Disorder in Diagnosing Attention Deficit

(CNSNews.com) - Parents seeking a way to help their children overcome attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have increasingly resorted to the prescription drug, Ritalin. However, critics claim some doctors and entrepreneurs are exploiting the behavioral disorder and the dissatisfaction with Ritalin for their own financial gain.

Recently, the mother of now-12-year-old Michael Mozer of New York City hired a lawyer to look into the possibility of suing Michael's elementary school because administrators there had allegedly been too hasty in diagnosing the boy with ADHD.

Michael Mozer ended up being prescribed Ritalin, his mother Patricia Weathers told the New York Post, after a pediatrician spent "just minutes reviewing" the boy's school file.

Two years later, Weathers stopped administering Ritalin to her son and was slapped with a child-abuse complaint by school officials unhappy with her decision. "The drug just seemed to make Michael worse," Weathers told the Post.

A nutritional program, marketed by the Feingold Association of the United States (FAUS) as an alternative to drug therapy, claims to provide "the dietary connection to better behavior, learning and health." But while the diet rejects certain fruits and nuts many people consider healthy, it allows junk food like potato chips and cheese spread.

FAUS classifies itself as a "non-profit public charity chartered under section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue tax code."

According to FAUS, certain foods containing artificial coloring, additives and preservatives can trigger a variety of problems in "sensitive people" - including hyperactivity and attention deficit disorder (ADD).

"The typical child growing up in the United States is exposed to these powerful chemicals all day, every day," states the FAUS website.

The Feingold Program includes a list of thousands of brand name foods to be avoided, foods containing harmful additives and preservatives that trigger ADD and hyperactivity in children and adults, according to FAUS.

"Just a change in brand might be all you need," states the Feingold Program Kit order form.

Sugar is not eliminated in the Feingold diet. In fact, FAUS claims sugar "is not normally a cause of hyperactivity, or ADHD."

Included in the Feingold Program's 'Foodlist & Shopping Guide' of acceptable products are "Pringles Sour Cream 'N Onion" potato chips, "Fritos Original Corn Chips," "Hershey's Cocoa," "Nabisco Easy Cheese Spread - Cheddar," "Mrs. Field's Chocolate Chip Cookies - fresh-baked in malls only," "Breyer's Natural Vanilla Ice Cream," and "Hellmann's Real Mayonnaise."

However, natural foods such as almonds, apples, peaches, all types of berries, grapes and raisins, oranges, coffee and tomatoes, are eliminated by the Feingold Program because they contain Salicylate, a group of chemicals related to aspirin which plants naturally produce as a "pesticide to protect themselves."

Lowfat and skim milk, many brands of bread and cookies also are excluded from the Feingold Program's list of acceptable products because they contain the preservative BHT, said FAUS spokeswoman Debbie Lehner.

Subscribers to the Feingold Program, which costs $77 per kit, report a success rate of over 70 percent, said Lehner.

"In some kids, [symptoms] go away all together; some kids they don't," Lehner said. "It really has a direct relationship to how carefully and closely you do follow the diet."

At the same time, said Lehner, "We could never tell somebody, 'Take your kid off of Ritalin and do this.' We're not medical people."

"It doesn't sound like a very healthy approach to the treatment of ADHD or any other condition," said Dr. Gilbert Ross, medical director of the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH).

The ACSH is a non-profit, consumer education, public health group advised by a scientific panel of nearly 350 experts across the U.S.

"I can say, having some familiarity with the medical literature on ADHD, that there is no dietary approach that has ever been shown to have any benefit in this condition," Ross claimed.

Ross compared the Feingold Program to advertisements found in newspapers and magazines that promise dietary plans for weight loss, improving sexual potency, anti-aging, and the boosting of immune systems - none of which, he said, have ever been scientifically proven.

Responding to the Feingold Program's sample list of acceptable products, Ross said, "I don't know any kind of scientific or biological basis for a high fat approach to control of ADHD."

Ross said countless groups have speculated about the potential toxic effects of various food additives and how they might cause autism, ADHD or cancer. "None of it has ever been shown to be true," he said.

"Any food additives that have been shown to be dangerous in any way would have been removed from our food supply," Ross said. "The FDA does not permit dangerous or even potentially dangerous ingredients to be added to our foodstuff."

Ross said the dietary recommendations contained in the Feingold Program "have certainly never been shown in any kind of scientific way to be effective in mitigating the symptoms of ADHD."

"This group, I believe, would probably be trying to take advantage of parents' concerns about ADHD and some of the bad publicity that has been put on the Ritalin-type drugs," Ross said.

The two people i know who had their kids on Ritalin took them off.

Why??? The boys weren't their normal boyish selves.

Sac

"It doesn't sound like a very healthy approach to the treatment of ADHD or any other condition,"

And giving addictive nervous system damaging meth-amphetamines IS???

administrators there had allegedly been too hasty in diagnosing the boy with ADHD.

School administrators are diagnosing this "problem"? Are they practicing medicine without a license?

It's interesting to read a list of "symptoms" of this so-called disorder. Sounds like a normal, healthy child.

This crap is completely over-precribed, period.

Our pediatrician told us that our 15-month-old daughter "might" have ADHD, based on the fact that's she's "precocious" for her age. He wanted to notate her file "for future reference," and indicated that a "preemptive strike," using Ritalin, might be "the way to go." A$$hole. Needless to say, we're on the market for another pediatrician. (Between the gun issues and vaccination issues, we've been through three so far.)

Crap. She's inquisitive, and a normal toddler exploring her environment.

So there is certainly NO possibility that some children/people may be allergic or sensitive to food additives! What a jerk.

FIFTEEN MONTHS OLD and this doc suggested medication??? I've been reading these ritalin articles/threads for a while now and have read some real doozies, but this has got to be tops. Unbelievable! Good thing your pediatrician hasn't seen MY son. 17 months old and never stops moving. Precocious doesn't begin to describe him, very smart, too smart for MY own good. :) Has had a mischevious gleam in his eye since before he was a year old. Sounds like that doctor would have my child sedated and restrained.

Bravo to you for shopping for a new doctor. Sheesh, she's a baby! Can kids EVER be kids anymore?

Yea, too many parents are too into themselves and don't want to take the time to figure out what exactly is causing the errant behavior of their children and go for the drugs as a quick fix.

You see, the Fiengold diet takes time and is not a quick fix, most parents don't want to deal with the problem and just push a drug to reduce the symptoms. They think that once the symptoms are gone by the drug consumption the underlying problem is gone too, that's wishful thinking.

Brain excitotoxins are added to many foods and those allergic to certain foods experience the same symptoms, leaky gut syndrome is also a considerable factor in regard to food allergies.

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http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3b185e111ead.htm

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http://www.adhdfraud.com/

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http://www.mercola.com/2002/apr/13/depression_drugs.htm

...possibility of suing Michael's elementary school because administrators there had allegedly been too hasty in diagnosing the boy with ADHD.

I thought ADHD was a medical diagnosis.

I guess the "administrators" think if trial lawyers can practice medicine without a license why not school administrators.

Yea, too many parents are too into themselves and don't want to take the time to figure out what exactly is causing the errant behavior of their children and go for the drugs as a quick fix.

You know nothing on this subject. I am through with you.

Why don't you post a bunch of liberal Bravo Sierra links about gun control to convince me to turn in my weapons next?

Stay safe; stay armed.

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