Multivitamins/Supplements

[Danni246]

My 5 year old son was recently diagnosed with combined ADHD, and his dad and I are holding off on medication for now. I'd love to hear what vitamins, supplements, and or diet changes you all are doing for a kiddo this age? I read a recommendation for the OLLY brand "Chillax" vitamins that we've been doing for about a month now but that's about it. He also does play therapy once a week. Struggles for my little man include impulse control, huge emotions, anger outbursts, inability to rationalize with him, lots of anxiety, difficulty focusing on tasks (other than things that interest him like building blocks/building train sets), and such a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep. Any recommendations/suggestions would be extremely appreciated!<3

[marinecyan]

It’s great that you’re reaching out for support early on! My son is older (9) but we have taken a non-medication approach. I’d recommend reading the book Finally Focused by James Greenblatt. He guides you through common nutritional deficiencies and gut Imbalances that exacerbate or cause ADHD symptoms.

I’d also suggest finding an integrative or functional pediatrician to support you. Our integrative pediatrician lives an hour away but she does Telehealth appointments for anyone in California.

We’ve found that my son is very low in Onega-3s which is very common for kids with ADHD as well as iron, zinc, vitamin D, vitamin C, b vitamins… He eats well for a kid but he also has evidence of a yeast strain overgrowth. He’s taking Omega-3s, a multivitamin, a probiotic and an enzyme to help digest yeast biofilms.

Hope that’s helpful! Wishing you the best

[SecretAgentIEP in reply to marinecyan]

Hi there, Can you share the brands and product name for the multivitamin, probiotic and enzyme you use?

[marinecyan in reply to SecretAgentIEP]

My son takes:

Dr. Mercola Chewable Multivitamin (we're looking for a different one at the moment because these are chalky and he doesn't like the flavor)

Ther-Biotic Kids (25 million CFU)

Ther-Biotic Vital-Zymes (enzyme)

Nordic Naturals ProOmega 2000 Jr

[marinecyan]

Sorry, I forgot to also mention that my son also takes low-dose lithium which has dramatically improved his anger/aggression. (He takes ~2mg per day of KAL Lithium Orotate liquid.)

For sleep, magnesium can be helpful. My kids love the magnesium citrate "anti-stress" gummies from Dr Moritz. They eat 1-2 after dinner.

We also listen to calming music at night which helps him turn off his mind when it's spinning (which it is most of the time). I splurged on a mediation device called Morphee that has music, guided mediations etc. You can find it on Amazon.

[LF2023]

Hello! I am going through the same thing with my 4.5 year old daughter and on top of that she is extremely picky. Has your son been checked for an iron deficiency? There is a lot of research about kids with ADHD and being iron deficient, which can cause a lot of aggression and emotional dysregulation. The ONLY iron supplement I have had success with is the Renzo's chewable Iron tablets. I give her one in the morning before school. Another huge help for us has been magnesium.. I bought the Kid's Calm magnesium powder and mixed it with sugar free juice and put it into popsicle molds in my freezer (amazon has tons of really adorable ones for kids) I give it to her at bedtime in the tub or sometimes before school, which she thinks is awesome- 2 hours before bed I give her 2mg of the strawberry flavored melatonin tablets by Natrol. She has a bath with dim lighting with the kid's Lavender melatonin Epsom salt. I just ordered the nutritional support powder by Simple Spectrum, but haven't received it yet, so not sure how helpful it is, but they seem to have a lot of great essential vitamins with no taste. I'm trying to avoid stimulants for the time being as well. Using a visual timer has been helpful for us with transitions which might cause anxiety. There is definitely a lot of trial and error! I hope you guys are able to find what works best for your family!

[MerryDay]

I scanned other comments and didn't see it so sorry if it's a duplicate, but the prevailing dietary advice is high protein and decent good fats. Diminish simple and processed carbohydrate as much as possible.My sons also take magnesium gummies from Calm. There's a list of things in their daily vitamins that I can't recall right now but I recall studying common deficiencies in people with ADHD when I chose them. One thing I recall in particular is to avoid folic acid and instead to make sure the vitamins include methylfolate.

[ADHD_DAD]

Hi. Let me begin by noting that I am not an advocate of non-traditional treatments. I would not recommend Cayenne pepper in place of high blood pressure medicine or black strap molasses in place of diabetes medication. That said, to answer your specific question, I invite you to click on my profile and see my post entitled "Micronutrient News" in which I summarize a (then) new study/publication on the effectiveness of vitamins for the management of ADHD. As I point out in that post, the study did not compare vitamins to traditional medicine. Rather, it compared use of vitamins to no treatment at all. With that caveat, it showed some effectiveness. The conclusion was that for children unable to tolerate the side effect of traditional meds or who did not see improvement, the micronutrients may be an option. This is really the only credible study on the topic of which I am aware. Most other publications on the issue are anecdotal. Good luck as you move forward. The management of ADHD is a marathon and you'll change your mind about things along the way. We all do. Just remember that each step of the way, you were trying to do what is best based upon what you knew. Some decisions will be good and some won't, but forgive yourself along the way knowing your heart was in the right place.

[marinecyan in reply to ADHD_DAD]

If you're interested, there's actually a surprising amount of literature on vitamin & mineral supplements and ADHD. I just finished a masters in nutrition and dove into the subject out of interest & concern for my son. Here are just a few of the studies:

Omega-3s:

Omega—3 fatty acid and ADHD: Blood level analysis and meta-analytic extension of supplementation trials

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

Gut Microbiota, Probiotics & Omegas:

Current evidence on the role of the gut microbiome in ADHD pathophysiology and therapeutic implications

mdpi.com/2072-6643/13/1/249

Magnesium & Vitamin D:

The effect of vitamin D and magnesium supplementation on the mental health status of attention-deficit hyperactive children: a randomized controlled trial bmcpediatr.biomedcentral.co...

Lithium:

Why Low-Dose Nutritional Lithium Should Be An Option For ADHD

finallyfocused.org/low-dose... (See references at the end o the article)

[ADHD_DAD in reply to marinecyan]

Of course I am interested! I like to read everything I can on the topic of management of ADHD. I will say that the only journal below with which I am familiar is the Clinical Psychology Review, but I will read them all nonetheless.

[Uptowngirl12121]

Hi - we also have taken a non-medication approach but are actually adding Brillia right now because a few small symptoms persist. So far it's fine although I'm not able to tell if what's happening is the pill or a combo of other things we do and have already done. I must admit our son (10) has had some really fantastic days at school lately!

Our other methods are swimming once a week, consistent bed-time, and a diet that excludes sugar and includes lots of cooking from scratch. If the food we give isn't organic (very expensive) then we make sure its a natural as possible. We have used chillax in the past as well as Omega-3 vitamins but the results weren't as strong or noticeable. We also did a fantastic program called Brain Balance by Dr. Robert Melillo. You can check out his books - Disconnected Kids and The Disconnected Kids Nutrition Plan. Honestly, this changed the game for us.

We have a history that sounds similar to yours and I encourage you on your journey.

[Aibor5]

For sleep - this hugging blanket works wonders. My ADHD 7-year old combined presentation daughter now loves going to sleep and wakes up rested. She said the blanket feels like a hug! amazon.com/Sensory-Compress...