Do you think ADHD is real and/or over prescribed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Thanks for posting this link. It confirms everything I believe about the ADHD "epidemic." On an overnight school trip recently, I was appalled by the enormous bag of drugs the supervising teacher carried to hand out to half of the kids on the trip each day! How on earth can all these kids need medication to help them get through school?? Something is definitely wrong with this picture.

I believe our diets and the toxic chemicals in our homes, automobiles, schools and in the air we breathe and water we drink are part of the reason so many children have trouble concentrating. Our crazy way of life -- too much time spent indoors and far too much focus far too early on academic progress -- also fuels this epidemic of ADHD diagnoses and overmedication.

Of course there are a few children who need these drugs, whose brain chemistry is so out of whack that medication is the only thing that can help them. But not half or even a quarter of our children ought to be on drugs to help them concentrate on school. If drugs are needed so frequently, perhaps there's something wrong with the schools, not the kids.

It saddens me to read how many parents on this board are medicating their children. Changing diets, giving supplements, dealing with allergies and food intolerances, getting rid of toxic chemicals in a child's environment are all very time consuming and difficult, but they work in the long run.

I do believe you that this worked for your child, and might also work for many other children. And I'm glad that it's working for your kid, and I believe that everyone should try these options. But you should know that this is not universal. It doesn't always work. For some kids, you can do each and every one of these things, forever, and the kid will still have ADHD.

Giving pills to children is easier and faster, but the long-term effects of giving these powerful drugs to children cannot be healthy, despite what the pharmaceutical companies claim.

Most people who become doctors in the US do it for the money. Few of them come from families with a lot of money, so many see medicine as a path to riches. Not all of course, but many. ADHD is just another way for doctors and the pharmaceutical industry to work together to make each other wealthy at the expense of innocent, naive and vulnerable people who need help and trust doctors to provide simple answers to complex problems.

I'm sorry if this is offensive to those of you who have found help through medicating your children. Teachers and doctors have suggested to me that I medicate my children, but I have chosen the slow, difficult approach I described above, and have been very successful using it instead of drugs. Not everyone has the luxury of time or the energy to do this, but the medical profession and pharmaceutical industry are not giving parents any encouragement (in fact they are disparaging any approach besides giving drugs to children) to take chemicals out their children's food, and environment, look into allergies, food intolerances and other environmental factors contributing to ADHD-like symptoms.

Go ahead, flame and rage away, all you DCUMers! I know you have seen positive changes in your children after giving them drugs, but have you tried anything else?

YES, tried EVERYTHING else first

Have you taken your child to an allergist, for example, had a screening for food intolerances, removed carpeting from your house and gluten from your child's diet?

Yes, tried all of those. Some improvement, but minor.

Have you limited screen time, made sure your children get enough sleep and enough exercise?

Yes, we do this each and every day. Definitely makes a noticeable impact, but we are STILL left with very significant ADHD.

How old is your child? What does his/her daily routine look like? What sort of diet do you do? How many hours of sleep every night?

Are you a doctor? What is your professional certification?

Pardon? Only a doctor should question your questionable methods?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it is pretty obvious that it is both overdiagnosed and overmedicated in this country. I am not saying it is a made up condition, there are certainly kids who have it and some may benefit from medication, but not at the rate that we see here. The fact is, Americans like medications - you see that with anti-depressants as well. Europeans have a much more cautious approach to this.

This recent article in the New York Times on the topic was pretty disturbing:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/15/health/the-selling-of-attention-deficit-disorder.html?ref=health&_r=0

Thanks for posting this link. It confirms everything I believe about the ADHD "epidemic." On an overnight school trip recently, I was appalled by the enormous bag of drugs the supervising teacher carried to hand out to half of the kids on the trip each day! How on earth can all these kids need medication to help them get through school?? Something is definitely wrong with this picture.

