natural supplements

[Isabellarose]

Hi,

I’m currently really struggling with my just turned 6 year old ASD/ADHD son.

I’m almost at the end of my rope with medication, stimulants seem to make him so much more irritable and aggressive then before meds which is saying a lot because his aggression and impulsiveness is why we decided to try the medication road in the first place. He has also tried both clonidine and guanfacine both made absolutely no difference. I think the clonidine actually led to irritability also which is strange as it’s meant to be calming.

So now I’m looking at going down the natural road with micronutrients has anyone gone natural and seen much improvement with mood and focus using no other meds?

If so what did you use and how long before you noticed and significant difference?

I’m reaching the point of not liking my own child and I hate feeling this way 😢

[tootsmom]

We are currently using natural supplements for my 7.5 year old. We saw an integrative MD and currently see a naturopath. One thing I keep reading and noticing with my son - high doses of fish oil can take the H out of ADHD (for many kids, maybe not for all). He still has the inattention but fish oil is calming. Take a high quality fish oil (Nordic Naturals). It doesn't taste fishy. It's safe for a kid to take 3000mg! My son takes 3000 total per day, split into 3 doses throughout the day, breakfast, lunch (or right after school) and dinner (or right before bed). We put it in his yogurt. Another repeatedly recommended suppl is magnesium. We give mag l-threonate in the morning, and another kind of magnesium in the evening. High doses of B vitamins are also safe, and there is published research about the efficacy of the combination of ginseng and ginkgo. There are other things, but they can be specific to the child, e.g, some neurodiverse kids have gut issues so should definitely take a good probiotic (right before bed). I do also recommend seeing an integrative dr or naturopath. It can get expensive but I've decided to forego saving for retirement for a couple of years so that we can address his needs while the brain is young and plasticity is on our side. Many of them will do an OAT test. With this, we discovered that my son needs high doses of B vitamins to help him metabolize meat. And go figure - high B complex has also been shown to reduce ADHD symptoms. The book Finally Focused is helpful, among some others... Take care!

[Genetic in reply to tootsmom]

Thank you so much for the information on your journey. We are grandparents raising our “son” since birth. In first grade at age 7. I cannot describe enough the rollercoaster of up-down no plateau struggles for the entire family unit. I do want to just stop all RX meds and go the route you are on. Thx again

[Kp123456 in reply to tootsmom]

I second all of the above! It makes a difference in our son. He’s also on Zoloft to help moodiness/irritability exacerbated by stimulants. He takes an extremely small dose (2-4ml) of stimulant ProCentra which takes the edge off impulsivity/hyper. Stimulants are so effective but intolerable at recommended dosages. Hardy nutritional which are loaded with B vitamins and magnesium are very calming, but too calming when my son is also taking guanfacine and Zoloft.

[Kp123456 in reply to Kp123456]

Cutting out all food dyes, increasing protein intake, adding adult strength multivitamin and reducing processed snacks have helped too.

[Elijah1]

There is some research supporting the use of micronutrients for ADHD (see the Hardy Nutirtionals webpage hardynutritionals.com/). Follow the recommended doses as used in the cited studies.

[arrh121]

We found guanfacine ER + atomoxetine worked well for our son (who is 8 and doing much better now, he started meds at 4). Stimulants did not work for him. We considered but ultimately did not do micronutrients.

[PickPink]

Guanfacine has been very good for my son. He stopped taking anything now that he is 11 but for a few years nothing else would work for his anxiety, impulsivity and attention issues. It’s worth a shot and Guanfacine is not addictive.

[PurplePizza]

I second the recommendation to read Finally Focused! We have found that for anger/aggression, no medications were helpful (we tried 5), but nutritional lithium, mood probiotics, and saffron (the spice!) actually all really helped our son. We tried Hardy’s for a while but he couldn’t stand the smell/taste. Now he is taking True Hope Empower Plus and it is the first multivitamin he will take with no issues. Another book with some supplements recommendations is Happy Kids, Healthy Kids by Elisa Song. None of the changes were overnight, but within a week I started noticing positive changes for our son, and when au look back over the last 6 months when we started trying all these vitamins and supplements, he is doing SO much better overall. Good luck to you and hang in there!

