I have a 12 yr old ADHD son who takes Adderall XR 30 mg. each morning to help him pay attention at school, and manage his ADHD. I’ve had a run in with my son’s prescribing ADHD specialist, and just need to ‘chew the fat’ with some other parents. My son has had trouble getting through homework in the evenings, so he is allowed to take an additional 10 mg. after school at 4:00 to help him focus on getting his work done when he gets home. Our goal is for him to complete homework by 6:30. Sometimes, that’s do-able, other times it’s not. My son is a smart kid. We have follow-up appointments every 3-4 months with our ADHD specialist.
Our physician has said at least 70% of his patients are off medication by the time they go to middle school. Well — that’s wonderful, if the kids can manage o.k. and pay attention in class to do well. Our doctor would like to wean my son off medication soon. We attempted lowering medication last year, but there were some problems. At our last med re-check, the doctor asked me when he gets his afternoon dose. I told him usually at 4:00, but there were 2 days a week when I gave it to him after school at 3:00 (he goes by the nurses office to take it), so that he can have enough attention left to pay attention in a required band lesson, and band sectional practice. The doctor nearly hit the roof when he found out that my son was getting the meds at 3:00, claiming that his need for this medication is ‘to enhance performance’ because the band teacher told my son “just think, [i]how much better [/i]you can do when you take your medication!” I totally feel the teacher did not say this to pump my child up to ‘perform better’ during lesson time. The physician just came unglued and said that if he felt my son needed this medication, then the teacher needed to call him and talk with him about it. Hummpf. :evil:
I am NOT a parent that gives my child medication to have an edge over other students, or to perform well. Granted….my son IS naturally smart and is taking advanced classes, but he doesn’t take medication TO BE smart. My son is doing well in all his classes. Teachers have not indicated any problems currently (so medicine has helped him very much).
I’m 100% for giving my kid as little meds. as needed. It just sorta makes me mad when my child says “mom”, I’m having trouble with my medication wearing off @ 2:00, and I’d do better if I could get through my lesson, or even Math Science Club Study Session. If I give him Adderall after school — the doctor claims it’s performance enhancing!!!! and if he’s not careful, this could later lead to dependancy. EXCUSE ME!!!!
WHAT would you do? Maybe I’m just mad about it all! :shock: Our doctor has said my son’s job (school) lasts from 8:00 - 3:00 every day, anything after that was ‘extra curricular’ and he did not need medication for that. Homework is a little bit different circumstance.
Had I the ability to be quick witted, I would have asked the doctor what would happen if he had ADHD, worked all day, and his medication ran out at 3:00, then knew he was faced with having to go speak at a conference in 2 more hours!!!! WHAT WOULD he DO??? MMMmm????
My son will be taking the ACT test in a couple of months. I’m applying for extended time testing for this test — which the doctor will allow, as long as he helps me compile paperwork. I did not mention that my son [i]would[/i] have his ADDERALL the morning of the test!!! My gosh, when you have ADHD, I’d think you could have your med to be able to focus — no matter if you are an A student or not. AUGGHHHH!!! I’m just fuming. :x :evil: When does being smart make you no longer have ADHD???? If you go off medication, when do you need it again????
reply
Thank you for your perspective and link to the ADHD article. The article presented several important things to consider.
I agree with you that there is no evidence that ADD stimulant medication causes a change in IQ. I do believe that stimulant medication can aid in helping improve concentration, and impulsitivity. Stimulant medications work by slowing kids down long enough that their attention can be captured. All children have trouble at times paying attention, and all children (much more than most) do not need stimulant medications.
There’s such a fine line everyone walks with this stuff. No parent likes to give their child a stimulant medication. My child’s doctor indicates that kids learn to compensate for the disability after they go through puberty and don’t continue to have a need for stimulants. I do question this a bit. There’s many schools of thought about this currently. I’ve seen my child mature over the years, and not have such a need for as much medication. He’s older now, and has learned to control some behaviors. Executive functioning still remains a problem. I’d still call him ADHD, because I see LOTS of instances where he’s just not attentive, and where he absolutely can’t control himself from being hyperactive.
