Supplements

[purple66p]

Two questions:

1. What fish oils do you get your kids to take? I think we've tried about 10 different kinds and all have been rejected for taste or texture or fishy burps! Do you know of any companion foods that mask the flavor? Part of the problem is that my son is vegetarian and won't even try fish even though the rest of the family eats it. Has anyone had luck with flax seed oil? We have put that into smoothies in the past, but I never saw any positive effect so that has kind of tailed off.

 

2. I've see a little discussion about vitamin D here lately, so I'm curious about the other kids' levels. My son tested extremely low--15 nm/dl on the 25OH-D test. That surprised me since he had been playing outside quite often--usually without sunscreen--before he had the test. (We live in central Texas. Plenty of sun!) We are giving him 5000 iu of D3 daily as well as a vitamin cream that absorbs directly through the skin. How many folks had kids with really low Vitamin D? Do your kids play outside? Has supplementation helped?

 

Also, someone gave me this article about vitamin D which has me worrying whether we should supplement it at all!

http://autoimmunityresearch.org/transcripts/AR-Albert-VitD.pdf

[MichaelTampa]

Two questions:

1. What fish oils do you get your kids to take? I think we've tried about 10 different kinds and all have been rejected for taste or texture or fishy burps! Do you know of any companion foods that mask the flavor? Part of the problem is that my son is vegetarian and won't even try fish even though the rest of the family eats it. Has anyone had luck with flax seed oil? We have put that into smoothies in the past, but I never saw any positive effect so that has kind of tailed off.

 

2. I've see a little discussion about vitamin D here lately, so I'm curious about the other kids' levels. My son tested extremely low--15 nm/dl on the 25OH-D test. That surprised me since he had been playing outside quite often--usually without sunscreen--before he had the test. (We live in central Texas. Plenty of sun!) We are giving him 5000 iu of D3 daily as well as a vitamin cream that absorbs directly through the skin. How many folks had kids with really low Vitamin D? Do your kids play outside? Has supplementation helped?

 

Also, someone gave me this article about vitamin D which has me worrying whether we should supplement it at all!

http://autoimmunityresearch.org/transcripts/AR-Albert-VitD.pdf

 

 

My vitD3 levels were very low also, about 20, supplementation has helped just a little bit. I had lyme and maybe PANDAS, and all the vitamin D seems to go into some black whole, it may just take a while.

 

I am a vegan, have used Spectrum flax oil with DHA added, and also, for the precursor to EPA, a product called Echiomega, made by Igennus in the UK. Hemp oil also has the precursor to EPA, but not in quantities as strong as the very potent Echiomaga. The flax/DHA oil didn't taste great. The Echiomega is a capsule that could be swallowed, I can't do that, so I would bite it and swallow the oil that comes out of the rubbery capsule.

 

Michael

[MomWithOCDSon]

Will your child swallow large pills?

 

We use the Norwegian Gold Super Critical Omega fish oil which is entirely Omega 3 and 9 (no 6, which is supposedly pro-inflammatory), and has the 7:1 EPA:DHA ratio, which had been noted previously here on the forum as being the "ideal" anti-inflammatory proportion. This particular supplement is guaranteed "no fish burps" and features a dark blue, thick coating. We've been taking it for several months and have no burps to report, fish or otherwise.

 

We tried flax seed oil, but had a ramp-up of behaviors while doing so; don't know if there was a correlation, but returned to the fish oil and things seemed to improve. Have read, also, that preliminary research suggests that omegas from plant sources are thought not to be as readily absorbed as those from animal sources, so flax seed may be less ideal in that respect, as well as because it includes some Omega 6.

 

Our DS13 did not test low for Vitamin D, though we live in the Midwest and he's not an especially "outdoorsy" kid, so we felt sure his D3 needed supplementation. We give him an extra 2,000 mg. daily as it is supposed to be anti-inflammatory, as well.

[thereishope]

My son is picky. He will not swallow a pill, will not let me try to diguise it in food, will not take one with sour coating on it. When the kind we bought was discontinued, I switched to a bag of Dr Sear's Brainy Kids for a month. My son tolerated, but said he hated it and only took it when I promised I wouldn't buy another bag. He said it tasted like a thick piece of fruit leather. Now, we bought Carlson Labs - Very Finest Fish Oil For Kids-liquid. I was nervous because of the price and what if he didn't like it, but many on here suggested it. Well, he likes it! He really likes it! He said it tasted like lemonade with extra water.He only has to take 1/2 tsp so it's not much at all.

