

Dr. Biederman is one of the most influential researchers in child psychiatry and is widely admired for focusing the field’s attention on its most troubled young patients. Although many of his studies are small and often financed by drug makers, his work helped to fuel a controversial 40-fold increase from 1994 to 2003 in the diagnosis of pediatric bipolar disorder, which is characterized by severe mood swings, and a rapid rise in the use of antipsychotic medicines in children. The Grassley investigation did not address research quality.

Doctors have known for years that antipsychotic drugs, sometimes called major tranquilizers, can quickly subdue children. But youngsters appear to be especially susceptible to the weight gain and metabolic problems caused by the drugs, and it is far from clear that the medications improve children’s lives over time, experts say.

In the last 25 years, drug and device makers have displaced the federal government as the primary source of research financing, and industry support is vital to many university Ads by Google what's this? research programs. But as corporate research executives recruit the brightest scientists, Score: ATL 4, OTT 1 their brethren in marketing departments have discovered that some of these same Sens Offence No-Shows. Watch Game scientists can be terrific pitchmen. Highlights Here. To protect research integrity, the National Institutes of Health require researchers to sportsnet.ca report to universities earnings of $10,000 or more per year, for instance, in consulting money from makers of drugs also studied by the researchers in federally financed trials. Universities manage financial conflicts by requiring that the money be disclosed to research subjects, among other measures.

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So where does the truth lie? Like always in those cases, probably somewhere in the middle of the spectrum of opinions.

he proponents of the “ADHD is not real” base those children on powerful mind–altering drugs that can have their arguments on the fact that there has severe side–effects (including death!) for many years? And never been any real structural cerebral lesions all this without trying to understand the underlying, real cause demonstrated in the brain of children of the problems? Some people, and especially drug makers, with ADHD. And they are correct when seem to think so. then say that no blood test or x–ray can demonstrate whether someone has ADHD or In the Unritalin Solution, we have good evidence to Tnot. On the other end, as we will see later, there is some good suggest that the symptoms of ADHD are very real. But research demonstrating that children with ADHD, although also that ADHD is not a disease in itself, but rather the they don’t have much lesion in the structure of their brain, symptomatic expression of an underlying brain demonstrate different pattern of activation in the electrical developmental delay that is caused or aggravated by several activity of certain parts of their brain compared with children imbalances found in the child’s body. who do not exhibit the symptoms of ADHD. From the Unritalin Solution point–of–view, my belief is that, Now, one thing that we need to keep in mind also, is that the regardless of where we might stand philosophically on the fact that we can see differences in the function of the brain issue, numerous children and families need practical help. does not guarantee that those differences are the cause of And this helps needs to include way more than a quick the problem. They might, but they might also just be another diagnosis and life–long prescription of drugs. The sign of a deeper underlying problem. Later in this eBook, I will official medical diagnosis of ADHD is useful, even sometimes show you the science that will answer this question. essential to have an official stamp of approval that a problem exist. This is important in order for you to get the help you What is real – and if you are a parent of a child with ADHD deserve from the government. But beyond that, naming or I do not need to convince you of that – is that children have labeling the condition does not move us any further along difficulties and struggle, not expressing their true potential the way to understand what is truly going on. In fact, just and that, as a consequence, the whole family suffers. Now diagnosing and quickly drugging is even an obstacle if we the question is whether that is sufficient to justify putting leave it at that.

Medical View of ADHD Inattention – Hyperactivity – Impulsivity = ADHD = a single disorder with a strong genetic component that needs to be treated primarily by medications. The UnRitalin Solution View of ADHD Inattention – Hyperactivity – Impulsivity = real symptoms of an underlying problem that result from the interaction of complex environmental forces acting upon a specific genetic profile and that leads to a delay in brain development.

Chapter 4 u What other problems do children with ADHD have?

As mentioned in earlier chapters, children diagnosed with ADHD have three core symptoms:

n impulsivity n hyperactivity n inattention

However, numerous good quality research studies have demonstrated that they also have a wide range of other problems, each child expressing his or her own unique set of difficulties (and strengths!). From the perspective of the Unritalin Solution, this makes sense because, unlike traditional medicine’s view, the symptoms are NOT the problem, but only the expression of a more or less complex underlying imbalance in the body mind of the child. And those imbalances vary from one child to the next.

For example, research has shown that 50% of all children with ADHD also meet the diagnostic criteria for another psychiatric disorder, 32% for two other disorders, and 11% for three other disorders.

When one consider this, one wonders why medically–oriented clinicians keep looking for another diagnosis (that is another symptomatic expression) rather than trying to understand the underlying problem. They are only looking at the tip of the iceberg. The Unritalin Solution looks at what lies beneath the surface.

The Medical View looks at symptoms and names those symptoms « ADHD ».

The Unritalin Solution View looks at the underlying problems that cause the symptoms.

Children diagnosed with ADHD have problems that go way beyond their brain and behavior.

Epidemiological studies have also shown that, for example, n almost 60% of children diagnosed with ADHD are oppositional n 25–50% has anxiety problems; and n 20–70% has learning disorders.

Amongst other things, research has also shown that children with ADHD have more problems than children who do not have symptoms of ADHD with: n physical fitness, gross and fine motor coordination, as well as motor sequencing n verbal and nonverbal working memory n planning and anticipation n self–regulation of emotions n more sleep problems n more upper respiratory tract infections and asthma n more allergies

I could go on. The reason why I am sharing this is to make two points very clear: 1. Children diagnosed with ADHD have problems that go way beyond their brain and behavior; in fact they have problems in various systems of their body mind. 2. That being acknowledged, only prescribing a medication CANNOT be a comprehensive approach to helping those children.

Now, if this is not enough, research has also shown that those problems translate into difficulties of daily life. For example, children, adolescents and adults with ADHD have a greater risk of: n Repeating a year in school n Having a teen pregnancy n Contracting sexually transmitted diseases n Abusing substances (such as alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes and drugs) n Doing jail time n Causing car accidents n Losing their jobs n Attempting and committing suicide n Getting divorced.

If this picture is not dark enough, I could go on. But do not worry, there is also a positive side to ADHD and this is something that Unritalin Solution will help you discover and nurture.

Chapter 5 u Can we grow out of ADHD?

This is an interesting question and research has a pretty good answer for us. But first, we need to define how we are going to determine what “ADHD” means?

If we ask the question: do children who meet the diagnostic criteria for ADHD (the syndrome, meaning at least 6 out of the 9 criteria we talked about earlier) at age 6 still meet those criteria at age 25, then 60% outgrow their ADHD (which mean that 40% still have it).

Now, if we ask the question: do children who met the diagnostic criteria for ADHD at age 6 still have some symptoms (less than 6 out of the 9) at age 25, then 30% outgrow their ADHD (which means that 70% still have some symptoms).

Finally, if we ask the question: do children who met the diagnostic criteria for ADHD at age 6 still have problems functioning optimally at age 25, then only 10% outgrow their ADHD (which means that 90% still have problems functioning in daily life).

In summary, although a vast majority of children diagnosed with ADHD at age 6 would not meet the diagnostic criteria anymore as adults, the great majority still experience significant problems functioning optimally in daily life.

What is also less known to the public is that often the symptomatic expression changes with time. From a medical diagnosis perspective, this means that the diagnosis will tend to change. For example the inattentive child tends to become anxious with time – and will be diagnosed with anxiety disorder as an adult. The diagnosis of oppositional behavior as a child becomes the antisocial behavior diagnosis of the adult. The diagnosis may change, the drug may change, but what does not change is the myopic vision of the clinician that still has not looked at his patient holistically and offered a comprehensive solution, such as the UnRitalin Solution.

Chapter 6 u Is it true that my ADHD child’s brain is different?

Numerous studies have looked at the difference between the brains of children diagnosed with ADHD and those of children who do not exhibit any signs or symptoms of ADHD. Most of those studies have found differences.

But before exploring them, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that finding a difference in brain function does not necessarily means that it is the cause of ADHD. It might, but it could also well be another “symptoms” (in this case, we would need to call that a “sign” to be correct) of the underlying disorder. Brain Chemistry

Some studies have suggested that children with ADHD may have lower levels of certain neurotransmitters such as dopamine. Other neurotransmitter imbalances, such as epinephrine and serotonin, have also been suggested. Brain Activity

Numerous studies have shown difference in the brain activity of children with ADHD compared with controls. They have shown reduced electrical activities and blood flow, especially to the prefrontal cortex of the brain – the most anterior part of the brain. Brain Structure

Some studies have suggested that some parts of the brain of children with ADHD are smaller thanthe ones from control children. The areas most commonly affected are the right frontal region, the basal ganglia and the cerebellum. ADHD and the Brain 101

Let’s take two metaphors to illustrate in a simple way how the brain of children with ADHD functions.

First, imagine the brain like a huge corporation with many departments. In order for the whole company to function optimally, there needs to be a boss or a CEO. The job of the CEO is to control and coordinate all the other departments of the company. Imagine now for a second that the boss goes on vacation without leaving any instructions. Coordination and control are lost and all departments start doing their own things as they wish. The performance of the company is affected. In the brain, the prefrontal cortex is the boss or CEO of the rest of brain and nervous system. If it goes on vacation, the other parts of the brain start doing things on their own in uncoordinated ways. This is expressed via symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity.

Another useful metaphor is that of a car. Imagine that our brain and nervous system is like a car that always has the gas pedal to the floor. The machine can get quite uncontrollable. The only way to manage it is to have very good breaks. In our case, the breaks are the prefrontal cortex. But when the breaks are not functioning appropriately, the vehicle cannot be controlled. The same happens to a child when the prefrontal cortex is not functioning well. The rest of the brain and nervous system are out of control.

You might have wondered why, in medicine, they give stimulant medication to someone that is already hyper. The two metaphors answer that question. Because stimulant medications stimulate the prefrontal cortex to make it function better. Stimulant medications bring the boss back to work or improve the function of the breaks. Now what is beautiful is that discoveries made in the field of neuroscience in the last decade show that we can do that naturally by retraining the brain. Little Known Facts about the Brain – the little known cells that make us truly human

From a developmental and evolutionary perspective, the human brain is quite special. If we look at chimpanzees, which are our closest relatives on the evolutionary scale, there are quite a bit of differences in brain development. For example, the chimp can already walk one month after birth and has an adult brain at 7 months after birth. This means that it can have a relatively independent life and survive seven months after birth. We, as humans, cannot walk before one year after birth, and it takes almost two decades for our brain to reach maturity. In fact, in order to develop optimally, the human brain should remain 21 months (instead of 9 months) in the mother womb. However, if we stayed that long, our brain would be too big and we could never get out of the birth canal. So, Nature has to have us come earlier than optimal. This is probably the first time you ever hear about the following. But this piece of information is important. Our brain at birth is not really that different from the brain of other animals. What makes us really human is the development of a new wave of cells – called spindle cells – at four month of age. Those spindle cells are only present in human and in our closest ancestors. However, those ancestors (like chimpanzees and gorillas) only have a few spindle cells in their brain. Humans have more than 100,000 spindle cells. Spindle cells are only found in the newest part of the brain, the prefrontal cortex. And there are more spindles cells in the right hemisphere of the brain. By now, you might be wondering what spindle cells have to do with your child’s ADHD. But you must also suspect that if I am writing about those little known cells, there must be a relationship. And you are right, because those spindle cells hold the key to why one develops ADHD. The first wave of cells that we develop while in the womb, give us our brain potential. But it is the second wave of cell – the spindle cells that develop at four months of age – that allow us to truly develop our higher human capabilities like thinking, behaving and paying attention. If our spindle cells survive and function normally then we are equipped with the skills and abilities that make us human. But if those cells are damaged, our brain will develop more slowly. We suffer what is called developmental delay syndrome. On top of this, parts of our brain cannot communicate optimally, they become de–synchronized. Brain developmental delay and a functional disconnection between brain parts are the true causes of ADHD and other learning disabilities. They are themselves caused by a number of factors – we call them antecedents and triggers – that we will explore later on. The very fact that we are born with an immature and incomplete brain makes us more vulnerable to many stressors that you will discover in this eBook. Want to learn more about the ADHD brain? Then download my free e-book entitled “ADHD and the Brain” that you will find in the E-Book Room at www.unritalinsolution.com

Chapter 7 uWhat causes ADHD?

In this chapter, I wanted to share with you some of the accepted causes and risk factors for ADHD. We will look deeper into lesser–known, but extremely common causes or participating factor in Part 2 of this eBook.

Genetic and Heredity

If you are the parent of a child with ADHD, the notion that the “apple does not fall far from the tree” probably does not surprise you. It might be you, your spouse or grand–parents from either side of the family (and no, your stepmother is not automatically the guilty one!!); but if you look well enough you will find that one person (or maybe more) in your close family will have some similar traits. One study for example found that children who had parents with ADHD had an 8 times greater risk of also developing ADHD.

In genetics, we talk about heritability factor. This explains to which extent a characteristic or disease is due to genetic. If the heritability factor is 1, then that trait or disease is entirely due to genetics. In ADHD, studies suggest that the heritability factor is 0.75. But before you jump to the conclusion that nothing can be done, keep the following in mind: if genetics is the loaded gun, it needs something to pull the trigger for it to have its devastating effect. And that something that presses the trigger is the environment.

Moreover, if you have ever heard about the new science of epigenetic, you understand that our genes do not determine our destiny, but that our perception and relationship with our environment do.

Environmental Factors

Among the most commonly accepted causes or risk factors, we find:

n Exposure to environmental toxins (such as cigarette smoke and alcohol during pregnancy, heavy metals such a mercury, lead and aluminum, and pesticides); n Birth trauma and complications; n Low birth weight; n Nutritional insufficiencies, such as essential fatty acids.

In functional medicine, we refer to the above factors as antecedents. They predispose the individual to developing ADHD. But they, by no means, ensure that ADHD will develop. For that, other factors, called triggers, will be necessary to create the problem. Most clinicians trained in traditional medicine are still unaware of most of the antecedents. Worse, they usually do not know anything about triggers. We will explore antecedents and triggers in Part II of this eBook. Examples of frequent triggers include food allergies and intolerances, gastrointestinal dysfunctions, toxicity and immune impairments.

Chapter 8 u Medication and why they are not a real solution

The objective of this chapter is not to present you with an in–depth review of medication prescribed in ADHD. Nor is it to vilify the use of medication. As I mentioned in my introduction, medications have been and still are a very useful short–term chemical solution for many families. However, I would like just to share with you a few thoughts as to why medications, especially if used singlehandedly, are not a real solution.

1 – ADHD is not just a brain chemical imbalance

The causes of ADHD are to be searched at several levels of the human body mind. Believing that ADHD is just a brain chemical imbalance is as myopic a view as can be. Part II of this eBook will show you why. ADHD is definitely not due to a lack of circulating Ritalin or Strattera in the blood!

2 – Medication action is short–lived

For one, medications only work while their actions last. As soon as the effects of the medication are over, so are its potential benefits. This is why medications have to be taken all the time. They treat the symptoms, not the underlying cause.