I believe our diets and the toxic chemicals in our homes, automobiles, schools and in the air we breathe and water we drink are part of the reason so many children have trouble concentrating. Our crazy way of life -- too much time spent indoors and far too much focus far too early on academic progress -- also fuels this epidemic of ADHD diagnoses and overmedication.

Of course there are a few children who need these drugs, whose brain chemistry is so out of whack that medication is the only thing that can help them. But not half or even a quarter of our children ought to be on drugs to help them concentrate on school. If drugs are needed so frequently, perhaps there's something wrong with the schools, not the kids.

It saddens me to read how many parents on this board are medicating their children. Changing diets, giving supplements, dealing with allergies and food intolerances, getting rid of toxic chemicals in a child's environment are all very time consuming and difficult, but they work in the long run. Giving pills to children is easier and faster, but the long-term effects of giving these powerful drugs to children cannot be healthy, despite what the pharmaceutical companies claim.

Most people who become doctors in the US do it for the money. Few of them come from families with a lot of money, so many see medicine as a path to riches. Not all of course, but many. ADHD is just another way for doctors and the pharmaceutical industry to work together to make each other wealthy at the expense of innocent, naive and vulnerable people who need help and trust doctors to provide simple answers to complex problems.

I'm sorry if this is offensive to those of you who have found help through medicating your children. Teachers and doctors have suggested to me that I medicate my children, but I have chosen the slow, difficult approach I described above, and have been very successful using it instead of drugs. Not everyone has the luxury of time or the energy to do this, but the medical profession and pharmaceutical industry are not giving parents any encouragement (in fact they are disparaging any approach besides giving drugs to children) to take chemicals out their children's food, and environment, look into allergies, food intolerances and other environmental factors contributing to ADHD-like symptoms.

Go ahead, flame and rage away, all you DCUMers! I know you have seen positive changes in your children after giving them drugs, but have you tried anything else? Have you taken your child to an allergist, for example, had a screening for food intolerances, removed carpeting from your house and gluten from your child's diet? Have you limited screen time, made sure your children get enough sleep and enough exercise? I believe what I have seen in my life and in my own family, and observed in my community. We're a sadly overmedicated society, wanting pills for every problem, with a pharmaceutical industry ready and willing to supply drugs to meet our every need, whether real or not. The trend toward giving children ADHD medications to get them through school is sad, and a tragedy for our children. And I don't see it getting better any time soon.

Agreed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm going to get flamed for this, but here goes...some of the most misbehaved children I know are diagnosed with ADHD. Interestingly enough, their parents are the most ineffective, passive and permissive adults.

I've yet to meet a child with ADHD who's raised in a strict but loving, disciplined household with firm limits, consistent boundaries, a set schedule and a healthy dose of the word n and benign neglect as needed. We're raising self-centered, entitled brats.

Go ahead, tell me that you are raising your child this way and he/she is gifted, healthy, quirky, etc. but despite your loving interventions...

We've gotten so afraid of blaming Mother or accusing the parents of neglect that experts tend to gloss over or claim the home environment is relevant.

Some of this is valid. Post-ADHD diagnosis, I have definitely changed my parenting style and wish I had done so earlier. Not speaking for
All ADHD parents, but I definitely contributed to my child's lack of boundaries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it is pretty obvious that it is both overdiagnosed and overmedicated in this country. I am not saying it is a made up condition, there are certainly kids who have it and some may benefit from medication, but not at the rate that we see here. The fact is, Americans like medications - you see that with anti-depressants as well. Europeans have a much more cautious approach to this.

This recent article in the New York Times on the topic was pretty disturbing:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/15/health/the-selling-of-attention-deficit-disorder.html?ref=health&_r=0

Thanks for posting this link. It confirms everything I believe about the ADHD "epidemic." On an overnight school trip recently, I was appalled by the enormous bag of drugs the supervising teacher carried to hand out to half of the kids on the trip each day! How on earth can all these kids need medication to help them get through school?? Something is definitely wrong with this picture.

