Due to various issues with health insurance over the past few years, I've found myself at times unable to obtain prescription medication to treat my ADHD. I was diagnosed at age 17 during my junior year of high school and once I was given the correct medication (Ritalin, in my case) my grades went from Cs to As and I was much happier and less "antsy" inside.

It is not true that all people "outgrow" their hyperactivity. When I run out of medication, this little motor turns on inside me and I find myself unable to sit still without fidgeting, getting up, jumping up and down, or what have you. I have the desire to do things but not the attention span to see them through. I find it exhausting to concentrate on things unless I am completely obsessed with them, like writing code or painting a picture. I am one of those people who has partially finished projects lying everywhere, but this might also just be a common geek trait.

But to make a long story short, on the occasions when I don't have access to prescription medication, I tend to experiment on myself. This writeup is a report of my experiences with various supposed "natural" remedies for ADHD.

Flax Seed Oil

I read about flax seed oil as a potential ADHD treatment at my local health food / supplement store. There were testimonials and such, with vaguely scientific sounding accounts of how ADHD individuals might have some sort of fatty acid deficiency that affected learning and concentration. I tried both the liquid form of flax oil (in a bottle, you can drink it) and the capsule form. I took the liquid stuff daily for about two months, and the capsules for about one month. I found the liquid stuff to be very tasty, especially when mixed into vanilla yogurt...mmmm...but no benefits to my attention span. I did, however, feel a bit more "balanced" and my mood seemed better to the point where people remarked on it. The capsules did absolutely nothing. The liquid flax oil, I would say, might possibly have some therapeutic benefit for people who might be feeling moody, but I can't say it helped my grades or learning ability.

Grape Seed Extract

Now this is an interesting one. I got the idea to try grape seed extract from, of all places, the internet. (I believe it was a chat room, actually) How could grape seeds possibly have anything to do with the brain's attention-regulatory system? It turns out that grape seed extract is a potent antioxidant, which is supposed to "protect" the very neurotransmitters (dopamine, etc.) that are deficient or poorly regulated in ADHD individuals. Now of course all of this may be complete hooey, but I'm not a biologist. I read testimonials of double- blind studies done comparing grape seed extract with methylphenidate (Ritalin), and the results were quite good according to the studies. What did I have to lose? The health food store had a money-back guarantee on supplements, so I went back and picked up a bottle of grape seed extract. 30 capsules, 60 mg each. The bottle said to take one capsule daily but being the impulsive little punk that I am, I decided to take three at once.

About fifteen minutes later I found that my handwriting actually got a bit neater and I actually FELT like making a schedule of all the things I needed to do for the rest of the day! It was like a very very low dose of Ritalin. I still, however, was loud and prone to bounce around the room. My homework got only partially done. I continued taking the grape seed, though, and still do occasionally because if I take enough of it I do get a nice, inner "quieting" effect that makes it possible for me to stay on task long enough to complete a few things. But overall, it doesn't do what I hoped it would...make it so I wouldn't need to worry about annoying Schedule II prescription paperwork.

Ephedra, Ephedrine

I figured at one point that since Ritalin is a type of stimulant, perhaps I should go in that direction attempting to self-medicate. There is always caffeine, but it has the annoying side effect of making me pee a lot. (Though this problem is mitigated somewhat by taking it in tablet form rather than via coffee or tea). After some more internet research, and perusing various natural healing tomes, I decided to get myself something with ephedra in it.

Ephedra has some scary side effects, and all products containing it have very ominous warning labels. But I figured as long as I didn't overdo it, and that I stopped taking it if I felt weird, then I'd be okay.

Ephedra is the "natural remedy" I believe to be the most effective at helping me slow down and get things done. It does not work quite as well as Ritalin, but it succeeds where no other natural supplement has in getting rid of the "can't-sit-still" feeling. My focus is a lot better and I find myself procrastinating a lot less. Given the choice I would still take Ritalin over ephedra because the cardiac dangers of ma-huang scare me a bit; Ritalin, while being a stimulant, has fewer cardiovascular effects than a "raw" stimulant like ephedra.

I've never had any problem with side effects from ephedra, however; it actually seems to have less of a heartbeat-accelerating property than a cup of coffee does.

IMPORTANT: Ephedra / ephedrine-containing products have been taken off the market for the most part, at least in the United States. Personally I no longer take ephedra since I am now properly medicated, and mixing stimulants is not a healthy thing to do.