mrsdoubtfyre

Hi Carolyn. I do remember you from other boards! I have a few comments. I think your Vitamin A is really high for everyday use. I wonder why your doctor thinks you need that much? Long term high A can cause increased fluid pressure in the CNS. I would think 10,000 IU would be enough. (Is your vitamin A retinol or betacarotene? I am assuming retinol) Long term use of selenium in high amounts (we used to think selenium was safe) has been shown to lead to increased incidence of Diabetes type II. I would think 100mcg would be enough. I don't understand two Carnitines. The acetyl is better absorbed and better all around. The L-carnitine seems unnecessary to me. I think you should have a Vit D level drawn. This is new information, and Vit D levels are being found very low in patients. If you are low, then the calcium cannot be absorbed properly. The doctor can do this with a simple blood test. With the high zinc intake, I'd also get a copper/zinc ratio done. Long term high zinc can deplete copper. Copper is needed for your bones, to keep your discs in your back supple, and for the blood forming marrow. I would also consider adding one evening primrose to the flax oil, to help with conversion to the long chain fatty acids. This is optional, but might help. Your CoQ-10 is not very high for therapeutic effects. This product has bioavailability issues so I hope you are using a good brand. The price has come down radically in the past few months, and you may be able to increase to 300mg with no increase in cost (if you are a shrewd shopper). And you want to make sure you are using the alpha form of Vit E, which is more active than the dl-mixed alpha form. Those are my comments for what they are worth. I won't go into doses with you, otherwise, since you see a doctor for all this. I am just giving my opinion on some of the new research. Take care!

There is a good peanut butter now by Smart Balance ...it has Flax oil in it. So if you choose to use it, you won't need supplements at all. I use this brand exclusively now, and it tastes fine (not as sugary as Jif, but not strange like the organic ones). I just about lived on peanut butter in college when I had no money...it is basically a comfort food for me. Now the new type is just wonderful in my opinion! It is hard to keep track of a 14 yr old. So you can try food sources. Omega-3 eggs, for eggs, Smart Balance Mayo... there are even some new yogurts out there with Omega-3s. Good for kids of all ages, and grownups too!

I think you should start low, like 500mg/day for at least a week. It took about that long for us to see any results. We increased slowly to about 2grams a day. (once in the morning). All 3 of us in this house use/used inositol. My son and I found that constant daily use made us irritable/reactive after several weeks. But my husband loves it. He's been using it for 2 yrs now. We all found 2grams a day to be about the right amount for us (anxiety). My husband has ADD inattentive and inositol really calms him and makes him more patient (and nicer to live with). But keep in mind that over time, you might see reactions where previously there were none.

I have a book called Beyond Prozac. In it the doctor states that "chewing" stimulates serotonin release. That might be what is going on with kids that chew. I knew a little boy who chewed his collars on his shirts. Serotonin is calming for some kids. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/...87066-4,00.html

I am currenly doing the protocol to cure my ADHD. I am having good results.I hope you havent medicated because that will only suppress the symptoms and ultimately make the ADD/ADHD worse.Their are a whole bunch of kids recovering from all kinds of chemical imbalances and neurological problems like ADD/ADHD/Autism/OCD etc. They are getting attacked by big pharma and their fake studies because they are messing with their profits.Remember one thing.When looking for ADD treatment,study the Autism websites.They have a lot of good info, because the treatment for both problems are the same.Here is an ouline of the treatment.Their is a lot to do in addition to vitamins. http://www.miriamjangmd.com/DAN-protocol.html Here is a list of doctors. Rashid buttar.Check out his youtube video. James Neubrander Amy Yasko(she is brilliant at explaining the genetics and of ADD and even bypassing genetic problems) Well, I was just looking in and what do I see? My old specialty question! LOL We used supplements to eliminate the need for Ritalin in my son, over 10 yrs ago. I used to post on this subject often. What works is: Essential fatty acids , particularly fish oil. My son did better when we upped the DHA portion of the fish oil. Zinc-- this is very important in ADHD kids Magnesium-- also very important for ADHD kids B6-- may improve somewhat. Works in conjunction with magnesium. Necessary for fatty acid metabolism (you can give this in a B-complex if you choose). We used flaxoil, evening primrose and fish oil, one of each to start/ daily. And over the years, just focused on the fish oil. Then it was DHA fishoil that worked best. Here is a sample zinc paper: I don't recommend zinc sulfate~~ it is very hard on the stomach. The new Zinc chelates like OptiZinc are much better.(zinc monomethionine). This is a sample magnesium paper: I think with children you can introduce foods high in magnesium, as a safer way to supplement. We were stunned when my son responded so well and quickly to EFAs....it started me on a whole new facet in my professional life. So I am encouraged to see parents here exploring this avenue well. Best wishes!

