Have you encountered a trip to the doctor for your child where you left with more questions than answers? This is a common scenario when parents seek answers and a root cause approach for their child with ADHD. While pharmaceutical interventions have a time and place, many parents feel hopeless with the lack of options for their kids. Data shows that 92% of children and adolescents diagnosed with ADHD are recommended stimulant medication as a first-line therapy. With a lack of treatment options, there is a dire need for holistic ADHD treatment for children. Functional medicine is an integrative healthcare model that can help fill the gap in providing root cause answers while also assisting the child with personalized medicine.
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How Can Functional Medicine Benefit The Evaluation and Treatment of Children With ADHD?
Functional medicine takes a deep dive into health disturbances to create root-cause treatment options for children with ADHD. The benefits of functional medicine are that practitioners in this field utilize comprehensive labs, clinical expertise, and natural medicine interventions. When children present to their pediatrician or behavior specialist with signs and symptoms of ADHD, the doctor will typically prescribe a medication to treat the symptoms and/or recommend therapy for behavior modification. Functional medicine providers may utilize these modalities but will also look for why this occurs. Nutrient deficiencies, food sensitivities, and environmental factors can all contribute to the development of ADHD. Testing for these areas can allow the practitioner to take an integrative health treatment approach. When a singular approach with a drug is taken to suppress an undesirable behavior, we risk that nutrient deficiencies and dietary implications may go untreated. Addressing the root causes can help decipher what is manageable through lifestyle modification and what needs a higher-force intervention.
Top 6 Functional Medicine Lab Tests for Children with ADHD
Functional medicine testing can provide in-depth insight into underlying imbalances in the body. Here are tests to consider when looking for a holistic approach to ADHD in children.
Comprehensive Stool Test
Through the gut-brain connection, the health of a child's microbiome can impact neurocognitive function. One known implication of an imbalanced gut microflora is neurotransmitter imbalances, commonly seen in ADHD. The Gut Zoomers 3.0 test comprehensively overviews a child's microbiome. This will detect both the presence of healthy microorganisms and pathogenic microbes. Information from this test can lend a way to a gut restoration protocol.
Micronutrient Panel
Deficiencies in nutrients can contribute to symptoms of ADHD. Measuring a child’s Omega-3 index through an Omega-3 Index Complete blood spot test will reveal if there is a balance between inflammatory and anti-inflammatory omegas.
Food Sensitivity Testing
Delayed sensitivity food reactions impact many people's health. Regarding children with ADHD, there has been a link between various food categories and the signs and symptoms of this condition. One way to rule out the main food culprits is to do a blood spot IgG Food Sensitivity panel.
Food Additives Test
Studies show a link between additives in foods and the impact that can have on neurocognitive behaviors. Two ingredients in particular are artificial dyes and sodium benzoate. Research has also shown that a combination of sodium benzoate and synthetic dyes can have a compounded negative impact.
Heavy Metals
Heavy metals are ubiquitous in our environment. They can be found in food, water, and industrial and farming practices. If you are chronically exposed to these, it can become toxic due to bioaccumulation (buildup) in the body. A gold standard testing for heavy metals is a hair analysis test, one of which is offered by Doctor's Data. This Hair Elements test will analyze 30 elements, revealing whether there is a heavy metal burden on the body.
Environmental Toxins
Chemicals in our environment that children may frequently be exposed to can negatively impact their health. Environmental toxin levels can be measured through a Total Tox-Burden test, which includes harmful exposures such as BPA, DMAP, lead, and phthalates. All of which have known links to ADHD development.
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How Do The Lab Results Affect ADHD Treatment Plans?
Laboratory results can assist practitioners in treating imbalances in the body. Whether this is a food sensitivity that is causing inflammation in the body, dysbiosis causing leaky gut and neurotransmitter disruption, or heavy metal toxicity, there are integrative medicine approaches to addressing these underlying disturbances. Integrative ADHD treatment plans can consist of individualized diet regimens. Since artificial dyes and food additives can significantly impact children and adolescents, causing hyperactivity and behavioral symptoms, creating a custom nutrition plan that eliminates these ingredients may be essential to their health. Nutritional interventions for ADHD may also include vitamin, mineral, and fatty acid focus to help support neurocognitive function. The great thing about integrative medicine is that it takes all of these aspects and combines them to support the child holistically.
How Often Do Tests Need To Be Rerun?
Reassessment of labs is an objective way to determine if the patient is benefiting from their treatment plan. Depending on the needed depth of intervention, some patients may need more extended treatment periods than others before tests are duplicated. Working with kids can sometimes be challenging because compliance is often a delicate balancing act. In general, bi-annual testing of micronutrients is valid. For heavy metals, environmental toxins, and a gut analysis, it depends on how the patient's symptoms are presenting.
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Summary
Utilizing functional medicine as complementary to conventional medicine may give you and your child more answers than questions. The testing options for ADHD in this field genuinely provide root-cause answers. This information and the child’s clinical picture allow the practitioner to create a custom treatment plan addressing bodily disturbances manifesting into signs and symptoms. In functional medicine, there is much to gain in optimizing the health of those with ADHD.
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