In my child’s stimulant medicaion experence, I’ve seen a remarkable difference in his ability to sit still, learn, pay attention, and be proud of actually accomplishing something — without spending day after day introuble at school, and at home, constantly, with a shattered self esteem. I do not agree that an ADHD dx is a myth. I believe it’s legit. It is horrible that many kids are prescribed medications and too many of those kids are diagnosed as being ADHD, when there is something all together different that might be causing the same symptoms (emotional problems, depression, learning disorders, etc.) How many doctors actually look at the ‘other’ symptoms before they prescribe???
It is very unfortunate to me that our Government does not enforce a standard for prescribing stimulant medication for ADHD. IT’s a crying SHAME that there’s no exact rule for physicians that prescribe stimulants to have some sort of common guideline for doing so. All doctor’s prescribe differently. All have different follow-up regimes. It’s mind boggling! Parents have tough decisions to make regarding their kids.
There IS a difference in kids who can’t concentrate and those who are ADHD. THe ADD kids that I believe are truly ADHD have trouble 3-4 times per hour a day — much moreso than regular kids and most kids who have trouble paying attention.
It is unfortunate that drug companies have promoted stimulate medications as they have. They have become rich in doing so, and it makes the world look like we’re all ADD. I believe that people are becoming more educated about ADHD, and we see alarming numbers of kids and even adults being prescribed stimulant medications. Most, don’t need the medication, but there are some that do tremendously benefit from it.
Although I’m upset with my physician’s opinion of the possibility of me wanting my child to take meds for performance enhancement — he’s generally a very good physician, that I’m really mad at right now. We do but heads about the need for medication after school, etc., but I believe my child has been thoroughly evaluated, and all options were looked at before coming to a conclusion of an ADHD diagnosis. More than 1 physician made the original ADHD diagnosis, and a group of doctors was consulted when making the diagnosis. It does make me a little upset when doctor’s who don’t have ADHD, claim they know more than the child or adult who actually has to live with it every day.
Thanks for your comments and thoughts. Every opinion helps me gain a little wisdom.
Re: When does ADHD Medication become performance enhancing????
Your doctor is wrong for a very basic reason…
He is assuming that you have moved up the after school dosage to before band practice to enhance his performance, when what has actually occured is you have moved up the after school dose to… enhance his performance.
What is the difference? In his opinion, you are doing so electively because it gives your child an advantage over the others (we see this most often in sports, “win at all costs!”). However, it is also common in performing arts, and musicians especially seem to do better if they get a little toot of something to loosen them up and get them ready for the show.
However, your child has a formal diagnosis of ADHD, and has shown that using stimulants helps ease the symptoms of his reduced capacity to concentrate. In this regard, it is still a performance enhancing drug, but leaves the realm of purely elective.
Band is still school! The band teacher must know that your child has ADHD, he must know that he takes medication for it, and he must see that your child struggles by the time 3 o’clock rolls around and the supply of stimulant in his body is wearing thin.
What your dr. is failing to grasp is that as you continue to take medications your body becomes used to the dosage, and it is not uncommon as time goes on to need slightly larger and slightly more frequent dosages. It happens with pain medication, it happens with head medications (Xanax comes to mind) and it happens with stimulants.
Only a fraction of children with ADHD seem to grow out of it. Another percentage never grow out of it, and would need to be on medication in stronger and longer dosages for life if they are to keep up the same level of concentration we expect from them as students. Some physicians get confused about this because they do not treat nearly as many adults with ADHD as they do children, because as adults we are not forced into situations (like compulsary education) where we must do something day in and out that we have so much trouble with. As an adult with ADHD a person can find a job that doesn’t involve sitting at a little desk focusing on boring textbooks, etc. If I have a job that does not require me to take the medication, I do not need to take it and presto! I no longer have ADHD.
