Seeking straight A's, parents push for pills

MSNBC ^ | 10:16 a.m. CT Sept 7, 2006 | Victoria Clayton

[fgoodwin]

A 15-year-old girl and her parents recently came in for a chat with Dr. James Perrin, a Boston pediatrician, because they were concerned about the girl's grades. Previously an A student, she was slipping to B's, and the family was convinced attention deficit hyperactivity disorder was at fault — and that a prescription for Ritalin would boost her brainpower.

After examining the girl, Perrin determined she didn't have ADHD. The parents, who had come in demanding a prescription, left empty-handed.

Perrin, a professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics, and other physicians say this is an increasingly common scenario in doctors' offices around the country, though there are no hard statistics on it.

Parents want their kids to excel in school, and they've heard about the illegal use of stimulants such as Ritalin and Adderall for "academic doping." Hoping to obtain the drugs legally, they pressure pediatricians for them. Some even request the drugs after openly admitting they don't believe their child has ADHD.

Academic doping — using these stimulant prescriptions in an effort to enhance focus, concentration and mental stamina — first started on college campuses, especially Ivy League and exclusive, competitive schools. Now, the problem is filtering down to secondary schools, Yates says, and more parents are playing a role in obtaining prescription ADHD medication for their teenagers.

[Froufrou]

This all started when school districts discovered the feds would offer enhanced funding for ADHD kids. Bad government.

[CholeraJoe]

Academic doping is nothing new. We did it 30 years ago to deal with the rigors of 36 hours on call.

[JamesP81]

A 15-year-old girl and her parents recently came in for a chat with Dr. James Perrin, a Boston pediatrician, because they were concerned about the girl's grades. Previously an A student, she was slipping to B's, and the family was convinced attention deficit hyperactivity disorder was at fault — and that a prescription for Ritalin would boost her brainpower.

This was done to me, except the quack shrink I went to agreed and gave my mother the prescription. It may be the worst thing that ever happened to me. I cannot possibly emphasize enough how bad this stuff is for kids. Do not be deceived: Ritalin is an extremely powerful mind altering substance. You are NOT the same person when you're on it. This is a very powerful drug that should be prescribed only in extremely severe cases.

[beezdotcom]

As an adult, I would grasp at any chemical additive which could help me compensate for my many years of learned bad concentration habits.

As a parent, I would desperately seek to have my kids AVOID learning those same bad habits, so they wouldn't require a chemical crutch years later.

"Do as I say, not as I do?" Perhaps. It still a better option for the kids.

[WoodstockCat]

ritalin is a cocaine derivitive..if a doctor ever tried to perscribe it for either one of my kids I'd walk out of their office.

[GSlob]

Well, were it possible to chemically enhance one's memory, for example, or do other brain fine-tuning, it would be OK and popular, I suppose. The trouble as I see it is that the existing psychiatric drugs have a very crude mode of action.

[beezdotcom]

ritalin is a cocaine derivitive

Technically, no. It was derived from dexedrine. Both ritalin and dexedrine are completely synthetic, although they can also indirectly come from chemical reductions of ephedrine, which comes from the ephedra plant. Cocaine is naturally occurring, and comes from the coca plant.

Ritalin and cocaine both work to increase dopamine levels in the brain, although ritalin works much more slowly. That's why, in regular pill form, it tends not to be nearly as addicting (though there are exceptions, and when crushed/sniffed it poses more of an addiction problem).

Nonetheless, I agree with your sentiments - the overwhelmingly vast majority of kids need nothing like ritalin. It's like using a bazooka for home perimeter defense.

[beezdotcom]

Well, were it possible to chemically enhance one's memory, for example, or do other brain fine-tuning, it would be OK and popular, I suppose.

Pay attention to some of the new classes of Alzheimer's drugs, then. I am.

[Casio]

Academic doping is nothing new. We did it 30 years ago to deal with the rigors of 36 hours on call.

"Good old days".

Gabor

[robincurrin]

As a parent of a former child on the stuffnot any more and it was ashoke to them when they found out he had not been on it for over 8 months I have to say it was the school here in Tn. that pushed for it and after a few month as I found out that alot of kids were on it at that school so not only are parents pushing it but teachers as well I was a boy scout leader and had 20 boys in my troop and 18 of them was on it .so what does that say ? that alot of boys who do cubscouts need it . I dont think so . Every one I spoke with had a tale that started with teachers . so some one needs to look at all the people who are involved .

[Casio]

As a parent of a former child on the stuffnot any more and it was ashoke to them when they found out he had not been on it for over 8 months I have to say it was the school here in Tn. that pushed for it and after a few month as I found out that alot of kids were on it at that school so not only are parents pushing it but teachers as well I was a boy scout leader and had 20 boys in my troop and 18 of them was on it .so what does that say ? that alot of boys who do cubscouts need it . I dont think so . Every one I spoke with had a tale that started with teachers . so some one needs to look at all the people who are involved .