3 – The effect of medication is dependent on the context in which they are prescribed

One of the most extensive studies done on ADHD medication is called the MTA study. In this study, researchers used a questionnaire to assess children with ADHD who were receiving various types of treatment. They were interested in finding out how many children were normalizing with the treatments at 14 monthsand 24 months.

They had 4 groups: 1. A combination group, who received medication along with behavioral therapy. 2. A medication–only group who received only medication. 3. A behavioural therapy group who received only behavioral therapy. 4. A community group.

Group 1 to 3 were followed closely by researcher, typically with follow–up visits every month. The community group was a group of children receiving medication and who were managed as it is typically done in real life (and not within the structure of the study). This type of management might have been the same you have experienced. The “take–this–drug–and–come–back–in–six–month–if–it–is–not–better” type of management. The main results of the MTA study are shown below.

Group % normalized at: 14 months 24 months Combined 68% 48% Medication alone 56% 37% Behavioral therapy alone 34% 32% Community 25% 28%

A few points of interest should be emphasized: n Combining medication with behavioural therapy is more effective than drug alone. n Medication treatment efficacy diminishes over time (56% at 14 months and only 32% at 24 months).

But the most remarkable finding is the difference between the efficacy of the drug when given within the -pa rameters of the study (56% normalized) compared to when it is given to a child managed like it is done in the real world (only 25% improved). Keep in mind that this is the same diagnosis, and the same drug. But the efficacy drops by half in the community group. So what made the difference? Probably the fact that, in the study, children were closely followed up. This shows us that part of the efficacy of the drug has nothing to do with the content of the drug and everything to do with how it is prescribed. Can anyone spell P–L–A–C–E–B–O?

What this study showed us is that even with the best of what traditional medicine has to offer (medication + behavioural therapy), in the context of the study, only 48% of children are really helped over the two years period. In the context of the community, only 28%.

That leaves more than 70% of kids still having problems!!!

4 – Medications only help for a few years

After releasing the first set of data that I shared with you above, the MTA went on. These first set of data showed that after one year, medication such as Ritalin was more beneficial than behavioural therapy. So the researchers were quite confident that it would be even better over the long term. Well, the results came in at the end of 2007. And there were quite surprising to many in the medical community (but not to those of us who have an alternative view). Read for yourself bellow:

And look what the co–director of the study had to say about those results: … there is no indication that medication’s better than nothing in the long run…

… Prof Pelham said there were “no beneficial effects” of medication and the impact was seem- ingly negative instead!

In medicine, there is a concept called risk/benefit ratio. A drug is worth taking if its benefits outweigh its risks. But when, in the long–run the benefits are nil, then any risk is too much!

5 – Medications are full of side–effects

So if, over a year, medications are no more effective than taking nothing, then are you willing to take the risk of the following? n Stunted growth n Heart issues n Genetic breakage n Death*

* Between 1990 and 2000, there have been 186 deaths from Ritalin reported to the FDA MedWatch program. This program is a voluntary reporting scheme. Studies have suggested that voluntary reporting statistics usually only represent 10% of the actual incidence.

Chapter 9 u Where Do the 14 Keys Come From? What are the 14 keys?

In the mid 1990’s, I was first introduced to ADHD through the work of a Canadian chiropractor. At the time, I did not know what ADHD was but I had heard of this chiropractor taking care of children with behavioral and school problems. The Chiropractic School I was attending at that time had embraced a purely mechanical, musculoskeletal model of chiropractic. It therefore seemed strange to me that a chiropractor could help such children. I was intrigued. Before visiting him, I had gathered information about ADHD. It said it was a disorder that had something to do with the brain and that it was best treated by medications. And that actually medication was the only scientific treatment for this condition. I therefore visited that chiropractor with a skeptical mind. Wasn’t this guy actually a quack pretending to treat a condition that we as chiropractors had no reason treating? During my visit, however, two things really got my attention. First, the chiropractor, who had taken extra training in chiropractic neurology, was very knowledgeable about the field of neurology. Actually, he was probably more knowledgeable than the PhDs that were teaching neurology and neuroscience in my school and his knowledge and understanding of research was not only theoretical but also had precious practical clinical applications. Second, and most importantly, the families I saw in his office were exceptionally satisfied with his care and shared miracle stories after miracle stories. Most were not just satisfied patients; the results they were getting – where nothing else had helped – had transformed them in raving fans.

I was fascinated. Getting back home, I hit the library and started researching the topic. What I found amazed me. Not only did the research demonstrated that medications were not as great as touted by most medical doctors and by the popular media, but it also showed that there was a lot of very interesting and promising, albeit preliminary ,research on more holistic approaches such as chiropractic, nutrition and neuro–feedback. Actually, I was a bit overwhelmed by the amount of information and I quickly recognized that I needed a system that could help me organize my newfound knowledge for the benefits of my patients. This is when I started developing the concept of the 14 keys.

The 14 keys are a way to classify 14 core strategies or tools available to take care of children, adolescents and adults suffering from ADHD. It is step–by–step, guided, organized process that allows us to integrate the best of natural approaches in a holistic manner. In other words, the 14 keys are the map and compass that allow us to navigate the field of ADHD without getting lost or being overwhelmed by the various options at our disposal. The 14 keys help us define our goals or objectives, develop the best approach to reach them, and periodically re–assess ourselvesto make sure we are going in the desired direction.

The 14 keys also allow us to develop a program tailored to the needs of the individual. We are all unique, genetically, biochemically, neurologically, emotionally and spiritually. Therefore, there are no one–size–fits– all approach, no magic bullet. Research has come up with a lot of the pieces of the “ADHD puzzle”. But not all pieces are created equal. Some are more important than others. Some pieces need to be addressed first, others second, and still other last to bring about the best changes. Each individual has its own “ADHD puzzle” also. What may work for one person may not work for another. One individual may have three pieces to his

ADHD puzzle and another fourteen. Two individuals may each have ten pieces. But for one person two of those pieces may bring about 90% of the benefits, so it is very important to close in on those two because they will bring the highest leverage. If we spend all our time on the other 8 without addressing those essential two, then we will waste a lot of time and money for limited benefits. For the second individual, each piece may only represent 10% of the puzzle each, so we will need to address at least 8 or 9 pieces to get significant results.

When someone comes to see me, the 14 keys, and especially key no. 1, helps me determine what the most important pieces are for that individual in particular. They allow me to create a much tailored plan of action which is based on the unique needs of that individual.

The 80/20 Principle applied to ADHD

If you have any interest in business, you may have heard of the 80/20 principle, also called the Pareto principle. It is named after Italian Economist Vilfredo Pareto who observed that, in Italy and later in almost all countries, 80% of the income went to 20% of the population. Essentially the 80/20 principle explains that 20% of the causes give 80% of the effects. Obviously what is important is the principle and not the numbers. It might not be 80/20 but 70/30 or 90/10. But basically, it says that a small portion of the causes will have the greatest effects. And this I have observed in my work with literally thousands of patients. 20% of what we do will give us 80% of the results. So, it is very important to know which is the 20%, because by addressing those, we will get the most positive results. If we focus on the 80% that only give 20% of the results, then our results will be limited at best and both the patient and the practitioner become frustrated.

One More Note

After reading through the 14 keys, you will have a better understanding of all the possible causes for your child’s problem. But you may still feel a little bit lost, wondering for example how to determine which key to start with. Do not worry! This feeling of confusion is normal when you learn something new. I would actually be surprised for you not to feel this way. In Part 3, I will share with you the Unritalin Solution, a step–by–step approach to helping your child, which will make our protocol clearer and easily applicable.

The 14 Keys

1. Taking Inventory 8. Heal the Gut 2. Back to Basics 9. Balance metabolism 3. Access Healing Physiology 10. Desensitize the body 4. Balance Electromagnetic 11. Detoxify 5. Balance Neurology 12. Free–up the Emotions 6. Balance Structure 13. Engage the Bodymind 7. Eat Right for your Genes 14. Grow spiritually / Embrace the ADHD gift

Chapter 10 u Key No. 1: Taking Inventory

Key no. 1 is all about understanding what is going on. It is about understanding all of the pieces of the ADHD puzzle and which ones belong to the 20% that will give the best results. Key no. 1 is about evaluating the individual and his or her environment to understand exactly what is going on.

You may have noticed that I did not use the word diagnose the individual. This is an important distinction. From the Unritalin Solution perspective, diagnosis is the medical act of giving the diagnosis. You have learned earlier how ADHD is diagnosed. You have probably noticed that it is only about fulfilling a certain number of criteria. If you meet the criteria, you have the diagnosis. Once the diagnosis is known, the treatment is known (usually medications and/or behavioral treatment). In no part of this process has anyone ever asked what was causing the symptoms or behavior in the first place?

As I said before, the medical diagnosis of ADHD may be important to get an official stamp of approval of the problem and get the help that you deserve from the government of the country you live in. But other than that, it does not help us understand what is going on a deeper level.

Key no. 1 is about evaluating all the possible causes that create the problem in the first place. Key no. 1 is about detective work. It is about creating the best “C.S.I” team possible to help you crack open your child’s case. And if you have ever seen the CSI episodes, you realize that it is all about team work. Gil Grissom or Horatio Caine could not do it on their own. Neither do you and neither do I. This is why it is important to create a team composed of your whole family, and an experienced leader and all the necessary consultants that we may need along the way (like special laboratory analysis or other doctors who have extensive training in a special area). The Unritalin Solution Evaluation Process

In our work with children suffering from ADHD, learning disabilities or other neurobehavioral problems, we go through a 7 level evaluation process.

Level 1 is about interviewing the parents. It includes presenting problems, developmental history, family history, as well as information about the child home, school and social functioning. In the many questions that we ask during the interview, a few are of utmost importance because they can already point to some potential causes. They are called the KEY INDICATOR QUESTIONS (see them below).

That are three other important aspects that we discuss during the interview. 1. Expectations. Some people only want a certain level of behavior and functioning and are then happy. Others want not only to be able to manage the problem but also want their child to be able to express his or her true potential. Still others understand that people with ADHD have special traits that can be transformed into powerful gifts once harnessed and they are also looking for help on growing those strengths. 2. Level of motivation. The work that we do requires a higher level of commitment and participa- tion than just popping a pill once or twice a day. The whole family needs to get involved. Sometimes, important lifestyle changes have to be undertaken. Determining your level of motivation is an essential part of the process. 3. Financial possibilities. This one is unfortunate but it is part of reality. Some of the very special and advanced testing that need to be done may sometimes be expensive and is often not reimbursed by insurances. So are some therapies such as nutritional supplements or the material used to stimulate and balance the brain. It is important to consider the family budget here and do our best within the possibilities. The objective is to help reduce the overall stress in the family, not add financial stress.

Key Indicator Questions

1. Has the mother undergone significant emotional stress during pregnancy? p Yes p No

2. Has the child suffered a stressful birth or even birth trauma (including C–section, use of forceps and/or vacuum, lots of pulling/twisting on the head, …)? p Yes p No

3. Was the child born differently than with natural, vaginal birth? p Yes p No

4. Did the baby cry at the moment of delivery? p Yes p No

5. Did the baby have “cradle cap” or “milk crust” (neonatal seborrhea dermatitis)? p Yes p No

6. Does the mother have amalgam fillings? p Yes p No

7. Has the child been vaccinated? p Yes p No

8. Did the child crawl and go on all four before to walk? p Yes p No

9. Has the child received one or more course of antibiotics? p Yes p No

10. Does the child suffer from bruxism (teeth grinding), especially at night? p Yes p No

The rationale behind the questions:

Q1. Maternal stress during pregnancy alters the subtle balance of hormones in the mother. That can have a negative impact on the developing fetus. Some studies have shown that it can also sensitize the child to stress later on. If you answered yes to this question, then Key no. 3 may be particularly important for your child.

Q2.

Stressful or traumatic birth (including birth by C–section, use of forceps and/or vacuum or even lots of pulling and twisting on the head) in a “natural” birth can damage the tissues of the delicate upper part of the neck. Chiropractors call these damages vertebral subluxations. If you answered yes to this question, then Key no. 6 may be particularly important for your child.

Q3. The vaginal delivery process allows for the activation of primitive neurological reflexes that are essential to the proper neurological development of the child. If the child was born by C–section, those primitive neurological reflexes may not have been activated properly. If you answered yes to this question, then Key no.5 may be particularly important for your child.

Q4. If the child has not cried at birth, it might be a sign that the brain received insufficient oxygen during labor. If you answered yes to this question, then Key no. 5 may be particularly important for your child.

Q5. Cradle cap or milk crust may be a sign of intolerance or allergy to milk products. This intolerance may even be transmitted through breast feeding if the mother eats dairy products herself. If you answered yes to this question, then Key no. 7 may be particularly important for your child

Q6 and Q7. Amalgams fillings are made up of 50% mercury. Part of that mercury leaks out in the mother and can cross the placental barrier. This is especially true if the mother had dental work done on those fillings during pregnancy. Some vaccines may contain mercury in the form of thiomersal. They also contain aluminum and other toxins. If you answered yes to these two questions, then Key no.11 may be particularly important for your child.

Q8. Military crawling and going on all four before starting to walk is an important part of neurological development. If the child did not go through those stages, or went through them improperly or too fast, his or her neurological development may have been subtly compromised. If you answered yes to this question, then Key no. 5 may be particularly important for your child. Q9. Antibiotics – along with bottle feeding, stress, junk food and the use of NSAIDS – will alter the delicate balance of the gut ecosystem. The normal, beneficial gut flora may not have developed properly or may have been altered. In consequence, bad bacteria can develop which stress the immune system and produce lots of toxins that enter into the body. If you answered yes to this question, then Key no.8 may be particularly important for your child. Q10. Teeth grinding, especially at night may be a sign of parasitic infection. A small study of 63 children done by Dr. Michael Lyon, a Canadian medical doctor trained in functional medicine, revealed that 40% of children with ADHD had sign of parasites. If you answered yes to this question, then Key no. 8 may be particularly important for your child

Level 2 is about documenting the child’s behavior by using behavioural scales. In our clinic we use one scale called “Child Behavior Checklist”. Most of those scales are usually only available through health care professionals. The scale used should cover home and school, at least. There are other scales you can use that are available in The Vault.

More information is available on those in the Unritalin Resource Vault.

Level 3 is about more comprehensive neuropsychological testing. This may include a full neuropsychological bat- tery, IQ testing and screening for Learning Disabilities.

Level 4 is about objectifying attention and impulsivity. In our clinic, we use a continuous performance test called Test of Variables of Attention. www.tovatest.com

Level 5 is about physical and neurological exam. In our clinical we perform a veryN complete evaluation of the function of the nerve system that includes assessment of balance with posturography, postural tone with surface electromyography, eye movement, and cerebellar testing amongst other things.

Since medical neurologists are looking to diagnose gross pathologies, they are usually not trained in evaluating the subtle neurological differences present in ADHD. For a useful, complete evaluation, you are better off consulting a chiropractor with special training in functional neurology (also called chiropractic neurology).

A list is available in The Vault.

