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I use it on anything I can think of AND I take a tablespoon of the (liquid state) oil and drink it 3 or 4 times daily.
It is a bit tough for me to eat it when it is solid…
Kind of a yuck factor when solid, might be OK if it were flavored up like a candy.
When liquid it is very neutral and easy to drink.
REPORT ABUSEI’ve been thinking about my history and one thing popped up. My gall bladder was removed about 9 years ago. I wonder, since I no longer have a place to store bile if my ability to process fats in my diet has been compromised to some degree? Ordinarily the bile would store up in the gall bladder until a meal with fats was eaten. Then the bile would be discharged into the alimentary canal and would mix with the food. The bile would break down the fats and facilitate absorption.
I wonder what the impact of a gall bladder removal would have on the availability of ketones for use by the brain? Would it be possible that blood glucose levels might not stay level enough to power the brain optimally? What are the fuel sources for the brain? I vaguely remember three, glucose, ketones and lactate? To be more accurate, the brain uses glucose but the body converts other stuff to glucose. Apparently coconut oil is a medium chain triglyceride which does not require bile to be absorbed and eventually changed to glucose. Sorry for the ramble…
In any case I’m curious about what is happening since I have been without brain fog for nearly two weeks and SOMETHING is working better. I’m not on any meds for ADD so it isn’t that…
REPORT ABUSEIf I could get someone to delete the first post I would appreciate it…
Well here goes, since I found out that I have “Inattentive ADD” I’ve been in a hunt for a demonstrable solution to help me. I’ve been an Amen Clinics online stalker, reading everything I can find about helping my ADD. I have tried all of the nutria-ceuticals in varying combinations, L-tyrosine, DLPA, rhodiola, ECGC, Panax ginseng, L-theanine, herbs, spices, high protein/low carb diet, exercise, meditation and more. Throughout all of this experimentation, I used various “timed reaction” games to gauge whether anything was working. Faster reaction time equaled better effect for me, I realize this is not a comprehensive test but it works for me. At first, caffeine worked really well (and I LIKED IT), but I built a tolerance rather quickly. Exercise was consistently a booster but I only had so much time and/or inclination to pursue that avenue long in the long term.
I finally went to a psychiatrist for meds and went through Welbutrin, Straterra and Adderall. Welbutrin worked as well as a salt tablet, Strattera worked consistently but minimally as a stimulant (it worked but I didn’t LIKE it). Adderall worked the best (and I LIKED IT!!) but it ratcheted up my “Jerk Index” a notch or two according to family and church members, so that was out (darn, I LIKED it…).
Throughout all of this I had an idea running around in my grey matter; I always felt as if something was being used up by mental activity. I could pretty consistently count on about 20 minutes of mental lucidity prior to feeling sleepy or befogged. Exercise could erase the fog and restore my ability to read and/or study. Recently I got a link to this youtube video about a doctor with her husband suffering from Alzheimers (youtube.com/watch?v=ZZOR-Qd3QSg&sns=em) and how coconut oil is an alternate fuel source for the brain. I have tried absolutely EVERYTHING that has come across my desk and I figured, “Why not?” In the video she was VERY generous in how much she added to his food. I looked into coconut oil and found that it was used for the cognitive deficits from hypothyroidism in the past. The coconut oil fats are not stored in the body but are utilized immediately. As a result they give an uptick in metabolism, which can be mentally stimulating without the negative effects (Jerk Index) of stimulants. I decided to try one tablespoon with each meal. I use the LouAna brand from Walmart (I don’t own stock in LouAna nor do I sell anything).
Ladies and gentleman, let me tell you about my experience… I have had 8 days of clear headedness, there has been NO evidence of my inattentive ADD. I’m not prone to responding to placebos, so I am 99% certain of the oil working. It looks like my system does not provide sufficient glucose for brain calisthenics and I have to have some ketones to provide enough power for my mental computer. I will be experimenting with taking less of the coconut oil since three tablespoons equal 360 calories extra per day. This is the longest stretch of time that I have ever been this clear headed since early childhood. I will be doing more research about this issue of brain fuel.
Does anyone else have any input?
Before you say, “EEEeeekkk, run away!!! It will raise your blood cholesterol levels!!!!!!!!!! AAAaaakkkk!!!”, please be advised that when the studies were done on coconut oil in the past, they did not divide it into fractions of good and bad. Yes it raises cholesterol levels, it raises the GOOD cholesterol and improves the ratio of good to bad. It is HEALTHY for you, unless you are allergic to coconut!
