| Definition and Symptoms: ADHD is a abbreviation of Attention Deficit & Hyperactivity Disorder. Children with ADHD are characterised by inattention, hyperactivity and impulsiveness. Some children are inattentive and impulsive without much hyperactivity which is termed as having Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). Other list of problems encountered with an ADHD/ADD child include: (a) sloppy / illegible handwriting and poor study results, getting into fights with peers (b) low self-esteem (c) aggressive / immature (d) forgetfulness (e) unstable or poor sleep etc.ADHD’s symptoms usually exist and happened before the age 7 years old, although some children may be diagnosed earlier or later. There is about 3% of the student population in Singapore with ADHD. This means that there are likely to be 1 or 2 ADHD children in each class of 40 students. Boys are 4-6 times more likely than girls to have ADHD. NO one is certain what are the key causes of ADHD. Possible causes include:(a) Genetic disposition - e.g. strong fight-brainedness or creativity but poor left- brainedness for detailed analytical skills(b) Partial brain damage during gestation(c) Lack of necessary chemicals in the brain for normal brain functioning(d) Dietary causes / Allergy problems(e) Other learning disabilities that make the child lose interest or motivation. A common solution to the ADHD prescribed by doctors is the use of the controlled drug Ritalin. This is a stimulant that helps the ADHD child to pay attention, control his hyperactivity and impulsiveness. Disadvantages of using Ritalin include: (a) loss of appetite / weight, (b) explosive behaviour as a result of discontinuing the drug, (c) cure the symptoms but not the root up cause of the problems.Objective : From the point of view of a traditional Chinese physician, ADHD is a disease mainly due to deficiency of heart and spleen, which is caused by restlessness, excessive worries, over consuming qi and blood of the body, therefore it leads to loss of nourishment of the heart and dysfunction of the brain. It is commonly related to Hysteria, Neurosism, Forgetfulness and Insomnia. When we diagnosed an illness as ADHD, we must be careful and try to identify several patterns of dysfunction that involved the heart, liver, kidney, spleen, stomach, large and small intestines. The general theories of TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) treatment are regulating function of the respective organ by replenishing and balancing yin and yang deficiency. Our treatment principal is therefore tranquilizing the mind by strengthening and replenishing the heart and spleen, invigorating qi and nourishing blood, Method : Fifty patients, age ranged from 3～15 years old suffering from Xin Pi Liang Xu type of ADHD were investigated with symptoms check lists. The patients with Xin Pi Liang Xu type of ADHD were randomly divided into two groups. Group A consists of 30 cases were treated with Shi Wei Gan Ma Da Zhao Tang and acupuncture and Group B consists of 20 cases were treated with the same medicine without acupuncture. After two weeks of an evaluation of long-term effect was evaluated, the result of Group A seems to be better than that of Group B by treatment with TCM therapy for Xin Pi Liang Xu type of ADHD due to Deficiency of Heart and Spleen. Information collected from both groups of ADHD patients show no side effects. Above results verified that Chinese medical science also provide patients good treatment and choice.Results: The clinical study showed that the marked recovery case, effective case and ineffective case in group A and group B were 8, 17, 5 and 1, 8, 11 respectively. Total effective rate in group A and group B is 83.33% and 45.00% respectively.Conclusion : This clinical study demonstrated that treatment of Xin Pi Liang Xu Type of ADHD by using Traditional Chinese Medicine "Shi Wei Gan Ma Da Zhao Tang" with or without Acupuncture therapy are effective. Acupuncture therapy which was based on the theory of channels and collaterals that can also balance yin and yang, transport and strengthen the qi and blood of the body. Both methods in pediatrics of TCM therapy have reliable short-term effect, stable long effect, which are safe and should be widely applied in clinic based on the symptoms and body as whole. |
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