Posted on 10/27/2006 2:42:44 PM PDT by wagglebee
Everything is a poison if you take enough of it. Coffee can cause heart paplpitations and arythmias, many persons with ADD self medicate on these and other naturally occuring stimulants, sugars, caffeine, cigarettes, even illegal substances. For certain persons, IMHO, it is far better to change ones life for the better with measured and controlled doses of targeted medications then continue addictive behaviors and other less precise medications.
Obviously, it is also important to combine pharmeceutical therapy with more natural exercises that may help ADD such as yoga, meditation, exercise, neurofeedback etc...
And I dont have much respect for the FDA or the bureaucrats that reside there; I've looked at those studies and I believe all or nearly all involved children with existing congenital abnormallities.
Which is exactly what the drug is supposed to do.
Lot's of drugs are "mind-altering" including Tylenol with Codeine, Aleve, Aspirin, etc. etc. etc.
I will trust my Physicians long before I will take advice from rampaging folks with pitchforks in hand on the crusade to "save the kids" from "government programs."
Trust me when I saw I used to think much of the same...just not to your extreme. In fact, I argued with both the psychologist and physician about the very things brought up and guess what, after a thorough reading ON MY OWN about the subject, the drugs, the effect and symptoms, I decided to support a trial of the meds to see the effects.
That trial has significantly IMPROVED the life of my son, my wife and the rest of my family.
And just to blow all the other totally inappropriate generalities in the posts here, my son is a great athlete with less that 7% body fat, exercises all the time, doesn't and isn't ALLOWED to play games or sit in front of the TV for extended durations. He's not unruly or out of control. He's been disciplined his whole life including limited use of spanking.
LOL. Reminds me of a classic Cheech and Chong bit about "Jimmy" who was taking piano lessons and always screwing up and not paying attention. Then a friend of the piano instructor said "let me give it a try." Then he takes a bottle, smashes it, and says "You see this? The next one is going through your kneecap." After that the kid played perfectly.
"Lol! This article is a joke. ADD is real and the medications offer a crutch while people try to find other coping strategies. It has literally changed peoples lives and for the better. I'm not in favor of government requiring anything, but Ritalin is not a poison..."
I agree with you. This fable writer is obviously doing major illegal drugs. I have not had anybody in my immediate family take ritalin, but I have had a lot of friends whose kids were clearly ADD and once on the medicine they had a 100 percent change. Behavior improved and grades went up. The kids currently in college all were on ritalin (exaggeration), but are doing fine. Some of these kids would not be able to function in school otherwise. I think it is positive for America. People said the same thing about polio vaccine and every other new thing that came out. Ignorance is the ruination of a lot of things in this world.
I must say that I am a little shocked by your attack.
All I was trying to say is that certain drugs are designed to dramatically alter one's mindset and with that one's behavior. And the fact that this result occurs is not proof that any condition actually exists.
Let me offer this example and see if it makes sens: My wife has a sleep disorder and she has sleeping pills that she takes when she is unable to sleep. The pills help her sleep very soundly. If for whatever the reason take one of the pills myself, I will also sleep more soundly than normal -- BUT THIS DOESN'T MEAN I HAVE A SLEEP DISORDER.
I was not trying to personalize this toward you in any way and I apologize if it came across that way. If something is helping you or your family that's great. It's just that I am apprehensive that such a large percentage of children are diagnosed with ADD/ADHD and these percentages make me very wary of the validity of the diagnostic procedures.
It used to make me so mad that they made the extremely poor readers read out loud. I never understood the purpose of that; was it to shame them into being better readers? Then while someone was stumbling over some word, everyone else had read the passage.
You brought back my nightmares....lol.
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