Best supplements for Asperger's/ADHD/SPD?

[Anonymous]

NP here. I have a question about Epsom salts in the bath. Could someone explain to me what you do with them and what benefit is hoped for? Is this just taking relaxing baths or is there something about Epsom salts in particular that helps?

[Anonymous]

Pour a cup into a warm bath. The salts contain magnesium that is absorbed through the skin, which gives a calming effect. Many ASD kids are magnesium deficient.

Doctors often recommend soaking sprained, sore limbs in an epsom salt bath - it's really pretty benign but helps injuries heal faster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I second this reccomendation. It may be costly but is worth the shot, at least the process of elimination of what works and does not...

How costly exactly? I'm not sure shelling out the money on unproven therapy is the best choice when there are proven therapies we can spend that money on. For my family, anyway, it's different I suppose for those who are wealthy.

This post seems a bit judgemental to those that are willing to unturn any stone (with or without a double blind study to back it up) to help their child achieve results, we do not have money either but the several hundred dollars a month in proven therapies (speech, and less so OT), as well as a few hundred dollars in supplements/Drs appts/tests are worth the comfort of knowing that we are diong everything in our power to help our child. Mind you we drive old cars, eat in, and do not take big vacations... spending more on where we place our priorites and less on the other things. We are certainly not wealthy!

That said, we have given the supplements 12 months of experimentation, have seen limited results and probably will stop soon only maintaining the fish oil, epsom salt baths, VSL #3, and dmae as that is the most affordable long term.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I second this reccomendation. It may be costly but is worth the shot, at least the process of elimination of what works and does not...

How costly exactly? I'm not sure shelling out the money on unproven therapy is the best choice when there are proven therapies we can spend that money on. For my family, anyway, it's different I suppose for those who are wealthy.

This post seems a bit judgemental to those that are willing to unturn any stone (with or without a double blind study to back it up) to help their child achieve results, we do not have money either but the several hundred dollars a month in proven therapies (speech, and less so OT), as well as a few hundred dollars in supplements/Drs appts/tests are worth the comfort of knowing that we are diong everything in our power to help our child. Mind you we drive old cars, eat in, and do not take big vacations... spending more on where we place our priorites and less on the other things. We are certainly not wealthy!

That said, we have given the supplements 12 months of experimentation, have seen limited results and probably will stop soon only maintaining the fish oil, epsom salt baths, VSL #3, and dmae as that is the most affordable long term.

I don't think the poster was trying to be judgmental. Every family has to try to find the right balance. For some families, that means leaving no stone unturned. For others (including us), we resort to conventional medicine/therapies (DS has ADHD, anxiety, and probable learning disabilites - has an IEP but hasn't been labeled as having any particular LD). For us, while we think about some of those unturned stones, we also try to keep in mind that DS is a child entitled to a normal childhood and that we can't live our life (and his) treating him as a patient or only as the sum total of his challenges to be sent constantly from one appointment/therapy to the next.

I myself take some supplements and DS occasionally takes a children's vitamin. While I don't see any results personally (in me) from taking supplements, they're inexpensive (especially if purchased at Costco) and it's fine. But I wouldn't expect DS's ADHD to disappear because he's taking supplements and, having (in retrospect) seen why preschool and early grades were so difficult, we wanted to try to help DS as effectively as possible. Medication, which has been the subject of countless studies, helps in most cases (we did have to experiment to see which medication produced the best results, but even the ones that weren't so good definitely improved things for him in school).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I second this reccomendation. It may be costly but is worth the shot, at least the process of elimination of what works and does not...

How costly exactly? I'm not sure shelling out the money on unproven therapy is the best choice when there are proven therapies we can spend that money on. For my family, anyway, it's different I suppose for those who are wealthy.

This post seems a bit judgemental to those that are willing to unturn any stone (with or without a double blind study to back it up) to help their child achieve results, we do not have money either but the several hundred dollars a month in proven therapies (speech, and less so OT), as well as a few hundred dollars in supplements/Drs appts/tests are worth the comfort of knowing that we are diong everything in our power to help our child. Mind you we drive old cars, eat in, and do not take big vacations... spending more on where we place our priorites and less on the other things. We are certainly not wealthy!

That said, we have given the supplements 12 months of experimentation, have seen limited results and probably will stop soon only maintaining the fish oil, epsom salt baths, VSL #3, and dmae as that is the most affordable long term.

I didn't mean to sound judgmental, but I apologize if it came across that way. We spend a lot of money on ST/OT/PT/social group therapies, but all of those are clinically proven to produce results. I'm also willing to use a certain amount of supplements: fish oil, epsom salts, vitamin supplements in chewable forms, probiotics. Where I personally am skeptical (and your mileage may vary) is of the expensive and unproven therapies such as chelation and HBOT. I'm also skeptical about paying several hundred dollars a month for a consultation about supplements. I just find it hard to believe that there is a nutritionist or DAN doctor out there who can mitigate my child's Asperger's to the extent it justifies that expense. I simply cannot spare that much per month, so that certainly colors my thinking. I just doubt that there's a magic supplement out there we're not already buying that will provide several hundred dollars worth of difference.

[Anonymous]

Kelly is great but I do not think Compart knows her stuff. Have used them both and gotten feedback from other who have used them both.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for posting this. I have posted before trying to get feedback on Compart and wasn't able to get much. I believe she has you pay in advance for 3 sessions right? I didn't want to do that without getting more opinions. I know everyone won't be pleased, but usually when you post asking about an expert a bunch of people share their experience.

[Anonymous]

Regarding Dr. Compart, we have just completed the series of consults with her and I couldn't be more pleased. Her consults are very thorough (far better than consult we got with children's or with Dr Conlon). Unlike the others, she also had us pursue blood testing and organic acids testing of urine that showed my ASD child has intestinal disbiosis and a number of deficiencies and high levels of a marker of brain inflammation. Her proposed treatment of my child is truly personalized to my child's deficiencies. We won't be wasting money pursuing therapies that aren't necessary. I can also add that she is very organized and timely with her reports. I also appreciate that she speaks nationally at ARI meeting and is well connected with some of the top minds in the field like Martha Herbert, MD.

[Anonymous]

Dr. Compart has you schedule three initial appointments, but you pay at the end of each consult. If you aren't pleased with her, I suppose you can back out of subsequent appointments without paying. I found each of these appointments to be very valuable and I think it was 900 dollars well spent.

[Anonymous]

We do a complete multivatimin that has lots of the trace minerals - buried treasure children's complete liquid. We also do Nordic naturals. Both at advice of dr. Colon. Both are simply supporting therapies - they help take the edge of his issues but are in no way substitutes for ot or the behavior modifications strategies we use.

Based on what research I have seen, both of these supplements are in fact standard of care and not really considered alternative. they are not game changers the way a drug might be but rather help my kiddo ever so slightly be more resilient. Just like getting a good nights sleep helps him be resilient or taking a bath before a stressful event .... I am somewhat tired of people referring to omegas and vitamins as alternative. Heck they are recommending similar interventions for ripple with Parkinson's or other neurological family history.

Op good luck.