This will make you ANGRY! Documentary about ADD

[Joseph DiNatale]

Give me a fcuking break. They diagnosed me with that crap when I was a kid and told my mother I should go on Ritalin and other various drugs. My mother refused and just used good old fashion ass kicking. Well guess what. I made it through high school. Never ONCE spent a day in jail and I now have a very nice career. I did CRAZY things when I was young and also had a hard time concentrating on doing homework. However you know what? I surely didn't have a hard time spending every miniute of the day on a computer. You don't have ADD. You just don't want to do anything that you have created in your mind as a waste of time AND your parents probably don't kick your ass. If I was your father lol oh you better bet you'd be doing your homework. Just the thought of sitting down and working on your homework would give you a religous experience. That and the fact that my foot would be a permanent resident in your ass.

QUOTED FOR THE FREAKING TRUTH. If I ever told my mom that I "coudlnt concentrate" on my homework, she would pull off her belt and pop me a few times until I could concentrate.

[Blau]

Your posts in Misc doesn't matter, but the date you joined (2 years ago) does matter. You said you gained up TO 150lbs, how much did you weigh 2 years ago, 90lbs?

You can get smart with me, or find some bull**** excuse. At the end of the day, you're weak. ADD has nothing to do with it.

I was 90 lbs when I joined.

Call me weak all you'd like. I don't give a ****.

On the contrary, at least as far as I'm concerned, I'm not badmouthing you. I'm genuinely interested in what you're saying for one reason - I work in the psychiatric field. You've made some interesting statements here that should, for your own benefit, be explored a bit more deeply.

One thing I've found to be fairly well ingrained - psychiatrists, by and large, are lazy. I don't mean they don't work, what I mean is they are quick to prescribe medication rather than collect data over time to present a more informed diagnosis and plan of treatment. A child in the first grade, which is what... 6 years old?... is having difficulty with 'X' in school and the result of that is a prescription for drugs? That's a bit frightening, despite the fact it's become an accepted practice.

Somehow, prescribing drugs to control behavior has become a better way to deal with young children.

Psychiatrists need to be taken to task when it comes to doling out medication such as these to children. Blind acceptance only hurts later down the line, as you're finding out now while you're trying to deal with a natural progression in life drug-free for the first time. I give you credit for making that decision.

And I wish you luck.

I appreciate that. At least you aren't trying to rip me a new one.

My parents medicated me because they truely believed that I had a problem, that I was an exception to the over diagnosis. They were only doing what they thought was best for me. It wasn't a matter of just because the doctor said so. They had suspected something, and the teacher who had the conference with them only confirmed it. They were only trying to help me out with it. My dad had been through it and he wanted me to have something that he didn't have. He wanted to do as all parents should and give me an opportunity that he didn't have.

They never let me use it as a crutch. I didn't have a cushy discipline either. They did spank me, they'd chew me out for hours on end, they expected a lot of me. They did use some of those "no longer accepted" methods on me. ADD was never allowed to be a crutch. I was always expected to do well and to do my work. I wasn't allowed to do anything until I had finished my work, and finished meant complete, to the best of my abilities.

To this day, if I'm feeling frusterated by not being able to work and I confide in my mom that it's frusterating me, she'll give me some suggestions for improving my studying, and then it almost always follows with, "I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do about it, you're just going to have to suck it up and do the work. There's not a way around it." It's always been that way. I haven't been allowed excuses and cop outs. I've always been expected to do my work, and give my all.

If it wasn't for my hard work, I wouldn't be where I am now. I've been in honors programs my entire life and made excellent grades, mostly As and Bs. I'm currently a senior in high school with 3 AP courses, PreCalc/Trig, and German III. I could have easily taken the short route, but I didn't. In part because taking the easy was out was never an option. I have a 30 on my ACTs a 1220 on the SAT and on my last AP exam I scored a 4 of possible 5. It's not from an improper or cushy raising, or bad parent skills. I was raised pretty old fasioned, in a lot of ways.

Ok, so my entire childhood till about 17 was merely a dream, influenced by drug companies. Cool!
Then would you like to explain to me why I was unable to concentrate on anything, merely everything at once, or focus entirely on just one thing? Or how about having random uncontrollable fits of rage where it felt like I was just watching myself wreak havoc? And why when I took the medicine for it this did not happen, yet when I missed it it did?




