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| ADHD and ADD the real thing or a cop out?
Posted: 11/13/2005 6:45:39 PM | Yo, dv8471, you do have ADD/ADHD. Sorry to break it to you. You can deny it all you want but you wouldn't have been kicked out of schools and gotten into all that trouble if you didn't. If I'm wrong, what did you have? All you did was grow out of it like many do and put other people through a lot of hell because you didn't want to admit you had the syndrome.
And that's what it is. A syndrome. It's not a disease, it's a collection of naturally occurring characteristics that prevent those afflicted from successfully integrating into their peer group. Does that sound familiar to you? It's not like cancer or scabbies or ingrown hairs, it's a collection of characteristics and you had them. You probably still do. Just because you claim not to need the medication doesn't mean it won't do you any good even now.
So, for a 22-year-old to start telling all us parents/patients that you know better 'cuz you're brilliant and got into schools that accept students that average 85 is a crock. Those doctors were basing their educational predictions on the schools they went to that allowed them to be doctors diagnosing wise ass know-it-alls. Grow up.
To all: can you tell me of a quality university that accepts students with B averages? I really need to find one for some not-so-good students I know. | |
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| ADHD and ADD the real thing or a cop out?
Posted: 11/13/2005 7:15:14 PM | | adhd is over rated they say they cant keep thier attention well its because there to smart and BORED with what is going on present the child with a challenging task and see what happens my 2 yr old was diagnosed with it her physcologist threw a fit and showed the docs up he had her counting to 20 and saying her abc...s then she drew a stick figure of her daddy (me) the docs were profounded give them challenges not a future of drugs my deepest concerns dale | |
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| ADHD and ADD the real thing or a cop out?
Posted: 11/13/2005 8:26:19 PM | Kaleesdaddy,
I sure hope your daughter doesn't have it. She's as cute as a button and looks smart as a whip, too.
I've met doctors who won't examine for ADD/ADHD/OCD etc until the kid is of school age. Why was she examined? Is she not sleeping? hurting herself? If she's OK, then just go on with your lives until there's a problem. No need to look for trouble.
ADHD is not over-rated. I just hope you never have to find that out.
Good luck to you and your daughter. If trouble finds you, we'er here. | |
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Shakti
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Joined: 8/28/2005
Msg: 54 | |
| ADHD and ADD the real thing or a cop out?
Posted: 11/13/2005 9:08:51 PM | | I have three children, two boys and one girl. Both of my boys have been diagnosed with ADHD, one has ADD, my oldest as well as a learning disbility. I have been a single parent for 7 years. It has been quite difficult as well as emotionally uplifting. I had one doctor try to argue with my after my youngest son was diagnosed that it would be better to put him on Ritlan when he was older, say teenage years. I said "No way!" Not now not ever...I later went to see a vitamin specialist who deals with diet and vitamin to help with ADHD and other conditions. He gave me hope..I wonder too if doctors are to ready to hand out prescriptions, the pharmecutical companies make millions on our children and don't give a damn about the long term damage that could be done.. | |
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Shakti
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Joined: 8/28/2005
Msg: 55 | |
| ADHD and ADD the real thing or a cop out?
Posted: 11/13/2005 9:10:45 PM | I have three children, two boys and one girl. Both of my boys have been diagnosed with ADHD, one has ADD, my oldest also has a learning disbility. I have been a single parent for 7 years. It has been quite difficult as well as emotionally uplifting. I had one doctor try to argue with me after my youngest son was diagnosed that it would be better to put him on Ritlan when he was older, say teenage years. I said "No way!" Not now not ever...I later went to see a vitamin specialist who deals with diet and prescribes vitamins to help with ADHD and other conditions. He gave me hope..I wonder too if doctors are too ready to hand out prescriptions, the pharmecutical companies make millions on our children and don't give a damn about the long term damage that could be done.. | |
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| ADHD and ADD the real thing or a cop out?
