Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional ADHD - anyone tried natural medicine alternatives?

My DD is awaiting test results but I can already tell the diagnostician believes she is ADHD inattentive (not hyper).

In preparation for the discussion on the virtues of medication that I am sure is in my near future, I tried to do a little research on medications online and there seems to be a lot of positive (anecdotal) feedback to some of the natural remedies. Does anyone have first hand experience with any of these? Opinions? Are they all pricey scams?
Thanks!
Nik

We're not sure yet in that I am still working with my dd10 on swallowing pills. She gags and nearly vomits whenever we try to get pills down her and it takes 10-15 tries over the course of a few hours to manage to get one down.

We just started with a regime of DHA (o-3 fatty acid), daily scheduled exercise (she and I are doing yoga, sit-ups, etc.), and green tea (I've read that some caffeine can be helpful and other components of green tea may impact focus).

It's only been three days, so we'll see if this helps at all. I don't have feedback yet, but will be interested to see if others have any for you.

I've read some of the research from these folks and it seem reasonable:
http://www.heartmath.com/

I can recommend first-hand http://difficultchild.com/
but as an addition to medication, not as a replacement.

Love and More Love,
Grinity

I've been giving DS10 DHA as gummies (chewable and taste good, but based on fish oils so not vegetarian). He gets 270 mg per day (9 gummies, which is what the bottle recommends) but I'm thinking this might be too low a dosage -- I recall reading on an LD site that 480 mg or so was a threshold amount. Its hard to tell what is making a difference, but he does seem more calm, focussed and in control of himself lately. Also, his really bad days have always been on weekends recently (and I often forget to give him the DHA on the weekend). They are super expensive though, and his little brother wants them too . . .

I like the green tea idea. I offered DS some coffee the other morning before school, thinking the caffeine might help, but he looked at me like I was crazy.

Omega-3's have helped - not cured - a lot of ADD kids that I have known over the years, including my 2E niece, who lived with us from age 13 to 18. She preferred to get her daily dose through salmon, sardines, and anchovies, not through supplements, though, so I can't give specific dosing schedules or brands. Anchovies and sardines are also sources of DMAE, which may be an acetylcholine precursor, so that may also have contributed.

Specific supplements aside, I can tell you that from what I have seen over time, with a sample size of about 75 kids that I have had the opportunity to observe, a low-glycemic index diet, high in deep-water fish and seafood, and free of sodium benzoate and food dyes often makes a huge difference.

Edit: Caffeine absolutely helps improve the ability to focus. If you want to try caffeine for ADD, I suggest using either coffee or tea, as sodas are almost certain to have sodium benzoate and dyes, which aggravate ADD issues in many children. Caffeine has some of the same side effects as other stimulant drugs, though, including withdrawals even after fairly short-term use, possible rapid heartbeat, insomnia, and appetite suppression, although obviously not to the same degree that you would see with prescription meds.

Cricket, please update us in a couple weeks on your progress and observations! I wish I could get DD up early to do yoga, she said its a nice idea in theory but it will never happen, she just isn't a morning person and its all she can do to make it to her 9:30am class already. I think I will step up Karate to 2 or 3 times a week but that is in the evening which may just exacerbate the "up all night" problems! What pills are you using? Can you just cut up the pills and mix them with applesauce or yogurt?

Thanks Grinity, I just ordered the nurtured heart book on Amazon...I really wish the title were different, I am not sure how DD will react to me reading something with that title, I would rather go with "we are working together to help you be the best you" rather than "I am going to transform you/fix you because you are difficult". Maybe I'll just rip the cover off

Verona, all I could find online was strawberry fruit chews...is that what you are using? My DD hates strawberries/strawberry flavor. I didn't see any other flavors for DHA gummys (maybe little brother could have placebo gummy bears/fruit chews? much cheaper!). If I can find another flavor, I think I would like to add those as a snack in addition to the salmon and soymilk for Omega 3s so she doesn't burn out on one thing.

Aculady, what is the daily dose? That's funny because I eat kipper snacks or salmon almost daily, and have done as long as I can remember because I crave them, I wonder if...hmmm

DD loves smoked and grilled salmon so I should be able to get some of that into her diet but I don't know about daily. She drinks Dr. Pepper like its going out of style (despite my forbidding sodas, I suspect she just keeps a case of it in her car trunk), I read the can and it has sodium benzoate in it . I know she likes tea too so I need to come up with a compromise to get her off the Dr Pepper, maybe the bottled tea drinks?

