Has anyone heard of this used for adhd or have tried it? I can't remember where I first heard about it but I had the name written down for a few weeks because I wanted to try it. I did research it on the net and it's used for anxiety and depression and adhd.
My 12 yr old daughter was diagnosed with adhd in 2nd grade. We first started her on medication in the 3rd grade (she started on Ritalin) and she was 100% different. Her focus was fantastic and she was not hyper in school. Her teacher said it was like she was a different child. Well this medication worked for a few years, then things changed. She was losing focus and when coming down off the medication she became very irritable and moody. She was getting older and her psychiatrist tried Focalin on her. It's a type of Ritalin, but a little different I guess. This worked OK for a while, but she was like a zombie and also not eating. Then she tried the Daytana patch. Again, this worked for a while, but she was a zombie and still not eating. All these meds worked only for a short time. We tried a few others, but she was either too much of a zombi and not eating, or it didn't work enough. She was recently put on Adderall for the first time. She's doing pretty well on it, her focus is good, she's not a total zombie like she was on past meds, but she has no appetite at all and not eating lunch in school. She's not hungry until about 9pm. She's an honor roll student and really needs the focus and to be able to sit still, but she hates feeling like a zombie and not being able to eat.
My daughter is a cheerleader, and when she's practicing or competiting I do not give her the medication. She says she actually focuses better off the medication in this instance. She is a flyer with cheering and she can't be in the zombie mode, she has to have energy and be able to move around. She focuses well in this case, strange, I know!
Anyway, so I thought I would try this L-Theanine and see how she does with it. And wanted to know if anyone else has heard of this or who has tried it.
I had to remove my daughter from meds due to side effects, primarily sever tics. I then started with some of the natural solutions. She is on fish oil, phosphotodyle serine and then added theanine. The PS helps with the focus and the theanine was doing great things helping with the hyper side. It has had a huge positive effectg for my daughter. The last week, the hyper side has been harders, but I am hoping that it is some other impact. Her diet has not been as good, so I am thinking it is that. I also see a significant positive effect when my daughter has a lot of protein in her diet.
Good Luck finding a good solution.
Check in the "Alternatives and Complementary Meds" forum here on this message board. Make sure you set your screen so that you can view older threads from several months ago. You'll find some long threads with lots of info on Phosphatidyl Serine, Omega 3s, (my daughter is also on both of these) and I'm pretty sure there's also some discussion of L-theanine and other amino acids. My son takes L-Theanine along with his other medications so it's hard to tell what effect it has by itself. His psychiatrist put him on it and said it has an overall calming effect.