Medication Question

I think the decesion to medicate ones child has to be the parents decesion. All children are different and they all react differently to medication. Some do really well on it, some only need it part time, and others are on meds all year..it just depends on what works best for the child and for the best interests of the child..
I fought putting my child on meds for over a year, but when I finally decided to give it a try as a last resort..I was so upset with myself that I did not do it sooner..he went thru a year of pure hell at school and did not have to..his grades improved dramatically, his socialization improved and he now has friends and leads a pretty normal life…I wish I had not drug my feet on getting him the help he needed..but again, meds are not right for everyone…each situation is different and unique..

Meds have been like a miracle for my son (he is not hyper, but ADD/In). Since being on meds, I have seen his work and self-esteem zoom at school and socially. He is being tutored over the summer, and only started the last week of June, and went from not being able to decode to 2nd grade reading level and in just one month. He is able to pay attention and control his impulsiveness now. The thing I am most happy with aside from just the academics is how his self-esteem has soared.
Before meds we have tried behavior therapy at school and at home (for 3 years) etc, but nothing worked and the stressed level in the house was unbearable and he was falling behind more and more in school. Now with meds, remediation, tutoring, discipline, diet and exercise, life is so much better for my son.
Medicine alone is not going to solve all the problems, I believe it is a combination of the above but it sure helps so that the rest can be more effective.

I have done a lot of research, soul searching and talking to doctors before coming to this decision. It is the right decision for my son.

Hi, Ellen!

You will find that there are many different opinions and experiences in this regard. We chose not to medicate either of our two “ADHD”-type children. It was never an option for us. We chose to use a lot of social interventions and, most importantly, used alternative educational options (alternative schools and home schooling). Truly, when we steered clear of the school system, we found that the issues became much less stressful and we were able to manage quite well. This is not to say we didn’t go through some very hellish times - screaming, biting, kicking, the whole works. But we were determined and came up with a lot of creative strategies that worked great for us. I also know a number of other folks in my community that have successfully parented “ADHD” kids medication-free with similar success.

I would strongly suggest you look at the research on the topic, starting with literature reviews over the last 30 years. What I have found from the research is that medications appear in many cases (but far from all cases!)to have a dramatic effect in the short-term on compliance, attention to tasks assigned by others, and reduced impulsivity. But you will also find that long-term studies don’t support the idea that kids on medication are going to do any better or worse than kids not on medication in terms of life outcomes like delinquency, acedemic achievement, or self-esteem. There are also studies suggesting dramatic differences in children’s behavior when the classroom structure is changed in such a way as to provide more stimulation or to allow children more control over how and when they do certain tasks (i.e. open classrooms vs. traditional classrooms). There is also some ancillary research suggesting that some kids are affected by dietary issues, sleep deprivation or sleep apnea, and abuse or neglect (among other things), and experience similar “symptoms” to ADHD. I think all of this should be taken into account when deciding on the best interventions, because kids may be acting the same way for very different reasons.

As far as preschoolers being on medication, I think this is an even more controversial area. We really have no idea what such medications can do to the brain of a child, and the younger they are, the more dangerous it is to experiment. Also, many children of preschool age engage in “ADHD” behavior as a consequence of normal development, and are in need of creative and loving parenting intervention and plain old time to grow up to help them move on to the next stage of development. How to distinguish these normal developmental stages from “ADHD” in preschoolers is a challenge that is beyond my comprehension. Unless we can develop some clear physiological criteria for distinguishing the “diseased” from the “normal” preschooler, I think we are making a big mistake to even be talking about medication at that age.

I hope this is a helpful perspective for your research.

–- Steve

[quote=”Steve”]Hi, Ellen!

. But you will also find that long-term studies don’t support the idea that kids on medication are going to do any better or worse than kids not on medication in terms of life outcomes like delinquency, acedemic achievement, or self-esteem.

Steve, I would be interested to read the studies you mention to the effect that in the long-term there is no difference in outcome between medicated and non-medicated children with ADHD. Quite honestly, it was my understanding that there basically is no research on long-term outcomes (at least not past 14 months), which makes parental decision-making about medications a lot harder. Can you post a link or a citation?

