[Cedarcross22]

We are dealing with this now. My 15 yr old son has high functioning autism, severe adhd and a mood disorder. He takes a lot of meds- which I don’t like. We have not been able to get Concerta for him in almost a month. Luckily I kept all the old meds he had taken and he’s taking adderall for now and doing fine. I really think he’s overprescribed and would like to take him off everything. There is an abstract by NIH called nutritional therapies for mental disorders and it is full of information about what vitamins and supplements may help as an alternative to prescribed meds. I’m just too afraid to get him off his meds because he’s stable and I’m afraid of the outcome and our situation is complicated.

But I’m also worried about him continuing to take meds that have increased his appetite and made him too uninterested in doing much too. As well as the possibility of losing access to prescribed meds and him going off cold turkey which is not an option based on what he takes.

[Monkey1]

I’m so sorry you’re having to deal with this. I know this is a big worry on top of what you already must cope with for your son’s situation. He’s lucky to have an aware parent.

*None of what I write should be taken as medical advice, only personal experience and research. Make your own decisions.

If you query Adderall alternatives, a host of supplements will appear. Concerta like Adderall although stimulants have an inverse effect on some, especially ADHD. I have used some of the things they listed for low GABA problems with mixed results. I hesitate to give GABA to anyone or take it myself as it can convert to its excitatory twin. I never got calmness with it, only agitation.

I know I’m being repetitive, but stick with taurine and flush-free niacin as the basics. There is not known toxic level for either if you research them. The only thing about taurine is the low blood sugar sometimes. Just check BS.

All these meds interfere with the normal GABA receptors and recycling of excitatory chemicals into GABA. They will speak about serotonin and melatonin, etc., and it’s true other chemicals are players, but GABA is the main driver of calmness.

Cold turkey can lead to a host of serious side effects. Please look at the Heather Ashton protocol. Even though it is for bentos, it generically applies as the same effects will happen. Look up Depersonalization and derealization and become familiar with the symptoms just in case. Foreknowledge will help to prepare and cope. Hopefully it will not come to this.

Hope this is helpful.

[Monkey1]

Don’t know where my first draft evaporated to…

*Not to be construed as medical advice, Do what you think is best….but you can query “Taurine seizures” on the PubMed website and multiple studies will appear touting it as both effective individually and as something to augment current seizure meds to stop seizures. There are over 300 studies.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=taurine%20seizures

Taurine is cheap and can be bought as a bulk powder. It is tasteless. Only caveat is to watch your blood sugar as an added benefit is that it lowers insulin resistance. (Good news for all type II diabetes folks.)

[Monkey1]

Sir, I would like to offer something that may help. You’re correct that the keto diet helps with autism. It also helps many with intractable seizures. There’s a movie with Meryl Streep called “First Do No Harm” about using keto diet for seizures. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWkDP633kd8

<b style=”background-color: var(–bb-content-background-color); font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; color: var(–bb-body-text-color);”>**Not to be construed as medical advice, do what you think is best.

<font face=”inherit”>If your daughter is having issues, I would offer it might be good to check about possible high histamine. Some people have </font>genetic<font face=”inherit”> </font>susceptibility<font face=”inherit”> as they don’t produce enough of the DAO enzyme that clears it. Once the histamine gets high, it can take days for the mast cells to settle down. People can have undetected reactions to food and chemicals in the environment like laundry detergent, candles, after shave, perfume, etc. Histamine is excitatory and can cause insomnia, feelings of impending doom, bed wetting, and irritability. The person affected may not show typical signs like a rash or immediate problems after eating or contact. It might take hours. A simple way to test is to give a low dose of antihistamine and see if it improves. *Remember anti-histamines don’t solve the </font><font face=”inherit”>problem; they only temporarily block receptors. There are multiple food lists with some conflicting info. If you do the k</font>eto<font face=”inherit”> diet, eliminate all milk and citrus initially, you can build a </font>personal diet list.

About the seizures:

Taurine has been shown to stop seizures and has beneficial effects for many neurological conditions. You can query PubMed and search NIH websites for studies.

Prevention of Epileptic seizures by Taurine

“Conclusions;…Therefore, taurine is potentially capable of treating seizure-associated brain damage.”

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12908638/

Electrophysiological Evidence for Anti-epileptic Property of Taurine

“Abstract-...Several lines of evidence suggest that taurine may function as a potent inhibitory neuromodulator that regulate neuronal activity in many cerebral areas…Furthermore, injection of taurine to a mouse undergoing limbic seizure completely stopped burst population spikes and restored neuronal firing to its baseline. Therefore, taurine is potentially capable of treating seizure-associated brain damage.”

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35882808/

Taurine potentiates the anticonvulsive effect of the GABA_A agonist muscimol and pentobarbital in the immature mouse hippocampus

“Results-…In addition, the anticonvulsive effect of 100 and 200 μmol/L pentobarbital is increased significantly in the presence of 0.5 μmol/L taurine.

Significance: These observations demonstrate that taurine can indeed enhance the anticonvulsive effects of muscimol and pentobarbital, suggesting that taurine may act as a positive modulator on GABA_A receptors. Thus, interfering with the modulatory taurine binding site of GABA_A receptors or the interstitial taurine concentration may provide new therapeutical options for anticonvulsive therapies in neonates.