Modern man is more than ever aware that chemical based medications and medicines are not always going to be as good for you as you might initially imagine.

ADHD medications are no exception this rule.

Not every ADHD medication is necessarily going to be good for you in the longer term, simply because, as with any chemical based medication, there is always the possibility of unpleasant and unforeseen side effects. Many people would probably try to avoid the use of stimulant based ADHD medications for the control or treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder if possible. Thus, the growth of alternative treatments for ADHD over the past twenty years was, at least to some extent, entirely inevitable.

However, there is one slightly worrying factor to consider here.

Even though there are a multitude of products on the market that are presented and sold as alternatives to 'standard' ADHD medications, many of them have not been strenuously tested or proven. In fact, the efficacy or otherwise of many of the alternatives to accepted medical ADHD medications would be questionable, were it not for the fact that they have actually been seen to be beneficial for ADHD sufferers in some cases.

Perhaps there is an element of psychology involved, and, clearly, no two ADHD sufferers are the same people. It is really a situation where, sometimes maybe we don't know why a particular treatment works, but it does! Many of the alternatives to standard ADHD medications are, however, fairly well established and widely accepted.

The majority have been empirically tested at some length, and been proven to be viable alternatives to more widely accepted ADHD medication.

Four such treatments are:

Brainwave Biofeedback therapy

EEG Biofeedback therapy or training is sometimes also known as Neurofeedback. It is by no means a new technology, having been around for over twenty five years but it is now far more widely accepted as a viable and affordable method of treatment, simply because the wider availability of high quality computing and data processing equipment has made it so. Even a basic laptop PC can do things with information that it would have needed a massive mainframe machine to do a few years ago, so reading 'brain waves' and the like is no longer so difficult.

This has meant that a vast amount of study on EEG Biofeedback has been made possible, and thus, a mass of useable data has been generated too.

Behavior Modification treatment

Behavior modification therapy is likewise a well established and accepted method of treating symptoms or side effects of ADHD, without resort to invasive ADHD medications. Once again, great leaps have been made in this field of treatment, although this has been less to do with technological advances and more to do with better training for counselors and others responsible or dealing with people affected by ADHD.

Indeed, in a situation where the level of success is likely to depend almost entirely on the expertise of the counselor who is working with ADHD persons, such advances in training and conditioning has represented a giant step forward.

Eating or Dietary Modifications

Looking at the diet and/or eating habits of an ADHD sufferer is also likely to be highly beneficial to them, and offers anther very good alternative to accepting that ADHD medications are necessary. A properly structured eating plan or regime will almost certainly bring about some constructive benefits for any person who suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity.

For example, there is evidence that a lack of certain minerals or vitamins in the diet of an ADHD sufferer can actually make the problem worse. Thus, such people, rather than resorting to an ADHD medication, would possibly enjoy far greater benefits from high quality nutritional supplements.

The Essential Fatty Acids more commonly known as the Omega Oils are likely to be of particular assistance, as are some of the trace mineral elements like zinc and potassium. Recent studies have, in fact, indicated that fatty oils from fish are especially beneficial to children suffering from ADHD in this respect. Tuna is alleged to be especially beneficial in this respect.

Nutraceutical medicines

Nutraceutical is a word that was coined as recently as 1989, derived from the words 'nutrition' and 'pharmaceutical' and refers to foodstuffs or supplements that are said to have a medicinal or beneficial effect on human health. Several leading companies in the market offer 'Nutraceutical medicines' as alternatives to traditional chemical-based ADHD medications, and, in many cases, these seem to offer very reasonable and efficacious substitutes to such stimulant medicines.

Whilst the exact composition of such Nutraceutical medicines is often going to be something of a ‘trade secret’ (for obvious business reasons), they would nevertheless tend to contain such things as Omega oils, other fatty oils, vitamins and minerals in very carefully balanced quantities. These are exactly the kinds of supplements to the modern diet, in other words, that we have already established an ADHD sufferer would benefit from. They should, therefore, provide the perfect supplemental treatment.

All four of these methods have their merits, and as every ADHD sufferer is a different person, so the effectiveness of any particular type of ADHD medication alternative will vary also.

Nevertheless, most people nowadays would accept that almost anything is better than relying on invasive ADHD medications and for this reason alone, all of the above would be worth any ADHD sufferer or their families investigating further.