Reply to Which ADHD Medicine?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm not about to lecture you - my kid's isn't nearly "severe" and you have to do what you have to do, but I'm curious if you've tried extreme diet modification first?  No sucrose, no corn syrup, no artificial dyes, nothing but protein in the morning, add a lot of fish oil.

I would TRY before I moved to the drugs.  What's to lose?

A friend of mine who is in the neuro-industry says they are coming out with a study in the next 6-12 months that will highlight a clear detriment to receiving ADHD med at an early age. [/quote]

Speaking as a special educator, I can tell you that there are significant downsides to extreme diet modification for kids.

First of all, kids with ADHD often feel very out of control.  They can't anticipate their own behavior, or predict adult or peer reactions to their behavior, so the world can feel random and disjointed to them.  They often compensate by seeking control wherever they can get it.  Taking away all of their control in another major area, what they eat, just exacerbates those feelings.

Second of all, kids with ADHD often feel like they're on the perimeter of the group.  They may not have a lot of positive shared experiences with peers.  The reality is that food is a big social experience for most kids, and one that kids with ADHD can often manage successfully.  So, taking it away from them, and introducing a lot of adult control and intrusion, because many kids with ADHD will need adult proximity to control their impulses around forbidden foods, is a major social downside.

Thirdly, it doesn't work.  The research says it doesn't work, and I've got 20 years of classroom anecdata to tell you it doesn't work.  So, treatment is delayed for another 3 - 6 months while you "try" something that doesn't help, and the kid falls 3 - 6 months further behind, and becomes 3 - 6 months more frustrated, and does 3 - 6 more months of data to their peer relationships.

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