Alternatives to ADD ADHD Medicine Part 3 and Beware! -More Snake Oil– ADD Tip O the Day 595

Buyer and reader, Beware!- More ADD ADHD snake oil

Here’s the headline on a recent article:

“New treatment for kids with ADHD retrains their brains, reduces symptoms“

Here’s the report on the study that is being done:

Researchers hope that retraining the brain waves of children with ADHD will permanently increase the power of beta waves which control alertness, attention levels, and concentration. The power of theta waves that are associated with inattentiveness and drowsiness should also be reduced. Researchers speculate that once the brain is trained, children with ADHD may not need further treatment or medication.

(I added the bold.)

Herbal Supplements:

The New York Times reports that four out of five store brand supplements contained none of the herbs on the label…Walmart had the worst showing; only 4% of the products tested contained any of the herbs listed on the label…Supplements are exempt from the FDA approval process.  Some of the supplements and other natural/alternative/vitamins contained steroids or other dangerous substances.

I personally take a number of vitamins and supplements but am considering stopping or at least cutting down.  The only one with proven benefit, given a normal diet, is omega 3 fatty acid (fish oil) but some of the brands are no good.

 And now for something postitive – Biofeedback for ADD ADHD

Lawrence Klein reports on a 2013 study showing that biofeedback can improve attention and  the improvement is correlated with small changes in the brain shown on imaging.  Other studies suggest it may be as good as medication (I’m a little doubtful) and that it may have long term benefits.

doug                

Can herbs help?

 

The article with the headline

NYT on supplements

Another one

Biofeedback, neurofeedback

More on biofeedback