My 5 year old son has been on FocalinXR, 10 mg. for ADHD. At first it was working, but it has only been about 3 months and he has seemed to develop a tolerance to it ( his behavior and inability to listen and follow directions have gone back to the “pre-meds” state at home and school) his therapist has suggested upping his dose, but he is only 5 and losing weight from the meds. He also has a very hard time getting to sleep at night. I have been doing alot of online research into natural alternatives. The “eliminate all sugar and processed foods” thing is pretty much impossible for a 5 year old, I have been considering ‘Attend’ by Vaxa or ‘Synaptol’ by Micronutra, or pycnogenol. I was wondering if anyone has tried either of these or has any other natural ADHD remedies that they could recommend. Thanks, Meg
Alternative meds for ADHD
Hi Megfrog4,
I must say that I’m wonder about the therapist suggesting increasing the dose, where at 5 a loss of weight is perhaps of greater concern? Also his having a “very hard time getting to sleep” raises the question of sleep deprivation contributing to his attention difficulties? Where increasing the dosage could make this even worse?
I would support your trying a ‘natural approach’, and eliminating processed foods from his diet.
It is also possible that some other ‘learning difficulty’ is the problem? Such as Auditory Processing? But no reputable therapist will give a diagnosis as early as 5 years of age. As this can be confused with slightly delayed development at this age.
So trying ‘good food’ and a ‘good night’s sleep’ for a while, might be worth a try?
Re: Alternative meds for ADHD
There has been a good bit written over the years about the Omega 3s. Researchers have suggested they are useful in treating brain-based imbalances of a number of kinds.
I have personally known them to help with depression and have read that an institution in Great Britain reduced violent behavior by 49% in patients who were supplemented with Omega 3s.
Our accupuncturist prescribed 6 per day to my mother-in-law who is suffering dementia (since she lives out of state and there has been no one to follow up and make certain she takes them, I cannot comment of their effectiveness in her case).
I would certainly, if I had a child suffering from ADHD, try a regimen of as many as 6 Omega 3 capsules per day. If you make sure you purchase a brand that is free of mercury (as you know ocean fish are full of mercury and reputable brands somehow purify their product of this poison) I do not believe you can overdose on Omega 3s.
I would give the process about 4 weeks (in my case the hormone-based depression I was grappling with disappeared in 3-4 weeks.
Omega 3s seem to be an all-around brain enhancer.
I can relate to this one as I’ve gone the natural route with both my kids. For my son it has worked pretty well but he only has inattentive ADD. He takes Nuclezyme Forte (RNA/DNA) by Biotics Research and does so under the care of a naturopath. It helps him be able to retain more material and retrieve it more easily. However, he is in college. When he was younger we tried all sorts of different things that didn’t really work. We’ve done the low sugar diets, tried all sorts of different “natural” things such as grape seed extract (pycnogenol), ginseng, various combinations of herbs and minerals.
My dd is a whole other story. We originally thought she had ADHD but after trying every avenue of natural treatment and medical, she just continued to get worse. She was misdiagnosed until she was almost 9. At that time we finally got the correct dx and with it proper medications and treatments.
If you choose to try “natural” medications, please make sure to do so under the care of a qualified professional. Just because something is “natural” doesn’t mean that it is safe or effective for all. There are just as many, sometimes more, side effects with “natural” medicine.
You may also want to check into non-medication treatments such as neuro or bio feedback. These can be helpful for some.