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Hey parents...

#21
MakiSupaStar said:
There is no doubt that some kids actually do need medication. I've witnessed night and day changes first hand with students I work with. My niece was just put on medication, and my sister and my brother-in-law only made this decision after second and third opinions, changes in diet, behavior mod, and the child's own plea to 'feel normal'. Everyone, including my 9 year old niece is happy now. :)
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For how long? One thing I think the ADD meds do is help people who have a world view not in step with societal norms fit in better. Like Krishnamurti said "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." I was on Ritalin and later Dexedrine for over a decade before realizing that instead of that what I needed to do was A) make some changes in my diet (cutting gluten, refined sugar and food additives was miraculous) and B) to really accept that it was OK not to fit in. These aren't decisions a child can be expected to make and I suspect most kids get medicated more for the convenience of authority figures than for their long term mental health.
 
#22
jeff arddun said:
For how long? One thing I think the ADD meds do is help people who have a world view not in step with societal norms fit in better. Like Krishnamurti said "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." I was on Ritalin and later Dexedrine for over a decade before realizing that instead of that what I needed to do was A) make some changes in my diet (cutting gluten, refined sugar and food additives was miraculous) and B) to really accept that it was OK not to fit in. These aren't decisions a child can be expected to make and I suspect most kids get medicated more for the convenience of authority figures than for their long term mental health.
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The child wasn't making the decision. It was her parents making the decision in her best interest. My niece has ADHD, which is often a side effect of NF-1, which she also has. They have other concerns with the NF-1, but her ADHD was quite severe. She's a bright, highly intelligent girl but she would complain that she can't sleep because she can't stop thinking. Often my sister would wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning and hear her organizing her closet. IMO, and I'm very skeptical of medicating kids, I think they made the right decision in this case.

Not sure what you mean by 'For how long?'
 
#23
hover said:
For the record, I am not dismissing the benefits of this medication for those who truly meet all the criteria and exhausted other options, but moreso the dismissal of medical professionals, who prefer, either by force of habit, or anticipating the wants of the parents, to immediately jump to that "solution" in leiu of in depth analysis of each case.

Sorry if I offended anyone, I admit to slightly more than casual read-up on the subject, but my initial feelings on the matter remain and I feel are applicable.

Nutdog, I wish the best for you and your child.
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Thanks, and no offense taken. I said many similar things both before and after the adoption. It's easy to think of it as natural energy and curiosity or lack of discipline. It's hard to describe to others but after you've been around it for a while you go "Ohhhh". And it can be frustrating. One lady put it this way (as I remember it): "Quit asking why. It doesn't make sense because it's crazy."

In our case we're dealing with fetal alcohol and drugs as well as whatever happened the two years before child services took him and then 3 years in foster care. ADHD and LD may be symptoms of other problems and not the ultimate diagnosis. We're trying to figure it all out.

On point, I will say changing his diet made a huge difference in his ability to focus. We stopped glutens, casines (dairy), and sugars, which includes a lot of stuff. High fructose corn syrup is in everything. Check your catsup label.

We started letting him have a few things to experiment. The corn really sets him off. Today's corn is not what the pilgrims ate. It's basically sugar. That's why we like it so much. Corn used to be high protein and people didn't eat it plain, they ground it up into meal and cooked with it. Give him a tortilla chip and you can see his little face start squenching up.

One day the family was shooting hoops out back after school. He'd get the ball and start dribbling and his feet looked like MC Hammer. It was hilarious. I suspected he ate some candy and asked. He denied it. Momma kept after him and he copped to eating a few M&M's. Then the truth came out that he'd ate 2 packs. The effect was obvious. And it continues for several days after.
 
