Seriously?? Next thing you know doctors are going to prescribe Ritalin at birth..

[CannonFodder]

http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2...uidelines-kids-as-young-as-4-can-be-diagnosed
In case you have been living under a rock ADHD is way overdiagnosed nowadays, and it just got worse cause the new guidelines for ADHD says that kids as young as for four years old can be diagnosed.
Honestly the new guidelines are just getting ridiculous, I know ADHD is real and all however the new guidelines are absurdly vague to the point any kid can now be diagnosed as ADHD.

 

[Onnes]

If you're going to try and ameliorate the behavioral issues caused by ADHD, then you want to identify the disorder as early as possible. That some doctors overdiagnose it is completely irrelevant to the age at which ADHD is detectable and the preferred course of treatment. I assume the changes to the guidelines are based on sound research and best practices; in the end, there is only so much you can do to make doctors behave ethically when approaching adolescent diagnoses.

 

[Lobar]

The guidelines are pretty vague, but doctors are supposed to have the good judgement to determine if the symptoms are part of ADD or just part of being a kid. That said, it is true that it's very overdiagnosed, but I blame the parents more than the doctors, they decide they need a pill for their kid and shop around until they find a doctor that'll give them the prescription.

Personally, I have ADHD and find Adderall to be pretty effective in controlling it, but it's far from perfect.

 

[greg-the-fox]

I say it won't be long until Adderal, Zoloft, Ritalin, Prozac, etc are just added to the water supply :V

 

[Calemeyr]

I'm someone who actually has ADHD, but this is ridiculous.

 

[CannonFodder]

The guidelines are pretty vague, but doctors are supposed to have the good judgement to determine if the symptoms are part of ADD or just part of being a kid. That said, it is true that it's very overdiagnosed, but I blame the parents more than the doctors, they decide they need a pill for their kid and shop around until they find a doctor that'll give them the prescription.

Personally, I have ADHD and find Adderall to be pretty effective in controlling it, but it's far from perfect.

Is it just me or is it sad that the majority of problems with kids can be attributed to shitty parenting?

A friend I used have was severe ADHD, but he didn't take but half of the prescribe medication cause they prescribed way to much for him. The days he did take the recommended amount he came to class looking like he was stoned out of his mind.

 

[RedSavage]

Um... What small child ISN'T ADHD?

 

[CannonFodder]

Um... What small child these days ISN'T ADHD?

Apparently any child that would rather play than do homework is >_<

 

[Kryn]

I was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 5. Took so many different medications I can't name them all but I know I took Ritalin in 4th grade. By the time I was 15 I was on Strattera and that's when I finally just stopped taking any medication on my own. Around that age was when I finally realized how much the medication was stunting my social development. On the days I took my pills (most days) I was closed off and didn't try to reach out and make friends, on the days off I didn't even know how to interact cause I spent so much time not interacting. Been off any kind of ADHD meds for 8 years now, I spent a lot of time dealing with some very mild social anxiety which I've dealt with on my own with a simple positive attitude. I'm pretty much a normal adult now.

 

[BouncyOtter]

I definitely think it is over diagnosed. I've known of many college students getting diagnosed so they can get Ritalin to help them study. These people just need to learn some self-discipline.

I don't know how they diagnose kids at such a young age. Some parents complain about their children being hyper, but kids are naturally full of energy. Parents should also discipline them if they are acting in an unacceptable manner instead of assuming they have a medical problem.

However, I'm not saying there aren't a lot of people that have ADHD.

 

[CannonFodder]

I was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 5. Took so many different medications I can't name them all but I know I took Ritalin in 4th grade. By the time I was 15 I was on Strattera and that's when I finally just stopped taking any medication on my own. Around that age was when I finally realized how much the medication was stunting my social development. On the days I took my pills (most days) I was closed off and didn't try to reach out and make friends, on the days off I didn't even know how to interact cause I spent so much time not interacting. Been off any kind of ADHD meds for 8 years now, I spent a lot of time dealing with some very mild social anxiety which I've dealt with on my own with a simple positive attitude. I'm pretty much a normal adult now.

So the medication did more harm then good?

