Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Sweetlilbaby]

ADD meds work to calm/focus the brains of kids and adults that actually have ADD, but shouldn't turn them into a "zombie." It shouldn't work as a seditive. If it does, they're either on the wrong drug or taking the wrong dose. It works as a stimulant on brains that are not ADD, which is why it's abused by college students. You have to find the drug AND the dose that works best for you. Everyone is different. Adderall works for me with the fewest side effects.

I'm not one to immediately jump on the medication bandwagon. I think if it can be managed without drugs, that's better. Some people are mildly affected and some are more severe.

There are definitely some kids that need to be on it, though. What a lot of people don't understand, is that it's not just a matter of keeping these kids challenged. You can't force them to focus. They aren't being lazy and it's not just boredom. An ADD brain does not work the same way as a "normal" brain.

ADD affects MANY areas of a person's life. Every car accident I've been in that has been my fault has happened because I was distracted by something (usually the radio). I've totalled quite a few cars. I have a hard time listening, I make careless mistakes. I make impulsive decisions. I am constantly losing things. I leave clutter everywhere and am utterly disorganized at home (by the time I get home my meds have worn off). It causes problems in relationships. I have every symptom on the ADHD-I list and it has shaped my adult life. ADD is a real disorder. It's condescending to suggest that I just needed to be challenged more.


OK, off my soapbox.

ADD and ADHD are real disorders but are very over diagnosed now. My niece that can sit for HOURS watching tv, reading a book, doing whatever... Her TEACHER diagnosed her with ADHD. BTW she's lazy, getting her to go for a walk or to play outside results in her screaming "your mean"
What really makes me mad is that her parents took the diagnosis to a doctor that would listen to what the teacher diagnosed. Teachers should NOT diagnose children at all. voicing their concerns and suggesting getting them tested fine but to actually state that a child has a mental illness or disorder is wrong. Personally I feel that her teacher should be fired.
She is on ADD/ADHD medication i don't remember what one. But the only good thing about it is while on the medication she's got energy. she's up saying lets go for a walk, can i go outside. It is however abusing the medication. Me not giving it to her for a weekend would do more harm then good because she'd suffer withdrawls then be tossed back on it when she goes home.

I know my nieces issues, what she does and doesn't have. I raised her for 7 years. she NEVER had any issues with homework while with me. Her parents simply set her at a table say "do you work" and walk off. It's not a matter of lack of attention for why she wouldn't do her work. She needed help she wasn't getting. I never did her homework for her (though her parents claim i did) I would have her read the problem out loud and then she would work it out. If it was wrong I would show her what she did wrong.

sorry the subject brought up a lot of emotions in me mostly anger from teachers that diagnose kids

 

[hallerlake]

Quote:

Correct Mikey. People don't understand how it effects people with this problem.
My son has been on all of the different drugs over the years as he had severe case of it.

We spent thousands of dollars trying homeopathic before going to the drugs.

I was dead set against placing my son on drugs.
I did hours and hours of research on ADD, ADHD.
Read many books, talked to Doctors from Homeopathic to regular.

Then spent countless doctor visits finding a drug that wouldn't turn him into a zombie.

It made a huge difference in his school work, home life.

Yet, I have seen countless kids misdiagnosed.

It is a huge industry that is out of control.

People whom educate themselves about it can tell after meeting a kid a few times if he has it or just a matter of the kid never receiving discipline.

Unfortunately it has turned into a huge $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ machine.

One size doesn't fit all. I'm glad your son had you to do the work and get him on something that worked for him. It's too tempting to go for the easy fix whether that's paddling or ritalin.