Personally, I am less than enthused that we have placed so much blind trust on medications as powerful as Ritalin and Adderall (and any here who do not think that these meds are indeed powerful should pop a couple for themselves, or better yet, grind one up and take it that way.) It is a good thing that parents, drs. and even patients remain slightly skeptical about meds like these, making sure they are indeed appropriately used and especially watching for potential negative reactions and effects. No study of Ritalin in kids has encompassed longer than 3 years, most studies are for periods less than one year, and nearly all of the studies fail to make serious efforts into cataloguing adverse events, hiding what they did uncover under carefully cosen words (a common phrase used is “generally well tolerated” which is effectively meaningless from a clinical science perspective).
Tell me one thing… has this ADHD specialist ever ordered and EKG for your boy after he has been taking these meds for x number of months?
Reply to Dad
Dad, thanks. You have helped me see this a little more realistically.
My son has never been followed up with an EKG. If I recall, when he was first evaluated, one of the pediatric specialists checked this.
He has never had this re-checked. When my son goes back for his med re-checks, the doctor evaluates what’s been happening at school, and at home from a quesionaire that his teachers, and parents, are asked to submit. This supposedly helps the doctor track any improvements, or changes that need to be made as to how much medicine is prescribed. He does check my son’s ability to ‘mirror movement ?’ and see how his mind is working to interpret what is asked. I supposed that has to do with how your brain works, etc. I’m not sure. If you don’t mind me asking, what benefit would an EKG have, other than seeing if the medications are affecting your heart rate. I don’t know a lot about EKG’s.
Re: When does ADHD Medication become performance enhancing????
While I understand your arguments I must disagree with you on a couple of points…
“If ADHD was a real disease there would be real tests that detect it. ”
Autism is real and as yet there are no clinical tests to diagnosis it. Same with depression, psychosis, and dementia. Lack of evidence is not the same thing as disproof.
“Why is it that the non Ritalin countries have a higher acedemic performance in their schools?”
In part because many of the European schools track their students at an early age away from “college-prep” academics and into more trade related schools. Many children with disabilities are excused from schools altogether and given “alternative” placements. In the US we have compusary education for all regardless of their inate ability.
“Why is it that the non Ritalin countries have a higher acedemic performance in their schools?”
Are you suggesting that Afghanistan (non-ritalin country), Viet Nam (non-ritalin country), Zimbabwe (non-ritalin country) or Honduras non-ritalin country) have higher academic performance in their students than the US (ritalin country) or Canada (ritalin country)?
I am not backing the wide-spread usage (dependancy) of medications that are as powerful as stimulants. But your reliance on erroneous information to back your position reduces the quality of your argument and makes you seem more like a radical than a person whose concern is for the overall well-being of children.
By the by, I believe that two reasons that many Northern European countries have a lessor number of children with problems like ADHD and autism than the US and Canada is because their vaccination schedule is less than ours, exposing their children to far less neuro-toxic amounts of thimerosal than ours have. Europe also has a ban on the use of PDBE’s (chemical cousin to PCB’s) that the US and Canada use widely as fire-retardants in upholstery, carpeting and drapes and more recently in the plastic shells of electronics like cell phones and computer. Recent tests by the NIH have found that US women of childbearing age have 100 times the amount of BDBE’s in their bodies than European counterparts and that nearly 30% of US women of childbearing age have levels of mercury in their blood which would be considered dangerous to their fetus.
Re: When does ADHD Medication become performance enhancing????
The EKG would be to check for medication-damage to his heart, yes. That is the rare but most adverse reaction the human body has to chronic use of stimulants - also known as Len Bias Disease. Doctors are rarely informed by the drug makers of the adverse reactions, that would cause sales to fall and the makers are most definitely only going to use the hard sell for their products. Drs. also greatly misunderstand and overestimate the value of the FDA monitoring system, which has little to do with ongoing use of medicines and relies for the most part on voluntary reporting of events from drs. (who often do not do so because they have not been alerted as to nature of the risk of the medicines by the FDA which relies heavily on research by companies who are in the business of creating patentable products to sell at exorbitant prices).
Good luck to you!
Guest, above Dad's Entry
Why are you so dead set on blasting ADHD on a board designed for people who deal with this and believe it’s legit?