There exist some more advanced technologies that can bring out interesting information. They are not always easy to find and sometimes expensive. I would recommend keeping them in case improvement does not occur based on more basic principles. Among them, two of the most promising are: n QEEG testing n SPECT testing (the work of Dr. Daniel Amen)

Level 6 is about basic lab work.

Although inconvenient, some basic lab work can reveal some interesting information about the child. Once again, a medical doctor will be looking at frank deviation from the norm in order to consider any abnormalities. However, subtle variation and interpretation of patterns of results often bring about a lot of information. For that type of interpretation, I would recommend that you have the blood work ordered and interpreted by a medical doctor or osteopathic doctor trained in nutrition and/or functional medicine and/or environmental medicine. You could also ask a holistic chiropractor, a chiropractor with specialty in functional neurology or a naturopath.

The basic blood work should contain at minimum: n Blood cell count n Iron metabolism (various studies have shown that up to 75% of children with ADHD have problem with iron metabolism. You should ask the doctor to order the following tests: iron, ferritin and percentage of saturation of transferin). n Zinc © 2009. The UnRitalin Solution www.unritalinsolution.com 37

Based on our history and physical examination, we sometimes also ask for the following: n thyroid hormone testing n blood lead level n celiac disease screening.

Level 7 is about advanced functional medicine testing.

Advanced functional medicine testing are tests that allow to measure different body function. They are not commonly used in traditional medicine. To order them, you will need a holistic medical doctor or chiropractor. If you do not find anyone near you to help you order and interpret the results, do not hesitate to contact us so that we can help you.

Obviously, we could be performing numerous tests on your child. This could easily cost thousands of dollars just to start with. Remembering the 80/20 principle, the question is for us to determine which tests will provide us with the best and most pertinent information. And in that regard, the interview and clinical examination will help a lot.

The goal is not to explain you all the tests in details. You have access to more information about them in the Vault. Part 3 of this eBook will also give you some suggestions. But let me just introduce you to some of the more commonly available tests: n Food allergies and intolerances n Essential fatty acids n Amino Acids n Urinary peptides n Nutritional element testing (blood, red blood cell membrane or hair) n Toxic elements n Detoxification panels n Porphyrins n Organic acids n Gastro–intestinal tests n Virology panels n Genetic testing Key No. 1 Tip Find a chiropractic neurologist or More information is available on those in a health care professional trained the Unritalin Resource Vault. in functional medicine to help you evaluate your child for the causes of ADHD. www.acnb.or or www. functionalmedicine.org for referral listing.

Chapter 11 u Key No. 2: Back to the Basics

Before starting to apply a strategic healing plan for your child, it is essential that you first ensure that the whole family can live in a healthy, balanced environment. Your best therapeutic efforts may be short–cir- cuited if the health fundamentals are not in place. What is the point of trying to detoxify your child if he has to live in an environment polluted by second–hand smoke? What is the point of attempting to stimulate specific brain pathways several times a week if he spends the rest of the time “zombiefying” his brain glued to the TV set or to his Playstation?

In the Unritalin Solution, we have 7 basic fundamental elements to consider for a healthy environment. We call them the 7 Great Healers. They are: 1. Sun 2. Air 3. Water 4. Nutritious food 5. Movement 6. Rest 7. Balanced mental attitude

Sun Air

The sun is a metaphor for all subtle influences that act Oxygen is probably our most important nutrient. A few upon us, from the sun itself to other electromagnetic minutes without it and we die. There are situations where waves. We will delve deeper into the topic of electromag- oxygen is lacking, but not to the point of causing death. netic influences in key no. 4. We call that a state of hypoxia. It is well known in research that hypoxia during pregnancy or during the birth For example, the sun allows our body to produce vita- process is a significant risk factor for behavioural prob- min D. Well, what does that have to do with my ADHD lems later on in life, including ADHD. In the brain, path- child you may ask? In 2008, two researchers from the ways that use dopamine – one the main neurotransmitter Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute pro- involved in ADHD – are known to be exceptionally sensi- vided convincing evidence for a link between vitamin D tive to hypoxia. And those early hypoxic insult can result deficiency and brain dysfunction. Although more studies in long–term derangement of dopamine signaling. Re- need to be done, Dr. Ames and his colleague showed search has shown that this may not only occur during the through a review of the scientific literature that vitamin birth process, but also later on if the infant has repetitive D was able to affect proteins in the brain known to be episode of apnea while sleeping (this happens especially directly involved in learning and memory, motor control in premature babies). It not only leads to problems with and even social behavior. some brain function, called executive functions, but also with the normal sleep/wake cycle and with locomotion. In their textbook called “Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders”, Drs Gozal and Molfese even have a chapter called “Intermittent hypoxia during sleep as a model of environmental contributions to ADHD”. Other research has shown that hypoxia can occur due to improper seat- ing devices, slings, airline travel and residence at high altitude. But more importantly and more frequent, is the hypoxia that results from poor breathing, especially in relation to stress as well as with improper breathing during sleep.. A paper by German researchers had demonstrated that children who snore had a higher risk of poor academic performance.

7 Healers Tip No. 1 7 Healers Tip No. 2 Get your child out in the sun as much as Teach your child how to breathe you can. In the summer, take appropriate properly. Teach him or her breathing measures to avoid over–exposure. If you exercises (see the Vault for example). live in an area that lacks sufficient sun Observe him or her while sleeping to exposure throughout the year, consider see if he or she has episode of ap- vitamin D supplementation in the form of nea or if he or she is snoring. vitamin D3. If you have any suspicion that this may be the case, consider consulting a sleep specialist.

More information is available on those in the Unritalin Resource Vault.

Water Movement

After oxygen, water is the second most important Without having spent millions of dollars on research projects, you nutritional element. Our body is approximately 60–70% have probably already noticed that allowing your ADHD child to water. One small study published in the Journal of the move around, climb, and jump is very beneficial. Physical activity Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts is very important for any child, but more so for those who exhibits demonstrated that children who had suffered from se- symptoms of ADHD. Movement is an important source of stimulation to rious dehydration due to diarrhea had more subtle muscles and joints of the body. Those structures contain neurological neurological problems, slower visuomotor maturation and receptors that transduce the mechanical activity in electrical delayed reaction time compared to the control group. I have signals that travel up to the brain. Movement, accompanied by the never been able to find any other scientific researchshow- constant effect of gravity pulling on our muscles and activating ing a link between ADHD and dehydration. From a purely receptors in the postural musculature, is the primary source of electrical logical perspective, it makes sense to remain signals to the brain. According to Dr. John Ratey, an associate clinical well–hydrated. In my clinical practice I have seen a few professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and author of children whose problematic behavior was exacerbated the book “Spark: the revolutionary new science of exercise and by chronic, subclinical dehydration. the brain”, exercise turns on the attention system, the so–called executive functions. On a practical level, it causes kids to be less 7 Healers Tip No. 3 impulsive. Walking for 30 minutes, four times a week is enough. But studies Keep your child well hydrated by have also shown that martial arts, ballet, ice skating, gymnastics, having him or her drink pure water on mountain biking (and even skateboarding!) are especially good a regular basis throughout the day. because the movement they required activate a vast array of brain regions. One interesting study showed that it was more beneficial for children suffering from ADHD to have regular unstructured physical activity Nutritious Foods throughout the day (like walking, cycling, playing around running) than having a structured activity (like softball or tae kwon do) only It is just common sense to give your child nutritious a few hours a week. One study published in 2007 in the Journal of food. However, what nutritious means to you might be Public Health showed that as little as 20 minutes of daily “green time” different from what it means to me or to your child. We can reduce symptoms of ADHD in children. This study also suggests are all as different on the inside as on the outside. We that activity in outdoor green settings is even more beneficial than are all biochemically unique. Research has shown that activities done indoor. some children with ADHD are a bit different on a genetic level and that they require different types or quantities of 7 Healers Tip No. 5 nutritional elements to perform optimally. In consequence, what may be nutritious to you or to me may not be to your Allow your child to move has much as she or child. We explore this topic in more details in key no. 7. he can. If this is feasible, let him go run and play outside or in a park (green environment 7 Healers Tip No. 4 are even better).If you have the possibility, try Be aware that what is considered nu- gardening, as it offers a wide variety of visual, tritious by our society in general may tactile and olfactory inputs. not meet the unique need of your If you sign him up for a structured activity, find child. something that he or she likes. Some great sports include ones that combine coordination and self–control (such as martial arts or even ping–pong). Team sports may be useful to help with socialization.

Rest Balanced Mental Attitude han eating. Human can go for about 30 days or more This is a vast domain that includes the use of technique to help without eating, but they cannot go longer than 5 days control emotions, to relaxing oneself to fully embracing the positive without sleeping. In terms of evolution, everything is about side and strength of ADHD. We will explore those issues in more survival. The fact that Nature would have us go to details in Key no. 13 and Key no. 14 sleep and be totally defenseless at the mercy of any predators walking by is a testimony to the importance of 7 Healers Tip No. 7 sleep. If it makes sense that frank sleep deprivation can exacerbate symptoms of ADHD, it is essential to recognize Do not neglect the power of the human that low–level sleep deprivation has a significant impact on mind and spirit. Explore techniques to help behavior and academic performance. Chronic poor sleeps result in daytime tiredness, difficulties with focused your mind heal the body and fully embrace attention, low threshold to express negative emotion the positive side of ADHD. (irritability and easy frustration), and difficulty modulating impulses and emotions. Does any of those symptoms sound familiar? Research has shown that between 25–50% of children and adolescents with ADHD have sleep problems. That’s 2–3 times more than children without ADHD. In some cases, children have been misdiagnosed as suffering from ADHD when in fact they have a sleep disorder. Another study has shown that even when ADHD is the correct diagnosis, addressing the sleep issues can dramatically improve the behavior of the child.

7 Healers Tip No. 6 Make sure your child has the ad- equate amount of sleep every night (both in quantity and quality). Toddlers and pre–schoolers need 12 hours of daily sleep, including a nap. School- age children need 10 hours of sleep per day. Teens need 9 hours of sleep per day.

More information is available on those in the Unritalin Resource Vault.

Chapter 12 u Key No. 3: Access Healing Physiology

As the parent of a child suffering from ADHD, you know firsthand what stress is all about. Heck, you are probably the personification of stress and they could probably use your picture in the definition of stress of the illustrated dictionary. So, if there is no doubt that having a family member suffer from ADHD is a cause of stress, does the equation works the other way around? Does stress cause ADHD?

Well, I am glad you ask because this is probably my favorite topic. You see, as a holistic chiropractor, I do not only take care of children with ADHD. Another part of my specialty is taking care of people with all kinds of health and emotional problems. What I have realized long time ago, is that our body can essentially exhibit two kinds of physiology. The first one is called stress (or defense) physiology. This physiology is activated when your body is stressed or under “attack” (the “attack” may be real or imaginary). In our society, we are so stressed that we spend most of our time in that stress physiology. This is why our body slowly breaks down over time and we end–up developing chronic diseases. The second physiology is a physiology of relaxation (or healing physiology). Most of the people that I have seen have never truly felt or experienced what this physiology is.

The problem that we have is that those two physiologies are mutually exclusive. You cannot be stressed and relaxed at the same time. And when you are under stress, there is no way your body can heal, regardless of what you try to do, because the physiology of stress is a physiology that breaks your body down instead of repairing it. When you are preparing for a typhoon or a tornado, you barricade yourself; you do not repaint the house. The problem is that for most of us, life is like a constant tornado, so we constantly need to barricade yourself and we have no time to repaint and rebuild.

The first thing that needs to be done, in order to truly heal, is to allow the body to enter a state of relaxation physiology, regardless of the symptoms or disease that you have. And it is the same for ADHD, whether it affects a child or an adult.

Various studies have shown that when someone is under stress, the blood flow to parts of the brain such as the prefrontal cortex is diminished. It is interesting to note that those are the same areas that have been shown to be affected in ADHD. Some studies have shown that stress even leads to structural alterations of parts of neurons called dendrites. And these same types of alterations have been shown in individuals who have difficulty with attention and concentration.

The problem that I have seen with children and adolescent suffering from ADHD is that they are inundated by sources of stress. They are exposed to chemical stresses in the form of bad dietary habits, food allergies and imbalanced gut flora. They usually suffer from a lot of physical stresses because their impulsivity have them running around jumping, running and especially falling more than the usual child. Research has also shown that children with ADHD had a higher risk of having had a traumatic birth. Then there is the emotional stress of always being reprimanded for poor behavior, the stress of low–self esteem and academic failure and so forth and so on. Moreover – and this goes a little bit more into advanced neuroscience – children with ADHD are known to have underactive parts of their brain, especially the prefrontal cortex of the right hemisphere. Well, the prefrontal cortex is like a big break. Imagine all the rest of the nervous system like a car with the accelerator always to the floor. The only way to control the machine is to have a good break. But in that case the break is dysfunctional. Well, the break does not only control behavior, it also dampens the activity of a system called the sympathetic nervous system. This system is what gets activated during stress. So even if they have no external stress, people with ADHD have internal stress because their brain cannot dampen the sympathetic nervous system properly. In consequence, in the inside, the stress response is always on.

Another problem is that of stress sensitization. We tend to think that stress is something that happens outside of us. Sometimes life circumstances affect us and then it gets better. But this is not so. The stresses that we have sensitize our body to further stress. Stress is a bit the emotional equivalent of allergies. Once you have been stressed once, you are more susceptible to later stress episodes. With various episodes of stress, our body starts over–reacting. From the outside we may think that we are just late for an appointment for example, but from the inside our brain is reacting like if our life was in danger.

Worse of all, sensitization to stress usually happens before we are old enough to prevent it. When a mother is stressed during pregnancy, the stress molecules will already have an impact on the fetus by sensitizing it to later stress. If one of the parents dies, the stress may impact the child to the point that new connections are made in the brain that will impede that child from ever having a normal stress reaction to later life events. Taking Care of Stress

There are many methods to help you with managing stress. n meditation n yoga n relaxation n getting a massage

In my quest to find the best options for my patients, one of the best approaches I have encountered is a technique called Network Spinal Analysis or NSA. It is a method developed by Dr. Donald Epstein, a chiropractor. But instead of using adjustment or joint manipulation to restore spine alignment, NSA uses low

force contact to very precise areas of the spine in a very specific sequence. Those touches, called entrain- ment, communicate directly with the brain and cues it to start releasing the stress and tensions accumulated over time in the nerve system. It is a powerful yet very relaxing technique. One study showed that it greatly calmed down the sympathetic nerve system. Moreover, this technique does not only restore health to the nerve system; it also teaches the nerve system how to become more resistant to stress by developing a unique wave phenomenon that makes the spine undulates. In our clinic, this is the core technique that we use to help our young patients access their relaxation physiology. Once parents see the results, they also usually start getting “entrained”(treated) because they have – to say the least – a lot of stress to get rid of!!!

In 2006, I became interested in knowing whether this technique was really helpful for concentration. I therefore conducted a small pilot study using 9 adult patients who had signs of attention problems (evaluated through a test called TOVA). The results were quite impressive. After only two month of care, all patients had improvement in attention and 88% even normalized the overall score of the test. A full–text copy of that study is available for you in the Vault.

