Dr. Hotze Reveals a Little Known Cause of ADHD and ADD
Do you find yourself lacking focus and easily distracted? Before you assume you have ADD, discover the underlying cause of your symptoms. While we used to associate ADD and ADHD primarily with children, many adults today are being diagnosed with it, as well. Before you go to a doctor who will prescribe dangerous stimulant drugs, you owe it to yourself to find the underlying cause of your symptoms. Dr. Hotze reveals a little known cause of ADHD and ADD – hypothyroidism.
Podcast Highlights
1:40: If someone tells you that you have ADD or your child has ADD, the first question that should come out of your mouth is, “Why? What’s causing the problem?”
2:00: …nobody has attention deficit disorder because they have low levels of amphetamines in their body.
3:22: So before you assume you have ADD, you need to discover the underlying cause of your symptoms.
4:11: So before you assume you have ADD or go to a doctor who’ll prescribe you these dangerous amphetamine stimulant drugs, you really owe it yourself to find the underlying cause of your symptoms.
4:25: Did you know that research demonstrates that there’s a definite connection between hypothyroidism, that’s low thyroid function at the cellular level, and ADD and ADHD?
7:15: Well, food allergies are very common cause of people, of kids’ abnormal behavior…
9:32: What many people don’t realize is that an individual with hypothyroidism can have all these symptoms that get labeled ADD or ADHD.
10:27: Well, research found that people with generalized low thyroid symptoms have a marked increase in ADD symptoms compared with other family members. When they check individuals, individuals who have hypothyroidism tend to have the symptoms of ADD much more commonly than those that don’t.
10:51: It’s also been shown that the prevalence of thyroid abnormalities, hypothyroidism, is higher in children with ADHD than in the normal population.
11:51: So thyroid, if you’re not generating enough energy within your cells, that’s going to affect the amount of energy you generate for your brain and your brain takes 20% of the body’s energy.
12:16: Hypothyroidism can play a key role in the decline in an individual’s mental sharpness, his attentiveness, his ability to focus on problems, his ability to think clearly and to be sharp mentally.
13:01: Thyroid hormones are just so very critical for normal brain functioning.
13:08: In particular, hypothyroidism is associated with numerous cognitive deficits including lower general intelligence, psychomotor speed, visual spatial skills and memories.
15:08: Emergency room cases for visits by individuals that were taking medication, these amphetamine drugs, is well over 40,000 visits in the last year to the emergency rooms for side effects from the amphetamines that doctors gave patients to overcome their ability to really focus or they were inattentive.
15:44: If you have the signs and symptoms of hypothyroidism, then you deserve a therapeutic trial of natural desiccated thyroid no matter what your blood says, even if your blood test falls within this huge wide range of normal where 95% of the people’s blood tests fall.
16:59: Why in the world would you take an amphetamine? It’s just wrong. Don’t let some doctor or some school nurse or teacher say, “You’re child has ADD.” They take them to the nurse’s office, they recommend you go to that doctor, all that doctor does is dispense amphetamines.
17:19: Don’t let them do it to your children. Clean up their diet. Check them to see if they have hypothyroidism. Make sure they get good vitamin and mineral supplementation. See if they have food allergies.
Podcast Transcription
Stacey B.: Welcome to Dr. Hotze’s Wellness Revolution. I’m Stacey Bandfield here with Dr. Hotze, founder of the Hotze Health & Wellness Center. Hey, if you have not downloaded our podcast, it is so easy to do that, all you have to do is go to hotzepodcast.com. That’s H-O-T-Z-E podcast.com. You can find out great medical information on all kinds of topics and one really good topic we’re discussing today is ADD, ADHD, not just in children, but in adults as well. That is something that everybody’s familiar with it and if you’ve been diagnosed with it, it’ll be interesting to hear more about it, or chances are you know somebody who’s been diagnosed with this condition.
So, Dr. Hotze, why don’t you share with us more about ADD and ADHD today?
Dr. Hotze: ADD, ADHD, attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Doctors label these people with these two names. They claim it’s a diagnosis. Well a diagnosis isn’t a labeling of symptoms. All ADD and ADHD are series of symptoms that we’ll discuss in a minute to which the doctor applies the label ADD, ADHD.
If someone tells you that you have ADD or your child has ADD, the first question that should come out of your mouth is, “Why? What’s causing the problem?” Now the doctor inevitably is going to prescribe drugs, amphetamines for these, and we’re going to talk about that a little bit later. And I can you tell you nobody has attention deficit disorder because they have low levels of amphetamines in their body.
Let me ask you some questions. Do you lack focus? Are you easily distracted? Do you have a hard time paying attention to details? These days it’s not uncommon to hear people say, “Well I’m just ADD, that why I can’t do it.” I’ve even heard people say, “Entrepreneurs, all entrepreneurs are ADD.” There’s personality types and we’re not necessarily going to talk about that today but I’ll give you a little background.
