or this one In memory of all our children
Posted on 12/12/2002 4:33:44 PM PST by Flashlight
Edited on 05/07/2004 7:09:10 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
1. Nationwide, about 6 million children -- one in eight -- take Ritalin.
Sample size: scientists scanned the brains of some 150 children diagnosed with ADHD
psychostimulant drugs-- "normalized" some 56 percent of the children.
56% is a crapshoot in my book, especially for such a small sample size. I would bet the odds are WAY better that the Ritalin™ makers paid a pretty penny to the NIMH for this study.
Not to mention a top-notch engine coolant.
or this one In memory of all our children
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A study by scientists at the University at Buffalo has shown that Ritalin (methylphenidate) may cause long-term changes in the brain. Joan Baizer, professor of physiology and biophysics, and senior author of the study, reports, "When the active dose has worked its way through the system, they consider it all gone. Our research with gene expression in an animal model suggests that it has the potential for causing long-lasting changes in brain cell structure and function." |
Between the years of 1990-2000 over 569 children were hospitalized,
38 of them were life threatening hospitalizations, and 186 died.
More children died from taking the medication than were used in the sample for the lame-excuse-for-a-study during the same ten year period. Isn't it striking that this little statistic doesn't appear in the report.
Ritalin and Adderall are poison, and basically turn your child into a zombie, and eventually, a druggie.
I do believe that there may be some chemical difference between an ADHD kid, and a "normal" kid. I tried Ritalin once, and I was speeding for an entire day. My stepson took it for years, and while on it he was actually slowed down, but then became moody and depressed later in the day.
If you want to hear the rest, FReepmail me. It's not pretty.
I don't know anything about this particular study, but I know ADD isn't a myth, and I know Ritalin works and is often the best treatment for it.
ADD isn't a myth, but it isn't a medical condition either. It is bad behavior. Sure, you can drug people to change their behavior, and that's all Ritalin does. For the vast majority of kids that are given it though, a better solution is to teach them to behave better.
According to one study, three to four times more boys than girls take the drug under doctors' orders
If I am doing coke, I want to know I am doing coke; don't sugar coat it by telling me it is powdered sugar.
Info from:http://www.dadi.org/ritlnrip.htm
I figured it was "for his own good", and it did seem to get him focused, at first.
Now? I'm divorced, and in no small part due to the damage done from someone who turned from a sweet kid into a criminal. I was too "hard on him", for one example.
Oh, BTW, I'm an asshole, and impossible to live with.
No. Like ritilin, it is a very old drug proved safe over many decades. Just about everyone in my household seems to have some ADD (as do, for that matter, a fair number of FR posters), so I have some experience with this, and am pro-medicine. On the other hand, if your child doesn't like it, I would listen and/or lower dosage. Many children are over-medicated. Of course, it doesn't hurt to say that if you don't want medicine, here is the behavior in school that has to change.
As for pharmacists not having this stuff, often it is because of fear of robberies. Try a pharmacy in a safer neighborhood and/or a ma and pa rather than a chain.
Re claims of violent kids, of course this is because agressive kids are often given stimulents. Actually there are other drugs which are specific for agression, but docs may give stimulents because, truth is, they have an outstanding safety record.
I didn't pay enough attention to this sentence before my first reply. Of course you want your child to do well in school. However, if they bring it up, why not just say that you always want to know how your child is behaving in school, but that your preference is to keep medication as a private matter between your family and your doctor. When they don't accept this, politely repeat. Over and over if needed. The broken record technique. Yes, I know it is hard. However, if you are polite but stubborn they will eventually get the hint. Will you be a hypocrite if you turn around in a few months and ask for the nurse to give a lunchtime dose? Don't even worry about it. It is their business to serve you, the taxpayer. If they don't know that, let it be their problem, not yours.
As an engineer/analyst I found the following points to be of interest:
Questions to ask before we go too far here:
What is normalized behavior? Which has a greater negative impact on a human's long term mental health: psycho stimulants (and maybe psycho therapy) as punishment for inappropriate behavior or a spanking/whipping?
How many adults today grew up with spankings & whippings into fine responsible adults?
Recall the primary purpose of psychotherapy is to increase the business of psychotherapy. Don't take my word for it, go to Manufacturing Victims - What the Psychology Industry is Doing to People.
Onto the article
1 - 6 million children in this country of ours are on this drug.
Comment - This study is 'only now' proving it is okay to have children on this drug. Talk about putting the cart in front of the horse!
2 - A brain scan of 300 children - 150 diagnoised with ADD and 150 without such a diagnosis.
Comment - What criteria were used to choose these children? How well were they matched up for the study?
3 - Those with the disorder started out ith 'significantly' smaller brains - 3-4 percent smaller than those without the disorder.
Comment - What is the normal range of size variation of brains? What criteria is used to determine a brain is significantly smaller?
4 - Those children treated with psycho stimulants (at least the label is correct) for many years experienced more brain growth than did the untreated children.
Comment - What is the long term impact of this 'brain growth' cause by psycho stimulants? Is this in fact healthy?
5 - Untreated children's remained strikingly smaller in certain areas?
Comment - How does one define 'strikingly smaller' in real terms?
6 - "Just giving psychostimulant drugs alone -- under a doctor's careful and consistent monitoring to achieve the right dose and control side effects -- "normalized" almost twice as many ADHD children, some 56 percent, than did intense behavioral therapy without the drugs, the study found."
Comment1 - How many ritalin drugged children receive a doctor's careful and consistent monitoring to achieve the right dose and control side effects? Not many I'll wager.
Comment2 - So with psychotherapy, you get 28% of the kids (read boys in the overwhelming number of cases) 'normalized'. How many got 'normalized' without psychotherapy? With psycho stimulants carefully monitored you get 56% of the kids normalized. Again, how many got 'normalized' without psycho stimulants?
7 - Combining psycho stimulants with psycho therapy the 'best results' were achieved - 68% normalized.
Comment - sorry this sounds like a brain washing technique combined with drugs to me.
8 - What is missing here? Real numbers to quantify statements. Also missing is the information on what happened to ADD children before we started drugging them. Further missing is how did we treat ADD before we knew it was ADD and how effective was the treatment?
Sorry, but this does not pass muster as 'science'.
RileyD, nwJ
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