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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsOK this is crazy -Thousands of Toddlers Are Medicated for A.D.H.D., Report Finds, Raising Worries
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/17/us/among-experts-scrutiny-of-attention-disorder-diagnoses-in-2-and-3-year-olds.html?_r=1<snip>
More than 10,000 American toddlers 2 or 3 years old are being medicated for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder outside established pediatric guidelines, according to data presented on Friday by an official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The report, which found that toddlers covered by Medicaid are particularly prone to be put on medication such as Ritalin and Adderall, is among the first efforts to gauge the diagnosis of A.D.H.D. in children below age 4. Doctors at the Georgia Mental Health Forum at the Carter Center in Atlanta, where the data was presented, as well as several outside experts strongly criticized the use of medication in so many children that young.
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The American Academy of Pediatrics standard practice guidelines for A.D.H.D. do not even address the diagnosis in children 3 and younger let alone the use of such stimulant medications, because their safety and effectiveness have barely been explored in that age group. Its absolutely shocking, and it shouldnt be happening, said Anita Zervigon-Hakes, a childrens mental health consultant to the Carter Center. People are just feeling around in the dark. We obviously dont have our act together for little children.
Dr. Lawrence H. Diller, a behavioral pediatrician in Walnut Creek, Calif., said in a telephone interview: People prescribing to 2-year-olds are just winging it. It is outside the standard of care, and they should be subject to malpractice if something goes wrong with a kid.
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cali
(114,904 posts)2 year old kids are often wild. that's why they've long called it the "terrible twos". At that age, they're testing boundaries, discovering autonomy and the world.
Drugging them so they'll be "good"? Yuck.
malaise
(267,804 posts)and given the lack of mental health treatment, this may well be one more highway on the road to the private prison industry.
cali
(114,904 posts)malaise
(267,804 posts)Greed will destroy everyone and everything. This is madness. Why can't children just be children.
cali
(114,904 posts)Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)Adderal is abused as the effects are just like coke.
Helen Borg
(3,963 posts)WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)malaise
(267,804 posts)of growth and development.
Sometimes I want to jump off this planet.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)Pregnancy that often ends in childbirth.
Sadly we humans often forget that most pleasures come with consequences and responsibilities.
We could learn something from dogs and cats.
Response to malaise (Original post)
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malaise
(267,804 posts)and good riddance
ananda
(28,782 posts)Imagine how much more dangerous they are for little kids.
Besides, there is no such thing as ADD or ADHD. These are just
spurious labels created for the sake of profit.
malaise
(267,804 posts)then you have to invent a host of new medical problems. I agree with you.
Our mom and dad were of the view that play and sport were critical to well being - you burned off that energy.
To this day I walk and exercise four days a week. On those rare occasions when I don't work out, my body reminds me to find the time.
Zipgun
(176 posts)Misdiagnosis happens, and big pharma pushes over and incorrect use of their drugs. Not every one with ADD has to be or should be on medication, even with the diagnosis is correct. There are other coping mechanisms and strategies that also need to be looked with or with out drugs. It's not a simple issue. The profit potential for drug companies, irresponsibility of doctors and parents wanting a quick fix are all big parts of the problems of misdiagnosis and improper prescription of drugs.
Zipgun
(176 posts)There is a lot of misdiagnoses and overuse of prescription drugs, and this IS a problem that needs to be addressed. But to simply write off the condition as not existing because of abuses is also wrong.
TBF
(31,921 posts)the severity is a big factor. I have a child that moves a lot but is quiet. He does fine with just a little re-direction. My friend on the other hand has to medicate her little boy with more severe acting out symptoms.
You'll find this with any disease. If you have a more severe case you're going to be using insulin or taking your depression meds etc ... while less severe cases may be able to make changes with diet or something else. Only your physician can judge this but of course the pharma companies want a profit, teachers want obedient students etc ...
Phentex
(16,330 posts)What are your credentials for making such a statement?
justgamma
(3,660 posts)herself from one side of the room to the other. I used to wrap a knitted cord around her wrist just long enough to be able to shut the door because she was that quick. She hated being hugged because she had to stand still for it. Don't even think about holding her on your lap, she would kick and scream. It was heartbreaking. She was about 7 when diagnosed. I'll never forget the first days after her medicine. She walked into the house and sat in a chair and said "see grandma, I can sit still." Now we could hug her!
She graduated from high school and is now 23 with a full time job.
Response to justgamma (Reply #33)
JimDandy This message was self-deleted by its author.
HuckleB
(35,773 posts)Please don't push propaganda for the sake of pushing propaganda.
HockeyMom
(14,337 posts)I worked with a 5 year old with ADHD. He could not sit for long periods of time and would get up and run around the room and disrupt the classroom. His parents refused to give him Ritalin. What worked? I would take him out of the classroom into the playground and just let him RUN around for about 15 minutes. Then he would sit down and say to me that he was ready to go back and "work". Yes, he then would sit down in the classroom and finish his work.
BTW, one of the reasons I myself quit working in an office was because I could not sit in a chair for 8 hours a day. It drove me crazy and I had to get up and move around. I needed to find a different occupation that was more physical for me.
Edit: I had problems in elementary school with this, but once I got to HS, and college, with shorter periods and changing classes, it was fine.
