Study: Ritalin Stunts Growth

WebMD ^ | July 20, 2007 | Daniel DeNoon

[cinives]

You need to read Peter Breggin and Mary Ann Block, to name a few, for a medical perspective on ADD/ADHD you will not get from the medical establishment. If you haven’t read them, you are not doing your homework as a parent.

Adderall, Ritalin and the other drugs like them create “zombies” because they flatten a person’s “affect”. Creativity is stifled and repetitive tasks become much easier.

So the question is really, are you making your kid fit into a particular environment, and why is that a good thing ? Who proclaimed that a certain environment dictated by adults is good for all kids ?

Is the world be a better place if we drug our kids so they fit into some socially-approved mold ?

Thomas Edison’s mother would disagree with you.

[cinives]

You need to read Mary Ann Block on the subject.

Did you know pasta is as bad as sugar ? Did your friend cut out most carbohydrates ?

[Halls]

Not at my sons school. They are very conservative when testing kids with learning disorders, etc.... My son was tested for dyslexia at my sons school and I had to push to get it done. He was found to have no dyslexia. He did have speech problems and was in speech therapy till the middle of 2nd grade and no longer is in the special education system. My sons ADHD was diagnosed by Psychologist and a Psychiatrist that had nothing to do with the school.

[Halls]

Yes

[Halls]

No, my son is not a Zombie on his ADHD meds at all. He actually is more active and social on his meds and no one can tell he is being medicated.

[DaGman]

If you knew me you would know I don’t give a fat rat’s butt about some social mold kids or anyone else is supposed to fall into. And, no, I haven’t read the people you mention. I personally prefer to get information from the medical establishment including my family doctor who is damn good as well as the psychiatrist that first evaluated my daughter who came highly recommended.

My daughter needed to be “flattened” as she was off in so many different directions she was not able to follow, for example, simple 5-step instructions I tried to verbally give her on how to clean up a vase that broke. (Knowing her condition, I was very simple and precise in my instructions.) She just stared at me not knowing where to start. I recognized that look immediately, and knowing her condition, I wrote down the instructions and only then did she know where to start and how to proceed. And this is a highly intelligent girl.

She is a highly creative child and that has not been stifled one bit after being on the drug for five years.

And, her behavior in school has improved dramatically. We no longer get the calls about her being disruptive in class nor does she get the marks on her report card about not completing work and completing other tasks.

And yes, we are making her fit into a particular environment, the environment of society around her for which we didn’t make the rules. The fact that she is able to function within the bounds of society is a testament to the the wonders of the drug. She is able to function socially at age appropriate maturity levels she was not able to before both at home and with her friends. And we all know how cruel kids can be with someone that doesn’t quite fit in as it’s the kids that dictate that environment.

[metmom]

I had a friend whose son was hyperactive. Her mother had heard of sugar induced hyperactivity that primarily affected blond haired-blue eyed children, boys 90% of the time.

She was desperate so took him off all REFINED sugar. She still used honey and maple syrup. The results were astounding. Within one week, he was a new kid.

Now, I know that with all these suggestions about food additives, etc. it’s not going to be the same for every child. Different kids react to different substances and this isn’t going to be the answer for all kids who are overactive. For some it isn’t going to be food. But with what I’ve seen as far as additives, I think that it’s worth looking into. In some cases, like ours and both my friends, we did find out what it was and spared our kids from being labeled and medicated. I know it isn’t always so easy, and following a restricted diet can be sheer misery (I have to for food allergies).

The reason I encourage people to look into it is because if it works, you’re set; if not, well, time to check elsewhere, but it seems to be the simplest and safest solution so far.

[metmom]

It could be that the zombie reaction is in those kids who really don’t need the medication.

[metmom]

She just stared at me not knowing where to start. I recognized that look immediately, and knowing her condition, I wrote down the instructions and only then did she know where to start and how to proceed. And this is a highly intelligent girl.

