ADD/ADHD and meds

[ArenaBoy]

A thread on CS got me thinking and I decided to post this here.

I have ADHD, had it my whole life. I didn't talk till I was 2 and even then I barely talked, just kept to myself. When my parents were enrolling me for school, the board didn't even want me as they thought I was beyond control for their school*, ended up being on ritalin for 13 years, have been off of it since June 2006.

When I was on ritalin I felt like crap. Felt depressed, felt like a zombie, and it got to the point that I felt like I was on heroin (I am exaggerating). Turns out that there's a coming down feeling in ritalin. What I really hated was being told by my doctor and my mom to take ritalin despite my protests, I'd rather feel happy and energetic rather than feeling like a tired slug.

Basically, I'm against meds unless stated otherwise. To me it should be left to the child when he/she is getting to the point that they can make decisions on their own, something my mom or my doctor never grasped.

*: I truly hate that board, I have a variety of things to say about them but I'd think it'd get me banned HERE. I will say that at the age of 19 I can speak Japanese and French without a hitch.

[AFPheonix]

Ritalin and other ADD meds are addictive stimulants. They are in the same tier of controlled meds as opium, oxycodone and morphine.

I see kids come through on HUGE doses of controlled release meds plus a short term dose, plus maybe something like clonidine to calm them further, and I wonder if perhaps the parents and doctors are relying overmuch on these meds rather than teaching the kids behaviors to help cope with their condition.

I don't doubt that there's definitely a time and a place for this stuff, but there's also other ways of going about helping these kids become healthy members of society.

[Greenday]

I personally believe WAY too many kids are diagnosed with ADD and ADHD these days. Years ago, we didn't have to drug kids because they couldn't pay attention or were too hyper. So why do we have to drug them now? But seriously, if a kid can't even focus on the teacher for five minutes, people say they are ADD. It's gotten ridiculous.

[Dreamstalker]

I agree completely. For years I was on various antidepressants (including some nasty tricyclics that I think they knew even then never to give to young children) for...

...Aspergers. I kid you not. A nonverbal learning disability. At age 10 I was deemed schizophrenic because I still had an imaginary friend (still do, they go by the term "muses" now ).

I daresay those meds completely squashed my creativity.

One woman tried to put me on Lithium and get me committed at the beginning of high school because I had an active imagination and *gasp* played RPGs. Interestingly, at times I would bait her just to see if she was smart enough to go beyond the textbook training. Both my mom and my "regular" shrink knew what I was doing and were highly puzzled how this woman could have bought it (I made sure the lady knew me very well before trying that). That revelation (along with the Lithium) made my regular shrink "fire" her and made sure she knew why.

My mom finally pulled me off any and all psycho meds when my grades started plummeting in high school. Whatever I was on then was literally causing me to fall asleep in class (oddly, it was my science teacher who first noticed something was wrong as I wasn't the first one to raise my hand in class like before).

I've read that what's called ADD/ADHD/etc may have at one point been a survival mechanism.

[ArenaBoy]

But seriously, if a kid can't even focus on the teacher for five minutes, people say they are ADD. It's gotten ridiculous.

You just reminded me of a South Park episode where every kid is tested for ADD/ADHD. The test was to see if they paid attention to a book reading. The book? War and Peace. Just about every kid fell asleep and they were "diagnosed" with ADD/ADHD.

I daresay those meds completely squashed my creativity.


One woman tried to put me on Lithium and get me committed at the beginning of high school because I had an active imagination.

IMO I've noticed that creative types usually do not tend to gel with a normal society.

[rahmota]

Agreed that there is too much reliance on psychobabblies and therapists when it comes to deciding whats wrong with kids. The tendency to drug and sedate kids is a very dangerous cop out for a society that refuses to just deal with the real issues of gaining the kids trust, providing a spark of interest for them to draw into themselves be it an RPG, artwork, or whatever.

Instead if you are not a perfect little sheep marching lockstep with everyone else then you are different and different means abnormal. Abnormal means sick and must be medecated to make you well. How very Orwellian in thought process there..

