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

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.