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:
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
I don't have suspicions about homeopathy in general. However, there are a lot of snake oil salesmen out there and there are absolutely no regulations controlling the creation of these products. So... while a true homeopathic remedy should not have things in it that would be harmful - there are no guarantees. When I wanted to give my son the remedy that contained bella donna, my pediatrician warned me not to because there is no way to tell if there are therapeutic levels in the tincture or enough to kill my son (while being safe for the average kid) due to a conflict with his medication at the time. Why take a chance?
Our current pediatrician practices holistic medicine as well as allopathic medicine and uses remedies that have been tested to his satisfaction. I trust what he gives us - never something just off a shelf.
I have worked with trained homeopaths for over 10 years and I would never use a remedy at 10X. These potencies are cell salt potencies and are used to address nutritional and biochemical deficiencies. I would also not want to use a general, combination remedy to treat a "condition" but as others have already noted, you should treat symptoms, with a "three legged stool". The remedy chosen to treat should have at least three aspects that match the symptom picture presented. There are thousands of remedies to choose from and literally hundreds that could impact ADHD in a positive way. I suggest you work with a trained homeopath. It is not incredibly expensive. The harm in using combination remedies is that you could suppress the symptom. It can work, while you take it, and then the symptoms come back stronger then before. That is suppression, and that is something to be avoided and is not healing in any way. It is like taking an antibiotic for an ear infection and when you stop it comes back. It's because maybe you have the infection due to an underlying milk allergy. You have to hit upon the "right" remedy, the most accurate remedy for the picture in order to prevent suppression.
And can you hurt yourself with remedies. It depends. You can aggravate yourself for sure. They are powerful medicines and they do work if used under the best guidance. 10X would have a small amount of the original substance left, for those who are worried about that. Any potency above 30c however, does not. I am going to search around for an article my homeopath sent to me and link it here later, about research being done by a French Nobel prize winner who, through his research, explains how imprints can be made on water from substances, even if the original substance has been so diluted it is no longer officially present. It is powerful stuff, and it explains the "energy imprint" that homeopathy works with.
Hi, I am a 37 year experienced pediatric occupational therapist. I talked with a mom of one of my clients, whose son had ADD. She is absolutely amazed that he is doing so well with school and homework and is now so motivated. she told me today that he is now immediately responsive to his name being called, since taking Synaptol. She only ordered the one month supply bottle but told me she will be ordering the 3 month supply with her next order. She is amazed with the change in her son. Good luck with your son! Mary
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