We specialize in accurately identifying the 7 types of ADD.
Once ADD type is identified, we treat patients accordingly
Our expert staff offers medical care, counseling, and nutritional assistance
Inattentive, distractible, disorganized, hyperactive, restless, and impulsive.
Easily distracted with low attention span, but not hyperactive. Instead, often appears sluggish or apathetic.
Excessive worrying, argumentative, and compulsive; often gets locked in a spiral of negative thoughts.
Quick temper and rage, periods of panic and fear, mildly paranoid.
Moodiness, low energy. Socially isolated, chronic low-grade depression, frequent feelings of hopelessness.
Angry, aggressive, sensitive to noise, light, clothes, and touch; often inflexible, experiencing periods of mean, unpredictable behavior and grandiose thinking.
Anxious, tense, nervous, predicts the worst, gets anxious with timed tests, social anxiety, and often has physical stress symptoms, such as headaches and gastrointestinal symptoms, conflict avoidant.
Each Type of ADD has diagnostic and treatment uniqueness. All diagnostic skills and medical tests are necessary for the most accurate diagnosis and the most precise treatment.
Poor circulation, Sex hormone deficiency (Estrogen/Testosterone/DHEA), vitamin malabsorption (B12, vitamin D, folate, zinc), are all associated with natural aging and easily treatable causes of attention, memory, and mood disorders.
Many of the conditions causing problems of attention and focus also result in poor motor skills, pain perception, and cognition. Our goal is a totally productive brain. Even highly performing brains can improve.
Dementia, Parkinson’s disease, Type 2 Diabetes, Sleep apnea, Infections (Lyme, Syphilis, HIV, etc), Thyroid and endocrine disorders, and many other diseases impair brain function.
Traumatic brain injury (concussion), medications/drugs of abuse, sleep deprivation, stress, chronic pain, and poor nutrition/malabsorption are a few of the many acquired causes of ADD.
Many ADD patients with attention deficit have multiple factors cited above and require an expert approach to solving each and every adverse brain insult. Physicians comfortable with solving complex medical problems are necessary for maximal attention, memory, and focus. ADHD in children often continues as ADHD in adults.
ADD is highly inherited. Most ADD patients have a parent or sibling also affected.
Diet studies confirm impaired cognitive function in the overweight and obese. Foods high in saturated fat combined with starches cause the excretion of toxic cytokine hormones by the abdominal fat cell, gut, liver, and brain that impair neuron (brain cell) function. Our diet counselors will examine what dietary deletions, additions, or supplements may enhance brain attention and memory.
Sleep prescriptions, including CPAP, will be prescribed when appropriate. BrainTap technology may be beneficial through brainwave training. Using frequency following response, BrainTap features beats, tones and light pulses with guided imagary and messages to improve sleep. Neurofeedback and other meditation techniques are available at www.amenclinics.com.
Supplements (food, vitamin, mineral, or herbal) improve brain function. PrescriptFit products and a variety of nutritional supplements are offered through the ADD Clinics store.
Medication is prescribed after all mitigating conditions have been addressed. Stimulants, anti-depressants, anti-epileptics, anti-psychotics, beta blockers, and others may be prescribed.
Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy will be arranged on appropriate candidates in their local community. The Oxygen Revolution by Paul Harch, MD is highly recommended reading, especially for those with prior brain concussion injuries.
Medical Conditions may be treated at ADD Clinics or referred to the appropriate specialist. These conditions include Type 2 Diabetes, circulation, infections, arthritis, gastrointestinal disease, thyroid, adrenal, dementia, or epileptic illness.
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) fundamental to brain cell function are prescribed appropriately. Dr. Owen’s book, The Best Sex of Your Life: Diet and Medical Therapy is available at our store and website (www.drdiet.com). It reviews HRT strategies in the context of complex medical conditions, including ADD.
Exercise improves cognitive function, memory, and mood. An exercise professional will review your exercise ability and disabilities and prescribe optimal programs.
1. Amen Symptom Score Sheet (Master Questionnaire) provides questions that assist in sub-typing ADD with specificity. All patients are should complete and submit prior to entry examination.
2. Irlen Syndrome testing is also performed at the initial examination. Irlen syndrome is a common visual-processing disorder that is treated with filtered lenses. Many ADD patients have Irlen syndrome, which is easily and safely treated without drugs.
3. Laboratory blood testing will be done appropriate to probable diagnosis. Medically treatable conditions that affect brain function will be tested including diabetes, thyroid, anemia, adrenal, sex-hormone deficiency, infections, inflammation, circulatory/cardiac, liver, kidney, or cancer. Correctable conditions will be treated accordingly.
4. Sleep apnea testing for those with probable sleep apnea (if not previously diagnosed or treated). A simple, at-home testing device will assist in diagnosis and treatment of this common disorder that dramatically decreases attention and memory. CPAP will be prescribed accordingly in addition to nutrition therapy and weight loss.
5. Cerescan SPECT brain imaging will be recommended for most patients. Scans are performed at DIS Imaging in Metairie, Louisiana. Cerescan combines information from clinical scores for most accurate diagnosis. Cerescan assists in multiple diagnoses, such as those with ADD, Traumatic Brain Injury, Anxiety, Depression, or Bipolar.
