Ritilan - alternatives

I know there aren’t a lot of doctors who support it, but we have had really, really great success with dietary intervention. There is plenty of science to support dietary intervention, but the pathway to the medical community is not well established.

I have used the Feingold program (which eliminates natural salicylates and petroleum derived food additives - preservatives, artificial colors, flavors, and scents) and have found (through a long and slow learning process) that my two children are sensitive also to corn, soy, and gluten. It has taken three years to get where we need to be with diet. If I had better support in the medical community, that probably would have been shortened to 6 - 12 months.

My children now show no tendency toward hyperkinesis unless there has been a dietary infraction. Before, people had come up to me and asked what was wrong with my daughter - she was so frenetic and jittery. That’s actually how I found this site - with the hyperactivity quieted in my oldest, we are now seeing some other learning problems that were masked.

Just a note - many children have found relief just by working the basic program. Certainly, not all are as restricted as my two are in their diets, but every child is different. (One of the reasons it is so hard for MDs to help their patients work through dietary intervention!) Even if it doesn’t keep your children off of meds, it may reduce their need or reduce the dosages they need. Environmental physicians seem to have the best handle on finding sensitivities - which often do not show up on traditional allergy testing. Definitely worth a look, though.

I recommend that you read “The LCP [long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids] Solution: The Remarkable Nutritional Treatment for ADHD, Dyslexia and Dyspraxia” by Dr. Jacqueline Stordy. There are solid scientific studies showing that many children improve with essential fatty acid supplementation. You can also go to the web site drstordy.com for more info.

My son has been taking Efalex for over a year now and it has made a huge difference.

I agree, if you haven’t already looked at Omega 3 supplementation, it can be very important. I also have ADHD as an adult, and I supplement with a good quality fish oil. It has really helped me. It was a gradual improvement, not sudden. After about three weeks, I forgot for a day and went into my distracted, scattered, raging mode. My husband noticed and actually asked if I had taken my fish oil that day. After about 8 months, I can now skip a day. But don’t talk to me if I’ve missed two!!!

Sure is worth a try. If you go for it, get a good quality supplement. Try not to use the cod liver oil (which has omega 3 fatty acids, but also too much vitamin A). My doctor also recommended that I take it with vitamins C and E.

For children who are too young to swallow capsules, they do have good quality, naturally flavored versions (I’ve seen strawberry and lemon essence added) that the kids can actually chew or empty into something else. All of these I’ve seen also have soy added (Vitamin E) so my children cannot tolerate them. But if you have no soy sensitivities, they can be an easy way to get a kid to try the supplement.

Although there are some studies showing improvement in some children who receive EFA supplements, they are not considered to be “solid” research in that the sample sizes are too small to be reliable (all less than 100 children)and some were not double-blind studies. Future research may well confirm (rather than suggest) the effectiveness of these supplements in a certain percentage of children diagnosed with ADHD, but no research to date has done so. Also, anyone considering using any kind of nutritional or other supplement should be sure to talk to their doctor about it. EFAs can be harmful to people with seizure disorders and other adverse effects have been reported, including elevated blood pressure, weight loss and and insomnia. Of course, stimulant medication may also lower the seizure threshold, increase blood pressure and cause appetite suppression and insomnia and the long-term effectiveness of stimulant use has not been adequately studied. Whether or not to use EFA supplements is a decision each parent must make for him or her self. In making that decision, it is as important to be fully informed as it is to be fully informed about the risks and benefits of stimulants or other doctor-prescribed medications. EFA supplementation and other dietary interventions are promising but not confirmed and not risk-free.

Andrea