Fish Oil and ADHD
 

I saw this today on MSN.com. It's nothing new, really, and very brief but thought some folks may be interested:

http://health.msn.com/centers/adhd/a...ntid=100159473

Take care,
Tessa

thanks for that Tessa

it is so good to see mainstream medicine and hence media accepting the vital importance of omega 3EFAs :)

I remember back eons ago when I first found BT it was following a link for a post by mrsD on fishoil for ADD:p

Chemar,

That is funny :D ! Not much talk about Omega 3's but it is a staple in our house!! It is nice to see some catch up by the general public but as I mentioned in a post on the old board....if you looka t what the nationally known nutritionists take for themselves on a daily basisi it's very similar to what us "oldies" have used with out kids (and ourselves) for nutritional supps ;) .

Take care,
Tessa

I am readin new book...The Omega Rx Zone...The Miracle of the New High dose Fish Oil...interesting stuff

Hi Tessa....
 

Nice to see that EFAs are still in the news. I remember a time when all there were were "flames"! :p

Here is a fuller article:
http://www.genengnews.com/news/bnite...?name=15242548

It is interesting that they are promoting OmegaBrite. My son did better on increasing the DHA portion. We started with regular fish oil, and switched
to the DHA type by Carlson's when he was about a senior in high school. (which seems like a long time ago now! ).

P.S. I've just finished all the Deborah Crombie books. They were excellent
as you recommended! I hope she keeps them up.

Shelley....
 

I'll have to get that new book....it is by Barry Sears!

His Enter the Zone is what got me interested in EFAs long long ago.

I'll be getting some books for summer, so I'll pop that on onto the list!;)

It was pretty interesting Mrs D. I'd lend you my but I ghighlighted the thing to death. :p

But in it he talks only about pharma grade fish oil. I went to the homepathic pharmacy this weekend and asked about it and they said that there are many kinds that are pharma grade even though the book says there are only 2. I bought a new entertic coated by Metagenics.

I think fish oil in general is making a difference.

WOW, Mrs. D....fascinating :) !! Things are sure moving in the right direction. Have you read the original study? So hard to know what they define as "high doses". What is the deal with Omegabrite-are you familiar with this product?

I had hear that Ed Hallowell (other author of Driven to Distraction-I thought he was the sole author :o ) was recommending Omega 3's to his patients with ADD (he is a ped psychiatrist). I haven't read his newer book "Driven From Distraction", but I heard that he writes of this in it.

I am impressed that you've read all of her books but they are quite good :D :D and I think she'll write more. Someone recommended an author who has the first name of Nevada but I haven't gotten to the library. They are set in state parks, I hear.

Shelly.....when I read your posts the cupcake makes me hungry!! ;) :)

Take care,
Tessa

Yep....
 

Nevada Barr.... all of her books are interesting.. you will be hooked for sure!
They take place in National Park settings, and include animals, and scenery and all. Because Ms.Barr is a ranger in real life, the books have a real point of view.

My husband and I have read all of them thru the years!

OmegaBrite is concentrated for the EPA portion -- I believe it is 4:1 EPA: DHA.
It was made by Dr. A. Stoll's wife -she owned the company and perhaps still does-- and since he is with Harvard, I am not surprised about their using it. It was used in his first bipolar study long ago.

Studies tend to want a "reliable" product to use. Reproducible etc.

There is an RX fish oil... called Omacor-- which is not really fancy...has the basic ratios of 1:1 or close. It is not even enteric coated.

The newer less expensive enteric coated versions are what we are using now.
They cost no more than regular ones, and are typically double strength, so you get more in each capsule. Sam'sClub and Costco both have them now.

Hi Mrs. D,

I will get her books from the library :) !

A few questions.....why the concentration in the Omegabrite-what do you think? And why do you use the enteric coated-for the "burps"?

Thanks,
Tessa

I'm a little confused about all the fish oil information because I distinctly remember friends and their children having trouble with fish oil exacerbating tics and restlessness.

Someone on one of my autism forums asked about fish oils recently. There was a lot in the news last year here where I live regarding a study that had been done for ADHD (NOT TS). I think she did it in conjuction with people in England who had done the so-called Oxford study. I'll go look to try to find what was asked. I think the Aus. study used combination oils in a particular ratio.

http://www.unisa.edu.au/researcher/i...ary/story4.asp
"“Children in the study were given combined fish/primrose oil capsules or placebo oil capsules."

I swear they said the ratio they used somewhere but can't find it.

http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/sta...e=Natalie.Sinn

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q..._uids=15867048
Pediatrics. 2005 May;115(5):1360-6.
The Oxford-Durham study: a randomized, controlled trial of dietary supplementation with fatty acids in children with developmental coordination disorder.
Richardson AJ, Montgomery P.

Here is the original article that had sparked the conversation about the fish oils etc..

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/hea..._babies_lives/
Basically this story is about something called Omegaven which was being used for children who had a particular medical illness called short bowel syndrome who have major absorption problems and were getting serious liver damage from some of their other previous treatments. They found that this Omegaven helped the liver.

Regarding TS and Fish oils as opposed to ADHD.

