[bonsaroonie]

We recently had our son's neurotransmitters tested. (Sidebar: he was adopted just after his first birthday, now 4.) A few of them are severely out of range, others moderately out of range, and some are normal.

Anyway, I'm curious if anyone has had their child(ren) tested for this. If so, did you put your child on supplements or another treatment?

Best wishes!
Bonnie

[amyfk]

Hi Bonnie,

I hope you are well. Can you go into more detail about having your son's neurotransmitters tested?
I know that folks who often have certain conditions like depression, anxiety, ADD, etc have neurotransmitters that fire off somewhat incorrectly or inconsistently and the medications help to stabilize the neurotransmitters, however to the best of my knowledge I didnt think doctors always knew exactly how some of these medications exactly "fix" the neurotransmitters, they just know that they do.
Maybe you can give us more info. so you can get more feedback.
Best to your son,
Amy K NJ

[bonsaroonie]

We met with a behaviorist recently - after visiting with us she recommended that we have our son's neurotransmitters tested. He's been in OT for a year and many of his behaviors (hitting, kicking, and extreme tantrums) have virtually gone away. However, he still struggles on many days - anger, frustration, and just basically "out of sorts" as we call it.

Anyway, the behaviorist suspected that his excitatory neurotransmitters were on overdrive from his being institutionalized. The test confirmed her suspicions, so now we're off to see someone about supplements (not prescribed drugs like ritalin or depakote) that our son would take that are supposed to help calm him and prevent him from getting overstimulated.

Basically, I'm just trying to find out if anyone else on this board has any experience with this kind of testing and the usage of supplements like TravaCor and Calm-PRT.

[GCS]

I would post this on either FRUA or on the Yahoo adoptbiomed board. I think you will get feedback at either place.

We haven't done this but I have read about it. Good luck!

Christina

[bonsaroonie]

Thanks for the suggestion, Christina!

[angelkisses0102]

No experience..but I am totally interested in this. Please update us as you can...it could benefit many of us.

All the best!

[bonsaroonie]

It sounds really promising, but I don't want to get my hopes up. We just happen to have a great group in town that has experience with the interrelationship between neurotransmitters and being institutionalized in Russia (who knew!).

I've got a message out to this group, so I'll keep you posted if they are able to help our son.

[GCS]

I'm active at both groups I recommended so I will be watching to see what kind of feed back you get. I, too, would be very interested in learning more!

Thanks for letting us know and please keep us in the loop!

[Bcelli]

Also very interested. How exactly did the test go? What's involved?

[bonsaroonie]

We bought the test at a local pharmacy and did it ourselves. Our test had two parts: urine sample (1) and saliva samples (4). The urine sample was really easy, but the saliva samples were not fun! Our son had to fill up a small tube with his saliva - it took 20 to 30 minutes to fill each tube up. Then, we mailed the tubes to the lab - that part was easy, too.

[amyfk]

Hi Bonnie,

HOpe youre well. Let me say I dont work in the medical/mental health/behavioral field. I havent heard of this test, but it doesnt mean that it doesnt exist out there and it is effective.
Would you also consider consulting with a child psychologist or psychiatrist? It's really up to you, just a suggestion. Just want to make sure youre moving in the right direction.
Anyway, best wishes.
Amy K, NJ

[bonsaroonie]

Thanks, Amy. We may end up looking into those types of resources, but, for one thing, our son is only 4 so it's hard to know exactly what's going on.

The good news is that our son's attachment has never been a real issue. (Like everyone, we had to work hard on that, but that was not something our son struggled with.)

We've narrowed it down to sensory-seeking issues (which the OT has greatly improved), lack of self-regulation, and some frustration issues. It may turn out that these stem from some mood disorder or something more extreme. However, the behaviorist seemed so confident about the neurotransmitters (and the test confirms that they are off), this seemed like a logical way to go.

I had really hoped that there might be someone on this board who could provide direct feedback on the neurotransmitters, but I also knew it's a bit "out there". I'll definitely let everyone know if we have any success (or if it ends up being a waste of time).

Thanks again!

[KiraLin]

as both a parent and a psychologist...I can tell you this is definately cutting edge so there won't be many psychologists that can help directly on this. I myself am going to look more into it for my own child but I know no more than is posted already.

Interms of other stuff coming down the road...

thetraumacenter.org is doing some research on trauma, attachment and self regulation. I went to a conference they put on earlier in the year and this type of therapy is still very new and has grown out of earlier work and now some are combining Psy/OT stuff. It's a bit complicated to explain here but if your interested in wading through it you can check out their site.

So many of the kids coming out of Russia seem to have self regulation issues...many attribute that to FASD issues which is possible but early trauma and lack of a consistent caregiver (from whom the baby learns self regulation) also could cause the same issues in my mind (just my opinion folks). Both trauma and alcohol are shown to change the brain...the brain is about neurotransmitters so it all goes into the puzzle. Just wish we had all the pieces figured out (yesterday perferably)!

[SingleMama2B]

Hi.... My DD was tested by a pediatric neurologist and an EEG, along with some intense (computer testing) by a Neuro OT doctor. Keep in mind that DD was 8.3 years old when she came home. She was tested within the first year home, when she could understand some english. FINDINGS: DD had electrical 'current' throughout her brain (good news!). She also had many neurotransmitters that where mis-firing (affecting comprehension, organizing information, cause and affect, and dealing with too many "Possibilities - i.e. math work, etc.".

DD has fetal alcohol exposure, ADHD, and growth delay. She is doing wonderfully, but will ALWAYS have struggles. She continues to go to Neuro OT once a week, over a year now, which has also helped her alot.

[bonsaroonie]

Thanks for the additional responses - I hadn't even heard of a Neuro OT!

Today we learned more about our son's neurotransmitters results. We're going to increase his omega-3s, add a probiotic for 2 or 3 weeks, and add a supplement called "Calm-PRT". We'll try this for a couple of months to see if there is any improvement.

Interestingly, the pharamacist we met with said that our son's neurotransmitters were some of the most out of range she had seen. (It's always somewhat reassuring to know that we're not "imagining" things - he really is struggling internally to stay regulated.)

As promised, I'll write a follow-up post sometime in November/December to let everyone know if we see any difference.