Change Your Brain Every Day - ADD and ADHD Myth Busters & Questions - Answered

Episode Date: March 9, 2017

Today's episode is from our coaching calls where we've taken questions and here we'll have them answered for you. 

Hi, I'm Donnie Osmond, and welcome to The Brain Warrior's Way, hosted by my friends Daniel and Tana Amon. Now, in this podcast, you're going to learn that the war for your health is one between your ears. That's right. If you're ready to be sharper and have better memory, mood, energy, and focus, well then stay with us. Here are Daniel and Tana Amen.

How can Lyme disease mimic ADHD? Well, Lyme disease, not for everybody, but there's this thing called neural Lyme where the Lyme begins to infect brain tissue. And what we see initially will cause an inflammatory reaction, so you may feel anxious, you may feel depressed, you may get this sort of emotional storm. But over time, it can actually decrease activity and be associated with brain fog, memory and attentional problems. So if you have been struggling with mental health issues, I just think it's a good idea to be screened for Lyme. Another question from Jessica is marijuana and ADHD.

How does marijuana negatively affect ADHD versus narcotic pain medications? So marijuana, in our experience, and we've studied thousands of people who smoke pot, it decreases brain function. It decreases activity in the cerebellum, the back bottom part of your brain, and can decrease activity both in your temporal lobe, so learning and memory, and in your frontal lobe, so focus. Narcotic pain medications can decrease activity in the brain as well. So over time, you know, I've just become not really a fan of either. All right, the next one is from Mike. What happens when someone

has a brain scan at our clinics? Well, almost always it occurs in the context of a thorough evaluation. So when people come, we take really detailed histories. We do imaging generally twice, once at rest, once when you concentrate. We also do web neuro for people who come to the clinic, often get the labs that we have a much more personalized, specific diagnosis and we can target your treatment. And without the imaging, in some ways we're flying blind. Right. But I do, I want to jump in here because I think it's really important to know. So, you know, we always want to go, you know, with the most that we can do. And obviously we have, you know, our full evaluation, which is awesome, but not everyone can do that. And we understand that. And I just think it's really important because there are a lot of people who really want and need these types of evaluations, but they just can't do the full evaluation or they can't do it at that time.

And we do alter that. We can customize it. We can do a different package for people who need to, um, you know know financially need to save money or or do well we also have access to care credit where you can pay over options that's all i want to say at no interest and sometimes we'll do single scan evaluations often we'll do phone consults you're really struggling and you want to talk to one of our doctors if you can't do a full evaluation don't let that be the reason you don't call her. That's my point. Because we have many options.

That's absolutely correct. Yes. But, you know, I fell in love with imaging 24 years ago because it just made me a better doctor. You know, you can't change what you don't measure. No, there's no question. And if you're not measuring brain function, and recently I've been saying, you know, a picture is worth a thousand words. But a map is worth a thousand words, but a map is worth a thousand images. A map tells you where you are and gives you direction on how to get to

where you want to go. And so today I did a consult with somebody in our New York clinic and actually two brothers and one of them, I mean, it was just really clear he had effects from a concussion he had as a child that it hurt a certain part of his brain and without looking you wouldn't know that that was part of the problem his brother had add but it was one of the subtypes you and i talk about called anxious right add and on a stimulant it really helped him focus, but he was a different person. They would actually call him by a different name because he was much more irritable. Not a nice name? And not a nice name, yeah.

So the imaging just makes a big difference. But my point is, don't let that be the reason you don't call. We have many options. Well, and Mike has a follow-up question, which is, is there a program to follow, and what are the costs? And so a full evaluation at one of Amen Clinics is $39.50. I think until the end of the week, there's a $200 discount.

