J.A. asks from Loveland, OH on July 01, 2008
6 Year Old Diagnosed with ADHD
My 6 year old has been diagnosed with ADHD. I've been reading studies about children taking Omega-3 fish oil and improving as much as with Ritalin. Has anyone tried fish oil? Did it work? How long did it take until you saw improvement? Does anyone have opinions about the different types of medication for ADHD? I'd rather not give my child a stimulant, but I'd like to know about the pros and cons of the different stimulants if we do decide to use one. Thanks!
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J.C. answers from Cleveland on July 02, 2008
Hi, J.,
Neither of my children have ever been considered ADHD, but I work with children (own a childcare facility) so do have some experience with children that have these labels. I have to admit, I'm one of those that believe ADD and ADHD are highly overdiagnosed. I believe medication should be a last resort, also. So, two suggestions I have:
1) Read Dr. Aman's book (he's a brain specialist, and PBS had a great show on him the other night) as it might help with the diet part.
2) Google "Sir Ken Robinson", and listen to his speech from the TED convention in LA. He talks about a woman who, had she been in school nowadays, would have been labeled ADHD. It's a WONDERFUL speech, and I highly recommend it to everyone. (It's actually about the education system, but that one story he tells touches briefly on the ADHD subject.)
Best of luck to you! J.
K.N. answers from Cleveland on July 02, 2008
Have you considered dietary changes prior to putting him on medication? That might be one thing to try before putting him on stimulants...
Here is a good book that has been highly recommended to me.
http://www.drbob4health.com/StopTheHype/Intro%20Page.htm
D.G. answers from Columbus on July 02, 2008
ADHD in my opinion is a way for teachers to keep young ones sedated so they don't have to deal with perfectly normal children. If you think he really does have it try this first remove all soda pop and anything with red or blue food coloring in it.Cut the sugar of anything he eats way back.And actually if he can drink coffee once a day just maybe a half cup it should slow him down instead of charge him up.Put a little cream and maybe stevia in it to sweeten it.
My nephew was put on several ADHD drugs in junior high school.Really upset me, one day we had a normal nephew the next week we had a couch potatoe then he gained weight , his grades did improve some but he was miserable because he got no exercise because the drugs made him so tired and made him gain weight. Finally my sister listened to me in high school and took him off of them and he became a straight A student.Lost the weight and got a job before he graduated high school.He is now a Dad to 2 wonderful kids a boy 3 and a little girl 1 1/2 .
Kids are kind of like kittens , you can't expect them to sit still for long.
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P.A. answers from Youngstown on July 02, 2008
Also check into the Feingold diet at www.feingold.org. It is amazing how behavior can change once you take all the chemicals out of their diets. That's why they've started to ban so many food dyes overseas. A number of schools in the UK saw dramatic improvements in behavior and learning when the children stopped eating all the foods with dyes.
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L.B. answers from Indianapolis on July 02, 2008
My 6 year old son has not been diagnosed with ADHD. However, he does have a very hard time staying focused and following through with instruction. I have noticed this at home for quite awhile and his Kindergarten teacher was concerned with it. We took him off ALL artificial coloring, red is the worst for him, and foods high with preservatives. It has helped him quite a bit. We also had him tested for food allergies and were stunned to find out he is allergic eggs, milk, peanuts and chocolate. We are in the middle of making the transition to life without these foods. We meet with the Nurse Practioner doing all the testing in a couple of weeks to find out how to best handle this. I have had people suggest that he may be ADHD, but also know that certain foods allergies can manifest themselves in this kind of behavior. I refuse to put my child on medications until I have tried alternative ways to help him. I am not against medications for ADHD, but have seen children who Have ADHD be on certain diets and not need medication. I hope this helps. It sounds very overwhelming with the fodd allregies and cutting stuff out of our diet, but his is for the health of our child and aid him in having a better future!
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D.Z. answers from Cleveland on July 02, 2008
Hey J.! I am an Environmental Wellness Consultant and I have helped several families with this. Clinical studies indicate that there is a link to dietary and environmental factors. Several studies show a link to essential fatty acid deficiencies within the brain. Things you should be looking at include all food, food additives, and toxins in household cleaners and personal care products.
Some things you should seriously consider: Convert your home to environmentally friendly products (I can help you with this if you like), reduce fried foods and sugar (including artificial sweeteners). Also, use supplements to help maintain proper nutririon. My company recommends and has developed products that have been very successful with this. Products that help maximize cerebral circulation, reduce free radical activity, improve brain function (with omeega 3 fatty acids), maintain cell structure in the brain and mantain proper blood sugar balance. All of which are important strategies to help with ADD/ADHD!
Again, I can help you convert your home to safer, environmentally friendly products (and save money doing it!) and getting the right nutrition. Just PM me if you like!
Hope this helps!
D.
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M.R. answers from Columbus on July 02, 2008
J.,
ADHD occurs when the neurotransmitters in the brain cannot carry the electrical impulses (we call thoughts) efficiently over the tiny spaces between brain cells called synapses. Brain cells do not actually touch, they have a very tiny spacce between then and our brains make neurochemicals that carry our thoughts from cell to cell, and when that process is interrupted, by a shortage of the chemical, or an inablity of the cells to read the chemical, then that person has ADHD.
