Any experiences with Synaptol

[Mommyintraining2]

I just saw an ad for this.  It's homeopathic for ADD/ADHD.  We have been working to help recover our son from autism.  Still working with leftover behavior which reminds me off ADHD and I'm thinking of trying this out.  But I wanted to see if anyone has heard of or personally tried it.  It gets really good reviews:

http://www.synaptol.com/?gclid=CNW1sLuG9qoCFYwaQgoduA6ILw 

[karne]

I don't have any experience, but I did check out your link.  I find the "miracle cure" aspect of the advertising troubling.  ADD/ADHD is very complex, and the symptoms overlap with other issues, which is why solid dx is important.  Anyway, that's just my take.

[Mommyintraining2]

What would be the drawback of trying it since it's entirely homeopathic?

I also found this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Native-Remedies-BrightSpark-125-Count-Bottle/dp/B000TMVMH4 

[karne]

Originally Posted by Mommyintraining2 

What would be the drawback of trying it since it's entirely homeopathic?

I also found this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Native-Remedies-BrightSpark-125-Count-Bottle/dp/B000TMVMH4 

I don't know what, if any draw back there would be since I'm not familiar with any of those products.

In general, I think there are drawbacks to self diagnosing and medicating a child-not specifically you, but as a matter of practice.

Edited by karne - 8/31/11 at 6:33am

[Emmeline II]

I find it a bit odd that 136 of 137 review on that first site seem to have given the product 5 stars .

Anyhoo, before ds was diagnosed I tried a few things to help improve his behavior in school. One was a homeopathic product called Child Calm, which didn't seem to help at all. Another was magnesium & vit B6 which had a couple of small studies behind it where 50% of the autistic children studied demonstrated behavior improvement--this did work to take the edge of ds' hyperactivity. Some parents also find improvement with a fish oil supplement.

[Annie Mac]

Well, the first ingredient is Aconitum Ferox, which is a species of monkshood and EXTREMELY toxic. Add that to the fact that the weakest (or strongest, depending on how you look at it) dilution is only 10X....no wonder it slows kids down. I also wonder how they proofed it, seeing as how in healthy people it would cause slowdown of respiratory function and death. Here's a link on it, if you're interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aconitum_ferox  .It also contains oats and horseradish and silver nitrate, for whatever that's worth. 

I know it's Wiki, but it seems like information that's easily verifiable.

Also, "oligotherapeutic?" Oligo means "few," as in oligarchy, for example. We all know what therapeutic means. I don't understand what an "oligotherapeutic water base" means. It seems to me like a word they invented to sound scientific and fancy. 

Just my opinion to take or leave, but this site and this "medicine" seems pretty quacky to me, and possibly dangerous at the 10X level. If it were my kid, I wouldn't give it to him. YMMV.

[SpottedFoxx]

Originally Posted by Mommyintraining2 

What would be the drawback of trying it since it's entirely homeopathic?

I also found this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Native-Remedies-BrightSpark-125-Count-Bottle/dp/B000TMVMH4 

There are many deadly things in nature - homeopathic does NOT mean safe and if your child is on any other medications, you should check with your doctor to ensure that the ingredients won't conflict.  Someone suggested Hylands Teething Tablets for my son.  I bought them and then noticed "bella donna" was listed.  I called the pediatrician.  Turns out my so could have stopped breathing from the tablets because of another medication he was taking at the time.
 

[Annie Mac]

Originally Posted by SpottedFoxx 

There are many deadly things in nature - homeopathic does NOT mean safe and if your child is on any other medications, you should check with your doctor to ensure that the ingredients won't conflict.  Someone suggested Hylands Teething Tablets for my son.  I bought them and then noticed "bella donna" was listed.  I called the pediatrician.  Turns out my so could have stopped breathing from the tablets because of another medication he was taking at the time.
 

Technically speaking, a homeopathic medication shouldn't have any active ingredients in it -- as in there should be nothing in it that will chemically interact with your system, so you can't OD on it, and it can't harm you physically. The belladonna (or whatever) should be diluted out of chemical existence, leaving an energetic trace that interacts with your body energetically. And then it's all up to you whether you believe that or not. However, the term homeopathics is often used incorrectly to describe many alternative medicines that aren't actually homeopathic, they are just alternative to pharmaceuticals (herbals, etc). These medications CAN react chemically with your body, of course they can, but if they're all labelled homeopathic, how are you to know which is which? The Hylands tablets are supposed to be homeopathic, really homeopathic, but apparently they didn't do their dilution correctly and there was chemical evidence of belladonna. 

[Mommyintraining2]

Thank you for the link.  I am curious about the replies with suspicion toward these homeopathic remedies.

Is it suspicion in general for homeopathy or just these particular remedies?

DS is not on any medications.

I will look into the supplement recommendations.

[Annie Mac]

I will be completely up-front with you, and say that I divide homeopathic remedies into two categories: maybe helpful and scammy/possibly dangerous. This is not from a position of ignorance; I've had some training in homeopathy and am on board with many alternative modalities. 

I would put your particular remedy into the scammy/maybe dangerous category because of the ingredients listed (see my above post), the fact that you can get it at 10X dilution, which is barely homeopathic, the overall look of the website, the fact that they've created words and given the names of all the ingredients in Latin without putting what they actually are in brackets. Like Avena Sativa? Sounds exotic, right? Oats. When manufacturers go in for this approach, I'm suspicious. It's like they're trying too hard to convince you.

Another thing? Homeopathists generally do not treat conditions. They treat symptoms. That's another red flag for me. A homeopathist might treat "lack of focus" but they are unlikely to treat ADHD.

[Mommyintraining2]

I appreciate your being up-front.

I have to say that one thing that bothers me about both of these remedies (Synaptol and Bright Spark) is that you have to continue using them for long periods.

My understanding and experience with homeopathy is that it is fairly short-term.  But I've only had experience and done research on acute conditions.

DS's homeopathic doctor did treat behavioral problems with one or two high doses, or several doses over the course of a couple of weeks.

Most testimonials from the aforementioned remedies say that when they stopped the treatment, the symptoms returned, sometimes even worse than before.

So do you have any experiences with treating ADHD symptoms with homeopathy?

[Annie Mac]

No, it's really not my area. I have some general "how it works" knowledge and some herbal knowledge, but I do not have the education or resources to recommend any specific remedies. Since you already see a homeopathist, I'd take him in to see him/her. 

And a total side note: I just read a book called Sleepless in America, that was very illuminating for me in regards to ADD and sleep deprivation. I'm sure your library would have it if you're interested. I'm with you in not wanting to throw meds at your little kid for ADHD, at least not without exploring other options.