Promethean
(468 posts)and thus extra energy to burn. Same for the kid you mentioned.
malaise
(267,804 posts)and play - and so do adults.
I have also found that massage therapy works with teenage boys. They calm down big time after a good hot/cold back massage.
This planet has not only over-medicated everyone - we are poisoning every river, stream and ocean with this shite.
Zipgun
(176 posts)and yet still had issues with attention and restlessness, could hyper focus at other times had difficulty getting things done on time. I have ADD, and had the hyperactivity component as a child. It does exist.
malaise
(267,804 posts)Zipgun
(176 posts)always a good choice. Even when it is, it isn't a silver bullet and other strategies need to be used. Part of the goal should always be to try and get away from or at least lower the strength of the drug to the lowest useful level.
woodsprite
(11,853 posts)In elementary school, they had 30 min for recess and lunch and would have gym 2x wk. In middle school, they did away with recess and not all students get gym (if they do, it's 40 min 2 or 3x wk). In high school, the only running around they get is moving between classes. They don't even have study hall anymore -- it's where the misbehaving kids go for detention.
In second grade, they tried to say my son needed to be evaluated for ADHD and have a scribe assigned to him to read his tests to him and write down what he said because his teacher said he would never pass the state tests. His reading tutor, who had been a public school teacher in the same district, advised us not to allow the school to "label" him until the end of 4th grade. She said he needed time to mature. By the end of 4th grade, he was winning prizes for his reading scores, and even in 2nd grade passed the state tests with either meets expectation or exceeds expectations, so I guess the tutor/retired teacher knew what she was talking about. His tutor also told me something interesting -- that our schools have quotas for their evaluations and intervention program for all grades (so many minorities, so many caucasians, so many ESL students have to be served) She said that with over 60% of the district coming in from mainly minority neighborhoods, sometimes it's hard to meet the quota for the caucasians in all the grade levels, and she suspected that could have played a part in them constantly pulling him out of his classes to go for evaluation or intervention (which didn't help, then we had to change the tutor's focus to his other subjects). It was tough to get through elementary school, middle school has been relatively easy for him, and he's looking forward to high school challenges in the fall.
That all being said -- I'm really glad he's my last to go through school!
bananas
(27,509 posts)Running in a straight line on a treadmill is science.
sorefeet
(1,241 posts)have convinced the town quack that they have ADULT attention deficit disorder. So now they have a prescription for legal speed. I can't stand to be around the lying scum, including the doctor.
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)The bribery of health care professionals by inviting them to conferences in exotic places like Hawaii is well documented.
The fact that pharmaceutical companies can monitor what a doctor prescribes is troubling. Kickbacks for medical professionals is troubling.
mopinko
(69,806 posts)they got the records. ban the bastards from the program. tomorrow. ffs.
RedRocco
(454 posts)We start these kids on speed at a young age. Then, when they are adults, they turn to meth when they can no longer find a doctor to prescribe adderall.
HuckleB
(35,773 posts)Thank you.
RedRocco
(454 posts)I'm just going by my direct observation of the world around me
HuckleB
(35,773 posts)Got it.
Phentex
(16,330 posts)Who ARE these parents? I would be extremely leery of any doctor who wanted to prescribe medication for a toddler with ADD...or even an older child until all other options had been tried. This is scary to me.
tridim
(45,358 posts)This is disgusting, and no different the selling meth to a three year old.
I bet they start medicating puppies next. They're so rambunctious. Can't have that!
malaise
(267,804 posts)This one made me really angry
Mnemosyne
(21,363 posts)jwirr
(39,215 posts)that he lied about it. I do not know what the link is but if true then there is ample reason to ask why anyone is diagnosed with ADHD.
alp227
(31,961 posts)The claim that Dr. Eisenberg asserted "ADHD is a fictitious disease" is reproduced on countless web sites as something he said "seven months before his death in his last interview," which would place the date of his utterance around February 2009. When documentation for the putative quote is provided, it references an article (often described as a "cover story" published in the German weekly Der Spiegel on 2 February 2012.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)demigoddess
(6,640 posts)last night (swedish) and at a elementary school the kids were running around playing and screaming. Both indoors and outdoors. Our kids never get to do that sort of thing. no matter how young they are. And they spend way too much time riding in cars.
steve2470
(37,457 posts)It's bad enough to have to evaluate a grade schooler for it, but at least there seems to be some research and guidelines for doing it safely. Big pharma + bad psychiatrists run amuck.
StarryNite
(9,364 posts)This is a very interesting video...
Uploaded on Dec 13, 2010
"This video provides the facts about psychotropic drugs and the huge profits they create for the pharmaceutical industry. These drugs are not safe and have not been on the market long enough to provide sufficient long term studies regarding their effects. These drugs do cause addiction, however most "doctors" would call this dependence because you do not have to take an increasing dose over time. They are completely fine with you being addicted to the same amount of any given drug on a daily basis. Over half of the people that commit suicide in the United States are prescribed to psychotropic drugs. (Ex: Paxil (Paroxetine), Zoloft (Sertraline), Prozac, Wellbutrin (Bupropion), Effexor, Seroquil, Ultram (Tramadol), etc.)"