I do know the Christian Scientology movement has gone to great lengths to discourage parents about the use of stimulant medications, and that is unfortunate in my opinion.
There will always be some sort of prescription abuse. When you live with ADHD you have to decide which life is better—one in constant turmoil, or one that has the aid of some medication. I have no regrets in having medication prescribed for my child. Certainly, long term effects concern all of us. If you have never had a child with ADHD, or have it yourself, you can’t even begin to know what life is like. Ultimately, it’s the person with the disorder’s choice.
As for ADHD being caused by bad parenting — I don’t believe that’s 100% accurate. If you have a child with a legit disorder, and you punish, and punish, and never see any improvement, and your life remains a living hell—is that any kind of life for anyone? Are the parent’s then becoming abusive to a kid who absolutely can’t change and who is disordered?
Stimulant use will be on the rise in the next few years. I’ve seen websites that talk about new ‘smart pills’ being used in Asian countries. I’ve even seen websites that talk about the possibility of drug testing for people who will be taking academic tests, etc. There’s a really interesting website about chess players and drug testing possibilities for them. If they aren’t ADHD and have prescribed medications, then YES — this is abuse of stimulant medications.
Re: When does ADHD Medication become performance enhancing????
To begin with, I have to say that I personally prefer to avoid drugs as much as possible. Yes, I do practice what I preach; I went through a severely broken ankle and a broken rib without anything, not even an aspirin. I find for myself the combination of allergies and chemical sensitivities and atypical reactions makes almost all drugs worse than the disease. I do however take my thyroid replacement, a necessity of life.
I also raised a quite difficult child with only antibiotics and fever medicine (which she needed a lot of) and no other pills.
Nonetheless, I recognize the need for treatment in extreme cases. And only responsible parents and doctors can make the decision whether a child’s condition is serious enough to need medication.
I do agree that there is a great tendency to take the easy way out and try to solve everything with a pill, so overprescription and abuse have to be watched for.
But this is not the case with most of the parents on this board. Quite the opposite, when most of the questions concerning medication are about finding the minimal dosage, not using it on weekends, avoiding side effects, and so on.
For example the original poster here could have solved the problem easily by telling the doctor that the symptoms are getting worse and/or shopping around for a doctor who is more generous with prescriptions; instead she is trying to figure out the minimum to get through the day, certainly not an abusive approach.
When my daughter was young, and people came up to me and gave unwanted and inappropriate instructions in child-raising, I finally found the answer: I offered to rent her out for forty-eight hours. You know, nobody ever took me up on the offer; in fact they all left the scene as quickly as possible.
I think the same holds here; how many of you anti-drug posters have ever raised any child at all? And how many of you have raised a hyperactive child? Or a child with any other disability?
Every time there is a post about medications and hyperactivity, the same old anti-drug post comes up automatically. It is a complete mishmash of some truth, some exaggerations, and some falsehoods.
And every time some reasonable and concerned people try to discuss the issue rationally, talk over the grey areas, correct the falsehoods, and reach a reasoned compromise.
And then every time the insults and flame war start, and all sorts of accusations are thrown. No doubt there will be the usual nasty reply to this post too.
To new readers of this board, please don’t take this as typical of the community here. It is one obsessed person with a lot of aliases who does the same old same old every time. Ignore them.
In general if the post seems obsessed or irrational or the person makes false claims, it is best simply not to answer. We all hope the issue will die out, although this person is so obsessed that no doubt we will keep having to repeat the warning.
Victoria, you're the calm after a storm.
Thanks. Sounds like you have managed life well. I don’t let all the controversies get me down. I try to heartfully listen to most everyone’s version and choose what I think will work best for my situation. I try to learn, and then make the best decision I can in dealing with ADHD related things. It’s hard sometimes to talk about ADHD on websites, etc. I think this is a very informational place to come to learn stuff. I’m glad we have this opportunity on LDonline to see what others experience and learn from some of the really knowledgable people that provide some great information. I’m feeling better about things regarding my child now. DAD had some good things to say, as well as a few other guests. :)
Re: When does ADHD Medication become performance enhancing????
