Neal Boortz and ADD

The following are short pieces recently written by Neal Boortz regarding Attention Deficit Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, appearing in Neal's Nuze:

More and more medical and psychological professionals are speaking out against this phony disease of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Dr. Bob Jacobs, a psychologist, is on the advisory board of the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology. He recently told a conference in Australia that ADHD is a behavioral problem, not a medical disorder. He correctly points out that there is no proof that ADHD exists.

Jacobs notes that many children who are “diagnosed” with ADHD – children who it is said can’t pay attention – are perfectly capable of sitting still with a video game and paying rapt attention for hours on end. He also points out that when parents pay attention and change the way they are treating and handling their children, the ADHD symptoms go away. “A real diseas doesn’t go away when somebody else does something.”

I just love it that this debate is surfacing again. Sure, Ritalin works. It’s a drug, of course it’s going to have an affect on children. It makes them more docile and compliant. Take that word “compliant” and put it next to “government.” Would anyone argue that government doesn’t just love a compliant citizen? Then why wouldn’t a government school teacher love a docile and compliant child? It sure makes their job easier, doesn’t it?

In 2001 U.S. drug companies made more than $600 million profit in ADHD drugs like Ritalin. If ADHD goes away … so do those profits.

It’s time for you parents and teachers to stop looking for the easy way out here. Your easy way out is a potential disaster for your child.

The controversy over my comments on ADD/ADHD continues. Station management continues to feel the effects of an organized campaign to have me either silenced or fired. Hey, I don’t blame these people. If I was drugging my child for a non-existent disease I wouldn’t want anyone reminding me of my irresponsibility either.

Just to fuel the fire, here are some excerpts from letters and e-mail I’ve received in the last few days:

I am a Special Education teacher in Kansas --anti-NEA, extremely conservative: endangered species. Agree with you on ADHD. Problem - liberals insist all students with behavior problems have the right to disrupt the education of others, so meds used to control behaviors. In Kansas, ADHD students receive special education services under the label of Otherwise Health Impaired (OHI). Some of us know that OHI really stands for Otherwise HOME Impaired. Please do not use my name publicly -- retaliation from liberal dominated administration probable

Before you delete this please read on. I am ecstatic on your position on add and ADHD. I have a son that was so diagnosed, they, she who is always right, put him on Ritalin. it is a devastating drug, they are doped up and not themselves. Chris is adopted has a handicap and parents that care. i took on the problem, the problem was not a condition it was a matter of wills. i withdrew him from the medication and worked my ass off making the difference. Neal is right, get off the medication, instill confidence, give a damn about how they behave and stand firm. today my son has a 4.0 average in his junior year of high school and has been accepted to Penn State, will get a partial scholarship and is a GREAT KID. Not bad for someone the system wanted to put into a stupor. Dad's can make a difference, although you may not be the most popular guy around. God Bless

Man, when your right your right! The stories that I could tell you about my ex-wife and hooking my son on this drug since he was two are unbelievable. Parents and teachers are not alone in this. Doctors who are prescribing this and other mind altering drugs are the number one problem. My ex-wife found a doctor in Miami that did "testing" on my son only by giving him some blocks to assemble, and when my son started looking around instead of putting all of the blocks in place that was it, instant A.D.H.D. Oh yeah, this boy was not only A.D.D. He was hyper as well.(here's a clue HE'S TWO YEARS OLD!!) Needless to say this eventually lead to our divorce, but to make matters worse, there are judges out there who believe this crap also, so I did not get custody. He's now 15 and my Ex-wife and I have another court appointment to settle this issue.

This will be the next great fad disease for school age children. Oppositional Defiance Disorder. The “ODD child” is a child that gets angry or frustrated and defies authority. In other words … a child. He argues with adults, he loses his temper, he has a negative attitude, he blames others for his mistakes. Teachers.net has a chatboard discussing this grand new disease. One post by a teacher says: “Today was a really bad day. I have been teaching grade seven for four years and today was the first time I was called a "Whore," by a kid who has Oppositional Defiance Disorder.”