I believe our diets and the toxic chemicals in our homes, automobiles, schools and in the air we breathe and water we drink are part of the reason so many children have trouble concentrating. Our crazy way of life -- too much time spent indoors and far too much focus far too early on academic progress -- also fuels this epidemic of ADHD diagnoses and overmedication.

Of course there are a few children who need these drugs, whose brain chemistry is so out of whack that medication is the only thing that can help them. But not half or even a quarter of our children ought to be on drugs to help them concentrate on school. If drugs are needed so frequently, perhaps there's something wrong with the schools, not the kids.

It saddens me to read how many parents on this board are medicating their children. Changing diets, giving supplements, dealing with allergies and food intolerances, getting rid of toxic chemicals in a child's environment are all very time consuming and difficult, but they work in the long run. Giving pills to children is easier and faster, but the long-term effects of giving these powerful drugs to children cannot be healthy, despite what the pharmaceutical companies claim.

Most people who become doctors in the US do it for the money. Few of them come from families with a lot of money, so many see medicine as a path to riches. Not all of course, but many. ADHD is just another way for doctors and the pharmaceutical industry to work together to make each other wealthy at the expense of innocent, naive and vulnerable people who need help and trust doctors to provide simple answers to complex problems.

I'm sorry if this is offensive to those of you who have found help through medicating your children. Teachers and doctors have suggested to me that I medicate my children, but I have chosen the slow, difficult approach I described above, and have been very successful using it instead of drugs. Not everyone has the luxury of time or the energy to do this, but the medical profession and pharmaceutical industry are not giving parents any encouragement (in fact they are disparaging any approach besides giving drugs to children) to take chemicals out their children's food, and environment, look into allergies, food intolerances and other environmental factors contributing to ADHD-like symptoms.

Go ahead, flame and rage away, all you DCUMers! I know you have seen positive changes in your children after giving them drugs, but have you tried anything else? Have you taken your child to an allergist, for example, had a screening for food intolerances, removed carpeting from your house and gluten from your child's diet? Have you limited screen time, made sure your children get enough sleep and enough exercise? I believe what I have seen in my life and in my own family, and observed in my community. We're a sadly overmedicated society, wanting pills for every problem, with a pharmaceutical industry ready and willing to supply drugs to meet our every need, whether real or not. The trend toward giving children ADHD medications to get them through school is sad, and a tragedy for our children. And I don't see it getting better any time soon.

So you are an expert because you've seen a bag of medications? because of that, you can come here and lecture those of us who have: (1) seen the daily meltdowns and loss of self-esteem in our children disappear with medical help, (2) seen how judgmental parents like you label our kids as "bad" and our parenting as worse, (3) spoken at length to doctors and specialists who, unlike know-it-alls like you actually have expertise in this area, (4) researched as much as we could, (5) resisted medication for a long time while trying all these other magic cures ( seriously, what kind of idiot are you? Of course we've tried those other things. You have no idea what most of us have tried, you simply think you can judge us) that have done nothing -- to the point that when DC finally started medication she was ANGRY at me for not helping her in that manner earlier.

But you are an expert. I wonder what motivates a person like you to sit back and judge other parents based on your myths and self-righteousness. You really have no idea what you are talking about and your post contributes nothing to our kids' lives except that you dismiss them.

I remember the bad old days before the bags of medication that somehow offend you. The kids who were labeled bad or stupid, the way they felt about themselves, the drug and alcohol abuse they later found (which has been shown in studies over and over again) the lack of understanding and help. Judge away if it somehow makes you feel better. I'm sorry that you are so small that you have to do this. I, on the other hand, am busy giving my kids a great childhood and future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it is pretty obvious that it is both overdiagnosed and overmedicated in this country. I am not saying it is a made up condition, there are certainly kids who have it and some may benefit from medication, but not at the rate that we see here. The fact is, Americans like medications - you see that with anti-depressants as well. Europeans have a much more cautious approach to this.