Hi I was just looking in here... and saw this post. Heartburn in a young person, is not so often due to low acid issues, as it is in older adults. Using an acid blocking drug, is only good for short term issues, IMO. What happens is that protein does not get digested properly when you use Aciphex or other similar drugs. This protein then ferments further down the GI tract and and creates GAS which then moves up to cause reflux and heartburn. ( a vicious circle) When you eat a high fat meal, the fat keeps the food in the stomach a long time. Emptying is delayed. This can reflux back up if the stomach is very full, or there is gas present. You can reduce gas with simethicone, commonly found in many heartburn remedies. I like Maalox multi symptom (previously called MAX) instant dissolve. But there are swallow caps called Gas-X. This helps to pass gas and prevent most of the reflux issues. Alcohol, chocolate, and high fat contribute to slow gastric emptying. People who reflux food back, should not bend over, exert themselves, or lie down after eating. And eat early enough before bedtime so the stomach has emptied. Often heartburn is a sign of essential fatty acid deficiency. The Omega-3 family --specifically flax oil, helps the stomach protect itself from acid. It improves the mucous coat there in the stomach. You might consider this. Omega-3's totally cured my GERD many years ago! ( I have a severe Hiatal hernia as well). Taking Aciphex to lower acid and then cider vinegar to raise acid seems counterproductive to me. I think you need to find ways to protect the stomach lining so the heartburn does not occur. Some people use Betaine HCL tablets to improve stomach acidity. The betaine portion is beneficial for methylation chemistries, and the HCL is contributing to the acid.

I think there are other issues too, besides immune ones. I was reading a book the other day, called Beyond Prozac. The author by Michael Norden MD. (I was seeking info on light therapy for SAD). Anyway it reminded me about Histamine and its role in brain as a neurotransmitter. In Beyond Prozac Dr. Norden states that inositol is a precursor or enabler of the release of serotonin. That is why inositol works for depression/anxiety and OCD. So I looked it up: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_...255/ai_n6211958 This brings me back to Histamine. A long time ago I searched histamine in the brain. Here is a paper explaining the relationship to the mu-receptor for opiates. http://www.uclm.es/inabis2000/symposia/pdf/s039.pdf This subject is huge, and the immune one is also. And very hard to understand. But I think in essence that histamine is an enabling neurotransmitter...like inositol. This would explain the increase in histamine during illness/stress, and also the variable responses TS patients have to antihistamines. (some are very lipophilic and enter the brain, and others like Claritin do not). The brain, and its nutrition and blood supply are all very interconnected. New research on Zonulin is bringing understanding to the blood brain barrier, as well. People with open Zonulin channels, allow substances in that others do not. Zonulin is big right now, in research for the celiac community. There is a drug in trials to close the channels. We could digress for hours on this subject alone!

Chemar asked me to come here and view this thread. When people fall ill, the body goes into an inflammatory mode, and makes inflammatory cytokines. These then signal the white cells to clean up invaders. Inflammatory cytokines can affect blood flow to the brain. I found some interesting PET scans in the past while researching allergies/ADHD. It is thought that constricting blood vessels, alter the blood flow to certain areas of the brain, and this could lead to altered behaviors. This is the theory for allergic triggers for ADHD and Autism. I think it would work for TS as well. Years ago when my mother was still alive she was having multi-infarcts (small strokes) from her rheumatic heart issue. After several episodes of these she started with coprolalia big time, and it was very TS like. Here is the website. While it focuses on Autism, I think the perfusion information is interesting and could be extrapolated to many other behavioral issues. http://nids.net/pdf/slides2.pdf