I'm sorry, but when you do not take your medication(untill you slowly ween yourself off it, even now I still have trouble, but I deal with it) studying becomes almost impossible. You will be writing something, for instance The quick brown dog jumped over the lazy fox would be "The quick, mmm, quick, how quick is he? Quick as my finger tapping on my desk? Desk? Pretty interesting stuff on this desk, like this paper. When did I get this paper? Oh well who cares. Who, who'd I last speak to? Oh Elle, about the paper due in tomorrow morning. Oh ****, brown dog jumped... Mmm, jumped, I can jump, jump pretty well." Like, it is literally IMPOSSIBLE to concentrate on one thing. And that's without suddenly getting so enraged, then becoming instantly calm, then watching yourself swear and hit and break things, as if watching it on a television. I'm sorry, but coming from someone that has suffered, you can not truely understand untill you have witnessed it. And yes, I do believe it is over-diagnosed, but I truely do have it, and the drugs do help, although they don't help to the degree of it being cured.

Very well said.

parents just need to take a more active role in there kids lives

My parents have and have always had an incredibly active role in my life.

Yes, I am going to tell you that you don't have ADD. You just typed a half page thesis on why you can't focus and can't do your homework. But in doing so, you proved that you can focus and can do work - it's just hard to do the work that you don't want to do. Guess what? It's hard for the rest of us as well.

If your dad had parented (and maybe even used those INNAPROPRIATE disciplinary methods on your lazy ass) properly instead of medicating you to the hilt and handing you an excuse not to do your best, then you would be a much better man today. I feel sorry for you because the extraordinarily poor job your parents did has mentally handicapped you - possibly for life.

I don't appreciate that. They didn't do a bad job raising me. They did everything they could within their powers to give me what they thought was the best life possible. They did an excellent job raising me. Read what I wrote above in this post. There were no excuses, there were no cop outs.

I never said you didn't have it. I can't diagnose you either way but some of the stuff you were listing makes me think you might be using the disorder as an excuse in some circumstances. Not trying to discredit you or say you don't have it.

Believe me, there are no excuses here.

Ever consider that maybe since you had been on drugs that your body developed an addiction to them and now that you have gotten off the drugs your body can't function normally. It's just an easy way out for the parents. Honestly how could you tell at Grade 1? Every 6 year old is wild and spontaneous. How often do you see a 6 year old doing something diligently with extreme focus regularly?

I wasn't around then but years ago when someone couldn't concentrate it was basically because they were ****ing stupid, plain and simple. Some people are smart, some aren't. Doesn't mean they need drugs.

If you had properly read what I wrote, you would see that I wasn't a wild kid. I was the kind of kid you would expect to sit and have dilligence.

I don't appreciate you calling me stupid either. I'm far from it. I posses more intellegence than half the people my age. I wasn't on pills because I was stupid. There's a difference in stupidity and not being able to focus.



People want to act like they can diagnos this with having any real experience. You haven't walked a mile in my shoes, don't pretend like you know me. You don't. You don't know how hard I work, or what I've been through. You're so damn fast to call bull**** that you can't see past it.

Medication is an option for me. I chose to not use it. I chose the hard route. I could just as easily be on the pills right now, and my focus wouldn't be an issue. Don't bitch at me about how people diagnosed with ADD are just pill poppers. I had the option, I chose this for myself. It's a struggle. Get over yourselves.

[Joseph DiNatale]

Yes, I am going to tell you that you don't have ADD. You just typed a half page thesis on why you can't focus and can't do your homework. But in doing so, you proved that you can focus and can do work - it's just hard to do the work that you don't want to do. Guess what? It's hard for the rest of us as well.

If your dad had parented (and maybe even used those INNAPROPRIATE disciplinary methods on your lazy ass) properly instead of medicating you to the hilt and handing you an excuse not to do your best, then you would be a much better man today. I feel sorry for you because the extraordinarily poor job your parents did has mentally handicapped you - possibly for life.

You nailed it, 100%.

[muscleman420]

weird. I wasn't spanked and I wasn't out on any drugs, and i haven't had any problems. Maybe you should just love and nurture kids? BTW for punishment: make them sit in a chair. there was nothing worse than that when i was little, much rather have been spanked.

[Joseph DiNatale]

I got by in high school with a B average w/o studying at all just based on my intelligence. What prompted me to consider getting diagnosed was looking back at my report cards and for each class, every year, the same comments kept coming up (they had default comments to choose from):
1) Bright student
2) Talks too much/Doesn't pay attention

My economics teacher caught me daydreaming in every class and referred to it as [insert my last name]-land. I've never had big discipline problems outside your normal kid behavior. I am very impulsive however and I forgetful of daily activities. In addition to my medication, I have to make a schedule of everything I am going to do on a certain day otherwise I'll forget half the stuff.

