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> Until recently, I agreed with these opinions, and to a point, still do.
> Four weeks ago, my seven year old daughter started taking 5 mg of Ritalin,
> twice a day, on school days only.
>
> I was not happy about the decision to do this, but our family doctor felt
> that it was worth trying for 6 weeks to see if it was effective.
>
> There was nearly a year of counseling, testing, classroom observation and
> diagnostics that led up to the decision to try her on Ritalin. In all,
> involved was a counselor that specializes in ADHD, two teachers, a school
> counselor and our family doctor. As the doctor told us, it is virtually
> impossible to make a certain diagnosis on ADHD and most of the time you
> usually just have to try the medication and see if it works. That was not a
> great comfort to me.
>
> She is not a completely obnoxious or an uncontrolled child, but she tends to
> be very active and sometimes aggressive in the classroom and with her
> classmates to the point that it was starting to affect her grades and social
> interactions with other children.
>
> The change at school was immediate and dramatic. Suddenly she was paying
> attention in class, interacting with her friends in a less aggressive
> manner, and she immediately started to get literally perfect grades as
> compared to the below average grades that she was getting.
I don't deny that a lot of kids do benefit from RItalin. I worry about our
society/civilization though, that makes us dependent on these
things. Modern life places stresses on us that our brains DID NOT EVOLVE
to cope with. It is only going to get worse.
> I am not happy about the idea that she may need to be on this for the next
> few years. One of the things that we are looking into is the possibility
> that her ADHD symptoms may be an allergic reaction to certain foods. She
> eats very little candy, but it is difficult to get away from processed foods
> that contain additives and preservatives. One thing that I have noticed is
> that if she eats brand name peanut butter, or things that are heavy with
> MSG, she does become very hyper and reactive. If she eats peanut butter that
> is freshly ground at the store, she has no reaction. It is just a very slow
> process of observation and elimination.
Yeah. A lot of doctors say that diet stuff is bunk (it's gone in and out
of fashion) but there is t oo much anecdotal evidence to ignore.
>
> I have heard some horror stories about Ritalin as well as watched my brother
> take it for years when he was younger. Unfortunately, it tended to be used
> as a control factor and threat for him. I hated that and I am not sure what
> role, if any, Ritalin played in his current lifestyle. He is 29 and has the
> responsibility level of a 15 year old. He can't hold a job, has been to
> prison several times and goes out of his way to be worthless unless it suits
> him. Of course he could have turned out this way without Ritalin, who knows.
>
Did you doctor bring up family history? There is likely a genetic
component and a relative with ADD/ADHD means a greater probability of your
child developing it. If one is really born with the genetic predisposition
(which may have environmental triggers we don't understand, hence your
brother and not you) it's a LIFETIME issue. Hate to say it, but one could
really be dependent on a brain medication for life, the way a diabetic is
on insulin. (unfortunately anything mental still has more social
stigma.) Biological/brain dysfunctions are better understood as such now
than they were 20-30 years ago, although there's still enough unknowns to
make treating them very much a trial and error process.
I doubt that taking RItalin as a kid would make one ADD as an adult. More
likely *not* taking it now is part of your brother's problems (or he could
try something else if it was not/is not effective.) Not everyone responds
to Ritalin.
Kristin
Waiting for cheap DNA scans and Star Trek medical tricorders
