Your thoughts on ADD

In the news, I hope, after his arraignment!!

A bit on Soz' post.

I knew a pitiful mother, who's kid had ADD in spades. He could only sleep 2-3 hours a night.

I think lack of sleep could be a culprit--or a symptom. He was revved on overdrive 20 hours a day. She went to allergists, changed his diet, went to doctors all over the country. They were very wealthy, and had to hire people to watch him. She nearly had a nervous breakdown. Even the highest dose of meds only made him 'managable' for four hours during school.

Oy!
the horror of the over-scheduled, over-programmed child. My friend's son, who has just completed his own doctorate in paediatric psychology, studies children who are over-programmed. Time with parents, just hanging out, is much better, in most cases - then programs and classes and events. Or so young Dr. S's research suggests.

You talking about Dr Nutcase, Sofia, re the arriagnment? - Nah.

The medical establishment talked to him - and our psychiatrists (the organisation I work for) began sending him "puzzled" letters about his diagnostic criteria, and the danger of the drugs he was giving. He left the state for a while - saying "we" drove him out.

Sadly, he's back - and a little more cautious.

A couple of other drug-mad doctors have back-pedalled after nearly killing kids with side-effects - but a couple are just as bad.

A while back, one of the crazy paediatricians diagnosed an 8 year old child with - wait for it - SCHIZOPHRENIA - and MEDICATED him for it - after one session - cos the kid was hiding under chairs. The kid was seeing an excellent child psychiatrist, by the way - but his idiot parents wanted the problem fixed - yesterday - with no action on their part. Therapy is hard work.

Oy veh!

That certainly makes sense.

Some of each, I'd imagine, especially in an only-child household (Ms. Social has to have regular contact with peers.) But yeah, am planning on holding fast re: overscheduling. Our across-the-street neighbors are moving (one week before us! talk about good timing) in large part because they object to the super-scheduled, super-competitive atmosphere in the area we live in. They're goin' out to the country.

Fast thread!

My "Yep" was to dlowan's assessment of Sofia's reasonable use of drugs, and my "That makes sense" was to ehBeth.

Good Lord, dlowan! Yep, I meant the phone call diagnosing doc.

I can't believe anyone would diagnose a child with schiz for what you described!!!

PARENTS!!!! Geesh! <broil>

I do think that generally the "fix it yesterday" mindset from parents is a huge aspect of all of this... not taking the time, not paying attention, being inconsistent (let's try this... drat. How bout this? drat) which causes its own problems.

When I get together with my friend, her son and their colleagues they all complain about the parents who come to them looking for medication or in-patient programs or any kind of remedy that doesn't require the parent to be involved. They've even told me about parents who want their children put into group homes because they don't have the time to parent. I find that beyond bizarre. Please give my kid some meds so I won't have to work at parenting. Yikes!

They say, of course, that there are some legitimate cases, but that this seems a trend much like fibromyalgia was 15 - 20 years ago.

We, of course (where I work) became the "enemy" to the ADD/ADHD holy rollers - cos we wouldna medicate their kids at the drop of a hat - and "blamed" the parents by wanting to ask about the context of the child's life. Just asking about such things, for the real born-again ADDers, is tantamount to saying they are evil and hopeless parents and people.

Happily, I sense the hysteria is passing - since the meds didn't solve anything for most people. Which often meant the meds were just upped, or 3 or 4 added - but, in the end - they STILL didn't work.

Mind you - there seems to be bad news coming up about these kids neurologically and psychologically. Now we are supposed to fix it all, 10 years down the line, with a VERY angry adolescent who refuses to be zonked on drugs all the time - REALLY has no impulse control, now, having spent the years when they should have developed it drugged out of their brains, no trust in parents or anyone their parents might drag them along to, severe depression and such - and a belief that they are "psycho" (why else all the drugs and "something wrong with my brain"?) and crazy AND are unable to control their actions. " I can't help it - I have ADD" they say - like big, scary parrots.

Oh dear - do I seem angry?

Take a deep breath, Deb.

You see, I think the medical establishment let this go on for far too long - wary of offending their colleagues - an being witch hunted. The likes of me - non-medical - have no influence over damn doctors. Anf the good ones sort of shut up. Grrrrrr.

mrs. h diagnosed me as having ADD early on in our marriage but we both have managed to live with it without any undue trouble (that means, she puts up with it) . hbg

DOCTORS!!!!! Geesh - broil. This smeg-head colluded with and amplified the parental behaviour. And - this is medical model and doctors as gods coming back to bite 'em. A lot of the over-medicating doctors admit they do it because the parents demand it - and they (the doctors) don't know what else to do - in the face of the pressure to fix it. Where did we (except those of us who know the limits of medicine?) get the idea of medicine as the secular god?

Of course families wanna avoid pain and hardship - looking at what is wrong is enormously hard - that is why they haven't fixed it already. Most have tried as well as they know how.

To dlowan's list of "inattention" symptoms:

often fails to give close attention to details or makes careless mistakes in schoolwork, work, or other activities;

I do this - mostly because I don't like the work and want to get it done as soon as possible. I don't think that's uncommon.

often has difficulty sustaining attention in tasks or play activities;

See above.

often does not seem to listen when spoken to directly;

That doesn't mean one is not listening - I spent a LONG time perfecting the art of reading and/or drawing while listening to and absorbing what the teacher was saying. That's not inattention by any stretch of the imagination.

often does not follow through on instructions and fails to finish schoolwork, chores, or duties in the workplace (not due to oppositional behavior or failure to understand instructions);

See the first two.

often has difficulty organizing tasks and activities;

Does not have anything to do with attention, IMO.

often avoids, dislikes, or is reluctant to engage in tasks that require sustained mental effort (such as schoolwork or homework);

This isn't me so I couldn't say... but if you define "tasks that require sustained mental effort" as ONLY applicable to schoolwork like my parents tended to do, you can refer to the first.

often loses things necessary for tasks or activities (e.g., toys, school assignments,pencils, books, or tools);

Again, this isn't inattention. Everyone loses things.

is often easily distracted by extraneous stimuli;

Define extraneous.

is often forgetful in daily activities.

Again, everyone forgets things.


And I'm sure everything is overdiagnosed, I agree - makes more money for the drug companies.

I'm sorry, what was this thread about?

tee hee

Just one more on the PARENTS!! geesh broil side, one thing I frequently ran into when I was teaching deaf kids is that some parents -- who didn't sign -- said that their kids must be ADD because they just couldn't pay attention at home. Grrrrrr...!

Wow, now that's a pretty impressive intepretation....

This post contains no witch-craft
Something tells me that there is a considerable linkadge between poor parenting and that leading to poor self-discipline. Those two with their friend "MTV generation" is what I believe the real problem is. Sure you can go get some prescripts and get urself all cracked-out on medication, but it will not fix or remove the problem. Regular exercise and regular reading kept to a schedule can do more than a lil pill. Its the harder way, but it is the most effective in living with urself.

Good thinking, geezus (and welcome to A2K).
Too bad that hard work seems to be too much for an increasing number of parents.