What Is Attention Deficit?
There's often nothing more frustrating than seeing a child or being an adolescent who experiences learning problems. These individuals may often be out of control, over-stimulated, under-stimulated, or experience uncontrolled stimulation patterns throughout their sensorium, exhibiting behavioral patterns which are difficult to explain and which often disrupt an entire household.

Attention Deficit is a dysfunction of the Central Nervous System (CNS), most specifically the Reticular Activating System, which results in difficulties of maintaining attention and concentration, learning and memory, as well as involving an inability to process and sort out incoming information or stimulus from both an individual's inner (subjective) and outer (objective) worlds. It may manifest itself in undue passivity or inattentiveness, or unruly, uncontrollable, aggressive hyperactivity in affected individuals.

What Are The Causes Of Attention Deficit? Attention Deficit is a limiting metabolic dysfunction of the Reticular Activating System, the center of consciousness that coordinates learning and memory, and which normally supplies the appropriate neural connections necessary for smooth information processing and clear, non-stressful attention. When neural building materials are lacking, demand for further connectivity cannot easily be fulfilled, interfering with the efficient processing of information, and frustrating the AD individual.

In other words, neural "hardware" remains in limited production (there's not enough of it), and supply cannot keep up with the demand (increasing stimulus or "traffic") for new neural connections within the Central Nervous System (CNS). Demands for new learning, memory, and the management of information processing cannot be satisfied, and the insufficient "connections" result in existing neural pathways being repeatedly overworked and over stressed, often resulting in complete gridlock or shutdown so that nothing gets processed thereafter. This, most noticeably, generates frustration, bewilderment and behavioral problems in the Attention Deficited individual.

The Reticular Activating System and its connections. At the center of consciousness, attention and learning.
The Reticular Activating System appears to be intimately involved in the neural mechanisms which produce consciousness and focused attention, receiving impulses from the spinal cord and relaying them to the Thalamus, and from there to the Cortex, and back again in a feedback loop to the Hippocampus/Thalamus/ Hypothalamus and participating neural structures in order for learning and memory to take place. Without continual excitation of cortical neurons by reticular activation impulses, an individual is unconscious and cannot be aroused. When stimulation is enough for consciousness but not for attentiveness, ADD or LD results. If too activated, an individual cannot relax or concentrate (and is over-stimulated or hyperactive) often resulting in ADHD.

How Does This Limitation Affect An Individual's Perceptual Abilities?
Although Attention Deficit starts in the brain, it really involves the entire sensorium (vision, smell, touch, hearing, etc.) as well as the inner world of cognition and emotion. When deprived of the required number of neural connections needed to process the "traffic" smoothly, competition between various stimulus results. Overly competitive stimulation from multiple external and internal sources (too much visual stimulation, too much sound stimulation, too many internal feelings and emotions, etc.) can cause undue frustration, irritation, aggression and anxiety. When the limited neural network is overly taxed in this regard, it becomes unable to "tune in" or focus on some stimulation, while "tuning out," or "turning down" (attenuating) other stimulation.

This lack of ability to focus on some particular stimulus while attenuating others, creates undue "noise" in the perceptual systems within the brain. For the Attention Deficited individual, this perceptual "neural-noise" is so overly noxious and continuous that it appears to be competitively assaultive, crippling any attempt to concentrate on one stimulus while attenuating others. Feelings of helplessness and anxiety are often overwhelming, forcing an Attention Deficited individual to look for ways in which to survive the assaultive nature of their world.

A number of strategies are possible, but two are generally the most common and most easily documented. The first is that of an ADHD individual. ADHDs are hypothesized to have ample supplies of Acetylcholine and clear, lipofuscin-free, unobstructed Cholinergic pathways, allowing them to actively compete and overwhelm the intrusive messages. Thus, ADHD individuals attempt to operate at a "noisier" level (becoming intensely hyperactive), trying to "shout-down" the crowded array of competing stimulation within their brain.

ADDs and LDs are hypothesized to have low Acetylcholine levels and adverse lipofuscin populations within the Cholinergic neural pathways, making a competitive response more difficult and trying. For both an ADD and LD individual, it becomes so "noisy" that it becomes necessary to shut down all processing of the senses altogether, avoiding and deflecting all stimulation. The incessant cacophony of "neural-noises" produces a powerfully competitive "numbing," almost hypnotic agent, and ADHD individuals simply "give up" to the competitively powerful undifferentiated "white-neural-noise" being generated by their sensorium because the neural-thresholds of the sensorium have over-fired and can no longer be sustained. Thus, unlike other children, the ADD and LD individual simply "shut-down" and "tune-out," producing high Theta and/or Alpha brain waves (see brain maps below).

