want to try alt. meds

[sarahsmom]

Hi I'd like to try suplements for my 6 year old dd. SHe has adhd and has been trying diff. meds since Jan. SHe is now on Adderall and we've been seeing her twirling and pulling her hair till it comes out and some negative behavior. ALthough she is calmer, and more focus, and doing fine in kindergarten. But, the tics are worrysome. We took her off this weekend and she hardley pulled at her hair at all. BUt, she was bouncing off the walls and very impulsive with her brother (20 mths old), and the new cat. I got learning factors on friday and have been giving htat to her since then twice a day. I havent seen any differance. I realize it takes longer to see a differance with the natural alt. Is it wise or ok to keep the adderall going till the suppl. would kick in? I will be looking for Laura Stevens book. BUt wanted to see any advice about what I sould start with . THey hyperness is terrible when we had her off this weekend. THere was something called calm at the vit store anyone know of that? Thanks for any advice. LIsa

[HooDunnit]

Hi sarahsmom and welcome to the forums. You mention that you have tried various meds already. Can you tell me which ones you have tried? My son was diagnosed when he was ten, and wouldn't take any medications. He hated the pharmaceutical industry, and thought it was a plot to make money on kids that were just a bit different. So I respected his view and took him out of school for homeschooling and into a martial art. About all I found that could help was tons of exercise and lots of patience. He is 18 now. Have you tried omega-3?

[catatonic]

Welcome, Lisa. It sounds like you've been having a rough time lately, so I hope you are taking care of yourself, too. Our kids can be a joy, but they can also be incredibly exhausting!

You're right that supplements in generaly don't work quickly. For us, it was 6 weeks before the results were really noticeable. Some folks need longer, other see changes faster. I'm an ignoramus when it comes to meds, but I do know a number of people who post here have used both medication and supplements, so maybe they'll have some advice on that aspect.

The one exception for us was the Feingold Diet. By the 4th day I knew I'd found a miracle for my son. No, it didn't "cure" him or make him just like the other kids. But it did make him a child I could LIKE and a child I could deal with and still keep my sanity. In less than a week, he'd stopped wetting the bed. He was more in control of himself and his emotional reactions to things. Once we went an extra step further and eliminated corn syrup, he quit having tantrums. Just quit. No more red-faced screaming while banging his head on the wall and threatening to kill himself or others. This has truly been a miracle for us and I recommend it as a really critical first step. Supplements work so well for us, I believe, because we first took all the toxins out of his diet. And while the diet may seem difficult at first, it's not hard once you've adjusted. You can read about it at www.feingold.org

I turned to supplements because while my son was no longer acting like the Spaz Boy From H*ll, he was still struggling with attention and focus. Supplements have been a big help with this. In addition to a good quality multi-vitamin, our most consistently successful supplements have been:

1.) Omega-3 (in the form of fish oil). Aim to provide each day 480mg DHA and at least that much EPA, split into morning and evening doses. You need to include at least 100IU Vitamin E with each dose. Some prefer 200IU twice daily, and either way it's a safe amount for a 6-year-old.

2.) Magnesium. This is really critical for my son. It took months to correct his magnesium deficiency, and he still requires a rather high dose to keep from slipping back again. You can calculate a therapeutic dose by multiplying body weight in pounds times 6. So a 50 pound child would need 300mg elemental magnesium per day. You can use pretty much any type of magnesium except magnesium oxide. This is not a very bio-available form. Chelated minerals are the most bio-available, but tend to be a fair bit more expensive.

3.) Zinc. I give my son 50mg per day. Don't do this unless you're using a multi-vitamin or multi-mineral that also contains a small amount of copper. (The ideal ratio is 1mg copper for each 15mg magnesium.) Zinc tends to strip copper from your body, and without any copper supplementation, you can become copper deficient within only a couple of weeks.

4.) The amino acid tyrosine. Tyrosine is used to build the neurotransmitter dopamine. This is the same mechanism that stimulants like ritalin operate on. While some children may need serotonin increased instead of or in addition to the dopamine, for us tyrosine alone is very successful. (You can always try a serotonin promoting supplement as well, something like 5-HTP.) Again, a multi-vitamin is helpful here, as tyrosine requires B-vitamins for its synthesis into dopamine.

5.) Lecithin -- which is a cholinergic, that is it increases the amount of the neurotransmitter choline. We use lecithin granules. Others prefer capsules (but you need to take a lot of them) Research on a variety of cognitive deficits indicates that increased choline correlates with overall improved mental functioning. Some use the supplement DMEA, once sold as the prescription drug Deanol widely prescribed for ADHD in the pre-Ritalin days. A multi-vitamin is helpful here as well, since Vitamin B5 in particular is required to build choline.

Laura Stevens' book is an excellent resource when you're starting out. Not only does it provide very specific recommendations for supplements, but she discusses other treatments as well that you may want to consider at some future point...things like yeast overgrowth, neurofeedback, etc.

I'm not familiar with the product you mention. Do you have any more information about it?

[rosyred45]

Sarahsmom, Welcome to the family.

As with Catatonic, we do the Feingold plan, and it is amazing the difference I see in my whole family. When it comes to tweeking the specifics, like Catatonic said at first it seems difficult, but it does get easier.

And as Hoodunnit pointed out, LOTS OF EXCERSIZE!!!!!The critcal points for my son are him bouncing off the walls making me loose my mind. So we don't have very much TV time, it's go out and play time.

Good luck and visit often
Kaiti