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ADHD Treatment FAQs: What Are Your Options?

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At Serenity Health Care Center in Waukesha, WI, our team of integrative medicine providers specializes in ADHD treatment for children. Traditional pharmaceuticals can be ineffective and often cause side effects that make life miserable. We combine conventional medicine with biomedical treatment to treat your entire child.

FAQ About Pediatric ADHD Treatment

What Are My Child’s Options? 

The appropriate ADHD treatment for your child will depend on her unique needs. Just as your child is unique, there is no one-size-fits-all treatment for ADHD. We offer several treatment options for ADHD, including biomedical treatment, nutritional therapy, and other alternative treatments.

What Is Biomedical Treatment? 

Biomedical treatment is the first step in treating your child for ADHD. It allows us to identify any underlying medical issues that her pediatrician may have missed. Such missing pieces of critical information can help us identify the cause of the ADHD. In turn, we can treat your child more effectively while treating the underlying conditions making her life more difficult.

How Is ADHD Diagnosed? 

Before we can identify the appropriate ADHD treatment methods, we must diagnose the type of ADHD your child has. During the diagnostic consultation, we will speak with you and your child. To speed the process up, bring any notes your child’s teachers have sent home to you.

Besides evaluating the character traits of your child, such as forgetfulness, rowdiness, or rudeness, we will also review your child’s social history, medical history, family history, and educational history.

What Do the Other Evaluations Reveal? 

Your child’s social history describes how she acts in daily life and how she functions. This identifies the most important areas we need to work on, such as drawing quietly during art class. Your child’s medical history will reveal any medical issues, such as thyroid disorders or sleep disorders, that can present symptoms that are similar to ADHD symptoms.

Your child’s family history is one of the most important diagnostic tools we have. One in two children with ADHD has an immediate family member with ADHD. If you ever found your mom’s keys in the freezer or your husband can’t find his wallet if it’s not on his nightstand, ADHD may have been passed on to your child genetically.

How Does Nutritional Therapy Improve ADHD? 

While a poor diet may not cause ADHD, eating processed foods certainly exacerbates the condition. To reduce the symptoms of your child’s ADHD, make sure she is getting all the micronutrients her brain needs for optimal functioning, such as choline and omega-3 fatty acids. If your child has special dietary needs, give her a nutritional supplement.

Furthermore, it’s important that you minimize the number of processed foods your child eats. Watch out for saturated fats, quick carbs, preservatives, and artificial colors. Easily digestible carbohydrates should be consumed in moderation. When consumed, they should be part of a well-balanced meal with plenty of protein and vegetables.

What Other Alternative Treatments Do You Offer? 

The most effective alternative treatment we offer for ADHD is hypnotherapy. At Serenity Health Care Center in Waukesha, WI, we offer clinical hypnosis performed by a trained hypnotist. While some people may perform hypnosis as a party trick, hypnosis performed by medical professionals can actually change your child’s life.

If your child is susceptible to hypnotherapy, one of our hypnotherapists can help her manage her emotions. For example, he can encourage her subconscious to accept her differences. The more your child accepts herself, the less frustrated she will feel. The calmer she feels, the fewer emotional outbursts she will have.

Why Does My Child Have Emotional Outbursts? 

There are several reasons why a child with ADHD may have emotional outbursts. Some children with ADHD cry because they feel lost, isolated, and different from their peers. Others act out aggressively by headbutting walls and punching doors because they are so confused and angry as to why they can’t perform in school like other children.

Sometimes, cognitive behavioral therapy is necessary to help a child work through emotional issues. However, treatment for ADHD may be enough to prevent emotional outbursts as the treatment helps a child feel more normal and connected to her peers.

What Type of ADHD Does My Child Have? 

The only way to know for sure what type of ADHD your child has is to bring her in for an evaluation. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5), there are three known types of ADHD disorders. These are inattentive-only, hyperactive/impulsive, and combined inattentive/hyperactive/impulsive ADHD.

What Is Inattentive-Only ADHD? 

Inattentive-Only ADHD is the form of ADHD previously known as ADD. It is the most common form of ADHD in females and often presents itself as making frequent careless mistakes. These mistakes aren’t made because your child doesn’t understand instructions.

Children with inattentive-only ADHD make mistakes because they focus on several external stimuli at once. For example, a child without inattentive only ADHD can focus solely on detailed instructions. A child with inattentive-only ADHD will hear and understand the instructions while also noticing the squirrel outside the window and the sound of pens scratching paper.

What Are the Nine Most Common Symptoms of Inattentive Only ADHD? 

The nine most common symptoms of inattentive only ADHD are:

  • Forgetting to do chores or schoolwork
  • Losing things required for daily activities, like planners 
  • Avoiding schoolwork or games that require sustained attention
  • Struggling to manage sequential tasks
  • Failing to comply with instructions
  • Failing to pay attention to details, like meeting school deadlines
  • Failing to listen when spoken to directly
  • Failing to sustain attention during dinner, family game night or homework
  • Making careless mistakes

What Is Hyperactive/Impulsive ADHD? 

Hyperactive/impulsive ADHD is characterized by interrupting others when they are speaking, making disruptive noises, fidgeting while watching TV, getting up frequently at the dinner table and talking at inappropriate times, such as during religious services. Children with this type of ADHD often benefit greatly from changes to their diet.

What Are the Nine Most Common Symptoms of Hyperactive/Impulsive ADHD? 

The nine most common symptoms of hyperactive/impulsive ADHD are as follows:

  • Fidgeting, tapping and squirming
  • Getting up when expected to remain seated
  • Running, climbing and exhibiting other restless behavior
  • Failing to play quietly
  • Failing to sit still at restaurants or in the classroom
  • Finishing teachers’ sentences
  • Cutting lines
  • Talking over classmates
  • Feeling uncomfortable when forced to sit still

What Is Combined Inattentive/Hyperactive/Impulsive ADHD? 

Combined inattentive/hyperactive/impulsive ADHD describes the condition formerly known as ADHD. To be diagnosed with combined inattentive/hyperactive/impulsive ADHD, a child must present with at least six symptoms of inattentive ADHD and six symptoms of hyperactive/impulsive ADHD.

Learn More About How to Improve Your Child’s Quality of Life Today

Living without ADHD treatment is overwhelming. Depending on the type of ADHD your child has, she may feel confused, frustrated, disconnected, out of control, or angry. With conventional and biomedical treatment at Serenity Health Care Center in Waukesha, WI, your child can excel at everything she puts her mind to.

The only way to know which type of ADHD your child has is to bring her in for a diagnostic appointment. To learn more about your child’s special needs or ADHD treatment options, please contact us today at Serenity Health Care Center in Waukesha, WI to book an appointment.

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