Edited August 9, 2010 by Vickie

[momoffive]

Two questions:

1. What fish oils do you get your kids to take? I think we've tried about 10 different kinds and all have been rejected for taste or texture or fishy burps! Do you know of any companion foods that mask the flavor? Part of the problem is that my son is vegetarian and won't even try fish even though the rest of the family eats it. Has anyone had luck with flax seed oil? We have put that into smoothies in the past, but I never saw any positive effect so that has kind of tailed off.

 

2. I've see a little discussion about vitamin D here lately, so I'm curious about the other kids' levels. My son tested extremely low--15 nm/dl on the 25OH-D test. That surprised me since he had been playing outside quite often--usually without sunscreen--before he had the test. (We live in central Texas. Plenty of sun!) We are giving him 5000 iu of D3 daily as well as a vitamin cream that absorbs directly through the skin. How many folks had kids with really low Vitamin D? Do your kids play outside? Has supplementation helped?

 

Also, someone gave me this article about vitamin D which has me worrying whether we should supplement it at all!

http://autoimmunityresearch.org/transcripts/AR-Albert-VitD.pdf

 

Hi. My 7 years consistently is low in D in spite of his 4,000 unit per day supplement and lots of sunshine. I am curious as to where it is all going?? is the cream more absorbent than the liquid?

[NancyD]

DD's vitamin D levels have also been consistently low. In fact, in April Dr. L said her levels were catastrophically low (4 or 5) and she put her on 50,000 IU pill once weekly). We just checked levels again and for the first time they are in normal range. Just switched her back to 1,000 IUs daily.

 

Nancy

[wornoutmom]

My son is using Carlson's CalaDHA - chewable lemon flavor soft gel. Not truly "fish oil" but calamari oil - very high in DHA. He just chews it and spits out the gel. Doesn't mind it at all. I also use Carlson's D Drops (liquid vit d) in the winter months once stops playing outside. A caucasian person without sunscreen in a bathing suit can generate 10,000 IUs in 15 minutes on a sunny day. This is supposed to be stored in the fat to be utilized later. The heavier you are, the more it gets diluted in the fat cells, and is harder for the body to access. Also, the darker your skin, the less Vit D you generate from sun. Does any of this play in for your child? I have never had my son's levels tested, but know in general, it is recommended that you supplement 1000 IU for every 10 nanograms you want to raise your test number (i.e. if your test result was 20 - and you wanted it to be 60, you would take 4000 IU a day). But then you re-test to see if that was enough, as everyone's body uses supplements differently. I had a friend who took 4000 IU a day, and her number BARELY went up - so she has to take more.

Edited August 10, 2010 by wornoutmom

[purple66p]

Wornoutmom (love the name!): No, we're fair-skinned, live in an extremely sunny area, and my son is a little chunky but not extremely overweight. His body does not appear to be converting the sunshine to vitamin D.

 

Momoffive: I'm not sure about the cream. The way it was described to me is that the vitamins are not absorbed right in my son's gut and therefore directly through the skin is better. Of course, that makes no sense for Vit D! The cream does include methyl folate, B-12, and B-6, all of which are supposed to help with methyation and that way boost his immune system.

 

The way I understood the "alternative hypothesis of vit D" is as follows: Rather than low vit D being a cause or contributor to chronic diseases such as autoimmune disorders, it is an effect of the disorders. (Correlation rather than causality.) The body reduces 25-D (the one we usually check) but increases vit 1,25-D. It does so to better fight off infection because vit 25-D is really a steroid. In the long run, steroids make autoimmune diseases worse, but in the short-term improves symptoms. Short-term studies show improvements of autoimmune with Vit D supplementation, but proper long-term studies have not been done. If anyone understands this better, please correct me!

 

I believe this is also the assumption made in the Marshall Protocol for treating Lyme disease. I believe those on that protocol avoid the sun and foods that are supplemented with vit D. For those with concurrent Lyme infections, do any of you use the Marshall protocol? Has it had a positive effect on PANDAS?

 

It's so hard to understand what is the best treatment for our kids and I don't want to do anything to make it worse!