There are four personality types. Choleric, sanguine, phlegmatic, melancholic. Cholerics are drivers, they’re high strategy guys, they’re usually entrepreneurs, they’re leaders. Sanguine people are outgoing, warm, then never meet a stranger. Phlegmatic are very methodical and detail, very methodical in their work. And then people that are melancholy, they tend to be very detailed, they like to know what the rules are, they don’t like to be blamed for things. These are personality types.
A lot of what we see in individuals that you may assume has ADD, it’s just your personality type. Some kids get up and go and move about. Some other kids lay around. Everybody’s different. And unfortunately the drug companies have used this as an opportunity to sell drugs. So before you assume you have ADD, you need to discover the underlying cause of your symptoms. Guess what the underlying cause of your symptoms called? It’s the diagnosis. And that’s what doctors don’t give you. They give you labels because they’re afflicted with a disorder called labelitis. They caught it in medical school and they never got rid of it. They don’t want to ask the question “why do these or this patient have these symptoms?”, whatever the symptoms might be. You don’t want to treat the symptoms, but what the pharmaceutical drugs do is simply mask your symptoms. They don’t treat your underlying problem.
Well while we used to associate ADD or ADHD primarily with children, many adults today are being labeled with this as well. So before you assume you have ADD or go to a doctor who’ll prescribe you these dangerous amphetamine stimulant drugs, you really owe it yourself to find the underlying cause of your symptoms. Did you know that research demonstrates that there’s a definite connection between hypothyroidism, that’s low thyroid function at the cellular level, and ADD and ADHD?
First of all, let’s talk about ADD and ADHD. ADD is the attention deficit disorder. ADHD is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The terms are oftentimes used interchangeably. But ADD is just one of the three types of ADHD. ADHD, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, is a chronic condition that includes difficulty sustaining attention. It has hyperactivity and impulsive disorders. The symptoms differ from person to person. Both children and adults can be labeled with ADHD. There are three main types of ADHD. The one is that the individual is primarily inattentive. They just kind of wander. Kind of looking like what’s going on and not listening. Predominantly hyperactive. Kids get up in their chair, they move around the room, you can’t keep them still. And then there’s the combined type where sometimes they’re inattentive, sometimes they’re very hyperactive. Adults with ADHD may have these symptoms or issues. They can have trouble managing time. Who doesn’t?
Being organized. Who gets organized that well? There are certain people, people that are melancholy, that sounds like depression, it’s not. That’s just a term that the Greeks labeled. We would call that high detail orientation or high D person. They like to organize themselves. A person that’s a high, he’s going and blowing, giving orders and demands. He wants somebody else to organize for him.
But if you have problem managing time, being organized, setting goals, holding down a job, these can be symptoms that get labeled. They label you as ADHD. And of course if a person can’t perform well and has these problems and these symptoms, just has poor behavior, he’s not well disciplined, this can affect your family’s finances and your family life. Individuals like this may have poor listening skills. I’ve been accused of that, by guess who?
Stacey B.: What?
Dr. Hotze: Could be easily distracted. Have a problem with focusing attention. All of these can affect your life, your career, your business, your home life. They can also affect your golf. You can’t focus on your golf game.
Stacey B.: I’m sure that’s right.
Dr. Hotze: I’m may start saying when they miss those three foots putts that they just have ADHD, they can’t focus.
Food Allergies Cause Behavioral Problems
Stacey B.: Well doctor, what about food allergies in children?
Dr. Hotze: Well, food allergies are very common cause of people, of kids’ abnormal behavior and, we’re going to talk about hypothyroidism, but I’m glad you brought that up. The common foods are wheat, corn, egg, milk, yeast and soybean. The dyes in the foods can also cause problems. They can cause the release of histamine from mast cells in your body. When the histamine is released, you’ve heard of antihistamine, well the body releases histamine. That’s why when you have an allergy attack you take an antihistamine. The histamines affect brain function. They’re neuroactive chemicals that affect the neurotransmitters in the brain and so that can set kids off. I used to have a practice that was strictly allergy. We took a lot of kids who had been diagnosed with ADHD and we found the problems were food allergy. I could literally turn them, I could turn their symptoms on and off with various food drops. It was amazing.
Stacey B.: Amazing.
Dr. Hotze: People with ADHD, with the symptoms, they also have problems with their relationships, poor self esteem, they can get addicted. And of course you get on amphetamines, you get put on that, you’re going to get addicted to that and they’re going to have problem controlling their emotions. Children with ADHD also have trouble focusing, paying attention. They can be hyperactive, unable to control their impulses. These behaviors interfere of course with their school life, with their grades and with their home life. Sometimes they want to make you pull your hair out. Look at me, I’m bald. I had eight kids. So did I have some that were unruly? Hard to manage? Undisciplined? Yeah, we had a few of them in that bunch.
