The Medicated Child

[Tom]

Hi all,

Wasnt sure to post this in chit chat or here ... but figured to post it here.
I am an advid fan of the program Frontline on PBS. I watched the program: The medicated child:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/medicatedchild/

I have to admit I was disturbed by it. I suggest anyone with children watch that show. It discusses about medicating children with mood disorders.

It is my opinion that too many children are being misdiagnosed and too many are being medicated.

The program says that kids as young as 2 years old are being given meds to stablize mood ... that is in my opinion insane.

Some children end up with ticks and other side effects.

In fact they say that much of the meds that are being prescribed have never been tested on children and that for the tests that have been done 90% of the meds do not work the same way in children than they do on adults.

I would like all of you to go to the website:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/medicatedchild/

and watch the program. Lets discuss further.

Is it just me that feels that this whole thing of medicating young children is insane?

Regards,
Tom

[sallyseachange]

Re: The Medicated Child

One of my sons has ADHD. In Italy you get absolutely no support at all, for this, in schools. The teachers don't even know what ADHD is.
My boy's paediatrician was American and a believer in Ritalin and other medications for such conditions.

We did try Ritalin, eventually... with great misgivings. But, when a child is suffering emotionally and you've tried everything else... in the end you balance the possible physical effects against the psychological effects, and make a decision; or at least, you try everything.

At the time Ritalin was banned in Italy. Getting it was a huge problem, but we managed. My boy took it for two years... with very poor results. He should perhaps have tried other drugs, but these were even harder to get here.

Ritalin didn't suit my boy... he lost his appetite and would suffer mood backswings at the times of day when he wasn't to take the pills. I was glad when he got off them.

However, I'm on the fence as to whether it is good or bad to medicate a child. I think it depends on the situation and circumstance. I do however think that it has been taken way too far, in some countries. In others (such as Italy), it's too far the other way.

The end result of my particular story is that I now have a twenty year old son who has little culture, no school certificates, low self esteem, who stammers and who is worried about what he will do in life. At the moment he's working as a gardener. It's a great pity as his IQ is normal and he's a lovable, good looking, otherwise healthy lad with many friends.

Like many ADHD kids, he excels in one area: music. But he can't read music (dyslexia) and could never cope with the tremendously theoretical music exams here. His brother who is less intrinsically musical than he, is now a qualified violinist.

We have given my younger boy every opportunity to try various work avenues and opportunities, but it's an uphill battle when you're dealing with low self esteem and no self confidence. Needless to say, we worry about him tremendously.

It's a great shame... and I often wonder if things would have been different had my son found a medication that was available here in Italy and which suited him.

[Evermind]

Re: The Medicated Child

As a special education teacher, I can assure you that for a child, the pain of not being able to concentrate for longer than 18 seconds on any one thing is worse than any ticks or side-effects of medication.

[pamelainaustin]

Re: The Medicated Child

I deal with these children on a daily basis and some of the medications currently being prescribed for young children scare the cr*p out of me. I have several 3 and 4 year olds that are taking heavy duty medications for "bipolar disorder" and "oppositional defiant disorder" that are being diagnosed by psychiatrists. There is no data to support the safety or usefulness of these type of medications in children of this age and I (along with my colleagues in our practice) absolutely refuse to prescribe, adjust or refill these medications. If a child is really severely mentally ill they need ongoing care with a trained child psychiatrist. If parents ask me my opinion, I tell them exactly that--this situation scares me. Worst of all, the kids seem like zombies...

Now, ADD/ADHD is a totally different thing. There are reliable evaluation tools to use for diagnosis and a great deal of safety information about the drugs used. I have MANY patients whose school performance is greatly improved using Ritalin, Adderal and occasionally other medications. I do monitor their growth, blood pressure, school performance and labwork as indicated. The medications do not work in all cases--occasionally these kids also wind up at the psychiatrist . Prior to starting the medication, they also have a psychiatric evaluation to rule out other learning problems (such as dyslexia and other processing disorders), depression, anxiety, etc. They also get a complete physical (including hearing and vision testing, anemia screening, etc.)

I make it very clear to parents that no medication takes the place of firm, consistent parenting and appropriate discipline. Most of my patients with ADD/ADHD take "breaks" from the medication on weekends, school vacations and summers. I also require the families to receive at least some counseling and parenting classes. They also sign contracts agreeing to strict limiting of TV and video game time, avoiding "junk" food, making sure the child gets adequate sleep for his/her age and encouraging regular physical activity. Treating ADD/ADHD involves much more than simply handing out pills.

[FatBottomGirl]

Re: The Medicated Child

As a special education teacher, I can assure you that for a child, the pain of not being able to concentrate for longer than 18 seconds on any one thing is worse than any ticks or side-effects of medication.

As a parent of a child with ADD - I can't agree more than with what Evermind said. My beautiful and very intellegent daughter went thru **** in Kindergarten to the point that we thought about me quitting work and trying to home school her. This is a child that now can breeze thru TAKS (Texas Assement of Knowledge & Skill) finishing 1 hour before everyone and scoring a perfect 100 - because her mind is able to focus. Is generally a teacher favorite because she is always trying to be helpful. This is a child that LOVES school now instead of crying everyday feeling like she was a failure. Before the medication this was a child that would get soo frustrated with herself that she would hit herself or loose her temper at herself and have a huge anxiety attack. --- My child does not display ANY of those tendancies anymore (THANK GOD)!!!

As far as the ticks - my daughter had them before taking the meds - so far she hasn't shown side effects from the medication she takes... We keep her on the lowest dosage possible that still allows her to concentrate and don't give her med's on the weekends, holidays or summer....

Also - I took my child to a nuerologist -- not my family practioner.. We work with the teachers and are very upfront about her illness and importantly celebrate her successes!!

I would encourage parents to think long and hard about placing their children on any medication for extended periods of time, but speaking from a very personal view it was my child's saving grace and I would do it all over again!