Are there more kids with ADHD or are they just diagnosing more kids with ADHD?

/dnrtfa

Done in one!

In other news, sales of Ritalin increase 24% in last decade.

BAMFinator: Are there more kids with ADHD or are they just diagnosing more kids with ADHD?

/dnrtfa

This

/Some teacher prefer your kids doped up, it makes the doped up teachers day easier

ADHD sells pills. It's a boom time for the pharmaceutical multi-national conglomerates.

The article says "diagnosed with ADHD", not that there are that many mor kids who actually have it.

/kids weren't made to sit at a desk 8 hours a day with no recess and a 15 minute lunch break

ADHD - Made up by the drug companies, for the drug companies.

greenbowlpacker: ADHD - Made up by the drug companies, for the drug companies.

As someone who was given Ritalin as a kid and told he had ADD, I agree with this statement.

Sure, the drug helps kids do better in school, but at what price?

Also, it should be noted that the drug would help ANYONE do better at school.

Sigh- I see the trolls are out in force.

As a parent to a severely ADHD kid, let me just say
1) It's real
2) It's a condition you're born with: it's not caused by (junk food|too much TV|Dr. Spock parenting|etc)
3) The drugs are a requirement to function: we'd much rather he never have to take another one.

You may now continue with your trolling

So discipline has slipped another 24%, great.

bborchar: The article says "diagnosed with ADHD", not that there are that many mor kids who actually have it.

/kids weren't made to sit at a desk 8 hours a day with no recess and a 15 minute lunch break

Kids still have recess, and gym class where I am from. What kids weren't meant to do, is watch TV and play video games all day long on their time off. They should be playing, all the time. No such thing as ADHD, only kids who are play deprived and have no discipline.

ADHD sells pills. It's a boom time for the pharmaceutical multi-national conglomerates.

The only way to treat a kid with ADHD, is to diagnose a kid with ADHD.

"ADHD" is something made up by doctors to placate parents who are no longer allowed to punish their kids because the law says it's illegal. If we were still allowed to smack a kid once in a while when they did something really bad, they wouldn't be the unholy terrors you see that get labelled with this imaginary syndrome. As for the *rare* few that may actually be legitimately affected by something, it's more likely to be some kind of brain damage causing it.

csnake24: "ADHD" is something made up by doctors to placate parents who are no longer allowed to punish their kids because the law says it's illegal. If we were still allowed to smack a kid once in a while when they did something really bad, they wouldn't be the unholy terrors you see that get labelled with this imaginary syndrome. As for the *rare* few that may actually be legitimately affected by something, it's more likely to be some kind of brain damage causing it.

tl;dr

csnake24: "ADHD" is something made up by doctors to placate parents who are no longer allowed to punish their kids because the law says it's illegal. If we were still allowed to smack a kid once in a while when they did something really bad, they wouldn't be the unholy terrors you see that get labelled with this imaginary syndrome. As for the *rare* few that may actually be legitimately affected by something, it's more likely to be some kind of brain damage causing it.

THIS

Glockenspiel Hero: Sigh- I see the trolls are out in force.

As a parent to a severely ADHD kid, let me just say
1) It's real
2) It's a condition you're born with: it's not caused by (junk food|too much TV|Dr. Spock parenting|etc)
3) The drugs are a requirement to function: we'd much rather he never have to take another one.

You may now continue with your trolling

csnake24: "ADHD" is something made up by doctors to placate parents who are no longer allowed to punish their kids because the law says it's illegal. If we were still allowed to smack a kid once in a while when they did something really bad, they wouldn't be the unholy terrors you see that get labelled with this imaginary syndrome. As for the *rare* few that may actually be legitimately affected by something, it's more likely to be some kind of brain damage causing it.

1/10

You get the one because I responded.

oblig
Click play and stop whining!

Glockenspiel Hero: Sigh- I see the trolls are out in force.

As a parenttroll to a severely ADHD kid, let me just say
1) It's real
2) It's a condition you're born with: it's not caused by (junk food|too much TV|Dr. Spock parenting|etc)
3) The drugs are a requirement to function: we'd much rather he never have to take another one.

You may now continue with your trolling

ADHD doesn't always mean bouncing off the wall. The impression that all ADHD kids are balls of youthful energy is a fallacy that hurts many of those kids as they reach into adulthood. Is it over diagnosed? For those kids who are full of energy and youthful exhuberene and defiance, absolutely. But don't think for a secodn that it isn't real and that it is a function of doing what you enjoy doing.

I cannot speak for all of us unlucky ones who have ADHD as adults but unmedicated I have a hard time paying attention to ANYTHING. As in I have gotten lost in the maze of my own mind in the midst of doing pleasureable activities such as having sex, playing video games, hanging out with friends. So to me at least it is not a function of doing something that I am not interested in... it is well and truly an inability to focus.

