ADHD
WHEN THE SOUL CRIES
I am sitting here watching my nine-year-old grandson and his mother struggle with simple math problems. This child is very intelligent but has the most difficult time of any child I have ever seen learning! He has ADHD! During his short lifetime, he has been through more hell than any child should ever have to endure.
I swear, I almost believe this little boy was born with an ear infection! He was on antibiotics of one kind or another from the time he was four weeks old. There was surgery at the age of one to implant tubes in his ears in the hope of halting the infections. The tubes fell out a few weeks later and he had to undergo surgery again. This time they took his adenoids out as well. At the age of 5, he could not sit still and was forever in trouble. He didn’t sleep more than a few hours a day, ate poorly, and had a speech problem. He jabbered to himself continually and began to get destructive.
Upon entering kindergarten, he was diagnosed with ADHD and Ritalin was prescribed. This worked for a few months and then he started to get violent. A series of banishments ensued. He was kicked out of day care, banned from the school bus, suspended from school. The doctor’s solution to his behavior problems was to put him on a different drug. It became impossible for his single mother to support the family and she moved them to the other end of the states to live with her father for a while.
In another state and another school, seeing another specialized doctor, we hoped for the best. Things only became worse! One drug after another was given in the hope of "controlling" his behavior. When one single drug didn’t work for more than a few months, the doctor began prescribing combinations of drugs. These combinations made the situation even worse! The doctors solution? Hospitalization and experimentation. But first, they had to get him off all the drugs. This entailed a two-week stay in the hospital to clean his system of the addictive drugs he had been taking. A painful process for him and a heartbreaking situation for his mother and grandparents.
This normally mild mannered and very loving little boy became a wild animal during this time. He growled, barked, snarled and tried to bite anyone who came near him. He hallucinated and heard voices. He had to be physically restrained and during this time of restraint, he resisted the leather straps so vigorously that he broke his own arm!
Clean of drugs at last, the doctor started a regime of a new combination of drugs! They didn’t help much. In fact, they made things worse. He became depressed and Prozac was added to the other "treatments". He heard voices, hallucinated, hid under furniture and any other objects he could pile on top of himself. He didn’t sleep at night so he was given another drug to help him sleep. He was "evaluated" and labeled bipolar (manic/depressive). He hated himself and became self-destructive.
This self-hate culminated in an attempt to hang himself from the monkey bars in the school playground. Yet another hospital stay! More and different drugs and a visit from a very angry grandmother who lived on the other end of the states!
I decided that the doctors, though well meaning and concerned, knew little more than I about how to treat this disorder and that if we were to ever see any improvement in this child’s chances for the future, we would have to do something on our own. But first, I was going to talk AT the doctors! Not talk with or to them, but AT them. I was furious with the medical profession for not having the open mindedness to even consider an alternative to harsh addictive drugs. I was also furious and indignant that they had not taken the time to do the testing that should have been done before they treated him with these drugs. I was told to quit reading and leave the medical work to the experts!
I went back home. I packed a rented moving van and I moved the length of the U.S.A. and moved my daughter, grandson and granddaughter in with me. I had been told by the doctors that they didn’t know what caused ADHD and that he would have this condition for life. They expected it to improve when he went through puberty. PUBERTY? IMPROVE???? This did not sound reasonable to me! Surely they had gone through puberty themselves! Was it a calming, easy transition into adulthood? Hell no!! So why did they think the raging hormones of puberty would calm and focus an already out of control child?
Since my insistence that this disorder surely had to have a physical cause was met with only skepticism and sad eyes at the fact that I could not, would not, accept the inevitable, I quietly went on a search for information. I found a web site (actually many) that gave me the hope I was looking for. I began to read about the effects of food additives, allergies, and other outside unnatural substances on the chemical balance of the brain. When I found a site that explained the necessity of EFA (essential fatty acids) to the normal functioning of the neurotransmitters in the brain, I became extremely excited. My instincts were all telling me that this might be the answer to my grandson’s problem. But I hesitated. The answer could not be this simple. Or could it? It made too much sense to dismiss without a try. This product was all natural so was unlikely to interfere with the medications he was on and since they were water soluble, they would not build up in his system. It could do no more harm than the drugs he was on and I was willing to try anything to return my grandson from the zombie like state he was existing in. (Notice I did not say living! He was in such a state of fog most of the time that he nearly had to be led to be able to perform simple tasks!)