Andrea

Steve, can tell us what you have done that works with your kids. It would be very helpful to us, so we might try it with our kids.

I’ve actually described some of our tactics and strategies in a few spots on this board, including the “spanking” thread and the “Parents, what works” thread. I have mentioned “energy points” and how to deal with a chronically oppositional child in those posts. I could write a book, believe me! We have had to be very creative. Perhaps if you gave me a more specific question, I might be more helpful.

As far as the long-term research, I don’t have the exact references with me today, but I recall one by Russell Barclay (who is a BIG medication supporter, so no bias involved there) back in 1978 (Barclay and Cunningham), and a “Review of Reviews” by James S. Swanson in 1993 in “Exceptional Children”. So this has been known for a while, and really isn’t much disputed, particularly with regards to the educational outcomes. The 1998 Consensus Conference at NIH also found that medication did not affect long-term acedemic outcomes one way or the other. There haven’t been any double-blind, controlled studies of that length, but I think those are impractical anyway for the number of variables that are involved in these situations. I have encountered a few other reviews more recently that I didn’t write down, because it was the same conclusion. One was as recent as 2002, and found that the benefits of the medication were primarily within the first 6 months to 15 months. If you have a medical library near you, they might be a good resource. I did my intial literature search at our local medical school library. I’ll see if I can get you the specifics on the Barclay reference. Also, Lawrence Diller has a pretty well researched book on ADHD “Running on Ritalin” and medication that I recall has some references in there about it. Peter Breggin’s “Talking Back to Ritalin” also has a lot of great references, though you will have to remember that he is a strongly anti-medication advocate and so you have to sift through some rhetoric. But he does have amazing references!

My interpretation of the research is this: the biggest variable in any situation is the willingness of the parents to be creative and learn new skills. This is not to implicate the parents as the CAUSE of the situation, but to empower them to come up with new SOLUTIONS. Parents who are willing to work at new approaches will be more successful, and their kids will be more successful. Some of these parents have chosen medication, some have not, but the variable of the involved and caring parent overwhelms the variable of being on medication or not, in my opinion.

The second biggest variable is the ablilty to adapt the educational environment to meet the needs of the child. I have been very fortunate to live in Portland, OR where there are a variety of real alternative schools to choose from, and also fortunate to have been able to arrange things so that my wife and I could homeschool part of the time. I know not everyone is so fortunate. A lot of these kids are just a really bad fit with school, and an alternative setting can be just as educational without a lot of the flak. Both of mine are really bright and school was just plain dull. It wouldn’t have mattered if they had paid attention, because they already knew what the teacher was talking about. So “doing the work” wouldn’t be educational for them, even if they got better grades. It worked a lot better for them to pursue their own projects with guidance than to have a set curriculum. Other than bad handwriting, there were no real losses from not being in a regular school, and there were a lot of gains. And I’m not so sure their handwriting would have been all that much improved by going to school.

Anyway, that’s a lot to digest, but I wanted to give some perspective on how we got through and what my thinking has been. We have been very lucky indeed, and I know not everyone has the resources we do. Raising these youngsters is an ongoing challenge, and we need every tool we can muster in our “toolbox”. Just loving them is not enough - we have to re-think our approach and challenge ourselves to invent what is needed. It is tough, but very rewarding when you see your kids growing up happy and healthy and sane. It has really been the greatest adventure of my life. I didn’t anticipate it, but looking back, I wouldn’t want it any other way. I jus wish I had known with my oldest what I know now. So that’s why I am happy to share what has worked for us.

Steve, I would love to put my daughter in an alternative school. Unfortunately, in our area, the private schools don’t tend to prepare kids well for college. It might seem strange but the public schools have a better reputation. On the other hand, I’ll consider a private school if my daughter is not able to extract the education from the public school. So far, she is doing fine without medication but her self-esteem is starting to take a hit. Hopefully, that will end up pushing her to help us find adaptive tools but who knows….???

My daughter is also very bright like your children. What things have you looked for in a private school? Homeschooling is out of the question for a number of reasons. Some parents of ADHDers are sending their kids to the Catholic school in town for “more discipline” but that makes me a little nervous as to what kind of discipline they are talking about. They also don’t use IEP’s or take advice from professionals. If they can’t control a kid they kick the kid out and back into public school.