I too offered coffee and got the "are you insane" look - unless its a $5.00 starbucks frappachino lol. She has made a lot of comments over the years about how addicted we adults are on coffee and how she will never do that to herself...I'll have to lure her slowly to join us moo-ha-ha-ha.

I just ordered a couple cases of the 8.25oz silk soymilk choc and vanilla: she can throw those in her back pack and I am sure she'll drink them without coercion. I don't know how much 0mega 3 is in them but it can only help. Interesting note, she was sensitive to milk as a baby and only had soymilk until she was 10 years old, then we decided to try milk again since she was so physically small, we thought it would help her grow and it did but that is about when she started having problems in school, I wonder if cutting out that extra omega 3 was a contributing factor?

Okay, now I'm off to google "low-glycemic index diets" So much to learn!!!!

I've been vegan for 22 yrs and the kids are both strict vegetarians (no meat, cheese with rennet, fish, etc.) so our O-3 options are limited and gummies are out since they usually have gelatin. We're trying Minami Nutrition's Vegan DHA which has 300mg of DHA and 20 mg of other O-3s in 2 very small capsules. At this point, one capsule is the most I can get down dd. It is a non-gelatin soft gel which is supposed to be filled with algae based orange flavored stuff, but when we tried popping it into food or drink, dd said it tasted horrible. She did get one down last night without as much of a drawn out process, so I hope that she continues to get better at pill swallowing.

You're probably right about the morning exercise, but we are doing it in the evenings for right now b/c I am usually getting ready for work while she is getting ready for school. I can't go in covered with dog hair and messy, so doing sun salutations and things that require getting down on the floor probably won't work on the days I need to work ! I figure that evenings are better than nothing.

I'll let you know if any of this helps. It seems that my dh was much more impaired by ADD as a child (and still as an adult) than dd is. He would have driven me crazy as a parent! He didn't and doesn't eat nearly as whole foods of a diet as the kiddos have, though, so I don't know if nutrition might be part of it. Our diet isn't perfect, though!

We are using Ironkids Omega-3's. Here's the webite:

http://www.iron-kids.com/products.aspx

It is a Canadian product, so maybe not available in the US. Each gummie has 100 mg fish oil, which includes 20 mg DHA and 10 mg EPA. He takes 9 per day. They are all different colours/flavours in one bottle -- some do have a strawberry/banana flavour! The colours and flavours are natural. They do contain both gelatin and fish oil, so not good for a vegetarian. With both boys taking them, its about $15 per week in gummies!

We sometimes have the "up all night" problem too, and I was starting to look into Melatonin, but thought I'd ask the pediatrician first.

My DS9 who has tourettes can't take any of the ADD meds creates wild ticcing. we use Focus Factor for kids. It is chewable. we also combined with the gummy fish chewables. It did seem to make some difference. I know in some situations that the caffeine push can be a major help when immediate focus is needed.

Nik,

Daily dose for the omega-3s that you are aiming for is at least 1000 mg/day.

The milk sensitivity could be an issue not only because of the change in omega-3, but because if she still has some sensitivity to milk, it could cause a bit of "brain fog". I believe that you can get organic milk fortified with DHA, so that could be part of an experiment to see if the difference is due to the change in omega 3 levels, or to sensitivity to the milk itself. If she is better on the soy milk, but no better on the fortified cows' milk, then the milk allergy is likely contributing and she should probably stop it, at least on school days. Balancing growth demands against mild allergy/intolerance issues is a tough line to tread.

There's simply no way I'd get that many pills down dd10. I could up her intake of flax seeds, walnuts, and similar. The reason we are trying the pills is b/c they are DHA not EPA, which is what she'd get from vegetarian food sources of O-3.

Do you know if that # changes at all depending on the size of the person? I'd imagine that a 200 lb adult would need more O-3 than a 55 lb child to see a result, but I could be wrong. I'm banking on dd's small size being a plus for us here !

According to my nutrition book, NIH recommendation is 650mg/day of DHA *plus* 650mg/day of EPA, age not specified. TBH I don't think we have the science to know what's optimal for anyone, let alone taking size/age into account. I'm not finding a source for that simple recommendation but here's a MedlinePlus page with a complicated list at the bottom. A reason why it might not scale with size is that fat needs don't and the omega 3/omega 6 ratio seems to be important, though it's clearly not simple.