Thanks for the kind words. Some days I think I’ve managed life pretty well, and others I think I have made the most incredible mess possible, and others I take an objective look and wonder at my weird luck. Holidays are difficult for this.
Controversies are one thing, and there are lots of real controversies around here. Obsessive attackers are rather different; what they do isn’t a controversy because they don’t argue, just look for weak points to hurt people. When you meet this, try to get past it and listen to all the good folks on line.
Parenting
Parenting some kids is harder than others. I can speak from experience, having had two “difficult” children out of three I have had the privelege of raising. I think it is unfair to use the term “bad parenting” to describe challenging situations where people just don’t know what to do. With the pressure that exists these days for kids to perform, the lack of resources, the conflicting ideas and parenting strategies recommended by professionals, and the isolation of most families, it is small wonder that people are struggling to know what is best. I also have observed that people operate from different sources of information, and give those sources different values. I think it is best to maintain respectful relations with those who have made different parenting choices. We chose not to use medication for our own reasons. Others make different choices. As I have said before, it is less an issue of truth than it is an issue of values. We make decisions based on what we know and on what is important to us. We never thought the risks of medication were worth the benefits. But we never use medications for anything if we can avoid it. No aspirin for headaches, no cold and flu medicines, no cough medicine, nothing except antibiotics for serious infections, about once every 5 years or so. That’s our family values. So naturally, the idea of giving our children medications to alter their behavior was not appealing in the least, and we decided early on that medication simply was not an option for us, no matter what else we had to do. Other people feel differently.
I mainly object to propaganda, from either side of the debate. Stating the facts in an objective manner allows people to make informed choices. When people make choices different than what I would make, I don’t have to change their minds, as long as I feel I have done my best to inform them of what I know. Anything else is offensive, same as I would find it offensive if someone criticized our decision to avoid medication at all costs. I would like to see all of us stick to that kind of an attitude, because the other conversations don’t go anywhere.
Just my 2 cents!
Re: When does ADHD Medication become performance enhancing????
Hayley, I understand what you are saying! When you have tried everything to the point that your child cannot handle anymore remedial work or therapy and it’s not working, it could be time to look at medication alternatives. A kid needs to be a kid and if their whole life is centered on remedial academic work not only during school but after school it can be very stressful. I can relate in that on my daughter’s first day on medication (concerta) she came home from school and sat down and told me all about her day. I cried because she had never done that before. Upon watching her tackle a jungle gym with a bunch of other kids I also fought tears. Such “normal” things that other people take for granted can be milestones for our kids.
Also, I wouldn’t even try to discuss things with our guest. It’s not worth the effort.
Just another 2 cents...
I wanted to say to ‘First Guest’ on page one, who had a useful answer, as the original poster mentioned: THIS is why you PLEASE should take a pseudonym ‘nickname’ and post under that…instead of calling yourself ‘guest’. Then we could refer to YOUR valuable opinions without confusion with those who are…well, let’s just say from ‘other’ guests!
You post often on the boards, I believe, and your opinions deserve more than being lumped in with the usual ‘anonymous’ posts, IMO…you don’t have to log in, just put a name in username…you don’t even have to have the same one if you wish, use a different one for each thread — just to help others ‘identify’ you, but while remaining essentially anonymous…
Of course, just my opinion — feel free to ignore what you disagree with, a very sensible attitude as the original poster does with biased and outrageous information about the ‘non-existence’ of ADHD!
Re: When does ADHD Medication become performance enhancing????
Hayley — it isn’t worth the trouble trying to argue rationally with this person. He has proved many times over that he simply does not want to argue rationally. He will merely pick on his pet peeves in your post and then write the most hurtful things he can come up with. After a large number of us have tried to have a discussion and every one of these threads has drowned in the same old ranting, we have all given up and will not bother to feed his need for a target. Now of course he will post something nasty aimed at me again, but just pass over it and read the real posts.
Hayley...this is why I have such a thing
about posting as ‘Guest’ — my policy is not to correspond with anyone posting as ‘guest’ cuz it just ain’t worth it (guests who are not ‘Guest’ excepted, of course!) Victoria’s right — unless you enjoy the debate for its own sake, give up. This person is not interested in rational discussion.
