Treating ADD/ADHD More Effectively

Scott: It was interesting. You mentioned children who get hyperactive throughout the day and that cortisol could be an issue. We mentioned depression drugs and ADHD, ADD drugs are pretty prevalent as well. Could that be another avenue, maybe, where people should look instead of jumping right into some of those medications? 

Bradley Bush: Oh, absolutely. At Neuroscience, I would say about 80% of all the children that we test, the main complaint is ADHD, ADD and ADHD. And they come either before they're on the meds, or they're more than times on the meds and they want to get off of them. 

Scott: Mm-hmm.

Bradley Bush: But, we also test neurotransmitters for a number of psychiatrists before they put them on the meds to identify whether or not they're a good candidate for that medication. That becomes a little bit trickier, but when you actually can test someone before you put them on a med to maybe rule out other issues first . . .

Scott: Mm-hmm.

Bradley Bush: . . . then maybe you reduce the amount of ADHD meds, that are pretty much major stimulants. You reduce the number of patients taking them, maybe by 50%. Then, when you do give them the medication, they might do a before and after test. Because guess what? If the medication doesn't actually boost certain neurotransmitters, norepinephrine, dopamine, phenylethylamine, epinephrine. If those aren't boosted with that medication, they tend to have less of a positive outcome. So, it's nice to track it because it may indicate whether or not they want to maybe try it for an extra week or two weeks to see if it becomes more effective. Or maybe try something different approach.

[End transcript 00:01:42]