ADHD
Nutritional medicine and functional medicine support for children with ADHD
Why families come to us
Some are waiting for an assessment that is still years away.
Some have a child on medication that is helping with focus, but appetite has dropped and sleep has gone, and they want to support the rest of their child’s health alongside it.
Some have found the medication did not suit their child, and want to know what else is going on.
And some want to understand what is driving it, because ADHD is a description of behaviour, not an explanation for it.
We look at what is happening in your child’s body and work on what we find. Any decision about medication stays with your child’s doctor.
You don’t need a diagnosis to work with us.
Plenty of the children we see have no label at all, or are still waiting for an assessment, or have been given a label that doesn't really explain anything. We work with the child in front of us.
What we look at
The physical things that affect attention, mood and self-regulation. Which of them matters most depends on the child.
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Nutrient status
Usually where the most is missing. Iron, ferritin, zinc, magnesium, the B vitamins and omega-3 fats are all needed for normal brain function.
In the children we see, they are often low, especially when a narrow diet or a stimulant has reduced the appetite.
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The gut
The gut and the brain are closely linked. Constipation, loose stools, pain and bloating often show up alongside difficulties with attention and mood, and they tend to be looked at as separate problems.
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Sleep
A tired brain looks exactly like an inattentive one.
A child who struggles to get to sleep, wakes in the night or wakes up exhausted will find it hard to concentrate the next day, so sleep is one of the first things we look at.
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Blood sugar
The afternoon crash, and the rage that comes with it, is not always behavioural. It can follow what was eaten, when it was eaten, and how long ago, and it lands hardest at the end of a school day.
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Inflammation and mast cells
Immune activity and inflammation can affect attention and mood. A child whose immune system is constantly busy, reacting to foods, infections or their environment, can look restless and unfocused, and that is easily mistaken for behaviour.
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The nervous system
A child stuck in fight or flight cannot concentrate.
The body is braced for threat, not schoolwork, and no amount of asking them to focus changes what the body is doing.
We work out which of these matter most for your child, and we start there.
How we work: foundations first
We work in a particular order.
Before we go anywhere near the deeper work, we focus on stability. That means calming the things that keep a child in a state of high alert and stop anything else working: the stress response, inflammation, the mast cells that drive so many of the reactions we see, and the mineral balance the whole system runs on. Until those are settled, anything else we try tends not to last, and a child who is already flaring will often react badly to it.
There is no single starting point, because it depends entirely on the child.
If a child is badly constipated, we deal with that. If a child is inflamed and flaring, that comes first. What we do not do is work in a fixed order regardless of the child, or pile everything on at once. Get the order wrong, or ask a child to tolerate too much before they are ready, and you can set them back months.
Once a child is stable, we go deeper: the gut, methylation, whatever that particular child’s picture calls for.
Thirteen years and around 3,500 families have taught us where to start and, more to the point, what order to do things in.
We do not work in isolation
We work closely with a prescribing GP and other specialists who know these children well. If a child needs a medical assessment, a prescription or a specialist opinion, we say so, and we can usually help you get to the right person rather than back to the end of a waiting list.
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“Three star of the day awards in a single week”
Just to share some feedback from Alexander’s teacher, as I had a chance to ask her at pickup. She has noticed a huge improvement and he is concentrating so much better. She said he is very well behaved and no longer needs the fidget toy to concentrate during carpet time. He also brought home a third star of the day award this week for his phonics, which is amazing as it is the third in a week. So incredibly happy with the progress we are seeing, and we keep moving forward. I can't thank you enough for all of your support and motivation to help Alexander.
— C.M, Surrey
What working with us looks like
Everything is done online, so where you live makes no difference. Families work with us from all over the world.
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Fifteen minutes with one of our practitioners. Nothing to prepare, nothing to pay, and no obligation at the end of it. You tell us what has been happening, we tell you whether our approach is right for your child, and you decide from there whether you want to go further.
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Seventy five minutes on Zoom, after you have filled in a detailed questionnaire covering your child’s history, symptoms, diet, sleep, gut and everything that has been tried before. We go through all of it with you, and we leave you with the first few things to start on, chosen as the right place for your child to start, rather than everything at once.
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Stool, urine, saliva or blood. Only where the result will actually change what we do, and only where it is realistic for your family.
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This is the opposite of a fixed protocol. At first we review every six to eight weeks, adapting the plan each time to how your child has responded. As they need less support, the reviews space out, because the aim is always to be doing less over time, not more. We build things up carefully rather than overwhelming a child, or a family, with too much at once. Depending on what the picture calls for, the work can include targeted nutritional support, amino acid therapy, phospholipid therapy, our Gut Restoration protocol, micro-immunotherapy, and the diet, lifestyle and environmental changes that do so much of the heavy lifting. We refer on where you need it.
Most families are with us for at least six months. It is patient work, and we would rather say so at the start.
Where to start
You do not have to decide anything today. Book a free fifteen minute call, tell one of our practitioners about your child, and they will tell you what they think, what it would involve and what it would cost. You can take it from there.