January class looks at ADHD, Eastern medicine practices

Class offered on three Thursdays in January (see map below)

  • By: Michelle Te  
  • Published: 1/12/2010 2:33:22 PM
  • Last Updated: 1/13/2010 2:47:56 PM
PK Melethil
PK Melethil is a Wilsonville licensed acupuncturist.
A child with a possible diagnosis of ADHD creates a litany of questions for both parents and educators.
Should I medicate and how often? Is this the correct diagnosis? What are the long-term effects? Will treatments be effective?

“Everybody knows there’s an issue, but what do we do?” said PK Melethil, a Wilsonville licensed acupuncturist who will be giving a series of three lectures on the subject in January.

After Melethil saw a PBS special called “The Medicated Child,” his curiosity on the topic led him to do more research, particularly with children. His study of both Western and Chinese medicine demonstrates that a child doesn’t just have to “live with it,” as he witnessed in the documentary.

In his research, Melethil discovered that 30 to 70 percent of ADHD cases persist into adulthood.
“There’s no let up in that sense,” he said.

He’s also concerned that children who are naturally active, or who may have related nutrition issues, are being misdiagnosed.

“There are a whole bunch of different conditions that look like inattention that are getting labeled as ADHD,” said Melethil. “It’s a convenient label for certain types of behavior and personality profiles.”
Chinese medicine takes a holistic approach, looking at the person and the surrounding environment. He links many of the ADHD diagnoses to disorders of the lungs, stomach and spleen.

“There’s a lot of stuff going on, food sensitivities, inability to sit through class, restlessness because of that,” he said. “Teachers are tired and busy, and are looking for a way to resolve the situation. It’s tragic that that developmental sequence gets misdiagnosed with fairly strong psychotropic chemicals.”

A child with the diagnosis then gets labeled as such. After a certain period of taking the medication, Melethil said, they “burn out and crash.” Then, a child may be diagnosed with depression.
Oscillating within this cycle, a child may be diagnosed as being bipolar, when the high and low energy periods are actually natural occurrences.

He presents a different approach.

“It takes a few parents willing to go through the program, to show that their children were benefitted by traditional treatments that strengthened their bodies,” he said. “Ten to 20 percent of kids diagnosed with ADHD, that’s huge. For me, I look at it and think, ‘This is a child that’s growing up. Look at all the labels.’”
Chinese medicine focuses on two very common diagnosis, said Melethil. The first is a “yin deficiency,” manifesting itself in children who don’t want to eat or drink nutritious food, opting for sugary and unhealthy foods. This deficiency also shows up in sleep-related issues.

The other deficiency is related to the spleen, a weakness in the digestive system.

“Nowadays, we are learning that the digestive system is a much more complex system than we realized, and that it has huge immune functions,” he said.

This “second brain” provides a complex relationship between the brain and the digestive system. Traditional Chinese medicine addresses that relationship.

Typical treatments for children would include herbal treatments and acupuncture, if a child is mature enough to handle it, Melethil said.

“It’s a compliance and cost issue,” he said. “If children do well with acupuncture, I’m fine with it. But what I have to recognize is, their lives are very busy, and we also need to look for cheaper options. Yet, if we can support their natural development, that’s so straight forward to treat.”

During his lectures, presented from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Jan. 14, 21 and 28, at the Tauchman House in Boones Ferry City Park,  Melethil will explore this issue with parents, introducing information he has researched and practical solutions.

“The way we live as children influence how we live as adults,” he said. “You don’t just want to treat something as a child and think it’s a blank slate as an adult. I feel this has the potential to help a lot of families.”


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jglennon from skyland, North Carolina
1/13/2010 4:19:58 PM

The article is right on --- there's far more than just medication. I'm a retired elementary school principal. We used Play Attention at our school (www.playattention.com) and were very successful in increasing grades and improving behavior of ADHD students. We found it at the Florida Ed Tech Conference, but new research on it has just surfaced: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100107083904.htm Great program!

(last 7 days)