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Attention-Defecit / Hyperactivity Disorder
Our son was first diagnosed with ADHD at age 10 as a fourth
grader, and was put on Ritalin. It greatly helped his symptoms, but he could not tolerate the medication痴 side effects: lack of appetite, which led to weight loss. He was a skinny kid to begin with and on Ritalin his
cheeks got hollowed out. We tried our best to deal with this (adjusting the amount and timing of the dose, extra snacks, etc.) but after about a year had to stop the Ritalin. In his early teens his ADHD symptoms decreased on their own, and he did well in his classes throughout high school.
When he went to college, however, his ADHD symptoms returned
and he struggled with his course work and did not get good grades.
He was put back on medication, first Concerta and then Strattera,
but he had the same side effects as with the Ritalin and had to
discontinue the meds. He was also tried on other meds but could not
tolerate their side effects either. At this point we were quite frustrated and upset and really did not know where to turn for help.
We then heard about Dr. Sharrie Hanley痴 neurofeedback practice from a health-care practitioner in our hometown. And this past summer (2008) our son, at age 20 and between his sophomore and junior years, had 20 hours of training from her. About halfway through the sessions, our son noticed an improvement in his ability to concentrate and retain information after reading something. He is now several
months into his junior year and is doing remarkably well--he got an
A on his first test and has followed that with several more high
marks. He is happy and confident.
We are so grateful that we found an alternative to medications. And
we recommend Dr. Sharrie痴 neurofeedback to any parent with a child
suffering from ADHD, especially in light of the latest concerns about
the effect of ADHD medications on the heart. We would be happy to
talk to interested parents about our experiences with neurofeedback.
Steven
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