flax or fish oil?

[crazymama30]

I am trying difficult child on b vitamins and omega 3's as they have helped me with my patience, and lord knows that poor kid needs some too. Is there any difference between using flax seed oil or fish oil? Is one more effective? For now we are going with the flax seed oil as the caplets are a little smaller and have a little more omega 3's per capsule. difficult child is sure that these are going to kill him, so we are just getting him used to the idea by having him take one in the morning and one at night, and will get up to 3000mg per day eventually. That is the dose that psychiatrist says research shows is accurate so I figure we will shoot for that.

 

[totoro]

I think the fish oil is recommended over the flax because of the EPA and DHA concentrations naturally in the fish. Flax is great as well. But I believe almost all of the studies on mood have been done with Fish Oil.
Flax seed has ALA which is great also. So both are good for you. But in studies they say the Fish oil is digested easier and used up by your body in more efficient way.

We use Barleans DHA fruit Chews for kids, they are squares like candy, they have Vitamin C, EPA, DHA, Omega-3, ALA, and various Omega-6 in 1 chew. 3 flavors.

But to get the 2000-3000mg that is recommended for Mood Disorder you would need quite a few. I think 1 chew has 160mg.
We give these to N who has sensory issues and will only eat these, Dr. Sears also makes one without the ALA.
K and husband and I take the Orange flavored Barleans Fish Oil Capsules, 1000mg each.
K takes 2 and husband and I take 3 each.
I never burp up fish!
These are by far my favorite.
We get our flax seed in our oatmeal and smoothies, and bread.
We have an alternative family doctor, kind of like Doctor Weil. Oprah loves him. I believe this guy trained under him.
I have read that Choline and Lecithin (Phosphatidylcholine) is great for our kids.
There was a conclusive study done that showed that with use of both of these together reduced mania occurred. One child was able to stop Lithium use. Side note on the study was that it was not benificial for kids who had, unipolar, not really bipolar or just depression. Only Bipolar.
I am going to ask to add these to K's treatment at her psychiatrist meeting next week.
Good luck!

 

[crazymama30]

Thanks Toto. We may have to stick with the flax oil, as difficult child cannot swallow the fish oil pills as they are a little bigger. We tried gummie omega 3 vitamins and he threw them up. I have been taking them to use them up, and I did not think they were that bad. I take the 3000mg per day and a b vitamin. I bought Barleans flax oil capsules, and they had more omega 3's per capsule than the fish oil I had bought. I think it helps that the flax see oil capsules are dark, so they appear even more smaller than they are. difficult child has taken the fish oil before without a problem, guess I just should never have stopped.

 

[totoro]

The new ones by borleans and Dr. Sears are nut gummy, they are more like a starburst, but less sour. Each one is wrapped individually. If you see them take a look at them. They are actually good! But K does not like the texture... N loves them. K did not like the gummies either. too sour.

 

[lizzie09]

My son has Prader Willi syndrome which has mood deviations from time to time.
The doctor recommended Fish Oil so I give Effalex Omega -3 +6 and I added a vitamon b complex as well because I heard they worked well together for stress.
I have given DS this since December 07 and all is quite well.
I give him one Tablespoon of Fsh oil and one b complex daily.

I would love to know if anyone thinks that mood is improved overall with this. As DS behaviours have only happened once every 12mths I dont know yet if its useful for us as he returns to normal after 3mths of bad behaviour withour medication.
doctor also recommended Vivioptal vitamins to balancve the system but didnt mention b comples...that was my idea

 

[crawwilk]

My son has unoffical diagnosis of BiPolar (BP) and is medicated for ODD (.5mg Risperdal). We started using Fish Oil four weeks ago and see less lows in his moodiness. There is a current clinical study at Cedars Sinai using Fish Oil to assist depression and other mood related disorders. It's important to have EPA and DHA with the Fish Oil regime. My son is 6 and weighs 49 lbs - he gets 2 pills for toal Omega3 fatty acids: 760mg, EPA 400mg, DHA 200mg. Normal intake is Omega3: 1480mg, EPA 800mg, DHA 400mg. Make sure the Fish Oil is molecularly distilled.

 

[hs4265]

Hi dont know if this will help. I have 21 yr old pb daughter with psoriatic rheumatoid arthritis. diagnosis'd since 8, BiPolar (BP) since 3. We lived in MA and went to Dr Joseph Biederman at Mass General. I own't get into all the details, but after YEARS of many different drugs, this is my advice. Stay away from high levels of serequel (google at complaints/ lawsuits around it causing diabetes, weight gain, cardiac problems like we had heart racing, throat closing)lithium and depakote, which, besides causing "zombie effect", also requires blood draws ( lithium caused serious uncontrollable psoriasis in my daughter which triggered a permanent case of extremely painful Rheumatoid arthritis which she still suffers from Today), risperadol and zyprexa, which although great for rages ( I used it VERY sparingly and not all the time), causes HUGE unacceptable weight gain and again, google this, diabetes,and is now the subject of many lawsuits. I am running on here, but my point is, that as much as you can, avoid as many drugs as possible. I realize what I am saying, and I am trying to protect people as I wished I had someone doing this for me years ago. Omega brits, the only fish oil I know about that is specifically being used for mental illness along iwth autoimmune diseases and stroke and heart attack prevention has been double blind studied in Israel , Mass General and a host of other famous hospitals. Efficacy dose is 3 small caps or liquid, 2x a day. you can put it in their mouth while sleeping if they wont take pills or get angry. the book with the studies and research is Dr Stoll, The Omega 3 Connection. you can email me at * Heidi

 

[Dixies_fire]

How effective have you noticed this to be?

 

[HaoZi]

We use the Nature Made Full Strength Minis Super Omega-3 1 softgel per day.

 

[recoveringenabler]

I've often read that fish oil along with exercise is as effective for depression (for adults) as prescribed medication. Since I tend to be in favor of alternative medicine, years ago when I was in the middle of a life storm and felt depressed (not chronic) I chose to take the fish oil and up the exercise and it worked for me. I am not advocating this for everyone, just sharing that as an alternative it works. There are many studies which back this up. I saw Dr. Oz on his show once say that if he could only take one supplement, it would be fish oil because of the many benefits.

 

[SearchingForRainbows]

Very interesting thread... This is sort of on the subject, was going to start a new thread but will add on to this one. I have premature degenerative arthritis (possible RA). In 2009 I began taking generic DayPro to help with pain, inflammation, and stiffness. It made my blood pressure go way up and I stopped taking it a couple years later. About a year ago I started taking 1290 mg (900 mg Omega-3) of fish oil daily. Recently I've noticed that I'm less stiff in the mornings and not as sore after a good workout. I'm wondering if this is the right amount of fish oil or if I should increase it. Any info is greatly appreciated! SFR

P.S. Totoro, it's so nice to "see" you!!! Been thinking of you, wondering how you and the girls are doing... (FKA WFEN)

 

[recoveringenabler]

http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/daily-dose-omega-3?fb_xd_fragment

SFR the above link is from Dr. Oz's recommendation for the Omega 3's.

 

[SearchingForRainbows]

recoveringenabler THANK YOU!

I'm not sure if the brand I currently take has at least 600 mgs of DHA even though it contains a total of 900 mgs of Omega-3. I had no idea that this mattered! Read the label carefully, doesn't specify the amount of DHA. Will have to check this further... Book marked the link.