Monday, September 17, 2012
Prescribing Ritalin to children
ADHD is diagnosed primarily from teacher complaints since children spend most of their time at school. In 2010 1 in 23 children with ADHD were medicated and a recent press realease reports that 1 in 10 children are diagnosed with ADHD so the number of children medicated has more than likely gone up. There is a movement to re-characterize many misdiagnosed ADHD children. Ritalin acts as a stimulant dopamine reuptake inhibitor in much the same way as COCAINE! Children being prescribed Ritalin and other ADHD medications are being given a "speed" based pill. I dont know about you but I would never give my child a medication very much like cocaine. Ritalin is described as a "safe" alternative to amphetamines. Children evaluated on Ritalin were affectless, humorless, apathetic, withdrawn and zombie like. ADHD didnt show up in the DSM until 1980. So were there no ADHD children before that or what? In 1980 150,000 children were on the drug, in 1990 1 million were on the drug and today and estimated 3.5 million take a stimulant for ADHD. The side effects of Ritalin and other ADHD stimulants cause a long list of physical, emotional, and psychiatric harms. Physical problems include drowsiness, appetite loss, insomnia, headaches, abdominal pain, motor abnormalities, facial and vocal tics, jaw clenching, skin problems, liver disorders, weight loss, growth suppression, hypertension, and sudden cardiac death. Emotional problems are depression, mood swings, irritability and anxiety. Psychiatric problems include obsessive compulsive symptoms, mania, parania, psychotic episodes and hallucinations. The pharmaceutical companies know of all these side effects caused by their drugs and they still are being produced but yet we can also blame the parent for still giving their children these stimulants.
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Amen to that Fidel!!! I completely agree the numbers associated with the disorder are ridiculous and those side affects speak for themselves. When I was a kid a good ass kicking would have been treatment enough for "ADHD". This is not to say that I do not think that it is a real disorder, but a lot of the time it is just lack of discipline. For example, how is it that a kid can have ADHD yet play xbox for three hours!
ReplyDeleteI too agree with you. I is beyond ridiculous as to the number of children said to have ADHD, when actually only a few have a serve case that need real medication. Even then I don't think they need medication, some times they just a good slapping to show discipline. I know a few kids that are said to have ADHD, and all they did to receive this diagnosed is walk all over their parents and throw hissy fits. I think that a stricter guidelines as to what makes a child ADHD is needed, because that's just too many kids that have it already.
ReplyDeleteThat is fascinating! The statistics are mind-blowing. I was completely unaware of the over diagnoses of children with ADHD. But how can you come to the conclusion that there is no such disorder as ADHD? I disagree with you on that sense. Most cognitive disorders are associated with the prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex is also associated with attention. I understand your skepticism, but the possibility shouldn't be ruled out.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how many kids are on Ritalin and even more fascinating that that many parents allow it. In some cases I understand the teachers refuse to have the students in their class unless their medicated, but giving children a medication that can cause sudden death is not worth it, in my opinion. I've seen parents refuse to give their children this medication because they say it changes them and watching the just zombie their way through life is not a life. I think that yes they may be more hyperactive than other kids, but we have to find a way to occupy them and make them concentrate without running the risks of ADHD medication.
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