Did you ever think that maybe you talked to much because your mom or dad never beat you?

If I had ever gotten a "Talks too much/Doesn't pay attention" on my report card, my mom would bring me up to the school and physically discipline me in front of the teacher/my friends. After that I would appologize to the teacher and guess what? I would never get "Talks too much/Doesn't pay attention" on my report card again!

[Joseph DiNatale]

I wasn't allowed to do anything until I had finished my work, and finished meant complete, to the best of my abilities.

I guess they don't enforce that rule any more, because I see that instead of doing your physics homework, you're sitting here writing mini-essays on why you really have ADD.

I thought they makes you do your work first before play? Obviously not.

Your problem is that your mom is sitting there MAKING you concentrate. I garentee if your mom was sitting their with a belt, and threating to spank you, you could concentrate

[Mernalous]

You have something for sure - an extremely poor set of parents who are too sorry to bust your ass when you needed it.

Nope, they busted my arse, it did nothing. Trust me, if it's not add/adhd then it's something with relatively the same symptoms. However I was never allowed to use that as an excuse, and never do. All you need to do is strive your hardest to suppress it, and learn how to live with it for over a decade, and hope that the next random rage happens somewhere isolated away from people.

Did you ever think that maybe you talked to much because your mom or dad never beat you?

If I had ever gotten a "Talks too much/Doesn't pay attention" on my report card, my mom would bring me up to the school and physically discipline me in front of the teacher/my friends. After that I would appologize to the teacher and guess what? I would never get "Talks too much/Doesn't pay attention" on my report card again!

ROFL, maybe because your teacher was scared that you would get beaten again?

[Lifting_Taurus]

40 years ago, parents beat the hell out of their kids if they opened their mouths for anything

Ahhh... the good old days.. How I long for them again..

[DonMegaR]

I had very bad ADD as a child. I can tell you 100% it is not made up in any way shape or form.

[Lawdog1379]

if it were only that simple

It is that simple. Everytime I turn on the TV there's a brand new abreviated disease for something. My nephew was born with a malignant tumor in his head. They've operated on him twice cause they didn't get all of it the first time. Everytime they went in he had to start over. He has problems concentrating but that I can understand.

My children are well behaved. I never read any books on parenting like most people so I just went with the flow. Anytime something happens in my family that's unusual ie messy room, one of my kids gets hurt, THE ENTIRE WORLD STOPS. My wife and I turn all our attention to the problem and we all solve it together.

Anyway, if you can find the time to post a message on a forum, or play a damn playstation game, or fix your eyes on that beautiful fat ass your about to nail then you can also do your damn homework.

I can see children growing up being told by their ignorant ass parents, "Oh your having concentration problems honey. Oh okay here take some of these. Take your medicine honey". After years of listening to that **** you'll be brainwashed enough to think that any type of negative problem MUST be corrected by taking medicine. Do I think that any of you ADD patients will believe me? Hell no. Brainwashing is an emotional attachment and will take years to alter your state of mind. Oh yea and another thing. If you actually took the time to read all this **** then you ain't got ADD.

[illogic]

You want to tell me that I don't have ADD?

Think again.

I was medicated from 1st grade through 10th grade, in some form or another and gave it up in 11th grade because I decided that I would rather struggle some more than give away my personality to some pill. Since then, every damn day has been a struggle. Even on the pills, I'd stuggle to do anything. Few of them actually over rode my ADD. It's 1:12 in the morning and I haven't done a bit of my homework yet. I have 3 days worth of math assignments that I haven't done the past 2 nights, and a physics assignment that's going to kick my ass. It's not that I'm intentionally avoiding it, I cannot, in all honesty sit down and do the work. It takes every bit of discipline in my body to get anything at all done, and in the end, most nights, I don't do a thing. It's not for lack of wanting, or sincerity,or hard work, believe me. I could often ask for nothing better than the ability to have the concentration to sit down and get my work done.

My dad and his brother both made it with ADD and are succesfull, but their parents weren't exactly what you'd call appropriate by todays standards in their discipline methods.

I think many people now are over diagnosed, plenty of people don't really have it. Unfortunately, some of us do have it, and bad as well.

you rack a disiprine

[Blau]

I guess they don't enforce that rule any more, because I see that instead of doing your physics homework, you're sitting here writing mini-essays on why you really have ADD.

I thought they makes you do your work first before play? Obviously not.

