ADHD medication.. is it safe?

How can researchers possibly know for certain what the long-term effects of drugs like Ritalin are?

I seriously worry about long term effects on the liver....this medication hasn't really been out long enough to study adult problems that may occur down the line. JMHO!

Good article. We are looking into medication for my daughter, who has spent the last few years struggling in school. All the other options aren't working. We obviously do not WANT to medicate her, but even she says this might help. Her attention span is short, and I'm afraid, now that she has her license. ADD and ADHD kids get into more accidents than those kids without.

I did a article on ritalin in school. it is dangerous. People sometimes use it as a subtitute for getting high. Meth and cocaine users use it as an alternative drug. Ritalin can be addictive to!

My daughter has ADHD, I did not allow her to be put on any medicines. They are too dangerous, I rather deal with her ADHD then see her get messed up. So far I beleive I made the right choice, she is doing alot better as she has gotten older.

I have my son on concerta.. he got to the point that we could not control his episodes or him... without his medication he would not function as a normal person... I know there are side effects, but his continued behavior without medication out weighs all the risks... Some ADHD kids can cope without the medication and then there are those that cannot...

Trish--

I believe this to be a very important topic. ADHD is, in my opinion, a Bane to the existence of boys, and a non-sequitor. Believe me, boys have always behaved like this. Let us allow boys to be boys. Is it possible that an ever-increasingly selfish and narcissistic society wishes not to have the "bother?" Could this be the result of parental and didactic laziness?? I believe so. And, could this effect also be magnified by the feminization being perpetrated on current society? If not, could you explain the new law, ratified by school principals in a certain East-Coast state, that prohibits the game of "tag" on school grounds? The reason?? Because there is "touching" involved, and the game is rendered "dangerous" due to the speed and activity of the game. Does anyone, aside from myself, find this to be totally LUDICROUS??

I agree with you on that point Mark... they are diagnosing more kids ADHD when they shouldn't be.. I agree with the statement... "Let kids be kids".... but there are kids out there that do need the intervention of medication and I do hate to say it.. my son is one of them.... here is our situation.... and it is not all parent provoked.. he really does need help.. he will even tell you himself... we have been to counseling after counseling after counseling... we have done everything they suggested and none of their tactics work....

how do you handle a 10 year old child who is a rage just because he refuses to take out the trash which he knows is his chore in the home. The only chore mind you other than keeping his room clean that he is resonsible for. Now this fit that I am talking about has put holes in walls, doors, and has caused physical harm on others. It can last anywhere from 2 (if we are lucky) to 8 hours of this continuos fit.... taking everything from the room does not help either.... charts do not help... It got to the point that he was hurting his younger sister just because.... he would think unrationally and did not care about consequences... It was not the school who pushed the diagnosis. I had to push and get him counseling and have him do test after test to make sure that he was getting the right diagnosis.... He is also diagnosed ODD.. Oppositional Defiance Disorder.... Yes there are kids out there that do need this medication and cannot survive without it.... If i did not have him on this medication, he would have one day tried to kill his sister or perhaps my husband or myself.... No form of discipline can help these children. We as parents do the best we can, but we cannot get the switch out like our grandparents did and whip them till they realize they need to straighten their asses up.... Until you have seen a child that truly needs this type of medication and live with them for at lest 3-6 months... and have to deal with them off their medication... please do not bash those of us who do not want our kids on medication, but have no alternative methods.

Yes, Mark-John. I do! And they've also banned dodge-ball in a number of schools across the Nation as well! What is this world coming to?!

I have studied nutrition, benefits and risks of prescription drugs and holistic medicine and can honestly say that many of these drugs (such as Ritalin) are INCREDIBLY DANGEROUS.

My brother was diagnosed with ADD way back when Ritalin was brand new... He suffered horrible reactions from the medication and as a result, my mother put him on a nutrition-based plan instead. Limiting refined sugars, but actually increasing his caffeine intake. This proved very successful.

I think with many prescription medications today, it is the big-money drug manufacturers who try to convince the public that ALL of us must have SOME ailment that can only be remedied by THEIR ''miracle cure."

Mind you, there are certain instances where some prescriptions are needed due to a true diagnosis of an illness. I just happen to find that the TRUE cases of these types of disorders are very rare...

Have you ever gone on the Pfizer website and taken their ''online quiz" to find out if you ''suffer from ADHD?" I have (just out of curiosity ;-) and it's RIDICULOUS!!! According to that quiz, EVERYONE IN THE WORLD suffers from ADHD!!!

I have seen that quiz.. and I have seen kids where the parents are like we take him off his meds if he is not in school and he does all right... those kids IMHO are not truly adhd kids.... or add kids for that matter..... my son cannot last a day without his medication.. let alone the summer.. the only way i will take him off his meds during the summer is if someone will pay me to send him to a camp from the moment his med runs off until the day school starts... i will not tolerate his behavior anymore without medications... we go nuts here and our house becomes a huge disarray.

Yes tiffany.. and that wasnt totally directed at you or anyone in specific... sorry... i am ranting and raving...lol.... I just get tired of family who tell me to get him off the meds.... and they dont see what we go through with him as a family... they only see the one side of him cuz he knows he has to be on his best behavior when he is not at home.... if you get what i mean...

yes i would like to know more... we dont have holistic docs in my area... i have looked into it, and they just dont see a need in this area of my world i guess.. lol... but I know there are alternatives, but sometimes those alternatives are too expensive for us and we dont have to pay for his meds... even a drastic diet change is almost out of the question due to the fact that most of the time we buy the cheapest we can find just to keep food on the table.. but we make too much for the state to help us out.