Sooo, anybody else doing this?
Any other thoughts?
REPORT ABUSEI have the inattentive ADD issue too. I am a PRO at PROcrastinating! Too bad we can’t make money at this PROfession…
Anyway, my wife and her mom and our daughter (hmmm, all women…) said I was more impatient and a bit more grouchy than before Adderall. I asked my psychiatrist if there might be a different med that would not reinforce my negatives but would still work on my inattentive ADD. He told me to, and I quote, “Just stop. That is a bad question. The first axiom of medicine is to do no harm. You have been successfully dealing with this for years, so let’s do something different. Let’s take you off any meds for 60 days and ask your wife to take notes on your behavior. Have her start in two weeks.” Well yes, I have been “dealing” with it for a long time but I am getting tired of the effort to corral my “squirrel on ritalin” brain, with a side dish of really well practiced procrastination and wanted some modern medicine help. In my world there are no bad questions, only crummy answers. Has anyone else found that one stimulant made you grouchy while another did the job without the negatives? Stratterra worked for a few months but aside from the physical (restricted urine flow, dry mouth) I could not detect any help for the ADD. Anybody have any better results by changing from Adderall to a different stimulant?
REPORT ABUSEHaving said the above, it has been a year and now Stratterra no longer gives any positive effects.
The physical is still there; urine flow restriction, hair follicle sensitivity, etc…
The psychiatrist said I needed to be off of it for 6 weeks. That seems a to be unnecessarily long.
Anyone have any pointers about what to do in this situation?
Go from Stratterra to something else and back to Stratterra?
REPORT ABUSEFebruary 11, 2011 at 8:54 pm in reply to: Medication suggestions wanted that work for yours and mine brand ADHD #100701Take a look at my post “Strattera Strategy” for my three weeks on strattera.
If you haven’t already take the ADD test on this site and go to amenclinics.com and take the brain test, it is a great way to get a first look at your brain/personality.
REPORT ABUSEmrmmcgary, flylady.com is a site that helps with humorous and understanding suggestions. It is very helpful to have some strategies to be able to put into practice. She has instructions for compiling a notebook of housework. It seems easier for me to have something I can check off. Probably the best thing about the site is that it helps me get past the self criticism and condemnation…
REPORT ABUSEAs I understand Amen’s work, he is a brain physiologist. He has 50,000+ SPECT brain scans with personality tests associated. This has led him to be able to associate behaviors with too much brain activity or too little activity in specific areas of the brain. The great thing about his publishing the books on ADD is that we can see that our behavior is due to our brain structure. The cost of doing the SPECT scans and getting diagnosed and treatment is high. As I understand it, the personality testing is now the primary diagnostic tool with the SPECT scans being used only when necessary. The other side of this is that we can use the personality testing to get an idea of what our issues are. It is necessary to get to a doctor for assessment, prescription, follow ups, etc.
By the way, Dr. J said, “Did someone say he makes lots of money with his schtick? Someone should really validate the data. How come no one has? That’s a very good question.”
I have no issue with someone making some money when they make their research available. I imagine that Amen’s work has resulted in large numbers of people with ADD getting help from their psychiatrists (sounds like a lot of psychiatrists making money from Amen’s shtick). Amen clinics do a lot of good for a lot of people. His appearances on PBS have done a lot of good. I’m happy that he makes lots of money when he has done that much good.
As to someone validating his data, what do you suggest? Do we need to repeat his SPECT scans plus personality tests, etc? Would you like to audit his data? Are you thinking he has manufactured his information?
REPORT ABUSESearch, search, search!!!
REPORT ABUSEI totally concur with Norseman. A search tool would allow us to find topics that have the “terms” we are looking for. It takes way too much time to look around for things. I have generally just given up looking (ADD has it’s limitations)…
REPORT ABUSEYes, when you look at the totality of Flylady it is a lot to take in. I have found her 15 minute routine very useful. However I do it in an ADD way. I plan out different 15 minute things to do. 15 minutes just looking for trash to throw away. 15 minutes filing paperwork. 15 minutes moving things into the rooms where they belong. 15 minutes organizing a closet, etc. 15 minutes for a break (for me this is once an hour). Don’t give up on Flylady’s advice. She has various strategies that we can use. I have a different take on the strategies by adapting them to my way of doing things. It feels really good to get things done. I had to learn to let go of the idea that I had failed at cleaning up if I didn’t get the entire living room DONE. It is OK to get segments of the living room done. For me any progress is progress.
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