Take this fwiw. I was a strict vegetarian for 15 years. I finally started to eat fish, after a lot of research over years of wondering (but it was a long time ago, and science has moved on), when we decided to try for a child. There was enough evidence to convince me that optimal nutrition, omega 3s in particular, could not practically speaking be had from what I was eating. For a little while I used supplements, but I came to feel that that just made no sense for me: none of my complex reasons for vegetarianism actually applied, actually bound me, if I felt I had to take supplements to compensate for deficiencies in that diet. YMMV, e.g. it's bound to depend on what your reasons are. And it did take me years to get to a point where I could actually see fish as food! But I enjoy it, with care for sustainability, now, and don't regret the change at all. Just fwiw.

I had the same problem with the book name. I tried to hide it from ds but oh! His sad face when he caught me. Do rip off the cover.

I do always hesistate to mention our diets b/c I know that there are a lot of others who have differing opinions. I also understand that you're not pushing your choice as the only one. I, actually, don't feel that supplementation is needed in my instance or for dd12, who is HG and thriving. Dd10 has a strong genetic component playing into her attentional issues (from her dad). We eat a pretty good balance of O-3,6, and 9 in general, but I think that she may need something more or different than the typical person.

I recommend Nordic naturals dha strawberry flavored fish oil. I believe they are like a miracle in a bottle.

FWIW, if the claims by Horizon organic milk with DHA are true, there is a plant based DHA somewhere out there:
http://www.horizondairy.com/our-pro...mega-3?gclid=CPzMzMfc_aYCFaFk7Aod6BWHbw. The ingredients on the carton say "DHA Algal oil" Maybe that could be worth looking into?

So, what is the difference between getting your omega-3 through DHA or EPA anyway?

Lukemac, would you please elaborate on your experience with Nordic Naturals and also be more specific on which product you use? (they seem to have many similar varieties with different doses of the same thing)

Vicam, I checked focus factor on amazon and it looks like there are two - one by vital labs with good reviews and one that just says FocusFactor which has only one review which is not positive. The labels look very similar though, which on are you using and is it a multi vitamin or an omega supplement?

Verona, I would be interested to know what your pediatrician says about the sleep issue. I read the ADHD magazine in the diagnosticians office and it had an interesting article on people with ADHD having sleep cycles that norm at an ideal 4am to 12 noon sleep schedule(!) My DD goes through days of only needing 4 hours of sleep and then periods of sleeping for 16 hours and still being groggy but I think she definitely trends towards being a night owl!

Acculady, is there any danger to having too much omega 3? 1000mg seems to be a lot but I don't see myself counting up the value of everything my DD eats every day. I am planning to just have more food containing Omega 3 available in the house including supplements.

So here is what I have so far on my Omega-3 explorations/game plan for Omega-3 immersion:

I Bought Disney Omega-3 + vitamin D gummies at the grocery store (impulse buy, they had buy one get one free). They are pretty decent tasting but the bottle says take 4 gummies a day and 4 gummies only provides 125mg...she would need to take 32 a day to get 1000mg! And even if that could happen, she would then have 8 times the RDA of vitamin D(!)

The milk with DHA says it provides 32mg DHA omega-3 per serving and the multigrain flaxseed & soy hot cereal has 450mg Omega-3 per serving but the kipper snacks say 2g omega-3 per serving!

So I envision having salmon or kippers twice a week and on the other days making up the 1000mg with flax cereal and dha milk and gummies and/or other supplements.

Now watch the diagnostician tell me she was wrong and we are actually looking at Aspergers, not ADHD after all -lol! (I suspect she has both - is that possible?)

Not to mention there are 2 grams of sugar in each - 8 grams in a serving of 4, so that would be 64 grams of sugar a day. By way of comparison is about as much sugar as in an entire pint of ice cream or a whole stack of cookies. Crazy!

We had good luck with this Nordic Naturals product for younger kids. http://www.nordicnaturals.com/en/Products/Product_Details/98/?ProdID=1442 It comes in little pellet capsules which a kid can swallow or chew. For older kids we transitioned to this product. http://www.nordicnaturals.com/en/Products/Product_Details/98/?ProdID=1598 Nordic Naturals has independent heavy metal testing which is important. We've found the products to be fresh and free of the dreaded fishy after taste burps you can get with some less expensive brands.

This may be equally useful whether your child is diagnosed with ADD, Asperger's or just gifted quirkiness. They worked wonders here!