Stand by folks, this is soon going to become a full-fledged disease and some drug company is going to develop some mind-altering drug that will make these kids compliant and passive. Oh man, are the parents going to love this one. Here’s a link on this new fad-disease so you can start getting your excuses ready. http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Valley/9346/odd.html

There’s been quite a firestorm of controversy on the show since I started talking about the various experts who are debunking the ADD/ADHD craze. We had Dr. Bob Jackobs, a psychologist, telling a youth conference in Queensland, Australia that there has never been any proof that ADHD exists. Then there was neurologist Dr. Fred Baughman Jr. who, in a 1998 letter to Attorney General Janet Reno called ADHD “the single biggest health care fraud in U.S. history.” This has all been very unsettling to parents who have decided that drugging is certainly easier than parenting when it comes to controlling the behavior of their children. These parents really know that ADD stands for “Adequate Dicipline Deficiency.”

But, alas! There are many parents out there who have been unable to find a doctor or a shrink who will write that invaluable Ritalin prescription. Wow! You poor saps have actually had to deal with your children being … children!

Well, maybe there’s hope. There’s a new disease on the horizon out there. It’s called ODD! Oppositional Defiance Disorder? With any luck, your child may have this nifty new disease! As a public service, here is some help diagnosing your very own child to see if they might have ODD! The symptoms are:

Arguing with adults. Losing temper. Angry or resentful of others. Actively defies adult’s request or rules. Negative attitude Blames others for their own mistakes misbehavior Seems touchy or easily annoyed by others Deliberately annoys others Acts spiteful or vindictive. The psychiatrists are telling us that if your child displays four or more of the above traits … you may be a winner! You may have a child with ODD! Now you don’t have to feel so left out when the neighborhood moms get together to discuss their children’s afflictions. Looking at that list again, I would suggest that if your child doesn’t display at least four of those traits, he’s probably in a coma on a respirator.

Now … the really good news! The Psychiatric Alliance of the Blue Ridge is studying an “investigational medication” that may help children with ODD! So, in the very near future you may not only be able to discuss your child’s hideous new disease, you may actually be able to DRUG him!

I know that carbs do that routinely, but for me it's way more than just a post-carb-meal lull. It's like a nasty perpetual systemic brain fog that hangs around 24/7 no matter when I eat.

Trying to balance the carbs with the protein each time I eat seems to make the fog lift. Refined sugar ("the white death", which I love dearly :::lol:::) makes it roll back in, and it sticks around for 2 or 3 days after I quit the sugar (again).

LQ

Wow, I do know that caffiene is a parents nightmare, unless it is the parent drinking it :) I drink coffe, and very little soda, there isn't any soda in the fridge, but there is tea, lemonade and water. My daughter only drinks the lemonade (Crystal lite) and water. She is very picky when it comes to eating. (she eats like a bird). On occasion she gets candy at the baseball field watching her brother play baseball...but that's small.

I don't suspect that a diet may be the problem or extending a problem, but a diet may help with a fix...know what I mean?

You lose buddy.

All of the things you state as "cures" for ADD demonstrate what causes most of the few legitimate cases of ADD. The fact is, mental disorders are not generally biological in nature, although there are exceptions. A child who has been poorly raised is likely to develop an emotional and/or mental disorder which requires treatment. Drugs are not the solution in the majority of cases, but there are some people who need them just to function because of how messed up they are.

Is it better to ignore a medication which can be used to temporarily reduce symptoms while the long process of healing takes place? Ritalin is way overprescribed, but there are times it is necessary to do something.

Seems you want to punish the kids for the sins of the parents because some people use this problem as an excuse. Well, by your logic, there is no God. How many people have used God as an "excuse" for their actions throughout history?

I would be cautious as to how you use the meds, i think drugs should be used sparingly if at all. It is important to learn to modify behavior to overcome such problems. I would think about a program to ween off of the Adderall (sp??) and learn to control yourself. I catch myself drifting off and activley have to concentrate, but it is possible, and i was considered a bad case. I do think that there are certain things in life i should never do, i.e. accounting, or similar types positions. I would never be able to concentrate with that type of work, but accountants probably couldn't do the outside of the box type thinking that I excel at. Work with what you have and avoid using drugs as a permanent fix. Best of luck.

You asked for suggestions on diet. I don't know of any specific help for you. However, there is another syndrome which has grown exponentially in recent years -- autism and asperger's syndrome. According to one book, these disorders may be related to a reaction to gluten and dairy. I am curious as to whether the autism/asperger continuum is related to ADD/ADHD.

Best of luck to you.