If you are interested in knowing more about NSA and find a practitioner that live close to you, check out Key no.3 in the Vault or visit www.wiseworldseminars.com.

Key No. 3 Tip Implement breathing / relaxation exercises in your daily routine. Find yourself a NSA practitioner and start releasing all those years of stored tension.

Chapter 13 u Key No. 4: Balance Electromagnetics

More and more research is showing that children (and adults) with ADHD have problems with how their brain waves activate and oscillate. To make it simple, instead of being all harmonized; parts of their brain are not oscillating at the proper rate. Said differently, different parts of the brain (and especially the left and right hemisphere) are not on the same wavelength. Since brain wave activation patterns are different in ADHD children, it would not be too far stretched to wonder whether environmental electromagnetic waves could play a role in causing or at least exacerbating ADHD symptoms. Well, if you ever wondered, you are not alone. So are more than a hundred German medical doctors and researchers. In 2002 they published a text called the “Freiburg Call” wondering whether the increased utilization of devices (such as mobile phones) could not be playing a role in the rise of various chronic diseases. Among those and first on the list was: learning disorders and ADHD. In 2007, researchers from the University of Zurich (Switzerland) published a study demonstrating a dose–dependent (meaning the more exposure, the more consequences) relationship between electromagnetic field exposure and changes in brain waves during sleep and cognitive performance. In plain English, exposing an individual to electromagnetic frequencies similar to the ones of cell phones caused changes in sleeping brain waves and a poorer performance on cognitive tests. Sleep problem and more difficulty thinking properly? Do any of those symptoms ring a bell? And this study was done on healthy adults. We can suppose they had balances brain. We can only imagine what those electromagnetic waves could do to the developing brain of children with ADHD. On the other side of the equation, some researchers are now considering the potential use of electromagnetic waves to help people with ADHD. This new technology, called Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) use a low–frequency wave that is applied to the scalp (head) over an area that one wants to stimulate. One small study conducted at the Regional Hospital of Bolzano (in Italy) showed promising results. The children who received 5 days of TMS had significant improvement in behavior, whereas the control group showed no improvement at all. Another important aspect to discuss is the use of television. Although the mechanisms are not well understood – it could be due to electromagnetic waves or to the sedentary behavior that TV watching triggers – watching television has been shown to be a risk factor for ADHD. In a well–publicized study published in the scientific journal Pediatrics, researchers had demonstrated a link between the number of hours spend watching television at age one and age three and subsequent problems in attention at age 7. Television watching has also been associated with decreased school performance in adolescents. Another study done at Brown University showed that children who played more than one hour of console or Key No. 4 Tip Internet video game per day may have more symptoms or more intense symptoms of ADHD than those who do not. reduce access to television view- ing, play stations and Internet video games

only allow access to educational content.

Chapter 14 u Key No. 5 Balance Neurology

As we have already seen, more and more scientific studies are demonstrating that children (and adults) with ADHD have parts of their brain that work differently than those of people not exhibiting symptoms of ADHD.

The majority of those studies show that it involves specific brain circuits connecting the cerebellum to the basal ganglia to the prefrontal cortex, especially on the right side of the brain.

My goal is not to overwhelm you with information. If you would like to know more about the functional neurology of ADHD, please download my free eBook “ADHD and the brain” that you can find in the “EBook room” section of www.unritalinsolution.com

Suffice it to say that research shows that children with ADHD have three main problems with their nervous system:

Problem 1 – Multisensory Disintegration (or sensory processing disorder)

This problem means that the brain is having a hard time taking in all the senses and combining them to form a meaningful experience and perception of the world. Children with ADHD usually have mixed sensory profiles with some senses being over stimulated while other are under stimulated.

Problem 2 – Brain Hemisphericity (or functional disconnection syndrome)

This problem means that the two halves of the brain are not communicating as much as they should, and that one side is usually weaker than the other (most of the time in ADHD, the right side of the brain is weaker). The brain literally becomes desynchronized or ‘out of sync’, so just as an orchestra may be filled with extremely gifted musicians the music played will sound horrible if the musicians play out of rhythm of each other the brain too must function ‘in rhythm’ or in synchronicity.

Problem 3 – Developmental Brain Delay

As we have discussed in Chapter 6, birth trauma and other environmental negative influences may have im- pacted not only the development of the brain in-utero, but also affected the development of the second wave of cells – the spindle cells that are so essential to higher human cognitive functions. In consequence, some brains circuits or regions are delayed in their development.

It is important to note that those problems are changes in function, and not in structure. They cannot be seen by MRI or brain scan. They can be visualized on EEG, functional MRI or SPECT, which are all invasive testing. They can also be found by a clinician who has received special training in functional neurology.

The good news is that those problems can be truly corrected. Medications merely momentarily stimulate the deficient brain circuit. Medications usually act quickly, but as soon as their effect is over, the situation is back to where it was. There are now several approaches that allow clinicians to naturally retrain the brain. They take a little bit longer to start having some effects, but they truly rehabilitate the deficient circuits. The majority of those approaches require you to find a specially trained clinician. Among the best and most promising approaches, we find:

Hemispheric Integration or Brain–Balancing Approaches

This category refers especially to the work of chiropractors who have received special, advanced training in functional neurology. After evaluating your child for his or her specific needs, they will design a program that will help retrain the brain using all sorts of stimulation such as balance exercises, listening to special music, coordination exercises, eye exercises, vestibular stimulation and interactive metronome (described below). Those clinicians are usually also trained in nutrition and functional medicine, so they truly offer one of the most comprehensive and holistic management of ADHD. In our clinic, we use a program called “Brain Potential +” that combines hemispheric integration to nutrition and functional medicine.Cost of the program varies according to the needs of the individual.

Resources Visit the Vault to find more information about how to find a chiropractor trained in functional neurology or consult the “doctor location” at www.acnb.org . When asking for information, ask the doctor if he has received special training in ADHD. Alternatively you can also call the Carrick Institute to ask for a referral. www.carrickinstitute.org Phone: 321–868–6464. If you live in Long Island, Atlanta or Los Angeles, I strongly recommend you contact a Brain Balance Center (www.brainbalancecenters.com). They offer a program developed by Dr. Robert Melillo, the leading expert in that field.

Working–Memory Training

Several studies have shown that children with ADHD have problems with working memory. Working memory is the ability to remember information long enough to accomplish a specific goal. Retraining working memory has been shown to help children with ADHD

The company that offer this training is called Cogmed. It is a program that is downloaded on a home computer. The child (who usually must be over 7 years of age) trains one hour per week, 5 days a week for five weeks. A trainer also calls in once a week to follow–up with the parents. The program costs between 1500 to 2000 USD and is not covered by insurances. About 75–80% of children show improvement. More information is available at www.cogmed.com. Neurofeedback

Neurofeedback is an approach that allow to measure brain activity while the person is performing different cognitive exercises. During the treatment, the patient wears a headgear while sitting in front of a screen. The goal is to move the characters in a computer or video game by changing his or her own brain activity. The software generating the game monitors and records brain activity. If the patient stops focusing, the game stops. Sessions usually take around 30 minutes. In general, it takes between 30–50 sessions to help, so the treatment may cost between US$2000 to US$5000. More and more research supports the effectiveness of neurofeedback. To find a qualified practitioner, visit the Biofeedback Certification Institute of America (www.bcia.org).

Interactive Metronome

The Interactive Metronome is a neuro–motor assessment and treatment tool used to improve the neurological processes of motor planning and sequencing. During an IM session the child performs a series of coordination exercises of the upper and lower beat to the sound of a metronome. The use of hand and foot sensors allows monitoring the progress. It has been shown to help with behavior and learning. We use it in our clinic and it is a excellent technology. You can visit www.interactivemetronome.com to locate a practitioner. Basic Brain Retraining You Can Start at Home

Retraining the brain is something that is difficult to do alone at home because it usually requires a trained professional to evaluate the brain and determine which parts need to be rehabilitated. However, here are three options you may want to consider: Interactive Metronome

The interactive metronome has a home device. However, you still need to be first evaluated by a trained practitioner before to be able to use it.

Eyelights

Eyelights were developed by Dr. Jaillet, a chiropractic neurologist. Eyelights are glasses designed to provide optimal stimulation to the brain using the optic nerve. They are designed with flashing lights built to fit behind the lens, and they can be programmed to blink on the non–dominant eye in order to strengthen the weaker side of the brain. We use them as part of our comprehensive program. I have also used them on children with ADHD who come from far and cannot follow our in–clinic program. Some of those children have benefitted from them tremendously, even as a stand–alone. Eyelights cost about 150 USD for a basic set. For more details: www.eyelights.com Learning Breakthrough

The Learning Breakthrough ProgramTM is a suite of movement “exercises” performed on very specialized, custom–manufactured equipment that improves the way the brain processes information. It helps with balance, coordination, and visuomotor coordination, as well as to stimulate the brain. We also use it in our clinic. It costs US$400 for the program. For more details: www.learningbreakthrough.com

Key No. 5 Tip Find a chiropractic neurologist or a health care professional licensed to perform neurofeedback. Try the at home basic retraining describe above (see also part III of this eBook)

Chapter 15 u Key No. 6: Balance Structure

Various studies have shown that injuries to the head can lead to symptoms of ADHD. In those cases, we call it secondary ADHD. Obviously, the severity of the trauma plays a role, but research has shown that up to 20% of children having suffered from traumatic brain injury will meet diagnostic criteria for ADHD within 2 years after the injury (even if they did not have ADHD before the injury).

The relationship between head trauma and ADHD seems obvious to many. Less known is the relationship between trauma to the spine and ADHD. Studies have shown that birth trauma or difficult birth such as the use of forceps or vacuum is a risk factor for the development of ADHD. The spine plays a central role in health, more so than many ever appreciate. The spine and the postural muscle that surround it are rich in mechanical receptors. Those receptors transform mechanical information into neurological information that travels up to the brain.

In fact, the spine and postural muscle are the primary source of stimulation of the brain. You may never have thought of it this way, but a properly functioning spine is essential for your brain to work optimally. And that leads us to practical implications: can working with the spine be beneficial for children and adults with ADHD?

To answer that question, we need to turn to the profession who is the expert in natural spine care: chiropractic.

In my own database of research, I have at least 20 published reports or case studies of children with ADHD having responded positively to chiropractic care. Obviously, those types of report do not meet the highest standards of scientific research, but they describe the experience of real people. In the pilot study I published, I was able to show that all adults with attention deficit had an improvement in their concentration when they underwent 2 months of a special form of chiropractic called Network Spinal Analysis.

Sometimes the results of chiropractic care are quite dramatic. For example, in one report published in the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research, Dr. Erin Elster, a chiropractor specializing in adjusting the upper neck describes the progress of a nine year–old who had been diagnosed with Tourette syndrome, ADHD, depression, asthma, insomnia and headaches. He was taking four different medications: Albuterol, Depak- ote, Wellbutrin and Adderall. The child had had birth trauma. Upon examination, Dr. Elster discovered that the child had a vertebral subluxation (the term used by chiropractors to describe a misalignment of a vertebra that creates dysfunction in the nervous system) of the highest vertebra in his neck. After only 6 weeks of care, all conditions were no longer present!! All medications were discontinued by the medical doctors who followed him, with the exception of half–a–dose of Wellbutrin. For the medically trained professional, this may sound barely possible. But for the ones who have been trained in the anatomy and neurology of the spine and brain, this can be logically explained.

You can find more research on chiropractic and ADHD onhttp://www.icpa4kids.org/research/chi - ropractic/adhd.htm

You can also visit the site of the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research at www.jvsr.com and scroll down the home page until you find the Special Issue on “Neurodevelopment disorders”.

Whether your child has had birth trauma or not, I would highly recommend you have him checked by a chiropractor. If you do not have yet a chiropractor on your health team, ask around you for a good one. It is very likely that someone in your family, at work or at the local health food store knows a good one. When looking for information, ask to speak to the Doctor and ask him or her if he or she has experience with children with ADHD. Many chiropractors also have testimonials available in their office. To increase your chances of success with chiropractic care, you may want to look for either of those specialties: Chiropractor with special training in neurology and ADHD

He or she will not only able to help you with the structure, but also with the neurological rehabilitation aspect of ADHD. A first choice if you can find one near you. Consult www.acnb.org for a referral listing. Chiropractor with training in chiropractic pediatrics

He or she has special training and passion for working with children. They will most likely have taken care of other children with ADHD. Visit the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association at www.icpa4kids. org to find a doctor near you. Chiropractor specialized in upper cervical care

He or she will focus their attention on the first two vertebra of the neck. Since those vertebrae and the tissues around them contain the highest density of mechanical receptors, they are the ones that have the highest impact on brain function. Call the International Upper Cervical Chiropractic Association at 650–361–8908 to get a referral or visit the excellent site of Dr. Erin Elster at www.erinelster.com for further information on upper cervical care.

Chiropractor practising Network Spinal Analysis (NSA)

NSA is a low force approach to chiropractic that teaches the nervous system to function better. It is the technique that I used in my pilot study with adults suffering from ADD. It is a must for families who have a member suffering from ADHD. Probably the best approach to release all the accumulated stress! Visit www.wiseworldseminars.com to find a practitioner near you.

Chiropractor practicing NeuroEmotional Technique (NET)

NET is a mind/body stress reduction intervention that combines principles of Chinese medicine and west- ern neurophysiology. In a small pilot study of 7 children, NET was shown to reduce symptoms of ADHD as measured by parents on a Conner’s rating scale. Visit www.netmindbody.com to find a practitioner.

Chapter 16 u Key No. 7 – Eat Right for Your Genes

You may have been told by well–meaning traditional doctors or even media that food had nothing to do with ADHD. As you will see, this not true. Quite the contrary, food and nutrition play an important role in managing and even sometimes completely healing ADHD. Before going into details, it is important to understand why traditional medicine usually has a poor opinion of the effect of nutrition.

Problem No. 1 – Medical doctors don’t know much about nutrition

In fact, studies have shown that the average medical doctor has received no more than 24 hours of nutrition in his entire training! Some medical schools teach a bit more, others do not even teach nutrition at all. You can imagine than 24 hours represents nothing out of the thousands of hours a medical student has spent acquiring his craft. But there is another, more subtle consequence to this issue. Not only will medical doctors not know much about nutrition, they will also subconsciously believe that if they only receive a few hours in training in nutrition, it is because it is not that important. They think that if nutrition was so fundamental to health, they would receive more training.