Posted: 11/13/2005 9:37:54 PM | Jess ... sorry if I missed that ... my bad ... I didn't realize where you were coming from with that. I thought you were talking about the "red dye" being in the actual medication.
Shakti ...
If your doctor is not doing the scans and just wants to hand out prescriptions ... and does not recommend therapy sessions accompany the medication therapy, then get another opinion.
I hate to sound morbid ... just hope nothing happens to you like what happened to me and the death of my son. ADHD children occasionally seek their own solutions when parents won't listen or help ... in my case it was my ex-husband who would not listen.
Since our children are not scientifically qualified to "self medicate" they sometimes make mistakes ... mistakes like my son made. That's all I really care to say about his death right now.
The effects, however are tragic and devasting. | |
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| ADHD and ADD the real thing or a cop out?
Posted: 11/14/2005 5:48:10 AM | Shakti,
All the alphabet soup psychological conditions are syndromes and not real, actual diseases per se. The main thing is to control the behaviors that are impeding your child from participating in class successfully. Whatever it takes, even if it's a placebo, should be considered. At first, I didn't want to drug my sons either but one of the psychologists pointed me to the body of research that has found that these kids do a lot worse later in life if they are are not treated successfully at this stage.
You touched on something that I find puzzling. I'm a scientist, not involved in the pharma business, who wonders why it is that people think vitamins can have therapeutic effects other than to ease specific metabolic problems. Vitamins are enzymes that aid, not cause, beneficial reactions to take place in your body. And it's only because our bodies can't make them on their own that they are vitamins. All the other enzymes you need are manufactured inside you. Such as that is, I hate to inform you, vitamins will NOT address a problem of neurotransmitter imbalance such as ADD/ADHD/OCD/ODD/etc. Try it but don't spend too much money on supervitamins. If this guy tells you that your kid needs 3000 IU of vitamin x, get the cheap brand. All your body sees is the molecule anyway. It doesn't care if it came from a test tube or the thymus of the rare Sumatran camel.
I also find it fascinating that people don't trust the pharma industry which is regulated up the wazoo by the government and is constantly challenged in court but they do trust vitamin and other "dietary supplement" charlatans who are completely unregulated and are shifty enough to avoid litigation, for the most part. Occassionally, you'll see a huckster prosecuted then start wailing about how the government wants to shut them up. It is to cry.
Good luck. I hope you can control your children's behavior in a manner that is comfortable to you. But, please, get them treated before their self-esteem nosedives. | |
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| ADHD and ADD the real thing or a cop out?
Posted: 11/15/2005 9:36:04 AM | | I just hope that someday this problem will be whiped out like any other illness I wish our school wern't so quick to get these kids on these drugs so they can "control" classrooms I wish the ppl would relize that our socity is quick to judge and quick to shun. I wish that life could be more peaceful and that more ppl were careing. MAbey someday it will but for now we have to deal with what we are delt in life and ADHD and ADD are one of the many plauges in our socity today good luck to the ones who have to deal with it everyday and to the ones who don't I am glad that this did not hit your door step good luck to all. | |
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| ADHD and ADD the real thing or a cop out?
Posted: 11/15/2005 11:59:05 AM | I think it's the real thing. I have a son that has been diagnosed with ADHD and since he is oon some medication, he has improved drmatically. It has taken a year and involvement by all involved, including teachers and dat care workers, but he has improved and will continue to do so. I also have ADD and was diagnosed soon after my son. I have seen improvemnts in focusing, but meds are not the be all end all. A lot of work on my part goes into it.
Buy the book "Scattered Minds" by Gabor Matte and judge for yourself. It is an incredible that will help you decide.book. | |
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| ADHD and ADD the real thing or a cop out?
Posted: 11/15/2005 12:01:27 PM | I think it's the real thing. I have a son that has been diagnosed with ADHD and since has been on medication, he has improved dramatically. It has taken a year and involvement by all , including teachers and daycare workers, but he has improved and will continue to do so. I also have ADD and was diagnosed soon after my son. I have seen improvemnts in focusing, but meds are not the be all end all. A lot of work on my part goes into it.
