Fish Oil, Omega-3 and B12 supplements

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At the suggestion of DS's psychiatrist, we all began taking a multivitamin with B-12 and fish-based Omega 3s (it took me a really long time and a trip to the health food store to find all that in one pill; while I can justify him taking a vitamin, I don't like sending the message that you take pills - even nontoxic nonmedical ones - to deal with problems.) Amazingly, over the course of the week we've taken it - our mood, as a family, is markedly better. Teachers at the school have stopped me to remark that DS's mood seems much better. I had originally thought we were doing pretty well eating fish, and I add flax to many baked goods, but apparently we needed the supplement.

I'm not a big believer in natural remedies, and frankly I don't trust medical remedies for depression although I understand they are sometimes necessary - however, the science is there for this one (http://www.webmd.com/depression/feature ... depression) and I have anecdotal evidence that bears it out. B12 is another one that has been shown to improve mood (and even a moderate b12 deficiency can cause depression) Thought I'd post here as I saw someone else was having success with it, too.

In case it's pertinent, the brand we found was Nature's Plus Childrens Animal Parade VitaGels with DHA & EPA (which are the two major fish-based Omega 3s.) Unfortunately, they are large gelcaps that, while mildly cherry scented, leak the fishy smell a bit...so we do have a small struggle getting DS to take them, they aren't perfect. I'd love to find another multivitamin that has B12, DHA and EPA but is easier to swallow. Cheaper wouldn't hurt, either.

I used to take Fish Oil and did quite well on it, but haven't tried it with Grace. I do have Cold Milled Organic Flax Seed that I sprinkle on all her foods-she loves it! However, I have not seen "remarkable" results using it. I am glad you are seeing good results, keep us posted! That brand you mention has some additives that we can't have and I do not know of a fish oil that's not "fishy" without additives.

I found a Disney brand of gummy fish vitamins that have fish oil, and they don't taste fishy---I have tried others that as soon as my son smelled the fish, he rejected. I found these in the regular grocery store. They have DHA and EPA, but not B12. They do have corn syrup, but no artificial food dyes. I haven't seen a change in my son's stimming, but his speech is getting better and better every day. I think his attention span is improving, but it could just be coincidental.

I wouldn't know what to suggest, since I actually liked fish oil as a kid. I even used to sprinkle a little bit of salt on my tongue, then bite through a capsule or just eat a teaspoonful, and enjoy the salty fish taste. I'm pretty sure I was one of the very few kids who liked fish oil; it didn't stop me from having numerous other food issues. Maybe the taste reminded me of fish sticks, which I loved, but my parents didn't buy them very often.

Momsparky, perhaps your daughter might be more comfortable with the taste if you let add a little bit of salt. Or when serving a fish dish, poke a hole in a fish oil capsule with a knife, then squeeze the oil into the food; the taste will blend right in, and your daughter will get a double dose of healthy omega-3's. (Just don't make it something fried, otherwise the omega-6's in fried foods will cancel out the benefits.)

I take those things and more, and I believe it best to take B-12 in a sub-lingual form (such as from TriVita). According to what I have heard, regular tablets do not get the B-12 to where it needs to be. Overall, I believe natural stuff is much better than just about anything a doctor might prescribe, and I also believe I am alive today because of that. Processed foods do not have the nutrition we actually need, and pharmaceuticals can only mask symptoms of that as opposed to actually providing the missing nutrients.

I've tried the fish oil and haven't really felt any different, but maybe the combo improves the performance? I should try that. Falls into the "can't hurt" category, far as I can see.

I am wondering if it is the combo of both, as well; I think I'd tried b-vitamins alone a while back and didn't notice. Our diet is pretty high in proteins, especially those where these two vitamins hang out, so I'd just decided to skip the supplements until now.

There are lots of things right now that could account for the difference, but I agree, can't hurt. (Since part of the experience is my own, I'm inclined that it has at least something to do with the supplements.)

Aspie1, thanks for your experience - I think the fishiness wouldn't bother DS if it weren't combined with this odd cherry-scented gelcap, but he's managing to get them down, so I'm not really that worried. DS is one of the few kids on the spectrum that I know who has no feeding issues at all, but these are just plain gross.

Do you know about what dosages you are giving to your child?

I recently had blood tests done and my Vit D was dangerously low. I am taking prescription supplements right now to get it back on track. My doctor (a DO, not an MD) also suggested I take B12 separately, in addition to a regular multivitamin and a couple other things she recommended specifically for me. I wasn't taking anything previously. I will definitely say that my mood has improved a lot! I'm not Sunny Sunshine every day or anything but I don't feel as tired and irritated all the time as I did before.

My children (6 and 3) take a gummy multivitamin and a calcium supplement, as they are both lactose sensitive so can't eat or drink enough milk products. I'd like to add in Omega 3 supplements for all of us, and I believe they could probably benefit from Vitamin D as well. My limitation is that it's far preferable for it to be in gummy form. We have tried mixing stuff in juice before and it's too hit or miss as to whether they get it all, especially the 3 year old. I bought some of the Nordic Naturals Omega 3 + D supplements and was disappointed when they arrived and were gel capsules and not the soft gels I was expecting.

It's only been a couple weeks since I've started trying Nature's Bounty 3-6-9 Fish, Flax, Borage gel caps by breaking a capsule open and hiding it in my son's juice once a day. The taste doesn't seem to bother him at all ... he's 2 1/2 and mostly non-verbal, since I've started doing it his vocabulary has doubled from about 70 words (most of it animal sounds, numbers, letters, shapes and other things that weren't really useful words) to 140 words (mostly useful words including saying "Mom hugs?" when he wakes up in the morning instead of his usual screeching and bird type noises!) I've also started taking them and have noticed a big improvement in arthritic/carpal tunnel type joint pain I have .... I'm frustrated I had to get this tip from someone off the internet and not from my son's pediatrician or from his therapists. I'm convinced it helped us. I just bought what randomly looked like a good combination to me, I wonder though if I got something without Omega 6 in it, would that be even better?

This seems to be one that would work on our diet, can you tell me what size the capsules are and if there is a taste to them?

I don't, but they are a kids' multivitamin, and you can google the brand - when I looked at the label, it struck me that it was pretty standard.

FYI - one brand of multivitamins is being investigated by the FDA for claiming to have more Omega-3s than it does: http://www.drugstorenews.com/article/ft ... ins-claims

They're 1200mg and the capsules themselves are quite large yet very easy to swallow. They don't taste fishy at all, I'm not sure what they taste like ... flax maybe? I don't find the taste objectionable when it's broken open and diluted with juice either. I found them in the grocery store Shop Rite on sale for about $7.50. http://www.naturesbounty.com/product/010151

My son, astonishingly enough, has no objection to the fishy "gummi" chewables, which I frankly think are utterly disgusting. But he'll eat pretty much anything with sugar on it.