Sydenham Chorea or ADHD? Can you tell the difference?
Children with low-level or moderate-level streptococcal infection who develop fidgety behaviors, acting out, and an inability to concentrate are most likely to get diagnosed with ADHD if the parent takes the child to a doctor or a psychiatrist. Sydenham chorea diagnoses are much less common even though it’s likely that most ADHD patients actually have a streptococcal infection that contributes to at least some extent to their symptoms. Most kids who aren’t able to sit still will also need treatment with Mucuna pruriens to regrow damaged dopamine receptors (Streptococcus pyogenes, for example, can infect dopamine receptors to cause symptoms of ADHD).
Adults with ADHD as well as issues with addictive behaviors should take note as well. Streptococcal bacteria can create a colony in the body as a headquarters and then start doing something called “molecular mimicry” of human tissues. Strep bacteria can masquerade as human muscle cells (Streptococcal bacteria pretend to be “myosin” while another pathogen like Coxsackievirus might pretend to be “actin”) and they can lodge themselves in dopamine neurons, damaging the neurons (which can be healed with about 5 months of therapy with Mucuna pruriens) and disrupting dopamine transmission in the body. Molecular mimicry is an insidious method used by certain types of pathogens to be able to escape being targeted by the immune system while still being able to steal our energy in one form or another.
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Sydenham chorea vs. ADHD: Why Sydenham chorea is a Better Diagnosis That’s Rarely Given
Sydenham chorea is rarely diagnosed in developed nations. Rather, children with difficulty concentrating are often diagnosed instead with ADHD. Doctors must have record of a child having rheumatic fever (which is caused by Streptococcus pyogenes) before diagnosing a child with Sydenham chorea, but most children who get sick with Streptococcus infection (in the modern world, strep throat is the most common manifestation) don’t necessarily develop rheumatic fever with an identifiable rash. The rheumatic illness might go unnoticed depending on symptom presentation or it just doesn’t develop at all, yet the child may still have a colony of Streptococcus pyogenes living in their body, causing symptoms of ADHD / Sydenham chorea.
I’m not saying that some doctors won’t be able to identify Sydenham chorea, but rather just that ADHD is a popular diagnosis today. Doctors who aren’t familiar with Sydenham’s chorea could easily miss this diagnosis in the race to prescribe as many ADHD meds as possible so as to cash in on some sweet, sweet, commissions from Big Pharma.
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And think of how devastating it might be to the industry around addiction treatment centers if addiction was something that was often, or even sometimes fueled by a treatable infection. And if that treatment was a natural treatment, the financial devastation could be even more severe, particularly if that treatment (essentially a combination of Cinchona officinalis and Artemisia annua), was natural and not patentable.The disease known as Sydenham chorea, which causes restless, constant movement as a result of a mild, low-level streptococcal infection and iron-deficiency anemia that’s caused by the bacteria’s reliance on heme in our blood, continues chronically until a child (or adult) can physically rest for an extended period of time (4 to 6 weeks) or until the child is treated for low-level streptococcal infection using a medicinal agent that doesn’t destroy the gut flora and that is relatively non-toxic. I’m not talking about prescription antibiotic therapy, but more powerful, at-home treatments with a combination of Cinchona officinalis and Artemisia annua among other things that we’ll discuss below. Simple bedrest for 6 weeks can cure Sydenham chorea, but that can be extremely challenging to implement for active kids in today’s world. Nonetheless, parents should know that a cure for ADHD doesn’t have to be expensive and in fact, it might be totally cost-free, but if you don’t know the underlying cause, it’s unlikely that you’ll figure it out once the doctors start prescribing medications that cause more damage to the child’s brain and body.