I don't have Bonnie's formula handy.... but does it have Vit A (retinol ) in it? As from cod liver oil? The only formula I could find was the one without D, and it has betacarotene in it which is not the same as Vit A. High levels of Vit A (not betacarotene) can cause headache and cerebral irritation. It has also been implicated in pseudotumor cerebri. Her website does not give Vit D info... what is the dose in there? here is a link to symptoms of Vit D overdosage. http://www.prn2.usm.my/mainsite/bulletin/sun/1996/sun44.html While new attention is being paid to Vit D now in several disease states, use in children is not as clear. Before I suggest levels higher than 1000IU for adults/day, I suggest a D blood level to be drawn first, to give safer guidelines for use. So please post the type of Vit A in that product, whether or not the D is from cod liver oil, and the dose of D being used. It has been my experience as a parent that ODD type behaviors also occur when a child is sick or in pain (headache) and cannot articulate the discomfort and hence acts out instead. I don't know you well enough to know if this is a possibility for you.

Well, Kim, we went thru that meningitis thing. When my son entered college they pushed for new students to get the vaccine. I told him no. So he didn't and he didn't get the dreaded meningitis either. A friend of ours has a daughter who had VIRAL menigitis..she is 21. I think viral is more common. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000680.htm Also when the hepB came out, he was in middle school. And I picked up the papers at the pediatrician's and put them in my purse. When I happened to be seeing MY doctor, I found them there, and asked her opinion. She has 4 kids. This was way before they started giving it to babies. And she said NO NO NO... she did not trust it either. My son had horrible reactions to DPT, this was before the Pertussis was removed. He used to scream all night long, the day of the booster. When he was five, entering school, they gave the booster in the thigh. He couldn't walk for 3 days! So that was the end of vaccines for him. I guess we were very borderline with the Autism risk, after reading how some children reacted to those boosters like my son did. When I think back on those days, I shudder a huge shudder. All he ended up with is ADHD. It is so controversial today. This topic never fails to illicit huge responses. And when I think back, I share those cringe cringe thoughts, how parents "accept" things at the doctor's offices without a blink. When I was at the health department getting a TB test (for work), I saw the new charts for babies. When listed that way it is pretty dunning! Alot has happened in this industry in 25 years. And one wonders at all the neurological illness in kids these days...the rages, etc. My son struggled alot in school, and was infinitely better on supplements...that is why I have specialized in this area. Beefing up our own bodies, to prevent illness is the way to go I think. EFAs strengthen the blood brain barrier, zinc improves immunity, etc etc. A diet high in transfats (fast food) is just horrible for health! And that is only one example! Doomsayer, signing off

As it happens, we are using Inositol in our home (my husband started it this summer) and my son and I have been using it since Mar/Apr. We find that 2grams a day works very well for us. It is wonderful for anxiety, and I am using it for insulin resistance. I found that link in a great book: Obesity's Answer by Dr. Kittley www.obesitysanswer.com Inositol is also being looked at for depression. (some psychologists believe that anxiety preceeds depression for some people). And as a treatment for PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome--which has insulin resistance issues). My son, the ADHDer unmedicated is 25 yrs old now and living on his own with a job, apartment etc. He has stopped biting his fingernails and even enjoys rollercoasters now! I wish I had known about this sooner, when he was in high school. The only time he stopped biting the nails was the brief months he was on Tofranil in 5th grade...it was the first ADHD med that was tried for him. We had to stop it because of photosensitivity issues. This is the inositol we get-- http://www.iherb.com/store/ProductDetails....s&pid=JRW-01016 Alot of research is being done on d-chiro inositol for diabetics. It is hoped that it will reduce Type II in the future. Inositol sensitizes insulin actions and you need fairly high doses to cross the blood brain barrier. The typical OCD doses are very high in the double digit range (up to 18grams daily)... I would not recommend that without physician supervision. But the doses we use are easy, and we take it once in the morning on an empty stomach, mixed in juice. It has no flavor basically.