Partial evaluations range anywhere from a consult for a half an hour for $200 to a partial evaluation is probably about $2,500. So there are other things to do. In the Brain Warriors way and brain fit life, I mean, we really try to put in a lot of the strategies we use at the clinics. Obviously, if you need therapy, there are therapists that we can recommend either at the clinics or perhaps closer to you., if you need therapy, there are therapists that we can recommend either at the clinics or perhaps closer to you. And if you need a dietary consult, we have a nutritionist on staff and so on. All right, the next question is yours. Okay, my 24-year-old son has classic ADD

and has thyroid problems. His TSH is around six, ouch, and he is very interested in the treatment. Is there a way to treat low thyroid like this without hormones? We don't want him to take them, although his doctor recommended it. Okay. So I have a couple of things to say on this. Now, as a doctor, I mean, obviously you need to be, the physician needs to be the one to really give you that ultimate recommendation. But as someone who has had, who has suffered tremendously with thyroid problems for 25 years and bounced around from doctor to doctor and had many issues. I know a little bit about this. So the first thing I would say is that

if he's not getting better by not using the medication, by all means, it's one of those things where it's a simple drug and not taking it can make you feel like you want to die. But taking it can just be the difference between feeling miserable and feeling great. I mean, it's that dramatic. So I would not withhold it if you can't do it naturally. Now, if you want to try and do it naturally, then there are some things you can understand. There are things that do affect thyroid that can deplete thyroid. So for example, if your iodine is low, but you're eating a lot of cruciferous vegetables or things that contain sulfur. What's a cruciferous vegetable? Okay, so broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, things like that.

Those types of vegetables or things that contain sulfur. So sulfur-containing foods. So you want to be thinking about that and looking into it. So that's a good thing or a bad thing? Well, it's normally a good thing, but if you're eating a lot of them and you're low in iodine, what happens is you start depleting the building blocks for thyroid, for the thyroid hormone. So yes, you can naturally deplete it, which means that if you're naturally depleting it, now I don't know if that's what your son's problem is, but if you're naturally depleting those building blocks,

if your iodine is low, selenium, you know, all these different things that you need for thyroid. So taking iodine sometimes can be really helpful. No, you have to get it checked. So you need to get your iodine checked. So it's a simple blood test. Right. But what you want to know is, look, am I depleting them? Are they depleted? Because if so, then maybe if I replenish them, maybe I can get away with not, I can fix this naturally. I don't know that to be fact, because it may not work. And if it doesn't work, I strongly recommend you take thyroid hormone because I can tell you right now it is miserable.

So a TSH of six is too high. It's too high. That means his brain is thinking there's not enough thyroid and it's producing your thyroid every single cell in your body. Every single cell in your body needs thyroid. So he's going to cognitively be affected. He's not going to have energy. He's going to gain weight.

He's not going to be able to focus, function. Everything's going to be affected. Low thyroid. I think of thyroid sort of like a car engine idle. When it's healthy, it's idling really good. When it's too high, it's like it's revved too high. People are anxious. They have diarrhea. They can't sleep. Their thoughts go too fast. But when it's too low, they can be constipated, have brain fog, their hair falls out, their skin is dry,

and they can be depressed. And one more thing. I would strongly, like if you haven't done this, then I would highly recommend it. Likely, you got his antibodies checked if you had a full thyroid panel done. And if not, you probably should because you want to know if it's Hashimoto's. If it's Hashimoto's disease, which will cause his thyroid to be affected as well, that's an autoimmune disorder and that's a whole different thing. So yeah, you want to look into this whole thing. So I would get his antibodies checked if you haven't already. Know if he's depleted in something that is naturally depleting his hormones so you can fix it and then go from there. And if he needs thyroid,

he needs thyroid. All right. Next question. Do I only need to take vitamin D if I have low levels? Yes. What is meant by low and how much sun do I need every day to get enough vitamin D? So normal levels are between 30 and 100 nanograms per milliliter. And I really like my patients optimal between 50 and 100. Usually, it's about 20 minutes in the sun, like in a bathing suit. But if you're very pale, although Brazilian, you know, I think you never want to be burned. You never want to get burned. And so if it's between 10 and 20 minutes and you won't be burned in the sun, I think that's a really great place to start. Here's an interesting fact that a lot of people don't understand. They actually think it's the

