Posted on 01/29/2009 6:03:22 PM PST by bdeaner
A report published today in the journal Pediatrics, however, estimates the incidence of psychotic symptoms at 1.48 per 100 person-years. (Person-years is defined as total years of treatment with a drug. For example, 100 people taking a drug one year is 100 person-years.) The statistic was based on data from 49 randomized, controlled trials of ADHD medications. In those same studies, no psychotic symptoms were reported in children who did not receive medication. Moreover, an analysis of spontaneous adverse-event reports to the FDA showed more than 800 reports of psychosis or mania. Psychotic symptoms were found with every ADHD drug tested.
Just under 8% of U.S. children, ages 4 to 17, have been diagnosed with ADHD, according to a survey conducted in 2003 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than half of these children were taking a medication for the disorder. However, the research reported today shows that psychotic symptoms occurred even in children who were not considered at high risk for psychosis or mania, such as children who abuse drugs or have other mental illnesses. In more than 90% of the cases, the children had never experienced hallucinations or psychosis. In most cases, the hallucinations were visual and tactile and involved seeing or feeling bugs, worms or snakes. The symptoms typically disappeared after the children stopped taking ADHD medication.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimesblogs.latimes.com ...
For the good of the children...
A national disgrace.
If Ritalin or other ADHD drugs can help kids, I’m all for it. But simply throwing meds at kids without any consideration for how it effects them is unacceptable. One of my students ended up in a psych hospital because he attempts suicide every time he goes back on them yet can’t control his incredibly hyperactive behavior without them. NO other interventions were even discussed.
Nope, nothing except meds. And taking sugar out of his diet. I would assume he’s getting psychotherapy in the hospital now...but this isn’t the first time he has been under a 5150. Don’t know much about home except that his parents are involved at school and seem to be at a loss as to what to do. All the MDs want to do is throw meds at him. He’s been a living chem experiment.
They are not even 18 yet
/johnny
Just saying... I know it sounds like crazy talk.
/johnny
About 15 years ago, my wife and I were out partying. We met up with some friends, and they had some Ritalin. In my earlier years I had done some drugs, but it had been over 15 years since I last had experimented.
Well, for whatever reason, my wife and I did some Ritalin with the friends. I had no idea that this drug would create such a buzz.
I still cannot believe we believe it is ok to give kids this drug and send them to school. No wonder they have trouble concentrating.
There's no way of knowing whether that's a result of taking Ritalin. Perhaps the Ritalin kept them from even graver misdeeds.
All pharmaceuticals can have unexpected side effects. That's why physicians are supposed to be closely monitoring their patients.
The kids have no father just a obese mother,who has not time to look after them.
Mother works.
The school system decided this would cure the problem.
That is terribly sad and will be in my prayers tonight.
Speed kills...
/johnny
/johnny
You got a buzz because you're not ADHD. For whatever reason, these drugs don't have the same affect on folks with ADD/ADHD.
I take Concerta and can assure you that I experience no buzz. All it does for me is allow me to sidestep distractions and stay on task.
My 10yo son has been taking Concerta for a year. We went to medication kicking and screaming all the way. We felt like failures and questioned our parenting skills. It was life-changing for him, and our entire family. But rarely does a week go by that I don't worry about possible longterm adverse affects.
His IQ is about 140. He was reading the dictionary at the age of 6. That same year I was told by the admissions department at a private school that my son didn't know how to read. He basically opted out of the test and chose to look out the window and count bird species instead. Presumably there were plenty of other 6yo boys in that room who were able to stay on task because they got into the school.
A couple of educational psychologists, our pediatrician, and several educators with decades of early childhood experience dropped hints about ADD.
I homeschooled him for four years to keep him off meds. We had to work in a windowless room with a white noise machine. I still couldn't keep his attention. Eliminating external stimuli wasn't enough. He couldn't turn off intrusive thoughts.
We needed to get him in a place where he could learn to identify and cope with distractions, to develop routines and habits, etc. You can't imagine what a thrill it was when he told us that he started watching the other kids' behavior to see what gets some in trouble and what keeps others out of trouble. I am certain that ultimately he'll learn to manage without medication. I think truly it's one of those things you have to live with to get.
We had the same experience with my son. He has a 145 IQ and is on full scholarship in high school. ADHD is very common to gifted boys. We tried diet, behavior modification, etc. It wasn’t bad behavior or hyperactivity, but inability to focus on certian things — slow processing speed on some matters. But he’s a Duke Tip Grand Scholar, attended gifted student programs at Stanford and Princeton, is a two sport varsity letter athlete in 9th grade, plays guitar, speaks Spanish and is a great kid all around. Don’t feel bad about the Concerta. The drug works when properly prescribed and properly used.
ABOLISH SCHOOL.
Problem solved.
Sounds like me.
Straight A’s in anything verbal. Absolutely incapable of learning anything in math beyond times tables.
It was always treated as willful laziness.
I was diagnosed, at the age of 53, with severe ADD.
I HATE the very concept of “school”—prisons for innocent children, where they are locked up, tortured for 12 years, and lobotomized, without any trial.
Sounds exactly like my son. I'm so glad yours is enjoying so much success.
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