Undiagnosed ADHD

[OneCoolMintMember]

Hi, my son is really struggling to concentrate although not diagnosed with adhd he has been referred. Just wondering if there is any natural remedies etc that he can use to help him ? Thanks

A good quality multivitamin that includes Vit D.
edited to add
and also maybe get eyes and hearing tested too.

It is Postcode lottery unfortunately. They don't have to accept shared care which is frankly ridiculous. A lot will though.

It is also not relevant here in London. But each county has it's different rules

@YouDeserveSomeCake

Why to stimulate overstimulated? hyperactivity, that H in ADHD indicateds restlessness, hyper.
ADD may need stimulation but adHd?

Stimulants don't work the same way on neuro-diverse folk as for neuro-typical, they actually have a calming effect, so a person with ADD (I believe now referred to as ADHD inattentive type fyi) has some areas of their brain which are over-stimulated and others with are under-stimulated, and the stimulants work to even them out iyswim?

Hence why I never understood people getting a buzz from drinking too much coffee!

so a person with ADD (I believe now referred to as ADHD inattentive type fyi)

but I am not talking about that type. I was questioning use in adHd, hyperactive type.
Any studies to support your you claim about the rest?

omega-3 has a clinically significant effect. But it has to be a high dose (hundreds of milligrams, and there is some debate about EPA vs DHA so best to get one with hundreds of milligrams of both). Also, it has to be marine source (from fish) - the stuff that's vegetable-sourced can't be assimilated by the human metabolism and is basically a placebo. Also, the effect is small (much less than stimulant medication) and takes weeks to build up.
Some of the omega-3 supplements, particularly for children, give a negligible dose e.g. 10-30mg or are plant sourced so are useless..

Regular aerobic exercise improves symptoms/behaviour. eg. joining a swimming club. Best if done most days.
A diet that's high in protein and complex carbohydrates but low in sugar also helps.

FWIW our experience is that all of the above helped - a little bit. But nothing had remotely the same effect as stimulant medication (concerta / methylphenidate). So while "natural remedies" / a healthy lifestyle can help, you may need to think AND rather than OR.

Just to address one or two points made up thread:
Stimulants work by stimulating the inhibitory centres of the brain. A bit like pressing harder on the brake of a car - if you're going downhill you need to be able to press the brake to keep the car under control. It doesn't matter if it's ADHD inattentive (ADD) or ADHD (combined / hyperactive). Boosting the activity of the inhibitory centres reduces impulsiveness / distractibility and leads one to be able to filter/control one's own behaviour and focus on one thing at a time.
Also, "normal" subjects also perform slightly better on cognitive tests when given stimulants (about 5 points / one-third of a std dev, on average). The improvement is bigger in subjects with ADHD but the overall mechanism is the same: boosting activity in specific parts of the brain.

@zippynotbungle

omega-3 has a clinically significant effect. But it has to be a high dose (hundreds of milligrams, and there is some debate about EPA vs DHA so best to get one with hundreds of milligrams of both). Also, it has to be marine source (from fish) - the stuff that's vegetable-sourced can't be assimilated by the human metabolism and is basically a placebo

that is simply not true. Fish is rich in omega 3 which is getting from algae. Algae oil is the source of Omega 3 in Fish minus mercury that many fish has in abundance.

Human body absorbs Omega 3 that is delivered in relatively small amount by flax seed oil. Eating whole flax seed is not the same because we do not digest it. Flax seed oil has to be freshly made and consumed almost immediately as it the high content in ALA makes flaxseed oil more susceptible to oxygen, light, and heat than other edible oils. Buying off the shelf flax seed oil is pointless. It has to be extracted and consumed immediately.

I said marine source - that would include fish, algae and seaweed, all of these contain EPA and DHA. But most commonly available marine source capsules are derived from fish oil.
Flax seed oil contains ALA, not EPA and DHA. ALA has no proven benefit for ADHD.
The conversion rate of ALA to EPA / DHA by the human metabolism is extremely low - at best a few percent.
The typical "high strength" capsule of flax seed oil might have 1g of ALA, which might (if you're lucky) result in a few tens of mg converted to EPA/DHA. It's a non-therapeutic dose, i.e. a placebo. You'd have to be taking tablespoons of flax seed oil every day to have a chance of making a difference to ADHD, which for most (sane) people is unviable.
So if you want to use omega-3 (EPA / DHA) to improve ADHD symptoms, you should take marine source omega-3, not flax seed oil. Glad you at least agree that buying off the shelf flax seed oil is pointless.

in terms of omega-3 "power," a tablespoon of flaxseed oil is worth about 700 milligrams (mg) of EPA and DHA. That's still more than the 300 mg of EPA and DHA in many 1-gram fish oil capsules, but far less than what the 7 grams listed on the label might imply.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/why-not-flaxseed-oil

Flax seed is a source of EPA and DHA. Always it adds up.

It's a non-therapeutic dose, i.e. a placebo.

So is fish oil capsule- as stated above.

But as Tesco says: every little bit counts!

My Dd is ADHD. Medications calm her down. Caffeine revs her up

"Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in particular have been studied extensively, whereas substantive evidence for a biological role for the precursor, alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), is lacking. It is not enough to assume that ALA exerts effects through conversion to EPA and DHA, as the process is highly inefficient in humans.

The International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids (ISSFAL) recently released an official statement on the conversion efficiency of ALA to DHA. They concluded that the conversion of ALA to DHA is on the order of 1% in infants, and considerably lower in adults. Given the demonstrated benefits of DHA on visual acuity and in the developing mammalian brain, poor conversion of ALA to DHA is a concern, particularly for vegetarians and for individuals who do not eat fatty fish.

The health-related effects of EPA and DHA have undergone considerable study, however the specific biological effects of ALA are largely unknown. Therefore, more work is required to identify the differential effects of ALA on cancer, insulin resistance and cardiovascular disease. The need is evermore apparent, given that ALA is by far the predominant form of n-3 PUFA consumed in the typical North American diet and its conversion to EPA and DHA is minimal.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3224740/

ADHD child here - primarily inattentive but elements of hyperactivity and impulsivity.

Exercise and caffeine help - nothing like as well as methylphenidate, but definitely calm her down and help her focus.

poor conversion of ALA to DHA is a concern, particularly for vegetarians and for individuals who do not eat fatty fish.

No concern. They can eat what fish do and get Omega 3 in abundance- algae oil....

my adult son has inattentive adhd and self medicated with caffeine for years, until his stomach started to act up, finds the pills easier on the gastric reflux.
youngest grandson has adhd; from what i have read magnesium is helpful as is vit D but exercise consistently mentioned.
my dd who's son has the adhd diagnosis has tons of energy and would bike grandson to school, was attending a private with extra pe provision and wobble cushion BUT a remarkable improvement educationally with meds.

Cardio exercise is the next best thing to medication.