ADHD Meds In The News

[Wgreen]

I suspect many of you have read this: http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/06/19/health-drugs-idINL3E8HJ00920120619

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration reports that pediatric prescriptions for psychostimulants are shooting skyward in the United States. And this begs a question: Is this mostly a consequence of a just-recently-discovered AD(H)D epidemic? Or the result of health-care professionals who have no idea how to properly diagnose the disorder? Or both?

This is important. If the answer is the former, we might reasonably expect growing understanding and support from the wider community. If it’s the latter, we run the risk of more and more people becoming increasingly skeptical that ADHD even exists. Just what we need!

Suffice it to say, with so many kids now on meds that improve concentration, you’d think national standardized test score averages would be starting to creep up…

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[Robbo]

Fortunately it’s a short article. I didn’t check the source link.

Statistics might look interesting, and make it easy to convince advertising companies to encourage articles about controversial topics, and sell junk. But I’m not all that worried about this little article. Statistics are too easy to manipulate, a lot of folks realize this.

There’s a really good new blog here by Dr. Jain on the same subject. This just encourages me to follow through on learning to live a better life with ADHD. Be an example that the medications do help. And also work towards understanding this thing well enough to actually help a hard headed person to change their opinion about people with ADHD. We’re not hopeless incurable losers.

Here’s part of the address to Dr. Jain’s blog. It’s really good. totallyadd.com//journalistic-integrity just add the http. (I don’t want to post a link, it’s my new pet phobia. lol)

I spent some time with some helpful friends tonight, got my attitude adjusted some. So I’m letting this topic encourage me to work harder on my recovery from a long hard life with undiagnosed, and untreated/wrongly treated ADHD. I’m a little bit emotionally lumped up just lately, but considering myself part of a team who is working towards making the world a better place instead of a lonely wounded bitter morass of self pity is helping me stand up against all the opposition in my life. Storms come, storms go. I’ve been through a mild hurricane lately. Don’t we all just love to dramatize life?

Right now I’m feeling like it’s not a crime to be different, or even eccentric. Self centered egomanianism is a problem I’ve been infected with for more years than I want to really focus on. It’s better to focus on how much less selfish I’ve become. I’ve come a long way, I’m hoping the skeptics in my life will notice in a handful of years that it was a good decision to get diagnosed and treated for a crappy thing that nearly destroyed my life. If they never understand. That’s okay too. I’m just on the planet to try and help out as many folks as I can. We don’t all get to be famous for changing the world. There’s only so much limelight to go around.

Sometimes I feel like my posts for this place are an online journal. That’s why I end up not posting more and more of the replies I write. I hope I don’t regret posting this one.

Brevity is over-rated. JMHO

And dat’z it.

6-19-12

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[Tiddler]

that was really very moving

re the number of prescriptions for methylphenidate – I think there are a couple of factors in play, namely more awareness and misdiagnosis.

the symptoms are so close to those experienced by kids with very high IQs that this group of kids is being medicated for being too clever. sometimes a kid (or adult) comes along who has both (like me) and the medication frees the mind, like it does for most people with ADHD and it’s wonderful. for others though, who are misdiagnosed, it’s pathologising normal behaviour, especially when the behaviour is caused by being in an environment that is damaging for the child – namely mainstream schooling that doesn’t accommodate them.

and yes, there are children who are being misdiagnosed due to hurried incomplete diagnostics by busy doctors. i also know a teacher who has 3 children in her class whose children were diagnosed with adhd so their parents could sell the drugs, which the children have never taken because they don’t have it. the children told her they were prompted by parents to behave in certain ways at the clinic.

the testing needs to be rigorous and thorough and with awareness of the needs of high gifted kids alongside it, and people who abuse the system like the parents in that particular area need to be spotted and sidestepped.

i’m guessing the overwhelming majority of new prescriptions are down to the greater understanding of this though.

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[shutterbug55]

I just saw in the news where moms are taking their children’s ADD meds for that extra boost of energy. Ritalin and Adderall being the favorite go to.

I get prescriptions that only allow me 30 days supply, and they are spaced 30 days apart. Which always makes me nervous, because the pharmacy has been out and I have had to wait for them to get more.

For me, this isn’t a crisis, but it is a real pain because I know what I am like when I am off my meds. People around me don’t like it so much with my ADD brain not on meds.

I have lived with ADD for so long without treatment and I am liking what the treatment is doing for me and being without the meds really slows down my program.

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