Problem No. 2 – Medical doctors think in simple terms of cause and effect, as well as in statistical terms

Throughout their training, medical doctors are taught to think in simple terms of cause and effect. Your disease has one cause and one treatment (which is the scientifically accepted medication). They also think “statistics” rather than individual. If a study shows that a drug for ADHD help 60% of children, it will be recognized as the drug of choice. Now, the medical doctor will prescribe it to everybody, forgetting that, indirectly, the study demonstrated that the drug did not help 40% of the children. In terms of nutrition, medical doctors are quick to jump to generalization. When they hear that someone says that eating sugar causes their child to become more hyper, they point out that no study has ever showed that sugar causes ADHD. And this is true. Because if sugar was causing ADHD, we would all have it. But what the medical doctors fail to recognize is the individuality of the person. If we do a study on the relationship between sugar and ADHD on 100 children and that only 5 become hyperactive, scientifically and statistically, we need to conclude that sugar does not cause ADHD. But for the 5 children that became more hyper, sugar was not a good thing. In those cases, eliminating sugar can make tremendous difference. So, when we discuss nutrition, let’s not think about statistics, let’s think about the individual child.

Research has shown that, once again, there are multiple pieces to the nutrition–ADHD puzzle. We know for example that 75% of children with ADHD have problem with iron metabolism. But when a child is in front of me, I do not know whether he or she is part of the 75% that have the problem or part of the 25% that do not. The only way I can find out is to evaluate for it or make a therapeutic trial. In a sense, each child becomes his or her own laboratory or testing ground. This is why we use a step–by–step approach that allows us to ensure that we do not miss any pieces of the puzzle, but also that we do not waste precious time and resources on pieces that might not be primary.

With that said, let’s dive into nutrition, and eating right for your genes.

First, it is important to understand that for close to 2.5 million years, our ancestors have lived in a very specific environment. For all that time, they ate pretty much the same things. So a balance was created between what they ate and their genes. Then, about 10,000 years ago, dramatic changes occurred. Grains and dairy products were introduced, which was a major shift in how humans ate. The problem is that our genes have not changed much. In fact, they have changed less than 2% in the last 40,000 years. Not enough to adapt to those dramatic changes in our nutritional environment. 10,000 years may seem a lot at the scale of a man, but looking at evolution, it is very short. If we take the evolution of the human race and put it on a calendar year, with the first human appearing on January first and our civilization today being on December 31 close to midnight, the introduction of grains and dairy product occurred on December 31 around 5 pm. And the introduction of grains and dairy products were not the only changes. In the last 200 years we have been the witness of the refining of grains and oils, the fattening of meat, the addition of food additives (close to 3,000 different ones), the use of pesticides and hormones and lately, genetically modified organisms. Studies have shown that about 75% of all the calories we eat today come from “foods” that we did not eat 10,000 years ago; that is food that our genes have difficulty dealing with. I call these UnFoods.

The bottom line is that genetically, we are not accustomed to eating certain foods. And some people are more sensitive to those than others. According to some researchers, like Dr. Loren Cordain of the University of Colorado, those changes in eating patterns are responsible for the surge of chronic diseases. In that sense, our ADHD children might be compared to the yellow canaries that miners took with them down the mines. If the canary died, the miners knew there was a shortage of oxygen, and that they had to get out as quickly as possible. Canaries served as warning signals. So do our ADHD children. Their symptoms are the signal of an environment that becomes more and more dangerous to our bodies and our brains. The only difference is that when yellow canaries died, miners ran out. But when, today, one child out of five suffers neurological and developmental problems, we don’t do anything. We don’t listen to the warning signal. Worse, we try to suppress that bothersome symptom with drugs and medications.

As I have said, there are many pieces to the nutrition and ADHD puzzle. But to keep it simple, I have reduced it down to 7 principles or intervention that you may want to try out with your child.

Unritalin Solution Nutritional Intervention No. 1 Remove all dairy products and all grains from the wheat family (gluten)

This intervention is also called a gluten–free/casein–free diet. Dairy products and grains from the wheat family contain proteins – casein and gluten, respectively – that have a special structure that makes them difficult to digest. Studies have shown that children with ADHD have slight genetic variations (called gene polymorphism) that make it even more difficult for them to digest those proteins (their enzymes are a bit more “lazy”). When those proteins are undigested, they form chains of amino acids called peptides. And those peptides from undigested casein and gluten have opioid activity. They are toxic to the nervous system and act like morphine does.

The accumulation of opiod peptides can be measured in the urine through a specific test, called urinary peptide.

If casein (dairy products) is involved, you need to remove it completely for at least three weeks to see if there is any improvement. On the other hand, if gluten (from grains of the wheat family), you sometimes need at least 3 months of elimination to see the results, although for many children, this occurs earlier on.

A cautionary note Since improperly digested gluten and casein have opioid activity, their removal can produce withdrawal symptoms, like a drug addict who tries to stop taking drugs. Those symptoms can last from a few days to two weeks. In some severe cases, they can last up to a month. Typical symptoms include worsening of behavior, gastrointestinal problems and even momentary enuresis. As bothersome as those might be, they do not last and are a sure sign we are on the right track.

A list of foods containing casein and gluten, as well as alternatives to give to your child, is available in part III of this e-book.

Some people wonder if the removing dairy products may lead to problem with lack of calcium. If dairy products are replaced by lots of vegetables (especially green leafy ones), there is no need to worry. Dairy products have lots of calcium, but it is not very well absorbed by the body. Vegetables on the other hand have a bit less calcium, but it is highly absorbable by the body, so that, in the end, a cup of broccoli brings you at least as much calcium as a cup of milk. In doubt, a supplement can be used.

Unritalin Solution Nutritional Intervention No. 2 Remove other offending foods (food allergies and intolerances)

Food allergies, intolerances and sensitivities act on the body and the brain through different mechanisms than peptides. One scientific study showed that the brain wave activation pattern of children with ADHD was altered when they ate foods to which they were intolerant.

Most of the problems that children have are food intolerances and sensitivities. That means that they will not be seen on a traditional test for food allergies. Some special blood test are available that measure those delayed reactions. Muscle testing (or applied kinesiology) can also be used to evaluate for food intolerances.

Although any food can potentially cause an intolerance, the most common ones are: dairy products* n gluten* n yeast n eggs n soya n corn n chocolate n citrus fruits (especially oranges) n refined sugar.

* Casein and gluten can therefore cause problems through two distinct mechanisms: opioid peptides accumulation and intolerances.

Unritalin Solution Nutritional Intervention no.3: Increase proteins and reduce high–glycemic index carbohydrates

Our brain consumes a lot of energy. Its primary source of energy comes from glucose (the simplest form of sugar). However, in order to function properly, our brain must have a constant supply of glucose. And this constant supply is dependent on the level of glucose in the blood. In daily life, many children consume a lot of high–glycemic index carbohydrates (also called simple sugars), such as cereals, grains, white bread, pasta or chocolate spreads. Those simple sugars quickly enter the bloodstream and are readily available. But after 30 minutes, they are used up and the

blood level diminishes quickly. There is therefore less supply available to the brain, which starts showing problems of concentration, fatigue and irritability. In order to maintain a constant supply of glucose to the brain, we need to have a stable blood level of glucose. This is accomplished by eating only low glycemic index carbohydrates (such as those found in vegetables) and having a good source of proteins. Proteins are source of amino acids, which are the substances that act as precursors to the brain’s neurotransmitters.

Here are some practical implications: n Eat a healthy breakfast, rich in proteins n Eat a nutritious snack around 10 am n Eat a healthy meal with a balance of proteins and complex carbohydrates n Eat a nutritious snack around 4 pm n Eat a healthy dinner, rich in complex carbohydrates

Unritalin Solution Nutritional intervention No. 4: Make an oil change

Several epidemiologic studies have shown that children suffering from ADHD have deficiencies in an important and essential (meaning the body must get it in the diet) type of fat called omega 3. Omega 3 fat is essential for various brain functions.

Our current diet is deficient in omega 3s. Moreover, we eat too much of a related family of fat called omega 6. Eating too much of omega 6 can cause what is called a functional deficiency of omega 3, meaning that your body cannot use omega 3 even if you eat enough.

For the brain to function optimally, we should eat omega 3 and omega 6 in a ratio of 1:1. The higher limit of the ration is 1: 4; but in our modern diet, it is closer to 1:20, which means that we eat way to many omega 6. This situation gets even worse if we eat lots of trans fats, which are hydrogenated fats found in pastries, donuts, fries, margarines and other spreads.

Omega 3 are found in deep–water fishes, flaxseed oil, nuts and green leafy vegetables.

For children with ADHD, I usually recommend to use supplement on top of a diet rich in omega 3.

Unritalin Solution Nutritional Intervention No. 5 Eat a nutrient–rich diet

Several studies have demonstrated that children with ADHD do not receive sufficient amount of vitamins and minerals in their diet. The first step to correct that situation is to give them a nutrient–rich diet. A nutrient–rich

food is a food that contains lots of vitamins and minerals and few calories. The best nutrient–rich foods are green leafy vegetables. On the opposite side of the spectrum, white, refined sugar is the perfect example of a nutrient–poor “food”: it contains no vitamins and minerals and is pure calories. Genetic research has also shown that children with ADHD have genetic polymorphisms (slight genetic variations). Their metabolism is slightly different than the norm and they need higher levels of vitamins and minerals to function optimally. This is why it is often necessary to supplement the diet with those nutriments. I usually recommend children take a multivitamin and multi–mineral (to supplement the diet not replace it!!). The supplement should contain a broad spectrum of vitamins and minerals, but more specifically: n group B vitamins, especially vitamin B6 n magnesium n zinc.

Iron is often deficient in children. However, since this element can be toxic in high dosage, it should not be taken unless a blood test has confirmed that it is present in insufficient quantities.

Unritalin Solution Nutritional intervention No. 6 Remove all food additives

In 2007, a British study has formally confirmed what parents and maverick doctors, like the late Dr. Benjamin Feingold, have observed for a long time, namely that food additives (such as for example coloring agents) increase or in some cases even cause symptoms of ADHD.

The removal of food additives, also sometimes called the Feingold Diet, is an important step in helping your ADHD child. As a parent, you must become a detective and start to learn how to read food labels to detect for the presence of food additives.

I have included a list of food additives to avoid in the Vault.

Unritalin Solution Nutritional Intervention No. 7 Remove Phosphates

Phosphates are salts composed of phosphorus. We find them in overabundance in meat luncheons, hot dogs, sausages, certain cheese, industrially–made sweets and desserts and soda drinks. The excess of phosphates leads to deficiencies of calcium and magnesium, two elements that calm the nervous system down. The relationship between phosphates and ADHD was fist investigated by Herta Hafer, a German pharmacist.

A list of foods high in phosphates is included in the Vault.

Chapter 17 u Key No. 8: Heal the Gut

You might wonder what healing your child’s gut has to do with healing his brain? Well, if you are wondering, let me invite you on a fascinating journey in discovery.

Our gastrointestinal system is a very special system. For one, like the skin, it is in direct contact with the external environment. The big difference is that the skin is quite thick, whereas the gut lining is very thin. The gut has its own nervous system, called the enteric nervous system. The enteric nervous system has as many neurons as are present in our spinal cord. This special nervous system is so developed that some researchers call it the “second brain”. Did you know that, for example, 95% of serotonin (the feel–good neurotransmitter) is produced by the gut?

The gut also plays a significant role in immunity since it hosts close to 60% of our immune system.

It also contains a complex and dynamic ecosystem called the gut flora, which is composed of healthy and friendly bacteria that have been shown to be essential to health. The gastrointestinal tract of the average person contains approximately 400 species of microbes. Among those, some are very beneficial, others are neither good nor bad, and some can be downright nasty. Our body contains lots of cells, but even more bacteria. Actually, we have about ten times more bacteria in our body than there are human cells.

Usually, we cohabit happily. But if the subtle and fragile balance is broken, a war can follow.

The bad bacteria can go uncheck and overwhelm the good, friendly bacteria. The bad guys start overgrowing, producing toxins, stealing nutrients and causing the immune system to always have to be on its guard.

When this war happens inside our gut, we call it a state of dysbiosis. It is often associated with inflammation of the gut lining. Once inflamed, the gut cannot play its important role of filter. Instead of letting in the good stuff (like vitamins and minerals) and preventing the bad stuff from getting in (like toxins or opioid peptides) the gut actually does the reverse. It lets in the toxin and does not absorb the good stuff (we call the later a malabsorption syndrome). When this occurs, we say that we have a permeable intestine, also called leaky gut.

Several studies have shown that children with ADHD are full of gastro–intestinal problems, even if they do not have gastrointestinal symptoms. For example, between 60–85 percent of children have indigestion and malabsorption problems. 30% have Candida (yeast) overgrowth and close to 40% have parasites. Between 50%–75% of children do not have enough bifid bacteria and lactobacilli , the two main species of friendly bacteria. Quite a jungle in there!

Healing the gut requires a very specific protocol. It is often difficult to do on your own and you should find a doctor that has been trained in functional medicine to help you with that (either a medical doctor, a holistic chiropractor or a naturopath). The protocol is done in 4 phases, often called the 4R’s – Remove, Replace, Reinoculate, and Repair. 1 – Remove

This phase is about removing everything that is overburdening your GI tract. That includes removing casein and gluten, other food allergies/intolerances, food additives and phosphates. It also means trying to remove the bad guys that have taken over your gut. For that, you will need some specific laboratory test. Then, it can usually be treated with natural antibiotic plants. 2 – Replace

This phase is about replacing what is missing in order to properly digest and absorb. Usually, we need to supplement with digestive enzymes and increase fiber content in the diet. 3– Reinoculate

This phase is about reinoculating (or adding back) the beneficial bacteria so that they can bring back balance to the system. There are two types of products that can be used. The first one is called probiotics, which are supplement of friendly bacteria. The second one is called prebiotics, which are “food” that help good bacteria to grow. 4 – Repair

This phase is about repairing the gut lining so that it can heal and recovers its filter role.

The program described in Part III will help with healing the gut of your child.

Key No. 8 Tip Try a good quality digestive enzymes and probiotics supplement.

Chapter 18 u Key No. 9: Balance Metabolism

As you can imagine by now, there are a lot of things that do not function very well in the body of a child suffering from ADHD. This key is about bringing back balance to all the system that have not been balances yet. It includes, among other things:

n specific supplements and nutrients n balancing neurotransmitters n balancing the immune system n using specific herbs, supplements or amino acids that can help with symptoms ofADHD.

My goal is not to go into details about these. Please refer to part III for the practical protocol that will help you take care of this key.

Chapter 19 u Key No. 10: Desensitize the Body

For many families, eliminating foods that are source of allergies and intolerances can be quite a challenge. For first, ADHD children are often picky eaters and usually only like a few “foods” like pizza, pasta and fries. Paradoxically, they usually love the foods they are allergic or intolerant to. Hey, why would they not? They give them a “high”. Just like the addicts loves the “high” of his drug. Then, there are lots of challenges on top of that. Since the role of nutrition is not well–known, as a parent, you must often face pressure from people in your environment, such as your medical doctor who says there is no scientific evidence. You must also face the challenge of your close family, like grand–parents, who do not understand why little Johnny cannot even have “one little” cookie. As well, you must be on the look–out for your child’s friends or classmates that pass on to him forbidden foods during school recess. For those reasons, and especially if your child is highly sensitive to food allergies and intolerances, it is worthy to attempt to desensitize the body. Removing gluten and casein, as well as healing the gut (and detoxifying, which is the next key) will go a long way to help reduce the overall body burden. But you may also want to try a desensitization technique. There are several out there that can be helpful:

NAET (Nambudripad Allergy Elimination Technique)

Developed by Dr. Devi Nambudripad, a medical doctor, chiropractor and acupuncturist, this technique helps your body desensitize from hidden food allergies and intolerances. Check their website at www.naet.com to find out more about it and find a practitioner near you.

