Alternative Therapies for ADHD Treatment

I’ve written before about my son and his ADHD.  I’ve told you our struggles with him and Adderall and how that drug caused him to have hallucinations; and I’ve also told you about the year we took off from all medicines and took a more holistic approach.  For the last year and a half, my son has been taking Concerta and that drug has been a blessing for him.  He gets great reports from school, he’s coming home and doing all of his homework, and he is a member of our city’s football team.  With all of that said, I am always looking for alternative therapies for ADHD treatment. One of the main reasons I continue to look is because ADHD medications make it so you are not hungry very often so, as you can imagine, Zachary has a difficult time gaining weight.

So…I’ve been researching alternatives.  Here are a few things I’ve found:

• Biofeedback therapy:  With this therapy, if I am understanding it correctly, you are basically hooked to a machine and you learn how to control physiological changes as they occur.

To be quite honest, I don’t know if I completely buy into this therapy.  I mean I get that the point we want our son to learn to control himself better and realize when he’s getting out of control, but I don’t know.  Maybe I don’t buy into it because I’ve never seen it done.

• Omega 3 Fatty Acid:  Studies have shown that giving kids with ADHD Omega 3 Fatty Acid’s help with ADHD symptoms.  However, optimum doses have not been determined yet.

We give Zachary Omega 3 Fatty Acids.  I actually have to pick up a new bottle.  We get this particular brand and our doctor said it was a good one.

A few other therapies I’ve found are:

• Chiropractic Care
• Neurofeedback Training
• Interactive Metronome Training
• Behavioral Therapy

Out of all of the alternative therapies I’ve found, chiropractic care is one that I am going to check out right away.  My husband sees a chiropractor, so the next time he’s there, I want him to ask them if they know anything about chiropractic care and it’s effectiveness for ADHD.

We are hoping that this summer we will take him completely off his medication in hopes that he will gain some weight over the summer.  We are already pretty good about the kinds of food we feed the kids, so hopefully the chiropractor, diet and omega 3’s will help him!

What about you?  Does your child have ADHD…do you use alternative therapies for ADHD treatment?