another news factoid

It certainly supports that at least some ADHD cases are caused by prenatal use of stimulants. This makes sense, because if their brains constantly receive artificial stimulantion from nicotine, they might develop with the “expectation” that they don’t need to produce their own natural stimulants (Dopamine and norepinepherine) as much. So they might develop a “shortage” when the nicotine is taken away. (Of course, I worry whether the long-term use of stimulants in children may have similar effects as well). Also, smoking reduces oxygen levels in the blood, since carbon monoxide binds to the same receptor site in blood cells as oxygen, and is actually harder to dislodge. So we may be slowly suffocating our fetuses as well as creating brain damage from prenatal stimulant exposure. If that doesn’t discourage a pregnant woman from smoking, I don’t know what else would!

– Steve

And if you can pound any sense into him, dad shouldn’t be smoking either, as secondhand can be as bad as first-hand.

Scientific studies have also shown, that watching to much TV can cause ADHD.

Please also keep that in mind.

“A person” — there is a lot of stuff out on the internet claiming all sorts of things. As far as I have seen, the jury is still out on the TV - ADD connection. (NOT that excess TV is good for you, but if you claim too many things that are unproven, you lose credibility.) Do check your sources and see if you can pass on some reputable references, OK?

I apalogize for going off topic with that information.

As victoria said, there is a plethora of spam all over the internet claiming lots of things, albeit intermingled with useful, intelligent information that is helpful. Parents must have the presence of mind to tell one from the other, and make rational decisions. Sometimes that’s easy, as “a person”, and our resident troll shows us whether we like it or not. More often than not, it’s not so easy.

OF COURSE, too much TV cannot be *good* for any child! However, there are so many wonderful educational shows that are available on PBS, and the myriad of positive, uplifting, educational choices for children we now have on the endless cable channels as well. Do I think watching TV causes ADHD? (My opinion’s as good as anyone elses, since there is no study proving the TV — ADHD connection, Mr. or Ms. A Person…) No. Or else we’d all have ADHD. Do I think plunking your child down in front of the set as a “babysitter” is a good idea? No, I think it’s bad parenting. Do I think any child should be “banned” from watching TV? Of course I don’t.

My mother always says, everything in moderation. I think she has a point.

There is a great deal of stuff on the net that is just not true. Usually you can trust university studies.

I have heard the TV and video game theory and it makes sense to me. Whether it is true I don’t know.

I think that there is some sort of enviromental cause that is yet to be determined. Smoking would tie into neo natal nutrition. I have read about the dangers of aspertame on developing babies, children and even adults. As it turns out aspertame is comprised of an unstable molecule that when heated turns to the methynol molecule (wood alcohol).

There is enough evidence to convince me that aspertame (Nutrasweet) is dangerous and perhaps a culprit in many neurological disorders and birth defects.

Personally, I would not injest aspartame, or any of the other sugar substitutes MYSELF - pregnant or not pregnant, much less have it when I was pregant, or worse yet, give it to my children. Yet I see so many parents (hey, Dads count too, they supply half the genetics of the child!!!) doing so. I understand that we aren’t the pregnant mother police, but it still chills me to the bone when I see a pregant mother light up a cigarette like it’s nothing, or worse still, drink alcohol, when these birth defects/deficiencies HAVE been proven.

Re: TV and video games? I still say quality TV, and even some occasional junk TV (with the proper adult supervision, of course) is OK, and some studies have shown that video games can actually improve a child’s eye-hand coordination! This is true. I don’t have a link to provide, nor do I have the time to google it up right now, but my nephew did a science project on that exact topic a couple of years ago. Who would have thought?

But of course, it cannot be good for any kid to spend the majority of his/her time glued to the Playstation….

DISCLAIMER: I personally think smoking is a very bad habit, and cannot be good for the fetus or children exposed to secondhand smoke. That is NOT the same thing, however as proof it causes ADHD.
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=52770

Smoking in Pregnancy Raises ADHD Risk for Child
By Janice Billingsley
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Aug. 1 (HealthDay News) — Women who smoke during pregnancy are nearly twice as likely to have children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a new study finds.

*****This write says “nearly” twice as likely, which fails to meet the threshhold for causation established as seen to be true by numerous court cases on a wide variety of cases. Interestingly enough, when the CDC commissioned ver Straetten to look into the autism-thimerosal issue in 1999, he found that thimerosal in vaccines was associated with ADHD almost 3 to 1, which is significantly higher than this study’sd reported nearly double. The Geiers confirmed this by recollating the CDC’s own data into 5 categories that focused solely on one of the pediatric shots - DTwP (with thimerosal) and DTaP (without thimerosal).

“There is strong reason to believe that smoking is a risk factor for ADHD, but at this stage of research we certainly don’t know for sure because of genetics and environmental risk factors like use of drugs and poor nutritional status,” he added.

*****So we are back again to blaming Mommy’s sins for her babies inability to focus. How do these researchers explain te cases of ADHD that occur to families where the mother did not smoke, use drugs and took more than adequate care of themselves during pregnancy? Over 5,000 completely untested chemicals we are exposed to during routine daily living, including known and suspected neurotoxins and they can make statements like this?

This is my big problem with “ADHD” as a label - it begs the question of causality. If EVERY case of ADHD isn’t caused by the same thing, then every time a contributing factor is brought up, it doesn’t explain all the cases, and is dismissed as a causeal factor.

I am sure that exposing kids prenatally to smoking is harmful, and that some kids exposed to smoking in the uterus may be more prone to hyperactive behavior. But so are kids who are neglected early in life, experience lead poisoning, have low or high thyroid functioning, have experienced severe trauma, and who have sleep problems. There are so many potential causes or contributing factors for this list of behaviors, it is silly to think that a single “cause for ADHD” will EVER be found!

This is not even getting into why our culture has such trouble with the “ADHD” personality in the first place. There are plenty of cultures that rely less on memory and linear logic where the “ADHD” person would be considered incredibly valuable for their energy and their creativity and inventiveness. And interestingly, a study of employer satisfaction done back in the 70s suggested that employers are just as happy with their “ADHD” employees as they are with their non-affected counterparts, mostly because the ADHD-labeled people chose professions that fit their personalities, with lots of stimulation and possibilities for individual innovation and less stress on social interactions and self-discipline.

I think looking for a cause for ADHD is a waste of time, because ADHD isn’t a unified condition that has a single cause. I am happy to see people being discouraged from exposing fetuses to smoke, but I doubt that a complete cessation of prenatal tobacco exposure would solve the social problem that the ADHD construct represents.

–- Steve

That is a great way of looking at it Steve. You bring up an interseting question as to why our society is ADHD phobic. I don;t think it is our society. I think it is our sucky K- 12 educational system.

I was watching Court TV and they were showing a tiral of this hag who owned a daycare center and she was on trial for giving a 1 yearold benedryl to make him sleep. The poor little angel died because this hag overdosed him. As it turned out she was doping all the children with benedryl.

Just like that hag in the daycare center the scools what kids to conform to some unrealistic ideal of conduct that is wrong for children so they dumb down the most enthusiatic ones and call them freaks and mentally defective.

The only thing defective is the way these so called adults think. As a society we have tottally lost all perspective. Did you know that obesity is now a disease? Yep it is> AND… they have found the cause. As it turns out since our existence on this planet humans stomachs that are way too large and now for 50K you can go to a hospital and have your stomach reduced to the size of a shot glass.