A/SERT (Allergy / Sensitivity Elimination and Reprogramming Technique)

This technique has been developed by Dr. John Brimhall, a wellness chiropractor. It includes and expands on the work of NAET. Practioners of A/SERT usually use it as part of a multi–step protocol that includes some of the key discussed in this eBook. This is the desensitization technique we use in our clinic. To find a trained practitioner, you will have to contact a Nutriwest distributor that will then refer you to the appropriate doctor. A list of Nutriwest distributors is available in the Vault. Bioset

Developed by Dr. Ellen Cutler, a chiropractor, Bioset Key No. 10 Tip combines organ–specific detoxification, enzyme therapy Give desensitization a try if your and sensitivity desensitization. Visit www.bioset.net child is intolerant to many foods. for more information and a referral listing.

Chapter 20 u Key No. 11: Detoxify

We live in a toxic environment and are therefore exposed to an astounding amount of brain pollution. For example, since 1900, more than 80’000 chemical products have been introduced in our society and only 550 of those have been tested for safety. In 2002 and for the United States alone, the Environmental Protection Ageny (EPA) estimated that over 4.7 billion pounds of toxic chemicals were released into the environment. In the US, 6 million pounds of mercury are poured into the environment every year. And if you think part of those don’t enter our bodies and brains, think again! In a government survey published in 2005 called the “National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals”, it was found an average of 148 chemicals in our body – and they only tested for 148 chemicals!! Another study by the Environmental Working Group examined the umbilical cord blood of newborns just as they emerged from the womb. They found 287 chemicals, including pesticides, phthalates, dioxins, flame– retardants and toxic metals like aluminum and mercury. And this was before these infants entered the world, which means that toxic exposure starts at conception. Thankfully, our body has its own detoxification system. The liver is the main organ responsible for detoxification, but others play an important role like the gut, the kidneys and the lungs. My goal is not to go in–depth in how our body detoxifies. You can find more information on that on our website at www.unritalinsolution.com Among the many toxins that can affect your child’s brain and nervous system are:

n Heavy metals – such as mercury, lead, aluminum, cadmium and arsenic. n Pesticides n Polychlorate biphenols (PCB) n Phthalates that emanates from plastic. In our clinic, we see detoxification as a pyramidal therapeutic endeavor that contains 4 steps:

Step 1 – Removing the source of exposure What good is it to detoxify your body if you remain exposed to the cause of the toxicity? The first step is therefore to identify whether you have a constant source of exposure. For example, if you have amalgam fillings that are leaking mercury in your body, it is essential to remove them.

Step 2 – Optimizing your body’s own detoxification pathways The next step is to give the body all the nutriments and elements it needs to have its own detoxification function optimally. There are two main steps (called phases) in the detoxification pathway. Part III will give you more practical information on how to proceed.

Step 3 – Ridding of toxins naturally This is done by stimulating the body’s own excretory pathways. In our clinic we use foot bath technology and therapeutic sauna. Step 4 – Chelation Chelation is the use of an artificial agent to remove toxins (especially heavy metals) from the body. Although this approach is extremely effective, some studies suggest that toxins may be removed from one tissue and deposited into another. Chelation should only be performed under supervision of a trained and license health care professional.

Key No. 11 Tip Find a health care professional that can assist you with detoxifying or contact us for help if you do not find anyone in your area.

Chapter 21 u Key No. 12: Free–up the Emotions

Children with ADHD and their families undergo a lot of emotional stress. Those unresolved emotions can be stored as tension in the tissues of your body. With time, they accumulate and start creating added problems. There are also various emotional issues that are associated with the constellation of problems linked to ADHD. The most frequent ones that we see in our clinic are poor self–esteem, oppositional behavior, anxiety and poor motivation. Those issues need to be addressed with the help of the proper licensed health care professional. Here are a few approaches that can be extremely beneficial to free up the emotions.

Neuro–Emotional Technique I have already described this technique in Chapter 15 – Key number 6. Refer back to this section for more information.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a form of psychotherapy that was developed to resolve symptoms resulting from disturbing and unresolved life experiences. It uses a structured approach to address past, present, and future aspects of disturbing memories. The approach was developed by Francine Shapiro to resolve the development of trauma–related disorders as resulting from exposure to a traumatic or distressing event. Although no studies exist to support the use of EMDR in ADHD, some people have reported benefits from it, especially if the behavioral problems were linked to past trauma. I sometimes work with a medical colleague doing EMDR and have sent him a few cases to complement our protocol, with good success. www.emdr.com

Emotional Freedom Technique Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) is an emotional, needle free version of acupuncture that is based on new discoveries regarding the connection between your body’s subtle energies, your emotions, and your health. Best of all, their basic instruction manual is free. You can learn it on your own. They have a special protocol for ADHD. And although their claim for success rate is quite astonishing and not back up by any scientific study, I have had a few children that made dramatic progress using this technique. Check them out at: http://www.emofree.com/add–adhd.htm ; there is not risk in trying it out, it’s free! Bach Flower Bach flower remedies are dilutions of flower material developed by Edward Bach, an English physician and homeopath, in the 1930s. The remedies are used primarily for emotional and spiritual conditions, including but not limited to depression, anxiety, insomnia and stress. Some of the children in our programs have benefitted from those remedies to help them with some of the emotional problems related toADHD.

Chapter 22 u Key No. 13: Engage the Body Mind

In this key, we attempt to help the child and the family use the power of their mind to better deal with the difficulties related to ADHD. Among the most useful techniques that we have used are: Mindfulness Meditation A recent pilot study demonstrated that mindfulness meditation could be of benefits to adults and adolescents suffering from ADHD. Mindfulness meditation involves three steps: 1) bringing attention to an “attention anchor” such as breathing; 2) noting that distraction occurs and letting go of the distraction; and, 3) refocusing back to the “attention anchor”. In this study, Seventy–eight percent of participants reported a reduction in total ADHD symptoms, with 30% reporting at least a 30% symptom reduction (a 30% reduction in symptoms is often used to identify clinically significant improvement in ADHD medication trials). Transcendental Meditation Transcendental Meditation is a form of meditation developed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Preliminary studies have shown that it can benefit children suffering from ADHD by reducing anxiety, improving mathematics and reading skills and improving memory. Informal studies suggest that it can reduce the symptoms of ADHD by 20–25%. Find out more about it at: http://www.adhd–tm.org/ Yoga Yoga means union. It is a physical and mental discipline that allow improving the mind body connection through postures (called poses) and breathing techniques. One small study published in 2004 in the Journal of Attention Disorders demonstrated that boys with ADHD who were already stabilized on medications ben- efited from a 20 sessions yoga program.

Behavioural Therapy Behavior therapy is based on several simple and sensible notions about what leads children to behave in socially appropriate ways. One reason is that children generally want to please their parents and feel good about themselves when their parent is proud of them. When the relationship between parent and child is basically positive, this is a very important source of motivation. A second reason that children behave appropriately is to obtain positive consequences for doing so (i.e. privileges or rewards). Finally, children will behave appropriately to avoid the negative consequences that follow inappropriate behavior. The goal of behavior therapy, therefore, is to increase the frequency of desirable behavior by increasing the child’s interest in pleasing parents and by providing positive consequences when the child behaves. Inap- propriate behavior is reduced by consistently providing negative consequences when such behavior occurs. Behavioral therapy is performed by licensed psychologist. Ask your doctor, your school or someone you know for a referral.

Key No. 13 Tip Learn to tap in the power of the mind by regularly practicing relaxation, meditation or yoga.

Chapter 23 u Key No. 14: Grow Spiritually/Embrace the ADHD Gift Key no. 14 is all about understanding and embracing the gift of ADHD. Individual with ADHD are usually full of resources that are unfortunately not recognized by our current schooling system. They are often creative individuals who function differently from the norm. It is interesting to note that epidemiological studies have shown that between 5–10% of the population meet diagnostic criteria for ADHD. However, some surveys have suggested that, in the entrepreneurial world, between 30–40% of successful entrepreneurs or CEOs of companies meet the diagnostic criteria for ADHD or other related learning disabilities.

Here are a few resources to get you started in that field. The Work of Thom Hartmann

Thom Hartman is an author, radio host and liberal political commentator. He has come up with an evolutionary hypothesis to ADHD. In his view, ADHD symptoms were very advantageous for our ancestors in the sa- vannah. Today, they are a problem in the rigid school structure. For him, ADHD is an expected evolutionary adaptation to hunting lifestyles. These individuals have the ability to rapidly shift their focus and external attention and to hold multiple trains of thought. This causes difficulties when they must live and work in cultures in which “farming” – well–planned, predictable, organized and repetitive behaviors –are typical. One human gene study published in 2002 in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science suggests that this theory might be plausible. For more information, visit his website at: www.thomhartmann.com and select the “ADHD education” tab. The Work of Dr. John Demartini

You might have heard from Dr. Demartini from the movie and book “The Secret”. Dr. Demartini is a modern philosopher and a true genius. He left school at the age of 14. His learning disabilities were so severe that his teachers said he would never really be able to read, write or communicate appropriately. At the age of 17, while surfing in Hawaii, he almost died from strychnine poisoning. On his road to recovery, he met a gentleman who allowed him to tap in his inner vision. Dr. Demartini went back to school, became a doctor of chiropractic and went on to become a professional speaker. Today he has read 28’000 books, gives more than 300 speeches and presentation in over 50 countries every year and has published several books. His expertise in overcoming in own learning disabilities can be of tremendous help. His teaching includes breaking through limiting ideas surrounding ADHD/ADD, discovering how to awaken your inherent genius, discover the power of knowing and addressing your child’s hierarchy of values, discover how to communicate what you want in terms of what’s important to them, learning how to broaden a child’s hierarchy of values to incorporate subjects and tasks previously low on their values, help your children to be focused, present and receptive in class and discovering tools to help children rise above. Visit his website at www.drdemartini.com and get his DVD called “Breaking through the Myth – The Learning Disability Label”.

Montessori Schools

Maria Montessori was a Italian medical doctor who observed that children could completely build themselves naturally, unassisted by adults, from what they find in their environment. She developed a new way of helping children learn. Her passion and dedication led to the creation of the Montessori school system. Today, there are more than 1000 schools in the USA. Visit their website at: www.amshq.org/schools.htm.

Chapter 24 u The 14 Keys in Action: Matthew, Kevin and Elisa

Matthew During our first consultation, I spent several hours examining Matthew, like I do for all children that come and see me. Matthew had had a traumatic birth and was quickly diagnosed with suffering from congenital torticolis (wryneck). As a baby, he could not turn his head to the left side. A few sessions of physical therapy had help improve mobility, but my clinical examination later revealed he still had a long–standing dysfunction of the upper neck vertebra. The interview also revealed that Matthew had had difficulty sleeping all throughout his childhood. Another interesting fact that came out of the interview was that his mother was allergic to low–quality jewelry and that her grand–mother had rheumatoid arthritis. This indicated that Matthew probably had a body constitution that favored auto–immune reactions. The neurological examination revealed a right–sided brain hemisphericity, which meant that his right hemisphere was neurologically weaker than the left. He had a problem with convergence, which is the ability to bring your eyes together to focus when you read. A computerized posturography showed that his balance was off, a very common sign of dysfunction of the cerebellum. The Interactive Metronome revealed severe deficiency in motor timing and sequencing. The TOVA – a test that objectively measured attention – revealed that Matthew had a moderate to severe attention deficit. Interest- ingly, the nutritional exam was normal. However, kinesiological testing suggested that there might be some toxicity problem. I ordered a basic blood test, as well as a urine porphyrin profile (which measures the physiological impact of toxic metals). Blood test results demonstrated that Matthew was low in iron. It is important to understand that low iron not only impacts the ability to transport oxygen, but that iron is also necessary for the production of dopamine, one of the main neurotransmitters involved in attention. The urinary porphyrin confirmed moderate mercury and lead toxicity. Mercury exposure was probably from his mother’s amalgam fillings. The toxicity was superimposing itself on an “auto–immune terrain”. There were some good chances that Matthew’s body was producing too much inflammation that was irritating his brain. With Matthew, I used a combination of Key no. 5, 6,7, 9 and 11. We saw Matthew twice a week for three months in our clinic where we combined interactive metronome and different exercises to retrain the weak part of his brain. We also had him do some exercises at home (like the ones you will find in Part III) and listen to some special music that target the right hemisphere. I asked his parents to feed him more cruciferous vegetables like broccoli because they have special nutriments that help detoxification. I gave him some iron supplementation, a broad–spectrum multivitamin and multi–mineral as well as some omega 3. One month after starting this protocol, I had him also take a special supplement to help with detoxification and had him do some footbath to further help his body detoxify. After two months in the program, his parents reported that they had stopped the medication. They were already seeing some positive changes, which were also reported by his teachers. Our first re–evaluation at 3 months showed that his brain was functioning better and his balance was better. The TOVA test showed impressive improvement. His attention problem was now light instead of moderate to severe. Since the parent told me he still had some difficulties with reading, I started him on a computer–based eye coordination rehabilitation software. I then saw him once a month for 6 month. At that re–evaluation, Mathew looked like someone else. Whereas he had been a failing student, he was now in the top of his class. He even started to enjoy reading. The clinical exam revealed that there were no more signs of brain hemisphericity. His balance and his eye coordination were within normal. The TOVA test revealed no more signs of attention deficit. His self–esteem was up also. I keep seeing Matthew from time to time. As an adolescent, he now loves sports and sometimes injures himself, so he comes and sees me. His attention deficit and school problems are now things of the past.