Re: When does ADHD Medication become performance enhancing????
Yes, it does seem to ignore any real question addressed to it (not sure if man or woman). I’m sincerely curious what kind of expert it is. I mean it does refer to itself as an expert. And my goodness, my son’s neurologist is not bright enough to read its books. But if I asked, I’m sure it would not tell me what those books are.
I’ve come to the rational conclusion, like the rest of you, that it is not interested in changing the minds of those people on the board. If it were, it would
1. get a respectable login,
2. share its apparent Ivy League credentials and
3. give us the names of the very complex and difficult to understand books that it uses as reference matierals.
It has done none of these, so it obviously is only using the forum as a place to vent his zeal.
Re: When does ADHD Medication become performance enhancing????
I think your statement is correct, in my experience. I do think that ADHD is a catch all category and much that is diagnosed as ADHD is not. That of course also means that some of what is diagnosed as ADHD is ADHD. I also think that the parents who share up on this forum tend to be those who have agonized over diagnosis.
Our Neuronet therapist describes ADHD as the diagnosis for inattention when no other cause can be found—in other words by elimination. My son is primarily LD and his attention improved when we remediated some of his auditory processing deficits. Interestingly enough his ADD has become more noticeable as we have remediated his LD—because there are no longer other explanations for it.
I do think there will come a day when our understanding of inattention advances enough that we will have a list of possible explanations for it as well as ways of determining what is the underlying cause. I can see this list including things like dietary deficiencies, visual issues, LD, anxiety, auditory processing, and who knows what else as well as ADHD
Beth
Re: When does ADHD Medication become performance enhancing????
[quote:095455e642=”Anonymous”]
Premed certified anatomy and phisiology neuroanatomy 14 credits
Pathophisiology 4 credits
Intro to psychology 3 credits
Developmental psychology 3 credits
Abnormal Psychology 3 credits
Statistics in the Behavioral Sciences 3 credits
Introduction to Experimental Methods in Psychology 4credits
Research seminar 3 credits
Psychological Assessment and Testing 3 credits
Introduction to Experimental Methods in Psychology 3 credits
Infancy and Childhood 3 credits
Adolescence 3 credits
Cognitive Psychology 4 credits
Theories of Learning 4 credits
Honors Tutorial 3 credits
Child and Adolescent Development: Implications for Educators 4 credits
Biological sciences 24 credits
Neural Basis of Behavior 1 and 2 6 credits
Central Mechanism in Visual Perception 4 credits
Genetic Analysis of Behavior 4 credits
Chemistry 1 and 2 7 credits
Organic Chemistry 4 credits
Soc Theory Community Change Seminar
Adult Development 3 credits
Books read:
Dyslexia: The Solution to the Riddle (Harold Levinson MD)
Principles and Implications of Cognitive Psychology Aaron Vespi PhD
The Understanding of the Brain (John Eccles)
Psychopathology: Experimental Models (Charles J Harrington MD)
Hemispheric Disconnection and Cerebral Function (April Darling PhD)
The Function of the Orgasm (Wilhelm Riech)
Pharmacology and Cognitive Implications (Gary Critter PhD)
Cognitive Development (Alexander Luria)
THC and the Brain (Gerald Pinkos MD)
Catecholamines Endorphins and Addiction Research by Agneta Walstrom
Endorphins and Schizophrenia (Don’t recall the author it appeared in JAMA)
Ritalin: Studies in Behavior Modification ( From an APA Journal)
Flawed Neurometirc Testing (The Brain Research Group)
Evoked Response and P-300 Wave Amplitude (Christian Gerard)
Late Evoked Response and Aquired Brain Injury (Christian Gerard and Bernadette Belorit)
[/quote]
Hmm. All those college courses and no degree? And how exactly are you employed? In your vast studies, have you encountered the term “megalomania”? It seems to apply to you.
Alice
Re: When does ADHD Medication become performance enhancing????
