What to Ask About ADD Medications

Suffering with attention deficit disorder, ADD, symptoms can be incredibly difficult and can also have a negative effect on your relationships, your productivity, and your overall quality of life. To bring relief from those symptoms, most physicians have a full line of medications available to prescribe. Which one of the medications chosen can depend upon factors such as the patient’s age and other medical conditions present.

Before you begin taking medication for your ADD symptoms, there are several questions you may want to ask your doctor. One very important thing to know is, “What are the long-term side effects of this medication?” Another crucial question to ask is, “Will I have to take this medication for the rest of my life, or is it intended to be a short-term therapy, and how is this determined?” Another question that is being asked with increasing frequency as more people seek the safest, least invasive therapies possible is, “Are there other methods for relieving these symptoms without using ADD medications?” Your doctor may or may not be familiar with alternative therapies such as biofeedback training, specialized diets, and supplement use that are showing positive results in managing ADD symptoms. If you’re interested in those possibilities, you may have to do your homework before you meet with your physician.

One more group of questions that may arise when faced with a new medical regimen begins with, “What restrictions will this place on my life?” Following that should be, “What foods, activities, or other medications should I avoid?” And it’s always important to ask, “What side effects should I report?”

Working together with your healthcare provider, it’s possible to create a safe, sensible protocol for managing your ADD symptoms. Make a list of the questions you would like answered prior to beginning a new medication, if that’s the prescribed therapy. By all means, explore the complementary and alternative medicine therapies for alleviating your symptoms, and ask your doctor about them. The final goal should be to find the answers that are the best fit for you.

ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE: NEUROFEEDBACK FOR ADD

Boosting Your Brain with Neurofeedback Therapy

Neurofeedback: An Overview

Neurofeedback therapy is an advanced new treatment used for a plethora of neurological disorders. Also referred to as EEG biofeedback, it is a noninvasive brain training technique that enables patients to drastically improve quality of life. Through directly training the brain to self-regulate a variety of functions, many neurological problems can be disabled at the root of the problem, potentially ridding patients of nasty and hampering symptoms.

How does it Work?

Neurofeedback therapy follows the following basic steps:

1)     Pre-therapy Assessment: Typically, the patient will have electrodes attached to their head as doctors will observe and record brain activity. Patients may be exposed to certain stimuli in order to arouse specific brain functions which doctors wish to observe.

2)     Development of Treatment Plan: Upon receiving the results of each patient’s assessment, doctors will perform analysis to isolate abnormal brainwave patterns. Based on the problems observed, a unique neurofeedback therapy regiment will be designed for each patient.

3)     Training Sessions: Neurofeedback therapy professionals will guide patients through a series of brain exercises, which can take the place of a film, a puzzle, music, or other mediums. Using feedback from these exercises, the therapy is able to normalize brainwave activity by rewarding or emphasizing certain activity and punishing or diminishing other activity. For instance, when a subject is paying attention to an exercise it will continue and when attention wanes, the exercise stalls or stops. This is what we mean by “training the brain”. It is truly amazing how the body wants to innately correct its problem, and neurofeedback therapy leverages this phenomenon.

What Conditions does Neurofeedback Treat?

Neurofeedback therapy has proven effective against numerous disorders, ranging from the most common to the very rare. Here are some specific disorders that the therapy has already proven an effective intervention against:

·         Anxiety or Panic Disorder

·         Attention Deficit Disorder

·         Autism

·         Bipolar Disorder

·         Cerebral Palsy

·         Chronic Pain Syndrome

·         Headaches

·         Insomnia

·         Memory Loss Disorders

·         Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

·         Sleep Issues

There are many more neurological disorders that neurofeedback therapy has proven effective against, and not just in the short term. The goal of the therapy is to provide patients with the natural mechanisms to control brain functions, and thus disorders, for the rest of their lives. While many sessions may be needed to permanently “install” these tools, neurofeedback therapy is not a never-ending commitment, and this is a small price to pay for a potential lifetime of lasting mental health.

HOW NEUROFEEDBACK THERAPY WORKS

3 Signs of ADD

Diagnosing your child can be a challenging task, but there are some signs of ADD to look for that can make identifying the disorder easier. Some of these signs are normal to see in children who don’t have ADD, however they will occur in a child with ADD with a much greater frequency and in higher volume. Paying attention to your child and comparing him with his peers can help make it easier to identify abnormalities in behavior.

1. Hyperactivity

Hyperactivity is one of the most well known signs of ADD to look for in your child. While many children are naturally very active, hyperactive children are constantly moving. They are more than just active, displaying an inability to curb their activity appropriately. This quality can manifest itself in many ways, affecting schoolwork, home life, and interpersonal relationships. Some of the most identifiable symptoms of hyperactivity include:

·         Fidgeting and Squirming

·         Inability to Sit Still

·         Restlessness

·         Difficulty Engaging in Quiet or Relaxing Activities

·         Excessive Talking

·         Leaving Seat, Moving or Running Around Inappropriately

2. Inattention

Inattention is another of the most commonly observed signs of ADD. Inattention can be difficult to identify in younger children, and usually becomes more apparent once children begin school. Children will often jump from activity to activity without completing them. It isn’t that they cannot pay attention under any circumstances, but people with ADD find it difficult to stay focused on repetitive or unstimulating activities. As they get older, inattention will often manifest itself during social situations or while at work. Some easy to recognize signs of inattention are:

·         Easy Distraction

·         Careless Mistakes

·         Trouble Focusing

·         Inattention to Details

·         Difficulty Listening When Spoken to

·         Inability to Sustain Tasks

·         Trouble Following Directions

·         Difficulty Remembering Things

3. Impulsivity

Impulsive behavior and decision-making can be one of the most destructive signs of ADD. Impulsivity can lead children with ADD into troublesome situations such as knocking into people or objects. It is also common for lack of foresight to land them in precarious positions, such as climbing too high in a tree or wandering too far from Mom. Impulsive behavior is to be expected in all children from time to time, but children with ADD will exhibit this behavior on a regular basis. Some common symptoms of impulsivity to look for include:

·         Lack of Patience

·         Acting With Little Thought

·         Blurting Out Inappropriately

·         Difficulty Waiting in Line or For One’s Turn

·         Frequently Interrupting

·         Guessing Rather Than Thinking Through a Problem

·         Inappropriate Responses

·         Inability to Control Emotions

Addressing Signs of ADD

If you are noticing signs of ADD in your child, it is important to address them as soon as possible. It is very common for children to be prescribed medications like Adderall or Ritalin, but these are not necessarily the safest or most effective treatments. Many children experience adverse side effects from these medications, and the risks should be carefully considered along with the benefits. There are also a number of natural treatments that have been shown to help treat ADD. For example, neurofeedback therapy is rapidly gaining popularity as a safe and efficient treatment option. This therapy works by redirecting wayward brainwave patterns that can cause a number of neurological conditions including anxiety, panic attacks, chronic pain and ADD. If you’d like to learn more about this noninvasive treatment option, clickhere.