ADHD is a lie

Discussion in 'Home Schooling' started by nick6999, Jan 2, 2010.

  1. yellowcab

    yellowcab Fresh baked

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    While I think that ADHD is probably real and effects some people to a negative degree, I also think it is way over diagnosed. In reality I think about 10% of people getting scripts for ADHD really need them, the rest is just juicing up profits for big pharma. Kids have been having these problems since the beginning of time, its called personality. Dosing these kids with whatever before they even reach puberty so they will be less of a pain in the ass robs them of developing a personality. We actually had a clean up kid where I used to work that told us we cant get mad and yell at him if he cant do his job properly because he has ADHD. WTF, I knew him his whole life, his parents too, just making excuses for himself.
     
  2. Meliai

    Meliai Banned

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    Well, thats kind of my point. Everything in society is so ordered, including the job industry. There are normal jobs for normal people. Instead of saying "this is the way it is, so i'm going to take my prozac or my lithium or my adderall so i can function with normal people, people who are in order, not disordered," I wish people would have the guts to stand up and ask "why is it this way? Why do i have to take a magic pill because I dont fit in with other people? What can I do to express myself and put myself out there and be apart of this world without falling in line?" I know i'm sounding like an annoying idealist now, and thats slightly off topic. but it applies to parents of ADHD children too. Its just being responsible to question a doctor's decision to place any child on speed (i enjoy calling it speed, I feel like adderall is just a euphanism). Any decision that anyone else makes for a person and especially that person's child should be questioned as much as possible.
     
  3. FireflyInTheDark

    FireflyInTheDark Sell-out with a Heart of Gold

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    They tried to drug me in school and put me in a special-ed class in elementary bc they thought I didn't know my own name. Upon a more thorough exam by a qualified doc, it turns out I was actually deemed highly intelligent and creative, not to mention deaf in one ear. I'm glad my mom had that one nipped in the bud early on. Sure I was rambunctious, but why not?? I was a little kid bored out of her mind all day at school! I didn't actually have a challenging assignment till I got to middle school. By then, I wad ruined for taking it seriously and to this day I have awful study habits at college because I wasn't taught self-discipline at an early age.
    I won't go so far as to say it doesn't exist, but I think that more care should definitely be taken distinguish a real, debilitating problem and a lack of the right kind of stimulation (not to mention the quality of school food).
     
  4. Ddoright

    Ddoright Senior Member

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    I work with small groups of kids and i'm telling you, some kids can not maintain, as badly as they might want too. There is a difference between a kid who is curious and excited to one who is literally bouncing off the wall. One kid I have is up every 2 minutes running to a place has been told not to go - and if you say no to something the rest of the class is spent trying to explain why not.
    Nothing, I mean nothing else is being accomplished for the other kids who perhaps could learn some new concepts.

    I mean, there is something really wrong here. The brain is not firing properly. It affects the other kids and their right and desire to learn and has got to be disabling for the poor kid who's thought process is out of control.

    I know some kids are medicated because they are simply overactive, but there are some kids whose life is going to be ruined if thier problem is not addressed - and sometimes that means chemically.
     
  5. NotDeadYet

    NotDeadYet Not even close.

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    Good luck with that in the job market. Let us know how that works out for you. :rolleyes:

    :iagree:
     
  6. Meliai

    Meliai Banned

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    i find it rather small minded to assume the only way to survive in this world is by immersing yourself in the traditional american job market.
     
  7. bree53

    bree53 Member

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    A lot of ADHD is a bad reaction to all the high fructose corn syrup in products. I had worked with kids having some ADHD tendencies and get them off of HFCS for a while there is a HUGE difference in how they act. Works wonders when you eat well.
     
  8. desperad0

    desperad0 Member

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    Are you hiring?
     
  9. FireflyInTheDark

    FireflyInTheDark Sell-out with a Heart of Gold

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    That was kind of what I was hinting at when I mentioned quality of school food, but you hit the nail on the head. I would also point to bleached wheat rather than whole causing sugar spikes and crashes rather than a more stable grain food that won't put the kid in orbit.

    Sure, it's not the ONLY way to survive, but I would think someone who can't even concentrate hard enough to earn a high school degree is going to have considerable difficulty carving out an entirely new niche from scratch... Of course there are exceptions, they are just that- exceptions- not the rule. We can't rely on these few cases as a means to give kids the tools to function in the present society so they have every chance to provide for themselves, and someday a family, if they want it. You can't just see a kid who can't concentrate and shrug and say "that one marches to the beat of a different drum" and kick him out of school.

    I used to think society was all wrong and backwards and I was going to CHANGE THE WORLD and we were all going to wear rainbow toe socks to work with funky hats if we wanted to... and then I realized it was more important to me to work in a scientific field than to wear rainbow toes socks and funky hats. As I grew older and experienced more, my priorities changed, and that was the choice I made, because science made me more happy than rainbow toes socks and funky hats, so now I have to play ball. Rainbow toe socks and funky hats will have to wait until the weekend. :)
     
  10. Sweetleaf63

    Sweetleaf63 Senior Member

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    good point..
    I feel the same about situations like this..
    It seems like everyone these days are diagnosed with
    metal illnesses.. Its getting ridiculouse..
     
  11. bree53

    bree53 Member

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    Mmmm You want to be Natural Eat Natural. You want to feel ALIVE it live food. People seem to want the easy way out and have no self awareness let alone self discipline.
     