Alice—
I was following my own advice and not replying because it isn’t worth it. But we should make a few points here.
(1) You are replying as if the statements made are true.
Unlikely to say the least. This is someone who refuses to identify himself even with a pseudonym — how likely is he to give his real credentials?
(2) People on the internet can say *anything*, and it is hard to check. Especially if a person hides his identity, deliberately.
After all I could tell you that I graduated from MIT, have a n advanced math degree, have a nuclear physics degree, have four university degrees, am a licensed psychologist, am a published poet, speak fluent German, sing on stage, acted in Shakespeare, and teach drama — in fact five of those claims are true and five are false; wanna figure out which ones? So how do you know this person is what he says he is?
(3) A long listing of courses taken (even if they are real) — and so?
There are a few questions to be asked, such as: Were these taken at an accredited university? At a university with a good scholarly reputation? Were they actually passed? If so, what kind of grades?
Either I can say something that makes sense or I can’t; this isn’t a “my transcript is bigger than yours” competition.
In fact unless dared like this I kind of make a point of *not* trying to pull academic rank here, because that is so much not the point of this board.
Now that I have been dared, if I wanted to brag I could post my transcripts, but no; it would take hours of typing and why bother?
(4) A listing of a grand total of fifteen books and articles read.
This is such a short list it would be an embarrassment to anyone who knows what real scholarship is.
Now that I’ve been dared …I have over three thousand books in the home library, probably at least a hundred related to topics on this board, not to mention others read at the library or online. If a list of books made me smart I’d post it, but no. it doesn’t so I won’t.
It is to be noted that one of these books is by Wilhelm Reich, who has been dismissed by all reputable scientists for decades. Yes, some people do come up with ideas that the establishment puts down at first but later in the next generation they are vindicated; Reich has long passed that point and is well-known as a classic crackpot, getting old to the point of being a forgotten classic. I don’t immediately recognize any of the others but if they’re keeping company with Reich they are suspect.
Once more I dare the poster to come out of the closet and identify himself. Last time there was one of these silly exchanges I gave my real name and location, and my address is already all over this board — so your turn.
Hostile posts
I learned long ago to ignore hostile postings. To do otherwise simply encourages the “Guests” of the world to continue. I often post skeptically regarding ADHD as a medical diagnosis and regarding the long-term effectiveness of medication, and have chosen not to use medication for my children. I have been attacked for that on occasion, in a way similar to those who use medication are sometimes attacked. I don’t think attacking people who disagree with you ever helps. But the best way I found to deal with these attacks is to ignore them.
I appreciate people posting real information from alternative viewpoints, and allowing others to check it out. I actually resent hostile “anti-med” postings as much as hostile “pro-med” postings, because it prevents people from being able to really examine the information presented, and makes it harder for me to communicate my beliefs without being viewed as threatening to those who have made different choices. I hope “Guest” gets the message I am sending here, but if s/he doesn’t, I hope the rest of you get the rest of the message: don’t rise to the bait if someone tries to provoke you. Ignore hostile postings. If you must comment, ask for sources of information and thank them for their opinions. Once you start counterattacking, there is no end to the pointless postings that will ensue. I stopped posting here for quite a while because of the incredibly hostile atmosphere. It has gotten better, but I am seeing things start down that path again. Don’t let it happen! Whatever is posted, read it for what it is worth, and if you find it isn’t worth anything, ignore it, but don’t get into arguments, even if you feel the poster deserves your ire! It makes it impossible to have a respectful conversation.
Just my advice. Ignore it if you wish, but take note of the results, and decide if that is what you really want in your community.
Re: When does ADHD Medication become performance enhancing????
“but I am telling you the truth and I am many times more knowledgeable than they are as well”
Dern, and I thought I had a big head. :)
JohnBigheadT
Re: When does ADHD Medication become performance enhancing????
[quote:8bb38b42be=”JohnBT”]”but I am telling you the truth and I am many times more knowledgeable than they are as well”
Dern, and I thought I had a big head. :)
JohnBigheadT[/quote]
And to that I would add. Smart people don’t drug kids brcause they no better.