 

[Fay V]

When I was a kid I would have been diagnosed with ADHD, I once buried myself in sand, with a straw to breathe, because I hated burrito day. I was often taken to the nurse to calm down.
My parents dealt with it by giving me things to do, and having reasonable expectations of my behavior.

I know it's a real problem, but it bothers me how many kids get diagnosed because they just crave stimulation

 

[M. LeRenard]

I can't help but be horrendously suspicious of medicine these days. Now, I don't know the details because this isn't my field, but I just wonder how much of this increase in diagnosis is simply due to an expansion of the definition of ADHD. I mean, how accurately can you really judge the psychology of a 4-year-old? At some stage, you might as well be diagnosing a puppy.
Not to mention, I think until very recently, drugs like this were being given to children based on the results done in studies on adults, so we've only got maybe a decade or two of research behind most of these things. And that research has taken a while to catch up, because there are ethical dilemmas with using children in experiments (do you really want to have a control group of kids who don't get a treatment, if it turns out they need the treatment? Parents would have a shitfit). So a huge chunk of this research is still in its infancy, and here we are dumping pills into kids' systems when they're barely old enough to walk. And we most certainly haven't had the time to study the effects these things have on growth and development. It makes me wonder if we aren't making a terrible mistake. Sometimes it feels like some kind of chemical engineering of personality more than it feels like treatment for a disorder.
Pill A solves problem A but causes problem B, so give the kid Pill B to solve problem B. But Pill B causes problem C, so give him Pill C to rectify that. But Pill C causes problem D, and so on, ad infinitum. This hardly sounds like good, solid science, just on the surface of it. It sounds more like fucking whack-a-mole.

 

[Onnes]

Many people in this thread seem to assume that medications are the sole treatment option for ADHD.

 

[Tiger In A Tie]

I think it's an issue of admittance and acceptance. Parents don't understand, or don't want to understand, their child's difficulties. And when they don't, they seek a doctor's help to hope that the doctor can help them with that understanding. For example, my mom was absolutely convinced that I am autistic. She spent a large amount of time and money trying to get me diagnosed with Asperger's. Results say I don't have it. She just wanted an explanation for my behavior and assumed that a doctor could figure it out. Now she accepts that I'm just a shy, quiet person.

Also, the problem with autism (and I think ADHD might fit in here) is that the spectrum is so damn broad. Some people have minor aspects of autism, some are extremely autistic. I personally think that because there's so much to it, that many people fit on it -somewhere-. Is everyone that doesn't talk and interact with other people much necessarily autistic? No. Are children that have active minds necessarily ADHD? No. (And from the article) Are kids with behavior issues necessarily ADHD? No.

So yeah. I personally think mental disorders are often over-diagnosed. Parents are desperate to understand their children, and with a medical diagnosis some parents may be at ease with an "answer" to the child's "problem".

 

[Roose Hurro]

The guidelines are pretty vague, but doctors are supposed to have the good judgement to determine if the symptoms are part of ADD or just part of being a kid. That said, it is true that it's very overdiagnosed, but I blame the parents more than the doctors, they decide they need a pill for their kid and shop around until they find a doctor that'll give them the prescription.

Personally, I have ADHD and find Adderall to be pretty effective in controlling it, but it's far from perfect.

Lobar, have you ever been checked for food allergies? I knew a girl who had what would be the classic symptoms (uncontrolled behavior problems), and her parents found out she had food allergies, NOT ADD/ADHD... which didn't exist back then, anyway. Once they changed her diet, she changed. All without the need for drugs.

 

[Ad Hoc]

Lobar, have you ever been checked for food allergies? I knew a girl who had what would be the classic symptoms (uncontrolled behavior problems), and her parents found out she had food allergies, NOT ADD/ADHD... which didn't exist back then, anyway. Once they changed her diet, she changed. All without the need for drugs.

There is some truth to this. I don't know if it's necessarily allergies, but some folks just do seem to be more sensitive to certain foods than other folks. My pa's got ADHD--he drastically cut his intake of dairy, white flour, white sugar, and and high fructose corn syrup, that reduced the symptoms a ton. (He also goes on runs regularly.) Still needs a little medication, though.

