OTC or "natural" treatments for ADHD

[joe isuzu]

Does anyone out there have any suggestions or experience in controlling AD/HD with over-the-counter or " natural" remedies? If this disorder id basically bio-chemical in nature, can we help control it by using supplements to help our bodies produce the dopamine we lack?

For those of you who are thinking " Yum, chocolate" I've heard that it will help, but mostly the dark stuff, without a lot of sugar. Unfortunately, it seems to be more complicated than that. ( Although I guess a little won't hurt). There seem to be a lot of foods & other things that help boost dopamine production or at least provide the precursors for it, but it's to confusing for a plain old country boy like me to figure out. I've heard about DHEA, NADH, and all kinds of other letters, but I'm afraid to start taking a bunch of stuff if I don't know exactly what it's going to do. I do know that not enough dopamine kind of sucks for us but too much & you wind up schizophrenic. I damn sure don't need any more problems than I have now. The tinnitus is bad enough as it is, I don't need to start hearing voices, too.

Since we don't have insurance right now, I'm trying to find something that will legitimately help until I can actually see a doctor & get on medication. Any one with thoughts or suggestions? Thanks, Joe

 

[Daniel E.]

Re: OTC or "natural" treatments for AD/HD

Since we don't have insurance right now, I'm trying to find something that will legitimately help until I can actually see a doctor & get on medication.

I don't think anything OTC can compete with a drug like Ritalin, as I state here:

Would this med for ADHD affect bipolar? - Psychlinks

More generally, regarding self-help, you may get some ideas from the books Driven to Distraction and Delivered from Distraction (by the same author, as you may already know). I haven't read those books, but I know they are popular and likely to be available from a public library.

 

[joe isuzu]

Re: OTC or "natural" treatments for AD/HD

Daniel, I wonder if regular iced tea has the same active ingredient? Kind of an interesting thought because, at one time, I would drink over a gallon of tea a day. Possibly part of the stimulant craving I've heard is part of AD/HD, but could it be my body subconciously telling me that there was something in the tea I needed? By the way, I like the cat avatar. I believe that cat lives here in my house.

 

[suewatters1]

Re: OTC or "natural" treatments for AD/HD

I don't know about natural stuff but when I first found out I had ADHD a joined a website called http://www.adders.org and there is a DR well respected that you can ask questions to. In the ASK DR Billy.
I learned a lot from that forum and he has a section where he has articles to read on it.
http://www.adders.org/drbilly.htm

Good luck

Sue

 

[Daniel E.]

Re: OTC or "natural" treatments for AD/HD

Daniel, I wonder if regular iced tea has the same active ingredient?

It does, though green tea has more:

Tea is a natural source of the amino acid theanine.

Tea - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Personally, I am skeptical about the potential psychological benefits of theanine (a.k.a. L-theanine) since I drink tea often more than several times a day, and at one point I was such a heavy drinker of hot green tea it cost me $500 to get my teeth whitened I haven't noticed any significant positive effects regarding anxiety or concentration from drinking green tea (or any other tea), except for the fact that sitting down and taking a few moments to enjoy a beverage can be a calming experience and that tea contains some caffeine.

Yes, By the way, I like the cat avatar. I believe that cat lives here in my house.

Thanks. My avatar is from the comic strip "Get Fuzzy."