It is a physical process. The reason we see hyperactivity in some individuals with ADHD is that they are trying to stimulate themselves, to keep themselves going, kind of like the two year old that does anything to stay awake even though they are really tired. They are under stimulated on the cellular level, just the place that medication works its wonders!
Stimulants work because they imporve the transmisssion of thoughts going from brain cell to brain cell. They have been tested extensively, and are very safe medications. There are many out there to choose from, and one may work better for your son than another. Find a qualified prescriber, and then look for the medication and dosage that will work for him and be willing to ajust the dosage or type of medication as he ages.
All areas of his development are effected if he cannot count on his thought process to work well, this causes all kinds of difficulty as he ages and will cause him to have gaps in his learning in school (no matter how smart he is)and if you think about it, you can see how this affects his behavior too. How would you feel if this is how your brain functioned? Do you think you might be a little irritated? A little defensive? A little angry? Would you resist learning or working on things that you found difficult if you knew that at some point you would just loose track of what you were doing and you did not know when that would happen but knew there was nothing you could do to stop it from happening? (even though everyone else seems to be able to do that, and everyone keeps telling you how smart you are, so why can't you just...you get the idea!)
Try fish oil if you want to, but don't count on it to help his basic disorder, please do not abandon standard treatment unless you find that he cannot tolerate it at all. This is an illness, and there is good medical treatment that works great! It is nothing to be afraid of because he has everything to gain.
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R.N. answers from Columbus on July 02, 2008
J. before going the medication route, try the doctor feingold diet. We did it in my house when my little brother was diagnosed and as long as he and we followed the diet things were fine and he was able to concentrate. It limits what type of products you can eat.... ie no red die but it is easy to flow because they give you a product by product list to follow for example ( you can drink 7up but not sprite) because of some additive that sprite adds to their product that sets off kids who are sensative to ____ what ever it is __. When my family followed this, everyone in the ouse realized they were able to concentrate better, do better ins hcool and work and when we were off the diet, we were all a bit adhd!!! HAHAHA.... I highly reccomened this approach first. With him being so young and the number of mis diagnosed cases of ADHD at such a young age.... I say diet first and if he does not improve, then medicate. BTW you can not cheat on the diet.... if you do, you will see results immediatly! good luck, I'd love to hear what happens.
R.
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P.W. answers from Columbus on July 02, 2008
My older son, now 40, was very hyper when he was a child. They didn't have the ADHD thing when he was young. But he couldn't sit still in class to save his sole, didn't remember things well and couldn't consentrate. We finally figured out that he was allergic to milk and milk products. We got rid of the milk but the doctor said not to worry about things with milk in them. He still can't drink more than a quart of milk in any given week. But we gave him Ritalin while he was in school, otherwise we let him run off his energy. I don't know about the fish oil but he only took the pills while in elementary school, he did outgrow most of the problems.
Karen
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R.S. answers from Columbus on July 02, 2008
Hi!
I am the parent of 2 children diagnosed with ADHD. The oldest is 14 and the youngest is 8. My first question would be HOW was your child diagnosed? By whom? What tools were used? Often this is done improperly. My oldest was diagnosed at age 6. I did not want anything to do with "medication". I tried both diet and supplements and the two together. I really didn't see much difference with diet, but the supplements seemed to help some, for a while. As my child grew bigger they seemed to work less and less. One of the supplements I used was a hybrid type that is no longer available. What symptoms are you seeing? There are many things you can do. I used the largest Omega-3, fish oil dose possible for my child's size, as well as magnesium and whey protein. There are lots of books and websites out there with options. My two kids take two different meds. This is a moving target. The oldest child has been on the same medication from the time I "gave in". My Dr's words to me were, "If your child were diabetic, you would give him/her the insulin they needed. It's the same for treating ADHD." My younger child is using a patch. This avoids the problem of how to "get down" a pill or capsule and you can "un-do" it at any time if needed or desired. It also seems to work with a lower amount of meds. I will give you my email privately and be happy to answer any more detailed questions I can that way. If there are things I can answer more publicly, I am happy to do that as well. I would have done anything to have more support when my child was first diagnosed and will go out of my way to help you as a result. You are the parent, follow your instincts and heart.
Best Wishes,
"
R.
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B.W. answers from Cincinnati on July 02, 2008
Hi J. - First let me say my children do not have ADHD. However I am very interested in the idea of using food and propper nutrition as "medicine" first. DON'T GET ME WRONG - I do not think that traditional medications are all bad!
I have had personal experience with prescribed anti-depressants and severe side effects, including the suicidal thoughts those wonderful commercials warn about. With all the information out these days, I've come to trust the FDA less and less.
I recently came across this article that I thought of when I read your request. It's not an answer, but something to think about in your search for one. Here's the link (I guess you'd have to copy and paste it)
http://beveragedaily.com/news/ng.asp?id=85921
"the article raises questions about the validity of results from medical researchers heavily funded by the pharmaceutical industry, researching dietary supplements and food and reporting null results." It has to do with St. John's Wort and asks if we should trust studies that companies have done that have been funded in large part by pharmaceutical companies.
In any case, the others here are right - you have to "follow your heart." Get all the info you can and I'm sure you'll have a gut feeling about what is right for your child and you should, without doubt, go that way. God bless you on your search!
Love & prayers -B.
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