Posted on 10/30/2005 10:48:26 AM PST by ddtorquee
The prevalence of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) and its associated attention, hyperactivity and concentration problems among American children has been steadily on the rise in recent years. The US Centers for Disease Control now estimates that eight percent of children suffer from ADHD, and more than half of them are being treated with drugs like Ritalin.
But according to a study conducted by Israeli researchers, if your child is showing symptoms associated with ADHD, it's possible that they're suffering from sleep apnea or other sleep disorders. The researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology's Sleep Medicine Center conclude that ADHD-diagnosed children had significantly higher levels of sleepiness during the day than those in a control group. And they suggest that doctors should be asking the question: is it really ADHD or just a lack of quality sleep, before prescribing Ritalin and other drugs used to treat ADHD.
(Excerpt) Read more at israel21c.org ...
fyi
Can anyone answer as to why the FIRST time I read this, my brain saw:
and more than half of them are being treated LIKE DOGS WITH Ritalin.
...and lack of discipline at home and school. For some reason they just can't say it.
When I was a kid (in the '50s and '60s) we didn't have soda and candy or other sweets every day. Maybe on Saturday we were allowed to go to the store and buy one bottle of Coke and a piece of candy.
Never heard of ADHD back then.
"I gotta think that kids today are consuming way too much caffeine and sugar."
It also seems that kids today play outside less, and energy that's not used up by running around can turn into nervous tension.
Its not candy or sweets per se, its the fact the states have made it so that parents cannot discipline there children without fear of reprisal and that teachers cant do it either.
Sleep disorders and daytime sleepiness in children with attention-deficit/hyperactive disorder.
The relationship between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and sleep-alertness problems
Sleeping Pill Use by Youths Soars, Study Says
And about 15 percent of people under age 20 who received sleeping pills were also being given drugs to treat attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, according to the study by Medco Health Solutions, a managed-care company that makes estimates about medication use in the whole population based on extrapolations from its own data. Drugs used to treat attention disorders can cause insomnia.
Couldn't tell ya. Dogs get treated better than kids on Ritalin.
And add to that the incidences of of parents who've discovered they can sell their kids' medications (or take it themselves), and the ones who have discovered that if they work at it, they can get their "ADHD" kids to qualify as "disabled" and pull in an extra $500 or so a month per kid and then there are the ones who are just plain lazy parents...it's easier to drug the kids than train them.
The schools don't complain, because the teachers get more compliant subjects who are much easier to program and the adminstrators rake in the extra cash for all those "special needs" classrooms. Of course, when the kid turns 18 and his drugs are cut off and he starts to self-medicate, we charge him with criminal behavior or toss him in rehab for his addiction.
I find this very interesting. My children's pediatrician, when my older daughter's school wanted to label her ADHD at the age of 5, laughed out loud. He told me to get her in bed earlier because she needed more sleep, and to limit the sweets, foods with additives and dyes, etc. He was right. She excelled in school and was never on a drug for ADHD. This was 18 years ago. She is 23 now.
It's easier to drug them than to make sure they get plenty of sleep and proper food rather than fast food and/or snacks. It means parents have to give up their fun time and the extras they get from working more hours, etc....in order to be there to do what is right for the children. You hit the nail on the head.
My daughter is ADHD impulsive type. No meds. She self regulates using her exeptional intellect. She never slept. Ever. 11 to 5...maybe.
Dr suggested putting her on melatonin 2mg. She sleeps 7 to 6 now and is more easily regulaged and pleasant.
Other ADHD inattentive type. No meds. Sleeps like a top. I recently started him on a little St Johnswort for his overfocused behavior.
Serotonin, a neurotransmitter chemical produced in the brain, is considered essential for relaxation, concentration, sleep and calmness. Its lack or suppression can lead to severe mental disturbances and even violent behavior. To make serotonin the body requires sufficient levels of magnesium, tryptophan and vitamin B-6, nutrients which many nutritionists say American diets are severely deficient in, but which medical doctors rarely run tests for -- even when they prescribe RITALIN or other medications which depend on adequate serotonin levels (which is often!), and even when just taking supplements for those missing nutrients may be all that is needed.
BTW, Most American medical doctors have taken no more than 5 hours of nutrition classes in medical school IF ANY AT ALL, yet they are subjected to dozens and dozens of presentations by pharmaceutical company representatives on patent medications every year. So it should be no wonder why more and more people look elsewhere for advice on real nutrition.
There are about 200,000 deaths a year because of prescription (legal) drugs. This stat INCLUDES the homicides and suicides from "serotonin re-uptake inhibiters" and other so-called anti-depressives which depend on adequate serotonin levels.
It was earlier referred to as "minimal brain dysfunction," before being changed to ADD, and now ADHD.
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