other way around. The darker your skin, the harder it is for you to keep your vitamin D levels optimal with sun because you aren't absorbing the sunlight. It has to do with the melanin in your skin. So lighter people will tend to actually have more optimal vitamin D levels from going in the sun than darker skin people. Another question she has, do the germinated cereals also cause inflammation and allergy? Are they high glycemic too, if not germinated? I'd kill them or get a grainless cereal. So I'm not a fan of cereal. I'm not a fan of the way they store them, the way they make them.

I'm not a fan of grains. I'd kill it. So it's too high glycemic. It's too high in the mycotoxins that collect when they're storing the way they store them, I would kill it. So or get a grainless cereal or make your own. I actually have a recipe for making your own grainless cereal. It's not very hard. You use some nuts and seeds and some coconut and it's pretty easy. Okay. This is from Regina. I don't like the huge fish oil capsules. So I prefer to take krill oil since the capsules are smaller. It doesn't appear that I'm getting the

equivalent amount of EPA and DHA in the krill oil versus the fish oil, even with a thousand milligrams of krill oil. You know, my thought on krill is the marketing has been great. There's virtually no research on it. The research is on fish oil and getting good amounts of EPA and DHA. And when I look at the EPA and DHA of a thousand milligrams of krill oil, it's not very good. In omega-3 power, the one that we make for two capsules, it's 1600 milligrams. And here for 1000 milligrams, it's only 188 milligrams. So I'm a fan of the omega three fatty acids. If you hate the huge capsules, there's a company called core Omega that make pudding packs. Yeah, that's what I give my daughter.

It's orange flavored. You don't taste the... Although now she won't take that. She only wants the pills. So it just depends on your preference. But there's nothing wrong with taking the pudding packs. Kids tend to like it. And there's something called Omega Swirl, which is by...

And Carlson's makes one that doesn't taste very fishy. So those are options. They're oils that you give to kids. They're orange flavored or lemon flavored. Or if you're a kid yourself, I'm a child psychiatrist because I'm a child. So yeah. Okay. Do you have any questions? Oh, so here's one for me. Yes, I take high doses of fish oil. I don't take as much anymore. So when I go through periods of inflammation or when I'm having certain health issues, I do increase my fish oil and I increase it dramatically. So, and we will often do the same thing with our patients depending on what's going on with them. So there are times when I've taken 8,000 milligrams of fish oil for over a period of time.

Currently, I probably take more like four to five. And yes, I take the capsules. I'm biased toward our fish oil for good reason, because I think the quality is really good. And yes, I take the capsules. I'm biased toward our fish oil for good reason, because I think the quality is really good. But again, you can take the pudding packs and it's not a problem. So does everyone need to take 8,000 milligrams? Probably not. So if you're inflamed, if you've got certain health conditions, that's usually when we'll recommend that. So yeah. And if you're going in for surgery or you're having any sort of medical procedure, you want to let them know. And you want to definitely either completely stop your fish oil or at least let your doctor know and cut way back on it. So.

Okay. Marilee has six questions for us. So let's tackle a couple of them. My daughter loves reading books on my Kindle Fire because it reads the books to her. Does this count as screen time? You know, all screen time is not the same. Right, I agree. That sometimes it is a really thoughtful thing you're doing online. And I don't think that would count as screen time. Yeah, if you're working your brain and you're actually really learning and pushing it, that's very different than if you're just vegging out and-

Playing a thoughtless game. Thoughtless game where your brain is mush. Another question is, I live on an island in the Pacific, Majuro, where it's hard to find affordable fresh fruit and veggies and any unusual products. Can I do the elimination diet two items at a time? Example, dairy and wheat. Once I figure out how we do without them, eliminate two more things. We are vegetarian for the most part, so that limits our options.

