Natural Health and Herbal Remedies Blog

HOW DOES ADHD (ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER) FIRST COME TO THE ATTENTION OF A HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL? WHO IS THE FIRST PERSON TO NOTICE THAT SOMETHING’S WRONG WITH A CHILD?Parents and teachers are usually the first to notice that something is “different” in an ADHD child. Very often, indicators are detected in infancy—ADHD children tend to be more colicky, have more sleep problems, cry more, and show earlier signs of high intelligence.Sally B., for example, detected differences between her second son, Jacob, and his older brother, Nathan, immediately. Whereas Nathan had slept soundly as an infant, Jacob was up at all hours, fussy and difficult to get to sleep. He cried frequently. “It was hard to believe that the boys were related,” Sally says now. Jacob also started walking and talking at an earlier age than Nathan and gave every indication of being gifted.But, as Jacob grew older, his “antsy” behavior never settled down. In fact, he stayed in constant motion from the moment he woke up to the moment he grudgingly went to sleep. And despite his obvious intelligence, Jacob did poorly in school, and developed a reputation as a discipline problem and a bully. “I knew there was something wrong with Jacob. I just didn’t know what it was,” Sally says. “I knew in my heart he was a good boy and I loved him, but because of his behavior, there were times when I didn’t like him very much.”Help came in the form of Jacob’s second-grade teacher, who suspected that Jacob had ADHD. She suggested he be seen by a child psychiatrist specializing in the syndrome, and after an extensive battery of tests, the diagnosis was confirmed.Teachers are also often the first to suspect ADHD in older children. Whereas parents may just assume their teenager’s aggravating behavior is merely a phase, teachers usually know better. They’re around teenagers all the time, know their moods and behaviors and have greater knowledge of the symptoms that identify ADHD.An ADHD diagnosis in adults, of course, is a completely different story. A professional workup and diagnosis usually only follows ADHD-related problems at work or home (such as disciplinary action for not completing a project or the threat of a divorce because of violence or irrational behavior). Very often, adults with ADHD suspect for quite a long time that there’s something wrong with them, but they have lived with the disorder for so long that they can’t quite put a finger on it. Like someone with an alcohol or drug problem, they must often “reach bottom” before seeking help.*7\173\2*

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