My daughter is like that. If I gave her something to read, she could memorize it in a heart beat; verbal instructions went in one ear and out the other. I always figured it was her learning style, she was just a highly visual learner.

I'm a lot like that, too.

[television is just wrong]

burns out brain cells too.

[xsmommy]

ignorance about ADD/ADHD abounds on FR, i usually don’t even go on these threads because it is mindboggling the crap people will say. like both of you, i have a child on medication. My now 13 yo daughter has dyslexia as well as being ADD. She isn’t hyperactive, she just cannot focus sufficiently to learn. she is nearly 5’ tall, just a smidge shorter than her almost 19 year old sister and is not skin and bones by any means. She has never attended public school so there is no FUNDING issue, we pay tuition for her to attend an LD school. We are an intact family, and she has two high achieving siblings. this has nothing to do with lack of discipline, faulty parenting or laziness, as i am sure you are both well aware.

[DaGman]

So is my wife and she is also on Adderal. My wife is a manager with 15 direct reports who are all highly technically trained. Her technicians are all well paid and so is she. She says there’s no way she would be able to focus in her job which often has her doing several things at the same time. Even still she often feels overwhelmed but without the Adderal she would just shut down.

Prior to my wife starting on Adderal, she developed her own coping mechanisms which involved very detailed personal lists. She had lists of things to do and lists of each step to do for each item on the to do list. Lists, lists, calendars and more lists is what she did. Of course she still keeps a calendar and to do list as does everyone else but with no where near the previous detail.

My wife talks about how she was exactly like our daughter when she was a kid. And that alone shoots down the point someone made above about feeding a child well as a way to “cure” ADD. It certainly appears that ADD and probably ADHD may well be hereditary.

[DaGman]

My daughter attended a private Catholic school for 8 years and received a good education but was not being fully educated. She was first diagnosed with ADD in 6th grade (she was a sophomore in high school last year). After she started on the medication, I became aware of our rights under the law for special accommodations that a school must make for a child with this disability.

Unfortunately, the school principal (who had worked before in special ed), said he didn't have to and wouldn't make the accomodations necessary. All we were asking for was being able to take tests in a room by herself without distractions. Distractions included things such as a room without windows so she wouldn't be distracted and run to the window when a "pretty bird" landed on the tree outside. I ended up threatening the archdiocese with a lawsuit as they received federal funds for their school cafeteria and therefore were subject to the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act.

The school never officially capitulated, but their treatment of her changed dramatically. She was seated in the front of the class and away from windows and other kids that were her friends and she would talk to in class, which is all we wanted in the first place.

[xsmommy]

Good for you. my husband and i are both lawyers and my hub was on the diocesan schoolboard when my daughter was in Catholic elementary school. she needed more help even than the accomodations that they gave her [and they gave them quite willingly, it is horrible that you had to threaten to sue for them] so we had to move her to the LD school, which has 10 kids and 2 teachers with Masters degrees in LD education, per classroom. It’s 25K per year though, but totally necessary, in our opinion, in order for her to get the help with learning that she needs. our daughter was diagnosed in kindergarten and is going into the 7th grade this year.

[DaGman]

another thing...

"I had a friend whose son was hyperactive. Her mother had heard of sugar induced hyperactivity that primarily affected blond haired-blue eyed children, boys 90% of the time."

Your post reminded me of the time one of my daughter's teachers called me from the school office with my daughter there with her. The teacher was calling because my daughter was out of control and being extremely rude and upset with the teacher. I could even hear my daughter in the background being extremely disrepectful towards her teacher. I asked the teacher to put my daughter on the phone and she was very highly agitated. I jumped on her over the phone with both feet about her disrespectfulness and picked her up from school shortly afterwards. She was still in a very excited state and it took hours for her to settle down.

I later learned that the school principal had brought sodas in for everyone and the sodas include Moutain Dew which has a very high dose of caffeine. My daughter had consumed 3 bottles of Mountain Dew. So while I was extremely upset with my daughter I was livid with the school for bringing in Mountain Dew when they knew full well at that time that our daughter was ADD. Once again the principal got the butt-chewing of his life from me.

