Ritalin Debate: Some Experts Doubt Existence of ADHD

Cybercast News Service (CNSNews.com) ^ | April 18, 2003 | Patrick Goodenough

[freedumb2003]

>>Most boys can only focus on 1 thing. Girls<<

There we go. Much better.

LOL

Why do most guys give their "things" a name? Becaue they don't want 99% of their decisions made by a stranger.

[Corin Stormhands]

Well, this parent believes what he knows from experience.

'The child's not getting into trouble at school any more. The child's easier to manage at home, so we say, well this is great, it works.'

I only wish medication had solved that. For the record, when he started puberty, it stopped working and we stopped giving it to him. We're still contending with the ADHD issues now that he's heading to high school.

[Humidston]

Agreed. While I don't deny there are rare cases where drugs are necessary, I believe this stuff is being abused and I think it's criminal how the establishment is taking advantage of a so-called "crisis."

It's a win-win for them, for all the wrong reasons. I look at it as a big racket and little boys are losing out Big Time.

[Corin Stormhands]

I really don't appreciate being called ignorant...

Probably about as much as I appreciate being called a weenie. But the difference is yours was an insult. Ignorant means "lack of knowledge." Sorry if you thought I said you were stupid.

Kudos to you for raising your boy successfully. Dyslexia, broken home and hyperactivity are all issues to be dealt with. They are not ADHD. Thus, the difference being that, since your son was not ADHD, you are ignorant of the parental experience of having an ADHD child.

I live with it every day.

[Grig]

ADHD is not a disease, it is a symptom. So yes, the disease of ADHD doesn't exist, just as there is no 'runny nose' disease, but ADHD does exist.

It is a set of normal, boyish behaviours taken to such an extreem that they are a behavoural disorder. For example: A boy quitetly chatting with his friend in the middle of a class when he should be listening to his teaching is normal, a boy blurting out in a loud voice some random thought that comes into his head to nobody in particular in the same situation is abnormal. When these extreem behaviours occur often it creates a disruption to the classroom that hinders the learning of all the students.

The cause for this behavior is usually unknown, but more is being learned. Recent studies have shown a great many kids diagnosed as ADHD actually suffer from sleep depravation caused by a sleep disorder. Their misbehaviour is the result of a lack of deep cycle sleep and when the sleep disorder is treated, no treatment for ADHD symptoms is needed. It is unlikely that all ADHD kids show these symptoms for the same reason.

Writing off the parents of ADHD kids as lazy or accusing others of various shortcomings and refusing to belive ADHD does exist is judgmental and ignorant. I have 6 kids, I spend 5 years as a Cub Scout leader and several years before that working with kids as well. I know what kids are like and how to deal with them, probably better than most school teachers do.

I watched my son slowly develop ADHD, I had him tested for every possible medical cause, sleep disorders, hypo-glycemia, alergies, diabeties, and more. His behaviour became disruptive to the point that we had to home school him but the inability (not unwillingness, inability) to focus his attention prevented learning, even though he is an extreemly smart boy. Taking Ritallin currently is his only hope of getting any kind of education. We did everything we could to avoid it, but it came to either having him take it or having him fail at school for years and years.

My son is an extreem case. There is a great deal of over-diagnosis, but that again is a result of not knowing the cause. If the cause was known, tests could be developed for it and instead of treating the symptoms, perhaps we could treat the cause. Teacher lazyness is a factor in over-diagnosis as well since the main diagnostic tool for ADHD is to have the school teachers fill out a questionair on the student's behaviour. Every teacher knows just what answers to give to make sure a kid gets labled ADHD.

In legitimate cases, Ritalin (a stimulant, not a sedative) is effective with no serious side effects. If you have strong objections to it, then try going all week long without any coffee and see how you behave. Then try and imaging a child trying to deal with the symptoms you feel.

You might also find this interesting...http://www.twilightbridge.healthology.com/focus_article.asp?f=children&c=add

[luckystarmom]

My advice is that you only medicate if it is truly affecting a child's ability to learn. If a child cannot learn to read/write by second grade, I would first test them for a learning disability. After that, I would try different forms of teaching.

Medication would be the last resort.

[luckystarmom]

Not anything unusual. He's the healthiest of my kids. He rarely gets sick. He did have strep throat a few times, and we had him tested for PANDA which is a strep related tic disorder. Allergies also run in the family, so we had him allergy tested. Nothing.

[Humidston]

Boy, you are soooo on the money! Your kids are blessed to have you for a Mom.

In our case, my son was unable to read and in a special ed class in 3rd grade. The day he returned from school in tears was the day we hit the panic button. He was throughly tested and placed in private school that specialized in dyslexia. Drugs were never even an option back then.

It was touch and go, and the road was not easy, but with patience, love and hard work these kids can grow up to be great adults!