Your problem is that your mom is sitting there MAKING you concentrate. I garentee if your mom was sitting their with a belt, and threating to spank you, you could concentrate

Because I'm a senior in high school now. They're trying to help me, and let me, learn to cope by myself because when I'm away at school, there's not going to be someone to make me do anything.

If the problem is that they're making you concentrate, then how is that any different than them sitting there with a belt?

My parents did that to me plenty when I was younger. I got plenty of that. There were numerous times where my parents made me sit down and do it and watched my every move like a prison guard.

I'm not doing my physics homework because I've dropped the class. I picked up AP Psyschology instead. Math & Science are my weaker subjects and phsyics picked out the my weakest weaknesses from both and combined them. I didn't need physics anyway, I was taking it just because I thought it would be good on my transcript.

[Robby Coker]

Many kids diagnosed with ADHD may actually have Bipolar Disorder, and the ADHD may be co-morbid or may even simply be a misdiagnosis altogether. This is often not known.
The so-called ADHD symptoms, in this case, are actually Bipolar symptoms. Apparently, stimulants like Ritalin and Adderal can worsen the Bipolar (at least, if given by themselves).

Treating ADHD Alone May Worsen Bipolar Symptoms

WebMD Medical NewsOct. 29, 2002 (San Francisco) -- Distractibility, hyperactivity, and talkativeness are all hallmark signs of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), as any parent of a child with ADHD can tell you. In a minority of children, though, they can also be signs of childhood-onset bipolar disorder.

A new study presented at the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry shows that a child can have both disorders and that simultaneous ADHD and bipolar disorder in a child may be a distinct disorder, according to Janet Wozniak, MD, who presented the study. Furthermore, because ADHD is more common than bipolar disorder, the latter diagnosis may be overlooked.


Therefore, when parents take a child with ADHD for treatment, they would be wise to share any family history of bipolar disorder with the doctor, said Wozniak, assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School in Boston, where she directs bipolar disorder research in the pediatric psychopharmacology department at Massachusetts General Hospital.

"If a child with ADHD has an undiagnosed bipolar disorder as well, conventional ADHD therapy can worsen the bipolar disorder," she tells WebMD. The typical therapy for ADHD is a stimulant such as Ritalin or ********.

"The good news is that if the child also has bipolar disorder, we can treat those symptoms first with a mood-stabilizing medication," she says. "Then if we treat any remaining ADHD symptoms with a stimulant, the child will typically be fine on the combined medications."

Wozniak's group wanted to know if there was a familial association of ADHD and bipolar disorder among parents and siblings of young people with bipolar disorder.

The investigators conducted interviews with 189 parents and siblings of 69 children who had bipolar disorder. They compared the data on these children and their relatives with similar information on the relatives of children with ADHD but without bipolar disorder, and with information on children who did not have either disorder.

They found that of the children that had bipolar disorder, 14% of the relatives had bipolar disorder and 20% had ADHD. Among the children with only ADHD, 4% of the relatives had bipolar disorder and 19% had ADHD. Among the children free of either disorder, only 3% of the relatives had bipolar disorder and only 5% had ADHD.

"Many parents of children with bipolar disorder know that the illness 'runs in the family,' and these data confirm their suspicions," Barbara Geller, MD, who was not involved in the research, tells WebMD. "You are more likely to have a family with bipolar disorder if the child has the condition. This also confirms the suspicions of many physicians. If they see children with bipolar disorder, they are likely to be members of families where others also have the illness." Geller is a professor of psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis.

Parents may have a hard time telling a doctor that their child has bipolar disorder since the childhood-onset version of the condition is a relatively new diagnosis. However, she urged parents to bring their concerns to their doctor and to mention any relatives that have bipolar disorder. "If it's in the family, the doctor will want to be alert that the child may have bipolar disorder, so that he or she can receive the proper medication," she says.

http://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/news/2...r-disorder-too

[Blau]

Nope, they busted my arse, it did nothing. Trust me, if it's not add/adhd then it's something with relatively the same symptoms. However I was never allowed to use that as an excuse, and never do. All you need to do is strive your hardest to suppress it, and learn how to live with it for over a decade, and hope that the next random rage happens somewhere isolated away from people.

X2. I'm in the exact same boat. I don't have random rage though, but I do have some rage issues. It's not severe, but I have issues with rage/temper control. That may or may not be the ADD, I don't know.

[dude323]

x2. ADD isn't real. It's called being a ****ing kid.

reps.


i was diagnosed with adhd cuz i was "hyper"

then agin i was 6. i was put on drugs aginst my will...

