ADHD/ADD
How Brain SPECT Imaging Can Help with ADHD/ADD
- With clinical history, SPECT scans can help decide whether or not you have ADHD
- Help determine your type of ADHD to direct treatment
- See if the treatment is working at an optimal level
- See if there are other co-occurring conditions that need to be treated
- Decrease the emotional pain of stigma and increase compliance
- Help families see the biological nature of ADHD to better understand the illness
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common psychiatric disorders in children, and one of the most common problems in adults, affecting between 5-10% of the population.
ADHD is characterized by persistent short attention span, distractibility, disorganization, procrastination and problems with forethought, judgment and impulse control.
Having “untreated” ADHD affects nearly every aspect of a person’s life and has been associated with school underachievement, family conflict, drug abuse, legal difficulties and poor work performance. ADHD is involved with low self-esteem, chronic stress, failure and even suicide.
The standard treatment for ADHD in both children and adults is stimulant medications, such as Ritalin or Adderall. These medications are helpful for many people, but they also make many others with typical ADHD worse. Sometimes negative reactions to these medications can be extreme, such as hallucinations, violent outbursts, volatile temperaments, psychosis and suicidal behavior.
Shortly after I began the brain SPECT imaging work began in 1991, I realized that ADHD was not a single or simple disorder. Just as there are many different causes of chest pain, there were different brain SPECT patterns in my ADHD patients. Over the subsequent 6 years, I described 6 different types of ADHD that required individual treatments. One treatment did not fit everyone. The 6 different ADHD types are described below and in greater detail in my book Healing ADD.
Example:
Below is a scan of Joan, a woman who suffered from severe ADD and dyslexia her whole life. The image on the left is her brain when we first scanned her at age 62. On the right treatment, just a few days later, is her brain on the right. You can literally, change your brain and change your life, and with a better brain for Joan came a much better life, no matter what your age.
ADD Before & After Treatment with Adderall
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| Before treatment | After treatment |
6 Types
Here are the 6 different types of ADHD, each with different brain function issues and treatment protocols.
Type 1: Classic ADD
Symptoms: primary ADD symptoms plus hyperactivity, restlessness, and impulsivity.
SPECT: usually low prefrontal cortex with concentration
Supplements: multiple vitamin, NeuroEPA fish oil, L-tyrosine or DL-phenylalanine
Medications: stimulant medications (such as Adderall, Concerta, Ritalin, or Dexedrine)
Type 2: Inattentive ADD
Symptoms: primary ADD symptoms plus low energy and motivation, spacey, and internally preoccupied. Type 2 is diagnosed later in life, if at all. It is more common in girls. These are quiet kids and adults, often labeled lazy, unmotivated, and not that smart.
SPECT: usually low prefrontal cortex with concentration and low cerebellar activity
Supplements: multiple vitamin, NeuroEPA fish oil, L-tyrosine or DL-phenylalanine
Medications: stimulant medications (such as Adderall, Concerta, Ritalin, or Dexedrine)
Type 3: Overfocused ADD
Symptoms: primary ADD symptoms plus cognitive inflexibility, trouble shifting attention, stuck on negative thoughts or behaviors, worrying, holding grudges, argumentative, oppositional, and a need for sameness. Often seen in families with addiction problems or obsessive-compulsive tendencies.
SPECT: usually high anterior cingulate activity plus low prefrontal cortex with concentration
Supplements: multiple vitamin, NeurOmega fish oil, 5HTP, L-tryptophan or St. John’s Wort plus L-tyrosine
Medications: antidepressant Effexor, or a combination of an SSRI, like Prozac, and a stimulant
Type 4: Temporal Lobe ADD
Symptoms: primary ADD symptoms plus a short fuse, misinterprets comments, periods of anxiety, headaches or abdominal pain, history of head injury, family history of rages, dark thoughts, memory problems, and struggles with reading. Often seen in families with learning or temper problems.
SPECT: usually low temporal lobe activity plus low prefrontal cortex with concentration
Supplements: multiple vitamin, NeurOmega fish oil, GABA or taurine for irritability, or Brain Vitale or NeuroMemory for memory issues.
Medications: Stimulants, by themselves, usually make people with this type more irritable. Effectively treated with a combination of antiseizure medications (such as Neurontin) and stimulants.
Type 5: Limbic ADD:
Symptoms: primary ADD symptoms plus chronic mild sadness, negativity, low energy, low self-esteem, irritability, social isolation, and poor appetite and sleep patterns. Stimulants, by themselves, usually cause problems with rebound or cause depressive symptoms.
SPECT: usually high deep limbic activity plus low prefrontal cortex at rest and with concentration
Supplements: multiple vitamin, NeurOmega fish oil, SAMe or DL-phenylalanine
Medications: Stimulating antidepressants, such as Wellbutrin.
Type 6: Ring of Fire ADD
Symptoms: primary ADD symptoms plus extreme moodiness, anger outbursts, oppositional, inflexibility, fast thoughts, excessive talking, and very sensitive to sounds and lights. I named it Ring of Fire after the intense ring of overactivity that I saw in the brains of affected people. This type is usually made much worse by stimulants.
SPECT: marked overall increased activity across the cortex, may or may not have low prefrontal cortex activity
Supplements: multiple vitamin, NeurOmega fish oil, NeuroLink (contains 5HTP, GABA and L-tyrosine)
Medications: Anticonvulsants (such as Neurontin) and SSRI medication, or the use of the novel antipsychotic medications such as Risperdal or Zyprexa.
Common Treatments for All Types
1. Take a 100% multiple vitamin everyday. Studies have reported that they help people with learning and help prevent chronic illness. NeuroVite was formulated specifically for our own patients.
2. Adults, take 2,000 – 4,000mg of high quality fish oil a day (1,000 – 2,000mg for children). For types 1 and 2 NeuroEPA from the Amen Clinics is a high quality brand. For types 3-6 NeurOmega is best.
3. Eliminate caffeine from your diet. It interferes from sleep and helping the other treatments work.
4. Intense aerobic exercise daily for 30-45 minutes. For kids, if you cannot find a safe exercise (no brain injuries please), take them on long, fast walks.
5. Turn off the television and video games, or limit them to no more than 30 minutes a day. This may be hard for kids and teens, but it can make a huge difference.
6. Food is a drug. Most people with ADD do best with a higher protein, lower simple carbohydrate diet. Barry Sears book, The Zone is a good place to start.
7. In dealing with kids, employees, even spouses – NO YELLING! Many people with ADD are conflict or excitement seeking, as a means of stimulation. They can be masters at making other people mad or angry. Do not lose your tempers with them. If they get you to explode their unconscious, low energy prefrontal cortex lights up and likes it. Never let you anger be their medication. They can get addicted to it.
8. Test ADD kids and adults for learning disabilities. They occur in up to 60% of people with ADD. The local schools are often set up to do this for school age children. See the Amen Clinic Learning Disability Screening Questionnaire in Healing ADD.
9. Apply for appropriate school or work accommodations (see Healing ADD on how to do this properly).
10. Never give up seeking help.
