ADHD & HOMEOPATHY

FOR Mrs Verma (not her real name) this was very strange, her elder daughter had shown no signs of it while she was growing up. Her son Ravi, who had just turned three, was developing an altered behaviour pattern. He was like a tornado moving around the house, running around frantically, climbing, breaking things, not listening, restless and inattentive. Putting him in bed for sleep was a major task and also the night wouldn’t be quiet either. He would constantly squirm and move around in bed.

Ravi’s social skills also seemed affected, his ability to play and relate to with his peer group were greatly affected and there were complaints of him hitting and biting other kids. Sitting in one place was very difficult and incidents of Ravi wandering away from his play-school class were getting too common. A specialised clinic in the local hospital diagnosed Ravi with attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD).

ADHD is one of the most common neurobehavioural disorders of childhood, and can persist through adolescence and into adulthood. It affects 3 to 5 per cent of all children. Two to three times more boys than girls are affected by it. ADHD is a diagnosis applied to children and adults who consistently display certain characteristic behaviours over a period of time. The most common behaviours fall into three categories: inattention, hyperactivity and a combination of both inattention and hyperactivity.

Imagine living in a fast-moving kaleidoscope, where sounds, images and thoughts are constantly shifting. Feeling easily bored, yet helpless to keep your mind on tasks you need to complete. Distracted by unimportant sights and sounds, your mind drives you from one thought or activity to another. Perhaps you are so wrapped up in a collage of thoughts and images that you don’t notice when someone speaks to you. For children with ADHD, this is what it’s like to have this problem. They may be unable to sit still, plan ahead, finish tasks, or be fully aware of what’s going on around them.

Understandably, one of the first questions parents ask when they learn that their child has an attention disorder is, “Why? What went wrong?”.

Over the last decades, scientists have come up with possible theories about what causes ADHD. Some of these theories have led to dead ends, some to exciting new avenues of investigation, but no clear cause has been identified. Genetics is supposed to play some part in this.

Homeopathy and ADHD

Safety
Safe treatment is major factor why one should go in for homeopathy. Homeopathic medicines do not have side-effects such as tics, appetite suppression and sedative effect on the child. They also don’t hamper the normal development of the child.

Medicines
Medicines like Tarentula, Cina, Carcinocin and Medorrhinum are extremely beneficial for curing this disorder. Recently introduced medicines Secretin and DPT (homoeopathic medicine made from DPT vaccine) are being extensively used in many European countries to treat ADHD.

Individualistic approach
Homoeopathic approach in treating ADHD is quite different. Homoeopaths argue that medically it is not logical to club a sweet gregarious child, who simply cannot pay attention into the same category, with the violent destructive one and treat them with the same medicine. The true homeopathic approach individualises the patient and caters to the specific constitution.

This feature ( authored by Dr. Vikas Sharma ) was earlier published in The Tribune(north India’s largest circulated daily newspaper). Dr. Vikas Sharma is regular Homeopathic columnist for The Tribune. mail him : vikas@drhomeo.com