[raidz]

Children, by their very nature, have a lack of impulse control. It's always easier for someone to procrastinate, especially if they've been given a crutch to justify it. As for something stimulating - that describes just about everyone.

OK. You are missing what I trying to say and thats fine. I am talking about extreme cases, not every once in awhile, and when it is negatively affecting the person in all aspects of their daily life, whether they realize it or not.

[xucardsfan08]

There's a direct causal, genetic link - that of a previous diagnosis of Schizophrenia on the father's side as well as significant diagnostic criteria on CT-SCAN / MRI. Both the prefrontal cortex (the front of the brain where immediate processing occurs) and limbic system (sits atop the brain stem and is primarily responsible for emotional reactions) are directly affected.

Schizophrenia is diagnosed by way of subjective report, much like ADD / ADHD.



Scan done while patient on meds. or off meds.? Illicit drugs involved? Alcohol? What, exactly, are we looking at here?

As for the first part of your post here, sure - while ADD is a valid diagnosis, there is actually no specific diagnostic criteria to definitively say, "Yes. Your child has it." It is diagnosed, rather, as a rule out - a patient without schizophrenia, without Bipolar Disorder, etc. - can be diagnosed with ADD. To blithely spout that someone has ADD just because he or she can't concentrate and is out of control is both inappropriate and inaccurate. Why?

The evaluation process for a clear diagnosis needs to occur over time and with more than one visit. This type of involvement doesn't happen, by and large. And that, unfortunately, is the reason it is largely overdiagnosed.

That said, medication has been created to perform a certain function and it performs that function quite well - as evidenced by people in this thread who are not diagnosed and yet have still taken them and found to benefit their studying or whatever. Just because someone responds to a medication does not mean one has gained justification to support a diagnosis.

Most people are diagnosed out of convenience. To believe otherwise is to be both unread and uninformed.

-The test was done with two people (one ADHD, one not) on no medication.
-ADHD does have a genetic component; my father was diagnosed as well as my sister
-Your comment on the reason why it is overdiagnosed is 100% correct. It can't take one visit to a primary care doc to diagnose it. You are supposed to have visits with a psychiatrist. I firmly believe this is where the controversy of ADHD lies; not the actual disease/condition but the overdiagnosis.
-There are many other components to ADHD than hyperactivity and inattentiveness. If those were the case, than yes, everybody would be diagnosed with it. Impulsiveness, carelessness, inattentiveness, procrastination, difficulty maintaining conversations, never finishing jobs/projects, losing things constantly, forgetting simple events/times, the list goes on.
-And yes, ******** and Ritalin will benefit anybody who takes it. They are amphetamines that work on everybody. This does not negate the fact that they work for people with ADHD. It simply brings them to the level of everybody else. When a normal person takes ADHD medication, they become concentration-zombies and could stare at a wall for hours.

It is that simple. Everytime I turn on the TV there's a brand new abreviated disease for something. My nephew was born with a malignant tumor in his head. They've operated on him twice cause they didn't get all of it the first time. Everytime they went in he had to start over. He has problems concentrating but that I can understand.

My children are well behaved. I never read any books on parenting like most people so I just went with the flow. Anytime something happens in my family that's unusual ie messy room, one of my kids gets hurt, THE ENTIRE WORLD STOPS. My wife and I turn all our attention to the problem and we all solve it together.

Anyway, if you can find the time to post a message on a forum, or play a damn playstation game, or fix your eyes on that beautiful fat ass your about to nail then you can also do your damn homework.

I can see children growing up being told by their ignorant ass parents, "Oh your having concentration problems honey. Oh okay here take some of these. Take your medicine honey". After years of listening to that **** you'll be brainwashed enough to think that any type of negative problem MUST be corrected by taking medicine. Do I think that any of you ADD patients will believe me? Hell no. Brainwashing is an emotional attachment and will take years to alter your state of mind. Oh yea and another thing. If you actually took the time to read all this **** then you ain't got ADD.

I did receive proper parenting. I had forced study time, was spanked when appropriate, etc. I wasn't diagnosed until I was in college. I survived up to college with ADHD because I never had to do homework and got by on my intelligence. It was when I actually had to study that I had problems. I tried everything, including locking myself in the super quiet library with no cellphone /iPod/watch for hours accomplishing nothing. If you do not have the condition, you don't know what it's like. You can't say that you have to "work harder" or "pay attention". It simply doesn't work.
Because I take my medication everyday, it allows me to concentrate on certain things (like reading these posts).