#24
So nice to see a study that actually supports dietary changes as making a difference in ADHD. My son was headed toward an ADHD diagnosis and medication in early elementary school. They even held him a year before starting kindergarten because he couldn't sit still. Since I have food allergies, I was keeping an eye on his diet and could see a direct correlation between certain foods and his behaviour. I had already cut sugar, colorings and corn syrup out of his diet but he was still going off the wall after eating certain foods. He also knew his behaviour wasn't right but just couldn't control it. Very upsetting for him. Right before 2nd grade started I finally took him for food allergy testing. When they injected wheat (not gluten, which is uncommon) he twitched and squirmed and held his book with his toes. I honestly couldn't tell them if he was having a reaction or if he was just being himself, but when they neutralized it he sat as still as could be and read normally. We cut wheat out of his diet based on that and had immediate results. All the wierdness, twitchiness, restlessness and behavioural problems cleared up. Sticking to a no-wheat diet was/is difficult. It helped that he recognized what wheat did to him and wanted that to stop. It did not help that my friends acted like I was just being mean to him by not letting him have "normal" food and candy. (He also tested positive to corn, my main allergen.) Plus my mother would give him "treats" and tell him to make extra-sure he worked hard to behave afterward. She just wouldn't understand that its not something he can control if he works real hard at it. It's not something he can control at all. He's 14 now we've found many good wheat-free/corn-free foods out there that the whole family likes. We've also cut out as many preservatives as possible, especially nitrates/nitrites as they were triggering migraines. It's expensive, and it's a hassel sometimes (camp is awful!), but his health is worth the effort.

I agree that there are some kids who actually do need to be medicated to keep their symptoms under control, but I also believe that there are many ADHD diagnosis out there that might possibly be food allergies/sensetivities. And it still amazes me, and kind of makes me angry, when parents with ADHD kids won't even consider that diet might make a difference, tell me there's no evidence to support it, say that this is what their kid wants to eat (who's the parent here?), and then tell me I'm depriving my son by not letting him eat the junk food, too. Or they tell me it's just too much of a hassel to limit or change their kid's diet when they can just use medication and get the same effect. That way their kid won't be singled out by not getting to eat the food the other kids eat.

I spoke with a guy once who related the story of his high school age son who was ADHD and on medication, failing school, in trouble with the law, and just generally out of control. This guy had never had ADHD problems himself and wasn't sure why his son did. He went on to complain that they never had pop (soda), candy or any junk food growing up and his mom did all of her shopping at the health food store and bought organic. He didn't do that to his son - his son had all that good junk food and pop that he never had growing up. Not once did ever occur to him that maybe there was a reason his mom shopped at the health food store and perhaps that's why he never had ADHD-type problems himself, or that perhaps that's why his son did.

Sorry for the book - guess I feel strongly about this one. +100000000 to the OP - thanks for sharing. And I know there is a lot of controversy out there about food allergies, this is just my experience with it.
 
#26
my younger brother was diagnosed with ADHD. my mom immediatly put him on medication. my father is pretty much anti-medication. caused many fights between them. finally my mom switched my brother to a vitamin regiment. worked out much better for him than the medicines ever did. he did pay attention and hold still on the medication, i wont dispute that, but he was irritable and angry all the time, tons of fighting in school.

not a good trade off to me.. he wont pay attention in class so lets give him medicine that makes him fight with other kids constently.

anyway vitamins and diet have been working well for about 8 years now..
 
#27
MakiSupaStar said:
The child wasn't making the decision. It was her parents making the decision in her best interest. My niece has ADHD, which is often a side effect of NF-1, which she also has. They have other concerns with the NF-1, but her ADHD was quite severe. She's a bright, highly intelligent girl but she would complain that she can't sleep because she can't stop thinking. Often my sister would wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning and hear her organizing her closet. IMO, and I'm very skeptical of medicating kids, I think they made the right decision in this case.

Not sure what you mean by 'For how long?'
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I've sat down several times to respond but to make any real sense I'd hafta hang too much personal stuff out and this isn't a place I wanna do that.
 