The simple fear of living in a trailer house when I grew up cured my ADHD.

bborchar: The article says "diagnosed with ADHD", not that there are that many mor kids who actually have it.

/kids weren't made to sit at a desk 8 hours a day with no recess and a 15 minute lunch break

Sir Ken Robinson has a great video about this.

I was diagnosed with ADD and put on Dexedrine. The pediatrician I had would basically bump up the prescription every time my mom asked (pretty much every visit). Every time that happened I would be up for a week. Well, I might finally fall asleep at 5 am, then have to get up at 6 am. Then they wondered why I couldn't pay attention. Gee, really?

Funny how when another doctor freaked out at the dose I was on and after 4 months of weaning me off of it under the supervision of a neurologist I managed to get two engineering degrees.

Ishkur: Kids shouldn't be using performance enhancing drugs.

It's like our classrooms are full of Lance Armstrongs.

bunch of nuts they are

How many kids with ADHD does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

Wanna go ride bikes???

greenbowlpacker: ADHD - Made up by the drug companies, for the drug companies.

yeas... all illnesses that require treatment are. Just one huge 'Big Pharma' conspiracy. All of it. Especially asthma, MS, paranoid schizophrenia, autism and cancer. The only true illnesses are Gay, Islam and Texas Holdem Poker.

I think the whole "bunny rabbit" and "something shiny" joke has really, really run its course.

doczoidberg: greenbowlpacker: ADHD - Made up by the drug companies, for the drug companies.

As someone who was given Ritalin as a kid and told he had ADD, I agree with this statement.

Sure, the drug helps kids do better in school, but at what price?

Also, it should be noted that the drug would help ANYONE do better at school.

From what I understand, if you do not need the medication, it is just like taking speed. So basically, instead of helping you concentrate, you will be climbing the walls if you take ADHD meds like Ritalin and do not actually need them.

It's not a "disorder"; it's just the natural way some people are.

Tanthalas39: I think the whole "bunny rabbit" and "something shiny" joke has really, really run its courseSQUIRREL!!!

ftfy

Glockenspiel Hero: Sigh- I see the trolls are out in force.

As a parent to a severely ADHD kid, let me just say
1) It's real
2) It's a condition you're born with: it's not caused by (junk food|too much TV|Dr. Spock parenting|etc)
3) The drugs are a requirement to function: we'd much rather he never have to take another one.

You may now continue with your trolling

There are kids who truly have it...but over 3% of all children? That's ridiculously high. Most of the kids "diagnosed" are done so by teachers...and there's not enough arguing by the doctors who dole out the medications. We also didn't have this issue decades ago. We just said that some kids weren't cut out for school, and gave them other options (trade work, etc). Now society has labeled people without college degrees as failures, which is dumb. This problem is more of a manufactured problem of our society (humans were not made to sit inside all day long, working on computers) than it is a real medical crisis. My b-i-l was diagnosed with ADHD and took medication while he was young. He graduated high school, and now he works in a factory (making more money than his college educated brother). People label this a "lowly" job, but he likes it more than he'd ever like working in an office.

There isn't any dispute that there are real cases of ADHD. However, a lot of doctors view this as a revenue stream. If a doctor diagnoses a child with ADHD, he is guaranteed repeated office visits.

I know it's purely anecdotal, but a couple teachers I know have figured out that students whose parent's insurance covers the treatment or children who are on Medicaid are a lot more prone to have ADHD than children who don't have insurance coverage. Has anyone ever done a study on that aspect?

Glockenspiel Hero: Sigh- I see the trolls are out in force.

As a parent to a severely ADHD kid, let me just say
1) It's real
2) It's a condition you're born with: it's not caused by (junk food|too much TV|Dr. Spock parenting|etc)
3) The drugs are a requirement to function: we'd much rather he never have to take another one.

You may now continue with your trolling

I agree and I will also add that if you need the ADHD meds, they benefit you simply by allowing you as the parent to help your ADHD child see and understand what it is like to be a normal functioning human being. Something that is MUCH harder ad sometimes damn near impossible to get them to understand without the meds BECAUSE they cannot focus long enough for you to get the point across.

Glockenspiel Hero: Sigh- I see the trolls are out in force.

As a parent to a severely ADHD kid, let me just say
1) It's real
2) It's a condition you're born with: it's not caused by (junk food|too much TV|Dr. Spock parenting|etc)
3) The drugs are a requirement to function: we'd much rather he never have to take another one.

You may now continue with your trolling

You are the exception, not the rule. For every parent with a kid like yours, there's 500 others that have a case of sitting in front of a tv too long.

doczoidberg: It's not a "disorder"; it's just the natural way some people are.

Some people are natural sociopaths, too.

They can get pretty disorderly.

I had to stop taking my medication (Adderall). The side effects are AWFUL and the pills are really addictive. ADD meds are basically pharmaceutical grade speed, with the comedown to boot.

Breakouts and some of the worst insomnia I've had in my life. Ugh.