What do you think? When I look at something like that, the first thing I want to know is what are the problems? So when there's not a problem, don't fix what's not broken. So if there's a problem, then you want to be looking at eliminating that. So the first thing I would go for is the sugar, absolutely kill the sugar. The next thing I would probably try is gluten. It's always best if you do it all at the same time. But in your case, I understand you probably can't do that. And if you can't do that, I'd go for the biggest culprits first. And that would be absolutely do what you can to get rid of the sugar. The gluten, no question. Dairy tends to be one of the biggest culprits. So gluten is in what?

Bread. It's in most grains. There are some grains that are gluten-free. Most grains like wheat, barley, rye, those types of grains. Millet? Yes, I believe it's in millet. You're going to throw me now if I don't have my list in front of me, but I don't eat grains anymore, so I tend to forget the list. But definitely wheat, barley, rye. I know amaranth doesn't have it. I know there are definitely some that don't have it. If you're a vegetarian, yes, you might want some of the sprouted grains that are gluten-free. You can do that because

vegetarians have to get some of their... When you sprout grains, they tend to have more protein, more nutritional value, so you can try that. But I would kill the gluten first. What are some of the surprising... Hold on. And probably dairy. So if you have the ability to get almond milk or coconut milk, try those two first, along with sugar. She's in an island on the Pacific. So she should be able to get coconut milk, no problem. Coconut milk. Fresh coconut milk. I'm very jealous. But I'm curious because I hear that gluten can be in things we would never expect. Oh, it's in cosmetics.

It's in the glue on envelopes. So you shouldn't be licking the envelope. Right. So it's in so many things, which we think is part of the reason we're having trouble with it because it's just so overused. And our bread now has 40% more gluten in it than it did 50 years ago. And this dramatic increase in the amount of gluten that we're adding to things because it makes it sticky and thick and, you know, have a nice texture. And we're just adding so much gluten to so many things and people aren't ready to tolerate it. Our gut is just not.

I actually like her approach is you can't eliminate it all. Let's, let's do one or two for a few weeks. See how we feel. And then let's do another. Now I want to clarify one thing because sometimes people, you know, it's misleading. They'll say, Oh, I'm vegetarian or I'm vegan. And that's supposed to be synonymous with health. It's not, trust me. I've learned French fries are not. They're vegan. They're not healthy. So we have to be very clear that just because you're vegetarian or vegan doesn't necessarily mean that it's healthy. If you're eating a ton of coconut milk ice cream, yeah, that's a great treat.

But if you're eating that all the time, it's loaded with sugar. Coconut milk is great. When you add sugar to it, not agave. Right. I don't care if it's agave. Don't get me on the agave kick. It's not only sugar. It's the worst kind of sugar.

So yes, agave is the worst kind of sugar. Tell them why. Okay. Don't just rant. Because agave is 80 to 90% fructose. Fruit sugar. Fructose, which actually goes to your liver to be detoxified. So that's why it doesn't jack up your blood sugar really quickly.

Fructose doesn't make you think you ate anything. So you're still hungry, even though you got it. So it's fascinating. So what makes a sugar is glucose, which affects your insulin levels and fructose, which doesn't, but it's insulin that actually drives sugar into cells and makes your mind think you had something to eat. Right. The fructose is going to your liver first. And so that's why it doesn't do that. That's why it's considered a low glycemic. Agave, which a lot of people think is healthy, we actually think it's actually more toxic than sugar. Thanks for listening to today's show, The Brain Warrior's Way. Why don't you head over to

brainwarriorswaypodcast.com. That to brainwarriorswaypodcast.com. That's brainwarriorswaypodcast.com, where Daniel and Tana have a gift for you just for subscribing to the show. And when you post your review on iTunes, you'll be entered into a drawing where you can win a VIP visit to one of the Amen clinics. I'm Donnie Osmond, and I invite you to step up your brain game by joining us in the next episode.