OH NO! THE RITALIN DEBATE HOTS UP ..........AGAIN!

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Today folks I woke up to the news that Ritalin has yet again be dammned! The UK is full of it today. Apparently NICE have made some scary findings public and now Ritalin is the subject on everyones agenda!
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/09/ ... guide.html

Parents of children with ADHD should be trained to help their children cope, and Ritalin should only be prescribed as a last resort, a health watchdog in Britain said Wednesday.

The drug shouldn't be used in children under five, and should be prescribed for older children only when they have severe attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence said in its guidelines for parents and doctors.



Symptoms of ADHD in children
Easily distracted
Restlessness
Difficulty remaining seated when required
Difficulty waiting for his or her turn in group settings
Difficulty following instructions
Difficulty playing quietly
Often shifts from one incomplete activity to another
Often interrupts others
Often engages in physically dangerous activities without considering the consequences
Treatment with Ritalin — a brand name for the pharmaceutical methylphenidate — or other drugs "should be reserved for those with severe symptoms and impairment," the guidelines say.

Symptoms of ADHD can include a short attention span, a low level of organization, excessive talking, aggressive gestures and irritability. It affects an estimated five to 12 per cent of Canadian children.

When drugs for the disorder are prescribed, it should be along with psychological therapy and support for the child to develop problem solving, listening, coping and peer relationship skills, the group said.

The guidelines also say parent training and education programs should be offered as a first-line treatment for ADHD in both preschool and school-aged children.

Parents learn techniques
The programs teach parents, usually in groups, about how to create a structured home environment, encourage better concentration and attentiveness and manage misbehaviour.

Doctors shouldn't delay prescribing the medication for children with severe ADHD, but the drugs should be given along with parental training.

When the drugs are prescribed, the treatment should start with very low doses. The child should also be closely monitored for side-effects and to determine what the best dose is.

The treatment should also be reviewed annually to see whether the drugs are still needed or if changes should be made, the guidelines to doctors said.

The release of the guidelines comes as parents, educators and medical researchers have expressed concerns about overprescribing the medications to children.

Ritalin can have side-effects such as nausea, fatigue and mood swings, and the long-term effects of the drug are not yet known.

In 2006, Health Canada warned that Ritalin, Adderall and all other drugs used to treat ADHD have the potential to cause uncommon psychiatric side-effects — including rare cases of agitation and hallucination in children.


Now folks, I am diagnosed ADHD and been on Ritalin as have 3 of my children also diagnosed with ADHD!

What folk don't realise is that if we are going to include ADHD on the spectrum ( runs for the door!!), which I think we should ( dives for cover!) we must remember that it is the only ?ASC that can be medicated? Or can it?

I have been going on and on and on about Phosphatidyl Serine and now seems a pertinent time to raise it again.

For those of you who have not heard about it, it is a non esential amino acid that is currently been trialled in Israel for ADHD. There are 3,000 academic papers published on the subject.

I found it by chance when my son had a full amino acid blood profile taken. What a very interesting find we made! We saw that he was deficient in Serine! Serine aids neurotransmission so I researched it best as I could and spoke to my son's consultant about supplementation.

Not being available in many health shops ( purely because there is not a demand) we ordered it off the net.

That was the start of the miracle. For as soon as my son had taken a Phosphatidyl Serine than he calmed down. It kicked in in 20mins ( yes honestly) and we had an age/behaviour appropriate boy on our hands. He was not anxious, very chilled out, calm, focused and attentive! We simply could not believe it. We found out that it lasted 5hrs then he needed a top up! No side effects and the doctors were staggered.

That was nearly 3yrs ago and we are still as delighted as on day one! In fact we are all taking it now. Even for kids with Autism and Aspergers Syndrome it takes the edge of a stressful day! My 14yr old is Aspergers and has the occasional meltdown. He plays lead guitar in a band, practice with them all around is his worst nightmare but he copes brilliantly providing he has had a PS first! And he is a lad who hates swallowing tablets! Now he asks for them!

We have a grandma also, deffo on the spectrum but who has been reliant on Diazepam/Valium for the last 6yrs. She is now off them entirely and taking PS!

There is tons I could harp on about but I won't bore you. I am just delighted to have the choice. CHEMICAL OR NATURAL? Fact...........the natural works far better and has no nasty side effects! So no choice in my book.

Google it and check it out folks, a doctor called KYL SMITH has done a youtube on it too!

Just passing on the information, I am sure it will help many out there. Just nice to have a choice AT LAST!



www.jelibean.com/

Maybe if they called it what it is, "Speed/amphetamine" instead of "ritalin/adderal," parents would approach it more cautiously.

I prefer dexidrine, seems to work better for me then ritalin

The arguement is full of holes big enough to drive a truck through.
The people commenting about poor parenting don't have affected children
and most importantly...
They just say "a study.... " instead of linking to the source so that I can check it out.

It's just propaganda. move on people...

Agree with all of you!
I have been on Dex also and it was far better. No nasty headaches for a start.

And yes you are right, do these people that are creating all the fuss have ADHD themeselves? No I bet they don't!

I have no problem with Ritalin, it was all that was available and when you have children who are affected you will try anything!

But luckily we found PS and have a choice. However if we had not have been so lucky, I would now be fighting for medication that I need!

Ere we go, ere we go again................RITALIN scare. How original

NICE is exactly the opposite of it's friendly sounding acronym. They also have been creating alot of problems for plus sized people too, from what I've been reading on the fat acceptance blogs. The last I heard, they were sending nurses into stores to be the fat police, taking measurements of people and no doubt explaining how to eat to them, cause apperantly all fat people are fat cause they're idiots who are too stupid to know how to eat healthy. Yeah, right.

