A La Aspie

Ethan, while having an AS dx, also exhibits possible, by undx, attention deficit problems. Not undx for lack of looking, mind you (he’s been through two psych evals in his short life), but not the paramount issue. I’ve tried a few things that positively affected the AS symptoms but had very little effect on the attention deficit symptoms.

(And just for the record - I did sit in on his class one day during a ’shadow the student’ day - and OMG, tedious and monotonous. I really don’t fault young kids for not being able to sit still through that. It was HORRIBLE! In fact, I question the sanity of a young child who CAN sit still through that and have a brain left that is anything but numb. Maybe I could start a movement to treat overly attentive children.)

While in a client session one day, the client told me that she had read a study about kids with ADD who were treated with Omega 6 and Omega 3 who showed improvement of symptoms. I read the study and it sounded promising enough… so I tried it. Over his thanksgiving break, he and I both started taking 3000 mg of Omega 6 and Omega 3 every day.

I didn’t really notice anything at first. After about the first week though, he started really mellowing out. We could have full on conversations without him kicking into hyperactive mode. He was actually listening when he was told to do something and he was getting his chores done without arguing or without struggling. For myself, I noticed that it had the same effect of taking something for anti-anxiety. I just didn’t get rocked as hard by stressors. I also noticed that I was also able to more smoothly move from task to task and focus for longer periods of time on tedious or monotonous tasks.

Then it was back to school time. Ethan gets a report home every day in which the teacher rates him on a 4 point scale for behavior. Prior to Thanksgiving holiday, he might get an E (excellent) in behavior every now and then… but regularly got S and G.. satisfactory and good and sometimes an N (FAIL!). Bearing in mind that his teacher was being gracious too… she would rate him with a G and then say ‘He tore the classroom down with the timbre of his shreaking’. AND there were the almost weekly incidents - he argued with a teacher on the playground, he was involved in a scuffle, he was doing something ‘weird’ like pretending he was blind on the way back to the classroom… just random impulsive stuff.

After the Omega 3 and Omega 6 supplementation started, suddenly, he was getting E’s (excellent) in behavior - EVERY DAY. He was remembering his planner (where he writes his homework) almost every day - instead of the inverse. He was more interested in special projects. AND… there were no more incident reports coming home.

EXCEPT… there was this time… (in band camp?) I was busy cleaning the house one morning when I found a fish oil capsule on the ground. AND… then another. And another. In a corner. “Wait a second”, thought I, “That is a couple of days worth of supplements. Why are they under the bookcase and shoved into the corner of the bathroom? Hm.” and I put my finger to my chin in thought. And then, it was as if a lightbulb went on over my head. “That sneaky rapscallion figured out that if mom isn’t watching, he doesnt have to take them and he hid the freakin’ things.” And that was that day that he got a bad report home from school. He held the bathroom door shut on a couple of girls. About a week later, I allowed him to skip his supplements because of a sore throat or something and that day he ALSO got a negative report home.

It’s like night and day. It’s like two different kids in one body. One is calm and friendly and funny and confident and honest and the other is Evil Genius Moody Pants. The difference appears to be Omega 6 and Omega 3.

So take it for what you will. In later research, I did find two references to a study in which the only children with Attention Deficit Disorder who experienced a positive effect from the omega 3 and omega 6 supplementation were the ones who also had comorbid neurological imbalances - which Asperger’s Syndrome qualifies as so it might be that this story is more applicable to kids with Asperger’s Syndrome with attention problems than to ADD specifically.

There is also the issue of dosage. It seems, from what I can tell, that you have to have a good balance between the two. Lots of foods have Omega 3 in them - not many foods have Omega 6 in them.. so dosage would depend upon the kid’s diet, in part. I know that taking 1000 mg of Omega 6 did nothing for me. Taking 3000 of both had a considerable effect. 3000 of both is 6 big horse pills. The kid friendly peach flavored ones? You’d have to take a million. So that’s the other down side, I guess.

Also may have been crossposted to my Asperger's Syndrome blog on Trusera.com, a site where people show health related stories. Check it out!