No word on these studies they were doing yet as far as I know. Anyone else heard any results??

http://www.tsa-usa.org/research/docs...ant_awards.pdf
Title: A Double Blind, Placebo Controlled Study of Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Children and Adolescents with Tourette Syndrome — Year 2
Award: $75,000
Vilma Gabbay, M.D.
Barbara J. Coffey, M.D., M.S.
Carmen Alonso, M.D.;
New York University Child Study
Center; New York, NY


"There is considerable evidence suggesting the involvement of
serotonin dysfunction in both disorders, along with an autoimmune
inflammatory process in a subgroup of children with TS and OCD.
There are also scientific data suggesting that serotonin dysfunction
is triggered by inflammatory mediators such as cytokines. Omega-3
fatty acid appears to act by down-regulation of pro-inflammatory
cytokine production and through pro-serotonergic activity, thus
addressing some of the pathways implicated in the basic causes of
TS and OCD."

Dr Stoll believes that Bipolar responds more to EPA than DHA.
I think ADHD responds more to DHA than EPA. But there is some evidence that inflammation in ADHD--like allergies--may do better with EPA. There are also papers about depression and DHA as well.

We are not talking major issues here anyway.
The enterics we use are double strength...stronger...so burps may happen more commonly. They don't for us anymore, but why try to swallow 2 large capsules when one will work? And at the same price?

For people with inflammation, OmegaBrite is a good choice. But I don't think it is an end-all for everyone.

I think it is important just to do SOMETHING... we started with regular old fish oil and it worked. As you go along, you can choose to try another etc, like we did.

Lara...
 

That Omegaven story concerns TPN (total parenteral nutrition) IV for babies with defects of the GI tract. These babies cannot eat for a long time while surgery and healing fix the defect. Typical TPN mixtures did not include omega-3s....and the babies died of liver failure.

By putting Omegas in the TPN they survived. Now I am somewhat dismayed that this was not figured out long before. We now have omegas added to baby formula ..why would any TPN mix be any different in need? eh?
It is sort of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing in medicine.

EFAs are ESSENTIAL... why is essential so hard to understand? Well, at least they are putting them in the IVs now.

There is a post in our Vitamin forum that discusses this...
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl...to+d2+receptor
This has to do with dopamine binding and TS... which I think is a special case.

Thanks mrsd! :)

Yes, I understood the treatment and reason in that story when I read it.

I'll go read the url you sent me. Sounds interesting. I just don't understand why fish oil would make some people more ticky than others if you know what I mean. I can see from the studies that people are finding it helpful for ADHD, but not everyone with TS has ADHD. I'm just trying to figure something out.

Mrs. D,

Thanks for the info :) ! I have been thinking about switching brands. With a son entering college we are looking at cost saving measures, too ;) ! I do recall you mentioning Costco as a source for supps and will check out one not too far from here. Is there a particular brand that you use?

Regarding tics and fish oil....I do recall many interesting threads on the old forum discussing this. Very strange how some folks react differently to fish oil. I, for one, see an improved change in tics and restlessness in both of my sons (One with TS, one with an occasional tic and neither with ADHD) using fish oil (Bonnies brand-Bontech). I think it is great overall for many things. My TS son had GI issues which I believe were helped greatly by this along with probiotics and magnesium taurate (along with his routine vits).

I haven't heard any more about the TSA sponsored study (the one authored by Coffey and colleauges). I sure would like to, though.

Thanks, ladies. have a great day :) :wink: !

Take care,
Tessa

Hi Tessa :)

yes, my son is one of that subset of TSers who cannot take fish oil as it makes them tic more.

He gets his omega 3s from flaxseed oil and products, as well as wild alaskan salmon, which he loves and eats often.

It is interesting to me that those people who dont tolerate fish oil supplemnts, for the most part, are fine with eating fish

Dr Weil's newsletter today talks of the benefits of fish oil for OCD

Yes, it does.
However...

I'll try the counselling, and I'll try the fish oil but there's no way I'm going to take magic mushrooms especially for OCD. :eek: LOL! (can't stop cackling. The cat thinks I've gone insane)

It's down near the end of the article.
Someone tell me that is not real. Please.
__________

OK, I stopped laughing in disbelief and checked around and frankly I just can't believe that psilocybin would be good for anyone or anything particularly someone with severe OCD. :eek: I find the whole suggestion frightening.


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...arch&DB=pubmed
: J Clin Psychiatry. 2006 Nov;67(11):1735-40.

Safety, tolerability, and efficacy of psilocybin in 9 patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Moreno FA,Wiegand CB,Taitano EK, Delgado PL.

Department of Psychiatry, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA.
____________

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6210694.stm
BBC UK
Monday, 11 December 2006, 07:31 GMT
Psychedelic drug 'hope for OCD'
By Arran Frood

http://www.clicksmilies.com/s1106/sp...smiley-003.gif

phew!:eek: for a moment there I thought you were referring to Dr W recommending magic shrooms, Lara! ;) Then I saw your link and quote from another article

yes, I agree.......OCD is quite enough to deal with without adding hallucinogenic stuff to the mix eh!!

No, I was freaked out by Dr Weil's OCD page. http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/id/ART02719

"What are the therapies Dr. Weil recommends?
Each of the following may have value:

* Psychological and psychiatric counseling.
* Fish oil supplements. Rich in omega-3 fatty acids, have been shown to be effective in a wide range of psychological conditions.
* Hallucinogenic mushrooms. There is new research underway to determine if these, taken in carefully controlled conditions, may both alleviate depression and curb OCD."

:eek: well
I will withdraw my phew then and add an eek! :eek:

I hadnt seen that when I skimmed the Weil newsletter and did not click thru to the article

lol I thought I should tell you. I thought I'd done the time-warp and woken up back in the '70s. :D


~ “There are three side effects of acid: enhanced long-term memory, decreased short-term memory, and I forget the third.”

Timothy Leary