I did not have the stamina to fight with the doctors about this and since I was going to try it regardless of their wishes, I ordered two bottles of Restores, Jr. and began giving it to him on my own. The improvement (very significant improvement!) was evident after only three days! He played outside all day without once wandering off, he actually retrieved some of his toys from the closet and played with them, he smiled naturally for the first time in months, he responded to directions immediately and cheerfully, he cried real tears of emotion for the first time that I had seen in years, he spontaneously hugged and kissed his family! All natural, normal behavior for a little boy, just not normal for this little boy!! HE HAD RETURNED TO THE WORLD OF THE LIVING! And his mother and I cried! Tears of joy this time and not tears of frustration, hopelessness and fear!
It has been about a month since we started giving him Restores, Jr. with EFA in it and his progress has been up and down. The downs usually come when we decrease the amount of the prescription drugs he is taking. You see, we have been able to eliminate two of the drugs completely and are slowly weaning him off the others. We see a set back soon after each reduction in the drugs that can last anywhere from a few days to a week. But then he slowly improves again. His body and his actions tell us when it is time to cut back on the drugs some more. The last time was a real scare for his teachers and in turn for us. He fell asleep in class and the teachers could not wake him. Thinking he had gone into a coma, they called an ambulance and then us. When I arrived at the school, the ambulance had already left and a very indignant little boy was sitting on the floor with a deep scowl on his face. He also produced a sheepish grin when I walked in. He was profoundly embarrassed to have been the cause of such chaos. I, on the other hand, was ecstatic to be given such an unmistakable sign that the dosage of drugs he was on was now too strong and would have to be cut down once again.
At this point, his doctors are amazed at the improvement of his condition and I give them a lot of credit for wanting to learn more about this product. Each time they see him, they shake their heads and grin at his continuing progress. They have asked for information about this miracle. They too have personal experience with ADD/ADHD. They are either adults with this condition or they have children that are taking drugs for it. They say that if he continues to improve, they will recommend it to their other patients.
I don’t know if he will ever be able to go completely without prescription drugs but I do know now that he will be able to live a much more normal life. And he will be able to do so with complete awareness of his surroundings and be alert enough to learn. This child is nine and cannot read. His writing and math skills are those of a first grader just starting school. His concentration is improving every day and we all have high hopes for him now. He has a lot of catching up to do and I have expectations of him doing just that! Not in a year, not in two years even, but catch up he will. Surpass? A distinct possibility!!
This is my story of our struggles with ADHD and the solution we found. If you are desperately searching for information on this disorder that is rampaging through the younger generations of our population today or if you are an adult with ADD/ADHD, I encourage you to do a internet search and learn all you can. The natural route works!
NOTE: SINCE WRITING THIS PAGE, QUEST IV IS NO LONGER PRODUCING THE RESTORES JR. OR THE RESTORES+. THEY HAVE A NEW PRODUCT ON THE MARKET NOW BUT, UNFORTUNATELY, IT DID NOT WORK FOR US. IT HAS, HOWEVER, WORKED WELL FOR MANY OTHERS. THEY NOW HAVE A PRODUCT CALLED MICROMINERALS THAT HAS ENHANCED HIS PROGRESS IMMENSELY AND I WOULD RECOMMEND TRYING THIS ALONG WITH ANY OTHER NATURAL SUPPLEMENTS. ALSO, READ PAGE TWO OF THIS SAGA, "WHEN THE SOUL SINGS". THERE ARE ALSO LINKS ON THAT PAGE TO MANY OTHER WONDERFUL SITES ON THIS SUBJECT.
{Home}{WHEN THE SOUL SINGS}{Me}{Daughter #1}{Daughter #2}
{Rugrats}{Battered Angel}{The Key}{Origin of Man}{Dreamer}
{Angler}{Special Friend}{Siren}{Foreign Girl}
{The Invitation}{Still Feel You}{Taupo}{Wai Ha Ha){Who Knows}
{Through Their Eyes}{New Zealand Dreamin'}{NZ Pics}
{Awards}{Grandma Doesn't Care}{Here Kitty Kitty}
{Warren Artwork}{YOUNG GIRLS}{Links}
{Momma Taught Me}{Kid Quips}{Graphics Lessons}
{Graphics Lessons II}(<{Webrings}
Click here 
to send me email!
Sign Guestbook 
View Guestbook
Old Guestbook