Do you think we rely too heavily on ADD meds for children these days?

Question

When I was in grade school, I was one of the only kids I knew in my class who was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder and put on Ritalin. That was not a fun experience. It did help my concentration in school but Ritalin made me feel nauseated and often times very depressed. As I reached adulthood, I stopped taking the medication and in time I learned to concentrate on my own. So when I look back I am not so sure I ever really needed to be on medication at all. Nowadays, it seems like doctors are so quick to diagnose a kid with ADD, if he or she has any kind of attention problem and prescribe then with Ritalin or Adderall. I haven't read too much literature on this recently, but it seems like we still don't know what the long term affects can be from medicating kids at such a young age. Do you think we going overboard with diagnosing ADD these days and prescribing medication, or is ADD really a growing problem?

Wow, great points from everyone!! I work in healthcare now and I have seen how much effort the drug companies go to to market their drugs to medical facilities, so I do agree that money is playing a role here. But I also agree that in some cases ADD and ADHD are real as in the case with Catherine W's daughter. I would also worry about her long term affects and how she will be as an adult when she has to stop taking the medication. Has she been evaluated for other health problems? For example, the high blood sugar theory? I was only in about 3rd grade when I was diagnosed, so I can't even remember if I had a physical evaluation before I wad diagnosed.

Answer 1

I agree completely - the teachers at my son's school kept telling us that we should get my son checked for ADHD because they were having a hard time getting him to sit down and do his work. We went to several doctors, who all told us that there is no way to tell for sure that he has it - but all three told us that he does! I think that teachers are trying to find an easy way to keep their class under control, rather than trying to figure out what they might be doing wrong as teachers. It's very frustrating for us as parents - now that we have the "diagnosis", the teachers and even the principal are trying to force us into using medication on our son!

Answer 2

My 13 yr old daughter was diagnosed about 6 years ago with ADHD. She has been on every medicine there is to treat it, but nothing works very well. She has been on Concerta for about 2 years now and if she forgets to take it everyone around her is ready to choke her. It is not a cure, but it definitely helps a lot. When she isn't medicated I am called to the school because she can't sit still or even make herself stay at her desk. I believe ADD has been around for many years but these kids were labeled trouble makers or even retarded. I'm not sure about the long term affect, but it can't be any worse than her not thinking about what she's doing and hurt herself or even someone else. I have asked her how her medicine makes her feel and she told me it helps her concentrate better, she can tell when she hasn't taken it. As she gets older I know we will eventually have to take her off it because her body adjusts to it over time and we can't keep increasing her dose. I think about it every day and I am very worried about her as she gets older. She does not do well in school and the teachers don't help, all they do is drop failing grades or modify them. That's what they call the "No Child Left Behind" Law. It's crap. I do believe doctors over prescribe meds for parents who don't want to deal with rowdy children, but there really are serious cases of ADD/ADHD.
Pegasus does have a point, not really sure about the insulin thing but your thyroid out of wack could result in a misdiagnosis, my daughters has been checked and is fine. Actually my daughter has been to Vanderbilt Children's hospital and Erlanger for evaluations and all kinds of tests. I have taken her to so many doctors, I couldn't tell you how many. I knew there was a problem when she was almost 2, when my 2nd daughter was born I thought something was wrong with her because she slept all the time, when actually it was my oldest that had the problem. The first place I took her was a childrens learning facility and they told me there was nothing they could do if she wasn't retarded or handicapped. They told me I could either laugh or cry about the situation. I've done both.

Answer 3

I know that there IS physical evidence that the blood flow in the brain of someone with ADD/ADHD has more gaps, trying hard to concentrate as opposed to someone without it. I do agree with Catherine on over-medicating youngsters with not enough discipline as the underlying problem.

I have had ADD all my life but was not diagnosed until I was 21. I read lots of books such as " Am I Really Lazy, Stupid and Crazy" These books allow me to understand my life better and but I didn't want to be a prisoner to the meds. A lot of them are addictive and I did not want to be controlled by a drug. I believe I have AADD (adult) because once I started taking Concerta I began concentrating better and performing more tasks in a more efficient time. In grade school I really thought I was lazy and stupid simply because I was a very slow learner! I attended a private school and I would work on homework for hours after school, sometimes til midnight to get it done. I would get easily distracted and cry because I was trying as hard as I could and my teachers thought I was just lazy. Nothing against private schools for not having the resources to test kids though. It is real and I have worked with my doctor very carefully to tell her how I feel so she can closely monitor my dosage. I feel I am more myself taking the Concerta but I get unorganized and flustered when I DON"T take it. It's not a cure but the Ritalin has improved my life and I wish I had it sooner. Of course the amount you take is the key and you are the only one that knows how your body reacts to it. Remember different things work for different people.

Answer 4

Yes, it's just doctors trying to get more money from the parents who have to go buy their children Ritalin. I was diagnosed back when I was 5 but it turns out I could concentrate just fine without the medicene. And the amount of tv kids watch these days prob has something to do with it too. But I think more than 50% of kids these days are mis-diagnosed.