 

[Roose Hurro]

There is some truth to this. I don't know if it's necessarily allergies, but some folks just do seem to be more sensitive to certain foods than other folks. My pa's got ADHD--he drastically cut his intake of dairy, white flour, white sugar, and and high fructose corn syrup, that reduced the symptoms a ton. (He also goes on runs regularly.) Still needs a little medication, though.

Indeed:

http://www.healingwithnutrition.com/adisease/add-adhd/addallergies.html

http://www.nutramed.com/children/learning1.htm

http://www.personadigital.net/Persona/HumanBrain/BrainAllergy.htm

http://www.feingold.org/Research/adhd.html

 

[Lobar]

I had a severe reaction to peanuts when I was two, but I don't know how extensively I was tested for other allergies at the time. I know that while unmedicated, I feel generally equally symptomatic regardless of what I've recently eaten or if I've eaten at all. I can also always tell if I've forgotten to take my medication when I start trying to get work done by my inability to focus.

 

[Kryn]

So the medication did more harm then good?

Pretty much. One of the main reasons I was switched meds so often was because of the side effects. Everything from ticks (uncontrollable muscle movements), to breathing problems to other quirks in my personality.

There is still an upside, the meds really helped me focus on my school work when I was young and I'm definitely more educated than my peers. But my social problems caused me to lose my self-confidence and drop out college. Took me a good 5 years of where I've worked instead of going to school to gain my confidence back and now I'm in school again and doing better than ever.

 

[Scotty1700]

I dunno, my nephew got diagnosed with ADHD . He was also diagnosed with Asperger...I don't quite know why but it seems his new medication ( I have no clue which) causes irrational behavior as he just started it about 3 weeks ago and already got kicked off the bus for stabbing a kid with a pencil, writing on someone's shirt with a highlighter, and flooding our bathroom by pulling the plunger on the sink, turning it on and walking away.

Now it may seem off topic buuuut it is definitely doing more harm than good as he doesn't listen to anyone, it has to be more than the two previously mentioned things. I'm thinking he might have been misdiagnosed with ADHD and just has some serious Aspergers and a combination of some other things as he's terrible at social interactions, and he can ramble on about nonsense and doesn't grasp that no one's listening which Wikipedia suggests is another typical symptom.

 

[CannonFodder]

I dunno, my nephew got diagnosed with ADHD . He was also diagnosed with Asperger...I don't quite know why but it seems his new medication ( I have no clue which) causes irrational behavior as he just started it about 3 weeks ago and already got kicked off the bus for stabbing a kid with a pencil, writing on someone's shirt with a highlighter, and flooding our bathroom by pulling the plunger on the sink, turning it on and walking away.

Now it may seem off topic buuuut it is definitely doing more harm than good as he doesn't listen to anyone, it has to be more than the two previously mentioned things. I'm thinking he might have been misdiagnosed with ADHD and just has some serious Aspergers and a combination of some other things as he's terrible at social interactions, and he can ramble on about nonsense and doesn't grasp that no one's listening which Wikipedia suggests is another typical symptom.

Yeah that's definitely not ADHD, because there's another disorder(can't remember what it is) that reacts the exact opposite way when the person is given ADHD medication. Tell his parents to take them back to the doctors cause if he continues to take it it's only a matter of time until there's a severe reaction to the medication.

 

[Scotty1700]

Yeah that's definitely not ADHD, because there's another disorder(can't remember what it is) that reacts the exact opposite way when the person is given ADHD medication. Tell his parents to take them back to the doctors cause if he continues to take it it's only a matter of time until there's a severe reaction to the medication.

Even though he's my nephew his parents are basically mine :v

They legally adopted him cause my sister's practically a crack whore and the father was a 16 year old kid still in high school or some shit.

I'm ready to go ape shit cause it's obvious his new medication is having a negative effect and they're just now considering taking him off of it and trying something else.

 

[Commiecomrade]

That can't be good to the kid's self-esteem. They're playful and full of energy. Must be a mental disorder.

 

[Unsilenced]

I've been taking meds for ADD since at least second grade, and while I do think it's something that's easily diagnosed I don't think that diagnosing it young is necessarily an indication of misdiagnosis.