ManOfTeal: From what I understand, if you do not need the medication, it is just like taking speed. So basically, instead of helping you concentrate, you will be climbing the walls if you take ADHD meds like Ritalin and do not actually need them.


If that's the case, then why do so many college kids abuse illegally-obtained Ritalin to help them study?

Why do so many parents dip into their child's pill supply to help them get through the day?

When I had a prescription for Ritalin (in high school and college some years back), I abused the fark out of it. Took twice my prescribed dosage most days. I'd breeze through my homework, read a book, and then get drunk and surf porn all night, high as a kite on the pills. I'd go to classes the next day with three or four hours of sleep, tops.

Then I'd run out of pills about two weeks earlier than they'd let me have a refill. I'd crash for a few days, being unable to do much else than sleep. After about a week of that, I'd feel better.

Then, the cycle would repeat itself. It went on for years. Truth told, I kind of miss it.

When my daughter was in third grade she started flunking everything. She couldn't read a paragraph and tell you what she just read. Every night I struggled to help her with her homework, she just couldn't get it. Anything she did in class she automatically failed. The thing is, she was (is) the best kid ever. Not a discipline problem, super smart, but she couldn't complete a task if you gave her a million bucks. It went on like that until the middle of 6th grade, I was tearing my hair out every night trying to help her pass her classes. I decided I needed to do something. I did some research on the Internet, I looked up ADD/ADHD, every symptom they listed was a symptom my daughter exhibited. It was like a lightbulb went off.

I took her to a recommended psychologist in Tulsa. They performed a battery of tests. It took an entire day. When the report came back I wasn't surprised to see that she had ADHD, in her case she really didn't have the HD component so it was somewhat masked. It was determined that she learned best by listening, not reading, but she was so easily distracted that anyone tapping a pencil or shuffling their feet would destroy her concentration.

We took her to her pediatrician and get her started on Concerta. It changed her life and ours. I say that our real daughter emerged when she started her medication. We could have a conversation with her! She could do her homework, take notes, all on her own! It was a revelation!

She's now a sophomore, honor student with a 4.0, is an all-star basketball and softball player, and wants to be a pediatrician.

I never believed in this ADHD stuff, but I'm a believer now!

/sorry for the wall of text
/Csb?

DON.MAC: Isn't ADHD a result from the dopamine rush from instant gratification in early life with all the cool new toys and stuff?

It's actually the decreased levels of Dopamine in your brain that are associated with ADHD. The medications, like Ritalin, are designed to regulate the level of Dopamine in your brain so people can learn to cope and focus.

Glockenspiel Hero: Sigh- I see the trolls are out in force.

As a parent to a severely ADHD kid, let me just say
1) It's real
2) It's a condition you're born with: it's not caused by (junk food|too much TV|Dr. Spock parenting|etc)
3) The drugs are a requirement to function: we'd much rather he never have to take another one.

You may now continue with your trolling

As another parent of a severe ADD kid I'd also like to add that there are two types of ADD, hyperactive and inattentive, so the nonsense concept of punishing kids more because they'll stop acting out is stupid. My daughter is better behaved than most of her non-ADD classmates because she's more than happy to sit quietly at her desk, doodle and daydream all day, her brain flitting from one thought to the next. In fact, her excellent behavior is part of why we have such a hard time getting the school to up the discipline for her. Why would they discipline a good kid, even if she is sitting there learning nothing?

We've requested anytime she's excessively off task or not doing her assignments that she is immediately sent to in-school suspension (where it's quiet and she can actually FOCUS) and they're reluctant to do even that.

doczoidberg: ManOfTeal: From what I understand, if you do not need the medication, it is just like taking speed. So basically, instead of helping you concentrate, you will be climbing the walls if you take ADHD meds like Ritalin and do not actually need them.


If that's the case, then why do so many college kids abuse illegally-obtained Ritalin to help them study?

Why do so many parents dip into their child's pill supply to help them get through the day?

When I had a prescription for Ritalin (in high school and college some years back), I abused the fark out of it. Took twice my prescribed dosage most days. I'd breeze through my homework, read a book, and then get drunk and surf porn all night, high as a kite on the pills. I'd go to classes the next day with three or four hours of sleep, tops.

Then I'd run out of pills about two weeks earlier than they'd let me have a refill. I'd crash for a few days, being unable to do much else than sleep. After about a week of that, I'd feel better.

Then, the cycle would repeat itself. It went on for years. Truth told, I kind of miss it.

You pretty much answered your own question. But I will summarize. If you had ready access to something (highly addictive) that would let you stay awake and alert and get things done would you not want to take advantage of it. In this case of course it would be considered prescription drug abuse, but whatever blows your hair back.

One big reason for the uptick in diagnoses is that schools won't take action to help unless they can get a diagnosis. With a diagnosis they can take different disciplinary action, add time for tests, etc.