What happens to kids when?

Question

they have been put on drugs for one thing or another, ADHD or something, and have been on them for years..what happens when they turn 18, are no longer on parents insurance, and quit taking the drugs, either because of money or they just dont want to anymore?

We are putting our kids on drugs for years and years, and neither the doctors, or usually even the parent, considers what happens later. I think we may be ending up with really problem filled adults as this happens - and there will be millions of them.

Answer 1

that's how the drug manufacturers have it planned

Answer 2

There ARE millions of problem filled adults. You must not meet a lot of people.

Part of the treatment of ADHD is to teach the child that the drugs are a tool, not a solution. They must also learn that ADHD is an explanation, but not an excuse. They must learn to deal with their condition.

Medication, used properly in a professionally diagnosed child, allow him/her to finish school and have a chance at a normal life. Once 18, they have the choice to continue medication or not, just as they have the choice to do pretty much everything.

My son was on medication for about 7 years. During that time, he learned strategies to cope with his condition, and he learned to harness his extra energy "for good instead of evil". He graduated from college a year early and now has a good job. He no longer needs medication.

Every case is different, and you can't generalize that drugs are "good" or "bad". In some instances, they change lives for the better, and allow children to get to the point where they can be responsible.

Answer 3

Within the last 10 or so years there has been research done that indicates kids with ADHD stand a greater than 40% chance of being adults with ADHD. They interviewed people who had difficulty keeping a job and their families and sometimes, their teachers and found the connection between ADHD and adults who either flit from job to job or have been let go from several jobs or have had multiple failed marriages..
When these people are put back on medication and followed with some counseling, they show marked improvement.

Answer 4

The sad part is now a days I think most kids don't need the meds. I do understand that there are some that honestly do but I think a lot could be controlled by the parents. Kids today are left to raise themselves so much that they are always looking for ways to seek attention. Also kids spend so much time on video games and watching TV that they don't burn the energy they have. School isn't entertaining enough and they get bored so they seek out attention. Oh boy could I go on! So I didn't really answer your question in a direct way but if you don't start the meds you don't have to worry about what to do later in life. Just my opinion.

Answer 5

i know of a girl who started at 15 on ritalin....years later they had to change it to adderall...she's abused it so much that now another medication is added to "enhance" the adderall.

i would wean them off NOW and look to diet as the cause. many kids are misdiagnosed as ADD/ADHD when all they really have is irritable bowel syndrome (intestines lack and enzyme responsible for steady levels of serretonin in the brain).

i always tell parents to treat the gut, not the brain. keep a food diary and mark down when the bowel movements occur....what type of bowel movment it is....(ibs has three types....diarhhea, constipation and combination stools)

kids with true ADHD are absolutely mind boggling and stressful 100% of the time. if your child shows some days are better than others, chances are its the bowel and ibs.

Answer 6

My husband, who is 43, has ADD and was on Ritalin when it was still in the experimental stages. He was also hyperactive. Sure enough, when he was 16 he chose to stop taking it. He quit school, ran away to the west coast, got into drugs & alcohol and gambling, and finally smartened up and went to Alcoholics Anonymous where the self discipline and taking responsiblity for one's actions worked for him. He is still very hyperactive, and his ADD is reflected in the fact that he starts many projects but doesn't finish them. As we speak, there is a half-painted Chevy frame in the garage, the side veranda is 1/2 enclosed my kitchen floor is half tiled and my refrigerator is outside on the porch - and Greg is gone for three weeks on business!

I have learned to live with this aspect of my husband, as well as the manic and depressive episodes. But is Ritalin responsible? Could be. I know I have to watch carefully for signs of drug abuse (he was taking Percodan for a while until I cut off his funds) and he still smokes marijuana, but he doesn't drink and is a very good employee, husband and father. We are watching our son closely for signs of ADD... and will have to think long and hard before starting him on meds.