Buy the book "Scattered Minds" by Gabor Matte and judge for yourself. It is an incredible book that will help you decide. | |
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| ADHD and ADD the real thing or a cop out?
Posted: 11/15/2005 5:22:32 PM | | Well frist of all I don't think it should be a doctor that decides if your child has ADHD or ADD, yes there are medical reasons but I was told my son was posibly ADD. I took my son to our doctor and he said based on tests its possible but that I should let a physchiatrist evaluate him. I did as requested and found it wasn't ADD it was other issues in his life. I don't see it as a cop out but I certainly do think that more kids are diagnosed and given drugs and since it comes from a doctor most parents don't question it. My kids are my life and you can be assured that I will go through all avenues of investigation before I allow any drugs into my kids systems that isn't 100% justified by more then one source. | |
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| ADHD and ADD the real thing or a cop out?
Posted: 11/15/2005 5:28:46 PM | Golf God
A lot of work on my part goes into it.
Yes ... this is what goes on in the therapy sessions. It's also the reason I enrolled my son in the Karate lessons and the square dance lessons. It's good practice for them to try to train their brains for focusing at least 20 minutes at a time, then increasing the focusing intervals as you see success.
We do that in order to empower these people (young and old) so that if they run into a point where the medication is not helping or even just run out of medication, they have some help.
We have some mild cases where the people don't need to be medicated continuously, however occasionally go for help during times when they need to focus, focus, focus. This is common among some college students when trying to study for and taking their final exams.
Of course, they only get the medication because they can prove their history of ADHD and then only enough medication to help them through that time frame. After that, they go back to just doing their "focusing exercises" that are taught in therapy. | |
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| ADHD and ADD the real thing or a cop out?
Posted: 11/19/2005 12:12:53 PM | | More often than not, a copout, I would say. We used to call those kids "brats" and discipline them -- now there's a forgotten word. It's much easier to drug them, I suppose. | |
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| ADHD and ADD the real thing or a cop out?
Posted: 11/19/2005 4:22:37 PM | Artandsoul,
You've given your opinion this way three times now on this thead alone. You've opined that the current medical thrust behind the treatment of ADD and ADHD is pseudoscience and have used Dr. Phil  as your be-all-and-end-all for your beliefs. By the way, here's a link to the webpage Dr. Phil has on ADD. http://drphil.com/articles/article/150/ I can't see that he agrees with your position at all. Maybe you can point it out to me?
I'm a scientist. I've read the literature. Could you tell me specifically where it is wrong? Where is the pseudoscience? The great majority of test performed that back up the medical treatment of Asberger's/ADD/ADHD/OPD kids were properly run, double-blinded tests reported in peer-reviewed journals sanctioned by the AMA and APA. So where is it? I can't find it.
BTW, do you "discipline" your chihuahua when it gets too feisty? No? Why not? Somebody has to teach that dog how to act, yes? Give it hell. You know where I'm going with this, don't you?
So, please give us some tangible evidence why we should deep-six the current treatment regimen for these kids and brutalize them the way we did in the past. | |
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| ADHD and ADD the real thing or a cop out?
Posted: 11/19/2005 4:37:17 PM | I've debated whether or not to respond to Art's post....
You found much nicer words and a politer way to send the message than I would have OverIt!!
Comments like that certainly burn my a$$!!! Lack of dicipline is NOT the problem in my house, it never was the issue. Drugs were not seeked out in order to make my son "behave" methods of treatment were seeked out to HELP him do better, in so many areas.
Again, I'll repeat what I said earlier....MOST parents wouldn't wish this on anyone. And I'm pretty sure that most parents research the hell out of this before deciding on treatment. Drugs are not the only option nor is it the only treatment. We find the ones that happen to work best for our kids. | |
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| ADHD and ADD the real thing or a cop out?