[amjohnson3]

Hi - I second the fish oil supplements. My son is on guanfacine, and it took awhile to get to that med and then to the right dose--and it will likely change as his body/brain continue to grow. At first the guanfacine made no difference at all for my son either, so it might be worth trying a higher dose, if you can and your doc recommends it. It was probably 4 months before we got the dose right and figured out to give it to him in the morning so it didn't disrupt his sleep. The fish oil also takes 3 months to kick in. It's so hard to wait when things feel desperate. Hang in there.

[ADHDMDS]

Finally Focused is a great book to start with if interested in the natural approach and finding a naturopath or integrative/Functional medicine MD for your son. I second many of the above supplements which have been beneficial for my 7.5 y/o son. He takes fish oil (3000mg), vitamin D, magnesium, nutritional lithium, Herbal hug (for anxiety), L-tyrosine with vit B complex and a good multivitamin.

I also had read how much the gut-brain axis plays a role with neurological disorders like ADHD and ASD. The majority of our neurotransmitters are made in our gut so if our guts are inflamed and with leaky gut or dysbiosis from taking antibiotics, eating foods with toxic chemicals or being exposed to toxins/chemicals from our environments which inflame/disrupt our gut lining, then this can greatly affect mood, behavior, concentration, sleep, etc. Also, not to mention the chronic inflammation due to development of food sensitivities which occurs with leaky gut.

Unfortunately, my son had back to back ear infections (daycare baby) and strep throat in his first 2 years of life and had many rounds of antibiotics, wiping out his gut microbiome. Then he had more antibiotics around age 5.5 to treat PANDAS which we think he had from the strept infection. When "they" say the gut microbiome heals itself after antibiotics, that is just sadly not true. It is a long dedicated process to heal the gut lining. We are currently working with a functional holistic nutritionist who specializes in working with ADHD children. It is a 9-month program, we are in month 3.5 and have seen positive improvements including much improved sleep (which in itself leads to better behaviors), less intense meltdowns and quicker to recover, still struggling with impulse control, but more self-awareness of when he does act impulsive. We homeschool and I have noticed better concentration while we do school. I have also noticed my son's eczema on his hands and legs is slowing starting to improve.

The general recommendations for all the ADHD kids in this program are to cut out gluten, dairy, soy, artificial flavors and dyes, preservatives, seed oils, refined sugars, and highly processed foods. Lab testing is ran and a bio-specific supplement protocol is created for the child including pre and pro-biotics, de-tox binders, and other gut healing vitamins/supplements, along with anything else that shows up on testing. Sometimes mold testing and/or heavy metal testing is recommended depending on what is seen on the first set of tests. The basic idea is reduce all inflammation in the body/gut (you can take all the micronutrients/supplements in the world, but if the gut is inflamed and in dysbiosis you will not absorb any of it), then remove toxins/chemicals (detox), then heal and restore the gut lining health so it can function properly with absorbing/delivering appropriate micronutrients and making the necessary neurotransmitters.

Good luck on your journey! There are ups and downs as you figure out what works for your child and just remember nothing along the natural road is a quick fix when you are addressing root causes like nutrient deficiencies or neurotransmitter imbalances. Also, you are not alone in feeling guilty about reaching the point of not liking your child. I was there too and I still have days I feel that way. My child's aggressions and impulsivity is what made me so desperate to try something new. I was tired of getting hurt and seeing my 3 year old daughter getting hurt and our newly remodeled home getting destroyed! Things are not "perfect" now, but we are in a much better place than we were 1 and 2 years ago! I know my son is still young and has a lot of maturing and growing to do. I also participate in a ADHD- parenting specific program (which is part of the nutritional program and lead by a therapist) to help me learn the tools I can use to better understand my son and how to respond to him. I have ADHD myself and so we both have very excitatory nervous systems and we tend to trigger each other....A LOT!!! After my son finishes his gut healing journey, I think I want to look into going through the same process for myself.