Attend, Extress and Memorin Testimonials
Our journey began when my son, Rylan, was only
5. I recognized his symptoms even before his teachers did as ADHD
grows unabated in our family tree. It seemed simple enough in the
beginning; after all my brother, nephew and mother had responded
with relative satisfaction to Ritalin and Concerta. So it began.
But lurking under the inattention was Child Onset Bipolar
Disorder. Soon after Rylan began a regular regimen of Concerta, he
became suicidal and aggressive. So Trileptal was added to the mix.
By the end of first grade we had spent so much time dealing with
the mood swings and behavioral difficulties, learning had taken a
back seat and we decided to repeat first grade. In the process we
added Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Non-Specific Anxiety Disorder
and a learning disability to his growing list of complications. We
tweaked and rearranged his prescriptions until I thought I would
loose my mind trying to keep track of them all. By 8 years old,
Rylan was taking 72 mg of Concerta, 1200 mg of Trileptal, 100 mg
of Trazodone and 3 mg of Risperdal every day.
Despite the fact that I had the best psychiatrist in town and a
nationally renowned psychologist on the case, my gut was gnawing
at me. I by no means condemn mainstream psychiatry, but I was
nonetheless frustrated with the progress. The attention would drop
so we'd up the Concerta. The Concerta would trigger mania,
depression, sleeplessness and anxiety so we would increase the
Trileptal or Trazodone or Risperdal. It was like a snake
swallowing its own tail. And I became increasingly uncomfortable
giving my child so much medication. But what else could I do? He
was still struggling in school; he was still having uncontrolled
aggressive outbursts; and moreover, he was still having psychotic
breaks despite everything. Add to that constant complaints of
headaches and stomach upset and I was approaching desperation to
say the very least. He was now 10 approaching 11 and we were
struggling more every day.
Meanwhile, I found myself being drawn into a variety of
alternative treatments for some of my own conditions. In the
process, I found a doctor of Naturopathy (in short, a medical
doctor who has studied the use and benefit of supplements, diet
and homeopathic remedies).
My first step was putting Rylan on a dairy-free diet. No easy task
for a boy raised on Mac & Cheese, but we did it. There was some
improvement. The next step was to start adding in supplements. Dr.
Stickland gave me a list and I set out trying to find them in a
form Rylan would consume. He absolutely HATED taking pills and his
pallet was so sensitive he could taste anything I tried to hide in
food and then refused to eat it.
So I began surfing. One of the sites at which I arrived was the
ADD-ADHD Help Center. "Could this be true?" I thought anxiously.
"Everything I'm looking for and then some in only two formulas!"
Being a steadfast pragmatist, I did not click straight-away to the
"Buy Now". I printed the information and took it to my doctor. She
reviewed the ingredients carefully and concurred with my cautious
optimism. So I place the order and we began in August of 2005.
Initially, Rylan took one look at the capsules and said, "no way!"
So I opened them up and added them to his chocolate soy milk. He
was compliant at first about this method, but eventually grew
tired of the chocolate milk. I tried oatmeal, applesauce, juice --
he wasn't diggin' it. He decided he'd go ahead and try to swallow
the capsules. To his surprise (but not necessarily mine) they went
down fine and he's been taking them that way ever since.
Since Rylan was not in school yet and I was able to stay home with
him during the initial build-up phase, I dropped the Concerta
completely and immediately. Mind you, Rylan metabolizes things
very quickly (i.e., the maximum effect we got out of a dose of
Ritalin was little more than two hours). I was not expecting
immediate results - understanding the nature of supplementation in
that it takes time to saturate the system to a therapeutic level.
But low and behold, I started noticing changes within days. The
complaints of stomach upset and chronic headaches vanished. Here
was a boy who, fully medicated, could not follow directions with
more than two steps -- now remembering three and four step
directions even after being interrupted and distracted for 15
minutes or more. I was pleasantly astounded. Of course, the true
test would be when school started.
After about two weeks of the supplements, I began backing him off
of his other medications -- slowly -- very slowly. About the third
week in September, Rylan had a blow-out at school. But here's the
thing -- it was different. Even his teacher noticed that it was
different. There was no psychosis; no mania. It was more a little
boy who got too angry and didn't know how to deal with it. It made
sense, really. We had been suppressing his emotions with
medication for 5 years. How would he know? The telling part is
that when I was discussing the situation with him he asked rather
astutely, "What are those supplements for exactly, anyway?" When I
explained that they were primarily to help him with his ADHD, he
promptly concluded, "I need a supplement that helps me with my
anger." It wasn't just me that felt better about supplements
versus medication, he did too!
A quick conversation with the doctor and we concluded that,
despite the fact that the formula contains Gaba, he needed more.
We added a sublingual Gaba formula to the mix and off set the
timing so it wasn't competing for absorption. The results were
immediate. Rylan is now down to only 300 mg of Trileptal and 1 mg
of Risperdal each night. By the end of October we will be done
with the prescriptions completely.
We are living a whole new life. He is not only performing better
in school, he is retaining more of the knowledge. While he will
likely always be strong-willed, there is reason in his obstinacy;
not simply obstinate for obstinate's sake. And our mornings! What
used to be a knock-down, drag-out event just to get him up,
dressed and to the bus stop, has become nothing more than an
initial whimper. He still needs help to stay on track, but my
coaching is no longer met with disdain and annoyance. And I have
the peace of mind that what I am giving him to help cope with his
ADHD symptoms doesn't act as a trigger for the bipolar. Everything
has become more manageable. Behavioral modifications attempted and
failed in the past have become effective. A long-time friend
observed after an extensive Saturday evening visit, "he just seems
more like a typical 10-year old boy to me."
The transformation has been nothing short of miraculous. Attend
and Extress are a significant part of that miracle. I am not a
proselytizer by nature, and I certainly don't believe that "one
size fits all," but the bottom line is, with the list of
prescription side-effects growing, there is no safer experiment.
I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the opportunity to help
others searching for better answers. In fact, I would be willing
to allow people who surf to your website the opportunity to
contact me directly at
meggae@wideopenwest.com to ask specific questions or just for
support. This is a subject matter very close to my heart for
obvious reasons and I would relish the opportunity to "pay it
forward."
Meg Larcomb, Ohio
