Flax/evening primerose dose

[Guest Anne]

I have been lurking for some time, but It is my first time posting. My child has a dx of autism. He is 9 years old and weights 52 pounds. He also has symptoms of ADHD, OCD and TS. I started him 2 1/2 weeks ago on Flax seed oil (1000 grams) which contains ALA 575 mg, LA 154 Mg and Oleic Acid 186 mg. This product seems to help him a lot with moods. He has not had a temper tantrum since he started it. We actually had a fatty acid profile done and he was deficient in EPA, and borderline deficient in DHA, ALA, LA and DGLA. The rest in the normal range. Since I have seen some improvements, I was wondering if I could increase the flax seed oil ? I did try the fish oil but I did not notice any improvements. I am thinking about evening primerose oil but I do not know what dose I should give him.

 

Anne

[Chemar]

Hi and welcome

I am assuming you mean 1000 miligrams of flaxseed oil not grams??

 

anyway, my son takes 1000 of flaxseed oil and 950 mg of evening primrose oil daily along with 50mg Borage Oil

 

He tics more with fishoil so we avoid that

 

He is 145lb and 15yo

[Guest Guest]

Yes I meant milligrams! Is there a formula for the fatty acids? Like so much for x number of pounds?

 

Anne

[Dara]

Cheri & Anne,

 

Hi, our son Karl is 4 1/2 and has had motor and vocal tics for 7 months. Our new environmental physician prescribed, among other supplements, 1 tbsp. of ground flaxseed twice a day which is supposed to be mixed in a shake with lecithin and protein protein powder. I've even tried the liquid flaxseed oil. How do you get your kids to take flaxseed? Our son doesn't like any of it and refuses to drink the shakes.

 

Help.

 

Dara.

[Guest Guest]

I have been lucky that my son has been able to swallow capsule, even the huge ones since he was 7. He takes all of his supplements with water.

 

Anne

[Guest Jean]

Dora,

 

Capsule is sure hard for a 4 years old. Does your son like cottage cheese? If so, you may mix the liquid flaxseed oil with cottage cheese as it is better used with protein. You may also try to mix it with green salads.

 

Jean

[Guest bean]

Nordic Naturals makes a great strawberry flavored capsule of fish oil called Childrens DHA. They can be swallowed or chewed. My 7 year old who has learned to swallow actually chaews these and says they taste good. They also make an adult version which I have been taking and I can only smell and taste strawberry.

There is another great product called Frutol which is fish oil in fruit puree.My daughter also loves this. It is by Pharmax and must be obtained through a health practitioner. Pharmax also makes a great probiotic in a powder form that is apricot flavored. Hope this helps.

[Dara]

Jean,

 

My son can't have any dairy so cottage cheese is out of the question. We see the environmental physican tomorrow. Hopefully he can give us some tips on how to get the flaxseed into Karl.

 

Thanks,

 

Dara

[Dara]

Hi Bean,

 

Our son Karl (4 1/2 yrs. old) refuses to take any of his supplements. Obviously, I'll keep trying to slip them into his food in drink. Our doctors prescribes everything except the fish oils. So I took it upon myself to research a bit and did find the childrens DHA from Nordic Naturals that you described. I can get both of my boys to take the capsules with no problem. I wish it was that easy with the other supplements. Do you know if the children's DHA increases tics?

 

Thanks,

 

Dara

[Claire]

We have done Nordic Naturals caps for some time and just switched to the DHA in the last 2 weeks.

 

It should help tics! However, each child is different. Some react to fish oil Dara. Just try it and watch.

 

Bean after your comment about chewing them, I just now bit into one and nearly gagged from the fish taste. LOL, your child is amazing!

 

Claire

[Guest Guest]

Dara,

The DHA should help with tics not make them worse but obviously everyones response may be different. The Tourette Syndrome Asoc. has a grant for a study on fish oil and tics. I believe the study is using much higher doses than the Childrens DHA. The Pharmax product I am using is 1200mg where as the Nordic Naturals is only 280mg. I have been giving my daughter fish oil since her tics began almost a year ago. Mainstream doctors as well as alternative health practitioners all recommended fish oil. I can't say it's helped but it certainly isn't hurting. Because I have completely changed her diet and am giving so many supplements it is really hard to pinpoint what works and what doesn't. The diet change did seem to show the most profound improvement. The last three months were great but slowly her tics are coming back and gaining with frequency each day. I have yet to figure out what the trigger is.

Bean