Q: As of last year my son (age 20) was diagnosed with bipolar-type psycho-affective disorder. He is currently on lithium (three 300 mg tablets a day) and amisulpride (1 ¼ 400 mg tablet a day). As I am a health professional trained by Dr. Silvia and Dr. Gustavo in Mexico, I know about the importance of omega-3 supplementation. Although I know that my son needs at least a 10 g EPA and DHA supplementation, we are only able to give him eight fish oil tablets a day (four OmegaRx and four Eico). We would gladly use more fish oil and fewer drugs, but although his doctor at the National Psychiatric Institute in Mexico City has witnessed the benefits of omega-3 supplementation, I haven’t been able to come up with enough scientific research to encourage him to try a lower medication level accompanied with an increase in fish oil consumption to allow a normal AA/EPA range. His initial test showed inflammation levels of 9.83 and an 84.3 EPA and 49.7 DHA deficiencies, no follow-up tests yet. Could you please send some research evidence to help encourage my son's doctor to try a different treatment approach? My son is stabilized but not able to engage in normal youth activities. He's not working or studying and has gained more than 20 pounds.
Muchos saludos desde México, Dagmar
Dear Dagmar,
A: A study by Harvard Medical School was published in 1999 in the Archives of General Psychiatry that used 9.6 grams per day of EPA and DHA to dramatically reduce the symptoms associated with bipolar depression. At www.drsears.com, your physician can obtain the abstract of that study. At these EPA and DHA levels, this would be equivalent to taking double the dose that your son is currently taking.