[Humidston]

Maybe your son is the exception to the rule, but my complaint is that waaay too many people use this "hook" as an excuse to duck their responsibility to be good parents.

There's no question raising children is a tough tough job! I blieve far too many parents are just too lazy, too distracted or flat not involved enough to take their job seriously. Kid's lives depend on parents' constant work and involvement.

And I see too many people using medications when they should be using their heads (ie, common sense). Sorry, but it makes me crazy sometimes....

[luckystarmom]

Well, we've been through it here. I went to see a child psychologist to help me deal with my daughter that has a brain injury. At the time, she was 3 or 4 and couldn't talk. She was having terrible rages, and she was very impulsive. She loved to run out into the middle of the street when she was mad.

Anyway, the first thing the psychologist asked about was meds. Then she recommended book that encouraged opening up communication with your child. That was very helpful (not) book considering my child couldn't talk.

A few years later, my daughter no longers runs out into the middle of the street. She's talking (not age appropriate but still talking). Her rages have diminished to where she only has them when she is overly tired maybe one every few months.

The 2 of us have figured it out together without meds. I also know that she will overcome her rages as she can better handle getting tired. She's also starting to read and write (age appropriately), and she is doing exceptional in her math skills.

[luckystarmom]

We knew a kid who was put on ritalin in first grade. He was a fidgety kid in the class. They never tried anything but the meds. It was the first thing they did. They were happy that he was doing his homework. The thing is that he could read, and was doing okay academically.

[nmh]

I also believe attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is nothing more than a pumped up discipline problem that drug companies expolit in having their loyal following of allopahtic (drug dealers) prescribe a drug to turn them into docile zombies. Problem is when they are young adolescents (12 or 13) the drug is NO longer affective. So we have high school shooting and other angry acts. And yes, EVERY one of the high school shootings involved kids on ritalin or a similar drug with the same result - a tranqulaizer type result.

[bvw]

Low-dose nicotime would also solve some of these behaviours -- and that's what "ADD boys" of the Huck Finn era would come to use. A chaw or a home-rolled, home-grown and cured smoke at lunch.

[nmh]

"He cited cases where parents reported that their ADHD-diagnosed children could not pay attention - but then those same children could play video games for hours without being distracted. "

No kidding. The only ones that benefit is the drug companies. Meanwhile we have another generation of kids, at the youngest age ever, addicted to drugs.

[AnAmericanMother]

My son has ADHD - it's real, and medication helps him tremendously. We tried many other alternatives - vitamins, diet changes, behavior mod, social skills classes, etc. - before giving in to meds, after extensive testing by a psychologist and a psychiatrist that we've known for 30 years and trust. The medicine has helped a great deal - he is not on Ritalin but on one of the other meds. For example, he was unable to learn to read until we started medication - he literally couldn't keep focused long enough to sound out the word - then he suddenly began to read whole sentences. It was amazing.

I think the problem is that -- with the financial incentives that exist to over-diagnose -- you have a core of actual sufferers from the condition in the middle, and a penumbra of doubtful cases outside that, and outside that the poor kids whose parents don't care, or just want them to shut up, or wish that the ADD meds would easily solve whatever problem their child really has. Wishful thinking, because the effects of the medication on a true ADHD sufferer are so dramatic.

[nmh]

"I have ADD. I know it exists."

You too? ;)

I just can't focus on things I DON'T like it when someone tells me to control myself. Heck the worst they do to me for punishment is sit me in a chair or send me to my room where I can play games I enjoy.

Psssssssst - hope my parents don't find out that I'm really a spoiled rotten brat who needs some attention and discipline. Not that I'm alittle older I love all the material things they shower on me because they insist on BOTH working full time. Yeah, I'm pissed off at em but with ritalin I'm more relaxed and life goes on as usual for me, Did I mention that I get special treatment because of this "problem"? Like that too.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Laz! It's you!

[nmh]

"What were we talking about?"

Does it really matter as we cruise through life showered with material things? I like ritalin. Makes me feel good and allows me to forget about how I despise my parents. Eventually though, I hear the drug becomes less effective when I get older ... people I don't like had better watch out. I hear these junkies, er kids on ritalin become quite violent since their hostility is not longer supressed.

Sarcasm off.

[nmh]

"doctors also supported lobotomies and electroshock therapy."

They still do. I was horrified recently when a friend of my husband informed us that he has his daughter get SHOCK TREATMENT for depression. She is ONLY 12 years old! Prozac wasn't working and they scared the crap out of the parents by saying that if we don't "jolt her out of this depression, she will commit suicide ... we've seen this happen too many times ... "

They fell for it. They put them under anesthia and do the old fashioned shock treatment. They have no idea on how this will affect a developing brain. What they DO know is that she will permanently lose some of her memory and only time will tell what memories are gone. Is this irresponsible or what?