Kevin Ithought I would never be able to finish Kevin’s examination. The little guy was so hyper that he got me tired by just spending a couple hours with him. I wondered how his parents had done putting up with him for so long. His mother joked that they had tried to sell him a couple of time, but that people would not take him even if the parents offered a million dollar. His mother was suffering from frequent migraine headaches. She attributed that to the stress she had dealing with Kevin. I suspected otherwise; that is that the same problem that was creating Kevin’s hyperactive behavior was also responsible for her migraines. Kevin had had a normal birth. However, he had a severe case of milk crust and rapidly became a colicky baby. Milk crust is very often a sign of early intolerance to dairy products. Colic are very often cause either by birth–trauma induced dysfunction (as chiropractors we call those vertebral subluxations) of the upper neck (in which case the baby often have colicky cries with extension of his body) or by undigested cow milk products from the mother’s diet that gets into the baby via breastfeeding and irritate the immature GI tract of the baby (if this is the case, the colic usually induce a posture where the baby flexes himself). Kevin had never crawled nor walked properly on all four. He also had nocturnal enuresis for a long time. Those two are signs of brain developmental delays. Starting at age 14 months, Kevin had had recurring otitis media, for which he had received more than 10 courses of antibiotics. Kevin’s case was more severe and complex than Matthew’s. Kevin’s also had signs of right–sided hemisphericity. Paradoxically, his was less severe than Matthew’s, which suggested that Kevin had more problems with overall body toxicity. We run an extensive array of test which revealed among others things that Kevin had huge amount of opiod peptides from casein and gluten in his urine, was also intolerant to casein, gluten, oranges and sugar. He had a severe case of dysbiosis, which means he had almost no beneficial flora, suffered from bacterial overgrowth and even had a parasite. He also had been exposed to mercury and aluminum. His levels of omega 3 were way below normal. The rest of the examination revealed that he also had a severe attention deficit. With Kevin, I used keys no. 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, and 11. We started Kevin on a Unritalin Solution diet which consisted in strict elimination of all UnFoods: casein, gluten, citrus fruits, simple sugar, food additives and phosphates. Meanwhile, we saw him twice a week in our program to retrain his brain. At the beginning, Kevin had severe reactions to the elimination. His behavior went nuts for about two weeks. He had terrible gastro–intestinal cramps with foul–smelling gases. This is a sign of what we call an Hexeimer reaction. The bad bacteria in the gut die off and release toxins. Although uncomfortable, it is a good sign of progress. During those two weeks, his enuresis returned. The whole family followed that diet and within a month, his mother no longer had any migraine headaches. After one month on the diet Kevin was starting to be more in control, and I introduced digestive enzymes, probiotics and a natural antibiotics (containing concentrated garlic) to start healing his gut. During that protocol, he had another Hexeimer reaction that lasted 4 days. Enuresis reappeared for three nights. And then the positive trend started again. After three months, I started desensitizing and detoxifying him with nutrition, nutritherapy and footbath. At the three month re–evaluation, Kevin was doing much better neurologically and his attention was now close to normal. He, however, still had some important issues with impulsivity. After four month, we added some magnesium with vitamin B6 in higher doses, as well as some omega 3. Within a couple of days, we saw a significant change in impulsivity. His teacher actually called his mother to ask what had been done (the teacher would have bet that the parents had finally accepted to have him on medications). After 6 months, Kevin was doing much better. He was not completely “normal” but could now behave appropriately in school. He now even had two friends who had invited him to their house and he had been invited to a birthday party. A first in his life! Since he was doing much better, and that the parents were finding that the diet was quite constraining, we attempted to reintroduce some of the foods. Kevin tolerated pretty well the citrus fruits, and the simple sugars. However, and despite our desensitization, he reacted strongly to the reintroduction of casein and gluten (his mother had a migraine herself when she attempted reintroduction). We eliminated them again. Today, about three years later, I still see Kevin and his mother. We do follow–up visits and they also come for wellness care. Kevin is still a bit more “active” than most children but he can now lead a normal life, has good grades in school and is well integrated socially. The family has learned to eat differently and the casein–free / gluten–free diet has become a way of life for them.

Elisa Elisa’s case was an interesting one. Our first evaluation had allowed us to discover the root of her problem. She had a very severe attention deficit that had gone undetected for many years. With that, she had some other associated problems such difficulty organizing and structuring herself. Interestingly, the initial interview and examination had not revealed any specific antecedents or triggers to explain the developmental delay that caused her attention brain circuits to be dysfunctional. Except for a severe hemisphericity, there were no signs of nutritional problems, toxicity, dysbiosis or immune impairment. Elisa looked like a “textbook” case in functional neurology. Because she also had some anxiety during exams in school, I used key no. 5 and key no. 13 with her. I also gave her some omega 3. I saw her for 24 sessions over a three month period where we retrained the deficient circuits in her brain and taught her how to manage her stress. After only three months, her attention and concentration had normalized. School performance was up significantly. I put her on a maintenance schedule of one visit per month for nine month. Since she had not been able to acquire organizational skills due to her severe problem, I sent her with a coach who helped her with that skill. After 12 months of follow–up, Elisa was doing much better in school. Her grades were satisfactory, but her parents still had the impression that she was not playing at her full potential. I had no more signs of neurological delay and her attention was well–within normal. I remembered her above average IQ and recommended to the parents that she consult with a colleague of mine, a psychologist specializing in children with high potential. Those children are extremely bright and usually get bored in school. She actually had a high potential and started working with the psychologist to be able to make the most out of her situation.

Putting it altogether: The UnRitalin Solution 45–day Home Program

Congratulations for making it so far!

In the last 24 chapters, we have explored together the many pieces of the puzzle of ADHD. As you have seen, there are many factors, antecedents and triggers that come together and interact with your child’ unique genetic make–up to create delays or imbalances in brain function that then give rise to the symptoms that the medical community labels as “ADHD”.

The 14 Keys are a way to organize our knowledge base. They represent the core tools or strategies that we have at our disposal to ensure that we can develop a successful strategic healing plan. The model of the 14 Keys is exceptionally useful to understand what is truly going on with your child. It is also extremely useful when you work with a licensed health care professional. However, if you are on your own, you may not have access to many of the diagnostic evaluation and therapeutic solution that I have presented so far. The 14 Keys may have sounded good in theory, but they might not have had the practical applications that you would have liked. This is why I have created a “putting–it–all–together” program to you can start doing at home. I have called it the UnRitalin Solution 45 Days Home Program.

The UnRitalin Solution 45 Days Home Program is designed to help you make some basic, but fundamental changes in your home environment that will have a significant impact on your child’s problem. The Home Program only contains interventions that can be used safely at home on your own. It is a simplified version of the comprehensive program that we use in our clinic. All interventions that require supervision by a professional health care provider or extensive clinical evaluation are not included.

Obviously, and as you have seen in the cases of Matthew, Kevin and Elisa in the last chapter, 45 days is a short period of time for children who have had life–long problems. The idea is not to claim that your child will be completely fine in 45 days (although it might be so for some children), but to give you enough time to evaluate whether the Home Program is enough to help or child, or whether you need the assistance of a health care professional. For most children, the changes that you will make will bring about significant improvement. You then know that you are on the right track and you may want to extend the program longer.

For some children, the improvement in 45 days might be minimal. I do not consider that a failure. It just tells us that your child’s situation is more complex and that a more comprehensive evaluation and a more individualized plan of action are required. If this is the case, it is time to either find a trained health care professional, or consider consulting with me directly if you do not have anyone available near you.

How It Works: The UnRitalin Solution 45–Days Home Program

The Home Program runs for 45 days divided into 3 phases of 15 days.

During that time period, you will be making changes in your lifestyle in 2 complementary and parallel tracks.

Time Table Track 1 – Nutrition Track 2 – Neurological / Retrain the Brain Phase 1 (0 – 15 days) Unritalin Diet Restore the Core Phase 2 (16 – 30 days) Help the Gut Balance exercises Phase 3 (31 – 45 days) Fuel the brain Timing exercises

The 2 Tracks

As mentioned, the Home Program runs on two parallel tracks:

1. Track 1 is the nutritional track and includes all interventions that deals with healthy eating, nutrition or balancing your child’s metabolism. 2. Track 2 is the neurological track (called Retrain the Brain) and includes at–home interventions that you can do to start stimulating your child’s brain.

The 3 Phases of 15 days

Before entering the Home Program you will need one or two weeks to get organized. You will have to plan your grocery shopping, your new meal recipes and purchase some basic material for the neurological track.

Phase 1

Phase 1 represents weeks 1 and 2 of the program – days 0 to 15

Track 1 Nutrition

On the nutritional track (track 1) of this phase, you will start your child (and your whole family if possible) on the Unritalin Diet. There is three main parts to the Unritalin Diet: 1. The Elimination Diet, where we will remove all UnFoods. 2. Reducing high glycemic index foods and increasing good quality protein intake. 3. Making an oil change by increasing our intake of omega 3 fat, and reducing our intake of omega 6 fat and trans fat.

The objective of this Diet is to “cease–fire”, which means we will stop burdening the body and the brain with all the foods that are not good for them.

Track 2 Neurological / Retrain the Brain

On the neurological track (track 2) of this phase, your child will start doing the “Restore the Core” exercises. Those exercises will strengthen the core postural musculature of your child, which is the main source of neurological information to the brain.

Phase 2

Phase 2 represents weeks 3 and 4 of the program (days 16 to 30). In Phase 2, we will continue doing what we did in phase 1, but we will add some new elements.

Track 1 Nutrition

On the nutritional track (track 1) of this phase, you will keep your child on the Unritalin Diet. But we now also want to start to help the gastro–intestinal system to heal. This is why you will be adding some digestive enzymes and some probiotic supplements.

Track 2 Neurological / Retrain the Brain

On the neurological track (track 2) of this phase, your child will keep doing “Restore the Core” exercises. We will now add some balance exercises to help retrain parts of a small structure located at the back of the brain called the cerebellum.

Phase 3

Phase 3 represents weeks 5 and 6 of the program (days 31 to 45). In Phase 3, we will continue doing what we did in phase 1 and phase 2, but we will add some new elements.

Track 1 Nutrition

On the nutritional track (track 1) of this phase, you will keep your child on the Unritalin Diet and keep giving him or her digestive enzymes and probiotics. We will now add some extra nutrients that are essential to fuelling the brain. Among them, the most important are magnesium, vitamin B6 and zinc.

Track 2 Neurological / Retrain the Brain

On the neurological track (track 2) of this phase, your child will keep doing “Restore the Core” and the balance exercises. We will now add some timing exercises to help retrain and strengthen the connection between the cerebellum and the prefrontal cortex.

After 45 days

After 45 days, you will evaluate the progress that your child made on the program. At this point, we will have three options or choices. They will depend on how your child responded so far and how easy or difficult it was for you to follow the Unritalin Diet.

First Option Your child is making progress on the program and it was easy for you to implement and follow the Unritalin Diet. If this is the case, I suggest that you continue the program for another 45 days.

Second Option Your child is making progress on the program but it has been quite difficult for your child to follow the elimination part of the Unritalin Diet. If this is the case, we will “challenge the diet”. That means that we will start re–introducing some foods to see which effects they have on your child’s behavior. We reintroduce one type of food every three days. If the food causes no adverse reaction, it can be reintroduced. If it triggers behavioural problems, then it has to be eliminated again. Once you have determined which food can be reintroduced and which cannot be, I suggest you continue on the program for another 45 days. Whatever your child can now eat we will call the modified Unritalin Diet.

Third Option Your child is not making progress on the program. In some cases this might happen. If this is the case, don’t be discouraged. It does not mean the program was useless*. It means that your child will need a more comprehensive evaluation, a more individualized care plan and more advanced therapeutic approaches. You will now need a licensed health care provider to assist you. You can find one by going through the various referrals listing available in the ault.V Now that you know about the 14 Keys, you will be able to appreciate whether the approach this practitioner is using is what you are looking for or not. If you do not find anyone, consider consulting with me personally.

*The fact that your child has not responded on a simplified home–version already tells us what may be going on.As a practitioner, I do not see this as a failure, but rather as having eliminated some possibilities. We had some pieces of the puzzle but they did not fit, so we now need to turn to other pieces.

Continuing the Program

If your child keeps making progress on the program, either with the Unritalin Diet or with the new “modified” Diet, I suggest you continue until you see that your child reaches a plateau in his progress.

At this point, you will have to ask yourself the following question:

Am I satisfied with the improvement”?

Out of this answer will come three possible choices:

Choice 1 If you answer yes, and you are still following the initial Unritalin Diet, it is time to challenge the diet for the first time.

Choice 2 If you answer yes to the question, and have already done a challenge after 45 days (meaning that your child has been following a modified Unritalin Diet), it is time to re–challenge the modified diet to see whether you could reintroduce some foods that you still had to keep out of the diet after the initial challenge.

Choice 3 If you answered no to the question, it means you have reached maximum improvement with the Home Pro- gram and that it is time to find a licensed healthcare professional who will be able to assist you in refining the process or individualizing the protocol so that your child can improve some more.

Protocol Summary

After 45 days, we will re–evaluate. 1. Improvement with ease of diet => keep going until improvement plateau 2. Improvement with difficulty in diet => challenge the diet 3. No improvement => contact a professional or consult with us.

When the improvement reaches a plateau, ask yourself the following questions:

Am I satisfied with the results of the improvement?:

If yes => challenge the Unritalin Diet or the modified Diet (to see if some foods may be reintroduced)

If no => consult a professional or consult us for refinement / personalization of the protocol.

Three Phases – Summary of Interventions

Phase 1 Week 1 – 2 n UnRitalin Elimination Diet

n Increase protein intake / Reduce high glycemic index foods

n Supplement with Omega 3

n Restore the Core exercises

Phase 2 Week 3 – 4 > Continue as above Help the gut by:

n Adding digestive enzymes

n Adding Probiotics

n Restore the Core exercises

n Balance exercises

Phase 3 Week 5 – 6 > Continue as above Fuel the brain by:

n Adding other nutrients

n Restore the Core exercises

n Balance exercises

n Timing exercises

Preparing for the Home Program

The program may seem a bit overwhelming at first, but it is truly not if you get organized. Don’t try to start it tomorrow. Plan ahead. Finnish or get rid of all the forbidden foods and replace them by authorized food only. Here are some tips to help you out:

Tip 1 Create a Grocery Shopping List Go through the list of authorized and forbidden foods (see below) and create your own grocery shopping list.

If you have difficulty doing this, you can download our template grocery shopping list from the ault.V

Tip 2 Collect Some New Recipes Since you will have to cook differently, you will need to collect some new recipes. Here are a few resources that will help you with that. Websites: www.gfcfdiet.com www.newdiets.com http://gfcfrecipes.blogspot.com Books: Mother Necessity Gluten Free / Casein Free Recipes by Cristin Fergus The Kid–Friendly ADHD and Autism Cookbook: The Ultimate Guide to the Gluten–Free, Casein– Free Diet by Pamela Compart Special Diets for Special Kids by Lisa Lewis Special Diets for Special Kids, Two by Lisa Lewis You can buy these books through the ADHD Bookstore on www.unritalinsolution.com

Tip 3 Buy Materials for Retraining the Brain In order to retrain the brain, you will need the following material: Therapeutic Ball You can find one at your local sport department store. You can order online at, for example: hwww.healthproductsforyou.com/catalog/products/9900/Ball–Dynamics–Gymnastik–Ball–Standard Balance Board or Wobble Board You can order one from amazon.com www.amazon.com/GoFit–GF–RWBB–Ultimate–Wobble–Board/dp/B000G0ON2U Metronome You can either buy one from your local music and instrument store. There are also free online metronomes: www.metronomeonline.com www.webmetronome.com

Tip 4 Evaluate your child You can use some of the evaluation scales available in the Vault to monitor the progress of your child. Fill one evaluation before starting the program. Then fill another after 45 days. To ensure objectivity, do not refer to the initial form while filling the re-evaluation. You can also ask the teacher to do the same.

More information is available on those in the Unritalin Resource Vault.