Posted: 11/19/2005 5:55:57 PM | ^^^^ Correct ... not all ADHD children qualify to need medication ... often we can reach them through stimulating them with appropriate therapy. During the teen years when few of the available medications seem to work, we often have nothing but the therapy to fall back on.
As "Fun and Flirty" pointed out:
MOST parents wouldn't wish this on anyone. And I'm pretty sure that most parents research the hell out of this before deciding on treatment.
Thank you "Fun" for repeating that for us ... it was appreciated!  | |
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| ADHD and ADD the real thing or a cop out?
Posted: 11/19/2005 7:10:20 PM | | douglajl maybe you need your ass busted. I spend tons of time with my son. He is ADDH and he is taken meds for that as well for astma. He is not a zombie. He has more concentration and a few less volient outburst. Do you even have kids? | |
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| ADHD and ADD the real thing or a cop out?
Posted: 11/19/2005 7:32:06 PM | I don't believe such thing as ADD or ADHD exist. It is just society that affects children as well as how they are brought up that might bring about certain behaviour pattern. But it doesn't mean to take pills and put your whole body in dishormany
what you said really upsetted me. I have been raising my son alone since he was 15 months. I keep him away from sugar and bad cartoons. He knows he can't have sugar so he gives his trick or treat candy to his cousins, because I won't let him have it. When he goes to a birthday party I make sure that he eats before he goes because then he won't want cake and ice cream. I spend time with him and read to and with him. His first outburst was when he was 2 and he dropped kicked his sister cause she wouldn't give her pillow up. I have tried timeouts, spankings, corner, taken away toys, and put to bed early. I tried everything. After 3 years of testing and theropy I finally decided to put him on something. He started on Nov 3, 2005. He is on Adderall XR. No major changes yet, but his teacher did say he stopped playing around so much at school. He is not sleeping all day and he doesn't have any bad side affect. I had to put him on something because he pulled out my shoulder and I fear for him. I don't want him to turn out like his father. His father is so messed up and I want the best for my son. So I will put him on meds. The meds take 3 to 4 weeks to build up to help, so I will let you know how it goes. | |
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| ADHD and ADD the real thing or a cop out?
Posted: 11/19/2005 9:07:49 PM | | Tell them to check out a book called "Why won't my child behave". Also check into a group called Fiengold. I have one child that we thought was ADD, when we heard of this book and after reading we found that all 6 of our kids and my ex have reactions to dyes and perservatives. What a difference and a life saver this discovery has been. | |
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| ADHD and ADD the real thing or a cop out?
Posted: 11/19/2005 10:19:40 PM | My son just recently turned three years of age. Since 11 months of age he has exhibited high aggression levels, low frustration tolerance, as well as symptoms of ADHD. After getting no help from a psychiatrist, a child wellness program, and being put onto a year-long waiting list for an assessment program (which he has just started) I think I might have some room to make suggestions...
First of all, everyone who has suggested diet restrictions is absolutely correct. This should be the first thing that parents look at trying before medication. I removed milk from my sons diet, as well as heavily processed foods, and sugars. He has had about a 40 percent improvement. Many doctors do not believe that diet can have such a huge impact on behaviour, however there have been many studies (which can be found on the net) that would suggest otherwise. We're talking about autistic children who haven't spoken being able to speak again after being put on restricted diets. Also, children coming off medications such as Ritalin. Anyways, parents, give this a try. I also don't believe in medicating unless there is a real danger to the child or parent. | |
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| ADHD and ADD the real thing or a cop out?
Posted: 11/19/2005 10:45:06 PM | Medicine is full of bad science, Rocknrob.
You had a good experience with this? It might not be due to the "dyes and perservatives [sic]" that your children were consuming. This diet works sometimes due to the fact that the whole family has to maintain a strict regimented lifestyle. This is much like some affected children respond to the establishment of a strictly-enforced routine.
