Ritalin Debate: Some Experts Doubt Existence of ADHD

Cybercast News Service (CNSNews.com) ^ | April 18, 2003 | Patrick Goodenough

[luckystarmom]

All of the kids that I know that are medicated are from 2 parent homes. I think that a lot are from families where both parents work. I think the parents don't want to deal with the problems.

I have a daughter with brain damage, and my son has a tic disorder. It takes a lot of time and energy to deal with them. However, I'm not working, so I have the time (not always the energy).

I'm actually kind of glad my son has the tic disorder because you don't put kids with a tic disorder on Ritalin. It either makes tics worse or brings out tics in some kids.

[IYAS9YAS]

While I don't doubt that a condition exists (I'm very much absent-minded to the point my wife asks if I have dain bramage), I have a hard time believing it exists at such high levels.

I think that there is a middle-ground that needs to be reached where the schools and drug companies need to be taken out of the equation. I don't doubt some people need medication, I do doubt that every so many kids has ADHD.

I also have a big concern about the difference between boys and girls when it comes to this...you'd think there'd be more similarities.

[Lazamataz]

NIMH has admitted that there is no evidence that ADHD is due to a brain malfunction.

Citation, please. And while we are at it, define 'brain malfunction' within that context.

[luckystarmom]

Most boys can only focus on 1 thing. Girls are better at multi-tasking.

[Lazamataz]

While I don't doubt that a condition exists (I'm very much absent-minded to the point my wife asks if I have dain bramage), I have a hard time believing it exists at such high levels.

I don't disagree. I think it is overdiagnosed, and I am especially leery about putting lots of children on these drugs.

But to deny it's existance is analogous to someone denying the existence of clinical depression.

[r9etb]

Level 1 evidence is derived from placebo controlled double blinded randomized controlled trials. Please site your reference for double blinded controlled trials.

Here's a nice Google Search. Some of those links point to real science on the matter.

I'm sure you'll be able to find lots of "Level 1" evidence in the peer-reviewed papers that are included among the links. The double-blind question is whether you'll change your tune after reading a few.

[Lazamataz]

Most boys can only focus on 1 thing. Girls are better at multi-tasking.

I think you failed to end your post in time. Properly edited, it would read:

Most boys can only focus on 1 thing. Girls

There we go. Much better.

[steve8714]

Hardly anyone serious says ADD does not exist, however overdiagnosis is rampant. Side effects of long term use include severe sleep disorders, irritability, hallucination, depression and other long term adult problems. As the father of one who was drugged by the ed-est in 1990, I can tell you that no one has yet been able to tell me the physiological cause of this "disorder". His symptoms? Inattention, disobedience, unruliness, and other things I did 30 years earlier whenever I was confronted with ill-perpared or incompetent teachers. Such teachers were rare in the fifties and sixties, unfortunately common in the eighties.

[r9etb]

Baloney. Although the behaviors associated with ADHD certainly exist, I oppose it on scientific grounds. NIMH has admitted that there is no evidence that ADHD is due to a brain malfunction. Why won't you?

Hmmmmm. Sounds like you suffer from a bit of Baghdad Bobism, too. But there's hope -- just read some of the peer-reviewed papers to which I provided the links.

[luckystarmom]

Giftedness can also mimick ADD. My son's second grade teacher (in a private Christian school) thought he might have ADD because he wasn't paying attention in class.

We had him tested at the public school. He had a higher than average attention span, and he is gifted.

He was bored stiff in 2nd grade. He still gets very bored with writing tasks. It's very hard to get him to sit still and finish any written homework.

[Lady Eileen]

bump

[Al B.]

Draft statement from the NIMH consensus conference on ADHD -- Nov. 1998. This conference included the world leaders in this field, including the chairman of the committee which wrote the DSM-IV.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

I had heard that ritalin, when given to an adult, acted as a stimulant, basically doing the opposite of what it would do with the chemistry of a pre-adolescent. Is this true?

[longtermmemmory]

I would love to learn more about this in order to start a class action case against schools and school boards that allow this. This medicating of children only demonstrates the ignorance of teachers. The result would be hopefully constructive and better schools and fewer teachers playing doctor.

[Lazamataz]

Hardly anyone serious says ADD does not exist,

Al B. does.

however overdiagnosis is rampant.

Unquestionably.

His symptoms? Inattention, disobedience, unruliness, and other things I did 30 years earlier whenever I was confronted with ill-perpared or incompetent teachers.

Your child was probably one of those erroneously diagnosed. I was diagnosed pre-ritalin days, and they hit me with tranq's. I knew something bad was in those little pills so I would hide them, refuse to swallow them, etc.

Decades later, someone who was important to me at the time suggested I had it. I went to a doctor, and soon enough he had identified that I was a genuine sufferer of the malady. I was perscribed ritalin, and EVERYone around me IMMEDIATELY noticed a major increase in my ability to concentrate. Most of them were unaware of my diagnosis, but noticed a drastic change for the better. On ritalin, my life is MUUUUUCH more manageable -- although my current doc is convinced one of the other drugs might be better for me. Fewer long-term health risks, side effects, etc.

[Lazamataz]

I had heard that ritalin, when given to an adult, acted as a stimulant, basically doing the opposite of what it would do with the chemistry of a pre-adolescent. Is this true?

Not quite. Any person, pre- or post-adolescent, will get a stimulant effect from ritalin if they do not need it. If they are an ADD sufferer, they will not get a stimulant effect. Age seems to be unimportant in this observed effect.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

"Side effects of long term use include severe sleep disorders, irritability, hallucination, depression and other long term adult problems."

Is adult depression highly prevalent in those who were diagnosed as having ADHD in childhood?

[Lazamataz]

Draft statement from the NIMH consensus conference on ADHD -- Nov. 1998.

You failed to provide a link I could check. Furthermore, you failed to define 'brain malfunction', since it could be that they are making the point that -- like clinical depression, which also exists -- no physical 'damage' appears to the brain in an obvious way, but that an observed psychiatric effect is still extant.

I have to go shortly, so I imagine you will have (many) last words.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Thank you.

[SoftballMominVA]

My 16 year old daughter was diagnosed with ADHD about 10 years ago. She has taken some combination of medication for that time. Ritalin was not successful, but Adderal was (it is a combination of Ritalin and dexadrine I think) She is an unusual mixture of ADHD, gifted in Language Arts, Learning Disabled in math, and gifted in Art.Plus ADHD girls are uncommon.

In her own words, ADHD medication is a blessing and a curse. It helps her focus in math, but dampens her creativity in English and art. Her school has bent over backwards to accomodate her schedule. She takes a short acting adderal in the AM, does math, and by the time it wears off, it's time for Art and then English.

She has discussed with her doctor possibly discontinuing her meds next year in school--a decision I support, not because I want her off meds but because I want her in control.

I agree that I have heard of instances where it appears that meds are overused, but in her case, ADHD is real and the medication allows her to acheive closer to her potential.