Re: Can I get help/diagnosed without my parents?

[Anonymous]

Chrissybee and others,

It sounds like mom has a basic mistrust of stimulant drugs, specifically Ritalin because of “what it did to your brother”. I’ve heard this before around things like chemotherapy and even non-medical things like seatbelts. “Look what happened to poor ol’ Harv when he wore HIS seatbelt! If he hadn’t of had it on that day, he’d still be here today. (sniff)”. Sorry for poking fun, but people have a tendency to attach a former negative experience to the outcome of the current situation. It can be really hard to change someone’s perception, esp if they don’t trust, in Chrissybee’s situation, the medical systerm as a whole. I don’t know if that’s a factor in this case.

My husband felt much the same about Ritalin when I first considered medication for ADHD. He thought that Ritalin was the thing that had started his brother down the road of addiction. He started taking it about 45 years ago, liked the feeling it gave him, and within a few years was finding ways to get more. (use your imagination here) So in that respect it probably did contribute, but there was a whole lot more going on that contributed than the prescribed amount of Ritalin.

So, how to convince mom that there are lots of other medications, maybe brother was prescribed the wrong dose …

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