The Homeopathic Treatment of Children with ADHD and Similar Behavioural and Learning Disorders.

ADHD is a multifaceted condition. People with this, and similar disorders, do not behave all in the same way. 
There are many variations in symptoms of ADHD and children with this problem exhibit different personalities. It is a syndrome, not a fixed complex of symptoms, and each child will have their own, individual problems. There is no single cause for ADHD. In my experience, there are in every case a very complex set of interrelated factors which act together to produce the behavioural responses and personality characteristics of the child.  
¨       Some children show symptoms from birth onwards, never sleeping and generally restless.  
¨       Others develop ADHD type behaviour as a response to early trauma.  
¨       Adoption UK have identified an increased incidence of this type of behaviour amongst kids suffering early trauma.
¨       In other children there seems to be a point of change in their first few years, after which they seem to develop behavioural problems.  
¨       I know several children where the parents report vaccination as a trigger factor in the aetiology.  
¨       Some children have related allergies and over sensitivity to environmental factors, which trigger symptoms  
¨       In other children I know, one or both parents also demonstrates this kind of behaviour. Mum can’t remember to come to appointments unless she writes them down on three calendars, dad rushes about working 16 hours a day, unable to sit still for two minutes. In company executives, hyperactivity can be approved-of behaviour. There is an element of mimicry in the child’s behaviour.  
¨       There are also many children in whom the initial trigger factor is not obvious, who just seem to develop these problems all on their own.

There is no single cause for ADHD. If we take a holistic perspective and examine each child as an individual, we find that many different factors are involved in this disease, and that each child manifests an individual set of symptoms. The complexity of the homeopathic medical chest of over 4000 remedies allows every child to be treated with the remedy that best suits their individual symptom complexes.  

Homeopathy - The whole person approach. 
Homeopathy offers an alternative to Ritalin. The homeopathic holistic approach examines the symptoms of each part of the person, and the conditions around those symptoms, and tries to find correlation or meaning in the inter-relationship of those symptoms. A homeopathic remedy is found that covers the unique characteristics of the child.  
Homeopathic substances are derived from all of the botanical kingdoms. They may be plant, mineral, metal or animal substances, or they may be ‘imponderables’ such as moonlight, sunlight, magnetism. Any substance, once potentised, develops a unique symptom picture when given to healthy volunteer ‘provers’, and cures similar symptoms when used medicinally to treat those symptoms in sick people  
Homeopaths treat the individual and try to bring them into balance. Homeopathy treats people with ADHD, not the ADHD itself. The homeopath tries to understand the unique features and symptoms, rather than the common symptoms, and to match those conditions with a  similar medicine (ie one that produced similar symptoms in the drug trial or proving).  

The pros of homeopathic treatment  
Treats the whole person at the root of the problem.
Considered safe, without the side-effects of Ritalin and other medications.
Uses natural, non toxic medicines.
Treats each person as an individual.
Heals physical as well as mental and emotional symptoms.
Lasts for months or years, rather than hours

Inexpensive and cost-effective.  
Unique treatment for unique individuals. Treating people, not diagnoses.

The limitations of homeopathic treatment:
Homeopathic treatment does not suit everyone. The patient and the parents need to be good observers and good historians, able to relate the experiences of the patient with all their conditions.

The selection of the remedy that will act deeply enough to change the child’s behaviour permanently is very difficult and can take more than one attempt.

There are some children, particularly teenagers, who are opposed to the process. They resent the close scrutiny of their behaviour. They battle with everyone and are not willing to go to appointments, or they intentionally antidote the medicines by using substances such as social drugs that can interfere with treatment.

  Homeopathy sets off a process of self- healing. It does not always produce instant relief of symptoms but when it works well, the positive effects of the constitutional prescription will last much longer than conventional medication. Homeopathy requires patience and a willingness to put lots of effort into the treatment process.

Case management:
Case management of children with ADHD presents particular problems. Homeopathic remedies work well if they fit the nature of the whole person.  The homeopath will try to find the most unique symptoms of the child, and that often requires a process of consultation and review over a period of several months. The most similar remedy can kick off strong healing processes in the body, but as with physical ailments, things sometimes get worse before they get better. The body can heal by the creation of healing crisis. This can last a couple of days in some children, but several weeks in other cases.

I see some children who have been taking Ritalin for a period of time, and when they begin to withdraw this drug we may have to deal with rebound symptoms for a while. The homeopath will often need to speak with various members of the child’s care and support team. The orthodox medical model and the homeopathic model clash in their attitude to symptoms. When a child’s symptoms seem to get worse, a doctors instinctive reaction is to calm everything down and stabilise the situation, even if that needs powerful drugs. A homeopath may want to let things happen for a few days, to elicit the individual information about the unique behaviour of the child. This is information that is difficult to elicit. Homeopaths try to listen to the language the body speaks, the language of symptoms.

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