ADHD is a neurodevelopmental diagnosis for children who are characteristically fast-moving, have trouble focusing, are easily distracted and have issues with impulse control. Class 2 stimulant medications are controlled substances and are far too commonly used for treatment of ADHD symptoms. And this is not a good idea. These controlled substances have names like: Adderall, Dexedrine, Focalin, Ritalin, Vyvance, Concerta, Daytrana, Quillivant, or anything that begins with the words Meth or Dex. And this is by no means the entire list. Too many children are put on class 2 stimulants based on their behaviors, not what is causing the behaviors.
We should find and treat the causes of the ADHD symptoms we see, not the ADHD label nor the behaviors we see. In too many cases, the real cause is an overly stressed nervous system caused by too much stress, too early on in a child’s life. When a child experiences too much stress during the in-utero period, or during the first 3 years of life post birth, including the time period when infantile reflexes should have integrated properly, but didn’t, then ADHD symptoms are not uncommon.
Frequently, the real culprit of ADHD is developmental trauma due to early severe illness or injury, neglect, abuse, and family chaos. Maybe even early post-utero ear infections, too many ultra sounds or too much maternal stress during the child’s in-utero period put the post-birth brain on alarm. Something engaged the stress-response system, and put the hind brain fight/flight part of the brain into overdrive. This primitive area of the brain is there to keep us safe in times of danger. Unfortunately, early chronic stress can cause the stress-response system to stay turned on or to turn on too quickly when there is no threat. The stress-response system is in a part of the brain that doesn’t think, it just reacts.
Class 2 stimulant medications for ADHD behaviors are nothing to play with. These medications are being misused and abused and reliance on them to control behaviors can create a path to illegal substances in the teenage and early adult years because of the high levels of dopamine they provide the brain.
These drugs can stimulate an already overly stimulated nervous system, create tics, cause sleep problems and cannibalize important, essential brain and body nutrients, like calcium, and create painfully thin people with fragile bones that break easily and weak teeth.
Children’s brains require a lot of fuel in the form of good food because their brains are rapidly developing and their bodies should be quickly growing. Class 2 stimulants can reduce the desire to eat. Decreased physical body development and shorter height can be a result. When a child is coming down off a class 2 stimulant, a negative emotional shift is not unexpected. The brain is exhausted from its influence and whatever one has eaten that day is largely prevented from being completely absorbed by the body all the way down to a cellular level; hence, less fuel to manage mood, focus and movement.
When there is nothing to fight or to flee from, then nervous systems need to be relaxed and calmed, so the stress-response system can be soothed, not unnecessarily engaged.
Class 2 stimulants can give the observable effect (for a while) of producing a visible, calming effect on children’s brains that have been bathed in stress hormones for a large part of their existence. Quite the opposite is happening. Their already anxious nervous systems are being artificially pushed beyond their capacity for managing stress. Underlying sources of the annoying behaviors one sees are being masked by the class 2 stimulants. The strides a child makes in managing behaviors while under the influence are not theirs…They are the effects of the class 2 stimulants; hence, these behavioral strides may disappear when they are not on this medication. The natural learning of self-control and focus may not be sustainable without the medication. Also, class 2 stimulants may provide dopamine to the brain’s limbic system, but they can increase inflammation.
A non-class 2 stimulant, such as a blood pressure medication, like Guanfacine (Intuniv), a typical non-stimulant used for decreasing ADHD symptoms, also provides dopamine and also helps to decrease inflammation. This means that developmental and socio-emotional milestones made under the influence of the non-stimulant stay put when the child is not under the influence of that medication. https://www.mdpi.com/2035-8377/15/2/43 . The non-stimulant can help children develop the skills that remain permanent. https://www.blombergrmt.com/about-ritalin-and-concerta/
In Dr. Bruce Perry’s 2006 book, The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog, Dr. Perry, who has extensively studied traumatized, anxiety-ridden children, mentions in the book, that trauma is frequently responsible for symptoms of ADHD and for symptoms of oppositional defiant disorder. He found that he got better behavioral results with children in residential treatment settings by administering a blood pressure medication such as Clonidine. This medication, an old and generally safe blood pressure medication, helped quiet the reactivity in the brain stem, calming the stress-response system.
Dr. Perry’s 2006 book was published before Guanfacine, a time-released blood pressure medication under the brand name Intuniv, was approved for ADHD treatment in children.
Guanfacine is not the only treatment for ADHD symptoms, nor should it be. Combinations of neuro-behavioral movement and relationship therapies, which include but are not limited to trauma-sensitive yoga, family therapy, and trauma-focused therapy such as what Beth Powell’s In-Family Services offers, result in real developmental and psychological progress.
And remember the positive benefits, socially, neuro-developmentally, and psychologically of no-tech, face-to-face physical play with others. Stress, lack of rest, sedentary life styles, too much screen time and bad food choices such as sugar, which is heavily inflammatory, can create ADHD-looking symptoms. Please see the following illustration which shows common causes of ADHD symptoms. Beth Powell’s book, which can be ordered via Amazon: Fun Games and Physical Activities to Help Heal Children Who Hurt: Get on Your Feet! describes what physical, purposeful interactive play, movement and games can do to help keep children’s brains and relationships healthy, and how these types of activities can help return children’s brains and bonds, impacted by stress, to healthier states.