This recent article in the New York Times on the topic was pretty disturbing:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/15/health/the-selling-of-attention-deficit-disorder.html?ref=health&_r=0

Thanks for posting this link. It confirms everything I believe about the ADHD "epidemic." On an overnight school trip recently, I was appalled by the enormous bag of drugs the supervising teacher carried to hand out to half of the kids on the trip each day! How on earth can all these kids need medication to help them get through school?? Something is definitely wrong with this picture.

I believe our diets and the toxic chemicals in our homes, automobiles, schools and in the air we breathe and water we drink are part of the reason so many children have trouble concentrating. Our crazy way of life -- too much time spent indoors and far too much focus far too early on academic progress -- also fuels this epidemic of ADHD diagnoses and overmedication.

Of course there are a few children who need these drugs, whose brain chemistry is so out of whack that medication is the only thing that can help them. But not half or even a quarter of our children ought to be on drugs to help them concentrate on school. If drugs are needed so frequently, perhaps there's something wrong with the schools, not the kids.

It saddens me to read how many parents on this board are medicating their children. Changing diets, giving supplements, dealing with allergies and food intolerances, getting rid of toxic chemicals in a child's environment are all very time consuming and difficult, but they work in the long run. Giving pills to children is easier and faster, but the long-term effects of giving these powerful drugs to children cannot be healthy, despite what the pharmaceutical companies claim.

Most people who become doctors in the US do it for the money. Few of them come from families with a lot of money, so many see medicine as a path to riches. Not all of course, but many. ADHD is just another way for doctors and the pharmaceutical industry to work together to make each other wealthy at the expense of innocent, naive and vulnerable people who need help and trust doctors to provide simple answers to complex problems.

I'm sorry if this is offensive to those of you who have found help through medicating your children. Teachers and doctors have suggested to me that I medicate my children, but I have chosen the slow, difficult approach I described above, and have been very successful using it instead of drugs. Not everyone has the luxury of time or the energy to do this, but the medical profession and pharmaceutical industry are not giving parents any encouragement (in fact they are disparaging any approach besides giving drugs to children) to take chemicals out their children's food, and environment, look into allergies, food intolerances and other environmental factors contributing to ADHD-like symptoms.

Go ahead, flame and rage away, all you DCUMers! I know you have seen positive changes in your children after giving them drugs, but have you tried anything else? Have you taken your child to an allergist, for example, had a screening for food intolerances, removed carpeting from your house and gluten from your child's diet? Have you limited screen time, made sure your children get enough sleep and enough exercise? I believe what I have seen in my life and in my own family, and observed in my community. We're a sadly overmedicated society, wanting pills for every problem, with a pharmaceutical industry ready and willing to supply drugs to meet our every need, whether real or not. The trend toward giving children ADHD medications to get them through school is sad, and a tragedy for our children. And I don't see it getting better any time soon.

So you are an expert because you've seen a bag of medications? because of that, you can come here and lecture those of us who have: (1) seen the daily meltdowns and loss of self-esteem in our children disappear with medical help, (2) seen how judgmental parents like you label our kids as "bad" and our parenting as worse, (3) spoken at length to doctors and specialists who, unlike know-it-alls like you actually have expertise in this area, (4) researched as much as we could, (5) resisted medication for a long time while trying all these other magic cures ( seriously, what kind of idiot are you? Of course we've tried those other things. You have no idea what most of us have tried, you simply think you can judge us) that have done nothing -- to the point that when DC finally started medication she was ANGRY at me for not helping her in that manner earlier.

But you are an expert. I wonder what motivates a person like you to sit back and judge other parents based on your myths and self-righteousness. You really have no idea what you are talking about and your post contributes nothing to our kids' lives except that you dismiss them.

I remember the bad old days before the bags of medication that somehow offend you. The kids who were labeled bad or stupid, the way they felt about themselves, the drug and alcohol abuse they later found (which has been shown in studies over and over again) the lack of understanding and help. Judge away if it somehow makes you feel better. I'm sorry that you are so small that you have to do this. I, on the other hand, am busy giving my kids a great childhood and future.