Relative Power Z-Score Maps from Quantitative Electroencephalography (QEEG)

Differences in activity in normal and ADD children
The brain maps on the left (1&2) are of normal individuals: a 14 year old female and 9 year old male. The ones on the right (3&4) are ADD individuals: a different 14 year old female and a different 9 year old male. Notice how the two ADD individuals (3&4) demonstrate high (more red) Theta and Alpha activity in their maps than do the normal individuals, respectively. High Theta wave actvity is generally associated with drowsiness; High Alpha activity is generally associated with idleness. The ADD results (3&4) are characteristic of states of non-attentiveness, and too little stimulation of the reticular activating system, and probable inadequate number of connections. Thus the ADD/LD child can effectively "tune-out" his/her environment. In contrast, the normal children's results of low Alpha and Theta wave activity (1&2) are characteristic of alertness and focused attentiveness, demonstrating adequate stimulation of the reticular activating system, and thus, an adequate number of neural connections.

What Can Be Done To Correct This Dysfunction Of The Reticular Activating System?
Fortunately, when appropriate (1) neural building materials, (2) precursors to neurotransmitters and (3) an appropriate fund of neural buffers are supplied, neural networks may be created and forged quickly in order to meet the increasing demands of heavy neural traffic, especially in the prepubescent individual. In fact, given the chance, individual neurons can grow at the rate of 3-5mm per day! And, there are roughly 100 billion neurons in the brain to be developed, along with a staggering 900 billion supporting glial ("helper") cells -- a grand total of one trillion (1,000,000,000,000) cells to be nurtured -- that's 10 times the number of stars estimated to be in our galaxy!

Are These Neural Building Materials Really All That Important?
Yes, they are! One half of the dry weight of the brain (neurons, glial and brain cells) is made up of fatty acids and lipids. The "hard neural connections," or synapses, between all these essential areas of the brain where the coordination of memory and learning take place is largely made possible by the structures of Fatty Acids and Phospholipids alone. And, the physical number of neural connections then potentiates further production of neurotransmitters and neural buffers, which in turn enhances memory processing and learning even more. If these essential building blocks of the brain's "hardware" and "software" are not adequately provided for, then many "connections" will simply not be made or developed. The good news is that Växa's Attend supplies these important factors!

Composite Structure of a typical Neuron
The basic "Hardware" of the Central Nervous System must be in place in order for memory and learning to proceed efficiently. The more neurons there are that can make "connections" with other neurons, the more efficient and easy learning and remembering may become. Without such "connectivity," learning is often frustrated and impaired as it is with Attention Deficited individuals. (Above is a diagram of a Multipolar neuron with multiple extentions from the cell body. Below is an actual micrograph of a Bipolar neuron with 2 extensions from the cell body.)

Actual Scanning Electron Micrograph of a Neuron

What Is Attend?
Växa's Attend is a safe, all-natural, homeopathic medicinal specifically engineered to help support the function of the Central Nervous System of individuals who are inclined to be inattentive, under and/or overactive and perhaps learning impaired, enabling the body to balance both neural growth and neurotransmitter production within the Brain and Central Nervous System (CNS). Attend is formulated to supply the essential building materials for the entire neural network, helping to potentiate balanced stimulation of the Reticular Activating System while aiding the body in appropriate neural buffering within.

How Does Attend Work?
Quite uniquely, Attend is designed to complement the body’s natural calming and balancing agents with specific homeopathic ingredients (Lithium bromatum, carbonicum) which help to target, direct and smoothly focus attention, while naturally complementing the activity of the Reticular Activating System. The homeopathic ingredients in Attend have exemplified the power of attenuation in remarkable ways and minimized exhaustion after moderate mental effort. Additionally the homeopathic ingredients in Attend have served to aid in prolonged mental exertion and brain fatigue. The inability to keep the mind fixed on any one subject may be a reason to consider taking Attend. Attend may also be helpful with other symptoms such as wandering thoughts, restless agitation, weakness of memory, and slow perception.

Are There Any Side-Effects With Attend?
No, Attend is safe and non-toxic! Unlike other medications, Attend works without the harmful side-effects that may stunt the growth of developing children. Indeed, Attend works to help naturally stimulate neural growth patterning and regenerative activity so as to forge more “connections” within the neural network. Interestingly, other ADD-specific pharmaceuticals have been suspected of retarding growth of ADD individuals, which ironically, is the last thing you would want to do with individuals who have been neurally limited! Furthermore, Attend works without diminishing overall processing, cognitive and learning activities, as do amphetamines, antidepressants or anticonvulsants normally prescribed for ADD, and all of which have been shown to detrimentally diminish cognitive activity.