6. Drug Screening of urine will be performed on all new patients and periodically on follow up visits for patients on controlled medication such as stimulants. Co-mixing medication/drugs is dangerous and will exclude patients from further stimulant prescriptions. Alcohol, tobacco, benzodiazepine/sleep medication, opiates, and marijuana all impair brain function and should be avoided. The physician will manage prescription drugs impairing brain function.
7. Nutrition Consultation will be performed on all new patients to decrease brain-toxic food combinations or obesity. Obesity and poor nutrition are common causes of cognitive decline and respond quickly to nutrition therapy. This is a cornerstone of treatment at ADD Clinics. All patients will be recommended 12 weeks of lifestyle and supplement therapy prior to lifelong prescribed medications, possibly making medication unnecessary.
8. Addictive medication evaluation will be performed on all patients entering ADD Clinics for treatment. A Certified Addiction Counselor will interview patients and offer treatment for elimination of substances of abuse (tobacco, benzo, opiates, marijuana, daily alcohol). Patients cannot receive optimal ADD treatment while on these medications. No patient with prior methamphetamine addiction will be treated with stimulants.
ADD Clinics treat adult patients (15 y/o +) with impaired Attention and Memory. Our goal is to improve brain function in all patients. We follow the principles outlined by Dr. Daniel Amen and are Amen trained and affiliated. Adult patients with ADD are more complicated than children with ADD/ADHD due to diseases and medications not seen in childhood that affect the brain.
ADD Clinics is developed by Stanford A. Owen, MD., a practicing Internal Medicine physician, known nationally for his expertise for treating nutrition-related illness. He is Board Certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Physician Nutrition Specialists. He is a certified Master Psychopharmacologist by the Neuroscience Education Institute with subspecialty training in ADD. He has treated adult ADD since 2001. Expertise in chronic disease, psychopharmacology, and nutrition allow combined treatment for the improvement of your most important organ—your brain!
Dr. Owen’s philosophy is to maximally improve each of the many factors that may adversely affect brain function. His passion is empiricism—measuring improvement. Patients learn which factors affect the brain adversely, how to avoid damage, adding healing factors, and measuring the result. Improvement reinforces compliance treatment long term.
For more information on Dr. Owen’s PrescriptFit Medical Nutrition Therapy programs and books, visit www.drdiet.com.
Cheryl Grace, M.ED., JD, is a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor (CADC # AD17-021G) for patients with addictions and drug dependency. She has 20 years of experience helping patients detox and rehab from addictive drugs and alcohol. She witnesses first hand the deleterious effects of toxic agents on brain function, especially focus, attention, and memory. She also witnesses the joy and reward of individuals regaining a fully functional brain. Cheryl assists brain-impaired addicted patients while helping them safely remove these attention-destroying agents. Patients entering ADD Clinics for treatment MUST be off opiates, benzodiazapines, marijuana, and daily alcohol prior to ADD evaluations. Dr. Owen may assist in detox when necessary. Cheryl also has her Master’s degree in Exercise Physiology with her thesis on assisting the physically and mentally challenged. Cheryl evaluates all patients on entry for psychological, social, and spiritual stresses including drugs of abuse. She helps direct non-medication treatment that improves brain function and is available for long-term counseling, including monitoring of exercise strategies. She an Amen-Certified Brain Coach.
Anne Andry, MS, RD is director of research and nutritional services. She has extensive experience treating patients in brain-impairing medical conditions related to nutrition, especially Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. She conducts FDA monitored medication trials being considered for FDA approval. Anne is an Amen-certified Brain Coach. She manages the nutrition and supplement store at ADD Clinics. Both Ms. Andry and Ms. Grace are Irlen Syndrome Certified Testers. Many states now mandate Irlen Syndrome screening for all school children. Most adults go undiagnosed and untreated. For more information about the Irlen Method, see www.irlen.com.
Robert Owen is the ADD Clinics administrative director. He manages all aspects of patient contact from marketing, inquiry, entry, treatment, and follow up. Robert has a BA degree from LSU School of Mass Communication. Clinics desiring implementation of ADD Clinics protocols and licensing should contact Robert for more information and to schedule site visits.
Amen Clinics were developed by Dr. Daniel Amen, a pediatric psychiatrist. Dr. Amen has the largest worldwide experience utilizing brain imaging, especially SPECT nuclear imaging, to diagnose and treat psychiatric illness including ADD. His clinics are world renown for their innovation and holistic approach to brain health. He was the first to recognize and categorize subtypes of ADD. Books, nutritional products, and educational information are available by linking to the Amen Clinics at www.amenclinics.com.
Cerescan is a company dedicated to brain imaging utilizing SPECT, MRI, and other imaging techniques to diagnose and treat brain illness, including Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). They are located in Denver, CO and is the company used to schedule and interpret imaging studies performed by DIS Imaging of Greater New Orleans. All ADD Clinics patients are scanned via Cerescan at DIS Imaging. Further information is available at www.cerescan.com.