What I found worked best is if Patrick and Kevin had more say-so about what they studied and when. This is also supported by the literature - back in the ’70s, they had teachers look at matched sets of kids in standard vs. open classrooms. The teachers couldn’t distinguish the “ADHD” kids in the open classroom from their peers, though they were very accurate in finding them in the standard classroom setting (like 90% accuracy).

I do think we were willing to sacrifice a little in terms of acedemic rigor to allow for more exploration. After all, both are very bright and learn quickly and easily, so I wasn’t worried about acedemics. We focused a lot on social skills. Both of them were quite capable of sustained effort on their own projects. They hated being told what to do and hated being evaluated (actually all three of my kids hate that - so do I). The work needed to be challenging and applicable to real life. They can smell busywork 100 miles off! Also, it is really helpful to have a setting where they can earn “loaf time” by doing good work. Lots of times, they feel like completing their current work just gets them more meaningless work to do. They need to be able to get some kind of advantage out of being compliant to something they don’t like.

I also find that they both LOVE to work - REAL work, physical labor. Something where they can see a RESULT. Paper and pencil doesn’t do it for them. Cleaning, repairs, painting, drywall - they loved it all. Of course, most kids in school get zero time working on practical projects, so that’s partly why it is such a bad “fit” for the ADHD type kid. They are really kind of practical - the feeling is “why should I waste my time on this unproductive activity?” If there’s no reward in it, they just won’t go for it. So choices and control of time are really important, as is a maximum of hands-on project work.

I really think these guys need a whole new kind of school. It may not have been invented yet. But it sure does make a big difference when you change the setting to one where they have some more control!

That’s what we looked for. Let me know if you want more details!

–- Steve

Steve makes some excellent points.

As a student of neurology I see the whole thing from a slightly different angle. First of all ADHD if one were to follow the DSM criteria would have to assign that lable to all kids because the DSM criteria pretty much describes the symptoms of childhood.

As far as you kids are concerned, it sounds like they are free thinkers. They seem like they are a step ahead of everybody else. Therefore they will be less compliant. Your writing so far seems to show an excellent grasp of the gestalt and the abilty to see the forest for the trees. It is probably painfully obvious to you why your kids behave differently from the “norm” Do you think part of their diagnosis comes from an attitudinal, behavioral and enviromental pardigm?

You seem to have a pretty good BS detector as do your kids. They also sound under-challenged.

I believe that there are many things that lead to the diagnosis of ADHD, a defective brain is not on of them.

This is where I differ from the pro-druggers. I base this ascertion on the the fact that there is a huge percentage of kids on stimulants. The idea that that many kids are defective is in my opinion patently absurd.

I was very scared when we started medication. But my young sons reaction changed my mind. He felt so different. So much better and in control of his little body and mind. He was much happier and from that day forward, he had friends, had no problems in school and he just fit in.
At home, he will have his big issues and the wining part is also still there. But that is for us to deal with. Where he needs to be good, he is able to do it. What a releive for him.

I think medication does not necessarily need to be a life long aid.

Perhaps it is beneficial in getting over a rough spot or at a time when there is too much else going on in a child’s or family’s life to take the time to work quite so hard on adjusting the environment

My son was on Adderall from 9/01 until 5/03. At this point I dont anticipate putting him back on the medication but I am not ruling it out.
I think he was withdrawing deeper and deeper into himself before we made the medication choice and the medication gave him the extra added boost to bring him back to the real world. It gave him the ability to focus long enough for a test to reflect his abilities instead of his attention span. All of these had a positive effect and other good things have piggy backed off from those good things.

He is not cured and I have elected to homeschool this year. But, contrary to what one would think, I am NOT homeschooling out of frustration. I am homeschooling because I have seen so much growth in the past year I FINALLY feel I can make a huge difference -I have a workable situation. I do not think I could have homeschooled him 2 yrs ago

I DO oppose putting a child on meds before the age of 6 or 7. Thats my personal hangup, however.

