You're kidding, no one has heard of ....

[JohnBark]

Dr. Laura Thompson and her website www.drlaurathompson.com?

besides doing something similar to FG, she adds probiotics, acidiphilus (sp?) and bifidilus (sp?).

no one knows anything about her and your programs?

[catatonic]

John, if most of us aren't familiar with this one, it's probably because Dr. Laura Thompson is not specializing in the area of ADHD but more generally in nutritionally-oriented medicine. Did you select her because you are located near the clinic? I don't know anything about her reputation or methods, but I do have the following thoughts:

1.) The urine, saliva and hair analysis definitely improves your chances of getting a correctly tailored nutritional program. (Not to be a cynic, but it also increases your odds of getting soaked for a bundle of cash...be careful.) I think also the comfort level of having a professional on your "team" as opposed to having to try and figure everything out yourself can be a good thing (with the right professional).

2.) Many of the products she is selling come from Thorne. Thorne is a company I tend to think pretty well of, if for no other reason than they also publish the "Alternative Medicine Review" which is a pretty high quality journal that deals specifically with research and literature review on alternative treatments.

3.) Many of the products she is selling are over-priced compared to what you can buy on-line, or even by walking into your local GNC or health food store. And, unfortunately, there is no information on ingredients or amounts provided so you can't even evaluate whether or not they'll meet your needs.

As to the probiotics...hard to say whether they make an improvement to ADHD symptoms. They may. Research in this area is not very good, nor is it very plentiful and "expert" opinions vary dramatically. My personal opinion is that probiotics, acidopholus and bifidulus will not hurt you in any way, are not particularly expensive (if you shop carefully) and therefore meet my criteria for a potential treatment worth experimenting with. If your boy has taken repeated courses of antibiotics, or if you suspect a digestive disorder such as leaky gut, then you might want to move this possible treatment higher up your list of options. Also, if you are going to implement a probiotic treatment, you will want to dramatically reduce sugar consumption and yeasty-food consumption.

Probiotics:
A probiotic is an organism that contributes to the health and balance of the intestinal tract; also referred to as the "friendly", "beneficial", or "good" bacteria which when ingested act to maintain a healthy intestinal tract and help fight illness and disease.

Acidophilus and bifidophilus are the two most common probiotic strains and both are widely available in health food stores, generally refrigerated, as otherwise they will die and be useless.

There is some research indicating that probiotic treatment, in conjunction with dietary changes and nutritional supplements, helps improve ADHD symptoms. Unfortunately, the study did not analyze the effect of probiotics separately...nor did the researchers make any attempt to identify those who might actually NEED the probiotics as opposed to those whose ADHD symptoms were related to other causes. (You can take a look here: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12946241&dopt=Abstract )

On blue-green algae...I think it is an excellent nutrient. It's rich in amino acids and fatty acids as well as a variety of minerals. In fact, the twice-daily multi-vitamin I originally selected for my son after researching about ten trillion formulations, was one that contained blue-green algae. Unfortunately, he reacted adversely to something in the supplement (apple pectin which is very high salicylate) and was unable to take it, but I continue to give it to my other boys without any problems.

If you're following the Feingold program, be careful of blue-green algae "combo" supplements. Many use pine bark extract and grape seed extract in them (anti-oxidants) and these are high in salicylates. I also tend to prefer the powdered algae supplements, which you stir into juice or dump onto some food. With this method, you're consuming maybe 5 grams of amino acids (proteins) in addition to about 150mg of lipids and assorted nutrients. The capsules tend to be much wimpier (200 - 350mg per capsule) although they will often be combined with multi-vitamin ingredients, allowing you to just give one capsule instead of using them separately.

I feel like I'm rambling here. Hope this helped a bit.

[JohnBark]

thanks Catatonic. a local college professor suggested looking at her programs. this local college professor write several local articles on the success this doctor had on a local boy. and since it's so closely related to FG, i assumed (incorrectly) that someone would have stumbled acrossed her information in the past. i think at the moment we'll continue Stage 1 on FG and add in the vitamins and supplements you and ohmama and i have discussed. the probiotics stuff kind of scares me a little at this point.

thanks for your imput and Happy New Year to you!