I’ve been having a hard time finding the right dose for Adderall and it’s been making me very frustrated.
My doctor asked me if I had tried saffron. This surprised me because he is a very conservative doctor.
There was a very short article in Pyschology Today that said children and adolescents who took 30 mg of a saffron extract had the same positive effects as the group that stayed on Ritalin.
It said it greatly helped with executive function, anxiety and depression.
Has anyone tried this? Or any other supplements instead of medications?
thank you
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SierraHomesick
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Sounds promising. I'd like to see more research on this.
Saffron is touted as beneficial for a lot of things, but some of the claims have to be taken with a grain of salt.
For instance, it is claimed to make improvements in vision for people who have age-related macular degeneration. Well, my mom and grandma both have that condition. They both tried treatment with saffron for a whole year and saw no improvement. (Fortunately, they did find a treatment which has helped to improve vision for both of them, since experimenting with saffron.)
If anyone tries it for ADHD, I hope it really does work for them. But it's unlikely that we are going to see any large studies, because those usually have big pharma involved.
Not really “hard” to switch, but hard to want change when there’s not always something keeping us going. Homeopathic remedies are always hit and miss. Sometimes our chemistries don’t work with it, and others it’s more of a placebo effect. It is… interesting.
One hypothesis is that saffron is able to act as a selective dopamine reuptake inhibitor and as a selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor.
My ADHD medication is atomoxetine, which is a selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor. I'd be concerned about the possibility of a bad interaction by trying both at once.
(SNRIs are like SSRIs, in that they take weeks to fully build up in the system, and weeks to draw down to leave the body. It's a very different experience from stimulant medications. Since I have to work for a living, going off my meds could have a significant impact on my effectiveness at work.)
But if anyone else tries saffron as an ADHD treatment, I'm so ears.
I was just able to scan through. But it sounds like they tested it in combo with Ritalin? I might ask my doctor if I can try it. Thank you for the articles.
I have tried a whole bunch of purported ADHD nootropics, supplements and research chemicals. Obviously everyone is different but the only ones I have found useful are;
* CDP choline - The relationship between choline and ADHD is pretty well established (eg ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl... and there are a bunch of RCTs demonstrating it reduces ADHD symptoms
* High dose EPA & DHA - High dose is a minimum of 1500mg combined a day. Personally I noticed a significant improvement in functional memory, RCTs show general improvement in ADHD symptoms too. This is one its also just generally healthy to have, reduces CVD/dementia/other cognitive & cardiovascular disease incidence.
* Sleep - Get 8 hours minimum a night. Magnesium, lithium and low dose melatonin before bed.
* N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine - Clinical evidence is mixed but I notice an improvement in my attention. Its important to get the N-Acetyl form.
* CoQ10 - Take it for joint health but if you have the h form then you might find it super useful
I take OmegaBrite (omegabrite.com/). It is 7:1 EPA to DHA. It’s not cheap, though. I also take a double dose (I.e. 6 capsules per day). I’ve taken it for so many years that I don’t even know what I’d be like without it. I started taking it with my son when he was diagnosed with ADHD, and it was recommended by one of his doctors. I have not found others that are this high of a ratio of EPA to DHA.
When I said “I don’t even know what I’d be like without it” i meant that I don’t really know what effect it has for my ADHD. I also take it for heart and joint health, so any ADHD and memory benefit is a plus.
Heart disease runs on my dads side of the family so I’ve taken it off and on over the years for that. I ordered the omega brite. I’ve been taking Nordic Naturals but the DHA is much higher than the EPA. I was happy to find a better brand. We’ll see how I feel now that I’m aware of adhd.
The OmegaBrite are very high quality. And they just switched to a new gelatin coating that is now fish-based, too. In all of the years I’ve been taking them, I don’t think I’ve ever had a single busted capsule. I hope they work out for you!
I've heard really good things about L-Tyrosine. Am likewise not having a great experience with my first go at stimulants/Adderall, but wanted to give them a shot before attempting to go the herbal route since info is so mixed out there and (just like the Rx's) everyone responds so differently.
That's great news! I've read that 20-30mg is a usual dosage for many adults. I'm at 15mg per day now, 5 weeks in. My next refill will put me up to 17.5. I feel like I can focus fairly well when I'm on it, but struggle with making sure I put that focus toward the right things. And definitely having hard crashes in the evening. And feel super weird now on the weekend days when I take less, like today I only took 7mg and I felt like I was high (except not in a fun way lol). Not loving it so far, but think I'm gonna keep trying it til the end of the year.
I told my therapist something similar. I felt like I had good energy and attitude but didn’t know what to do with it. I think my doctor upped it because he thought it would calm me, which seemed counterintuitive, but I feel it a bit more. My therapist also told me to try and work out to burn off some of the excess energy. So I’m going tomorrow morning after I take my first dose. I think we all have to experiment unfortunately. Good luck to you!
Yeah, a few friends told me that if it doesn't feel optimal below 20, chances are upping the dose will address that. I'm almost wondering if I should skip the 17.5 step-up and just go straight to 20 but now I'm starting to experience some side effects that are making me consider going off of it entirely if they don't resolve soon. You're definitely right that everyone has to experiment so I'm trying hard to keep an open mind, reach an optimal dose, and give this enough time in my system at to fully experience it before giving up and switching to something different. But I'm feeling a little disconcerted at this point...
I had a small set of red bumps last week I didn't think much of, but they are now multiplying and I read that skin stuff can be a reaction, which makes me think this sudden acne outbreak is also related. The real kicker is that starting 3-4 days ago, my eyes became swollen/painful/irritated by wearing contacts and apparently Inter-occular Pressure can increase with stimulants, which probably explains all that. It's considered a more rare side effect, but a well-documented one. Sigh...
I hope the exercise regimen is helping you! It definitely seemed to help with the late afternoon/evening crash I was getting if I could work out or even just take a walk in the mid-afternoon.
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