Have any of you ever tried nutritional and vitamin/mineral therapy - ADD / ADHD Message Board

crazy4labs · 03-31-2003, 09:38 AM

Wow, my husband and I went to the health food store in our neighborhood on Friday and got our son two different products and for the first time in his life, my son picked up a book and read it completely last night.
My son is ADD, not H. He has never been a behavioral problem, no outbursts or anything of the like. Easy going and well behaved, his problem is reading, writing and spelling. He has a focusing problem period. That's it and it's not severe. Just enough to hinder him in school. The first thing I did, was to decrease his cabohydrate intake. That helped, but not enough. Next, medication was the only solution, but then I talked to my counselor who asked me to just try the vitamins and nutritian first. I talked with his teacher 30 minutes ago and she asked if he was on medication because she could tell a difference. He seemed more at ease and read a book without flying through it. He actually cared about the words and sounded them out. He didn't just "guess".

Jennita · 03-31-2003, 01:05 PM

Yes, many have had success with vitamins. I gave my kids vitamins everyday while they were growing up; my son had attention problems in school, but perhaps daily vitamins diminished them, cause he made it through and was found to be quite intelligent. I have heard numerous success stories with fish oils, since the Omega 3's cover alot of ground, like the brain, eyes, heart and circulatory system.

My sister-in-law was shocked to see me giving my son a vitamin one day...now her kid has been diagnoised with ADD...I wonder about that.

sterlingsilverflute · 03-31-2003, 01:26 PM

Hello! My son is now 16 with ADD. It does not seem to go away, just his way of dealing with it is better. Anyway, when he was in elementary school, we had him on Ritalin which seemed to make him like a Zombie at school. So, I took him off and when to a MD that would try a holistic approach before medication. He gave a list of several vitamins and he changed his diet. I do not feel that it worked tremendously well, but it did help somewhat, without him turning into a zombie. However, the vitamins and herbs were much more expensive than the ritalin. And, insurance did not pay for vitamine therapy, so we put him back on ritalin later. I never increased the dosage because the Zombie state frightened me. Then, I heard about adderral and adderral XR, we tried that when he was 15 and it seemed to work pretty well, but he has since decided that he does not want to take any medicine. He said it make him think slow. I will not make him take it if he does not want to. I've said all that to say, that I'm looking at trying the Omega 3s again and a mult-vitamin. He is a pretty good child, no real disciplinary problems, but he is not processing some things in school. Or, he may process them incorrectly (only a portion of what is said is processed). So, I'm trying to get him in this program at the Medical Center here. I heard it was pretty good, and was not as costly as a privately run center.

Anyway, good luck to you! I hope whatever therapy you choose works for you.

fedupmom2470 · 03-31-2003, 01:26 PM

crazy4labs,
What vitamins did you give your son that seem to make such a difference. my son has a similar problem as well..he is very smart but has a hard time with reading and concentrating. I bought some of the omega-3 but its such a huge pill he wont take it. I am in the process of trying to find some in a smaller tablet.
P.

nymitch325 · 03-31-2003, 02:24 PM

My son is now 11 1/2. he was diagnosed with ADHD when he was 7. Even the smallest doses of Ritalin put him in a Trance like state, where he just wasn't the same kid. i took him off Ritalin the summer he turned 9 and tried all sorts of vitamins and diet programs with minimal success. My Doctor advised me to try Adderall (30 mg) time release. Now his grades are excellent, he socializes with others well, and even the time spent with me is much more enjoyable. We can sit together thru a 3 hour ball game with no problems, and thats saying alot. My point is, there are alot of different things out there and everyone has to find what works for them. I would love to have him on an all natural vitamin and diet program, but Adderall seems to work best for us.