I am angry that it is overdiagnosed because it diminishes and creates the current problem of people thinking it is a fake disease. It is sad when kids are put on medication at age 8 or 9 because their parents think they have ADHD and tell their physician/psychiatrist all the right things to get the meds.

Another point, telling people with ADHD that they need to be punished b/c they have a condition is like smacking a dwarf and yelling, "GROW, GROW!"

[raidz]

-The test was done with two people (one ADHD, one not) on no medication.
-ADHD does have a genetic component; my father was diagnosed as well as my sister
-Your comment on the reason why it is overdiagnosed is 100% correct. It can't take one visit to a primary care doc to diagnose it. You are supposed to have visits with a psychiatrist. I firmly believe this is where the controversy of ADHD lies; not the actual disease/condition but the overdiagnosis.
-There are many other components to ADHD than hyperactivity and inattentiveness. If those were the case, than yes, everybody would be diagnosed with it. Impulsiveness, carelessness, inattentiveness, procrastination, difficulty maintaining conversations, never finishing jobs/projects, losing things constantly, forgetting simple events/times, the list goes on.
-And yes, ******** and Ritalin will benefit anybody who takes it. They are amphetamines that work on everybody. This does not negate the fact that they work for people with ADHD. It simply brings them to the level of everybody else. When a normal person takes ADHD medication, they become concentration-zombies and could stare at a wall for hours.




I did receive proper parenting. I had forced study time, was spanked when appropriate, etc. I wasn't diagnosed until I was in college. I survived up to college with ADHD because I never had to do homework and got by on my intelligence. It was when I actually had to study that I had problems. I tried everything, including locking myself in the super quiet library with no cellphone /iPod/watch for hours accomplishing nothing. If you do not have the condition, you don't know what it's like. You can't say that you have to "work harder" or "pay attention". It simply doesn't work.
Because I take my medication everyday, it allows me to concentrate on certain things (like reading these posts).

I am angry that it is overdiagnosed because it diminishes and creates the current problem of people thinking it is a fake disease. It is sad when kids are put on medication at age 8 or 9 because their parents think they have ADHD and tell their physician/psychiatrist all the right things to get the meds.

Another point, telling people with ADHD that they need to be punished b/c they have a condition is like smacking a dwarf and yelling, "GROW, GROW!"

/thread

[Blau]

-The test was done with two people (one ADHD, one not) on no medication.
-ADHD does have a genetic component; my father was diagnosed as well as my sister
-Your comment on the reason why it is overdiagnosed is 100% correct. It can't take one visit to a primary care doc to diagnose it. You are supposed to have visits with a psychiatrist. I firmly believe this is where the controversy of ADHD lies; not the actual disease/condition but the overdiagnosis.
-There are many other components to ADHD than hyperactivity and inattentiveness. If those were the case, than yes, everybody would be diagnosed with it. Impulsiveness, carelessness, inattentiveness, procrastination, difficulty maintaining conversations, never finishing jobs/projects, losing things constantly, forgetting simple events/times, the list goes on.
-And yes, ******** and Ritalin will benefit anybody who takes it. They are amphetamines that work on everybody. This does not negate the fact that they work for people with ADHD. It simply brings them to the level of everybody else. When a normal person takes ADHD medication, they become concentration-zombies and could stare at a wall for hours.




I did receive proper parenting. I had forced study time, was spanked when appropriate, etc. I wasn't diagnosed until I was in college. I survived up to college with ADHD because I never had to do homework and got by on my intelligence. It was when I actually had to study that I had problems. I tried everything, including locking myself in the super quiet library with no cellphone /iPod/watch for hours accomplishing nothing. If you do not have the condition, you don't know what it's like. You can't say that you have to "work harder" or "pay attention". It simply doesn't work.
Because I take my medication everyday, it allows me to concentrate on certain things (like reading these posts).

I am angry that it is overdiagnosed because it diminishes and creates the current problem of people thinking it is a fake disease. It is sad when kids are put on medication at age 8 or 9 because their parents think they have ADHD and tell their physician/psychiatrist all the right things to get the meds.

Another point, telling people with ADHD that they need to be punished b/c they have a condition is like smacking a dwarf and yelling, "GROW, GROW!"

You put into words what I wasn't able to. You described me, and my sentiment to a tee. I'm in the same situation. I have gotten by on hard work (making myself do the homework and projects) and never studying, just using intelligence on quizes and tests. I'm scared stiff of college. It worries me terribly, all of the studying, I think about it all of the time. I too, can lock myself away distraction free in the library for hours and get nothing done.

I think it does need to be diagnosed by a psychiatrist, however, once diagnosed, it shouldn't always have to be treated by one, though generally most doctors now won't hear of treating it, they'll refer you to a shrink. I was going to one who was shoving a thousand different pills in my face, so I stopped going to her and instead switched to my GP for maintaining my treatment because my GP suffered from ADD and she was incredibly good at methods other than medication. She could really sympathise and help me work things out without medication.

It runs in my family as well. My father and his twin brother have it very similar to me, my brother was diagnosed (though I doubt he really has it, he's is one of the worst diagnosis cases I have ever seen, it's clear that he doesn't have it, perhaps he did at one time, not now).

I fit almost every things you listed too. I procrasinate like no other, I'm innattentive, I'm impulsive, I loose things often, I have real trouble finishing anything that I start, and I forget simple things sometimes.

/thread

Reps to you, sir.

[Slated]

Bluestorm,

this thread has shown your ability to focus and think clearly and in depth.

You CHOOSE to do it on here instead of with your studies though

You're an undisciplined, lazy child using a 'nearly' made up desease as a crutch

[Blau]

Bluestorm,

this thread has shown your ability to focus and think clearly and in depth.

You CHOOSE to do it on here instead of with your studies though

You're an undisciplined, lazy child using a 'nearly' made up desease as a crutch

I don't owe you an explanation for a thing. Move on.

[Drude]

All the kids do with the Rid is sell and snort it.

[Dr. J]

My friend was diagnosed with ADHD and he really does have it. You can be talking to him and he will just like stare at something then have a delayed answer to you. If you watch him do something you can tell that he has trouble focusing on doing task. He is also very hyper and has lots of energy.

[jugssexmotox]

haha there seems to be a bunch of Tom Cruises in here.

Leave it to the majority of the misc to disagree with modern civilized thought and modern science.

[Slated]

haha there seems to be a bunch of Tom Cruises in here.

Leave it to the majority of the misc to disagree with modern civilized thought and modern science.

no, just the pharmicutical companies and doctors who make buck writing scripts

[raidz]

no, just the pharmicutical companies and doctors who make buck writing scripts

So what are you trying to say? ADD is made up because of Pharm Companies and Doctors??

[Forge3]

Bluestorm,

this thread has shown your ability to focus and think clearly and in depth.

You CHOOSE to do it on here instead of with your studies though

You're an undisciplined, lazy child using a 'nearly' made up desease as a crutch

Hmmm...lucky I'm at work and don't remember my mod password or I would give you a time out for that unneccesarily rude post!

[tegid]

I stumbled across this thread and can see that here is a subject that has brought a lot of strong opinions to the surface. While I don't want to get drawn into any of the arguments, through saying which I do and which I don't agree with; I would say that I am intrigued as to why the whole thread has drawn such emotive response from individuals.

There are a couple of guys that use the forum who specialise in teaching kids with ADD/ADHD. Maybe it'd be interesting to learn their views.

It would also be interesting to learn how weight training can affect people with ADD, for it seems to me that the low time-to-completion of each set would be ideal for anyone finding difficulty with focus and concentration..

[Slated]

Hmmm...lucky I'm at work and don't remember my mod password or I would give you a time out for that unneccesarily rude post!

I won't take back what I said because it's the truth.

A large percentage of the american population agrees with me as well.

When you look at those who are said to have the worst problems, they still spend time on the internet, playing video games, etc etc.

They are creative and good at things, but lack the discipline to focus their abilities elsewhere. There are just as many studies showing ADD to not be a desease, as there are showing it.

For you to ban me for believing that it is not a desease, is for you to use your power because you have a difference of opinion than I do. I can show you plenty of studies showing me statements true, and it's not for you to decide if they are fact or not.

[Slated]

A Few Simple Truths About ADHD and Stimulant Drugs
Responses to Common Professional Statements Made to Parents About Their Children

Doctors, mental health professionals, and educators often say things about "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder" (ADHD) that are unproven. These same professionals often say things about drugs that are supposed to treat "ADHD" that are not true. This brochure reveals and responds to six common lies or misleading statements you might be told.

1. "ADHD" is a brain-based biological disorder, caused by a chemical imbalance in your child's brain. The simple fact is that there is absolutely no reliable test that accurately distinguishes between children that are supposed to have "ADHD" and those that are not. The simplest way to counter this statement is to ask for a medical test to prove that your child has "ADHD." Many physicians will respond to your request by saying that the test is too expensive. You must persevere and ask that your insurance company pay for those tests. You can also ask any professional to show you the article or articles in the scientific literature that proves the existence of a confirmatory physical or chemical abnormality that validates the existence of ADHD as a medical disease. The plain truth is that no such article exists. If someone gives you an article, please share and discuss it with someone who can critically analyze it.

