Wednesday, December 3, 2008

I Heart Fish Oil


It's nice when things go right.

You might recall we have been dealing with Noah's hyperactivity and impulse control issues. We have instituted a behavior modification technique or two that are working really well at home, and also at school when the teacher takes the time to... you know, USE them.

I also think the diet changes have helped. We put him on daily doses of fish oil that people have had lots of success with, even though we are going through a gargantuan bottle designed for heart health instead of brain focus. The other day I thought about it and asked Michael... "Is it just me, or has Noah been more... you know... reasonable lately? More average? More calm?"

Who knew you could get all excited about your kid being "average"?

Michael had to admit it was true. Noah is able to stay in his chair for homework and meals more often (although we have allowed him to stand beside his chair if need be as long as he doesn't leave the table), he is working to control his anger and "use his words" and he is coming home from school with "green cards" a LOT more often, which means he had a good day.

It's nice to see things get easier rather than more chaotic for once.

I bow down before the awesomeness of the bottle of gummy fish oil.

6 comments:

Michèla said...

LOL! Wow! That's great. I hear more often how something so simple can create such huge and beneficial differences.

Snowbird said...

Yay!!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
Of course, this is the fish whose oil we are using. But it's still worth it.

http://www.funbumperstickers.com/images/Blinky.gif

Emily said...

SO happy to hear about some success! oh, man that is awesome. I have lost all faith in doctors to 'cure' me, and am so glad that you have figured this out. :)

Anonymous said...

What brand of fish oil are you using for him? I have been using some of the ideas from your blog (like the green, yellow, red cards for school, and the privelage chart) with good results. Thanks!

Shama-Lama Mama said...

Hey Christian,

We are using the Lil Critters Omega 3 Gummy ones. The bottle says "Brain Boost" on it.

There is a great forum on ADHD and the link to the conversation about fish oils is here:
http://tinyurl.com/5vr2h5

The gist is that there are 2 kinds of oil: DHA and EPA. In fish oil for heart health you want more DHA but for ADHD you want a higher EPA so you don't want to take the kind for your cholesterol. But you DO want a small amount of the DHA for it to work.

Somewhere in that thread there is a list of quite a few brands that are made with a 7:1 ratio of EPA to DHA that people are having good results with.

Many like Nordic Naturals which is a liquid spoonful with a pleasant flavor (lemon?). And lots of folks are using O3mega+joy and O3mega+mood which are large but smooth like a vitamin E capsule. The gummies we use taste a bit funky but he said the other day that his vitamins are AWESOME!

Keep in mind it may take up to 3 months to really work. We saw results in about 3-4 weeks.