Perhaps I think that the behaviors demonstrated in a 4 yr old that suggest ADHD could be a ‘normal delay’ in achieving self control? But if you are still seeing them at age 10, its a different story

And, I think a 10 year old is able to use the medication benefits to actively change his habits. He is better able to focus and develop strategies to compensate for his weaknesses. a four year old would not have that maturity

:wink: When our son was diagnosed with ADHD we suddenly had to face whether or not to medicate. Our neuropsychologist said that he could give us alternatives but that he would recommend ritalin. We had always believed and still do believe that some doctors over prescribe and unecessarily prescribe medication and some parents look to it as a miracle drug to “fix” their child. JAnd our child was only 5! But we also were faced with a terribly bright child who’s self esteem was crumbling before us. The pain eventually led us to try the ritalin. It has been unbelievable for him. He still gets a very low dosage and ONLY takes it during school hours. But for him - the ability to focus, stay on task, follow directions - it was and is amazing. He was suddenly able to explode in the classroom! He went from a reading leve of 1-26 in one school year. He still has issues - and although the ritalin works to focus him - he still needs to learn the tools (for organization, independence etc.) to make him independent and successful. That takes time and cooperation with the educational system (anoather battle within itself). But the ritalin allows him to not only focus on his schoolwork but to focus on learning these tools as well. So for us it has worked out well.

I think that it is a very individual decision and a terribly hard decision. The best thing to tell parents is that you can’t make the decision for them. They will have to research it themselves - but that when they are making the decision - to try and think of the ritalin not as a fix-it-all but as a tool to be used in conjunction with other tools. And as a teacher - the best advice I can give you is to realize yourself that there are still a lot of issues with ADHD children even when they are on ritalin - that indvidual work is still needed to help all of these wonderfully bright children learn the tools they need while keeping their self esteem intact!

[quote=”Anonymous”]:wink: When our son was diagnosed with ADHD we suddenly had to face whether or not to medicate. Our neuropsychologist said that he could give us alternatives but that he would recommend ritalin. We had always believed and still do believe that some doctors over prescribe and unecessarily prescribe medication and some parents look to it as a miracle drug to “fix” their child. JAnd our child was only 5! But we also were faced with a terribly bright child who’s self esteem was crumbling before us. The pain eventually led us to try the ritalin. It has been unbelievable for him. He still gets a very low dosage and ONLY takes it during school hours. But for him - the ability to focus, stay on task, follow directions - it was and is amazing. He was suddenly able to explode in the classroom! He went from a reading leve of 1-26 in one school year. He still has issues - and although the ritalin works to focus him - he still needs to learn the tools (for organization, independence etc.) to make him independent and successful. That takes time and cooperation with the educational system (anoather battle within itself). But the ritalin allows him to not only focus on his schoolwork but to focus on learning these tools as well. So for us it has worked out well.

I think that it is a very individual decision and a terribly hard decision. The best thing to tell parents is that you can’t make the decision for them. They will have to research it themselves - but that when they are making the decision - to try and think of the ritalin not as a fix-it-all but as a tool to be used in conjunction with other tools. And as a teacher - the best advice I can give you is to realize yourself that there are still a lot of issues with ADHD children even when they are on ritalin - that indvidual work is still needed to help all of these wonderfully bright children learn the tools they need while keeping their self esteem intact![/quote]

I’m curious, you say your child is bright. If that is true and he has symptoms requiring a psycho stim how was he ever able to develop the skills to demonstrate that he is bright like learning to communicate?

Also your doctor is a quack. It is a known fact that a child cannot be diagnosed before the age of 7 and should not be drugged before that age.

You sure make alot of sense if the school is too incompetent to teach them change your child’s brain chemistry even though all his developmental milestones were met on time.

There is another alternative. It’s called parenting.

I find the above post out of line. I want this to be a place where alternative information can be presented. You are making it harder by your insulting comments. There are some excellent parents on this board that have given some dynamite advice. Some use medication, some don’t. Your tone makes it impossible to take you seriously, and provokes angry reactions. Perhaps that is the idea. I hope that other people will not choose to rise to the occasion.