#29
I am just going to put my $0.02 in...
I have ADD, and It almost ruined my life. I couldn't concentrate on a d*** thing, always forgot what people told me, and by my sophomore year, I had given up on graduating completely. finally, my doctor convinced my parents to lose the "He's just lazy, not ADD!" mentality and prescribed medication for me.
Inone month, ONE MONTH, Iturned my grades from an average of 46% per class, to all A's and B's! i went from a nearly no existant GPA to the top 3rd of my class.
I am now accepted into college for Music and Engineering.
I know alot of parents over do it when it comes to medication, or under do it and feed their kids junk each day, but don't just asssume the child won't be helped if given special medication. and here's an idea: If you put your child on a medication, AND IT DOESN"T HELP, take him/her OFF the medicine.

(btw, this computer is in poor condition and not letting me correct my grammar mistakes, I am sorry!)
 
#30
Give a prescription (meds) to everyone that has ADHD listed on their chart?

Before we lump 'everyone' into one category, let's consider if the patients have limited, or more pronounced symptoms before we go using a blanket approach to treating them. And, as others have suggested-perhaps consistent changes in diet would be a good start before calling the pharmacy!
 
#31
Very good perspective. Diet should be the first thing inspected for 99% of all doctor visits. I've also had a friend who had their child evaluated for ADHD. And to their surprise his out of control behavior was blamed on their rough times and watching them throw temper tantrums. If any kid was a candidate, it was this one.

Having spent most of my child hood on medication for ADHD, I can say changing my diet did help. Also I think some of it came from tensions at home. I also think if channeled properly I could have put that energy to use sooner then I did.

I've seen the pot reference in one of the posts. And from my experience it was helpful adjusting from a manic state to a mellow state, while not feeling the same side effects from prescription medications. There is a reason is being treated like medicine these days.
 
#33
i have always been in the don't just medicate people camp. i am a big believer in healthy diet. i imagine anyone who has read my posts over the years will not be surprised to hear this.

ironically enough, last year i did put my son on concerta. it was not an easy decision. he had suffered from all the typical "boy" behaviors that cause parents to medicate since he was little (he is now 15). us parents resisted the easy way out. he already had a very clean diet. i knew that he wasn't an academic, sit at a desk kid (i am not either). he is clearly very bright and creative (you should see how focused he can be at NOT doing things the "normal" way!).

anyway, since he was 14 when he started meds, he was in on the decision. he wanted to feel more clear headed. he complained that he couldn't focus on tests or quiet study cause EVERY sound, or shuffling of papers, or shifting of butts in chairs threw him off. i was worried that on drugs he would stop being the creative, clever smart-@$$ that was my son. turns out, he can focus now, is happier in school, and is still the same person. its just that he remembers to turn in his work now and can regurgitate info on tests.

over the few years we put off the easy, drug-him approach i learned some things. i have had several teachers say that easily two-thirds of their kids are on meds (i don't think they are supposed to tell me that, but it happened a few times). when it is that high, it is hard to think every case is accurately prescribed. the doc who did end up prescribing told me he does have parents who want to use meds to improve performance of functioning kids in hopes that they will do better and get into better schools. he also said that so many kids are on performance-enhancing meds that being clean puts a kid at a disadvantage! sick society, eh?

obviously, some kids will benefit, others are mis-diagnosed, but this is a very hard situation to treat with a cure-all. figuring out food allergies is a slow process. i think it is a luxury to afford that kind of care from docs and to have the resources to follow thru at home. there is also different meds and different doses. all in all every case is individual which makes it hard to draw any firm conclusions. at best, parents make informed choices. it would be nice if our society didn't put such a premium on having kids behave and produce. on the other hand, how can a teacher teach when they are just baby-sitting and doing damage control?
 
#35
Sadly, this doesnt only happen with kids and ADD/ADHD. The pharmaceutical companies have been pushing dope for a long time, and deals with medical offices can sometimes create a situation where a doctor will unecessarily prescribe drugs to people who dont really need them.

Years ago my Mom was going through a bout of depression. The doctor, without even suggesting she see a mental health professional, prescribed her Paxil. She never took it, and eventually moved past her depressive state. It was around that time in her life that she started cooking a lot less red meat and eating better overall.
 

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