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ADD/ADHD and Allergies
Children (and adults) with attention deficit disorder (ADD) or attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD) pose a variety of challenges for any practitioner who wishes to treat them.
People with ADD/ADHD invariably have allergies, the most common and problematic of which tend
to be chemical.
Food chemicals such as artificial flavors; artificial colors; artificial sweeteners; and
preservatives are often the biggest offenders. In addition, processed food and pesticides are
likely to pose problems for such sensitive people. Processed sugar tops the list.
Other common problematic chemical allergies include most laundry detergents, fabric softeners
and laundry chemicals. Cleaning chemicals typically used in the home, school, office, and
other public buildings are also usually allergenic.
Lifestyle recommendations for people with ADD/ADHD can help minimize reactions. Obvious
choices would be:
In addition, foods that are particularly hot, stagnating or phlegm-producing should be avoided.
This includes dairy products; wheat; hot, spicy food; peanuts; most commercial fruit juices;
and especially processed starchy foods such as bread and pasta.
Avoiding such toxins and unhealthy lifestyle choices would benefit all of us. However, with
highly sensitive people, it is essential. To me, this is the bottom line with people with
ADD/ADHD -- they are highly sensitive. Reducing toxic stress and unhealthy eating practices
will benefit them, but will not change who and what they are. Our Western world of
overstimulation and constant entertainment/marketing ploys is unhealthy for us all, but we
are not all the same. Some of us are more affected by what is wrong in our world than others,
and that is consistently true of people with ADD/ADHD.
It is typical of people with allergies to seek, crave and become addicted to what they are
allergic to. This includes the overstimulation of television; action movies; computer games;
bright fluorescent lights; stimulating drugs; and junk food. The world is so overwhelming
that people may seek to numb themselves in a variety of ways. That which is wrong is so very
wrong that people may blame themselves or assume they need medication; are ill; or are somehow
defective if this sick world makes them sick.
Who is really sick? Television marketing, with rapid flashing imagery that numbs the mind, or
the person whose mind is overwhelmed and sickened into seeking ever more intense stimulation?
Where is the solution to our toxic culture and the sickness it creates?
Ritalin works on the energy system of a person in the same way: it is a stimulant. It
strengthens what is already in excess, and creates stagnation and heat in the body. It adds
to the problem, but makes it so severe that the person with ADD/ADHD must shut down or
self-destruct. The more sensitive a person is, the more challenging it is to live in this
world. For those who understand traditional Chinese medicine, here is the information
according to the principles:
To put it bluntly, people with ADD/ADHD are less tolerant of garbage. They are canaries in
the cultural coalmine in the way that the chemically sensitive are canaries in the chemical
coalmine. People with allergies are trying to wake us up to what needs to change in our world.
Perhaps people with allergies are more evolved?
Not all people diagnosed with ADD/ADHD follow the pattern laid out in this article, because
such a catch-all diagnosis tends to be overused. Some people are diagnosed with ADD/ADHD
because of drug problems or history (recreational or medicinal) or brain injury from a
parent's drug/alcohol abuse history. The two syndromes are not mutually exclusive, however,
and it is becoming increasingly common to find them together.
The solutions are certainly challenging. Every person can be cured of allergies, but will that
make our world a safe and healthy place to live? People with ADD/ADHD generally need far less
stimulation than they are getting. They need discipline of the spiritual and cultural type,
not the heavy-handed "because I said so!" kind of discipline many of us grew up with. They
need the kind of discipline that lets them know they have a place in the world, a purpose and
a sense of belonging, and they are expected to contribute. Many find that most adults cannot
provide or sustain these things for their children or community, and are baffled and
bewildered by the downward spiral of people who seek things that are self-destructive for
such a sensitive individual.
Acupuncture Today
August, 2001, Volume 02, Issue 08