Is their great future dependent on a lifetime of meds?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Is their great future dependent on a lifetime of meds?

"A lifetime of meds." As if thats a terrible thing, so much worse than "a lifetime of failure," or "a lifetime of drug and alcohol abuse" or "a lifetime of failed relationships."

I have very serious depression that recurred when I stopped my medication. So I will probably have "a lifetime of meds." Somehow I have trouble seeing why this is such a a bad thing. I suppose you think it would be preferable to have "a lifetime of depression."

To answer your question, many kids no longer need medication when they reach adulthood; some do.

Does it make you feel good to make ignorant judgments of other people? Does it make you feel superior? You would be such a failure as a parent if you had my children, you would fail them with your ignorant ideology. Either that or you would rise to the occasion and get them what they need, putting your ignorant myths aside.

Speaking of low self-esteem, you must have that in spades if you feel the need to sit back and judge others as inferior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it is pretty obvious that it is both overdiagnosed and overmedicated in this country. I am not saying it is a made up condition, there are certainly kids who have it and some may benefit from medication, but not at the rate that we see here. The fact is, Americans like medications - you see that with anti-depressants as well. Europeans have a much more cautious approach to this.

This recent article in the New York Times on the topic was pretty disturbing:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/15/health/the-selling-of-attention-deficit-disorder.html?ref=health&_r=0

Thanks for posting this link. It confirms everything I believe about the ADHD "epidemic." On an overnight school trip recently, I was appalled by the enormous bag of drugs the supervising teacher carried to hand out to half of the kids on the trip each day! How on earth can all these kids need medication to help them get through school?? Something is definitely wrong with this picture.

I believe our diets and the toxic chemicals in our homes, automobiles, schools and in the air we breathe and water we drink are part of the reason so many children have trouble concentrating. Our crazy way of life -- too much time spent indoors and far too much focus far too early on academic progress -- also fuels this epidemic of ADHD diagnoses and overmedication.

Of course there are a few children who need these drugs, whose brain chemistry is so out of whack that medication is the only thing that can help them. But not half or even a quarter of our children ought to be on drugs to help them concentrate on school. If drugs are needed so frequently, perhaps there's something wrong with the schools, not the kids.

It saddens me to read how many parents on this board are medicating their children. Changing diets, giving supplements, dealing with allergies and food intolerances, getting rid of toxic chemicals in a child's environment are all very time consuming and difficult, but they work in the long run. Giving pills to children is easier and faster, but the long-term effects of giving these powerful drugs to children cannot be healthy, despite what the pharmaceutical companies claim.

Most people who become doctors in the US do it for the money. Few of them come from families with a lot of money, so many see medicine as a path to riches. Not all of course, but many. ADHD is just another way for doctors and the pharmaceutical industry to work together to make each other wealthy at the expense of innocent, naive and vulnerable people who need help and trust doctors to provide simple answers to complex problems.

I'm sorry if this is offensive to those of you who have found help through medicating your children. Teachers and doctors have suggested to me that I medicate my children, but I have chosen the slow, difficult approach I described above, and have been very successful using it instead of drugs. Not everyone has the luxury of time or the energy to do this, but the medical profession and pharmaceutical industry are not giving parents any encouragement (in fact they are disparaging any approach besides giving drugs to children) to take chemicals out their children's food, and environment, look into allergies, food intolerances and other environmental factors contributing to ADHD-like symptoms.

Go ahead, flame and rage away, all you DCUMers! I know you have seen positive changes in your children after giving them drugs, but have you tried anything else? Have you taken your child to an allergist, for example, had a screening for food intolerances, removed carpeting from your house and gluten from your child's diet? Have you limited screen time, made sure your children get enough sleep and enough exercise? I believe what I have seen in my life and in my own family, and observed in my community. We're a sadly overmedicated society, wanting pills for every problem, with a pharmaceutical industry ready and willing to supply drugs to meet our every need, whether real or not. The trend toward giving children ADHD medications to get them through school is sad, and a tragedy for our children. And I don't see it getting better any time soon.