Starting the Home Program Phase 1 Track 1 - THE UNRITALIN DIET

The Unritalin Diet has three objectives: 1. Removing all UnFoods 2. Increase protein intake and reduce high glycemic index foods 3. Make an oil change 1 – Removing all UnFoods

The objective of the Unritalin Elimination Diet is to remove all UnFoods from your child’s diet. An UnFood is a food that has been introduced in the human diet for less than 10’000 years and is therefore not adapted to the human genetic makeup.

An UnFood is characterized by the following attributes: n It has a high glycemic index and glycemic load (it raises your blood sugar level very quickly) n It has a low fiber content n It has an imbalanced fatty acid composition (wrong balance of omega 6 and omega 3, or is very high in saturated fats, or it contains trans fat) n It has a low phytonutrient density (it is low in phytonutrients and antioxidants) n It is nutrient poor (it has many calories with few minerals and vitamins) n It is highly allergenic (it can potentially cause allergies, intolerances and sensitivities) n It has a high toxic burden (it contains high levels of pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, and food additives)

Real foods have the exact opposite characteristics.

Eliminating all UnFoods means we will eliminate: n casein n gluten n eggs n corn n soya n yeast n citrus fruits n refined carbohydrates n food additives n phosphates

Special note on eliminating casein and gluten

Food containing casein: n All dairy products or milk products from animal origin n Butter, margarine, cheeses, yoghourts n Cream, cream cheese, ice cream, … n All products containing milk (cakes, cookies, sweets, chocolate, …)

Be careful of hidden sources of casein such as sauces, canned tuna, industrially–made tomato sauce, food additives, commercial spices, vitamins, some medications (including some homeopathic remedies), chewing gums, candies, fried foods in restaurants, some toothpaste.

Alternatives to milk products n Coconut milk n Rice milk n Almond milk* n Potato milk * Some children may be allergic to almonds.

Food containing gluten: n Wheat and related species (spelt, kamut, triticale) n Barley n Rye n Oats* * Oats do not contain gluten, but research has shown that they are very often contaminated with gluten.

Those need to be eliminated in all their forms: cereals, flours, flakes, cakes, cookies, pizzas, bread, …

Be careful about hidden sources. In this era, many products contain added gluten. Always read the labels.

GRAINS

Authorized Forbidden Comment Rice Wheat Buckwheat Spelt, kamut Quinoa Barley Sesame Rye Amaranth Oats Tapioca Corn Soya

EGGS

Only if the person does not have an allergy / food intolerance to eggs. In doubt, eliminate.

MEAT

Authorized Forbidden Comments Hormone–free and antibiotic–free Organ meats Lamb All industrial meats with phosphates or additives Beef Luncheon meats Duck Hot dog Ostrich Horse Rabbit Pork Turkey Chicken Veal Phosphate–free and additive–free: Ham Sausage

FISH

Authorized Forbidden Comments All Fried fishes Be careful with big fishes who easily accumulate mercury (such as tuna). But preferably small, deep–water fishes Fish sticks Shellfish is allowed if you are not sensitive to them Sardines Mackerel Anchovy Herring Halibut

VEGETABLES

Authorized Forbidden Comment ALL Tomatoes (for some people) Soya

FRUITS

Authorized Forbidden Comment ALL Citrus Fruits

NUTS

Authorized Forbidden Comment Almonds Potentially (depending on intolerances): Some individuals may have sensitivities to nuts. Hazelnut Peanuts Cashew nut Pecan Walnut Pistachios

MILK

Authorized Forbidden Comment Rice milk Cow’s milk Some individuals may have sensitivities to nuts. Coconut milk Goat’s milk Almond milk All other animal milk Hazelnut milk In all their forms (cheeses, creams, yoghourts, …) Potato milk

OILS

Authorized Forbidden Comment All cold–pressed oils, especially All hydrogenated oils Do not use peanut oil and sunflower oil flaxseed oil, olive oil, pumpkin seed oil, (too rich in omega 6). rapeseed oil

SEASONING AND DRESSING

Authorized Forbidden Comment All spices and herbs Ketchup Olives Industrial mayonnaise Mustard (organic) Industrial salad dressings Home–made mayonnaise

SOUPS

Authorized Forbidden Comment All home–made soups with authorized Industrial soups ingredients

SUGARS AND SWEETENERS

Authorized Forbidden Comment Fructose Refined sugar Agave Brown sugar Artificial sweeteners

CHOCOLATE

Authorized Forbidden Comment Dark chocolate All other chocolates Carob powder

DESSERT AND SWEETS

Authorized Forbidden Comment All home–made desserts with autho- All industrial desserts rized ingredients

FLAVORING AND COLORING AGENTS

Authorized Forbidden Comment Natural vanilla flavor All other food additives Natural colorings (e.g. beetroot juice)

DRINKS

Authorized Forbidden Comment Water All other industrial juices, sodas, coffee, etc. Tea and herbal teas Home–made juices (except citrus fruits and apple) Fructose syrup

A note on food additives and phosphates. Visit the Vault to get a list of all additives to avoid and for a list of foods that are high in phosphates.

2 – Increase protein intake and reduce high glycemic index foods

The glycemic index gives you an idea of how fast a food increases blood sugar level. The higher the glycemic index, the faster it raises blood sugar. We want to avoid foods that have a high glycemic index.

Visit The Vault to obtain a list of the various foods and their respective glycemic index.

3 – Make an oil change

There are three things that we want to accomplish in making an oil change: 1. Increase our intake of omega 3 2. Reduce our intake of omega 6 3. Eliminate our intake of trans fats.

Increasing our intake of omega 3

You can increase your intake of omega 3 by doing the following: 1. Eat more deep–see fishes. 2. Eat more green leafy vegetables and nuts (if you are not intolerant to them) 3. Consume only omega 3 rich oils (such as flaxseed oil, hemp oil, pumpkin seed oil and rapeseed oil).* 4. Take a high quality omega 3 supplement.

* Those oils are extremely sensitive to oxidation. So do not cook with them, protect them from daylight and keep them refrigerated.

Omega 3 supplement are made up of two types of fats: EFA and DHA. DHA is what the brain needs. How- ever, some studies done in England suggest that the ratio of EPA to DHA may have an impact on cognitive abilities. Researchers have discovered that the more DHA a supplement contained the worst the results. They suggest that the more EPA and the less DHA a product contains, the better the improvement.

The brain will transform EPA into DHA. In our clinic, we use an omega 3 supplement that contains no DHA.

Consult the Vault for more information about how to increase your intake of omega 3.

Interested in getting Vegepa, the omega 3 supplements we use in our clinic? Check-out www.unritalinsolution.com/products.php for more information. From there, a link will transfer you to the Vegepa company website. Or go directly to www.vegepa.com . Whenever your order (either by phone or online), use the following promotional code so that you can get a 10% discount on all products: KN6MNMT8

Reducing your intake of omega 6

You can reduce your intake of omega 6 by decreasing your intake of vegetable oils such as sunflower, safflower, peanut and corn oils.

Eliminating your intake of trans fat

Trans fats are hydrogenated fats that are harmful to the brain. You can reduce your intake by avoiding foods that are rich in trans fat, such as French fries, potato chips, sweets, cookies, mayonnaise, and industrial salad dressing. Read the label to find out whether what you buy contain trans fat or not.

Phase 2 Track 1

In this phase, we want to help the gut start recovering from all the chemical stresses it has had in the past. There are two interventions that you can do at home: 1. Supplement with digestive enzymes 2. Supplement with probiotics Digestive Enzymes

There are several products available on the market. A comprehensive enzyme formulation should contain the following: n Several peptidase – to break peptides apart; many protease also have peptidase activities. While peptidase may not be specifically named, they may be there under the names of bromelain, papain and alkaline protease. n Some amount of lipase – to help digest fat. n At least one type of amylase – for digestion of starches. n A glycoamylase – for breaking glucose away from starches n Key dissaccharidase such as lactase, isomaltase and sucrase. n DPPIV activity – to help with gluten and casein (in case the diet lets some leak in).

Please note that enzymes are not a replacement for the elimination diet.

One of the products we have had great success is called EnZym–Complete/DPPIV with Isogest and is made by Kirkman Labs. I consider it a bit like the “Mercedes” of enzyme formulations. All of Kirkman formulations are hypoallergenic and do not contain gluten and casein.

Details: www.kirkmanlabs.com/ViewProductDetails@Product_ID@89@[email protected]

You can usually take one capsule before every meal. Probiotics

Again, there are several products available out there. You should be looking for a product that has a blend of at least lactobacillus acidophilus and bifidobacterium. Each capsule should contain at least between 8 and 15 billion live organism. In my practice, I mainly use two products:

Ultra Flora Plus DF from Metagenics www.metagenics.com/products/detail.asp?pid=87

Please note that Bifidobacteria and Lactobacilli probiotic strains consume soy and milk–derived nutrients as a food source during one step of the fermentation process. No additional soy or milk–derived nutrients were added outside of this fermentation step. Very sensitive people may need another product.

Pro–Bio Gold – Hypoallergenic from Kirkman www.kirkmanlabs.com/ViewProductDetails@Product_ID@186@[email protected]

This product is guaranteed without gluten, casein, and soy.

You can usually take two capsules per day for the first 30 days.

Phase 3 Track 1

In this phase, we want to fuel the brain and nervous system with essential nutriments that have been shown to benefit children with ADHD. Those nutrients are: n Vitamin B6 n Magnesium n Zinc

I recommend taking a broad spectrum multivitamin and multi–minerals. You should choose one that does not contain iron. Iron can be proinflammatory and should only be taken if a blood test has shown it was deficient.

The broad spectrum supplement should be complemented if necessary with additional magnesium, vitamin B6 (if possible in the form of pyridoxal phosphate or P5P, which is the active form of vitamin B6)and zinc to get the following dosage:

Magnesium: 3 to 8 milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day. Vitamin B6: 10 milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day (this dosage is way higher than the recommended daily allowance, but several studies have shown that it helps with ADHD and autistic spectrum disorders.) Zinc 20 kg = 44 lbs 5–15mg/day 30 kg = 66 lbs 7–20 mg /day 40 kg = 88 lbs 10–20 mg / day

One product that meets all those criteria in one (multivitamin, multi–mineral and extra magnesium, vitamin B6 and P5P and zinc) is called Super Nu–Thera by Kirkman.

Details: www.kirkmanlabs.com/ViewProductDetails@Product_ID@151@[email protected]

You can take two capsules per day.

Track 2

In order to perform track two at home, you will require the following material: n therapeutic ball n balance board n metronome beat

All exercises are to be performed for 10–20 minutes a day, 5 times a week.

Phase 1 Track 2

During phase one, we want to “Restore the Core”. Those exercises are specifically designed to strengthen and stabilize the core postural muscle of your child. The core postural musculature is weak in more than 90% of children suffering from ADHD. We want to start strengthening it so that it can send healthy messages to two important structures of the brain: the cerebellum and the prefrontal cortex.

You should perform those exercises five times per week. Our goal is for your child to be able to perform correctly each exercise for 15 repetitions. The objective is not to do each repetition quickly but to do it “in control of the movement”. Start with the “starting position”, hold the “finish position” for 2–3 seconds and then return to the “starting position”. You may have to start with a few repetitions, and then build up to 15 repetitions.

Restore the Core Exercise 1 Objective: 15 repetitions for each arm. Do both arms.

Starting position Finish position

Restore the Core Exercise 2 Objective: 15 repetitions for each leg. Do both legs.

Starting position Finish position

Restore the Core Exercise 3 Objective: 15 repetitions for each side. Start right arm / left leg. Then do left arm / right leg.

Starting position Finish position

Restore the Core Exercise 4 Objective: 15 repetitions.

Starting position Finish position

Phase 2 Track2

During phase two, we will keep doing the “Restore the Core” exercises, but we also want to start adding some “Bal- ance Exercises”. Balance exercises help retrain parts of a small structure located at the back of the brain called the cerebellum. The cerebellum helps coordinates all other parts of the brain.

Balance Exercise One

Balance exercise one has two parts to it.

Part A In part A, we want your child to stand on one leg as long as he can. I recommend that you have him stand on one leg while he or she is brushing teeth. Start with the left leg. Then do the right. If you do the “teeth brushing”, do one leg in the morning, and the other in the evening. This exercise may seem like nothing, but it will be challenging for many children with ADHD.

Part B Part B starts when you see that your child starts gaining some stability while standing on one leg. We will now increase the difficulty level. Place your child in front of a stair and have him or her stand on one leg.Then instruct him or her to jump of the first stair. He or she should catch her balance, and then jump back down while still standing on one leg. Our objective is to do 15 repetitions of this exercise for each leg, without losing balance.

Balance Exercise Two

Have your child stand on a balance or wobble board. Instruct him or her to maintain his balance as long as possible. Have him or her spread arms apart.

Balance Exercise Three

Have your child stand on a balance or wobble board, with a ball in one hand. Without losing balance, he or she should throw the ball in the air and catch it with the other hand. Do the back–and–forth throwing for 15 repetitions.

Balance Exercise Four

Have your child stand on a balance or wobble board. Throw him or her a ball and get him or her to catch it without losing balance. Repeat 15 times.

Phase 3 Track 2

During phase 3, we will keep doing the “Restore the Core” exercises and the “Balance” exercises. We will now add some “Timing” exercises. Those timing exercises help retrain and strengthen the connection between the cerebellum and the prefrontal cortex.

Take your metronome (or go to http://www.metronomeonline.com for a free version) and set it at 54 beats per minute.

Your child will now have to do coordination/timing exercises. The objective is to clap hands or feet in coordination with the metronomic beat. For example in exercise one, your child will have to clap both hands together right when he or she hears the beat (not before and not after). You may have to help your child at first.

Perform each exercise for two minutes. There are 6 exercises to do at each session.

Video demonstration of each exercise is available in The Vault.

Timing Exercise 1 – Both Hands

Clap both hands to the beat of the metronome for two minutes.

Timing Exercise 2 – Right Hand

Clap the right hand against the lateral (side) part of the right thigh to the beat of the metronome for two minutes.

Timing Exercise 3 – Left Hand

Clap the left hand against the lateral (side) part of the left thigh to the beat of the metronome for two minutes.

Timing Exercise 4 – Both Feet

Make a small mark on the ground with 10 cm of duct tape, about 20 centimeters in front of the child. Tap the mark with the right foot, come back, and then do the left. Keep tapping by alternating right and left foot to the beat of the metronome for two minutes.

Timing Exercise 5 – Right Hand / Left Foot

This is a combination of exercise two and four. Your child must first tap his right hand against his right thigh, and then tap the mark on the ground with the left foot. Keep tapping by alternating right hand and left foot to the beat of the metronome for two minutes.

Timing Exercise 6 – Left Hand / Right Foot

This is the opposite of exercise five. Your child must first tap his left hand against his left thigh, and then tap the mark on the ground with the right foot. Keep tapping by alternating left hand and right foot to the beat of the metronome for two minutes.

The UnRitalin Solution c/o Dr. Yannick Pauli Vinet 19 1004 Lausanne Switzerland Phone: 0041 21 646 52 38 Fax: 0041 21 646 52 13 Email: [email protected]

Office Hours Please call Monday to Friday from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. + 6 EST. I can be reached by email at any other time.