Home Remedies For Attention Deficit Disorder

Attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity are the epidemics of our age, but current treatment is woefully inadequate. While our society wages an ongoing “war on drugs,” millions of children are hooked on “speed” in the form of Ritalin and amphetamines. Apart from serious and permanent side effects, these do not remotely address underlying causes and can in no way be regarded as a cure. On the other hand home remedies for ADD and ADHD are a great natural alternative if you want your child to remain drug-free.

Diagnoses such as learning disability, hyperactivity, and poor impulse control are usually attributed to a brain chemistry imbalance. A better term might be “toxic brain syndrome,” since the overriding factor is a constant bombardment of the child’s nervous system with pesticides, mercury, lead, food additives, artificial sweeteners, vaccines, antibiotics, and allergenic foods. Each one of these factors has been shown to significantly and profoundly impact developing brain cells and combine together with devastating effects. Home remedies for ADD and ADHD are free of chemicals and side effects.

A full-scale assault on these problems requires a homeopathic, herbal, and nutritional program to undo the developmental and biological damage caused by chronic exposure to toxins. Home remedies for ADD and ADHD have the short-term gain of relaxing and calming while improving brain function and neurotransmitter production. In the long run, nervine and adaptogenic plants can protect, detoxify and heal the nervous system—all without the significant toxicity or side effects of drugs. See also Anxiety – Fatigue -Insomnia – Depressions – Memory – Stressto treat ADD and ADHD with home remedies.

Home Remedies For Attention Deficit Disorder

1. Bacopa-Brahmi/Bacopa monnieri

• Calming and sedative. Improves attention deficit disorder; important for hyperactivity.
• Improves intellectual capacity, acuity, clarity of thought, and concentration.
• Improves memory, especially in the elderly; shortens learning time.

2. California Poppy-Eschscholzia californica

• A gentle sedative that relieves psychological and emotional disturbances in kids.

Soothes and balances an overactive nervous system.

• Reduces attention deficit disorder and tension in overactive states and decreases spasms.
• Effective for difficulty in falling asleep or frequent, regular waking.

3. Catnip-Nepeta cataria

• Relieves attention deficit disorder, restlessness, tension, stress, and hyperactivity.
• A mild relaxant that promotes restful sleep. Helps with diarrhea, headache, colic, or stomach ache due to stress. Balances mood swings or hysteria.

4. Ginkgo-Ginkgo Biloba

• Improves focus, memory, cognition, knowledge retention, and perception.
• Increases neurotransmitters, and boosts the brain’s ability to use oxygen.
• Increases circulation to the brain; high in nutritive antioxidants that protect the brain and nervous system from damage by various toxins.

5. Grape Seed Extract-Vitis vinifera

• Contains bioflavonoids with the most potent antioxidant effects known.
• Able to cross the blood-brain barrier and directly protect the brain against a wide variety of toxins and damaging free radicals.
• Improves brain blood flow, and strengthens brain capillaries.

6. Hops-Humulus lupulus

• Indicated for nervous tension, excitability, restlessness, and irritability.
• Excellent for insomnia, taken orally or as hops and lavender pillow.
• Calms and improves the mood, but should be avoided in depression.
• Strengthens and stimulates digestion, and relieves intestinal discomfort.

7. Kava Kava-Piper methysticum

• Valuable in attention deficit disorder; relieves attention deficit disorder without any cognitive or mental impairment. Reduces insomnia, tension, and stress.
• Produces a sense of tranquility and softens angry or violent feelings.
• Significantly improves mood, tension level, and sleep patterns.

8. Lemon Balm-Melissa Officinalis

• A gentle, safe, and calming children’s herb for depression and attention deficit disorder.
• Relaxes the nervous system; eases agitation while soothing digestion.

9. Oats-Avena Sativa

• The nervous system is nutritive and tonic for mental stress, nervousness, overwork, exhaustion, and weakness. Improves mental concentration, and focus.
• Eases stress, tension, depression, and insomnia—but improves clarity.
• Excellent for transitioning and weaning off neurological medications.

10. Skullcap-Scutellaria lateriflora

• Helps with attention deficit disorder, restlessness, crying spells, irritability, and nervousness.
• A useful daytime sedative, with no mental impairment or drowsiness.
• Nervine action relieves frequent headaches and relaxes muscular spasms.

11. St. John’s Wort-Hypericum perforatum

• An herb of choice for attention deficit or hyperactive children.
• Calms an agitated nervous system, yet safe for long-term usage.
• Regulates mood and attention, and relieves feelings of sadness, apathy, low self-esteem, isolation, anger, guilt, and shame. Good for nervous exhaustion.

12. Valerian-Valeriana officinalis

• Relaxing and sedating, reduce restlessness, and nervousness, and improve sleep; should be taken for 2-4 weeks to improve mood and sleep.
• Shows improvements in learning skills, with less aggressive behavior.

Why use home remedies for attention deficit disorder?

The prescription medication methylphenidate (Ritalin) has become the most commonly prescribed medication to ease hyperactivity. Researchers are discovering, however, that this medication has many potentially serious, long-term side effects including decreased appetite, weight loss, insomnia, slowed growth, increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, a period of increased irritability and intolerance at the onset of use, and the possibility of developing Parkinson’s disease. Increasing adverse reports have been released in recent years, warning parents of the possible side effects of Ritalin—with some reports even comparing it to cocaine.

Other prescription medications often prescribed include dextroamphetamine (Dexedrine, a stimulant that produces calming effects equivalent to Ritalin), pemoline (Cylert, a stimulant that has been restricted by the FDA to use as a secondary medication because it can cause liver failure), methamphetamine (Desoxyn), amphetamine-dextroamphetamine combination (Adderall), and tricyclic antidepressants (if depression is suspected). For periods of extreme anger and aggression, a tranquilizer called thioridazine (Mellaril) may be prescribed, but it should be used only as a last resort. Various side effects, some of them serious, have been reported with all of these medications.

Due to the many potentially harmful side effects of the medications available for ADD/AD-HD sufferers, a growing number of parents and health professionals are turning to all or a combination of the following as a way to reduce, and even possibly eliminate the symptoms of ADD/ ADHD: alteration of diet; vitamin and mineral supplementation; herbal remedies; counseling; and the love and support of family, teachers, and friends. Many believe that medicating the problem is merely masking the symptoms without getting to the root of the problem.

Author: Dr Izharul Hasan

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