So you are an expert because you've seen a bag of medications? because of that, you can come here and lecture those of us who have: (1) seen the daily meltdowns and loss of self-esteem in our children disappear with medical help, (2) seen how judgmental parents like you label our kids as "bad" and our parenting as worse, (3) spoken at length to doctors and specialists who, unlike know-it-alls like you actually have expertise in this area, (4) researched as much as we could, (5) resisted medication for a long time while trying all these other magic cures ( seriously, what kind of idiot are you? Of course we've tried those other things. You have no idea what most of us have tried, you simply think you can judge us) that have done nothing -- to the point that when DC finally started medication she was ANGRY at me for not helping her in that manner earlier.

But you are an expert. I wonder what motivates a person like you to sit back and judge other parents based on your myths and self-righteousness. You really have no idea what you are talking about and your post contributes nothing to our kids' lives except that you dismiss them.

I remember the bad old days before the bags of medication that somehow offend you. The kids who were labeled bad or stupid, the way they felt about themselves, the drug and alcohol abuse they later found (which has been shown in studies over and over again) the lack of understanding and help. Judge away if it somehow makes you feel better. I'm sorry that you are so small that you have to do this. I, on the other hand, am busy giving my kids a great childhood and future.

Is their great future dependent on a lifetime of meds?

Some of the meds you are seeing are my dd's epipen, inhaler and allegra so that she doesn't die if she eats peanuts or of an asthma attack. Or maybe a child has a heart condition? How do you know what those meds are for anyway?

[Anonymous]

This thread is about ADHD meds, not asthma.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is about ADHD meds, not asthma.

My point was that the pp was disturbed at the big bags of meds at camp. How does the pp know they are for adhd and not for asthma?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Is their great future dependent on a lifetime of meds?

"A lifetime of meds." As if thats a terrible thing, so much worse than "a lifetime of failure," or "a lifetime of drug and alcohol abuse" or "a lifetime of failed relationships."

I have very serious depression that recurred when I stopped my medication. So I will probably have "a lifetime of meds." Somehow I have trouble seeing why this is such a a bad thing. I suppose you think it would be preferable to have "a lifetime of depression."

To answer your question, many kids no longer need medication when they reach adulthood; some do.

Does it make you feel good to make ignorant judgments of other people? Does it make you feel superior? You would be such a failure as a parent if you had my children, you would fail them with your ignorant ideology. Either that or you would rise to the occasion and get them what they need, putting your ignorant myths aside.

Speaking of low self-esteem, you must have that in spades if you feel the need to sit back and judge others as inferior.

How do "many kids no longer need medication when they reach adulthood"? Do they just quit when they go off to college where they can do what they want? Are they afraid of mixing the prescribed meds with recreational ones in college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

How do "many kids no longer need medication when they reach adulthood"? Do they just quit when they go off to college where they can do what they want? Are they afraid of mixing the prescribed meds with recreational ones in college?

I'm glad you are asking questions because you do have quite a bit to learn.

Like any medication, a person goes off of it under a doctor's care. Our developmental pediatrician thinks all kids should try going off their meds before they go to college to see if they still need them. For some reason, the additional brain development teens go through can often take them beyond the need for ADHD meds. Others still have ADHD.

I'll ignore the last part since your list of people whom you distain is just too lengthy to respond to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

How do "many kids no longer need medication when they reach adulthood"? Do they just quit when they go off to college where they can do what they want? Are they afraid of mixing the prescribed meds with recreational ones in college?

I'm glad you are asking questions because you do have quite a bit to learn.

Like any medication, a person goes off of it under a doctor's care. Our developmental pediatrician thinks all kids should try going off their meds before they go to college to see if they still need them. For some reason, the additional brain development teens go through can often take them beyond the need for ADHD meds. Others still have ADHD.

I'll ignore the last part since your list of people whom you distain is just too lengthy to respond to.