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Streptococcus pyogenes can form a relationship with other pathogens like Coxsackievirus. Streptococcus pyogenes can mimic the myosin in muscle tissue while Coxsackievirus can mimic actin, hijacking human myosin and actin that normally work together to produce coordinated, intentional muscle movement. This “molecular mimicry” can also cause heart-related issues in the heart muscle. In order to treat the problem (be it restless legs and arms or heart palpitations and other heart issues), you have to consistently administer the protocol that we describe below for 6 to 8 weeks or possible longer. Essentially, Coxsackievirus and Streptococcus can do a heist on ADP-ATP energy packets released when muscles are doing work. These pathogens literally pretend to be human cells. Two pathogens (in this case Streptococcus and Coxsackievirus) can work together, like wolves in sheep’s clothing to produce symptoms of extreme restlessness and heart problems (via their impact on heart muscles) that might resemble any number of diseases from ADHD to Parkinson’s disease or restless legs syndrome.We rarely think of rest as an actual treatment, let alone as a cure for a supposedly chronic disease, but in fact, doctors in the mid-1900s would prescribe bed-rest to kids with Sydenham chorea in order to cure it. Bed rest for 6 weeks produced a full recovery, likely because if the child (or adult patient) is resting in bed, the streptococcus bacteria (working in tandem with Coxsackievirus) is not able to steal energy packets of ATP from muscles in order to feed and sustain itself. Also, it takes about 4 to 6 weeks to recover from iron-deficiency anemia that’s caused by Streptococcus pyogenes once this problem develops. A number of pathogenic infections can cause iron-deficiency anemia because different types of “hemolytic” pathogens harvest the iron in our red blood cells (destroying the red blood cells) to meet their own nutrient needs.
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Iron-deficiency anemia can cause dental health issues, mouth sores and inflammation in the mouth and gums, as well as inflammation in the digestive system. Stomach lining inflammation often occurs in tandem with fever (which is also a symptom of iron-deficiency anemia that’s caused by a low-level infection) in turn can cause poor nutrient digestion and absorption that ultimately perpetuates the anemic situation. Intestinal inflammation is also common in iron-deficiency anemia, again perpetuating the issue. To get around this problem in children and adults with ADHD (and other symptoms of Streptococcus pyogenes or Coxsackievirus infection), we recommend dosing with small amounts of red wine throughout the day and at meals. Years ago, in France, parents gave children red wine to treat fever in children. Indeed, this type of treatment using red wine or also whiskey has been used not just to treat but to cure serious childhood illnesses like diphtheria. Today, the use of alcohol in children is controversial, though parents who work with alternative medicines are usually willing to give their child alcohol-based herbal tinctures without worrying about the alcohol content. Indeed, alcohol is medicinal and many alcoholics develop alcoholism as a result of an underlying insulin resistance. Alcohol mimics the action of insulin as a substance that can, in low doses, encourage cells to take in nutrients in a manner similar to how insulin opens cells so that they can absorb not just sugars, but also amino acids, and other nutrients. Herbal remedies sometimes (not always) work better when they’re steeped in alcohol because alcohol can open cells that might otherwise resist the medicinal substances found in herbs. So, if you feel all warm and fuzzy about vegetable glycerin-based tinctures that have become popular rather than alcohol-based tinctures, be aware that alcohol is a medicine. Indeed, glycerin in the mouth clogs up the pores in the teeth, predisposing people to tooth decay. So before you dismiss the idea of giving your child (or yourself) small doses of red wine throughout the day in order to overcome ADHD, restless legs syndrome, or the variety of other symptoms caused by Streptococcus pyogenes and related pathogens, consider the big picture of how alcohol has been used throughout history as medicine.Our experience with red wine in children has been remarkably positive so far. We have successfully used a low dose of red wine (about ¼ to 1 tsp.) to lower fevers and to help hyperactive kids calm themselves down. The copper and iron in red wine along with the other nutrients in this type of alcohol can help kids and adults turn a corner more quickly in terms of building blood to overcome low level iron-deficiency anemia. A squirmy child who is unable to sit and focus might literally be unable to calm their muscles because the muscle tissue might be infection with pathogens that are stealing energy from them. Muscles are always either in a state of “tetany” or tension or their in state of “extension” or stretching. Muscle groups oppose each other and do a “tug-of-war”, using the bones as levers. This is how body movement occurs. But if you have Streptococcus and Coxsackievirus pathogens that are masquerading as actual muscle tissues – as myosin and actin – they can steal the energy packets from the muscle making it hard for that muscle to find a state of relaxation because the dynamic of tension and extension in the muscle groups get disrupted. When this happens, it can literally be impossible for a child to relax his or her body.
