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NOTICE: The following posts are taken from the Christian ADHD Alternative Treatment List. The names, e-mail addresses and locations of all parties involved have been removed to protect their privacy. The posts have been used with permission, but are copyrighted by ADHD of the Christian Kind.

BTW, my son is now taking Pycnogenol and Omega 3 fatty acids. I have also increased the amount of protien in his diet. He can still be difficult, but he is so much easier to live with.

How long have you been using the Omega 3 fatty acids? Have you seen physical differences in his skin, etc? How are you supplying the fatty acids (brand/dose)? Same questions for the pycnogenol: What brand, how much, for how long?

I think my husband was helped by the pycnogenol. I would like to try it for him again, and then try it for the kids. I used the Harfag brand, because my psychologist is participating in a study with a federal grant using Harfag. Unfortunately, they did not find good results in phase one of the study, but he has seen much anecdotal evidence and thinks that they had a design flaw. Perhaps by using 4 times per day lower doses (which might theoretically work better) they did not get the response, because many in the study reported difficulty remembering to take four doses everyday. They are hoping to repeat the study using less frequent higher doses.

I have just started the Effalex, thinking that they supplied a good mix of "essential" fatty acids. I have gotten objections to the term essential fatty acids, because unlike essential proteins, the fatty acids can be made by your body from other fat sources. However, it is theorized that some people may not do this conversion efficiently, thus the intake of these fats become "essential" for those people. This is my understanding of things. What other data do you have?

***I hope that everyone did not misunderstand my previous email. I was only being honest about what we use now in my household. If I could find something that worked even almost as well as the Ritalin and Adderal for my kids, they'd be off the meds in a minute. I too hate the idea of life-long stimulants, as I've stated before, especially for my girls. I wonder about the risks with pregnancy in their futures long-term. I do find consolation in watching my oldest daughter mature, however. She is becoming more aware of herself and her tendencies. Not everyday, but sometimes I see glimpses of a person who could be off the meds, or only take them when having to do detailed work.

I also see hope in the large amounts of research being done by companies and universities. Many new discoveries are being made about how the brain works and what foods, drugs, or activities change the way it functions.

I think that all of us should pray daily for the people doing research. May the LORD grant them wisdom, discernment and insight -- true inspiration for above.

I would recommend trying one thing at a time while on meds. Since nutritional supplements often take 1-2 months to see results, decreasing prescribed meds right away might just bring discouragement (and drive you and your child's teacher over the edge--been there, done that).

In the past I have tried combinations of supplements, not seen results right away and been discouraged. I now try one thing at a time, give it at least one month, then add another after that. This way we can determine which supplement is giving the results. Additionally, you can add a second supplement, see dramatic results, decrease or remove the first supplement if you didn't see results from that independently of the second supplement and notice whether there is a difference (indicating that it was the combination of the two supplements that was giving the good results).

Pedi-Active A.D.D. is an Advanced Dietary Delivery System made by Nature's Plus.

Major Ingredients are: Phosphatidylserine/DMAE, Calories (5), Total Carbohydrate (2 grams), Sugars (2 grams)

Other Ingredients: Fructose, silica, stearic acide, microcrystalline cellulose and natural berry flavor.

Free from salt, starch, artificial colors and preservatives.

I did research the major ingredients and the first one is to help maintain brain function. I could not find anthing out on the DMAE! But this stuff works.

Same thing happened with our son. He takes 3 doses of Adderall a day. One in the morning before school, one after lunch at school and one in the afternoon after school. Total of 30 mg!!! We tried not giving him his morning dosage and like you received a note from his teacher. So then we decided to keep giving the morning dose and stop the afternoon dosage. This has been working.

We have also started giving him 4 tablets of Pedi-Active ADD (a natural alternative medication) to replace his afternoon dose of Adderall. This has been working. I tried this same thing this morning by giving him the Pedi-Active instead of his regular meds. I can't wait til he gets home from school to see how his behavior was! Hopefully this is a starting point of getting completely off of the meds.

I have been giving the Pedi-Active ADD to my 4 1/2 year old for a month now and it has done wonders for him, of course, he is not on any other meds and has not been "officicially" diagnosed with ADHD. We tried giving our son other alternative medications but he refused to take them. I don't blame him, they tasted nasty, had to swallow them and had to take way too many of them. Tried hiding them in foods and drinks - DIDN'T WORK! The Pedi-Active ADD is chewable and taste like a chewable fruit vitamin and is not expensive and can be purchaaed a health food store. I was told it takes a month to work but I noticed a difference in my younger child within about 7 to 10 days. Hope this gives you some inspirtation!

Since the meds make a huge difference (positive) for my kids, I am taking the course of adding some of the other things that I read about that seem to have a chance to be helpful. I'm looking for physical signs in the skin that the fats may help with. Since I am distractible enough to sometimes miss a dose here and there for my kids, it becomes obvious that they are not ready to come off the meds, yet. [If you do this and if your doc is open-minded, it's best to tell him/her what you are also giving -- just in case it becomes known that certain things shouldn't be combined).

Last summer, I tried the blue green algae by taking my daughter off the meds, after about a month on the algae. Three weeks of that was all I could take! (She had 7 weeks of the algae). BTW I did see less binge eating while on the algae, indicating that it was probably giving her something she needed. However, the fights over taking the numerous pills were not worth it. I found a good multivitamin with some herbal stuff in it , and I give that to her now. I try to sneak in some fruit smoothies packed with some powdered supplement from Reliv ( a Chesterfield, MO based nutritional support company) on occasion, but if I do it too much, she balks.

I think I'll try the pycnogenol this summer on all my kids, then decrease or take away stimulants and see what happens. For us, it is not good to mess around during the school year. Remember though, that the meds help my kids. There are people on this list whose kids lost too much weight, or couldn't sleep, or became very depressed. For them, it would of course be good to try different things and remove the meds now.

IMHO, I don't think there is one formula. It's all gotta be weighed individually.