Beware of anyone making blanket statements about common substances or phenomena causing widespread malaise. If there is ever any basis to these claims at all, it's based on very sparse data such as Feingold used. Don't get me wrong, Feingold based his recommendations on what he observed but the population he personally treated was such a minute fraction of all hyperactives, he really should not have jumped to the conclusions he did. That's bad science. Nevertheless, his regimen seems to work for a small number of patients so it's worth using in those cases. Let's face it, there are lots of people walking around today that have been cured with placebos.
I've tried taking my kids off sugar, foods with dyes, etc., to no avail. If it worked for you, that's wonderful but your experience is not universal.
For a moderating opinion, see:
http://consensus.nih.gov/1982/1982DietHyperactivity032html.htm
http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/feingold.html
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/66/4/521
http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/sped/projects/ose/information/hypersugar.html | |
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| ADHD and ADD the real thing or a cop out?
Posted: 11/20/2005 5:04:17 AM |
Let's face it, there are lots of people walking around today that have been cured with placebos.
And there are lots of people who have continued problems who did not get the help they needed because people close their minds to the possibility that a problem exists. | |
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| ADHD and ADD the real thing or a cop out?
Posted: 11/20/2005 5:51:35 PM | Most people don't believe it exists regardless of science because we don't look any different than any one else. We jsut seem to be the ones shunted off into the corner or acting oddly. I tried self medicating for years by drinking upwards of 5 pots of coffee a day or more, drinking way too much, etc.
Yes, it is more prevalent in males and it is in most cases hereditary although there are environmental triggers as well. It is a recessive so both parents need to be at least carriers.
Make it a Great Day, Hug your kids!
Kevin | |
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| ADHD and ADD the real thing or a cop out?
Posted: 11/23/2005 9:54:28 PM | | My daughter is 5 and in full day kindergarden. She is also Type 1 Diabetic. She had several out bursts in classes and the school staff immediatly decided she was ADHD. Wanted me to get her checked and on meds. I refused. She has enough going on right now with finger pokes and shots, she doesn't need anymore. So I told the school that next time she has these "outbursts" to check her sugars. Guess what, she was having minor sugar crashes. And at 5 she can't always express that something just isn't right. The teacher was torked that I wouldn't put her on meds, oh well my child not yours. Figured out why she was crashing and gave her more food at snacks, haven't had a "outburst" since. Just goes to show, the school doesn't always know what's up. Oh I have ADHD (among other things) and I take meds everyday, my brother is extremely ADHD and takes meds too. I can function without the meds, but I'm better when I'm on. | |
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| ADHD and ADD the real thing or a cop out?
Posted: 11/24/2005 8:03:37 AM | this one is touchy for me....
My son is almost 8 and at the end of the school year in june was confirmed with not only ADHD but a learning concern and high intelect.
i knew from the age of 1.5 that my son was different from any other child i have ever known, he was in behavior thyripy at 2 he was uncontrolable, and had been repermanded at daycare on a day to day basis. at the age of 4 he was expelled from daycare! he was constently suspended from school starting at the age of 5 last year alone he was suspended 4 time in one month
I have had him with a theripist for 2 years at one of the best child mental health facilitys. untill i found that they could not do anything else for him,. so i focused on school and the teachers, the principal.. I finally got them to do testing....
not that i want my child on medication but you have no idea what it is like to deal with a child that had no control over his mind and is so impulsive and has no reason for it. Now i am deling with doctors and the school board to help him further and keep him off meds. I take meds and know that it is not a good thing to deal with everyday.
Most of the children with ADD and ADHD are very very gifted this also causes problems cause they are not like your average cookie cutter kid and the teachers do not want to take the time to help them cause they need one on one....
I got lucky this time, my son is in grade 2 but cause of the princal and the teacher he is in a grade 4/5 split class and is doing better then he ever has before cause i made them take notice of my son....  | |
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