If you really want to participate in this discussion, be respecful. Otherwise, you will drive others further into the “camp” you supposedly want them to move out of, and you will make it easier for folks to designate all alternative minded people as overzealous maniacs who use hostile rhetoric when facts are not available to make your point. I do not want to be associated with this kind of rude and insulting behavior, and I’d really like you to stop!

–- Steve

Steve, you are the best voice for not medicating children. We are not medicating our child right now but medication may be in our future. Before you came to the board, I only saw the Ball aliases as representing the anti-med position. So, basically, we had science-oriented Pro-med folks vs a psychologically-challenged Anti-med troll. If there were any sane anti-med folks they were overshadowed. I am pretty good at identifying the Ball aliases because I received feedback from the moderators when it was investigated but I haven’t chose to expose him because it’s a waste of my time. Eventually, you too may suspect a poster to be Ball and bypass that post or avoid getting into it with him. I can’t blame you for trying to distance yourself from him though. Personally, I almost don’t even notice him anymore because my brain just puts his posts in the recycle bin subconsciously.

TerryB (I forgot to log in so I just changed my user name to Terry/Guest. I hate it when I forget to log in.

Thanks, Terry! I appreciate your support. I try to be a voice for informed consent, rather than against medication. If people know all the facts, then decide to use medication, that is their right. We made a different decision, but we also have a lot of resources that not everyone may have. I just want everyone to know that it is possible to accomplish raising ADHD kids without medication, if that is an important priority for them. I only get peeved when folks suggest that medication is some kind of cure-all, and that anyone opposed to blanket use of medication on all ADHD-type kids is somehow foolish or deluded by propaganda. I also want to be able to share the many techniques and strategies I have learned over the years to help anyone manage difficult children. There is no percentage in trying to talk people out of what they believe.

Informed consent is a position of mutual respect, which is unfortunately not always a high value in our schools or our medical system. In particular, the full explanation of risks/benefits and the offering of other options are almost always neglected, particularly when it comes to “mental health” issues. Being a scientist by training, I know the difference between “the current theory is…” and an actual scientifically established fact. There is a lot that passes for “fact” because a certain critical mass of professionals agree on it, but that doesn’t make it true. A lot of other people don’t have this knowledge, so I try to share that perspective as well. I am glad that I don’t come across as critical, because that is not my intent. I want people to know the real cost/benefit analysis, and the alternatives available, so folks can make up their own minds. Parenting is a tough enough job without someone telling you that you are wrong all the time. I have faith that people will find their own way, if they are given the facts. Emotional tirades just detract from our ability to see the truth.

–— Steve

OK Steve I have a question that has only 2 possible answers yes or no.

Given all you know about the entire gamut of ADHD and given the conduct of the drug companies do you think the drug companies have children’s best interests at heart Yes or No?

I suppose I am a bit of a scientist myself and after applying the scientific method and the rules of logic I can only conclude that the pharmaceutical companies have the morals of an alley cat.

Here’s the proof!

http://bernie.house.gov/prescriptions/profits.asp

….and more proof

http://www.politicsol.com/guest-commentaries/2002-07-20.html

No! Of course, the drug companies have only their own financial interests at heart. The same can be said for many physicians, though certainly not all.

Children are the lowest priority interest in this country, because they don’t earn money and don’t vote. The only time kids are a priority is when our corporations want to manipulate them to spend their allowance or their parents’ money on buying products.

I never believe ANYTHING I hear from a pharmaceutical company about their own products, because they have a built-in conflict of interest. I am also very skeptical about doctors, because most of them get most of their information directly from drug company propaganda.

What infuriates me is when propaganda is presented as fact. It is highly disrespectful to parents and their children to hype a certain solution as being “successful” when the definition of “success” is so narrowly defined (i.e. “symptom reduction”). I feel the same way about antidepressants, anxiety medications, etc. I am not trying to say that people shouldn’t use them if that is what they choose to do. I am opposed to lying to people about “chemical imbalances” being somehow magically fixed by these drugs. And I am very much opposed to emphasizing short-term symptom reduction without looking at long term outcomes. If these drugs were making some huge impact in improving people’s lives in the long run, perhaps it would be worth the risks involved. But the facts suggest otherwise. Psychiatric drugs, at best, seem to provide temporary symptom relief to some people. If that is what is desired, then I guess they work for that purpose. I am interested in changing outcomes, so symptom reduction isn’t that important to me. Sometimes “symptoms” are important messages that we need to listen to, rather than attempting to squelch. And the true risks need to be disclosed, as well as the alternative approaches available, so people can make a truly informed choice.

