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

Forum Index » Kids With Special Needs and Disabilities

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

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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[/quote]

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. [/quote]
Agreed.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics