"ADHD is a ficticous disease"
 

I suspected this a while back and argued with several counselors and psychiatrists dealing with a step-daughter.

Story is from March 2013

http://www.worldpublicunion.org/2013...amM.like%22%7D

http://www.hoaxorfact.com/Health/inv...-analysis.html

http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/adhd.asp

Lots of issues related to this one, and opinion pieces couched as furthered scientific studies (like those on that WPU and other such 'news' sites) and out-of-context quotes (like the Eisenberg remark) floating around the blogosphere as 'sound-bytes' don't help the serious on-going research and debates, or the families and patients dealing with such a 'disorder' (not a 'disease'). Many health and educational professionals have for decades been concerned about ADHD misdiagnoses, mistreatments, and - given that many of the potential long-term side effects of the treatment medicines are as yet TBD - the future impact on children's health.

My advice, as a parent who dealt with an ADHD child and an educator who experienced and dealt with it in both the public and private school sectors, if you suspect your child might be suffering from such a disorder or if you’ve had a child recently diagnosed with it, carefully explore all the possibilities and get a second professional opinion in case your child has been misdiagnosed and mistreated (a problem in our 'take this pill and be cured' society).

And good luck.

Richard

Some Jack-Wagon and my ex-wife tried to put my son on that shit. The result was I took custody and in 4 weeks his grades went from F's to A's.

Amazing what a belt and personal accountability will do.
Just my $0.02.
sf

Father's prescription for my ADHD affliction:
"Get off your ass and do something!"

I had a teacher, I think in the third grade, that couldn't deal with my hyper activity would send me outside to run around the playground. What kid wouldn't love that. Needless to say this hap major impacts in my development.

My son had it and we pulled him for about two years, three different pills and strengths.

Richard - well put words.

Nothing wrong with that.

This is HUGE part of the issues associated with diagnosing and treating the disorder.

Richard

The Selling of Attention Deficit Disorder: The Number of Diagnoses Soared Amid a 20-Year Drug Marketing Campaign
NYT, 14 Dec 2013

After more than 50 years leading the fight to legitimize attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Keith Conners could be celebrating.

Severely hyperactive and impulsive children, once shunned as bad seeds, are now recognized as having a real neurological problem. Doctors and parents have largely accepted drugs like Adderall and Concerta to temper the traits of classic A.D.H.D., helping youngsters succeed in school and beyond.

But Dr. Conners did not feel triumphant this fall as he addressed a group of fellow A.D.H.D. specialists in Washington. He noted that recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that the diagnosis had been made in 15 percent of high school-age children, and that the number of children on medication for the disorder had soared to 3.5 million from 600,000 in 1990. He questioned the rising rates of diagnosis and called them “a national disaster of dangerous proportions.”

“The numbers make it look like an epidemic. Well, it’s not. It’s preposterous,” Dr. Conners, a psychologist and professor emeritus at Duke University, said in a subsequent interview. “This is a concoction to justify the giving out of medication at unprecedented and unjustifiable levels.”

The rise of A.D.H.D. diagnoses and prescriptions for stimulants over the years coincided with a remarkably successful two-decade campaign by pharmaceutical companies to publicize the syndrome and promote the pills to doctors, educators and parents. With the children’s market booming, the industry is now employing similar marketing techniques as it focuses on adult A.D.H.D., which could become even more profitable.

Few dispute that classic A.D.H.D., historically estimated to affect 5 percent of children, is a legitimate disability that impedes success at school, work and personal life. Medication often assuages the severe impulsiveness and inability to concentrate, allowing a person’s underlying drive and intelligence to emerge.

But even some of the field’s longtime advocates say the zeal to find and treat every A.D.H.D. child has led to too many people with scant symptoms receiving the diagnosis and medication. The disorder is now the second most frequent long-term diagnosis made in children, narrowly trailing asthma, according to a New York Times analysis of C.D.C. data.

Behind that growth has been drug company marketing that has stretched the image of classic A.D.H.D. to include relatively normal behavior like carelessness and impatience, and has often overstated the pills’ benefits. Advertising on television and in popular magazines like People and Good Housekeeping has cast common childhood forgetfulness and poor grades as grounds for medication that, among other benefits, can result in “schoolwork that matches his intelligence” and ease family tension.

(Cont'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/15/he...pagewanted=all

My son.
 

My youngest son, now 17, was just passing his exams in the early grades. He has always been a super chap, obedient and respectful, but with a wandering mind that found great difficulty concentrating. My wife is a teacher and we both were pretty anti Ritalin and Concerta. Our boy was diagnosed as ADHD and we resisted any medication for a while until it became apparent that he was falling behind. We decided to give the meds a trial run for a few months. After the first day, his teacher approached my wife and said that she doesn't know what happened, but Matt was a new boy. He was no longer jumpy in class and was concentrating for the entire school day. My wife let her in on the trial, and Matt was closely monitored. He will be in his last year of high school next month and his grades have gone from barely passing to above 80% in Maths, science and computer science 98%. The are all above 75%. He has been advised to study Actuarial Science by the assessment professional we consulted to last month.
My wife says that he is one of the very few pupils (she taught him in grade 7) who has really benefitted from these meds in her 30 years of teaching. It is also very good for his sport, so he even takes it on Saturdays when he plays rugby or water polo. The only bad thing is his appetite deserts him while he is under the influence of the drug so we get him to eat a very big protein-rich breakfast before he takes his pills in the morning to last him through the day.

How often is it that ADHD is a school-related problem?
Human beings have a wide variance of temperaments.

Some might not fit well into a generic system.
Round peg, square hole.

Rather than trying to change the kid, why not put them in a different environment?
Various adults prefer different places to live and different occupations; various kids probably do as well.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/...ing-homeschool

A HUGE problem in my area is that schools get extra money if a child is put on ADHD meds so they promote putting kids on it. It's a shame. Nothing like teacher diagnosing kids in school. :mad:

Yea, I know it takes a doc but with the school system pushing it many I'm sure are getting mus-diagnosed.

I've lived with/suffered from ADD (undiagnosed - it was unknown during my childhood) my entire life...I'm in my 7th decade now, so don't tell me it is ficticous !! :munchin

One of the reasons we were so reluctant to try the meds is because my wife felt that Teachers and parents often used the meds to calm a kid who did not benefit from the meds in any way. For kids who don't need or benefit from the meds, it is a lazy way of controlling difficult kids. So, in short, I feel that the meds are a fantastic benefit for those few (perhaps very few) kids who react well to it.

During your childhood it was probably called "hyper".

I've known several people with ADHD. One, I suspect, was just a cokehead who liked the Ritalin buzz, but several were basicallly hopeless unless they were on their medication or got by writing lists for everything.

It's the perfect malady for a golfer to suffer. Concentrate for a shot, then zone out and enjoy the scenery. :D

Amen, living proof of that.

Nope! I wasn't hyper...just unable to focus my attention in class, or reading a book.

I have a number of nephews who were diagnosed ADHD or ADD. After being held back in 1st grade and using Ritalin, one went on to graduate HS (football star, National Merit Scholar - Winner), earn aBA from Notre Dame ( magna cum laude), was awarded a full ride to a top 25 law school and graduated (magna cum laude) and is now a practicing attorney at a major law firm.. A second is now a practicing Veterinarian, and another is working on a masters degree in exercise science (he began using Ritalin in college).