Further, Streptococcus can disrupt dopamine receptor function which then disrupts a child’s focus and their ability to be curious and interested in something. That’s a terrible combination of experiences: where your body can’t rest and your mind can’t settle on something that is sufficiently interesting to captivate the attention.
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Protocol to Overcome ADHD, Sydenham chorea, PANS / PANDAS, Restless Legs Syndrome, Parkinson’s Disease, Etc. By Overcoming Hemolytic Infection
Note as you begin this protocol, that you need to consistently be drinking the “tonic water” that we describe here throughout the day. DO NOT TAKE MAGNESIUM or VITAMIN C within two hours before or after taking the tonic water. Give yourself a break from the tonic water overnight unless you experience restlessness primarily overnight. If that’s the case, you can instead give yourself or your child sips of tonic water throughout the night to treat restlessness and take a break from the tonic water during the day instead.Plan to administer this protocol for at least 3 months to overcome infection. To prevent future infection, take daily doses of Artemisia annua (take ⅓ of a treatment dose) after all symptoms of infection are gone.
Adults may wish to add 1-3 teaspoons of “tonic syrup” daily to their Cinchona officinalis and Artemisia annua tonic water to increase the quinine level in treatment. Note however that quinine can cause ear issues if it is dosed at too high of a level in children. For this reason, we don’t recommend giving a pre-made quinine-containing tonic syrup to kids under the age of 18 years.
Cinchona officinalis
Get Cinchona bark. Use a gram scale to measure the proper dose for your child. Administer 20 mg per pound (0.5 kg) of the child’s body weight of the Cinchona bark daily. Make the medicine daily for the first 30 days of treatment to ensure that it contains all of the medicinal substances. Do not reboil unused treatments.After the first 30 days of treatment with Cinchona officinalis and Artemisia annua, you can make a batch of the decoction for 5 days of treatment as long as it is refrigerated. Note that the reactive oxygen species may not be as powerful in the Artemisia annua when the treatment is stored in the refrigerator overnight.
If it is a wood-product that comes in chunks, powder it or grind it up using a coffee grinder to produce a powder. If some small chunks remain, that’s okay.
Put the powder or bark product into a small amount of water. Make sure there’s enough water that the mixture of powder and water won’t scorch. You want to have a bit of water left over after bringing the mixture to a boil and then reducing the heat to a simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. In other words, you need to have enough water in your pot to be able to simmer it for 15-20 minutes without scorching the mixture. You also need to make sure you have enough water to add in the proper dose of Artemisia annua after you’ve removed the pot from the fire.
After producing this decoction, remove it from the fire. Have your Artemisia annua powder measured out (see below) and add it to the mixture of Cinchona and water as soon as you remove it from the stovetop.
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Artemisia annua
For children under 5 years of age, administer 2.5 grams of Artemisia annua daily. For children over 5 years of age and up, administer 5 grams of Artemisia annua daily. Add the appropriate dose to your decoction of Cinchona officinalis and water after it has been removed from the stovetop.
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Magnesium Sulfate / Epsom Salts
Give your child a magnesium sulfate (Epsom salts) bath once daily, at least 2 hours before and after the tonic water treatment. Magnesium is important as a nutrient that children need, so you need to make sure that your child gets magnesium daily, but magnesium interferes with quinine. So avoid taking magnesium within 2 hours of Cinchona officinalis treatments (sips of the tonic water).
Add 1/4 cup of Epsom salts to a normally-sized bathtub of water filled to the proper height for a child and let the child soak in this water for 15 minutes daily. Adults should use up to 1 cup of Epsom salts in a bathtub or they can take a Magnesium Glycinate (400 mg) supplement instead (do not take this supplement within 2 hours before or after treatment with Cinchona officinalis).
