Can ADD be cured without using drugs

It all started when I decided to make my site more accessible and added AdSense to it. When I got done with all the "paperwork" I went to my "new and improved site." And there it was...that AD!


AdSense adds website links to your blog that are relevent to what you blog topic is. However this one ad caught my eye. Its heading claimed that it could "cure ADD without using drugs" (my paraphrase.) This intrigued me, so I went to the www.3stepsadd.com. This site claimed that drugs like Stratterra and Adderall were dangerous and causing things like liver damage. It claimed that these drugs were "highly addictive" and that they were only "band-aids" and were bound to fail its patients. It claimed that Stratterra and Adderall (which, I was told, had a high potential for abuse) caused: upset stomach/nausea, cramps, fatigue, headaches, sleep disorders, heart palpitation and rapid heartbeats etc.


I found this all very interesting because I have been on both medications and the only things I experienced was dry mouth and some sleeplessness (which was solved by cutting my doseage.) There was also a news flash section that the drug company Eli Lily stated that Stratterra had caused severe liver damage in patients ( I went to the Lily site and found out that this was true, but only to two patients.)


Undaunted, I did a Google search on the author, Jon Bennett. At first I thought he was a doctor because on the site was this picture. I found out later that Jon Bennett... is a writer NOT a doctor. So who is this distingushed man? I have no idea. He might just be some actor posing for a picture. So, again I googled "Jon Bennett-Writer." I find...nothing. So my assumption is that Jon Bennett wrote only ONE book!

Fortunately for me, Mr. Bennett also quoted Dr. David Graham. He claims that Dr. Graham told Nightline that we have a "system that is biased toward approving drugs almost regardless of the safety risk." His apprearance on the show was after the incident with the drug Vioxx, which harmed 88,000 people and killed a third of them. Ok, but what does this have to do with Straterra and Adderall? All we can claim now is that Stratterra caused liver damage to two people (and I found no other information on this claim except on the Lily site.) So what's next?

I googled Dr. Graham...who IS a real doctor...in fact, he is a top FDA Scientist. I found more information on the Vioxx incident on www.whistleblowers.org. Dr. Graham did "blow the whistle" on The Merck Corporation for manufacturing Vioxx which did harm "at least 88,000 patients and killed 1/3 of them." Solid proof...thank you. Dr. Graham's personal website (www.davidgraham.org.uk) had more about this case. I wanted to see if he knew about the 3stepsADD site, so I emailed him. I told him about my blog and asked him for his opinion on this site's claim. I am still waiting to hear back from the good doctor.

All this research has NOT gone to waste. I did get a lot of good information about altenatives to the traditional path to medication like Stratterra, Adderall and Ritilin. I don't, however, want to ramble on (as I have a tendency to do) so I will gather my facts and post a "part II" to this blog. I have information on everything from "Neuropsycholgical Assessments" to a natural drug that uses the extract from a pine tree and fish oil!

This is going to be really interesting....stay tuned!

Blessings,

D