New here. So glad I found this board...

[beckyekg]

I am especially interested in what I have read about the Omega 3's and other supplements.

We have four kids, 15yods, 12yodd, 9yods and 6yodd. We have always homeschooled. One of the reasons we started is having been told when oldest ds was 4 that he was probably ADHD. At this time, we just saw a really gifted and eager-to-learn child. In the past year or so, we have accepted that he is ADHD and even considered medication. Two doctors said it would take the edge of his intellegence and ability to learn. Never thought I would hear that! Anyway, I can't believe we actually considered meds after fighting the diagnosis for so long. I guess I am just so tired of him disrupting our day and melting down inexplicably.

Now I need some help getting started on the supplements. I did some reading last night until the wee hours but still am not quite sure of dosing and such. Guess I am looking for a shortcut. I am a little overwhelmed here because, besides the oldest with ADHD, the 12yodd has Aspergers Syndrome and it's starting to cause her more difficulty. The 9yods is very late learning to read plus the 9 and 12yos have Tourettes. It is my understanding that the supplements that help with ADHD also help with autistic spectrum disorders. My dh also falls somewhere on the spectrum so I am very excited to find out what I can to help our family.

I have read about the Feingold diet on other boards (mostly teachingmom.com) but this board was the first one that made me want to find out more about it. I am considering but don't want to dive in right away and get overwhelmed.

So far, I have on hand Omega 3 with Flax seed and Borage(just got this today), magnesium, calcium(the wrong kind, need to replace it), Vitamin E and a bottle of just flax seed oil capsules. I also have B complex and some multivitamins. Lecithin. I think that is it. I bought all these over the past few months but we don't take all of them because I am not sure of the dosing. I recently started my15yo taking the calcium and magnesium. Sometimes I even remember the B complex.

He has terrible problems turning off his brain at night and going to sleep. He has even been awake when dh gets up for work in the morning. Then he wants to sleep all day.

A little more about us. Dh is in the Army(17 years) and is currently working on his Masters degree. He was considered severely dyslexic in school but has found ways to manage and is a fantastic student now. Graduated with hs Bachelors degree with high honors.

Think this is all for now. I hope it isn't too long.

Becky

[catatonic]

Becky -
Welcome! I'm sure you'll find, as I have, that this is a wonderful place for support and help from friends who know what it's REALLY like to live with and love children like ours.

I HIGHLY recommend investigating the Feingold diet further. They have a website at www.feingold.org where you can read about research on food additives and behavior and download program information. The Feingold diet has been the BEST BEST BEST thing we have done in this house!!!

My son used to take hours to fall asleep. Often he would awake in the middle of the night and watch TV or eat a snack, just generally wander around the house at 2 a.m. He wet the bed every night. He threw temper tantrums where he'd literally bang his head on the wall while he screamed. He got sickening migraine headaches. He quarreled with his brothers constantly and whenever he heard the word "no" would flip out. He had a vocal tic that sounded like a brief blast on a police whistle, a loud squeak that he made apparently without realizing he was doing it.

We started the Feingold diet before starting supplements. (This is a route I would recommend because you need to remove the "background noise" in order to make sure that the supplements you are adding are helping and not hurting. Omega-3 and magnesium would be the exceptions that I would just go ahead and start, since it is very rare to see any kind of reaction to them, and they are so important.)

As of Day 4 on the Feingold program, my boy went to bed, went to sleep within minutes, got up in the morning. Yes, he still gets up pretty early, but he is sleeping like a normal child.

As of Day 8, the bedwetting stopped. He has wet the bed perhaps 3 times during the past year, every time when he has consumed "bad" food.

Since beginning the Feingold program, he has never had a full-blown migraine. He has gotten "starter" migraines on several occasions, but over-the-counter ibuprofen has done the trick.

After cleaning him up on the Feingold program, we were able to determine that he cannot EVER have ANY corn syrup, no matter how small the amount. It turns him into Spaz Boy From H*ll. While his behavior is far, far from perfect, since removing corn syrup from his diet, we don't see any more head-banging temper tantrums.

Between Feingold and supplements, vocal tics are almost non-existent. They reappear sometimes, when he is reacting to eating something he shouldn't have eaten, but disappear quickly. I have not heard even once this school year that he is making his squeak noise at school. (I heard about it every week from his teacher last year.)

What Feingold didn't help with enough was attention and concentration. This is where supplements have helped. I'd recommend reading Laura Stevens' book "12 Effective Ways to Help Your ADD/ADHD Child" as an excellent starting point. It has specific information on supplements, as well as other natural approaches that can help your child. Laura has a website at users.nlci.com/nutrition/ where you can order her book and read more information.

If you want to try a do-it-yourself version of the Feingold program just to get an idea of whether or not it will help you, you might want to read Marcia Zimmerman's "The ADD Nutrition Solution" and try an elimination diet on your own. We did this but discovered the danger and prevalence of "hidden" food additives sabotaged our efforts far too often. We need the Feingold research to make sure our foods are "clean".

We have pretty much settled into a successful supplement routine (although there are occasional problems with reactions to some vitamins). My son (who is 9 years old and 85 pounds) takes:
Omega-3 (a high-EPA variety so that he consumes 480mg DHA and 760mg EPA daily)
Evening Primrose Oil (with 50mg GLA)
Vitamin E (a 100IU capsule with his fish oil, a.m. and p.m.)
Multi-vitamin which also contains minerals - zinc, copper, selenium, etc.
Magnesium - 400mg daily
Vitamin C - 500mg daily (when we can find a brand he doesn't react to!)
Tyrosine - 500mg

The B-complex vitamins are very important. However, there seems to be something about them that can cause behavioral reactions. Before you add the B-complex, you'd want to make sure you have a good "clean" behavioral baseline, add the B-complex alone for at least a week, and watch carefully for adverse reactions. Or add the B vitamins as separate supplements.

Supplements and natural ADHD treatments are fascinating and complex, and with everything new thing you learn, it seems there are ten more you still need to learn!!! Start slowly, ask lots of questions, and don't expect that results will be immediate. It can take weeks before you begin to see results. It can be months before you've reached "peak" improvement. Plan on at least an initial commitment of 6 weeks before you evaluate your progress...6 weeks during which you follow your diet faithfully and give supplements consistently. After all, if you've dealt with these behaviors since your oldest was 4, 6 weeks doesn't seem terribly long compared to 11 years!!! I initially decided to spend a full year trying to find a natural treatment program that was successful, which I think is realistic, given how very individualized each child's needs are and how much experimentation goes into getting it right.

Best of luck to you. You'll find plenty of help and understanding here when you need it.

[DenverSarah]

Hi and welcome!
My family has used the Feingold program for a little over a year and have had great results. Starting off on the program isn't easy, but once you start to see results all the work and diligence pays off 10X over. I always recommend to people to read the first chapter of "Why Can't My Child Behave" by Jane Hersey. It's availble to read for free on the Feingold web-site under the resources link. She had a kid like ours who was greatly helped by the program and 20 years later still spends most of her time volunteering for the association. Whatever you do, good luck and please keep us all posted! We are all here for each other!