The entire Ritalin syndrome in my opinion has a much deeper root than people imagine. Why so many kids need some chemical. I have a difficult time to imagine that it is all not needed at all. Maybe the percentage is questionable, but as the entire phenomenon.........it must have a real cause.

And I think it does have a real cause. It goes back (in my subjective opinion) to the changed child raising practices. For tens of thousands of years, if a child did something wrong, undesirable, the parents spanked him/her. Did anyone think through, WHY?

I attempted to think beyond the seemingly obvious and I found an explanation which is different from the "mankind was always brutal, so they even beat their own children".
How do we teach things to our own children? By telling them things. Yes, but what happens at the age, when spoken words have no effects yet? Human children are born with thousands of different instincts which have biological origins. Take the instinct of fight for example. Who hasn't seen a two years old angrily beating her mother's chest while being held, because he doesn't like something? Did the kid LEARN that? Of course not. It is an instinct. And many other behavioral manifestations are instincts.

If an instinct is undesirable at a human-adult level, mankind attempts to change the manifestation of such instinct. For example, we teach our children not to urinate wherever the urge comes, but wait until they find an appropriate "facility" and do it there. But what happens, if the child is unable to comprehend a verbal instruction? Well......for thousands of years mankind did the "second best thing", it linked the inappropriate behavior with an unpleasant feedback, such as a mildly painful experience, such as a slap on the butt. Like the famous Pavlov's dog conditional reflex.

During the second half of the 20th century, mankind erroneously started to believe that hitting children is fundamentally wrong, failing to identify the real reasons behind such practice. No negative feedback leads to no control of the given instinct. Which is mildly "cute" when a child is two years old, but very far from cute later, instead it is socially disruptive and most of them oppose the typical practice of the intelligent human behavior.

Yet, this became the practice. Children's typical and known instinctual behaviors are not opposed these days in any way. By the time intelligent communication becomes possible, it is "too late", those instinctual behaviors are "stuck". Hence ADHD, a totally new "illness" which is the product of the 20th century. Back in the old days they were "bad children", but it was not a general phenomenon, that a certain significant percentage of children are simply not controllable later on in life. So much so, that it now takes chemicals to do so. In my opinion that is the real reason.

Gabor

[EmilyGeiger]

Wanting ritalin for B's? Maybe she needs more sleep, maybe her diet needs changing, maybe she needs a tutor, but good grief she doesn't need DRUGS!!!

[longtermmemmory]

(s)
No Johnny, do you cocaine lines and go back to studying for your spelling test.
(/s)

[ohhhh]

We are now a nation of drug addicts who hate our own children and force them to do drugs also.

[ohhhh]

[Ritalin and cocaine both work to increase dopamine levels in the brain, although ritalin works much more slowly. That's why, in regular pill form, it tends not to be nearly as addicting (though there are exceptions, and when crushed/sniffed it poses more of an addiction problem).]

Over 80% of children on ritalin move on to other drugs when they come of age. Ritalin is like soma in the 1984 book where people become addicted and therefore more controllable. And the government knows it .

[beezdotcom]

Over 80% of children on ritalin move on to other drugs when they come of age.

I've already said that I don't agree with pumping kids full of Ritalin, because of a variety of unpleasant side effects. Nonetheless, I'm having trouble finding data to back up this specific quote. Can you help?

[beezdotcom]

And I think it does have a real cause. It goes back (in my subjective opinion) to the changed child raising practices. For tens of thousands of years, if a child did something wrong, undesirable, the parents spanked him/her. Did anyone think through, WHY?

DING DING DING DING DING...we have a winner. Although I would add that the problem has permeated society to the point where it affects parents who DO properly discipline their kids - at home. However, when immersed in an otherwise permissive environment (gov't school), it reduces the efficacy - kids will often observe the stark contrast in permissiveness, and react accordingly.

[Casio]

"And I think it does have a real cause. It goes back (in my subjective opinion) to the changed child raising practices. For tens of thousands of years, if a child did something wrong, undesirable, the parents spanked him/her. Did anyone think through, WHY?"

......Although I would add that the problem has permeated society to the point where it affects parents who DO properly discipline their kids - at home. However, when immersed in an otherwise permissive environment (gov't school), it reduces the efficacy - kids will often observe the stark contrast in permissiveness, and react accordingly.

I agree. Still, if the first (most important) six years of a kid's life the parents suppress the instictual behavior, the permissive school can counter-act it to a certain level, but couldn't totally ruin the kid(s). The real tragedy, that all developed countries accepted this new "don't use anything physical" method of child raising, totally overlooking the reason why it was like this for eons. I am totally puzzled, how come medical science don't ask the question:"how come ADHD didn't exist before?". It is not a virus, not a bacteria, so what could it be? Obviously some societal phenomenon. But what is it? I am puzzled that such obvious questions don't even come up, let alone researched and answered.

Gabor