Any doctor that wants to dope a kid needs to have their head examined.

[Dreamstalker]

IMO I've noticed that creative types usually do not tend to gel with a normal society.

I did get fairly good at pretending to "fit in" (as well as palming the pills I was supposed to be taking). Still not sure if that's a good thing, or a very sad comment on this society. I'm guessing the latter.

[FormerCallingCardRep]

I have a now 17 year old daughter that will be going to the Cardiologist on the 24th to have her six month check due to damage to her heart from ADHD meds. I wish we would have never put her on them to start out with.

[Will-Mun]

I was classified as having ADHD in first grade. I was shortly thereafter put on Ritalin and placed into special education, of which I didn't get out of till 6th grade (I didn't get out of it FULLY till Junior year, but that was only one mandatory class because I was 'classified'.). This did more damage to my social life than any other event I have experienced. On Ritalin I was a zombie, uninterested in people... My eating habits would range from becoming skinny when I was on the meds during the school year, and bulking up during the summer when I was off. I had insomnia, and three friends all the way up to 8th grade.

I was finally able to get off the meds as I entered high school... And you should know... High School is not a good place for a kid who had missed all the social experiences he was supposed to get in middle school to finally become human again. I had NO friends that first year, and slipped into a deep depression... I failed all but one class, which I worked my ASS off for the rest of my high school years to fix so I could graduate on time.

I'm still a social klutz, I'm nervous and shy around new people, and have a lot of defenses to get through before I open up. I don't like large crowds at all, and prefer to just hang out with my small group of friends.

Though even without Ritalin I function normally... I am told I will have ADHD all my life, but it doesn't hurt me at all...What hurt me was the medication that destroyed what I was supposed to learn in school BESIDES my ABCs and when Columbus landed in the new world... Social Skills.

[ShockQueen]

Instead if you are not a perfect little sheep marching lockstep with everyone else then you are different and different means abnormal. Abnormal means sick and must be medecated to make you well. How very Orwellian in thought process there..

Any doctor that wants to dope a kid needs to have their head examined.

I agree! The schools recommended both Ritalin and Adderall for our child, and both had very whacked out side effects, including acute paranoia. Once we pulled her off of them, she returned to normal. These drugs are DANGEROUS and should not be used in place of teaching children who are a little wild how to behave properly. It really makes me miss how the schools were when I was growing up. Back then, the school system had a SPINE and had some discipline! This is also contributing to the decline of kids in public schools.

and they keep wondering why homeschooling is on such a meteoric rise...........

[Seshat]

And you should know... High School is not a good place for a kid who had missed all the social experiences he was supposed to get in middle school to finally become human again. I had NO friends that first year, and slipped into a deep depression...

I was a child pre-ADHD, pre-Aspergers. I'd just like to mention that even before all of the drugs and such, high school wasn't a good place for a quiet geeky kid who'd learned noone ever liked her.


As for the drugs issue: I do think there's a place for putting kids on psychoactive drugs. But only the kids who actually NEED it. The kids who do have psychiatric disorders which cannot be controlled behaviourally - where the brain chemistry is screwed up and making them suffer.

But that's a very small group.

[novicecrafter]

.

In the words of Cesar Milan "Exercise, discipline, affection" ... No seriously I bet you anything many kids who have mild add (like I do) could have been helped by those three things. Screw the drugs we just have excess energy to burn and may need a little help with self discipline to control our challanges.

[Will-Mun]

As for the drugs issue: I do think there's a place for putting kids on psychoactive drugs. But only the kids who actually NEED it. The kids who do have psychiatric disorders which cannot be controlled behaviourally - where the brain chemistry is screwed up and making them suffer.

But that's a very small group.

I agree, people who say "No more drugs!" on a complete scale... they seem to forget there are some children who DO need medication to function... But Ritalin is a drug that just doesn't work... It has too many adverse side effects to be given to kids who are supposed to be learning how to interact with others AS WELL as academics.