ADD/ADHD/Autism...Alternative remedies

[gloworm]

mrsFogetful, I though i'd start another thread as th other one was getting away from the hayfever issue.

definatly worth trying fish oil, our local ADHD group are recommending Eskimo oil and some of the kids have even managed to come of ritlin completly!

another fish oil thread

Jan de Vries Child Essence has also had good reports from several parents. also in drops you add to water/juice. also from health shop.

Also Bioforce Avena Sativa, calms child down, works on central nervous system, also in drops.
can also help with teething and colic!

Bioforce Valerian-hops for sleeping...fantastic! ask GP if he can take it while on sleeping tablet.

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don't know if this is any help at all... but I have come across something called Indigo essences (www.indigoessences.com) in my research, may be worth a try?

essbee, eskimo oil could help with add too.
as could child essence, or concentration essence.

unicorn, very sceptical about the indigo essences...have never come across anyone recommending anything like this before. we sell crystals from time to time...but not for taking internally!! there are many other remedies with a proven track record i would try before trying these. i wouldnt give them to my children (but this is just my opinion)

My friend just contacted EyeQ after her dd's behaviour/eye contact etc deteriorated after reducing her Eye Q dose. (her dd is autistic). The woman who contacted her form Eye Q said that she has an autistic son and she keeps him on a high dose all the time. it's because autistic children are usually deficient in omega 3's.

Having said that we give ds1 nordic naturals cod liver oil (under direction of a nutritionist- we want the vitamin A) and we only give a teaspoon.

different brands contain different levels of the active ingredients (omega3, DHA and EPA). this is wone of the reasons different amounts are recommended by different companies. Eskimo has higher levels than eyeQ, therefore you need much less. i also think it is better quality. and (i think) its cheaper.

here is another thread on eskimo oil and eyeQ oil.
i've posted a good bit of info on eskimo about half way down it.

a thread on fish oils

Sorry I wasn't very clear- I just meant if your child is autistic you may need to keep them on a high dose (rather than decrease). Our nutritionist is talking about getting ds1 up to a tablespoon a day (!) although that was with bio-oil (not cold liver)- but he went hyper on 1 tsp. The nutritionist said that its because it has been designed to give the optimum ratio of omega 3 and 6s but not for autis. So he was getting too much omega 6.

i'm not being very clear either!!
A tablespoon by one company, does not contain the same amount of omega3-DHA and EPA, as a tablespoon by another company. So, for example a Tablespoon by eyeQ might contain the same amount as a teaspoon by Eskimo (dont know exacty without having both in front of me).

As far as ratio of omega 3 to 6, i heave heard of quite a few people who have reacted to eyeQ...it contains a diffferent ratio to most other bands, it has too much omega 6.

this is probably still not very clear.

Gloworm,what's the problem with mineral essences?
Can't see them being harmful... and re track records well we haven't got any long term studies re ritalin yet have we?

ahh I see what you mean- but still think that an auti may well need more eskimo oil than an NT- iyswim.

INteresting abut eye-Q - I know a lot of people (autis) who have reacted badly to it as well.

Anyone who is wanting to "treat" verbal dyspraxia the recommended brand is Nordic Naturals Pro-Efa- can be bought from apraxia kids- apparentlygave the best results (not double blind trials though- as it was organised by parents and no-one wanted to risk thier child not receiving the benefits iyswim).

unicoren, i dont have a problem with them as such, just dont see how they could work. seems a bit gimicky(?) to me. i'd love to know if anyone has tried them. i'm just a bit sceptical and would need to know a bit more about them, the web site doesnt give detailed info on how they work. most reputable companies give a retailer section with more details on the backround behind the product.
the whole thing just seemed a bit wishy-washey to me iyswim, here are a lot of people out there trying to make money out of other peoples misfortunes and i hate to see anyone being ripped off or sold false hope. i'm not saying this is the case with these essences, i'm just not convinced about them either.
anyway I'll keep an open mind on them for know!

meant to say "THERE are a lot of people out there"

JJ-do you have a web site for nodic, they sound interesting.

this site has some good info on eskimo kids

eskimo kids

will print this off and 'have a go'!
Thanks all!

Thanks for all your advice Gloworm. Co-incidentally have been thinking of giving dd a fish oil supplement for a while now and today finally bought some Haliboorange DHA stuff in Boots. However, having read all this (and other thread) I am now going to try and take that back and have ordered some eskimo oil. Hadn't considered the mercury thing and Halibo says nothing about it so guessing they haven't removed. Also looked at Eye-q but as dd is epileptic its not suitable as contains eve primrose.

make sure you get the regular eskimo oil, not the kids one which contains ev prim oil.
also halib will contain lot of sugar and sweetners

gloworm sorry no website. Nutricentre stock their products (and I think are the only UK supplier), but I always find nutricentre a nightmare so after a disasterous 6 week wait for a delivery from them now always order from the apraxia kids website in the States (usually takes 5 days).

gloworm - I scanned the ingredients listed on 2 websites for eskimo kids for evening primrose and GLA and couldn't see it. Could it be listed as something else? Would be really helpful to know what it could be listed as as need to avoid... thanks

sorry heartinthecountry, I was being over-cautious! i assumed the omega 6 was from epo...its actually from rapeseed. So NO evening primrose oil!

just to make sure, is it only specifically evenong primrose dd needs to avoid, or is it anything that is a high source of omega6
(excuse my ignorance, but epilepsy is one of the conditions we (in helalth food trade) are not allowed, by law, to give advice on. so my knowledge of what they need to avoid is pretty low as we are not issued wit any advice/info on the subject.

gloworm - not sure on the omega 6 thing - I'll check that out. thanks for suggestion. I'll let you know.

starflower oil is high in omega6 and also says to be avoided by epileptics.
I did some reading up on this today and like i said there is very little info on eplipsy in my litriture but i did notice that anything with a high GLA content said "avoid if suffer from epilpsy".
Until you find out more I would recommend avoiding eskimo kids and just stick to the regular eskimo liquid (it is lemon flavor), it is omega3 only and no omega6.

Just as an aside to this, I tried dd1 (NT I think but with hyper tendencies and sometimes poor concentration) on Efalex and after about a week, she went completely hyper and lost all concentration. Now about 2 weeks later, she is just about back to normal. We had previously tried eyeQ but she disliked the taste.

Caroline5, the same thing happened with my dd (who has a language difficulty). We have tried it 3 times now and each time her beahviour deterioated(sp?) rapidly. So no more EyeQ in this house - thank you!

Yes, I'm definitely avoiding all fish oils too now, although they did seem to have a positive effect for the first few days, then everything went pear-shaped!! She is back to normal more or less now, except for refusing to go to sleep in the evening (still awake now !!), which wasn't really that much of a problem before the Efalex. AAGH!