We found this method worked like a charm for teaching pill swallowing. Basically you need to get a variety of sprinkles and smallish candies and work up starting from the smallest. Keep the tone positive and reassuring.
http://www.ehow.com/how_2115929_teach-child-swallow-medication.html

For kids who strike out with that method here are some additional ideas: http://www.bpkids.org/learn/library/pill-swallowing-tips

OMG! I didn't even think about that! Yikes, thanks for pointing it out to me...my DD is cracking about me and my "healthy" alternative meds for her...the last one was local honey for allergies, now candy and smoked salmon for ADHD, she's on board all the way lol!
I found our local health food store carries the lemon nordic naturals, I am going to pick up a bottle today, thanks! I guess I'll just treat the disney gummies like the candy that they are, at least its a treat with the added plus of some nutrition!

1000 mg of Omega-3 is not a lot - it's about the amount in a 3 oz serving of Atlantic salmon. If you routinely supplement over 3000 mg/day, there can be an increased risk of bleeding, but it is unlikely that you are going to exceed that amount from dietary sources, unless you eat herring three meals a day.


Edit: On the ADD/Asperger's issue - my Asperger's son scores very high on ADD and ADHD scales, but the psychologist who evaluated him believes that, from what she saw during his evaluation, his attention is not actually impaired, and these symptoms are more indicative of executive function issues stemming from his Asperger's than of ADD. This might be something to discuss.

How about omega-3 eggs (150 mg per egg I think)?

Here's an article that lists the amounts of omega-3's in a variety of foods.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/painter/2007-11-11-yourhealth_N.htm

Now that's the kind of mom every kid dreams of having!

Did the local honey prove helpful?

Thanks for the link Verona, that is useful. Ummm, how they get the omega 3 into the eggs or do all eggs have it? We have access to free range farm fresh eggs so I usually don't buy them at the store.

Either the local honey worked or something else did! The pediatrician wanted to put her on daily steroid meds which horrified me. I think her allergies were more annoying to us than problematic for her since it was just a constant sniff and throat drip thing she had going on. I took that opportunity to kick the cats out of the house in addition to buying an air purifier for her room and putting allergy zip covers on her pillow and mattress and replacing her bedding with hypoallergenic stuff. The problem went away. When we moved, I bought new local honey just in case and so far so good! She loves honey so a spoonful a day doesn't hurt - whether it is actually preventing allergies or not.

Your DD sounds like my dd when she gets into her seasonal allergies...we don't have a cat and we have done all of the pillow covers, air purifier, etc. But as the seasons change, she still has that sniff and cough thing. I wonder if I could get her to do honey...she is not a sweets kind of kid. I suppose if she really won't, I will still have it for my tea!!

Oh...as for the DHA. My younger DD takes Learning Factor. She can swallow them if we keep them in the freezer. I had read that this will cut down on "fish burps" but my dd says they are easier to swallow frozen. go figure.

I believe that they feed the hens flax seeds.

In re to the earlier question for me re EPA vs. DHA -- I understand that DHA is more beneficial to the brain processes that impact focus. Your body converts EPA to DHA but how well it does so varies from person to person. Just going straight to the DHA essentially cuts out the middle man. We are using algae based DHA, so, yes, it does come in vegan form. Most other veggie forms of O-3 are not DHA, though.

Thanks acculady, I do love herring, but not that much lol. We are supposed to see a Psychologist soon for part 2 of her evaluation, I am glad to know that ADHD signs don't necessarily mean she doesn't have Aspergers, I will see what the Psych says and ask about it. It will be good to have more than one professional weigh in on the matter.

I am also glad to know that the omega 3 will help whether its ADD, AS or just plain being too gifted for her own good! We had salmon burgers last night, will have smoked salmon with cream cheese bagels tomorrow night and grilled salmon Sunday. Yippee, I am using this all to indulge myself YUM!

So if the chicken is fed flax seeds and its eggs hatch, will the chicks be smarter? ;-)

Nik, you asked whether it's possible to have Asperger's and ADHD. Yes, it's possible to have several co-occurring disorders at once. If it goes in this direction for your DD, you might want to chat with some parents on OASIS ( http://www.aspergersyndrome.org/ )-- there are several with dual-diagnosed AS/ADHD kids.

However:


Mine meets this general description to some extent. He does have focus and attention issues (both too much and too little), and ADHD meds do help with these, but the anxiety of Asperger's is equally important to treat to keep him functioning. (DS once had a teacher who swore that he had ADHD... but he doesn't carry that diagnosis, as his attention issues are a part of his AS.)

DeeDee

Thanks DeeDee, I guess I need to wait and see what they say after she has seen the Psych.

