I would like to introduce my self and my family...

[dis2cruise]

Hi everyone! my name is cheryl and i am married with 2 children who both have add, ds is 13 and dd is 11. both of my children had been on different types of meds, i finally stopped when my poor ds had really bad ticks form them and lost so much weight because the meds was not making him hungry, and to top it all off he wasn't getting sleep and his brown circles underneath his eyes said it all. since we have been off meds for a while school is a little tough for ALL of us, found this web site and thought i would give it a shot. i like the idea of the natural approach, where do i begin? how much vitamins do i give my children and what i have read several posts and it seems differnent people give their kids diffenent ones, my ds is 88 lbs and dd is 79 lbs. any help would greatly be appreciated.
thanks,
cheryl

[rosyred45]

Hi Cheryl, welcome to the family Have you tried an elimination program, ie Feingold Program? We have done that for my son, and the results are fantastic. It eliminates artificial colors, art. flavors, preservatives, and salycitates. www.feingold.org

We hadn't seen the need to add additional vitamins and such, BUT after I saw my 7 yo's teacher the other day, I will be learning about the same way you are. ASK AWAY.

Anyhow, there is a wealth of information in there forums, cruz around, and when it's been a bad day, pop into the humor section for a little chuckle or two.

Welcome again
Kaiti

[tridlette]

Cheryl!

Welcome to our family!

I have been just winging it, no meds or vitamins... and I regularly find myself

But I have ADHD also, so it is hard for me to remember what vitamins to buy, to give, to take, etc...

As Kaiti said, a lot of our parents are finding great results from the feingold program. We tried the meds with lousy results to, so we just have weekly check in's with the high school teachers for my ds 14. I home school my ds 12 and ds 10, so we have a lot more wiggle room during school hours. Right now, I have them outside putting up lawn reindeer... art class?

Anyway, ask any questions you'd like, Kaiti already asked all the dumb ones, so anything you ask will sound down right intelligent! (We love Kaiti, even at her dumb moments!)

Welcome aboard, hope to see lots of you around!

Laurie

[rosyred45]

And the dumb ones I missed Laurie picked up the slack for ;D ;D

Oh and a big thing, we are very light hearted and supportive of each other.

Aint that right chicklette,,,,sorry I mean tridlette

[tridlette]

hey Kaiti, I am flattered that you think I can act as dumb as you!

By the way, did you wash the new dish I gave you? and is it busy AIR DRYING too?

[rosyred45]

Washed-air dried and PUT AWAY

[catatonic]

Hi Cheryl -- glad you found your way here.

We have had tremendous success with the Feingold diet. It's hard for me to describe it any other way but miraculous, it made such a huge difference in my son's behavior. There are a number of dietary modification programs, but this is the one we tried first and it's the one that works for us. Dietary changes are a good place to start. (You can check out the feingold program at www.feingold.org )

Next step would be supplements, and you're right that everyone seems to do something different. That's because we're all living in vast science fair experiments in which our children are the guinea pigs, and we end up doing what works. Based on clinical research, the priority supplements would be:

Omega-3 (fish oil) containing at least 480mg DHA and 720mg EPA. The bottle label will contain this information. Depending on the type of fish oil you buy, you will need to take as many as four capsules per day.

Magnesium -- minimum of 3mg per pound of body weight (for example, an 80 pound child would take 240mg daily) up to a maximum of 6mg per pound of body weight. Buy any kind of magnesium that appeals to you and that you think your children will take, as long as it is NOT magnesium oxide. (Your body does not utilize magnesium oxide well.)

A decent multi-vitamin, preferably containing trace minerals like manganese, copper, molybdenum, etc. Kirkman Labs makes good vitamins (http://www.kirkmanlabs.com ) but there are lots of good choices out there. Browse your health food store.

For us, these are the most critical elements. Everything else is pretty much fine-tuning. Plan on giving it about 12 weeks, since that's the length of time normally required to correct an Omega-3 deficiency.