← ADHD Women's Wellbeing Podcast
ADHD Women's Wellbeing Podcast
From an EXPERT Holistic Pharmacist: THE BEST Supplements to take to help ADHD
00:17:51
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- [00:01]
A
Hi everyone. We are getting closer to launching the Apple podcast subscription version of this right now, the free version that you're listening to. We're going to be launching the toolkit and this is going to be all access to bonus material, workshops, online support, audio resources, basically anything that I can give you that you're not getting through the podcast. I'm going to be giving this to you. I'm going to be opening the vault to, to my world, to everything that I've been offering to a lot of my paying customers over the years. And I want you to have it a fraction of the cost. It is so important for me. I am feeling so dedicated to the cause of so many of you still awaiting assessment, waiting that diagnosis and feeling like you're in a holding bay of not being able to access what you need. So come through the subscription podcast and I promise you for the price of a sandwich, a coffee, whatever you, whatever you want it to be. And, and I'm going to be g giving you what I can through this because my mission is to help more and more people understand adhd, educate themselves about adhd, gain the awareness that they need to help themselves loved one children. And they shouldn't have to be waiting on a huge waiting list to be able to access this information. So keep an ear out, it's coming very soon. Look out for it. It's in September. Now back to today's episode and welcome to another episode of adhd Women's Wellbeing Wisdom. Little short, bite sized pieces of wisdom that I've curated from all the many, many episodes that have been recorded over this time. And I really hope that this short insight will help you on the week ahead. So I'm delighted to share this short snippet from my conversation with Kelly Rompel from quite a few months ago now. But what I absolutely loved about it is that we are delving and understanding about how our genes, how epigenetics play such a huge role in our health, but also understanding it through the ADHD lens as well so we can understand more of our root causes, understand where our exhaustion, our anxiety, our cognitive challenges come from, and also being able to understand our genes so we can not only help ourselves, but help our children and be able to access different ways that perhaps we'd not thought of. So it's a really enlightening conversation this, and I hope that you find it helpful. As always. I'd love to hear from you. And yeah, here's today's episode with Kelly Rompell.
- [02:31]
B
I think we just have to do our best and choose one meal a day where these kids are going to get a lot of nutrition, get them on some supplements, and let the rest go. I was giggling when you're talking about the noodles, because my kids beg me for ramen noodles.
- [02:47]
A
Yeah, ramen ones. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [02:48]
B
They love ramen noodles. And I'm always like, gosh, you guys just don't understand how terrible they are. You know what? You had your smoothie today. You ate all your supplements, you had a good lunch. You know what? Have the ramen noodles.
- [02:59]
A
Yeah, that's exactly the same.
- [03:01]
B
We do our best.
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A
And this is what is going to lead me into. Because this anxiety that I. It definitely gives me because the more I do this work, the more I speak to people like you, the more I help other people, that I'm building the awareness and the knowledge and the expertise. But sometimes I think in my head, I just wish ignorance was bliss because we know a lot now and then when our kids want the ramen noodles and they want the biscuits and the crisps and the chocolate. And I know the impact it's going to have on at least one of my children's behavior because she, like, flips like a switch. And I know, and I can see it because the impact that food has on her behavior. So when she's eating really clean, she's eating really well. She's had the protein, the vitamins, all of that. I can see it's been a good day. And when we've not had a good day with food, it really impacts the behavior. But sometimes it really does reduce my anxiety a little bit because it's like I turn into a bit of a control freak. And that, again, is not good. It's not good for me. And I know there's a lot of women out there, you know, who can really resonate with that.
- [04:08]
B
With.
- [04:08]
A
They're getting. Very often they're getting the ADHD diagnosis after they've had their kids diagnosed and the kids are being diagnosed, and then they doing all the research, they're realizing that this is indeed them. This is, you know, and so they're trying to work on themselves, but also working on their kids. And it's very overwhelming. It's all consuming, and I do think it can induce more anxiety. So can you tell me a little bit about the work that you do with anxiety and maybe why, from a. I don't know, from a clinical perspective, why we are more prone to anxiety?
