Gonna give it "Natural" one more try

[Horst]

Hi,

As I posted last week, I'm considering meds for my ADD inattentive son. But, before I go that route I'm going to make sure I've exhausted my possibilites with Natural Alternatives. My plan is to up my son's Fish Oil and E to twice a day. Put him back on magnesium and try Lecithin. But I have some questions...

I've read that I take my son's weight x 6 for the mgs of magnesium, but what kind of magnesium should it be? There are so many confusing choices! Also, my son has no problem taking most pills so what are the guidelines for Lecithin pills - between too low a dose and too high?

You have all been so much help to me in this journey. I wonder if our kids will ever understand how much we pour into them?

Horst

[kppy3]

hi horst,

have you considered homeopathy as one of the alternatives?

my son did the stim. med route with far from good results. we now work with a homeopath and have had amazing results.

i just talked with his teacher yesterday who said she was very pleased with his progress and what a delight he was to have in the classroom. not something i EVER heard last year!!!

well, this has been our experience and i thought i'd share it with you.

good luck with whatever you chose.

kppy

[catatonic]

Horst,
When you're looking for magnesium, just don't get magnesium oxide. It's not very bio-available so it won't work very well. If you have trouble with corn syrup reactions or corn allergy, you'd also want to avoid magnesium ascorbate and magnesium citrate. Among the most bio-available forms are magnesium chloride, magnesium glycinate and chelated magnesium. We use KAL magnesium glycinate successfully, and have also had good results with Alta magnesium chloride.

When using fish oil, make sure to give enough. Research indicates an optimum dose of 480mg DHA and 720mg EPA daily (although you may want to go higher than this at least for the initial 12 weeks -- the length of time generally required to correct an Omega-3 deficiency.)

We use lecithin granules, so I'm not sure about the strength of the capsules. While granules are less convenient to use, they have one main advantage over the capsules. The capsules are more highly refined/concentrated and contain only phosphatidylcholine, and not the phosphatidylinositol that is in the granules. At any rate, aim for 1g - 2.5g daily of phosphatidylcholine (that's 1,000g - 1,500g). There aren't really any side effects associated with lecithin, even at pretty amazingly high doses. It can cause stomach upset, apparently, but we haven't experienced any problem with it.

[Horst]

Catatonic,

You give so much of yourself to help parents on this site. I see you answered my query at 2 a.m. No wonder you call yourself "catatonic"! Because you share so freely, I hate to ask something else for you to answer, but cringingly I will... I am currently giving Andy one 200mg DHA fish oil in the morning with a Vit E of 200 IU. If I give him another fish pill in the evening, do I need to also give him another E? I read elsewhere on the site about the danger of too much Vit E. Thanks for all your advice, you are so knowledgable.

kppy3, thanks for sharing your success story. I truly appreciate hearing what has worked for someone else. Stories from parents who have "been there" mean so much more than trying to sift thru all the ads for things that are supposedly the cure all for ADD.

Horst

[catatonic]

Horst,
You don't need to give additional Vitamin E. The 200IU is perfectly adequate. Since it's not a water soluble vitamin, excess is stored in the fat rather than being urinated away. Personally, I prefer to use the 100IU capsules and give one in the morning and one in the evening, on the theory that the more readily available it is the better...but it probably isn't really necessary to do this.

You might -- at least for a while -- want to give your boy 3 capsules of the fish oil daily to get his Omega-3 levels up a little bit.

Wouldn't it be nice if those ads for cure-alls were actually telling the truth??

[Horst]

Thanks Catatonic

Your expertise is so appreciated. I know I couldn't get such specific advice, even from my family doc. I'd have to spend hours and hours of research - which I'm sure you do. But what is wonderful is that you share with us so that those hours aren't multiplied over and over again. THANKS!

Horst

[catatonic]

I'm happy to share anything I know. It's sooooo frustrating not to be able to find the answer to a simple (or SUPPOSED to be simple) question. So I just keep track of the stuff I can and spit it back out when someone needs it. I enjoy it and it keeps me learning. Plus I can feel comfortable arguing with our block-head pediatrician if I've got lots of specific information handy!