Inositol powder for OCD/Anxiety/Depression/ADHD in Children

[Guest guest]

Hi there. My dd is 9 and just started 4th grade. She is having major separation

issues. We have her in CBT/counseling and also seeing a psychiatrist. She is

currently taking Adderall for the ADHD, but it is not helping w/the anxiety. She

has problems if she wakes up in the early a.m. (3am or so) thinking and

obsessing over leaving for school and won't go back to sleep, so although it

seems like anxiety, it is also an obsession. She then cries and practically has

a panic attack before getting onto the bus. She also is having bad thought/bad

words pop into her head (again... it was better but now creeping back). Her

pyschiatrist has suggested using Prozac, but I'm really nervous about it. Since

she suggested it, I have been reading on the posts about Inositol instead. I

haven't tried this yet, and am wondering about the dosage. She is 9 and very

tall (people think she is 11 or 12) weighing 93 pounds. I'm also wondering what

brand is good and has no other ingredients/fillers, etc? Anyone have any

suggestions?

[Guest guest]

If you look in the " files " section of this forum, you'll find 4 articles on

inositol. From these, you can get an idea of how much to use given a person's

age. You dose higher for OCC than you do for anxiety.

We use Source Naturals powder - the powder allows you to tweak doses. Capsule

come in premeasured amounts and it's harder to make adjustments. Also, make

sure you titer up the dosage slowly over several weeks to avoid the common side

effects of gas and diarrhea.

I would also make sure you educate yourself about Pandas, as it too can provoke

severe separation anxiety, adhd, ocd, tics, frequent urinary urges, poor

handwriting...It's something to look into when a child has sudden onset of

symptoms or when you hear about many comorbid diagnoses at one time.

If you are interested in learning more, I'd start with pandasnetwork.org and

webpediatrics.com for additional information.

>

> Hi there. My dd is 9 and just started 4th grade. She is having major

separation issues. We have her in CBT/counseling and also seeing a psychiatrist.

She is currently taking Adderall for the ADHD, but it is not helping w/the

anxiety. She has problems if she wakes up in the early a.m. (3am or so) thinking

and obsessing over leaving for school and won't go back to sleep, so although it

seems like anxiety, it is also an obsession. She then cries and practically has

a panic attack before getting onto the bus. She also is having bad thought/bad

words pop into her head (again... it was better but now creeping back). Her

pyschiatrist has suggested using Prozac, but I'm really nervous about it. Since

she suggested it, I have been reading on the posts about Inositol instead. I

haven't tried this yet, and am wondering about the dosage. She is 9 and very

tall (people think she is 11 or 12) weighing 93 pounds. I'm also wondering what

brand is good and has no other ingredients/fillers, etc? Anyone have any

suggestions?

>

[Guest guest]

A lot of our kids are on antidepressants. My daughter is taking

lexapro along with inositol. Our inositol dose is not as high as has

been recommended on this list because we are following the protocol

from Pfeiffer clinic. I am considering increasing the inositol which

will mean taking the powder instead of the pills. The inositol did

seem to calm her a bit. However, I'm pretty sure you will find it

works slower than an antidepressant. You will have to decide how

anxious your daughter is and whether you have the " time " to consider

inositol rather than prozac. Although antidepressants take time to

build up to a therapeutic dose, my experience is that it worked a lot

faster than inositol. Good luck. This is a difficult time of year

for kids.

Dorelle

[Guest guest]

Thank you. I printed out the " Inositol and OCD " article from the files which had

some dosage info and ordered some powder (same kind you suggested).

I had thought of PANDAS back when all of this started, however, I had her tested

and it was negative. Last summer (a year ago) my daughter was diagnosed w/Lyme

and Bell's Palsy, however, and I truly believe that the Lyme is the root of her

OCD/anxiety etc... I have gone to so many doctors who have looked at her Lyme

tests (which were inconclusive) and many are very ignorant, rude, and have no

sympathy for what she has been going through. She had the bite, the bulls-eye

rash, the fever, the joint aches, the Bell's Palsy, etc but yet they won't admit

that she truly had Lyme for sure. They totally won't even acknowledge that any

of her neurological problems are from Lyme or the Bells either. I even consulted

w/a daughter at the Rhode Island Children's Hospital Lyme Clinic who could not

give me any difinitive answers or course of treatment. For now we are just

trying to treat our daughter as if she will always have the OCD/anxiety/ADHD,

etc. It's hard to see your child turn into someone else so quickly. I'm hoping

that the Inositol will help us find her again. Thank you for your help!

[Guest guest]

Thank you so much for your input. I'm going to try the Inositol w/the dosage

suggested in the Inositol and OCD article. It sounds like a higher dosage than

what your daughter is taking, and maybe it will " kick in " quicker because of

that? The suggestion in the article says to start low and slowly adjust the

amount over a period of 6 weeks, watching for where you see the best result for

your child.

I'm afraid of the SSRIs because my daughter has " bad thought " OCD and my fear is

that the SSRIs will somehow magnify these thoughts. I don't know alot about

them, only heard the horrible side effects of suicidal thoughts and that scares

the dickins out of me. If I find that the Inositol isn't helping, I may just try

her out on a small dose. I guess I need some reassurance on these medications.

Did you have to try many different ones before deciding on Lexapro, and were

there many side effects?

Thank you for all your input! It's so nice to know that we are not in this alone

(although I would never wish it upon anyone!)

Hugs, Jen