Oh Tirsh, that is terrible! I am so sorry, sincerely! It sounds as if you indeed have your hands full and I am sure it must be very frustrating to deal with family members who only see your son on his ''best behaviour," not ever having to live with him when he is in the throws of his condition.

I empathize with what you must go through in order to afford his medication and of the limitations it must cause regarding alternative treatments and special diets...

Hmmm... Let me think. Believe it or not, many of the dietary requirements are rather simple, inexpensive ones. For example, can you get your son in the habit of drinking black coffee? Believe it or not, caffeine, especially in the form of black coffee has healing properties and on someone with true ADD, actually has a REVERSE effect than it does on people like us.

Also, DO NOT use any refined white flour or sugar. And NO artificial colours or sweeteners... For sweeteners, try ''Agave'' (it looks like clear honey and you can buy it for about $4.00 in any health-food store). Agave is a natural sweetener that is even tolerated by diabetics due to its low glycemic index (in other words, these different kinds of ''sugars'' break down in the blood slower than white table-sugar). Use 100% whole wheat bread. Brown rice instead of white rice. And feed him a greater ratio of protein to starch. Doesn't have to be steak, which is pricey. It could be tuna fish, beans, chicken, etc... But definitely MORE protein...

Also, and this is SUPER important; FISH OIL!!! You can buy Omega-3 fish oil supplements in drugstores or health-food stores (even in most supermarkets today) for under $10 dollars. Have your son take at least 1200mg per day. Lack of these fatty acids have been linked to many neurological and mood disorders.


My holistic doctor is accredited through Neurolink. A very reputable channel to go through in finding a holistic doctor is through this Neurolink website. I've done some research and see there are accredited practitioners in Michigan, but since I do not know your exact locale, I've provided the link for you to pull up their directory in Michigan.


http://www.neurolink.co.nz/search/index.asp

These types of practitioners are not necessarily expensive. After an initial fee, it might only cost about $40.

Hope this helps!

Trish, one more thing before I forget. Have your son's insulin levels checked. An endocrinologist can perform what is called an 'Insulin Tolerance Test' to determine if insulin imbalance is the cause of your son's hyperactivity.

the diet you described... completely deletes the current low cost diet we are on....lol... only due to money situation....

"Also, DO NOT use any refined white flour or sugar. And NO artificial colours or sweeteners.."

white flour is in about everything you buy at the store.. especially macroni.. we eat a lot of macaroni due to the cheapness of meals it makes... I wish we could have more protein in our diet, but the cost of meat has skyrockedted and we are lucky if we eat meat 3 nights a week... yes we eat meat.. but we add alot of starchy stuff to make us full so that we dont have to eat more costly meat...

I am not trying to be negative... I have about 60 a week to spend on a family of 6 for groceries and other necesities in the house like toilet paper and laundry soap..... so the pricier stuff is just out of the question..... I hope you understand.. but i will keep your information on memory and look more into it.

My son has ADD. He took ritalin, until i took it on accident. Im a big women and he was a small boy. I helped out at the school and the teachers asked me what was wrong with me. I told them i had taken my sons meds on accident. They said i looked bad and to go home. lets just say if my son does really have ADD, then could you imagen what the meds was doing to my son. It was hard getting him thought school without the meds, but his graduating this year. I fought with alot of teachers too.

Trish

It's your call, but wheat bread is about the same price as white bread, brown rice costs the same as white rice and whole wheat pasta is also about the same price as regular pasta (perhaps a few cents more). It's your call, but these minor changes (that wouldn't cost any more than you already spend) could make all the difference in the world to your son. Like I said, you don't have to eat more meat. Try beans, eggs and even tuna fish. All of which are very inexpensive!

Tiffany.. Ya know.. I thought about that idea when I was at the docs yesterday for his 3 month med check.... so when I talk to them again.. I will do that and stress the history of diabetes in his family... thanks for making that statement... makes my mind at ease that it would not be silly to have them check that.

Ritalin does not work the same way in people that are not ADD or ADHD compared to someone who is not.... it has an opposite affect.

Tiffany.. you keep posting your comments.. just before I get a chance to.... and then my comment is old again.. he he he... but

you are right.. we could eat wheat bread and have white bread in the house.. some of the family members in this house would not go for the wheat diet or changing over to beans or even tuna or eggs.... I have one eater in the house that will refuse to eat for up to 5 days or more if i dont serve stuff she will eat... I am in such a dilema.....lol.... I will try the wheat noodles on the family once at least but if i get too many complaints i wont be able to do that as pasta is about 80% of our diet cuz its so cheap.. and we dont eat rice... they think its maggots....

like i said im not trying to be negative, but a diet change in this family has to be very suttle and everyone has to agree....

Hello Trish--

There is something quite singular that is concerning the little lad...ask him.

Truly, I feel a very deep sense of compassion for you and your family.

Trish, I have to ask why does your family think rice is maggots!! did they see THE LOST BOYS!!

Also it is not easy to deal with a child with ADHD or with an adult.I believe my husband still has this condition, he gets easily frustrated, breaks things, has tantrums, get very depressed etc. He was on Ritalin as a child and I think it messed him up (my sister was on it also, her life was a complete mess)- this is why I refused the meds for my daughter. So I kinda understand what you might be going thru.

Have you considered food allergies... my son (who has ADHD) is sensitive to certain food dyes and wheat.. i can tell a positive difference when i withhold those things... i know what you mean about the cost of groceries... i am a single mom with 2 kids in college and a 12 year old... money is tight for sure.. but maybe it's worth a try?