- [04:42]
B
Yeah, it is so rare that I work with an ADHD client that doesn't also have anxiety. It's just. It's so rare. I always see the combination of the two. And when you think of it, at least from my standpoint, on, like, a biological level, it makes sense because it's a lot of the same root causes. But also there are some genetics involved with anxiety, too. And so with anxiety, we, of course, want to make sure that we're correcting vitamin and mineral deficiencies as well. Getting rid of any candida or parasites is very important. But then also genetics are involved. Like, there's certain genes. One in particular. Well, there's two. I have a couple favorites, but one is called Cont. This gene, its job is to metabolize out your brain neurotransmitters. And so for those of us, I'm one of them that has a very slow comt gene. This is dubbed, like, the worrier gene. It gives us anxiety because we are more prone to being, like, overabundance of neurotransmitters. We're amped, we're anxious. And so this blanket diagnosis of a dopamine deficiency for ADHD doesn't always show on the test. I have a lot of people, including, like, myself, that we're more prone to an overabundance of neurotransmitters, which can make us very anxious, and that then in turn, can make us out of focus. And so with adhd, I want to make sure people are aware it doesn't look the same for any person ever. And I think that's one of the reasons why it's a spectrum disorder, right? And I say that with quotes, but it doesn't look the same for anybody. And so what I see on genetics shows that there's many different underlying root causes. And the labs, of course, confirm that as well. So as far as anxiety, we want to get to the root cause, and that is a combination of doing the labs and genetics. But then we also want to ask ourselves some hard questions, too, because a lot of times, if we sit with it and we ask why we're feeling the way we're feeling, our body will tell us in a lot of times. And if you're one of those people that's like, you have no idea. You're like, I'm not stressed. I don't know why I have anxiety just comes from nowhere. Those are the people. I'm like, we need labs and we need genetics. But some other people are like, well, I'm really toxic relationship. I hate my job. My kids are all young. I'm a single or I'm a single mom and I'm like, okay, well that gives me anxiety just listening to it. Whether it's emotional or whether it's biochemical, we have to look at all of it.
- [07:08]
A
Yeah. It's so interesting, isn't it, that we're looking at the full picture because like you say with the epigenetics that if we've got the gene and our life is super stressful, then it's gonna really exacerbate things. But then I've noticed myself and other people who have a prone to anxiety when we change our lifestyle, when we tweak our habits, when we really like switch things up from a holistic perspective. The anxiety is not all encompassing. It's not as debilitating. It's there and we can see it and we can notice where the triggers are. But it's not like this big clouds that just kind of encapsulates everything which, which I've had. But also, you know, I wonder, there's different chapters of our life. Like when we've got super young kids, I found that a very anxious part of my life. Because you're in control of like lots of small kids. You're in control of like having to keep them alive and safe. Yeah. And that hyper vigilance that we feel as ADHD is I think is much more profound. Does that feed you notice that like the hyper vigilance, is there a gene for hyper vigilance? Is that ever been noticed before?
- [08:24]
B
Yeah, there are definitely some genes that play a role in that as well. And there's other ones, I mean, beside the CMT that I talked about, MTHFR gene plays a role with this too. And also there's a gene called the GAD genes, G A D GAD genes and they cause us to be more prone to anxiety with certain glutamic acid containing foods. So some protein powders, like soy protein powders, even like the msg. So when you have certain genetic makeup, and this is why it's so nice to know this stuff, is because if you're eating certain foods and you notice you're brain fogged or you're anxious or you can't sleep that evening, it could be that you have a variant of this GAD gene that's not allowing you to break down these glutamic acid containing foods into gaba, which is our natural relaxant. And this is what, like Xanax and Ativan and all these meds that the benzodiazepines that work on your, those work on GABA to increase GABA and keep it around longer. And so if you're not able to make your own GABA and break it down from these foods, you're going to be more prone to a lot of anxiety. And so just another reason why knowing genetics can be very helpful because it is about altering your diet in order to go along with your genetic makeup.
- [09:44]
A
Yeah, I mean I hear a lot about GABA and adhd and I again, because I'm not an expert in this area. Do you recommend people take a GABA supplement? Like what food would you recommend? Or do you have to go and get all the testing done to know if, where the deficiency is? Or can we kind of take a bit of a guess and boost the gaba?
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B
Yeah, so you, you can. I've had lots of people in the past before I even offered testing. I've been doing health consulting for a long time and, but I wouldn't even offer test when I first started and I would have people try things like gaba. And it is effective for, for a lot of people if that's the cause of the anxiety. And so that's where the, why the labs are nice to kind of know where, where some of these deficiencies and things are. But if you were to guess, GABA is a great supplement. I mean, of course I'm not telling anybody to go take it, you know, because I can't give you advice without knowing your situation. But yes, it's out there. You can take it over the counter and see if that helps you. Other ways to increase GABA naturally is by doing yoga is actually proven to improve your GABA levels as well. But then there's other supplements over the counter like that work on your serotonin. So by improving serotonin like 5 HTP is one of those, you don't want to take that if you're taking antidepressants or anything else that increases serotonin because there is a chance of having too much serotonin. That's, that's a risk. And so, but if you're not taking any of those, any of those medications, 5 HTP can boost serotonin. And when you boost serotonin, you boost melatonin too for more better sleep. So there are, those are just two examples. But there's a lot of different supplements we can try over the counter during pms. I hear this a lot. Saffron. Saffron is a really good supplement as well. It actually outdid antidepressants in studies. So that's also another Another great one that you might want to, might want to try, especially for the premenstrual time where we feel like everyone is annoying and we're very irritable and depressed and moody to try. So I just want to throw that.
