I have a 6 year old stepson who is with us 3 days a week. He is hyper, silly, loses his temper easily and overreacts. He is also extremely bright, sweet and loving. He had some behavior problems in kindergarten which led his mom to take him to a psychologist recently. After two visits, they were told he has ADD. The Dr. suggested giving him Omega 3, which in his opinion, helps a lot. He also mentioned putting him on Vyvanse. They went to the pediatrician today she said the Omega 3 doesn't work, but the Vyvanse works great. My husband and I are very reluctant to put him on Vyvanse. He does have behavior issues at times and doesn't listen very well, but we do not think he needs medication. Can anyone share personal experiences with either that may help us? Thanks!
Even if the Omegas don't work for his ADD, they are good for all kinds of other things, immunity being one. I'd put him on Omegas regardless. Dr. Sears has some chewy kids vitamins with fish oil that my daughter (2.5) loves. I bought them on Amazon.
One of my son's has severe ADHD (combined type) and I use Omega 3 and a stimulant (Adderall XR). We have also used Vyvanse - it works, just not as well for us as the Adderall (each kid responds to something different).
While pediatricians are great doctors (well, most of them), they do not deal with kids with psych/emotional/behavioral issues day in and day out like a psychologist does. Between the two, I think that they psychologist would have the better, more up to date and in the know information. I love my pediatrician, but when it comes to psych meds, I go directly to the psych.
Omega 3 has other health benefits so certainly positive things will come out of giving it to your step-son. Is it a magic bullet? No. In fact, nothing is "magic." However, adding Vyvanse to the mix, is a real option. Think of ADD/ADHD treatment like the legs of a table - one leg is medication, one leg is school intervention, one leg is home support, and one leg is your child's work in helping himself. In order to hold the table steady, all 4 things need to work together. Just popping a pill in his mouth, is not the answer - it is one piece of the puzzle.
If it were me (and I have been there), I would try the Vyvanse, but I would also make sure that the school has the appropriate interventions in place, that you, your husband, and the mom are all on the same page as far as helping your son work on his behavior, and that your son understands that although his behavior is an issue, there is accountability for his actions.
Remember, stimulants are a short acting drug and do not stay in the system for any length of time. Summer is a great time to try a low dose and see what happens. You will know if it works or not pretty much right away. Keep in mind that Vyvanse does not work for everyone so if it doesn't work, don't assume that medication is not the answer. There are many choices out there because each kid tolerates something different.
Good luck!
My 11 year old has ADHD and takes a pharmaceutical grade Omega III. This alone however does not offer enough relief from his symptoms. We have tried literally everything out there both medicinally and naturally. The best products so far have been a isotonic supplement line called Might-A-Mins Spectrum. This line addresses the oxidative stress of these types of children as well as fill nutritional pot holes. I noticed a small difference after a week, a good difference after 2 weeks and he is doing great for the last year on these supplements. You can purchase them through this website: www.visionary-wellness.com. Just look under the products tab for children's supplements.
Some children are able to find relief from natural remedies and some can not. Cognitive therapy and family counseling was very effective as well. If you have to put him on medication try to find a pediatrician that specializes in behavioral conditions.Good Luck and keep an open mind.
Omegas DO work, but you need to start with alot, and as you see results, you can back down the dosage. Only use pharmaceutical grade. The latest research paper I read states significant results with 6g of EPA/DHA daily. The brands we recommend are Anabolic Laboratories and Metagenics. They are only available through health care providers. Whatever you do, don't buy just anything off the shelf. Nutritional supplements are not regulated, and the over the counter ones are not titrated. Which means what is on the lable is not necessarily what is in the bottle. (Very scary). Go to anabolic laboratories' website, it explains it fully.
Omega 3 is so important for so many things in our health. It does help with brain function so it makes sense it would help with ADD. A lot of medications have side effects that are much worse than the problem so I can see why you are reluctant to give the medication. My experience with Medical Doctors is that they have not studied or learned about natural methods so they push us to use medications because that is all they know. If you can find a naturopathic Doctor they will help you find a natural treatment if that is the way you want to go. I take Omega 3's to help lower cholesterol and to keep my joints healthy. If I miss a few days of the Omega 3's I can really feel the difference. I take only Arbonne supplements all of the products are made with only natural herbs and botanicals, they are gluten free and the list goes on and on. If you would like a list of what Omega 3's help please contact me in a private message and I can email more information to you. Good Luck with your stepson he is lucky to have you I can tell you really care about what is best for him.
Kay
E.T.,
I would encourage your stepson's parents to take him to see a board certified child psychiatrist (and have a full neurpsycholgical evaluation) or go to a Developmental Pediatrician for a true diagnosis of ADHD- hyper active type, combine type, or intatentitve type (the last formerly known as ADD many years ago.) Without a full evaluation, you really do not have a good diagnosis and psychologists can do evaluations that show consistency with the diagnosis, they can suspect the diagnosis, they can suggest that you go get a medical diagnosis, but they cannot diagnose ADHD of any type, because they are not medical doctors and they have no bussiness telling anyone about any drug or supplement.
Psychologists are valuable team members for treatment of properly diagnosed ADHD of all types.
Pediatricians can and do prescribe medication for ADHD, but this is not the very best source of medication knowledge for this specialty, nor are they appropriate diagnosticians, and they most certianly cannot provide you with the hours of diagnostic evaluation data that will give you a full treatment plan complete with educational needs and psycholgical and behavioral intervention strategy plans. Your step son deserves this kind of standard care.
Omega 3's are the new Acai berry! They are being pushed for everything right now and there is no harm in using them for good health, but do not expect any treatment value for ADHD (of any type.) Vyvanse is one of the newer ADHD medications and may have considerable value to your stepson, but so may a lot of other types of ADHD medication. How he responds to each one is individual, and it may take several trials to find the best response at the right dose, just like many other medications that are designed to releive troublesome medical symptoms from a whole slew of medical issues. Medication trials should be carried out by the best prescriber you can find, and that will most likely be a board certified child psychiatrist who specializes in these medications and issues and knows what to look for because they see it day in and day out.
That is my experience, get a full evaluation that takes many hours and includeds educational, psycholgical, speech and langauge, OT, neurolgical, etc, etc (according to his needs and symptoms) from either a neuropsycholgist or a Developmental pediatrician, and then get treatment based on that full evaluation from a Board Certified Child psychiatrist and follow his referal suggestions (for cognitive behaviroal therapy, speech, OT, educational interventions, social skills classes...) Let the very best prescriber who deals with these medications every day do the medical intervention. Make sure that medication is not your only treatment-he should have an evaluation that identifies all the therapy that is needed from soup to nuts.
M.
My son started on ADD meds in 4th grade. We were against it for a long time but he was struggling in school since pre-school and in his social life. The meds really turned things around for him in a positive way. Am I happy that he's on meds? No, but I didn't see a choice. A lot of ADD kids end up with low self esteem and it's a hard cycle to get out of. That being said 6 is waaaay too young to start ADD meds. He just may be immature. There are a lot of side effects to these meds, after all. Sorry, 6 is too young.
I talked to my daughters Dr because we believe she has ADD/ADHD and he did recommend us giving him Omega 3 and Spark. I've not started her on the Omega 3 full time yet but she does take the Spark and it make a big differnce I've also suggested it to a friend and she has her daughter on it and the teachers have seen a differnce in her. I can send you a study on it if you would like. We love it, I drink it for energy and she drinks it for ADD/ADHD.
