supplements new member

[mgk]

my ds has been on fg since May and gf/cf since oct since start of enzymes reintroducing both to him , he is very sensitive to corn syrup additives etc. I have started on stratera 10mg am/pm due to aggression in school only , I would like advise if possible on tyrosine that Catatonic has mentioned and also omaga 3, adjusting his supplements. here is what he is on now
houston enzymes all meals
l-glutamine 500mg am/pm
chromium 100 mg am/pm....both advised by allergist to help regulate blood sugar
solaray..calcium 250mg/magnesium 125 mg/zinc 6 mg...am/pm
staterra which seems to make him worse
was on kirkman spectrium complete at begining of fg diet but ? if more hyper on it
also looking for probiotic ? kirkman pro bio gold vs natren dairy free trinity
would like to pick up vitamin and supplement in health food store if possible ....
he is 9 yr old and wt -78-80 lbs
thank you on any help you cam give with supplement

[catatonic]

I have a couple comments on what you're using now, as well as a couple of ideas for you.

1.) Glutamine -- I'm assuming you're using this because of the gluten sensitivity. There's solid clinical evidence that glutamine is beneficial for problems in the small intestines like leaky gut syndrom and celiac disease, and that using it will speed recovery once a gluten free diet is begun. That's good.

On the other hand, Dr. Russell Blaylock, in his book "Excitotoxins" recommends against the use of glutamine in ADHD. You may want to see how your son does without the glutamine once you feel you have the gut issues pretty well under control.

2.) Enzymes -- Have you been using these without problems for a while? I know my son was not able to adapt to them and pretty much stayed in a state of reaction as long as we were using them. (He was angry and confrontational, sort of like on corn syrup but without the major corn syrup temper tantrums.)

3.) Strattera may not be the best choice of medication, for a couple of reasons. First, last time I checked, the tablets contained FDC Blue #2, which you obviously wouldn't want if you're on Feingold. Some don't use the Blue #2. Do you know which you have? Secondly, in clinical trials, "aggression" was the most common reason for patients dropping out of the trial. Among those who continued the trial, about 3% complained of irritability and mood swings. On the other hand, you may just need to be patient. It can take 4-6 weeks for Strattera to reach full effectiveness.

On supplements:

1.) There are a number of non-dairy probiotics available, and if your health food store doesn't carry them on the shelves, they most likely can order them for you. I know Jarrow makes one called Jarro-Dophilus, and there's one from Garden of Life called Primal Defense. Make sure you only purchase probiotics that are properly stored in the refrigerated section and that will provide at least 2 billion live organisms total. (That's the daily dose.) Take a look at the following article on selecting an appropriate probiotic:
www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0ISW/is_2003_Feb-March/ai_97994369

2.) Tyrosine -- this stimulates increased production of the neurotransmitter dopamine. It can be very helpful in cases of "classic" ADHD, and is apparently the same mechanism of action (or at least one of them) that Ritalin works on. If this doesn't work for you, you may want to try increasing serotonin instead (through the addition of 5-htp most commonly). The recommended dose is 1,500mg daily, preferably provided in 3 doses of 500mg. (Although we use 750mg twice daily.) You can purchase tyrosine in powdered form to stir into water or juice for more dosing flexibility, or in capsules if you want the convenience.

3.) Omega-3...based on research findings, your target dose is 480mg DHA daily, along with 720mg EPA. THere are a number of good products that will allow you to do this easily, and according to a recent Consumer Reports review of fish oil products, these supplements are generally of good quality (free of contaminants) and contain the amount of DHA/EPA they claim to. I know that Nordic Naturals is an excellent product and FG approved, but my son -- along with a number of others -- have a severely negative reaction to the lemon oil in their products. The one I use is Natural Factors Rx-Omega-3 Factors. I order it online, because it's incredibly cheaper that way, although this week at Sun Harvest and Wild Oats the 120-capsule bottles are on sale for $16.99. If you're just starting Omega-3 supplementation, you'd may want to use 3 per day for the first 6 weeks. We only use two, which provide a total of 400mg DHA and 800mg EPA.

4.) Cal/mag/zinc...is the Solaray product you're using the chelated minerals? It's a good product, but most of the magnesium comes from magnesium oxide, which is not a bio-available form of magnesium. Once you've used those up, you might want to replace it with any other form of magnesium.

Hope this helps.

[mgk]

thank you yes it does help ..strattera is in white capsule and I usually open and mix with food he has a hard yime with pills , ..a few more question is zinc needed , ..the l gultamine/chromium was more for blood sugar regulation...as far as enzymes go the only change I just made was to change to scd on zyme prime due to papin /bromulin issues and they do help him with small amt of casein glutin ...do you use a muli vitamin ...any other supplements you can think of I am missing? thank you again

[catatonic]

That makes sense about the glutamine/chromium. They can help with regulating glucose levels so you don't get those blood sugar spikes and crashes.

Zinc is generally a very good idea. There's clinical evidence that it will improve some ADHD symptoms when used as a stand alone treatment. There's additional evidence that it noticeably enhances the effectiveness of Ritalin. I give my son zinc -- (2) 50mg tablets per day, which give him a grand total of about 15mg elemental zinc. This is the lowest amount shown to be effective in clinical trials. You need to provide copper along with the zinc (in very small amounts...1mg copper to every 15mg zinc) and generally the copper in a multi-vitamin is enough. Or look for a good multi-mineral formula like Source Naturals Life Minerals (the iron-free one tablet per day type). If you use 1 of these and 1 zinc tablet you ought to achieve a therapeutic dose safely.

I think a multi-vitamin and a B-complex are both extremely important to include. If you're not using a multi-mineral, you ought to make sure your multi-vitamin contains trace minerals like selenium that it's not easy to get from diet. For B-vitamins, a B-50 is normally a large enough B-complex to provide the folic acid, B6 and B12 that are required for optimum brain health.

However...we have had a great deal of trouble identifying a multi-vitamin and a B-complex that my son does not react to. The best we've found for him is the Sun Harvest "Basic Multi With Iron" sold at Sun Harvest. (They may carry it at Wild Oats, since the stores are owned by the same company.) It's lower in vitamin C and in the B-vitamins than many others. (These are what seem to cause his reactions.) But that means we still need to add a separate B-complex. The B-complex is very important, and worth the effort of identifying one that will not cause a reaction.

Finally, make sure you give at least 100IU of Vitamin E each time you give the fish oil. Not only does it help metabolize the Omega-3, but it protects against oxidative damage when the fish oil is broken down.

Can't think of anything else at the moment.