 

[hallerlake]

Quote: Yes, Ritalin is a stimulent, but like most stimulents in children they act as a seditive.
The abuse comes when a child is not challenged in his class work and becomes restive and disruptive. My #2 son was put on that crap and he went from being a normal active kid to a zombie sitting on the stairsteps with his head down. Yeah, he was quiet, but so are people with lobotomies. Once your child is tagged, it follows him/her in school and most of the teachers readily mark them as "trouble" and add to the problem.
I could recite chapter and verse, but this is not the place for that.
Ritalin works in more than one way. See for some it is a doggy downer, and for others it is a puppy upper. See For people with things like sleep disorders such as Narcolepsy it is an upper.
While we hear a lot about Ritalin there is another out there that I had never heard anything about. It is called Provigil. I would caution anybody to be very careful with this. Provigil can also have some VERY bad mind altering effects. Also because these effects may happen very gradual they may be hard to pinpoint what is going on.
PLEASE people pay attention to those who you know. IF you notice unusual or out of the ordinary behavior. PLEASE talk to that person and try to see what may be going on. Try to determine if there have been any changes in meds or lifestyle. See the side effects of these drugs can be so gradual that even the person taking them may not know what is happening to them until it is too late.

You could seriously save a life simply by caring enough to have that less than comfortable talk with your friend or family member.

I know this first hand. See I have been there. I was circling the drain. I was lucky that on my own I figured out what was going on. What was disappointing to me was that after the fact a couple people that see me regularly commented that yes they had noticed something seemed very different about me. But see they did nothing to try to help or understand. I do have one VERY SPECIAL friend who doesn't live close but I owe my life to that person for talking me through some very scary times.

 

[Sweetlilbaby]

best way to solve the issue of someone taking your eggs. The eggs in an incubator that aren't fertile, or get a blood ring.. set them in a specific nest at night. leave them out there a day or two as long as your hens don't eat them and they don't blow up. It works wonders. I took some back to my parents because they thought an animal was getting eggs from their coop. their neighbor came over and asked if he could buy some eggs that never had any interest in eggs before. He also was seen throwing out several brown eggs that smelled horrible LOL

My dad confronted him about it. Asking how the eggs tasted, if there were any baby chicks in them.... My parents went from getting no eggs to 2 eggs a day to getting 6 to 12 eggs a day.

 

[hallerlake]

Quote: Or paddled.

 

[FirewifeJess]

The problem with using fear (of paddling) to get a kid to control their inability to sit still is that using all their concentration to sit still means they don't have any left for learning. They might as well go home. Any school that insists sitting still is more important than actually learning is not a school I'd want MY kids in. I wasn't diagnosed until I was in my fifties. I was smart enough to get through school with the little attention I could give it, too, but I was always an "underacheiver". I've pretty much had to give up watching TV or movies with my husband. I can barely do, much less enjoy, the activity if I have to concentrate on sitting still as he insists. He has agreed to play music without words so we can play Scrabble. I can't take stimulants because they give me an irregular heart beat.

This is why I love home schooling. My oldest is, of course, just a BOY. He has no disabilities or conditions. But he's a WILD boy. It's a challenge to get him to sit...so we don't make him sit. When he reads out loud to me, he walks around the room with his book, or flops upside down all over the couch, non-stop movement. It's a bit comical but he's such a smart boy and sitting still requires to much of his energy and then he can't learn. THAT, however, isn't ADD. That's BOYS. Yes, sometimes boys just need discipline to focus (they have to be taught to focus too, it doesn't come naturally to some, and most of those people don't need meds). I do believe in ADHD because DH is on Aderall and he's a different man when he's on it, focused, works hard, enjoys life. When he's not on it he's impossible to talk to, closed off, disorganized, and just not a fun person. His mind is chaos when he's off meds.

 

[Sweetlilbaby]

This is why I love home schooling. My oldest is, of course, just a BOY. He has no disabilities or conditions. But he's a WILD boy. It's a challenge to get him to sit...so we don't make him sit. When he reads out loud to me, he walks around the room with his book, or flops upside down all over the couch, non-stop movement. It's a bit comical but he's such a smart boy and sitting still requires to much of his energy and then he can't learn. THAT, however, isn't ADD. That's BOYS. Yes, sometimes boys just need discipline to focus (they have to be taught to focus too, it doesn't come naturally to some, and most of those people don't need meds). I do believe in ADHD because DH is on Aderall and he's a different man when he's on it, focused, works hard, enjoys life. When he's not on it he's impossible to talk to, closed off, disorganized, and just not a fun person. His mind is chaos when he's off meds.

that takes me back to being a kid. Getting in trouble in class for getting up to stretch, walk around. I couldn't sit that long still can't. My back cramps up if i sit to long. I would get up as a kid when my back started to hurt and it was treated like I was a bad kid because of it.
Schools are a one size fits all and we all know that one size fits all doesn't work.

