*The bulk of this post was written many months ago. I think we had so many hard seasons that I just never posted it. I do believe we have, even on our hardest days, seen some benefit from L-theanine. Because of this benefit I decided I needed to finish this post up and share what we have learned with others!
What is L-Theanine?
For many months my virtual world has been buzzing about L-Theanine. L-Theanine is the amino acid found in green tea. It is said to help calm anxieties and increase focus. The Adoptive mom community and (I have heard) the ADHD mom community were sharing stories of success and hope. I was skeptical. I kept asking about the negative side effects. Everyone assured me there were none. I researched a lot on line and I think they are correct. I checked pages and pages of links from credible sources and no negative side effects were mentioned.
Let's Do This! M's story:
OK, I was beginning to think we should try this. It can't hurt, right? However, M (our son, 5) hates taking pills, like any pills or vitamins at all. How was I going to get him to take them? I went to Amazon and purchased two varieties of Country Life L-theanine (with suntheanine). I got one melt-a-way mint one (gross tasting, no one liked it) and the basic caps with 200mg in them. M was a big talker that he would swallow the pills, but that didn't last. He just couldn't do it. I am not surprised. He is only 5.
So how is he going to take it?
I quickly realized that the caps unscrew super easily. I simply dumped out the contents into a little medicine cup and added a tiny bit of water to dissolve the powder. After much reading online I noted a couple of things. People have the most success when they take the L-Theanine on an empty stomach and followed by fruit juice. Part one is easy, if he takes it right when he wakes up his stomach is empty. Part two I knew would be a great incentive for my son. Instead of giving him a small glass of OJ (1/2 water 1/2 juice) I decided to take advantage of my medicine cup hoarding. Each morning M takes his tiny cup of L-Theanine (by the way it has no taste) followed by FIVE medicine cups of OJ. He is so proud of getting to take all these juice cups. (Months later he now only has 2 cups of juice)
How much does he take?
M is very small for his age. He weighs only about 35 pound. He takes one 200mg cap each day. I should also note that he is not on any Rx's although I do know many who take is and are on an Rx or two. This is of course something that you could discuss with your Doctor.
But does it really work?
Yes! I think it does work. After taking it for over 3 months, we can see improvements. We actually noticed less physical aggression starting on day ONE. Yesterday, M actually told me he was glad to be taking it because he knew he was hitting his sister less. The biggest shift we have seen in our son is a move from all "mad" to some "mad" and lots of "sad." For the last year, since trauma really invaded our home, we have seen a lot of "mad" and very little "sad." Many experts have told us that under mad is always sad. This means that behind our raging children there is a very sad child that can't express his fears without violence. We believed that connection based parenting and therapy were the key to unlocking the sad. We see DEEP and lasting benefits from connection based parenting. We have not seen great benefits from therapy (yet) because our son was in the "mad" mode and unable to do anything that a therapist would want him to do. We start weekly therapy with a new therapist next week and we are hopeful.
*Update here* Talk therapy was not successful for our son, but we have not given up hope. We are exploring many other modes right now.
In the last week and a half we have seen a lot more tears. Our son has expressed deep, deep, deep sadness about the things and people he grieves from Ethiopia. Because all of this is his story and at 5 he certainly has not said, "Hey mom, I want you to share this" I will be very general. I must say, I have read thousands of pages on parenting "mad" and some on parenting "sad," but I was not prepared for the depth of the raw sadness that we have been dealing with. We do a lot of listening. We do a lot of validating. We eat a lot of humble pie. We grieve with our son. We ache with our son. We praise God that he is finally able to share these things. He has told me that he thinks about them all the time. Oh how raw was my heart to think about my son thinking such sad thoughts so much and not being able to share them with me.
What else does he take?
While our son isn't on any Rx's he does take a lot of other supplements. He takes a daily multi-vitamin, Vitamin D drops (3 times the suggested ADULT dose), fish oil and liquid magnesium (at school, Kid's Calm). He also takes a strong probiotic. We tired GABA with him and it seems to make him more tense and dysregulated.
So is M "better" now?
Oh dear, I do fear that this question would be asked of me if I didn't include it. This amino acid is not magic. It is not a trauma eraser. It is not a scar remover. It is not a miracle worker. It is an incredible aid in processing. It does give hope to a weary family and to a weary little boy. It does lessen the violence. It has not eliminated the violence. It has not brought the violence to a typical level. It has increased regulation. It has not eliminated dysregulation. It doesn't replace therapy, but actually might mean that therapy has a greater chance of being helpful.
We are still dealing with many deep things, but we celebrate L-Theanine. We also are so thankful for prayers from all of you, our family and friends. We believe there is great power in prayer and we have seen so specific answers to prayer recently because you all have prayed.
Update: There have been a couple of days when we have forgotten L-theanine first thing or forgotten it all together. I can assure you, it make a HUGE difference in his regulation (or lack of). I can think of two days in particular that were incredibly horrible and only later did we make the connection about the delayed L-theanine.
Why not take is twice a day?
M took it twice a day at the beginning. We certainly had calmer evenings. How awesome they were. Sadly, when the L-theanine wore off M was wide awake. Since it wore off at around 2am that was not very happy for this mama. We quickly decided to only have him take it once a day.
Does T take it?
Our daughter T (3) has tried L-theanine several times. While she does not have a bad reaction at all, she has no positive side effects from it so we simply decided to not have her continue to take it.
Have you considered a higher dosage?
We have considered higher dosages and we actually have used higher dosages on Big days like holidays and trauma-verseraries. The mornings are much better. Our son could truly benefit from 400 mg in the morning... but we can't handle the trade off. When he takes 200mg in the am his body adjusts to life without the supplement pretty easily. When he takes 400 in the am it does not. He comes crashing down in the afternoon. Since we don't want to give him a second dose we are stuck.
Are all brands the same?
I have heard to look for something that has suntheanine in it. We have tried some other chewable ones and our son likes THESE the best.
Are you ever going to stop taking them?
NO WAY!!!! I can't imagine live without this incredible amino acid. We might consider trying a second dose again at some point, but we will never consider taking him off of it.
I am happy to answer any other questions you might have about this wonderful and natural calming and anxiety aid.
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