I really wouldn't know, unless you can describe it like drinking a liter of thick, sweet corn syrup... I drank some orange soda, a small cup mind you, but it wasn't diluted with the "soda" so all I drank was the syrup. I was having a sugar fit! I felt totaly gross, weighed down and shaking! I felt like I was going to puke and I couldn't keep my eyes open. The doc thought I was diabetic! ( I am not), all I was told to do was drink plenty of water and sweat it off...sweat I did too!

This very complex issue is unfortunately being dominated by nutty extremists on both sides. There IS such a thing as ADD, and it IS being massively pseudo-diagnosed by adults who are lazy and/or stand to make a profit from either selling the drug or selling "special education" services".

Thank you for your intellegent, well-reasoned response.

Thanks for the input! My wife and I are working for means to get my daughter off the meds. The doc says that we will be reducing the dosage in the future, as she grows, her brain development with fix the synopsis issue. She is getting better. We do not give meds to her on fridays and through the weekend.

Wow, thanks for the link! I will be looking more into that. But like I said before, her condition is because of a lack of development in the womb. A real physical condition, not emotional, or pychological. She has a short, acutally a "open" condition in the electrical circuit in her brain, the adderall "closes" the circuit.

I think there could be a very real chance that giving these drugs to kids while their brains are still developing could actually cause more problems than it solves

Possibly the opposite though (per my post #50). Trouble is, many types of learning have to be accomplished before the malleability of the applicable brain functions diminishes with age. Reading, a well-studied example, must be learned by around age 9-10, or it will never be learned well. Foreign language acquisition, for fluency and lack of "accent", has a somewhat earlier cut-off (diligently ignored by the bilingual ed scammers). Some studies have indicated that basic arithmetic ability must be acquired by around age 5-6, in order for the ability to do more advanced math not to be significantly impaired. So while I agree that there is some real risk to the use of Ritalin etc. in children before the nature of the disease and the effects of the drugs are fully understood, when a child is clearly at significant risk of missing some of these now-or-never learning milestones, it may be a risk worth taking, since the bad outcomes associated with not taking the risk are essentially guaranteed.

Poor nutrition (too much junk, food additives and colorings, sugar) and not enough good stuff (EFAs, vitamins, minerals) can affect the brains functioning and should get a closer look.

While I agree with you that good nutrition is important, is does not "cure" ADD/ADHD. Neither of my children eat much sugar, perhaps one piece of candy every other week at grandma's. I cook with very little sugar and I cook from scratch. I'm a label reader. We eat mostly homemade whole grain breads. Both boys easily eat 3-5 servings of fruits and veggies each day; most days they eat more. They drink only milk or filtered/distilled water, no sugary juice or soda pop.

My oldest son has incredible difficulties focusing. Incredible. Frankly, you'd be hard-pressed to find many children who eat a better diet than he does.

But what do her friends share with her at school? While public school (and many private school) educrats will go ballistic if they see a kid give another kid an aspirin, they don't bat an eyelash when a can of Coke or mountain Dew is shared. Many even provide the stuff in vending machines and lunchroom soda fountains.

I think I'd rather have my fingers whacked.

As to what? Being spanked, flogged, bound, gagged and tortured unto submission? :) I had my fingers whacked, but that didn't stop the *WHACK* I got at home, with a Hot Wheels track at that!

Everytime there is a thread relating to Ritalin, I like to add this little piece of info:

Lorna Luft, daughter of Judy Garland, wrote in her book, Me and My Shadows: A Family Memoir, that Ritalin was the drug that caused her mother so many problems.

Ahhh, you are right there, I don't know. I should ask her. There are vending machines in the luchroom, but we don't give her money. We send her to school with lunch...with 100% Welches Grape Juice (OH CRAP! High in carbs!) The nutritionist suggested high carbs for her because she is extremely under weight (a side effect of the adderall?) she is at 64lbs!

this didn't become a problem until the boomers became parents

Whatever you may believe about ADD/ADHD asside, this is wrong. There have been children diagnosed as "hyperactive" for a long, long time. My husband was given stimulants to calm his hyperactivity in the 1960's. His parents are part of the WWII generation. They discliplined; his mom stayed at home; they did not divorce, etc. Neither his brother nor sister exhibited any of the same traits. Although the proliferation of the diagnosis ~may~ be new, the "hyperactive" child certainly isn't.

Call the school and tell them you want a copy of the records policy concerning student records.

The Virginia Board of Education's website has some information on the records policy in Chapters 140 and 150 of the Administrative Coade, but it's not very detailed, more like a summary.

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