A long shot, but worth a try... ? about herbal supplements for focusing

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momof3boys

momof3boys

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Im just taking a long shot at this and going to post this, to see if anyone here knows of anyone who has tried taking a herbal supplement for helping to focus and be more attentive?

This is for our middle son, who is 7 and in the second grade. last year, in december 2011, we were seeing a therapist who was consulting with our pediatrition because the teacher last year said our son wasnt focusing in class. They put him on some medications used to treat ADHD... they tried Focalin, Adderall, and Concerta. The conerta was first given, but he couldnt swallow the pills... so we had to change to folcalin next... but again, this time the medication was making him lose way too much weight. The weird thing is that what this teacher was saying, wasnt making sense because he wasnt acting like what she was saying he was acting in school, when he was at home. So, after the school year was over in May, and he was losing too much weight, we still saw the therapist, but we wanted to try it without the medication. He's been off of any medication since may. He's been doing good... but his teacher did say that at times he will be kind of spacy in class. Once she redirects his attention, he knows what to do, and does the work.

But I wanted to look into other things besides going back to prescribed medication that has those nasty side effects. I googled somethings and found Attend used to help focus and pay more attention. So today, we went out looking around, and we came upon some similar stuff. The Attend is capsules, and can be broken apart and put into applesause, yogart, etc. Which is ok... but I then saw another product... called Attentive Child. They are walfers that can be chewed. Our son is kind of a picky eater and has to smell everything he eats!

But I just wondered if anyone has used herbal supplements to treat stuff like this? were just trying to get him to focus better in class. Other than that, things have been going well for him in school.

Oh and we did consult the dr before looking at these items and they said it was up to us. They said the dr said there is no studies found for these kind of items, but if we wanted to give it a try, it was up to us. Otherwise, if things didnt get better, to make an appointment for him to be seen.

But the last thing I want to do is put him back on a prescription medication that I dont think he needs, only for helping him focus better in class.
 
Ok this may sound strange..

If he is ADD or ADHD, long before any of the meds came out the Drs would recommended coffee. I've tried it a few times with Troy on a weekend and it has worked. Of course not as long as an extended RX, but it did work.

Told ya it sounded weird. :p
 
WOW. I didnt know coffee worked!

Its kind of confusing... last year in september about 2-3 weeks after school started, his teacher came to us to tell us that she was noticing our son not wanting to focus on his work. We went to the doctor to express our concern, and they gave us some papers for us to fill out, and some for the teachers to fill out. Our dr also set up us with a therapist just to get alittle more information to go on. As we got things started, we come to find out that this teacher of his, has some pretty high expectations for her students. She expects each of her students to reach this high bar that she has. And when it comes working on things, she has only one way of doing things. even if a child doesnt under stand her way, and has their own way of understanding it better, she will mark the answer wrong. She wanted each child to learn her way, and show their work. If their work didnt match what she was teaching them, she would mark it wrong. One time when our son was sick, they started a new lesson in math. so of course when he returned, he didnt know what was going on because he missed that day. That day that we picked him up from school, she informed us that he wasnt doing well in math that day. I spoke with her, and she explained that they started something new, on the day that he missed, and he wanst getting it right. Well, of course he wont be getting it right, because no one explained it to him since he wasnt there the day they started to learn this new stuff. So the following day, I took an hour out of my time to sit down with them in class to observe what it was she was talking about. I listened as she explained it, and she did not explain it to us like she did that day in class. very confusing and very frustrating. There were days my son would come home and start to cry, and say the teacher got angry with him because he couldnt do the work like she wanted him to. Then, when we would ask about this, she acted as though we were friends. Im not here to be a friend with the teacher, Im here to make sure my kids are being treated right, and learning the things they need to without having troubles. So we pretty much summed it up to him having issues with the teacher til the school year ended. Thankfully the teacher moved to a different school, and we dont have to deal with her no longer.

But now onto this year. He was given adderall, focalin, and concerta starting in december 2011- may 2012. All of which gave him terriable side effects, and I highly doubted that he had ADHD. One thing I didnt get is that if the teacher was telling us one thing, like the way he was acting while in school, he certainly wasnt acting that way at home. And when I did research on ADHD, it says that the signs you see, will be noticed both at home and in school. So, after the school year got done, we took him off the medication. He;s been off medication since the end of May when school was out. Hes been doing fine. The only thing that the teacher has said is that he likes to "be spacy at times". So I thought heck I might as well look into other things that can help him focus, rather than go back to the dr, who will want to put him back on any prescribed medication again.
 
QUICK UPDATE!

Just wanted to let everyone know that today is day 3 of our son taking a supplemental for helping him focus, and his teacher says he's had two fantastic days! :)

I started out giving him 1 wafler on tuesday, and then increased it to 2 on wednesday and today. Both days, yesterday and today, the teacher said he's been doing great and focusing so good! I dont want to jinks things... but Im just so happy that were seeing improvment! :)

What we bought were the following:

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Source-Naturals-Attentive-Chewable-Wafers/dp/B000GFPCW0"]Amazon.com: Source Naturals Attentive Child, 120 Chewable Wafers: Health & Personal Care@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41B2RAHCRSL.@@AMEPARAM@@41B2RAHCRSL[/ame]

We didnt buy it on amazon, but its where I found it available on the internet to show you! :) It says for his weight, he can have 1-2 a day. So far, so good! :) Im just so happy!
 
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Thanks! Im glad we found this too! I came close to buying the Attend stuff. I found the Attend first, and wanted to look around to see if there were similar items out there. With the Attend, you have to start with a loading dose, the first 30-45 days. Something I didnt want to do. Then we found this attentive child, and they turned out to be chewable! I knew my son would go for that! The attend either has to be swallowed, or the capsles can be taken apart and put into yogart, applesauce etc. And with the Attend, you're suppose to give it twice a day. Something I didnt want to mess with since he's in school til 3pm.
 
thank you for the link!

Yes, I saw that on the bottle before purchasing it. My first thought was... "I know I wont be taking it" LOL.
 
Good for you for looking into something else other than the drug route. I know that sometimes that is the only thing that will work, but I also am aware that the drug companies are trying to make money off of us. I hope he continues to do well :)
 
Its sad because I didnt think my dr would have that kind of opinion on us trying a herbal supplement. When I heard back from the office, the nurse said the dr handed her a print out of his opinion, and she read it to me. Basicly very simple, but flat out said, there is no studies shown that these herbal supplements help at all. If our son is having the trouble of not being able to focus, then its best if this continues, that the dr see him again. My exact thought was.... "right, so you can take our copay, and tell us that you want to put him back on the medication that made his stomach hurt, his weight go down, and him have no appetite". NOPE. I was going to do all I could do to not get to that point! Im just relieved that its working. Im hoping today is day 3 of a fantastic day for him... and the days ahead are the same! :)
 
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