ADD/ADHD Online Information

ADD/ADHD Natural Remedies

Zinc Sulphate
A Doctor in Tripoli, Lebanon, wrote to us recently with the following information about Zinc Sulphate .......

"I have been treating a 9-year-old girl with confirmed ADD with Zinc Sulphate 40 mg/day for 6 weeks and she showed an 80%improvement in her problems. Her school performances and her ability to concentrate were dramatically ameliorated.

This is a preliminary result of a prospective study and it is premature to draw any conclusions. It is premature at this time to recommend Zinc Sulphate as part of a treatment regiment for ADD."

The Doctor also asked if anyone had any data/research on the use of Zinc Sulphate in this way.

Martin wrote.......

"I have been viewing your excellent web site and was interested in the section on natural remedies, in particular the document about Zinc.

My son was diagnosed with ADHD in 1996 and he was given Ritalin, however we did not think it worked that well, in the sense that he was a bit vacuous after taking it and very hyper when it wore off. The child psychiatrist agreed and suggested that the behavioural therapy we were engaged in might be more effective.

About that time we read an article that suggested the use of Zinc supplements for hyperactivity. After consulting our GP who said that it wouldn't do any harm, we tried it and the benefits were apparent after a short period of time. The fidgets and squirms reduced significantly and he became more co-operative. I don't think that its a cure-all and it has less impact on the attention deficit, in fact I would say that he is more the classic ADD rather than ADHD now.

Of course you have to take into account that there are other factors such as the behavioural therapy, the co-operation with the school and the fact that he is growing up. Nonetheless my wife and I do believe that Zinc has been very beneficial. Reducing the hyperactivity just makes managing the rest of it easier for us, the school and himself. He can pay attention more simply because he is less fidgety, even though you still have to engage his attention and keep him on task. I would recommend anyone with an ADHD kid to give it go, I don't think you have anything to lose.

As an aside, I was very interested to see the wealth of information that there is now on ADHD on the net and the general acceptance of the "condition". I first found out about ADHD through a Compuserve forum back in 1995 at a time when we were pulling our hair out about his behaviour. It was me who suggested to a child psychologist attached to his school that he may have ADHD and this was subsequently confirmed by the psychiatrist.

At that time very few teachers had even heard of ADHD and it was a bit of struggle trying to convince them that he wasn't just badly behaved. In four years things have changed significantly, so much so that last summer I attended a seminar by an American psychologist about the 1-2-3 method of behaviour management, it was attended by at least 400 people over 60% being teachers. Progress indeed and its largely thanks to the voluntary groups like yourselves.

Its been an interesting time being a parent of an ADD child since things have improved, prior to that it was total pain. But of course its a self discovery process for us adults as well, especially when you realise that he is a product of your genes and you have the same issues to deal with as him. So I take zinc too and can confirm it does help, as I said its no cure-all but its all part of managing the process. "

Dr.Devan from India wrote to us saying...

"I have treated quite a few children with ADD with fish oil(docohexenoic acid -marketed as Maxepa )and with zinc and iron...the results are very encouraging and many are fully cured. Those interested may come down to see my work.

In the light of these results, ADD is a disorder that childrenshould not suffer.

A little explanation is in order.

The brain is primarily fat especially essential fatty acids....the best source of which is fish oil extracts.Neuronal transmission is essentially therfore dependent on proper myelinisation just like in an electrical circuit.In multiple electrical circuits, when there is a short circuit, proper transmission gets impeded.When transmission is rectified, to focus attention, the transmitted data need to be collected and collated...for this memory has to be effective and for that the primary area in the brain where memory is concretized is in the hippocampus where zinc is an essential trace mineral.

Therefore ADD children must be treated by a combination of fish oil and zinc...the results are then incredible.

Please post this at your site..any concerned parent may contact me directly.

Thanks for the concern and help

With regards

Dr.Devan"

You can contact Dr Devan by email at: drdevanpp@yahoo.co.in

We have recently been advised of some concerns regarding Zinc and adverse effects high doses. We have taken some extracts about this from cspinet.org

"Zinc can impair the immune system at daily doses as low as 50 mg (in addition to the 15 mg in a typical diet). Vitamin A can cause liver damage and possibly birth defects at daily doses of 10,000 IU or more. Vitamin B-6 can cause (reversible) nerve damage at doses of 200 mg or more."

Back To Natural Remedy List

---

Home  About Us  ADD/ADHD News  ADDerwards  Advertising  Books  Contact Us  Creative ADDers  Donate

 Events  Forums  Information  Links  Natural Remedies  ADDers.org News  Research  Resources  Search adders.org

 Site Map  Social Stories  Sponsor Events  Student/Researchers  Support Groups  Supporters



Join us on.... Twitter Facebook

Home