- [11:49]
A
Out there also for perimenopausal symptoms as well. Yes, okay, perfect. What do you think of L, the.
- [11:58]
B
L Theanine I absolutely love. I take L Theanine every single day. I also drink green tea which has L Theanine in it as well. That is a fantastic supplement for calm focus. And so when I have a lot of, like I said, ADHD and anxiety combined clients, and that is one of the best supplements for them because that calm focus is so beneficial.
- [12:20]
A
Oh, fantastic. I take it as well and I love it. I mean, so if, if someone's listening right now and they are on a budget and they, they really want to help themselves with some supplements, do you have like a top five supplements? If they need to go into their local health food store and say, I'm going to try this, you know, they're experiencing anxiety, they experience sleep issues, focus issues, you know the typical ADHD symptoms, they don't want to take medication or they've tried medication and they are wanting to boost it more holistically. What, what would you say sort of supplement wise is a good place to start?
- [12:55]
B
Yeah, absolutely. Great question. So always a great multivitamin and with that has selenium in it, is a great option. But also B vitamins are very a good B complex. I see a lot of deficiencies in the B vitamins and that directly affects mood, focus and energy and metabolism. So B vitamins, omega threes, I like omega 3s. With DHA and EPA I can see what genetics that a lot of people require. EPA and dha, they don't break down plant based omegas as well. So Omega 3 magnesium. This one's huge. So many deficiencies in the area of magnesium and I specifically like magnesium glycinate. That one crosses the blood brain barrier. That's the, the formulation of magnesium that I prefer. And vitamin D, those are kind of the baseline ones that pretty much every. I'm not, I shouldn't say everyone, but those are the baseline ones that I recommend if someone wants to just get started on some good supplements.
- [13:52]
A
That's so helpful. Thank you. And with the vitamin D or the vitamin D, if you mean if you live in a sunny climate, you still need it, or would you say everybody needs vitamin D?
- [14:02]
B
Yeah. So you'd be surprised with genetic testing. I Can see, some people do not convert vitamin D very well from sunlight. So I can't say everybody, but man, most people could use some additional vitamin D. I myself take 5,000 international units every single day.
- [14:20]
A
Okay, wow. I mean, it's, it's, it's so empowering to know that we have got options. And I know, you know, we were just talking before we started and you are obviously a pharmacist, so you know medication like the back of your hand and you understand the benefits and you really do kind of see how life changing medication could be, especially, you know, if it's depression, anxiety, adhd. I know that there's a lot of people who really find their medication very beneficial. But there's some people, again, when we've got very sort of sensitive makeups, we try the medication. It does help to a degree, but the, the cons outweigh the benefits. You know how we feel, whether it's the headaches, whether it's the lack of appetite, you know how we feel when we have that dip. And some people just go, you know what? It's just not worth it. What kind of work do you do? And actually, just before I, you answer, can you see on the genet what medication can help people like non stimulant stimulant. Because that for me would be groundbreaking.
- [15:24]
B
Yeah. So there is a section in the genetics that I look at in particular for my ADHD clients that, that come to me that say, like, you know, I'm, I tried stimulants, but they make me very aggressive and they make me irritable. A lot of times they will have that comt gene that I was talking about. A lot of times they will have the slow comt where I mean, they already have an overabundance, potentially neurotransmitters. And then you throw a stimulant on top of that and bam, they're even more aggressive, they're more irritable, they're more anxious. And so, yes, I can see with genetics like you might be better off getting more of a central nervous system sedating medication, a calming medication versus a stimulant. Some people do better on calming meds.
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A
Like what, what would you recommend? What's a calming med compared to a stimulant?
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B
Well, there's over, I mean, I was talking kind of prescription. Guanfaccin is a, a very common calming medication that people will try that if they've tried stimulants and it doesn't work for them, they'll go the other route. And try a calming med like Guanfacine.
- [16:27]
A
Okay, Fantastic. So I hope you enjoyed listening to this shorter episode of the ADHD Women's Wellbeing Podcast. I've called it the ADHD Women's Wellbeing Wisdom because I believe there's so much wisdom in the guests that I have on and their insights. So sometimes we just need that little bit of a reminder. And I hope that has helped you today and look forward to seeing you back on the brand new episode on Thursday. Have a good rest of your week. I hear from so many of you every week that this podcast has helped you immeasurably and if that is the case, and it really has helped you understand and validate yourself and your experience as well as giving you options and ways to move forward positively and finally believe that you can thrive at life with more insights, more guidance, I would absolutely love it if you could support the podcast with a small tip. I actively choose not to hand over the sponsorship or advertising of this podcast to ensure that it's the most pleasurable and easy listening experience for you as the listener. So any tip or any contribution is greatly appreciated to ensure that I can carry on with this podcast with the content. All the details are in the show notes. There's a link there. Thank you so much and see you for the next episode.