Answer 7

I totally agree


the following is information from the website listed below
From 1998 to 2002, sales of antidepressants increased 73 percent to more than $12 billion, and sales of analeptics (drugs that stimulate the central nervous system, such as Ritalin and Adderall) increased 167 percent, according to IMS Health, a pharmaceutical information and consulting firm. Even more distressing, physicians wrote more than 1 million prescriptions for Strattera, a nonstimulant treatment for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, in its first six months on the market.

Something is very wrong here. These dramatic increases in the sales of these pharmaceuticals not only suggest that Americans are well on their way to becoming depressed, anxiety-ridden and incapable of the focus necessary to understand the world in which we live, but also that we are on our way to becoming a drug-dependent nation.

No one would deny that ADHD, depression and anxiety disorders afflict millions of Americans. But to what degree? Through a combination of pharmaceutical companies' increased marketing, quick diagnoses from physicians and lack of proper referrals from doctors, we are simply inundating incredible numbers of people with unprecedented medication.

The issue is all the more sensitive and heartrending when it comes to our children. According to the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, a study of 900,000 youths showed that the number of children taking psychiatric drugs more than doubled in one group and tripled in the two others over a 10-year period ending in 1996.

"Any time a child reads a little more slowly, we're talking learning disability and administering Ritalin," says Dr. Arthur Caplan, chair of the department of medical ethics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. "Or any time a kid acts up a bit, instead of giving him detention, we're drugging him. These are definitely problems in that it's expensive, it may not address the cause of the problem, and I've never met a drug yet, including aspirin, that didn't have some side effects."

In other words, some pharmaceuticals create greater problems than they treat. In June, British drug officials, later backed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, warned physicians and consumers that GlaxoSmithKline's antidepressant Paxil carries a substantial risk of prompting teenagers and children to consider suicide. Two months later, Wyeth warned doctors of the same risks in its Effexor. U.S. sales of both drugs totaled nearly $4 billion last year.

The driving force behind the surge is aggressive direct-to-consumer advertising, Caplan says. Following the relaxation of a 30-year drug marketing agreement in 1997, pharmaceutical companies have tripled their annual advertising to consumers, resulting in a 37-percent increase in sales of prescription stimulants for children. Also, roughly one-third of adults have asked their doctor about a drug they saw advertised, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

And those doctors are quick to dole out prescriptions. According to the American Psychiatric Association, primary-care physicians now write upwards of 60 percent of all antidepressant prescriptions.

"I think (doctors are) just overwhelmed now with too much marketing," Caplan says, "and it drives them toward too much prescribing,"

In fact, American consumers, mostly children, account for more than 90 percent of global consumption of such stimulants.

"If we have four or five times the learning disability or depression or other neurotic illnesses that the Europeans do," Caplan says, "then either we got a really bad gene pool through immigration, or we're over-medicating."

A crisis looms. The pharmaceutical companies, the FDA and Congress must confront this issue now, and the physicians' credo is an appropriate starting point: First, do no harm. That concept simply must take precedence over profit motives and casual prescriptions.

Answer 8

I completely agree with you. I feel that "doping" up our youth on all of these attention drugs is BS. I feel that doctors are just getting plain lazy. writing out a rx is a lot quicker then spending time sending them to counseling or actually trying to figure out if there is a real reason why they act this way.

Answer 9

I think that first of all the kids shouldn't be put on drugs unless they are going thru depression and are suicidal. A.D.D. and A.D.H.D does not need drugs they wanted my son to go on riddelin because he was hyper, mind you this is the teachers I'm talking about, i told the teacher to learn how to deal with my son because I will not dope him up for anyone ever.

Answer 10

that is a very good question-my brother was on ritalin for years until he turned 18,then he suddenly became depressed,violent,and ended up in jail due to black rage incident!im not saying you can completely blaming ritalin for everyone who has this happen to them,but seriously we dont know what else to think!

Answer 11

They should continue with school so that they stay on their parents' insurance or get a job that has benefits.