Stories of an ADD Adult

I have really been struggling with my vitamin + fish oil plan, because I keep forgetting to take my pills.

With stimulants it was much easier to remember to take them. Honestly it was because of the instant gratification. I knew that if I took my Ritalin, I would experience a noticeable improvement in my concetration within the next hour.

With vitamins and fish oil, it seems like you have to take them for a longer-term period in order to experience the improvement in concentration. Don’t take my word completely, because I’ve never been able to take the supplements long enough to experience the long-term benefits.

It’s the vicious ADD cycle. If I forget to take my meds, I can’t concentrate. If I’m distracted by lots of things, I will inevitably forget to take my meds. And without the instant feedback that stimulants have, taking vitamins and fish oil isn’t easy.

Many of the supplements that are supposed to help you concentrate consist of fatty acids, including fish oil.

For example, this one:

“Learning Factors School-Aid” lists tuna oil as the second ingredient. It lists a bunch of other ingredients too, which is why I won’t take an ADD/ADHD supplement like this one at the moment. Although I trust my Centrum multivitamins, I don’t want to take something specifically for improving focus that has so many ingredients. Because then how will I figure out which ingredients are working, and which are just filler?

Feel free to post a comment if you’ve had any success with these types of supplements. I want to know!

Okay, something drastic is happening. For the next several weeks I am going to try taking the following supplements:

• 1 Centrum multivitamin
• 1 tablet of vitamin B-6, daily
• 1 fish oil capsule, three times a day

I am also going to try taking time off from my Ritalin. The reason is that I’ve noticed a decline in my memory. I used to have an amazing, almost photographic memory, but over the past few years I haven’t been able to remember details as well. If my memory improves with this experiment, I might not go back to using Ritalin or other stimulant medications again.

Just as a disclaimer: don’t try this at home, and this is not meant to be medical advice for anyone!