Posted on 11/12/2007 3:53:02 PM PST by bruinbirdman
Drugs given to thousands of hyperactive children have no long-term benefits and could in fact be stunting their development, a major study has said.
The study of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) found that, while powerful drugs such as Ritalin and Concerta resulted in short-term behavioural improvements, after three years those benefits had disappeared.
Children who took the drugs for the full three years were also found to have stunted growth, according to the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD (MTA).
The MTA has followed 600 children in the United States with ADHD since the 1990s and has just published its latest findings. Prof William Pelham, co-author, from the University of Buffalo, said: "They weren't growing as much as other kids both in terms of their height and their weight.
"There were no beneficial effects - none. In the short run medication will help the child behave better, in the long run it won't.
"That information should be made very clear to parents."
Children with ADHD have an unusually short attention span and become easily distracted. They are over-active and restless, tend to perform poorly at school and struggle to develop social skills.
Tonight a BBC Panorama investigation will claim that 55,000 British children were prescribed ADHD drugs last year, at a cost to the NHS of £28 million.
The programme will also claim that thousands of ADHD sufferers are treated with powerful anti-psychotic drugs that can cause weight gain, diabetes and even brain damage. About 8,000 children were given drugs such as Risperdal and Zyprexa in 2005.
Dr Tim Kendall, of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said: "A generous understanding would be to say that doctors have reached the point where they don't know what else to offer, and they haven't really got the right supports to help parents and children in difficult circumstances.
"But I think even that is no real excuse for drugs which are associated with such severe side effects."
Dr Kendall heads a team that is drawing up new guidelines for the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) for the treatment of ADHD sufferers.
He said the guidelines would focus on providing not just medication, but also support networks and parent training programmes.
"I think the important thing is that we have a comprehensive approach which doesn't just focus on one type of treatment," he added.
It is thought ADHD could affect up to five per cent of British youngsters.
One sufferer, Craig Buxton, 14, from Stoke-on-Trent, has been on medication for 10 years without his behaviour improving.
He was recently removed from his school after assaulting three teachers. His family feel they are being let down and that Craig will end up in prison if they are not given more support.
Alan Hudson, Craig's step-father, said: "As he's getting older he's getting much stronger, and who knows what he's going to do."
Yep. It’s a last resort for seizures that are not under control. It’s very risky and needs very close observation from a medical team. In fact, they have to be in the hospital for at least 24 hours when they start the diet.
Typically, people go on the diet if medications are not working.
We’re not there yet.
Read the abstract from the first link. They had controls.
Effects of stimulant medication on growth rates across 3 years in the MTA follow-up.
Secondary evaluations of MTA 36-month outcomes: propensity score and growth mixture model analyses.
Better late that never, still — damn the pushers.
Sometimes it goes beyond the things a good family life can provide. And the Butt whoopings. Tried that and only works for so long. My oldest has struggled with ADD all throught his school years. He is a senior now. We tried the various drugs that were out there and ther may be some truth to the stunted growth. Although some of them seemd to have helped, I didn’t like the thought of him taking the meds everday. We took him off these drugs after about a year of use. We found an herbal supplement called Mindcare that has no side effects other than a horrible taste when you take it But it actually seems to help him stay focused. Football and Tae Kwon Do also helped alot.
My oldest son was kicked out of kindergarten on the 2nd day of school. It wasn't until after his first surgery that we could even try Ritalin to deal with the hyperactivity. It helped a little, but not enough to warrant continuation. Cylert didn't help at all. We opted to line him up with special ed classes prepared to handle the problem. He has completed half of his work toward a BS in geology, but just doesn't have the capacity to handle more than one or two classes at a time. Completing his degree is going to be exorbitantly expensive due to the fee schedules oriented to people taking a more standard 16 units per semester. At 27 he is still somewhat emotionally immature. He is still inattentive. His is currently working as a cashier at Deseret Industries. A week of consecutive "zero out" events on his till is a big deal for him. He just passed his driver's license written exam too. It's a supervised license. He really needs a "safety" driver in place to augment his attention issues.
I suspect I'm also somewhat an ADD case myself. My mom was always nagging me to "finish" things. That prompted me to make lists of things that need to be finished, then ravenously consume the work on my list.
My youngest son hasn't faired as well. He was in special ed in San Diego too. When we moved to Idaho, the school system failed him in a big way. He dropped out in 8th grade. I'm trying to get him motivated to complete the GED so he is marketable. He says the special ed classes in San Diego went over the same narrow range of material, so he has much work to catch up with the curriculum of the "normal" students.
What did we ever do before all these designer drugs were available. I would never allow my kids to take this mind altering crap. This is very likely the cause of the current epidemic outbreak of BDS ...
That’s hogwash.
Absent Dad/Husband Disorder”
Wow! Someday I hope to be as perfectly perfect as you.
Until then and unless you have a child with ADHD and have struggled daily with the myriad issues that accompany this condition, despite the enormity of love and attention and encouragement you can provide to your blessed child, who is graciously gifted from God, then kindly have a seat over in the corner there and SHUT THE EFF UP!!
Oh, and while there, please commit my tagline to memory.
God Bless!
A brain MRI and PET scan should be considered as well to rule out organic disorders. I'm not a physician but a doctoral level biomedical scientist who has had to evolve into the areas of neurology, psychiatry, and substance abuse.
And I did stay at a Holiday Inn. 8~)
It sounds that he is afflicted well beyond that which is typical for an ADDer. Effective intervention, pharmacologic and/or psychotherapeutic may spare you all a lot of unnecessary hardship.
My heart goes out to you, your son, and your family, brother. I'm glad that he's working at DI. He likely knows a friend of mine (whose dad also is a friend). His family moved from our ward a few years back, and the lad had a benign brain tumor that was removed/irradiated but left him with moderate cognitive deficits that are more than offset by his great Christ-like spirit and his testimony of the Gospel.
He also served an honorable mission but I cannot recall where he served -- I have seen dozens and dozens of missionaries go out to serve around the globe and return home again and after more than 30 years most of them seem to blend together in my memory, such as it is. 8~)
I can provide you with the names of some medical specialists in your general area and beyond (a couple of them are good friends of mine) or possibly in the DC area or elsewhere. We could work out the practical details through my ward and stake and otherwise if necessary. Please stay in touch -- probably best by FReepmail....
I answered your post before reading it through. You would do well to explore other possible sources for your younger son’s condition. I’ll keep you all in my fasting and prayers and hope that those from such as I do not end up being a jinx (just kidding, of course)....
See? My ADD at work....
Lots of creepy doctors making a killing on this stuff..
I was among the skeptics of ADHD, and one of those who believed if the parent would just apply the board of education to their seat of knowledge they could cure the kid. See post #11. But my 6-year old son most definitely has ADHD, and despite some peoples beliefs it is not something that can be beaten out of a child. I have learned in a short time that a kid with ADHD is not the same as a kid that is a spoiled brat. Far from it, my child is the sweetest kid who is very generous to others, fun loving, and always happy. I have been working with him at home with that Total Transformation program that you hear advertised on the radio, and it does seem to have helped at home - but at school I have been pulled aside by the 3 times so far by his kindergarten teacher this year, to tell me is not listening to simple directions given in class. A typical incident would be her giving directions for the students to grab a pencil and eraser and gather in a circle on the mat. He will join the other kids on the mat, but be the only one who did not grab the pencil and eraser. I’m at wit’s end, but I don’t believe in giving them drugs, unless they are a danger to them selves or others, which he’s not.
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