New Treatments For ADHD?
I'm hoping to find alternatives to medication for my son who has been diagnosed with ADHD. He is home schooled but we would like to get him back into the classroom for socialization. He is academically advanced but has trouble sitting still and following the program. We have tried fish oil, eliminated sugar (mostly) and eat a healthy diet. We would like to avoid medication if possible. Has anyone had long term success with neurofeedback? If so, please share cost, type, location, and whether or not they take insurance. My son also has situational anxiety so maybe it would be covered? If you know a good doctor who treats ADHD we would also appreciate referrals. We live near Berkeley. Thank you.
Dec 1, 2023
Parent Replies
RE Neurofeedback: My daughter worked with Bradley Engwall and loved him. I was impressed by him as well. RE: diet, etc.- I believe exercise has more of an impact on ADHD than diet. The following is from Healthline:
Exercise is a top nonpharmaceutical ADHD treatment, as it can promote dopamine release, improve executive function, and alter BDNF signaling. In children with ADHD, it has been shown to improve attention and decrease aggression and impulsiveness.
This is not what you asked for so feel free to ignore but feel like it could be useful for you or others. I come from an ADHD family with family members with straight up ADHD, others ADHD and sensory integration and others ADHD and on the autistic spectrum. They are all very bright and have benefited from stimulant based medication (adderall, ritalin, concerta). That being said I have a very close friend who tried so many different options (including neurofeedback) for her ADHD son in the hope to not have to give him stimulant medication. He was expelled from more than one school due to behavior and around the time he was 12 started talking about self harm. At that point, she put him on medication and after a couple days he asked her If you knew about this medicine all this time, why didn't you put me on it before --this made her so sad because all those years she was providing him so many services to try to help him but ultimately only the medication helped in any significant way. He thrived being on the medication academically and socially and is now a young adult. All kids are different and some kids will have mild ADHD and be able to get by without medication and others will have more pronounced ADHD and need additional intervention.
If you decide to try medication, my daughter was on the patch which provides a steady dose of medication throughout the day. She takes it off as soon as she gets home from school so it wears off by bed. Unfortunately her skin reacted to the adhesive so eventually she transitioned to a time release pill and prefers that. Best of luck!
We are very happy with the neurofeedback approach of Dr. Carl Shames (brain balancer.com) in Albany. He treated me for severe insomnia (effective after only a few sessions) and is treating my kiddo for complex anxiety and ADHD. He's kind, easy to talk with, and very experienced. The process is relaxing and you will know quickly if it's going to work for you or your child.