That, however, is only my opinion. And as much as I am opposed to hyperbolic rhetoric from the drug companies and their allies, I must equally oppose hyperbolic rhetoric from those whose views are closer to my own. I don’t think it is productive to accuse people of things or denigrate them for the decisions they have made. I really don’t know their circumstances. I have been fortunate enough to be able to homeschool and to use alternative education in our Portland Public school system, which many people can’t do. I also was well informed in these matters before my son every got to school age, and was prepared for the kind of reactions I was likely to get. I don’t know what I would have done if I had had to send my son to a regular public school classroom. It would have been a disaster. If I had not been informed ahead of time, or felt I had no other options, I might have decided that medication was the only option available. I also might have become more anxious if I had been told that my child would more likely fail in school, become delinquent, etc., if I didn’t use the medications.

Luckily for me, I already knew this was not true. But I avoided regular classrooms because I knew I would be getting notes home. And it’s not because we were terrible parents that Patrick turned out to be challenging. I can say now that with the exceptional parenting skills I have had to develop since, I could have managed Patrick a lot better and he would have been less difficult. But he CAME difficult. I think that’s why parents get insulted by some of the comments like “try parenting”. It is true that these kids come as they are, and are mostly just inherently challenging to parent for anyone. Not to say that a child CAN’T become hyperactive due to bad parenting (they definitely can, in my personal experience, which includes a lot of experience with abused children), but MOST of these children are just very challenging to manage.

I don’t know if you have any kids, but if you haven’t, it might be hard to understand this. Kids come with their own temperaments. Some are just harder. My objection to the ADHD diagnosis is that it pathologizes what are probably very normal variations in behavior among children. These kids are no more disturbed than kids who are overly compliant and don’t speak up, or kids who like structure and enjoy school as an opportunity to be with friends. They just happen to be kids who are creative, generally assertive, spontaneous, and hate to be constrained by someone else’s agenda. Hardly a disease, but they don’t fit well into the expectations of our school system.

So I don’t blame parents for the current state of affairs. We are all making the best decisions we can, and for some families, the idea of taking medication for relief of short-term stresses makes sense to them. For us, it was not an option, but I am never going to criticize parents on the basis of what they decide. Again, I am not in their circumstances. But I AM going to provide information and perspectives that make sense to me, and I AM going to criticize schools for being inflexible and drug companies for lying and researchers for being bought out by commercial interests and doctors for failing to give informed consent.

I hope this makes my position very clear to you. I always appreciate others willing to challenge the assumptions of the “medical model”. I just think it needs to be done with a little diplomacy and respect for others’ right to disagree with you. The very idea of challenging mainstream medical thought is pretty radical in America today. It is a process of elevating consciousness, and no one achieves it in a day. And certainly, slinging insults back and forth does nothing to raise anyone’s consciousness at all - to the contrary. I would stick to sharing data and personal experiences, and let people draw their own conclusions. They’re going to anyway, so you might as well let it happen. If you are comfortable in your position, you don’t have to convince anyone to join you.

–— Steve

Steve I see how parents behave in public and it is quite evident to me why schools face so many behavioral problems. Most children today are not parented. Instead they are babysat for by Nintendo and the Cartoon channel.

Most parents today are nothing more than zoo keepers who buy their kids expensive toys and drive them around in their minivans to their playdates. The next time I hear the word play date I think I will slap the moron that says it. It is so nauseatingly upper middle class.

To me drugging kids is selling them down the river and caving in to the wishes of this failing educational system and the drug cartell.

The drug companies are not just wrong, they are ruthless criminals.

Steve how welcome is your intelligent voice here? I would say you are tolerated and not appreciated. I could post links until I am blue in the face regarding the dangers of drugging and the same people will read them or ignore and try to deny them. When it challenges their pardigms and begins to change their minds they call for it’s removal or they will threaten to take their ball and go home. How ignorant!