Vitamin C
The body uses vitamin C to build red blood cells which are often lacking in kids with hemolytic pathogen infection. But vitamin C should not be administered within 2 hours of drinking the tonic water as it can cancel out the effects of the Artemisia annua. So administer vitamin C at least 2 hours before and after drinking the tonic water. It would be ideal to take vitamin C at the same time as magnesium supplementation / baths.Also note that often children with these pathogenic infections have digestive inflammation that inhibits absorption of nutrients. This is one way in which these pathogens prevent full recovery and their own obliteration in the body – by keeping nutrients from being properly absorbed so that tissues are fully strengthened against infection.
Immediately after the bath, put a combination of 33 mg per pound (0.5 kg) of the child’s body weight of powdered vitamin C in its mineral-buffered form with dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) on the child’s skin. If your child is 5-10 years old, give the child 1000 mg of vitamin C by mouth (it can be in capsule form or as powder in water) at the same time. If your child is 10-14 years old, give the child 2000 mg of vitamin C at the same time. The vitamin C will help the child build blood to overcome anemia or iron-deficiency (that may or may not show up on a lab result) as well as to produce reactive oxygen species that can kill pathogens during the time period of the day or night when you are not actively given the child tonic water.
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Red Wine and Red Meat
Children with ADHD symptoms are often quite pale because they have a low-level iron deficiency. They may or may not be anemic, but hemolytic bacteria are all hungry for iron. They use iron to sustain themselves and iron often makes these pathogens more virulent. Meanwhile, our bodies are designed to recycle iron, so we don’t need to supplement with iron ever. We do need food sources with iron that can either be absorbed by our bodies or easily released if we don’t need more iron. So giving iron supplementation can be dangerous, if not counterproductive when trying to overcome an infection that causes ADHD, addiction, obsessive compulsive disorders (OCD), Pediatric Neuropsychiatric Disorders (PANS / PANDAS) restlessness including restless legs syndrome, movement disorders, and other symptoms of chronic disease that relates back to iron-deficiency with anemia and dopamine-related disorders.So while an ADHD child with a low-level hemolytic bacteria infection might need more iron, the best way to improve iron levels is through copper supplementation. But if the child’s digestive system is not functionally optimally due to debilitation from an infection (the child might be low on enzymes or have digestive system inflammation), the child may not be able to absorb and use copper in supplements. So we recommend red wine, which contains iron and copper, both in bioavailable forms that are not toxic as long as the red wine is administered in low doses throughout the day, especially at meals, to improve the child’s absorption of nutrients.
Administer about 10 drops of red wine in bubbly water (with Stevia or Monk Fruit to taste) for every 10 kg of the child’s body weight every 2-3 hours of the day. Administer a bit more than this in children with fever who are able to use words to communicate. Red wine can reduce fever in children who are having low-grade intermittent fevers (below 100.4°F).
Your child should also eat red meat while doing this protocol. Though some parents may be opposed to doing this because of their own dietary restrictions (I’ve been that person in the past), red meat is a medicine for kids in situations involving ADHD, autism, PANS / PANDAS, restlessness, susceptibility to infection, etc. Red meat in the diet can make or break a child’s health profile, so consider this aspect of treatment carefully before dismissing it.
Green Coffee and Melissa Officinalis Tea
Finally, get green coffee beans and grind them to make 1-2 cups of coffee daily for your kids. The green coffee contains quinic acid that reduces gut inflammation. In kids, caffeine has a calming effect. Green coffee in adults doesn’t produce the same level of jitteriness as roasted coffee so adults should drink 3-4 cups daily as well to treat ADHD, restless legs syndrome, etc.We combine Melissa officinalis tea with the green coffee. Melissa officinalis helps to gently improve issues with insulin resistance in kids while promoting states of relaxation both during the day and at night. Melissa officinalis also helps to heal the thyroid gland which is often afflicted with viral infection (Coxsackievirus can cause a viral infection) that makes it easier for Streptococcus pyogenes to infect the body long-term.
NOTE that in those who suffer with alcohol addiction specifically, switching exclusively to red wine while doing the other aspects of this protocol may slowly, over time (months), help the alcohol addiction abate. Adding Mucuna pruriens (4000 mg per day)and Pueraria lobata (2000 mg every 4 hours) can also help reduce alcohol cravings naturally as the infection goes away.
