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One of my friends pointed me to this article as an argument that I was making all this up. The article was disturbing enough with all of the inaccuracies, but the comments are just plain vile.

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/06/13/not-just-for-kids-add-growing-problem-for-adults/?test=faces

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[Anonymous]

“The interesting thing is that (this condition) didn’t exist 20 years ago,” said Dr. Dale Archer, a psychiatrist who is based in New York and Louisiana.

I find this comment ridiculous. Doesn’t this person mean that the NAME for this condition didn’t exist 20 years ago?

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[Wgreen]

Dr, Archer is being disingenuous.

In 1902, George F. Still, a London pediatrician and medical historian, gave three lectures (published in The Lancet of that year) on what he called a “morbid defect of moral control” in children. He didn’t call it ADHD, but so what? They used to call tuberculosis “consumption.” But by whatever name, it was still what we know today as TB. My father had ADD more than 20 years ago. I observed it—and the consequences—with my own eyes.

We’re seeing more and more “doubters” coming out of the closet. Two days ago I posted a piece about (American historian and political pundit) George Will caustically using the expression “the medicalization of a problem” on network TV. It wasn’t in the context of ADD, but the dots are easily connected.

What is truly interesting is that a mental health professional would make such a bold (or careless) remark, knowing the implications. Words matter. If it didn’t exist 20 years ago, one has to assume it doesn’t really exist at all. It’s a sham. So all of us to claim to have ADD/ADHD are akin to those who claim to have been abducted by aliens? Dr. Archer needs to be honest enough to say what he really means.

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[Anonymous]

50-60 years ago there wasn’t a Dr. Dale Archer Jr. Does that mean he doesn’t exist?

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[Anonymous]

Yes, I remember being beamed up aboard a spaceship and my brain dissected. No wait! that was a sci fi show on tv!

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[memzak]

UNBELIEVABLE! The misinformation in the article was bad enough but the comments were making me sick.

The fact that a professional does not believe actually does not surprise me that much. I had already been diagnosed and was send to a different psychiatrist for maintenance who immediately said I didn’t have it even though I had already been diagnosed. I will stick to this website where we will all know the truth and we must all spread the word. If we each educated two people who each educated two more people and we did that every day it would not be long before we could wipe out the ignorance. Well I can dream can’t I?

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[Curlymoe115]

When I was diagnosed almost 40 years ago they called it “Hyper Kinetic” then it was shortened down to Hyper then it became Attention Deficit and at that time there was Hyper and Underactive. All names for the same thing that is now called ADHD. The definitions may have changed along with the name and now they are recognizing different behaviour sets all fall into the same category. Kids like me talked and acted out too much. But the daydreamers also had a hard time paying attention to task just like me, they just sat quietly at a desk and fell through the cracks and are only now being diagnosed.

As for the article they say most grow out of it but still 4 percent of the population continue to suffer with this as adults. Well the statistics I have seen is that between 5 and 10 percent of children present with this condition. If you go with the higher statistic then roughly half that were diagnosed as children will outgrow it and if you go with the lower then only about 20 percent will outgrow it. That is not to mention all the children who are not recognized as suffering from ADHD as children and only when they have more responsibilities do they start to flounder and flail.

Medication is another issue altogether. Some people will benefit and others will not. Because it is a dynamic neurological condition no two cases present identically. And Dr.s who are not themselves experts should not be offering advice in this context. A psychiatrist often specializes that does not make them an expert on every illness. The “normal” box may be shrinking but that is only because Dr’s are now starting to really examine the brain and they see that there is more going on up there then they previously appreciated. If Dr’s don’t medicate a lot of suffering people start to use substitutes like drugs and alcohol to help them get through the day.

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[Anonymous]

Yes, and those of us that can’t get meds because our docs force us to get a proper diagnosis (I’m venting here) end up taking someone else’s meds that may not be right for them. GRRRRRR!!!!! coffee doesn’t cut it for me but Ritalin is the charm.

But I am ok with my doc leaving the diagnosis and treatment recommendations up to the ADD psych I’m seeing for a consult, provided she actually follows his recommendations and doesn’t start trying to be the ADD expert herself, which she’s clearly NOT!

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[memzak]

Curlymoe115

The information I have is that you don’t ever outgrow it but you do manage it better if you are diagnosed early so it may APPEAR that you outgrow it. I was not diagnosed until 58 years old. I had been “managing” my life but I was miserable. It was not until all the external structure of my life evaporated that my symptoms became immobilizing.

You must have it all together having been diagnosed so long ago. Us Newbies should be asking you for advice!!!

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[Author]

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