So the "additional brain development" can balance their "chemical imbalance"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

How do "many kids no longer need medication when they reach adulthood"? Do they just quit when they go off to college where they can do what they want? Are they afraid of mixing the prescribed meds with recreational ones in college?

I'm glad you are asking questions because you do have quite a bit to learn.

Like any medication, a person goes off of it under a doctor's care. Our developmental pediatrician thinks all kids should try going off their meds before they go to college to see if they still need them. For some reason, the additional brain development teens go through can often take them beyond the need for ADHD meds. Others still have ADHD.

I'll ignore the last part since your list of people whom you distain is just too lengthy to respond to.

So the "additional brain development" can balance their "chemical imbalance"?

Okey dokey - Take a gander at this link and learn a thing or two. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder/index.shtml?utm_source=REFERENCES_R7

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

How do "many kids no longer need medication when they reach adulthood"? Do they just quit when they go off to college where they can do what they want? Are they afraid of mixing the prescribed meds with recreational ones in college?

I'm glad you are asking questions because you do have quite a bit to learn.

Like any medication, a person goes off of it under a doctor's care. Our developmental pediatrician thinks all kids should try going off their meds before they go to college to see if they still need them. For some reason, the additional brain development teens go through can often take them beyond the need for ADHD meds. Others still have ADHD.

I'll ignore the last part since your list of people whom you distain is just too lengthy to respond to.

So the "additional brain development" can balance their "chemical imbalance"?

Okey dokey - Take a gander at this link and learn a thing or two. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder/index.shtml?utm_source=REFERENCES_R7

Thanks. What caught my eye is the link between alchohol use during pregnancy and ADHD, seeing lots of pregnant woman here believe that a little is ok. Thanks again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Is their great future dependent on a lifetime of meds?

"A lifetime of meds." As if thats a terrible thing, so much worse than "a lifetime of failure," or "a lifetime of drug and alcohol abuse" or "a lifetime of failed relationships."

I have very serious depression that recurred when I stopped my medication. So I will probably have "a lifetime of meds." Somehow I have trouble seeing why this is such a a bad thing. I suppose you think it would be preferable to have "a lifetime of depression."

To answer your question, many kids no longer need medication when they reach adulthood; some do.

Does it make you feel good to make ignorant judgments of other people? Does it make you feel superior? You would be such a failure as a parent if you had my children, you would fail them with your ignorant ideology. Either that or you would rise to the occasion and get them what they need, putting your ignorant myths aside.

Speaking of low self-esteem, you must have that in spades if you feel the need to sit back and judge others as inferior.

How do "many kids no longer need medication when they reach adulthood"? Do they just quit when they go off to college where they can do what they want? Are they afraid of mixing the prescribed meds with recreational ones in college?

Well, there has been some interesting research on this at NIH (where my son is part of an ongoing brain imaging study.) In 2012 they published the results of their research which showed that kids with ADHD have a lag in the development of certain parts of their brains.

http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/nov2007/nimh-12.htm/

Then last fall study results were published that indicated that those individuals whose ADHD symptoms resolved with age had brain structures that developed towards the normal range, whereas those individuals who still had ADHD symptoms brain scans showed continued thinning in the particular area of the brain.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/e-rfc101513.php

Roughly half the individuals in the study "grew out " of their ADHD and the other half did not. This is consistent with my child's psychiatrists observation of her patients over many years.

What this all means remains to be seen, but the evidence seems to be mounting that the brains of kids with ADHD look different from those of non ADHD kids.

http://www.kennedykrieger.org/overview/news/brain-imaging-study-preschoolers-adhd-detects-brain-differences-linked-symptoms

http://ps.columbia.edu/news/new-brain-imaging-studies-pinpoint-attention-deficit-circuits

http://newideas.net/adhd/brain-function-differences-adhd

http://www.healthyplace.com/adhd/articles/subtle-brain-circuit-abnormalities-confirmed-in-adhd/

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/564917

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=113258