Final Thoughts
Scientists believe that streptococcal bacteria like Streptococcus pyogenes are commensal in the human body and though it colonizes the body, it may not produce any symptoms of infection. This is a fact. But don’t be confused by what I’m saying here. Though Streptococcus pyogenes may not be producing symptoms of infection, it may be producing symptoms of autoimmunity (such as Lupus Erythematosus or Rheumatoid Arthritis, for example) or even “Long COVID” or other “Long Disease” symptoms. Another infectious pathogen like Coxsackievirus can co-infect the body to produce odd symptoms like those that occur in patients with Sydenham’s chorea. Coxsackievirus and other similar pathogens may create or exploit weaknesses in the body synergistically.
Cinchona officinalis and Artemisia annua can be used as a very broad-spectrum antimicrobial agent against many types of pathogens: viruses, bacteria, protozoa, and more. Green coffee and Melissa officinalis work with Cinchona bark and Artemisia annua to heal the gut lining while pathogens that cause gut issues, behavioral issues, restlessness, etc. are dying. Red meat and red wine promote blood-building which is essential as without a proper level of red blood cells to carry oxygen to the cells, cells can’t breathe and the body becomes weak and prone to infection and other types of illness. You need those red blood cells to also remove waste and toxins from human cells that have become toxic for one reason or another. So red meat and red wine work together with these other treatments to improve overall health in children. Red wine is controversial as is red meat for some parents, but historically, red wine was what parents turned to for intermittent fever caused by hemolytic pathogens in the era before antibiotics began to be prescribed by doctors. Antibiotics have their place in medicine, but they can and often do promote gut dysbiosis and inflammation, chronically poor nutrient absorption, and the development of pathogen colonization in weakened tissues. This is a powerful protocol and it can be used in infants, pregnant women, adults, and the elderly to overcome a suspected infection with a pathogen that may not show up in lab tests at the doctor’s office. Though quinine as a drug can sometimes cause side effects, they are reversible. Cinchona contains some quinine, but it is a low dose of it and the quinine is present in combination with other medicinal agents in the plant that reduce the odds of the patient suffering side effects. But do pay close attention to dosing when working with Cinchona officinalis. The doses are rather small, making this an affordable treatment, but don’t increase the dose beyond what we suggest here nonetheless.
How to Buy and Store Quinic Acid Foods and Plants
Organic berries contain higher levels of quinic acid. Green coffee that’s grown at higher altitude have higher levels of quinic acid as well.Over time, quinic acid degrades at room temperature. Store fresh fruits in the refrigerator to preserve the quinic acids.
High heat over 140° C retains most quinic acid, but extended high heat (roasting coffee beans at 200°C) breaks them down into lactones. Juice extractions and cold-pressed foods contain more quinic acids than those that have been cooked at over 140°C.
Quinic acids found in foods are generally safe, but high-intake quinic acid supplements or extracts can cause gastrointestinal upset, jitteriness, and drug interactions (by changing stomach pH and absorption).
Resources:
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• Kanchanasurakit, S. et al. (2023). Chlorogenic acid in green bean coffee on body weight: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Retrieved January 28, 2026 from https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10503105/
• Menendez, C. M. et al. (2024). Dopamine receptor autoantibody signaling in infectious sequelae differentiates movement versus neuropsychiatric disorders. Retrieved January 30, 2026 from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39325550/
• Yang, Z. B. et al. (2020). Artesunate alleviates the inflammatory response of ulcerative colitis by regulating the expression of miR-155. Retrieved January 17, 2026 from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13880209.2020.1867196
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (2018). Quinine. Retrieved January 17, 2026 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK548596/
• Wolf, R. et al. (2002). Quinine sulfate and bacterial invasion. Retrieved January 17, 2026 from https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC149380/
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (2018). Quinine. Retrieved January 17, 2026 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK548596/
• Ghasemi-Dehnoo, M. et al. (2023).Quinic acid ameliorates ulcerative colitis in rats, through the inhibition of two TLR4-NF-kappaB and NF-kappaB-INOS-NO signaling pathways. Retrieved January 17, 2026 from https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10408368/