Here’s some symptoms that doctors use to begin to label people. Inattentiveness, hyperactivity, impulsiveness, disorganization, lack of focus, hard time paying attention to details, trouble staying on the topic while talking, not listening to others, what were you saying about that dress you bought the other day?
Stacey B.: I don’t remember. Oh, seriously, you’re asking me this?
Dr. Hotze: That’s what I mean. Can’t stay on topic.
Stacey B.: You set me up.
Hypothyroidism is an Underlying Cause of ADD/ADHD
Dr. Hotze: Forgetful, easily distracted. These are common symptoms that we see. Now could there be a connection with hypothyroidism? What many people don’t realize is that an individual with hypothyroidism can have all these symptoms that get labeled ADD or ADHD. Now the thyroid gland is in the neck, it produces thyroid hormones which govern our body’s ability to produce and use energy within the cells. It governs our metabolism. So low thyroid function inevitably, when you don’t produce enough energy within your cells, this can affect the way your brain works. You’re going to get people with low thyroid that have brain fog, memory loss, anxiety, depression, inability to focus, difficulty concentrating or performing basic tasks.
Oh you go to a doctor and you go, “I think I may have hypothyroidism, I’ve got all these symptoms. I can’t focus, I can’t think clearly, I can’t remember things.” He says, “It’s normal. I just think what you have is ADD or ADHD.” Well, research found that people with generalized low thyroid symptoms have a marked increase in ADD symptoms compared with other family members. When they check individuals, individuals who have hypothyroidism tend to have the symptoms of ADD much more commonly than those that don’t. It’s also been shown that the prevalence of thyroid abnormalities, hypothyroidism, is higher in children with ADHD than in the normal population.
Let me give you an example. I have a grandson, he’s five years old. He hasn’t really been focused really well. He kind of walked late, when he was two, should have been walking much younger than that and he just didn’t seem to adjust to things right. And he got cranky in the afternoon and he couldn’t focus and pay attention. He’d throw temper tantrums. I told my daughter, I said, “You know what?” This is one of my five daughters, I said, “I think little guy’s got low thyroid, let’s put him on some thyroid. Put him on a quarter grain of thyroid.” In two weeks she came back and she said, “Do you think the thyroid’s causing him to nap better in the afternoon? And he’s not as cranky as he was. He’s doing better. He seems like he interacts better with people.” And we bumped it up, he’s on a half a grain of thyroid and he’s doing wonderful.
So thyroid, if you’re not generating enough energy within your cells, that’s going to affect the amount of energy you generate for your brain and your brain takes 20% of the body’s energy. You have to have energy to think and if the brain isn’t working right, you’re not going to function right. You’re not going to be able to focus. You’re going to be a daydreamer. You’re not going to be able to be attentive to anything that’s going on. Your mind’s going to drift.
Hypothyroidism can play a key role in the decline in an individual’s mental sharpness, his attentiveness, his ability to focus on problems, his ability to think clearly and to be sharp mentally. When it becomes difficult to maintain sharp focus and memory and clarity, you’ve got to think, could this be a thyroid problem. It causes brain fog. It can lead to depression. Difficulty concentrating and short term memory loss. We see this all the time here at the Hotze Health & Wellness Center. Hypothyroidism is also associated with mood disturbances and the inability to think and really do problems. Thyroid hormones are just so very critical for normal brain functioning.
In particular, hypothyroidism is associated with numerous cognitive deficits including lower general intelligence, psychomotor speed, visual spatial skills and memories. These are studies that have demonstrated this. I want you to be aware now when you go to your doctor, if he says, “Oh your blood test is normal” despite the fact you have all these symptoms of hypothyroidism, he’s going to inevitably give you prescription drugs. And it’s treated with amphetamines. These amphetamines have very serious and deleterious side effects.
Side Effects of ADHD Drugs
Let me name some of the medications that you’ll see. Adderall, Concerta, Quillivant, Ritalin, Strattera. Some of this stuff is sold on the streets. The kids get it or the adults get it, they end up selling them or giving them to their friends. Here’s some of the general side effects, and they’re serious side effects to these medications to treat these symptoms labeled ADHD. You get nausea, you can become hyper-agitated, manic even, loss of appetite. Some of the diet pills are amphetamines. Headaches, dry mouth, elevated blood pressure, dizziness, completely different mood swings, insomnia, can’t sleep well, blood pressure goes up, pulse goes up and you’re restless. You’re active all the time and very irritable. These are the side effects that we see with amphetamines. You’ve heard of methamphetamine? My gosh, this is just legalized amphetamine that the drug companies are pushing on the public and using the doctors as their drug agents. That’s all they are.