 

[ChristineR]

ADD and ADHD are real disorders but are very over diagnosed now. My niece that can sit for HOURS watching tv, reading a book, doing whatever... Her TEACHER diagnosed her with ADHD. BTW she's lazy, getting her to go for a walk or to play outside results in her screaming "your mean"

What really makes me mad is that her parents took the diagnosis to a doctor that would listen to what the teacher diagnosed. Teachers should NOT diagnose children at all. voicing their concerns and suggesting getting them tested fine but to actually state that a child has a mental illness or disorder is wrong. Personally I feel that her teacher should be fired.

She is on ADD/ADHD medication i don't remember what one. But the only good thing about it is while on the medication she's got energy. she's up saying lets go for a walk, can i go outside. It is however abusing the medication. Me not giving it to her for a weekend would do more harm then good because she'd suffer withdrawls then be tossed back on it when she goes home.

I know my nieces issues, what she does and doesn't have. I raised her for 7 years. she NEVER had any issues with homework while with me. Her parents simply set her at a table say "do you work" and walk off. It's not a matter of lack of attention for why she wouldn't do her work. She needed help she wasn't getting. I never did her homework for her (though her parents claim i did) I would have her read the problem out loud and then she would work it out. If it was wrong I would show her what she did wrong.

sorry the subject brought up a lot of emotions in me mostly anger from teachers that diagnose kids

That doesn't mean anything that she can sit for hours doing something she enjoys. It's called hyperfocus and many people with ADD have it. I can sit for hours reading, too, but I rarely sit all the way through a movie. People with ADHD are often labeled "lazy." That raises a red flag for me.

And I agree, teachers can't diagnose kids, but they do see a lot of kids and probably know what to look for.

This is why I love home schooling. My oldest is, of course, just a BOY. He has no disabilities or conditions. But he's a WILD boy. It's a challenge to get him to sit...so we don't make him sit. When he reads out loud to me, he walks around the room with his book, or flops upside down all over the couch, non-stop movement. It's a bit comical but he's such a smart boy and sitting still requires to much of his energy and then he can't learn. THAT, however, isn't ADD. That's BOYS. Yes, sometimes boys just need discipline to focus (they have to be taught to focus too, it doesn't come naturally to some, and most of those people don't need meds). I do believe in ADHD because DH is on Aderall and he's a different man when he's on it, focused, works hard, enjoys life. When he's not on it he's impossible to talk to, closed off, disorganized, and just not a fun person. His mind is chaos when he's off meds.

Exactly. Are you watching you son for symptoms?

 

[FirewifeJess]

Exactly. Are you watching you son for symptoms?

Nothing to see thus far. He's just a boy, acting like a boy. He's a GOOD boy too, loves to please and only rarely does he truly need discipline. He's smart and I allow him to learn however he learns best, so far we've needed nothing to help him. DH also didn't have a problem with any ADHD until after his military days as an adult.

 

[hallerlake]

Quote: ADHD doesn't mean a person can't focus. It means they can't control their focus. Their focus is where it is whether that is where the focus should be or not. People with ADHD can hyperfocus. Hyperfocus can be a good thing. My younger son has found something that it pays very well to hyperfocus on. It can be a bad thing. When I am hyperfocused, husbands have difficulty getting my attention (they don't like that very much). If I'm hyperfocused, I can't stop what I'm doing even if I it is causing me pain or exhaustion. Someone trying to drag my attention away from what I'm focused on is mentally painful. If I were a kid I'd probably say that person was mean. If medication has loosened her hyperfocus enough to do other things like take walks, I'd say it was doing a very good job. The teacher suggested your neice had ADHD, and her parents took her to a doctor for a diagnosis. What's the problem?

You helped your neice do her homework by keeping her focus on her homework. That's wonderful of you. I mean it. I really do. Your niece was really lucky to have you, but that kind of personal attention is not a long term solution.