  12. Meliai

    Meliai Banned

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    i'm not talking about dressing differently. You can't make money or feed your family by wearing toe socks, i'm aware of that. also i'm certainly not talking about taking children out of school. I think a lot of people who are diagnosed with disorders like adhd, bipolar, etc generally possess a lot of creative energy that has absolutely no outlet in most public school systems. Kids who are different should be encouraged to be different from an early age, not discouraged. They should be encouraged to find some kind of creative outlet and pursue that into adulthood. I have friends that seem very strange to other people, but they're creative and they dont make money from regular jobs. they make money doing what they love, and they don't wear rainbow toe socks while doing it.

    basically, i'm saying that its no wonder more and more kids are being diagnosed with adhd because art and music and anything creative is being taken out of school, and out of adulthood for that matter (to the point where if I suggest making money any other way than "playing ball" with society, people act like its an idiotic idea). Its no wonder kids are bored in school and can't pay attention. The problem stems from the home too. Most americans are overworked and don't take any time out to encourage any sense of creativity and individuality in children. Instead of playing make believe with their kids or encouraging their kids to play outside, parents stick their children in front of the tv with a soda in one hand and a high-in-trans-fat pizza in the other.
     
  13. earthbyocean

    earthbyocean Member

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    I'd just like to contribute something. My Dad's a doctor (GP) and has very often told me how all parents that see him about their "ADHD" child appear to be negligent parents who are either A) not spending enough time with their children and sending them to day care, for example, or B) not disciplining their child properly - a classic example is where the child is opening and closing shelves and fidgeting with things in my Dad's office or is wingeing constantly and the parent will generally ignore this behaviour, until after a few good minutes - sometimes 15 minutes or so - when they'll scream "No!" to the child. This process will be repeated in the same consultation over and over. How is the kid supposed to know what behaviour is good and what is bad if they're not being disciplined effectively?
    The way you bring up your child has a major impact on everything in their future life no doubt, however the two examples above are classic "ADHD" examples from a very experienced doctor.
     
  14. Moondoggy

    Moondoggy Member

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    :iagree:As we move farther away from our hunter/ gatherer roots and become more sedentary we fail to satisfy our primal need for physical exertion. When I was a child there was not such a thing as ADHD diagnosed. Of course most of the kids I knew were not allowed to sit in the house in front of the "boob tube".We were outside ALL day playing ball, building forts or playing in the snow. This was our mothers alone time and you came home for lunch and then were sent (willingly) back outside. In my work helping people with their dogs' behavior problems, most are solved with the proper amount and type of exercise.
     
  15. ExperimentWilderness

    ExperimentWilderness Member

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    Of course ADHD exists.
     
  16. MrDot

    MrDot Senior Member

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    OP, fuck you asswipe. I believe there is a such thing because I HAVE IT. Fuck, before my adderall I was a fuckin mess man.
     
  17. Bumble

    Bumble Senior Member

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    Until you work with children from all walks of life, then don't say ADHD doesn't exist. I've seen both sides of the fence-kids who are over medicated and kids who are undermedicated. Medication works wonders for some people and harms others. I've seen kids who roll on the floor, lick the floor, randomly punch others, and say irrational things when they are off their meds. I've seen the same kids perform advanced for their age when they are on their meds. The kids I'm speaking of have been properly diagnosed with ADHD.

    I do think psychologists do over diagnose ADHD, but trust me, it does exist!
     
  18. mamaKCita

    mamaKCita fucking stupid.

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    my little brother has ADHD. no, my mother didn't have him drugged, none of us would have stood for it. instead, she removed food additives and certain foods he had negative reactions to, put him in a couple sports that require huge amounts of energy and focus AND, most successfully, biofeedback therapy.

    the change in him was immense. he was destructive, out of control and unable to rest or focus or understand anything. and this is with the exact same upbringing and diet that suited the rest of us just fine. however it comes about, discounting it entirely because the medical treatments verge on barbaric isn't really a good either.

    after all, i'm sure at one point in time the treatment was ECT, trepanation or something equally as awful. it's there, it's just not quite what people want to think it is.
     
  19. DroopySnoopy

    DroopySnoopy The ORIGINAL Dr. Droop

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    ADHD and ADD are real, and are a real issue, but I have a feeling most of the kids these days that are being diagnosed have a totally different problem-lazyness. Especially with high school students, it is becoming more common for teens to be diagnosed due to their low test scores, and while some might genuinely have a learning disability, for others it might just be that they don't study. AT ALL. I work with a high school senior that has been diagnosed with ADHD and he is the laziest son of a bitch I have ever known, both in school and work. He constantly used his "situation" as an excuse for why he works slower and less consistently than his coworkers. It is sad, but I have little sympathy for anyone that hides behind a disorder that IS REAL, although they THEMSELVES do not have it.

    [/rant]
     
  20. Valdis

    Valdis Member

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    It can be frustrating dealing with people that use illnesses or diagnoses as excuses to not try or who seem to.

    In our case, it was the opposite. My girl always tried so hard and rarely gave up. When she did give up she always came back and tried again when she could. Giving in to trying the drugs at 18 was a really great thing though we had fought against it for so long.

    She's been able to function far better. She is excelling even better in her school work, staying in college, loving it, the academic scholarship she won and the honors program.
     

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