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Actually Ball, all of the the stimulant medications you list have been extensively tested in children. There are no tests showing that the side effects of these medications are harmful to children in the short term. There are numerous tests showing that they are effective in the short term. The major limitation of the research is that there aren’t any long-term studies of safety or effectiveness, although Ritalin and Adderall have been used for more than 30 years without any significant safety issues arising. You are right that more research is needed though. Not all children with ADHD need to take stimulants and not all parents are comfortable giving stimulants to their children. That is all fine, but in order for parents to make informed decisions about what to do, they have to be working from accurate information. Posts such as yours do not provide that information. Moreover, the underlying message of your post is condemnation for those parents who do choose medication for their children, an attitude which is unfair. Perhaps medication was not right for you, given your history of TBI. Perhaps you did not get the help and support you needed in your life. That does not mean that the many parents here who give stimulant medications are being callous and uncaring. To the contrary, their mere presence at this website suggests that they are committed to doing the very best they can for their children.

Andrea

Curt Cobain & Robert Downey Jr hav two things in common. They were both given Ritalin as children. I would not suggest that parents are callous. They just misinformed as to the dangers of these meds. Remember Phen Phen and Redux and now Meridia. The drug companies said they were safe knowing all along they were not. It is illegal to test drugs on children. Speaking of illegal how much Ritalin is being used as a recreational drug? Answer… a lot. It must have quite a nice buzz. Many children resist taking it. What does that tell you? Ritalin use actually inhibits the formation of neural pathways in the brain. It just makes sense to use alternative treatments first and give them time to work. We are a culture of pill poppers. We want everything instantly regardless of the consequences. Look at all the morbidly obese junk food junkies waddling around and going to some charleton MD and asking for and getting a pill. It make me sick.

We decide to what is best for our children, since my daughter started Dexadrine, her quality of life academically, socially,behaviorally has improved 100%. Before med’s I tried every natural remedy out there, with no success. But without the med’s I would be depriving her of so much. I wish people like you Ball would keep your opinions of med bashing to yourself. Do you think that I feel good about having to medicate my child? Do you think that I am not stressed or depressed enough without having narrow minded people such as yourself putting some kind of guilt trip on me for doing what I believe is the best for my child?

I suspect that you may really be a drug saleman and not a mom. If you are a mom and Dexadrine is the only thing that works then by all means use it. Alternative treatment like Omega 3s work on the cause and therefore take longer. You can still use natural therapies along with Dexadrine. Dexadrine has been around for 50 years and is cheap to manufacture. So it should be cheap to buy. If you are paying more than a few pennies per dose your getting ripped off. The drug companies are evil. Their justification for high prices is a big fat lie.