Vitamin/Mineral supplements

I've been lurking on some Tourettes boards, reading up on tics and such (since DS developed a troubling tic a few weeks ago) and I was struck by how prevalent vitamin supplementation is within that community. And apparently with great success. Since there is a high comorbidity between ADD and TS, I'm curious if anyone on this board has researched vitamins as a means to improve attentional issues, or if you guys have any other thoughts on the matter. - Karen

Check out the NIMH website. You'll see that there is little objective support for the effectiveness of vitamin supplements in treating ADHD. The most promising of these not very promising strategies is essential fatty acid supplementation. Some limited research suggests it may help some ADHD sufferers but the jury is still out on whether it is broadly useful in ADHD. A well-nourished child will always be better off, and there is nothing wrong with a multi-vitamin in most cases, but some supplements can cause problems in certain kids, even if most kids would not have a problem. Call your pediatrician before you give you kid any supplement.

Des -- take those websites with a HUGE grain of salt. True believers will simply invent data wholesale.

Those of us here who have been in the reading wars know all about the dishonest arguments, appeals to emotion, personal attacks, and fake "research" (either the opposite of what was really said, or totally invented) that is brought out in the discussions; well, the health field is, if anything, even worse.

I happen to personally believe in vitamins and diet control -- as a sufferer from severe celiac disease which was mistreated for decades, I have a lot of knowledge and experience and a good test subject in myself. I have been prescribed vitamin supplements by the regular medical establishment as part of my treatment, and I have read that I probably should be taking more B supplements, if I could find some that didn't contain other allergens. I am on a very strictly limited diet as part of my treatment from the standard medical establishment. So I'm not an anti-vitamin/diet crusader! But caution is definitely in order.

People make insanely overblown claims with little or no basis in fact, and you have to be extremely careful. Some of these supplements are dangerous -- for example, even Vitamin A is necessary to your body in small/normal doses, but can kill you in overdoses; other herbal supplements have been linked to deaths and other problems.

Before you try any supplement, (a) check with a knowledgeable doctor -- alas, your local family doctor/pediatrician may or may not be informed about these things -- I have had to explain allergies to a number of people including my endrocrinologist -- so your first step is to find a doctor who is informed and doesn't have his own axe to grind; and then (b) use both internet and library and find out about the particular chemical not only from the supporters point of view but also from the standard medical point of view -- if it is known to have killed people or caused neurological damage, you want to know that.

Beware the placebo effect -- you often feel better just because you are taking *something*. You need an outside evaluation from someone who doesn't know what times you are on the supplement and what times you are not, if you really want to know it is making a change..