The diagnostician said she saw a lot of ADHD type traits and that she can usually tell within a few minutes of meeting a kid whether they are Aspie or not and she didn't see anything to raise concern with my DD. Of course DD was on her best behavior, enthusiastic about the testing and having a good day. I spoke with her about the GADS questionnaire and after I described a behavior scenario, she said "well, come on, how long ago did that happen?" when I told her it was last week she said maybe I better go ahead with the AS scale.

I wonder if I should hold off on the Omega 3 immersion until after the Psych interview? I would hate to skew things and get a wrong Dx because of it.

If you are taking the fish oil etc, and skip one day, will your behavior etc go straight back to what it was before?

PS, that's a real peeve of mine...teachers having the nerve to "diagnose" their students. I was one told my DD was "passive aggressive" for not turning in work.

We've recently found that hemp milk is a good source of Omega 3s--1000 mg per 8 oz glass. It also has about 3700 mg of Omega 6s per serving. I've been trying it with my son, and it seems like it might be helping when he drinks a couple glasses each day. It's hard to know how much is wishful thinking and/or a change in my expectations.

Be aware that that's a problem, though: omega 3 and omega 6 compete for the same chemical pathways, so if you also add more omega 6s when you add omega 3s, you lose the benefit of the omega 3s. (The ratio in your hemp milk is still better than the ratio in the average US diet, though.)

Wait a second, what does the Omega 6 do? I was just focusing on the two types of Omega 3.

I just checked, and of all the stuff I bought, only the flax mentions Omega 6. If they are both necessary, and they both compete, I assume it is better to consume them at different times i.e. pills in the am, flax-seed at lunch and fish for dinner - right?

I don't know why anyone would supplement omega 6 - AIUI, almost everyone already gets too many omega 6 fats. See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega-6_fatty_acid

Oh, yikes! Thanks for clearing that up Collinsmum, I guess I'm good with what I have then. And maybe I even need to cut down on my beloved avocados and cashews?!!!

And then you've got Omega-9s... lol! I think it's all about balance.

For right now, I'd say that I am cautiously optomistic that dd10 is seeing some improvement. If she continues to test better, I'm going to see if we can at least get the green tea drinking in school and gum chewing during tests formally written into something like a 504 in case next year's school doesn't just ignore her doing those. She's been off her O-3s for about a week b/c she got a horrible tummy bug and was vomitting for days, so we're just now back to trying to get her back on the charts for weight and keeping stuff like algae pills downs! I'll let you know how it continues to go.

Does anyone know if the total essential fatty acids need to be 1000 mg to be effective or if the various components, EPA and DHA, each or either need to be 1000 mg. I ask because my girls currently take Coromega orange squeeze (one packet daily) and the breakdown is this:

2,000 mg fish oil
650 mg Omega-3
350 EPA
230 DHA

my girls are between 30-40 lbs so I am wondering if this is meeting the threshold. They also eat DHA enhanced peanutbutter and egs, and their regular vitamin has a small amount of DHA.

I have read that you need to have a higher EPA to DHA ratio. Does anyone have more information about determining the best ratio and the best amounts of EPA and DHA... I may also post this as a stand alone question. Thanks.

Sorry not to have an answer for you, Twinkle Toes, but I did want to post a quick update since someone asked me to do so earlier after we'd be trying these alternative approaches longer. I fear that we are going to jinx ourselves here, but dd does seem to be continuing to do better on the O-3s and with gum chewing and caffeine than not. Her math letter grade on the soon to be out report card should be a letter grade higher than the last quarter. She got A-s on the last two tests for that class as well. We'll see how it continues to go... Wish me well that I haven't jinxed the kid!

Cricket2,

Unjinx!

I just wanted to mention that omegas really work for some kids. For my kids, they all appear to be adhd. I find that fish oil really calms them down, and as a side effect, their vision has improved (they all wear glasses), and they get less colds. I give my kids liquid fish oil and/or cod liver oil. For some reason, they can't or won't swallow pills, they'd rather take the oil. I give them juice right away, as long as they don't smell it, and have juice right after, they don't really taste it. Also, I give them more like megadoses, 3,000-5,000 mg. I searched these info online, and started them on those high doses. It took about a month for me to notice the difference, and oh boy, is there a difference! A couple of times I had to stop for a few weeks, and they get so impossible, I begin to feel like I'm losing my mind! Within a few weeks of giving the oil again, I notice how much better they get.