Answer 5

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Answer 6

I think you're on to something very important here. Modern society and medicine love diagnosises, probably because they make us feel smart, enlightened and like we're in control. A diagnosis also puts the *blame* on the kid, and parents, teachers, siblings, doctors and peers can relax - they're doing everything right, it's the kid who's dysfunctional. Put him on medication and he'll perform much better, which proves that they're right.

Hell, I'd feel a lot better on a low dosage of Ritalin, too, at least for a while. Most people would. If you don't believe me, try it.

What the psychiatrists don't tell is that there's absolutely NO physical evidence that ADD/ADHD exists. The diagnosis is based on observations, interpreted test results and info mainly from parents and teachers. EEG, blood tests etc won't show anything out of line.

Don't get me wrong here. I'm not saying ALL ADD diagnosises are wrong, but getting one is pretty easy, and it sticks with you for life. In my opinion, the latter aspect is very serious and calls for a lot of consideration. And the decision to prescribe medication for a kid should be accompanied by a structured follow-up program that includes frequent medication-free periods for comparison. Unfortunately, in most cases the decision to medicate is *end of story* and as long as the kid feels reasonably ok and shows progress, let sleeping dogs lie.

Recent research shows that it's possible to outgrow the kind of ADD symptoms that are caused by immaturity of the central nervous system rather than a permanent dysfunction. Ergo, since there's no scientific way of telling the cause of ADD symptoms in a child, the diagnosis should be reviewed every 3 years or so, along with the decision to medicate.

IMHO, most of the increase of kids with various neuropsychiatric labels can be explained in terms of inadequate adult support and too loose boundaries. I'm not blaming individual parents, I'm blaming the parenting trend that says that love conquers everything including lack of time and that punishing a child is a capital crime. That's B.S. I also blame the educational system that makes one teacher responsible for 40+ kids' learning and social development. That's impossible and everybody knows it, including the teacher. I blame child psychiatrists for focusing on individual pathology instead of on the individual as part of a vast range of interacting systems and using their expanded knowledge to improve life conditions for as many kids as possible.

Sensitive, unbalanced, immature, insecure, socially deprived kids (among lots of others) can't handle big, noisy groups, muddled instructions and random, if any, consequences for breaking rules. They need structure and a predictable everyday life so they can use their often limited energy on more important matters than trying to figure out what's going to happen next. They need to be able to know *right* from *wrong* and *good* from *bad*. They don't need to be *stimulated*, they need peace, quiet and guidance from patient, friendly but firm adults.

The above involves a lot of effort. It's not cheap, either. Sooo.... medication is often used as a compensation for crappy or inadequate life conditions. A diagnosis is an easier and more uncontroversial way of explaining why a kid screws up than addressing his family, teachers and the responsible authorities.

I work with *impossible* kids and their families and know for a fact that small, simple things like an everyday routine, few but clear rules, predictable consequences and adults that mean what they say and act accordingly can work miracles in most cases. Not solve every problem, but make a huge difference. Which proves to me that when it comes to any human behavioural problems or psychiatric issues, pills are just part of the solution.


ANA: PLZ!!!! You can't diagnose ADHD and Autism in a 3 yo, just suspect there's something wrong unless he's stark raving mad. Plz get a 2nd opinion when kid's 5-6 yo!!!! And get qualified help in the mean time!

Answer 7

Very good point. I don't know whether or not you're aware of it, but the oil companies, and the drug companies practically run this country. The system is rigged so doctors are little more than drug pushers in business to make the drug companies richer, and richer. The already rich politicians own lots of stock in these companies, so they just keep getting richer, and richer as well. That's not to mention how toxic these drugs are to the human body.

Answer 8

I know what you mean. My 3 yr. old has Autism and ADHD. Dr's. pressure me into giving him medication at a very young age. I simply just tried. I used Methylin 2.5.

His behavior completely changed. He became extremely aggressive, throwing toys, biting, kicking, pinching, etc. After almost two months I stopped giving him the medication.

Now I'm trying alternative medicine and it's helping him a lot more than the medication the Dr. prescribed.

Answer 9

yes i do think there to easy to medicate i took my son to the doctor to discuss behavioral problems within 5min she had him diagnosed with add and put him on meds that lasted about two days and i took him off the medication my baby was walking around like a dazed and confused zombia then i took him to a specialist out of town and she said he was not add just a phase he was going through now hes great who knows what would of happened if i left him on that medication i dont believe add is a growing problem i believe the problem is teachers and parents not wanting to deal with kids behaviors these days so they put them on a med that zones them out so they dont have to deal with them

Answer 10

i had to deal with ADD med for 2 weeks i got so mad i think ADD is just a myth, physical problems with the barin do not control the way u think if u think like a selfish ignorant brat does mean u have ADD or ADHD, i can understand mental redartion or paralized people but thats reasonable but things like being afraid of stuff and ADD is just thinking differently then others, and i do not wanna see parrents replying to this because parents do not know they dont care wither if they put there son/daughter on medicine for THINKING DIFFERENTLY!!!! and if u see or child improving its because they are trying to prove to u they dont need it!!!!!