Let me tell you how bad it is. Emergency room cases for visits by individuals that were taking medication, these amphetamine drugs, is well over 40,000 visits in the last year to the emergency rooms for side effects from the amphetamines that doctors gave patients to overcome their ability to really focus or they were inattentive.
Stacey B.: When they could have benefited from a natural desiccated thyroid.
Dr. Hotze: Yeah, so natural thyroid.
Stacey B.: Incredible.
Dangerous Side Effects of Amphetamines
Dr. Hotze: When it’s indicated, this is what I believe. If you have the signs and symptoms of hypothyroidism, then you deserve a therapeutic trial of natural desiccated thyroid no matter what your blood says, even if your blood test falls within this huge wide range of normal where 95% of the people’s blood tests fall. Let me tell you the adverse side effects that I mentioned to you get even worse. These amphetamines can cause permanent brain damage. It can completely upset the neurochemistry of the brain, the guy or the gal just never gets their brain back. It can cause severe liver damage. It can cause inflammation and damage to the heart because it causes an increased blood pressure and it causes stress on the heart. And it causes irregular heart rhythms which people can die of when they get an irregular heartbeat. One can hit on another and the next thing you know they go into V-tach of ventricular fib and they’re gone. So it causes heart attacks. It can cause strokes. Sudden death, changes in personality, hallucinations, increased cancer risk, depression, suicide. These are all the harmful and deleterious side effects of amphetamines.
Why in the world would you take an amphetamine? It’s just wrong. Don’t let some doctor or some school nurse or teacher say, “You’re child has ADD.” They take them to the nurse’s office, they recommend you go to that doctor, all that doctor does is dispense amphetamines. Don’t let them do it to your children. Clean up their diet. Check them to see if they have hypothyroidism. Make sure they get good vitamin and mineral supplementation. See if they have food allergies.
If you’re experiencing any of the symptoms that doctors label ADHD and want to find out what the underlying cause is, then you need to go to a physician or a group of physicians that look at things from a natural point of view. That don’t slap labels on symptoms and call them diagnoses. If you have any of the other symptoms of hypothyroidism then that’s probably going to be a good indicator hypothyroidism could easily be the cause of your or your child’s attention deficit disorder. As I mentioned earlier, diet plays a very important role in this. I recommend a paleo eating program. Cut out the carbs and the sugars. Those are very addictive and look we put these kids, we just feed them junk. We’ve got them on Coca-Colas and Pepsi Colas and cookies and cakes and candy because they like them. It’s not good for them and it does adversely affect their behavior. So you’ve got to change your eating lifestyle to adopt a more paleolithic, which means you eat good oils and fats, you eat eggs, you eat butter, fish oil, olive oil, olives, avocados. Hey, that’s means guacamole’s good for you.
And then you eat good healthy vegetables. Get them organically if you can at Whole Foods. Broccoli, asparagus, green beans, spinach, kale…whole host of good healthy vegetables and then you can also have some meats. You don’t need much, four to six ounces a day is more than adequate. Do that and eliminate your simple carbs. All the pizzas, the pastas and the breads, just eliminate that. And when you do that, you do that for a month, you’re going to feel like a million dollars. Then we eat some of the junk food that people been eating all their lives, you’re going to feel like, not going to feel well.
You have to ask yourself, if you’ve been labeled with ADD, is hypothyroidism a cause of the problem? And you can find out and tell how to go to our symptom checker and do that.
Stacey B.: Absolutely. You can just go to our website at hotzehwc.com, that’s H-O-T-Z-E-H-W-C.com and just take that symptom checker. And I do want to add on this Dr. Hotze, someone in my family had been on Ritalin as a child and when he grew up he said, “I wish I had never been on Ritalin.” And the parents felt horribly but they didn’t know any better.
Dr. Hotze: Why did he say that?
Stacey B.: Because of the way it made him feel. Just the effect, how it made his brain. He just couldn’t think right. It just really slowed him down. I think that’s how he put it. He just felt like he was in slow motion and so he just hated that drug. And so this is a message of warning. So Dr. Hotze thank you for saying that and also a message of hope that there is a natural way to treat your symptoms or your child’s symptoms. So be sure that you do that. That will also have some helpful information and of course you can always call us at 281 698-8698. That’s 281-698-8698. We’d be more than happy to have a conversation with you about your symptoms and see what we can do to help you do a 180 and take charge of your health. It would be a privilege to serve you.
Thank you for joining us today here at Dr. Hotze’s Wellness Revolution.
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Renee ParkDay
Thank you HWC. I so enjoy the info.