We also had our daughter sit down and write a letter of apology to her teacher saying why her behavior was bad and how she promises she will never do it again.

Incidentally, my daughter, as does my wife, has blond hair and has blue eyes. But I don't think these factors predispose someone to ADD/ADHD.

[Halls]

To true. I have suffered heartache and struggled to come to the decision that medicine for my sons ADHD was the best way to go. To watch your child every day suffer of lack of self esteem, to hate himself, to cry and be sad all the time, have no friends, and to be depressed tore me apart. COunseling was helpful for many of those issues, but ADHD was still there. I had to act and after many nights and days of prayer God told me what to do.

My son takes a low dose of Focalin and has improved greatly because of it. I take him to the doctor every 3 months to check his weight and improvement.

I use to be the type of person who didn’t believe in the meds thing, but until I was faced with my own child having ADHD did I realize that medicine for ADHD is not a bad thing.

[xsmommy]

i think that many make a false assumption that people jump on meds as an easy fix for their kids. They assume that we plop our kids in front of a tv set with a huge bowl of sugary snacks and then wonder why they are all hyped up. to the contrary, many of us are highly educated, devoted parents who have been through the wringer with trying anything and everything OTHER THAN meds, and much more often it's the case that one comes to this decision, as you said, after much prayer, second and third opinions etc. No one pressured us to put our daughter on medication, it was suggested that it could be helpful and it is a tremendous help. you cannot get a prescription for any of this stuff unless it is monitored by a physician and quarterly checkups are routine.

the most offensive are those without any personal experience that sit here and opine about ADD/ADHD and medication etc. they have no idea how rude, ill-informed and ignorant they sound.

[Polybius]

Excuse me? My son is on ADHD meds on and off throughout the past school year. It was a struggle for us to decide to go this route. There is no lack of discipline in my household. If you had to deal with a child who truly has ADHD and at the end of seeking every kind of treatment possible you medicated them you’d understand.

Your son has ADHD and is on Ritalin. Good. That's appropriate.

Is your son also on a daily dose of antibiotics or brochodilators or chemotherapy even though he does not have an infection or asthma or cancer?

The problem with Ritalin is not that it is used for children with true ADHD but that it is now abused by public school authorities as a chemical substitute for old fashioned disciple in perfectly normal children that have the annoying habit of acting like children.

In some school districts, up to 20% of all children have been put on Ritalin.

But, don't take my word for it. Here is what the DEA says about the prescription abuse of Ritalin:

DEA REPORT ADD/ADHD Statement of Drug Enforcement Administration... At the conclusion of the Conference on Stimulant Use in the Treatment of ADHD... First, let me say that medical experts agree that these drugs do help the small percentage of children who need them. But there is also strong evidence that the drugs have been greatly over-prescribed in some parts of the country as a panacea for behavior problems. ... we see that in some localities as many as 15 to 20 percent of the children have been put on Ritalin or a similar stimulant, there is good reason to conclude that this is "quick-fix." bogus medical practice which is nevertheless producing large profits. This far exceeds any professional estimates of actual need. .... Above is a statement by: Mr. Gene R. Haislip, Deputy Assistant Administrator Office of Diversion Control Drug Enforcement Administration

[darkangel82]

Declaring handicaps where they don’t exist is a major industry.

Sounds like the Feds need to break it up.

[Lizavetta]

On the surface, it looks like the schools get more money, but once the parents start demanding special stuff for their kid, the local costs skyrocket.

And therein lies another rub. It costs the districts only if the parents fight for it, hence the hearings. Most parents either don't know or cannot hire lawyers. I should have clarified - the schools like to label and then NOT provide the special ed services, or provide a pathetic facsimile thereof.

I've done those hearings where the child was essentially a vegetable and the school was forced to provide services up the wazoo for a child whose brain scan showed that in essence there was no brain.