Do you know anybody who will shy away from bright lights or loud noises?

Do you have a child who, when you start to ask them a question, you can get their attention initially.. but if you take too long they appear to wander or even worse, simply shut down and ignore you?

Usually, these people are not too good with heat or extreme cold either… and may have already been labeled as anxious, ADHD, a ‘daydreamer’, or even plain rude and arrogant.

If this reminds you of somebody you know… I am to here ask you to consider a whole other side to their story…

I was that child. I hated the TV turned up loud. I also hated the bright UV or downlights in houses. I found that they made me anxious and irritated, and to find the peace I would have to sit, alone, outside somewhere. Away from every person. Away from artificial white lights.

I am sure I would have been labeled as Asperger’s if that diagnosis was freely given back then. I found solace in books (remember we didn’t have iPads), and in silence, well away from any person.

It was incredibly hard for me to sleep, ever... and I would lie awake most night with pain in random muscles as well as the processing of every conversation I had that day, as well as all of the ones I MIGHT have the next day.

All this takes so much energy!

To an adult who did not understand this, I would have presented as extremely shy, closed, and probably a very aggressive or easily irritated person. A closed book, so to speak. I also came across as the child who disrupted everyone at school... The troublemaker- the smart one, but the one who cannot sit still. Who got sent to the back of the room almost daily because I could not physically sit still on that mat.

No amount of telling off would have made me sit in a position that physically hurt me... Painkillers do not help that sort of pain either. So really the best advice I have seen for "that sort" of child, from a GP, might be something like Endep. An antidepressant… relax the mind, relax the body. Right?

That was back then. These days the protocols are Ritalin and other amphetamine-based medications. The child is struggling to concentrate, let's force the good stuff into their brain and settle them.

Right… I've probably painted a familiar picture to many of you just now. You may have a child who is struggling with some (probably multiple) of these things? Or actually, it might be you when you think about it, in adult form?

What I have just described, in Naturopathic terms, is 100% Adrenal Fatigue, and with that comes the symbiotic symptoms of low mineral absorption and usually mood, sleep, and therefore behavioral "disorders".

100% of the time when a child presents in my clinic with behavior concerns, their brain has been starved of the vital nutrients it required to function well. The aggressive kids are often the ones who do NOT sleep. (Think about it mums, remember what It was like after you had your first baby?? It was HELL…) Well, imagine feeling that every single day, and with an immature child’s brain, not being able to process what is happening!

Yes, they might also be reactive to things like MSG, additives, Glutamates, Salicylates… Well, guess what? This is a product of adrenal fatigue, as well as their liver not being able to process them well enough.

What If I told you that the majority of kids I see with ‘’behavioral” issues are simply so strung out they can’t function as they should, and their other issues are very secondary?

We live in such a hectic world. Sometimes what is required is for you, as a parent, to slow down and reconnect with your child’s patterns and lifestyle. Remember that as a human, we do the most growing in infancy and young childhood, and then again in the teenage years- these age groups really do need a world of sleep and nutrition to support that!

If your child, or anybody you know, is presenting with any of these issues, I do urge you to think outside the square of what mainstream might tell you is ‘normal’ and ‘needs medicating’.

Remember that medication covers the symptoms... but the body is throwing these symptoms at you as a street sign into it, telling you what might need attention and giving you a chance to right the wrong before it snowballs into something worse.

I am not going to sit and preach that me or a Naturopath can do it better. There are so many amazing practitioners out there… but my point to this article is simply for you to question all that you are told, and perhaps see that there is always more than one side to every coin. If you look hard enough.