Re: When does ADHD Medication become performance enhancing????
Okay, I concede. You’re right and everyone else is an idiot. ;)
John
Rightness
But John, if you are an idiot, and you said s/he is right, doesn’t that mean s/he is probably wrong?… ;<)
Re: When does ADHD Medication become performance enhancing????
Don’t be trying your logic tricks on us Mr. Spock ;)
Getting back to the original question, the use of medication only becomes “performance enhancing” in the negative conotation when it is given to a person who does not have a medical need for it. Would you complain about a child with poor vision wearing glasses having an unfair advantage? How about a chid with hearing loss who wore and aid? A kid missing a leg cause he used a crutch?
Unless your dr. is saying he was willfully prescribing this medication to a child who does NOT have ADHD (for whatever reason), then your giving this child a boost to complete his school day (band) is most certainly NOT for performance enhancing reasons.
Keep a close watch on him to make sure that the meds only do what they are supposed to do and not what the known adverse reactions are and keep helping him make progress.
Good luck to you!
Driving
When I read the doctor’s comments about the “work day” being the school day, I immediately thought about a situation that will be in front of you before you know it—driving. It’s not academic, but believe me, you will want your child to be thinking clearly and not acting impulsively.
Re: When does ADHD Medication become performance enhancing????
Very good point about driving. My sister was the absent minded professor type— extremely bright but a scatterbrain at other things and scary on the roads. She was killed in a car accident caused by nothing other than a driver error on her part. Back then we knew very little about adhd inattentive types. Knowing what I know now I am convinced that she had it as I believe I do too. I would never mention this to my parents because it’s not something we ever even thought about and there’s no reason in the world they should feel guilt, but I wonder at times if knowing what we know now about treating adhd could have made a difference.
I didn’t post that to scare anybody. More so, because the post about driving hit home with me. It’s something that is very much on my mind with my own kids who are diagnosed adhd.
Re: When does ADHD Medication become performance enhancing????
You made my heart shudder.
I realize that my son has inherited my ADD (I was the smart scatterbrained type—could tell you every detail in a book I’d read, but would forget important appointments regularly). Now that I’m older I realize that I have excellent coping skills that get me by.
When I was 17 I got into a car accident that could have been deadly. I picked up one of my friends for school. She had a French exchange student staying with her and naturally she came along. This friend then told me another friend was sick, and could we pick up his exchange student as well. We did. Since I had to go out of our way, I decided to pass a slow car on a rather narrow road. I was in a passing zone, but blew out a tire that I had probably damaged running into a curb a few days earlier. I lost control of the car and just spazzed. I never took my foot off the gas. I sideswiped a car coming in the other direction, spun my vehicle around and rolled it over in a ditch.
Can you believe no one was hurt? I had a sore neck, and so did the other two girls, but that was it. It never occurred to me until now why I was such a crappy driver.
On a humorous note: it was the 1st day of school in the US for the French kids! Man, did they have loads to talk about when they went back home.
Re: When does ADHD Medication become performance enhancing????
I am the smart scatterbrained or absent-minded professor type myself. I have worked very, very hard on my driving and have a very good record; taught driving safety for a while, too. I also drive far more cautiously than anyone else I know.
Please, please work with your kids on developing those coping skills and recognizing their limitations. When my brother was teaching me to drive, he taught me a couple of snappy answers to stupid questions and peer pressure; one classic which your kid should memorize is “I’m not in a hurry to get to my own funeral.”
Re: When does ADHD Medication become performance enhancing????
I may bronze that one and put in on the dashboard of my child’s first car which only a couple of years away. What a scary thought!!!
Your posts have really made me think. thank you
What I would do is find another doctor. Your doc is very much behind the times. The most current research indicates that the majority of children with ADHD grow up to become adults with ADHD. If you have decided that medication is necessary and appropriate for your child, and if that child still is experiencing ADHD symptoms that affect his ability to complete school work or after school activities like band, then there is no reason to feel you must discontinue medication or somehow ration it so that he only takes it for events your doctor deems appropriate.