A Must Read if Your Child has Anxiety & ADHD

It’s no secret that childhood anxiety & ADHD have been on the rise in recent years, well I say that from a healthcare provider’s point of view. What’s troubling is a lot of parents who have a child with these things going on often feel pretty alone in their journey. Of course in the age of the internet there are facebook groups, instagram pages, youtube accounts that all make you feel part of a community which is great! The problem arises when it’s time to get ready and go to school, having the parent teacher conference, extracurricular activities, and going to the doctor seems like a bit of a nightmare. Nowadays the topic of anxiety and ADHD in kids is well known among parents and teachers everywhere but it still seems to me that nothing is truly being done about it. 

We know that kids with these issues have a harder time learning in school, “fitting in” in society, or allowing a “normal” household to be had by families. So with that being said, why is it that parents with these kids don’t have many options when it comes to treatment and even sometimes get looked at as bad parents when these things are out of their control? They certainly are no less loving of their children and sometimes it may appear that they are trying even harder for their children to fit in and excel. 

What’s Actually Going On?

Anxiety and ADHD may be somewhat of a new thing when it comes to our kids but I do believe that it can be linked to genetics sometimes. If we think about society today, would we say that it is more or less toxic and stimulating than 50-100 years ago? We can all agree that today is definitely more toxic and stimulating. So someone who grew up 50-100 years ago with a genetic predisposition to some of these things somewhat skated by due to the lack of things that may have really pushed their body over the edge. Nowadays if we have this genetic predisposition to these things they are almost amplified by the toxicity and stimulation going on in society. 

You might be wondering how all of that works and let me explain it to you a little bit. The body has a way of taking in information and we’re taking in millions and millions pieces of information every single second. Now obviously we aren’t conscious of all the information we are taking in, otherwise there would be no way for us to function at all. So a lot of this information that we’re taking in, we aren’t even aware of. But what if our system was a little off and our consciousness was aware of a little more information than it was supposed to be? Suddenly we wouldn’t be able to focus like we should, certain situations might set us off or get us overly excited…you get the drift. Now back 50-100 years ago there was still a ton of information to take in, but we didn’t have things like the internet and how stimulating that is to the brain, our food was more natural, our household products were cleaner, and there weren’t so many medications people were taking either. All of these things add up as more information and more bombardment onto our systems and bodies. 

ADHD & Anxiety: is this the missing link?

The Next Step We Take

There can definitely be more causes to these issues but we have seen this idea of the body and system being overwhelmed as a big cause. Our  nutrition can play a huge role as well and this should for sure be looked at by a licensed nutritionist. The food we eat, if we’re sensitive to it or have something called leaky gut syndrome going on, can also throw our bodies into a state of survival mode, just like over stimulation. So I think we all get the point that a child with anxiety and/or ADHD has a body that is overly stimulated. 

In our office we call this being in survival mode!

The body is stuck in a state of fight or flight, or survival mode…meaning that the body and its organs are focused on surviving, not thriving. Think of it as a mini adrenaline rush taking place in the body all the time! If you’ve ever had an adrenaline rush (which I think everyone has at some point in their life) think about how difficult it is to process specific information in that moment, it’s nearly impossible.

So what we do at The Specific Chiropractic Centers is focus on the nervous system which is where this survival mode is located. We test the nervous system to see if the body is stuck in this survival mode and if we see that’s the case, we provide a very specific adjustment to help bring the body back into a calming and thriving mode. We have worked with a ton of kids who struggle with this sort of thing and have anxiety and ADHD because of it. This isn’t a quick fix sort of thing either, usually the body has been stuck in survival mode for a long time so it takes a long time and a lot of visits to bring it back to a thriving mode. If you feel like you’ve tried everything for your child and you’re exhausted with doctors giving you the rundown and medications at every visit then what we do might be the perfect fit. We offer complimentary consultations for every new client that is curious about what we do. This allows us to get a better idea about what’s going on, you can see the office, we can do some simple testing, and really see if your child would be a good candidate for care. You don’t have to struggle as a parent or family, there is a natural option out there to help your child decrease their anxiety and ADHD. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to reach out and learn how we might be able to help out!

Learn more.

Here are a few more posts on how chiropractic care can help those who suffer from headaches and/or migraines.