Change in Nutrition?

Have you seen “The LCP [long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids] Solution: The Remarkable Treatment for ADHD, Dyslexia and Dyspraxia” by Dr. Jacqueline Stordy?

This is a book about essential fatty acid (EFA) deficiency and the above conditions. My son has been taking an EFA supplement for over a year with excellent results. You can get this book from amazon.com and lots of other places. You can also go to the website www.drstordy.com

Good luck!

You may be taking about the Feingold diet. There’s a lot in the library on it, and many opinions about how well it works. Its premise didn’t apply to my son, so we didn’t try it.

I think LindaW is quite right about EFAs, that it does help some people. My son with ADD has been taking Omega 3 (along with Adderall) and has noticed the subtle effect of being able to “think easier”. I tried it before I was diagnosed with ADD and noticed the same thing after about a week. Its affect was not enough to use instead of ADD medication for me or my son, but it helped some. If there’s no improvement, try another brand before giving up on it. Vitamin Shoppe Omega 3 works for me, but I feel no benefit whatsoever with some other brands. I don’t know why and when I asked my neurologist, he said Omega 3 should have no effect on ADD symptoms at all but that it won’t hurt to take it. My son’s pediatrician agrees with the neurologist. Two doctors say it doesn’t work, but you can decide for yourself.

My husband and I are raising two of our grandchildren. Having already raised two boys I knew that this one was different. I really didn’t want to put him on medication (who knows what lasting side-effects these drugs will have), so I began to do some research on my own. I found other people that had tried a different approach to the diet of a child with ADD or ADHD. My grandson was ADHD. I talked to him and got his cooperation (at 5 he had a right to know what we were doing and why). We started our experiment on Friday afternoon and by Sunday afternoon he was a different child.

I eleminated sugar and everything that had any artificial flavors, artificial colors or artificial preservitives. That, as you can imagine, limits what the child can eat.
We have found by trial and error that there are some of the things that were initially eleminated didn’t cause any problems. Sugar is one of the first things that we put back in his diet. He repeated Kindergarten and now at the end of First grade is almost where he should be in reading and on target in math.

I figured that if this diet thing didn’t work, it wouldn’t hurt him.

Shirley

There is so much research on essential fatty acids and brain function, including ADHD. Most pediatricians and even neurologists and psychiatrists and not up to speed! EFAs might not help everyone with ADHD but it won’t hurt and will improve one’s overall nutritional status.

Other modalities to try instead of or in conjunctions with the traditional medications are:
cranial sacral therapy
neurofeedback
grape seed extract
the Feingold diet (it works for some folks!)

Yes, we use a combination of diet plans. The Fiengold plan, and organic foods, NO MILK! and No Artificial flavors or colors. This is a VERY hard diet to give a 9 year old and some feel that I am a cruel parent because I dont let my son eat what everybody else eats. But actually after a while he felt the difference and he has become accustomed to eating healthier. You need to remember you are feeding the brain, not the stomach. My son actually feels so much better, he even reads the labels before I do! The problem that I had was I did not see a difference to begin with. I then learned that he had food allergies so those foods had to be eliminated. I gave hime a detox gradually over a few months to clean him out and now we just watch what we eat. If you shop around you can actually find organic foods that taste as good as the junk food. I would like to add to the milk issue, that wasnt a Fiengold diet rule but I noticed a difference when he had milk so I took him off of it. The best info and advise I can give you is to do a daily journal. I will be glad to send you a copy of mine if you need one. Basically, it will have a column to list the food eaten and the behavior or mood of the child for each meal time. Some kids have certain reactions to certain foods. I know if my son eats pizza, to expect that he will wet the bed and he will have bad dreams and sleep walk that night.If he eats processed foods, he is extremely hyper. He will even sweat pervusely and not even be exerting himself. The Fiengold diet allows you to eat alot of foods that you are probably accustumed to. Good Luck and I hope it works as well for you as it has us.