starting w/ fish oil, L-Carnitine & Magnesium

[samm42]

Hello

I am ready to take my son off the Concerta and onto something better! I absolutely cannot stand the Concerta side effects.

Does anyone have recommendation for dosages:

My Son is 6 yrs. and weight approx. 40 lbs. My fish oil contains both the Omega 3 and Omega 6 and is 1200 mg. The l-Carnitine comes in 500 mg pill and the the Magnesium Citrate comes in a 160 mg. tablet.

[ohmama]

Samm,
Hello and welcome to the natural alternatives section of the forum. How did you find us?

Can you please give some added information like, what is your sons diagnosis? What side effects is he experiencing with the Concerta? Is he on any other med at this time? What does his doctor say about taking him off? Do you have him on any special eating plan? Are you familiar with Feingold?

Using the fatty acids can benefit him. This is something that you can add even though his is taking medication. For his age and weight I would suggest an omega 3 containing a higher rato of DHA content than the EPA amount. I would not use one that has omega 6 in it. Nordic Naturals has one called Nordic Naturals DHA (250mg DHA/75mg EPA) This is available at the house of nutrition. If he has a problem swallowing pills even though these are not large, they have liquid omega 3 products too. shop.store.yahoo.com/hono/index.html I would suggest giving two of these a day (one in the morning and one in the evening).

Your Carnitine is too high. I use a 250mg pharmaceutical grade product I think you should consider. It is available from www.painstresscenter.com 1-800-669-2256

Are you giving a multiple vitamin? Or B Complex? It is necessary to take the antioxidants, vitamin E and C. There is a lot of information on this including magnesium in the fixed posts at the top of the natural alternatives main page about getting started. I'm sure you will gain from reading this. Please feel free to post your questions for further advice.

[samm42]

Hello and thank you for the reply. I found this site using a google search.

My son has ADHD. The side effects he has been experiencing are : weight loss, no appetite, insomnia, stomach aches, nail chewing and picking. He has been on the Concerta for approx. 6 mos. My son is already a small child and we are worried about growth. He is on no other meds. We have no special eating plan and am vaguely familiar with Feingold. He does take a multi vitamin that contain E, C and B vitamins

[catatonic]

Hi Samm and welcome!

The first and most critical thing I did for my son was put him on the Feingold diet. Truly, the change in him was little short of miraculous. You might want to look at their website at www.feingold.org

This diet eliminates foods containing artificial colors, artificial flavors, and some preservatives, as well as a group of naturally high-salicylate foods like tomatoes, oranges and almonds. We've also removed corn syrup, as many Feingold families end up doing. It's worth it to no longer have to deal with temper tantrums, bed wetting, and constant oppositional behavior.

On the supplements..research has demonstrated that a dose of AT LEAST 480mg per day of DHA is necessary to achieve the behavioral benefits of Omega-3 supplementation. In addition, newer research appears to indicate that EPA is required in addition to the DHA. (These are simply two Omega-3 components that are found in different mixtures in all fish oil capsules.) I recommend a high-EPA formula so that your child gets at least 480mg DHA and 720mg EPA each day. We use the RxOmega3 from Natural Factors at the moment, but have also been successful with the Natrol and several other brands. You can take a look at the Natural Factors here:
www.iherb.com/rxomega31.html

I agree with OhMama that you should avoid combined Omega-3/Omega-6 supplements...with one exception. If the Omega-6 is in the form of GLA, that is a good thing. There is also research on the way fatty acids are metabolized that shows Omega-3 is better utilized in the presence of GLA. You don't need a lot of it, maybe 50mg, and many people use an Evening Primrose Capsule to provide it.

On the carnitine, I use 500mg capsules for my son without any problems. He is larger than your son, though, weighing in at about 85 pounds.

Magnesium citrate is fairly bio-available...not one of the best, but not among the worst either. My experience with it has been that it causes loose bowels, so if you haven't started using it yet, watch out for that possible problem. Generally with magnesium, any digestive problems work themselves out within a few days.

For your boy's size, you should be aiming for a therapeutic dose of magnesium of 240mg per day. (3 ounces of cashews provide this much.) This is ELEMENTAL magnesium, not the weight of the compound. Magnesium citrate contains about 1/5 elemental magnesium, so you're giving your son about 32mg elemental magnesium per tablet. I don't recommend using 8 of these per day, however. Your boy would have major league diarrhea. Try him on 2, give him cashews, and when you've used up this type of magnesium, look for a chelated/amino acid formulation with higher elemental magnesium content.

I would recommend a couple of resources to you.

On magnesium, take a look at this informative website devoted entirely to magnesium:
www.magwater.com

On Omega-3 supplementation:
www.omega-3info.com/home.htm

Best wishes to you. Don't hesitate to post any questions you might have.