2. The symptoms are clearly printed in a book called the DSM-IV which stands for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association, Fourth Edition. Yes, the "symptoms" are printed there, but as described in point 1, these alleged "symptoms" in no way prove that ADHD is a disease. Furthermore, these "symptoms" are actually nothing more than someone's observations of your child's behavior, and the truth is they are not even reliable as behavioral observations. To be reliable, people must agree that your child has "ADHD." An article in the prestigious Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, printed in September 2000, says that the diagnosis is very unreliable. Many children who are supposed to be "ADHD" are not identified, and many children who are identified as not having ADHD are identified as having it. This means that research done to support the identification and treatment of ADHD that uses the DSM-IV definition totally lacks support. It also means that no medical person correctly diagnoses ADHD. ADD and ADHD are politically manufactured concepts, created by committees of the American Psychiatric Association. ADD was created in 1980, ADHD in 1987. The plain truth is that they are not real diseases in any legitimate scientific meaning of the term disease. To declare otherwise is not medicine; it is fraud.

3. Medication (such as Ritalin) corrects the chemical imbalance. Remember first there is no demonstrated chemical imbalance (see point 1). The brain does have chemicals that help cells "talk" to each other that are called neurotransmitters. However, when a professional says that one of these chemicals, usually a variety of something called Dopamine, needs some kind of correction, and that they have just the right kind of medicine to do this, you are being misled. This idea assumes that nerves only "talk" to nerves that use the same chemicals. That is absolutely positively false. It is a lie at worst, a gross oversimplification at best. It is unethical for a medical professional to state or imply otherwise.

4. The medication (e.g., Ritalin) is a mild stimulant with few or no side effects. "Side effect" is a euphemism; all drugs (alleged medications) have a variety of effects. It is vitally important that you personally research the effects of any drug you might consider for your child. Go to the Physicians Desk Reference (PDR), ask your neighborhood pharmacist to print you a list of side effects, and/or get the references listed at the end of this brochure. You need to find out about all possible effects -- those considered common (such as nervousness, insomnia, and loss of appetite, and those considered rare (such as toxic psychosis and death). The lie that Ritalin is a mild stimulant is even more difficult to maintain since a recently concluded study at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, not only confirmed the similarities of ******* and Ritalin, but found that Ritalin is more potent than ******* in its effect on the dopamine system in the brain. Referring to Ritalin as "kiddy *******" is not a joke.

It is important to know that the use of stimulant medication can mask the symptoms of potentially fatal disorders that could be causing your child's problems with inattention or activity. It is also important to know that if your child really is having problems with attention and concentration, this could be caused by problems within the class environment (no work breaks, poor environmental temperature regulation, poor acoustics, poor lighting, poor teaching, etc.) or within other areas of your child's life (nutrition, TV and video overstimulation, family stress and conflict, etc.).

5. If your child had diabetes, you would give him insulin, wouldn't you? This is one of the most common, and heinous statements that doctors and other professionals make to parents. It is a heavy guilt trip telling parents they are negligent and irresponsible if they don't go along with the pressure to drug their children. Remember clearly, as described in point 1 above, that ADHD is in no way a real disease; to imply otherwise is a lie. The truth is that protecting your children from toxic drugs is being completely responsible. It is those who advocate these drugs for children who are abdicating responsibility and avoiding the challenge of truly meeting the needs of our children.

6. You are going against medical advice. Physicians work for you. There is something called informed consent. If they have given you false or inaccurate information, or attempted to deceive you in any way, then the advice that they have given is faulty and you can justifiably take matters (concerning "ADHD") into your own hands. It is your responsibility to protect the short and long-term health, well-being and development of your child.

Resources

Breeding, J. The Wildest Colts Make The Best Horses. Bright Books, 1996.

Breggin, P. Talking Back To Ritalin. Common Courage Press, 1998.

Informative Websites

www.adhdfraud.org - Dr. Fred Baughman's excellent website, containing the best of his essays revealing that ADHD is not a real disease.

www.wildestcolts.com - John Breeding, PhD, posts a wealth of information on psychiatry, parenting and his work as director of Texans For Safe Education.

www.attention-deficit-disorder.org. Profiles the work that some of us are doing to provide the truth about the fraudulent and harmful labeling and psychiatric drugging of our children.