I know this seems off-topic, but my point being is NICE is everything but.

I think it's interesting that you found a deficiency. My son has had a bunch of blood tests, including the amino acid one. I thought for sure they would find a vitamin deficiency or some other biological issue. But, there was nothing abnormal with any of his tests.

Tortuga Hiya, I went to see a private consultant neurologist and to be honest when I got the reports back they said, nothing was wrong UNTIL I checked the results myself. The lab had actually flagged them but no one had noticed.

The limits of SERINE for example were 90mmols/l - 280mmols/l. My son came in at 77 so was flying JUST under the radar but it was significant enough to cause a problem. Many of us do not get enough serine in our diets anymore and I think this is contributory.

Serine is a bit of a miracle with many amazing stories attached to it. Check this out for example

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... -walk.html

The paper got it a bit wrong, Serine is a non essential amino acid NOT a vitamin!! But I am not the only one who has seen the miracle, there are a load of others too! No one I have met yet has not seen a valuable difference INSTANTLY. It also gets rid of joint pain such as rheumatism and fibromyalgia! HONESTLY!

I cannot tell you how relieved we are to have found it. And by the way, I am NOT deficient in Serine BUT boy does it make a difference. I am totally chilled within 20mins, seeing is believing and our doctor nearly fell off his chair!!

Good luck to anyone who wants to give it a go! You won't be sorry I promise!!

www.jelibean.com/

That's interesting. I'm going to get copies of the labwork. Other than a phone call to tell me everything was fine, I wasn't given the results.

You and a lot of others sadly! Don't they trust us parents? Or do they take us for stupid! I insist now on looking at the report myself! Let us know how you go along! Good luck!

www.jelibean.com/

They tried to put me on Ritalin was I was five, and it turned me into a zombie. I now take Zoloft, and it works a lot better for me.

Glad to see Zoloft working for you BUT ( I am going to do my soapbox speech again!!) have you ever tried PS? It really is amazing and you may find like so many I know that you don't need to take Zoloft anymore as PS is more effective and gentler?

I tend to think alot of this is nothing more than just being a kid. If kids were allowed to just be kids today, it wouldn't be as prevalent as it is.

Kids aren't allowed to just go out and play and have fun, they are shuffled from one structured activity to the next. They can't just play, can't just have fun. They can't get out and run some of that energy off biking or playing ball with other kids. I admit I suffered with some of these symptoms when I was growing up, and still do to some extent.

I'm sure there are many legit cases of ADD/ADHD out there, just nowhere as many as we are being led to believe there are. They practically hand that stuff out like candy at Halloween now.

I'd rather kids just be allowed to be who they are, not drugged into submission to fit some narrow profile of what they are supposed to be. My parents probably would have done that to me if the opportunity arose. Thank God I'm not a kid today.

Yes I agree, it is not good to medicate anyone especially kids, which is why I am so delighted we have found a natural substitute which works very well.

ADHD is a neurobiological condition, empirical evidence states that it exists and as someone who has that diagnosis I get angry when some tell me that it is all just 'naughty child' syndrome.

The brain is anatomically different and with the recent research courtesy of Courchesne, and Casanova it is plain to see. Results of recent research in the USA it quite clearly states that a combination of Cognitive Behavoural Therapy and medication very good results can be achieved. As one who does both ( although I would argue PS is medicating?), I can vouch for the results and it is more helpful than medication or therapy alone.

Kids CAN be kids, but ADHD kids have to be nurtured that little bit more. Structure is important and if that is in place life is a lot easier. You have to live it to understand it. Children and adults with ADHD are wonderful individuals, we should embrace it and the strenghts it brings, work on the weakness and understand a bit more. Then maybe more would be empathetic towards us.

My daughter is ADHD but watching her diet and getting her plenty of exercise worked quite well. I did also work hard to teach her how to work effectively even with her impulsive behavior and short attention span. She tried working in an office once, as an adult, but she still can't do anything sedentary. (I'm very well aware that I was lucky in her case. Please don't think I'm saying diet, exercise and behavior modification work for all children.)

Her son, however, had to start taking Concerta last year to function in school. He's on a very low dose and only takes it right before school, not on weekends or during the summer. Taking it upped his reading comprehension from 4 to 14 in a one week period and pretty much eliminated his violent outbursts, so it's clear it makes a big difference. The down side is that he hates it. He doesn't want to take it, I guess because it makes him feel a bit foggy. I was also a bit surprised during his med check appointment before school when the doctor encouraged us to consider giving it to him in higher doses and more often. Has anyone else encountered this? This doctor was my children's pediatrician when they were kids and we've always really liked and respected him, but now I'm a little nervous. Is there really a philosophy that if a little is good more is better among DOCTORS? I've always believed you should go with the minimal amount of medication that gets the job done.

Hi Rebecca, well I for one would be worrying if they wish to RAISE the dose!

Research has shown that Ritalin is NOT as effective if used on its own. There have to be interventions put into place as well. The research points to Ritalin ONLY being effective for max 3yrs and it is during this window of opportunity that interventions work best. Check out the MTA studies, all the ADHD experts ( except Russell Barkley!!, maybe he is sponsored by a drug company!) insist that Ritalin is NOT effective when used on its own.

Also MUCH closer monitoring is needed as when interventions are used the Ritalin dose REDUCES. So in my opinion if they are having to raise the dose I would want to ask WHY! They should acutally be monitoring the dose monthly and REDUCING it wherever possible.

Try Phosphatidyl Serine, it is INSTANT, safe, gentle and FABULOUS. Works far better than RITALIN IN MY OPINION!

Good luck, check out the MTA studies