The only side effect I see is that its an extra 400 or so calories a day, but their vision has improved, and their health is much better. The oldest used to be on adhd meds, and I was able to take him off them. I never gave the youngest ones, and hopefully won't have to in the future. Anyway, I hope it really works for you. My kids take the Vitamin Shoppe brand (I used to buy a really expensive brand, and was speding $60 a month on it, but one day tried the vitamin shoppe one, and the kids say it tastes the same, now I spend about $18 a month).

The gummies for kids, we tried them, but they would have to eat to many to get a high dosage, so it was way too expensive. Eventually, I hope they will swallow pills, then it will be easy to buy a large amount on sale.

Well, if you feel the gummies work, fine, but if you start noticing a plateu, try to se if you can get your dc to swallow the oil. Also, the gum chewing is a great idea! I read a study was done that shows it helps students do better in school.

http://children.webmd.com/news/20090423/math-plus-chewing-gum-equals-better-grades

Hi Mycupoftea,
Omega 3s have been beneficial to our family too. It is great that you've seen such big improvements with your kids.

Just a minor note if it helps. Your calorie count is off. The dose you are talking about would be in the range of 27 to 50 calories. This is from the Nordic Naturals site. http://www.nordicnaturals.com/en/FAQ%27s/FAQs/388


26. WHY ARE THE CALORIES THE SAME EVEN THOUGH THE OMEGA-3 LEVELS ARE DIFFERENT?

All fat/oil contains 9 calories per gram. Nordic Naturals offers fish oil supplements with differing concentrations of the omega-3s EPA and DHA, but the concentration does not affect the amount of fat/oil in each soft gel. Regardless of the omega-3 concentration, a 1000mg soft gel contains 1000mg of oil, and thus contains 9 calories.

Thanks for the update Cricket, that's great news! (Un-jinx ;-))

Mcupoftea, That sounds very promising, would you mind sharing the info that helped you determine that such mega-doses were safe for kids?

I am hoping to assemble enough convincing information for my DD to be willing to try it. Right now, if it isn't recommended by a Dr. its all suspect to her(!) Also, I want to share it with my brother as my 11 year old niece is starting to display some signs of following in my DDs footsteps(!)

Twinkle-toes, here is the breakdown from up thread:

I bought the Nordic Naturals 1000mg fish oil softgels and each 2 gel serving provides:

330mg EPA
220mg DHA
140mg Other Omega-3
160mg Omega-9

18 calories.

I don't think its an exact science, but I figured on two 2-pill servings a day on days we do not eat salmon. I would love to have some more documentation to support this (or another) quantity, as it would make it so much easier to convince those in my family that could benefit the most from it to give it a shot.

Another caution, I was told there was some issue with some of the gel tab casing ingredients if consumed in large quantities (not Nordic Naturals), I can find the details if anyone wants them. Then of course there is the mercury in some of the real fish to worry about if consuming large quantities too!

Nik, oddly, I'm with your DD on this one. If the doctors didn't recommend it, that would have to be because (a) they didn't know about it, or (b) there's no peer-reviewed evidence that it would work in her case. I find (b) more likely than (a), so I remain a skeptic about over the counter supplements.

DeeDee

So, just another quick update. I, honestly, don't know how much of this is a placebo effect, but dd continues to be doing much better in terms of academic consistency. I just got an e-mail from her math/reading teacher inquiring as to what I did to her and saying that I should market it. She got the second highest grade in the class on the most recent math test (missed the top score by a point) .

Dh is also now the one working with her on math studying although he hates math and has some serious mental block about it. It is much less efficient than my helping her b/c he comes to me to ask questions and then goes back to help her, but they scream at one another less.

eta: If I had to guess, I'd say that the things that are helping the most are the caffeine she's drinking in her tea daily, the gum chewing, and studying more with dh's help.

Wow, that's great, very encouraging! I am so glad for you and your DD.

What kind of tea is she drinking?

I totally get the math thing, if she is anything like me or my DD, your DD probably sympathizes with your DH, so it's more of a team thing with him ("us struggling together to conquer the math" vs. "smart person who knows it all imparting wisdom upon ignorant me".

I make green, white, or black tea every morning anyway, so I just make extra and refrigerate the extra in her water bottle so she can drink it as iced tea. The type varies from day to day as I have quite a few different varieties from gunpowder green (green tea leaves rolled and dried over a wood fire so it has a slightly smokey flavor) to black lychee (black tea sweetened with lychee nut peels).