Hello all... Every year we get the same questions...about flu vaccines. While I am not a big proponent of them, I do not get them myself, it really is a personal choice, after all. (risk vs benefit). Each person should decide for themselves. What I don't like about the yearly flu vaccine is that the strains chosen are decided LONG BEFORE the season even starts. Many years those strains never materialize, or old strains are used that are long gone. And I have seen many people come down with OTHER viruses right after getting a flu shot..this is actually quite common. It is like the immune system is "busy" with the vaccine so other bugs just step in an take hold more easily. Another issue is autoimmune... people with autoimmune disorders, prone to them, tend to react to foreign injected substances. While the data is not supportive of this, there have been charges that the HepB vaccine contributes to MS. This is still controversial. The use of intranasal live flu vaccine...has serious drawbacks: http://www.medicineonline.com/news/10/2556...u-Vaccines.html Viruses tend to follow nerves and when inhaled in a vaccine form, are implicated in causing Bell's Palsy. I think the "industry" is promoted by the government, to keep the vaccine industry fluid incase of emergency. Therefore, real studies on efficacy may not be accurate. Sorry to be a doomsday poster.

Thanks for the welcome! I'll be looking around more on this site, this weekend. Perhaps I should bring my mag/zinc/B6 info over here too!

Chemar has been asking me to join here for some time. I am sorry, I have not done so sooner.. I am always rather stressed out time wise after the summer vacation. Let me try to explain the Omega-3 situation a bit. If you take Cod liver oil supplements you will receive Vit A (the real vit A, and not betacarotene). But fish oils (from the body of the fish and NOT the liver) do not have Vitamin A in them. Some have a small amount of vit E added to prevent oxidation and rancidity. The basic chemistry of essential fatty acids starts with alpha linolenic acid (found in some foods and flax oil). This is converted thru many steps, in a very complex action in addition to magnesium and vitamin B6 to the long chain fatty acids called EPA and DHA. We can take fish oil and bypass this complex conversion since fish oils contain EPA (anti-inflammatory) and DHA (neuro builder). Females convert about 25% of alpha linolenic acid to EPA and DHA, because females have babies, who need the DHA for brain development. Males much less so, about 4-5%. Evening primrose provides the intermediate helper to convert the flax to EPA and DHA. Some people require more, some less. Depending on the size/weight of the child, 500mg of flax oil is not very much. Normally we consume alot of Omega-6s in our foods. (soybean oil, sunflower, etc). The ratio of omega-3 (flax) to omega-6 (soybean etc) is quite important. 1:1 up to 1:5 is the recommended ratio. Hardly anyone in USA gets this unless they pay attention to omega-3s alot. The average American has ratios commonly of 1:25. That is why we see more attention in the lay press to this issue. And it is changing. Fishy burps are becoming a thing of the past... there are now commonly enteric coated fish oils, many double strength, which are very inexpensive now. (not so in the past). You can buy them at Costco, Sam's club. Online there is Fisol, which is more expensive and not double strength, but an old reliable stand by. Enteric coating means that this fish oil does not dissolve until past the stomach. When the stomach lining improves with Omega-3 interventions, eventually the fishy burps go away. They are mostly a sign of poor status..and provide information that is useful, yet uncomfortable. Flax oil does not cause bleeding. Excessive fish oils may thin the blood to a small extent, but this is only a serious consideration for those on Coumadin (warfarin), who have clotting disorders, who take excessive aspirin, or who are going to have surgery. Some people do not do well on high dose flax...and others do not do well on high dose fish oil. It all depends on the genetics of the person. I recall on an older board forum, 2 patients who were tested and were found very low in GLA (found in primrose)...and had to supplement that more. I find that most people only do well on small supplements of primrose/borage oil. Most people only need a bit of this, not alot. Excess Omega-3s are metabolized as fat calories. Flax is not the same as fish oil. Flax oil provides the building blocks for the ingredients in fish oil, but Flax is more specific for the skin and other body functions. Fish oil has DHA in it, which is specific for the nervous system. Both are good, but different. Excessive evening primrose can cause diarrhea. But fish oils and flax do not, unless you use a ton of them. People vary in genetics, the enzymes which run the chemical system to incorporated fats healthfully. So it is hard to generalize to everyone. Also lack of magnesium in the diet, and B6 will inhibit proper utilization of the Flax oil. I hope this helps....