ADD.

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.herbs
Subject: Re: Herbal Remedy for ADD
From: nyts.news.dorsai.org (Bart Lidofsky)
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 1995 13:42:12 GMT

: Any suggestions on herbal remedies for Attention Deficit Disorder?

ADD is probably WAY overdiagnosed. Our educational system is geared for the least common denominator, so any kid who is above the crowd is labelled as a troublemaker. REAL ADD (once called MBD for minimal brain dysfunction, among other things) is caused by a difficulty in processing sensory input; in order for the brain to get the same information, the level of sensory input has to be increased. That is why children with ADD run around a lot, for example; in order to get the visual information that a well child could get by just turning his or her head, the ADD sufferer needs to move his/her entire body. Stimulants help because they increase the sensory input to the brain, therefore causing the apparently paradoxical effect of calming the child down.

Long term, giving the child a stimulus-enriched environment will cause usually cause new brain pathways to form, fixing the problem (not unlike rerouting a telephone signal will fix the problem of a downed line). Short-term, you should try herbal stimulants (caffeine, for example seems to work well in a lot of the cases).

From: ssdaydreem.aol.com (SSDaydreem)

Unfortunately though, for the majority of people diagnosed with ADD, prescription drugs such as ritalin and dexedrine work the best. I knoe b/c I tried almost every conceivable natural method first. None could compare to the medication. Try reading alt.support.attn-deficit. Everyone there is really helpful and they will point out if someone with a miracle cure is feeding you a line of bull! Good Luck!