Some people have recently expressed a great deal of appreciation for my viewpoint. However, I don’t do this to be approved of. I do it because I care.

If some people politely tolerate my presence, I thank them for it. There are others who need to hear what I am saying, and they are the ones I am talking to.

–- Steve

I am basically an anit-drug of any kind person. It is very rare that I take even asprin or give my child tylnol. Having said that, I have a huge question after reading the side effects of some of these drugs, why would someone give their child pills that have such horrible side effects?

I too fee that society is blindly following T.V. ads for drugs making life a gorgous spring day, totally carefree of everything. Doesn’t matter if it is an allergy pill, viagra, stratta. Just look at the ads they are all the same.

I sincerely fear for the future health of children who are taking all these medications. Do they take it for life? If so they can’t even get into the service. The drugs cost a fortune.

Does anyone think it is strange that medical insurance will not cover many of these drugs. They are saving their funds to pay for the damage the drugs effects will cause in the future.

I have heard many a parent explaing that the reason their child is so rude etc. is because they are ADHD or ADD or LD. Nope! They are so rude because noone is teaching them respect and manners.

Sitting still and paying attention isn’t a natural behavior for a child it must be taught to the child and expected of the child.

I know alot of people medicate their children to calm them down, it you do it I am sure you will continue. If you are just thinking of doing it please think long and hard about your child’s future health and well being.

Just wanted to say that I appreciate Steve’s viewpoint. I think he is very honest about the work ADHD children are and the options that permitted him to avoid medication. And I think he is realistic enough to know that not all parents can do what he did. And I have benefitted from his ideas on how to manage challenging children.

I would add, though, that not all children with ADHD are like his. I have two children who fit the ADHD type profile—one diagnosed and one not. Neither are medicated, although I have considered it for my older one. I would have tried it, had he not responded so well to Interactive Metronome. He is ADD-inattentive and is not the creative, freethinking, child Steve describes (that is my youngest). He is not a behavior problem and thus it wasn’t fit between school and kid that was the issue. He is severely LD as well and his difficulties with attention are why I seriously considered medication.

And I agree with Steve, if you have kids, these issues are less black and white. And respect goes along way with people, if you truly want to have a dialogue.

Beth

Beth

Thank you!

–- Steve

Steve I agree with your opinion of big pharm.

One thing that bothers me the most is the use of meds as long term solutions that have been not tested under long term conditions.

This extends beyond the field of psychotropic meds or stimulants. Don’t get me started on the number of people I have seen who have serious liver problems as a result of long term use cholesterol lowering meds.

I definitely believe that meds can help people tremendously.

I hate to see a child who is destroyed by symptoms of a condition such as adhd where the parent seeks no help at all. I think meds can be a temporary solution but one that needs to be watched carefully and used in conjunction with other effective methods. I think the goal should always be to get them off meds as soon as possible.

I personally would like to see insurance companies cover things like interactive metronome and other therapies so that parents could pursue these solutions first. It just stinks that these solutions are not available to some for economic reasons.

I am with you on all of the above. If medications are recommended or used, it must be with full information, including the lack of demonstrated long-term results and the complete lack of analysis of long-term risks. All alternatives should be offered, and there should be no pressure to select medication as the first line intervention. I also believe that nutritional counseling, behavior management training, IM, and whatever else has been show to be effective should be covered by insurance. At this point, the over-focus on medication as THE solution is preventing the development of a wide range of other options, which may requre more work, be less immediate in their effects, and perhaps more costly in the short run, but which actually empower the child and family to learn skills and techniques that will stand the test of time.

We (as a society) are spending way too much time debating the medication issue. We should just admit that medication is a short-term approach for the reduction of certain problem behaviors, which carries certain known and unknown risks, and is clearly inadequate by itself as an intervention. Then people who feel OK about assuming those risks can utilize that approach, and those that don’t will have other alternatives. But in either case, the emphasis should be shifted toward observing long-term outcome measures (school dropout rates, delinquency, teen pregnancy, drug abuse, employment failure, social skill development, suicide and homicide rates) rather than short-term symptom suppression. Until we make that shift, we will never know what the possibilites really are.

Great to have you on the board!

–- Steve