BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Attention Deficit Disorder Why is taking ADD medicine a struggle?

I hear often as a RN that "I do not want my kid on meds"...or "I hate I have to take meds for my ADD".

Why is there such a stigma attached to mental health diagnosis such as ADD and why do people feel lesser if they use medicine successfully?

I ask each of you who struggle with these questions to consider what you would do if you were diagnosed with a medical issue....such as diabetes, asthma or emphysema or cancer.

Would you take the insulin the doctor ordered without asking the same questions? Would you use asthma inhalers or oxygen if the doctor told you if you did not you would die sooner? Chemo therapy for cancer is one of the hardest on our bodies...yet most people prefer to take the horrid chemo treatments to get rid of their cacer instead of saying no I am good I will just wait for now.

ADD is consistent with high impulsivity, which causes many young men and women to act on a situation, rather than to stop and think about what they are doing. This is a real risk to people for accidental injury or eve death. Would you deny a child Ritalin whose impulsivity is a great risk to him or her?


We deny ourselves feeling better and accomplishing to our full potential everyday we say I am not going to take my medicine today.

Think about it.

Erika Lyn Smith

The same resistance applies to almost any type of medication that treats a "mental disorder".

I have Clinical Depression and Bipolar, and hear much the same words spoken about the meds that we take for treatment.

I think we have grown up in a society that has taught us that anything that is behavior oriented, and doesn't have any outward, physical symptoms (like would show up on a bloodtest) - we should just work through with determination and willpower.

The other (more reasonable) reason for resisting taking these meds is the side effects. Sometimes the medications have as many side effects that outweigh the treatment. And the only way to figure out which med is going to work best for you is through trial and error. That IS a valid and frustrating part of it.

I know my oldest when on Ritalin went through the roof (he's Aspergers as well as ADHD), but Adderall works great for him. Yet another Mom I met said her son on Adderall was a screaming terror - yet on Ritalin stays right on task.

I wish there were a better way to figure out which meds would be best.

(Oh, and BTW - love, love, LOVE your avatar!!!!)

Chelle~
I meant in my post to refer to all menta health disorders.

I too wish there was an easier way to figure out the right meds for those of us in this situation.

Adderall made me hyperfocus so if I got interrupted while charting I was TICKED OFF...I had to go back threw my note and remember where I left off.

Concerta worked well, problem is I forget to take my meds.

The daytrana patch...well if you do not put it on...the dang thing does not work! Who knew?!

So now we are trying Vyvanse...I was not taking it daily and the doc said....you know better...lol...and I do know better.

Erika Lyn Smith

Hello everyone!
I want to tell you a story. It's a true one.
When my son, Eric was in kindergarten, his teacher called me and begged me to do something and now. Eric was hyperactive, this was before the medical community labeled such behaviour as ADD. She "instructed" me to put him on medication. Ritalin was the medication prescribed for hyperactivity. I saw what it did to my sister and my brother-in-law. It wasn't good, but then, there were no alternatives.
At the time, I was studying to become a Nutritionist.
I did not like drugs of any kind, (my own personal story).
So, I sat down and poured over all my texts and found what I needed.
Alot of the foods we consume are very bad for the body. They irritate the nervous system causing many of the symptoms of ADD/hyperactivity and even bi-polar, (which my daughter developed in her 20's).
I went through my kitchen and removed all white flour products, white rice, sugar and junk foods, etc. Put it in boxes and out on the curb it went.
Went to the store and bought fruits and vegetables, whole wheat bread and products. No soda/kool-aid. No cookies, chips,etc.
If I made cookies, they had minute amounts of honey only.
It was a change for all of us.
One month later, Eric's teacher called me to thank me for putting Eric on meds. "He's such a different boy now", she said.
I explained to her that he wasn't on meds, that it was a change in his diet, but she didn't believe me and called me a liar.
I continued with this new diet throughout the years until they left home.
As a side note: when they were in their late teens, I took them to see a dentist for a cleaning. The dentist came out to shake my hand, because he had never seen teenagers without one cavity!
He said their mouths were perfect! Diet folks! It's all about what you put into your bodies.
Footnote: my daughter, Jennifer, developed bi-polar in her twenties. After she left the nest, she went wild with junk food, especially ice cream and candy bars. Her bi-polar symptoms showed within a few years of this diet change, along with numerous cavities.
Work on the diets first.She what changes. Drugs should always be the last resort.

You are absolutely right on about this!!! She had no right to call you a liar. She is, however, not alone in her thinking. Its what we have been taught for years and it is slowly killing us. I applaud your healthy lifestyle.

I've copied this to the Swedish ADHD forum. I hope it's ok.

Tina~

No problem. Next time consider linking the forum in Sweden to the question here so your readers can benefit from all the answers and people do not have to go to separate places to read responses.

Welcome to the ADD forum!

Erika Lyn Smith

Nice post by Divine Mother.

I think the problem lies in the fact that we are overmedicating children now-a-days.
90% of ritalin is used in the US. Do that many kids in the US actually have ADHD? Is there a chance that the ADHD is actually being caused by poor diet and lifestyle.
Have you really looked at the side effects of ADHD meds? I know I wouldn't want my kids taking them.

I think people should do whatever possible to avoid prescription drugs, attempt to change their diet, lifestyle, and supplement if needed.

This is a lovely sentiment but wholly off target when it comes to ADHD. ADHD is a brain dysfunction. If a person can "treat" their ADHD with diet and exercise, they did not have ADHD. It's that simple. Perhaps it is true that some children are being misdiagnosed. In fact, I'm sure it's true. It doesn't negate the fact that for a child with ADHD proper medical treatment can make the difference between success in school and failure, in feeling good about themselves and being angry, depressed and, in extreme cases, suicidal. There are potential side effects to all medications, but the *possible* side effects (and not all people have all - or any - side effects) are not worth screwing up the child's life.

I am an adult with ADD. I didn't get diagnosed until I was 33. My whole life changed within a couple of months of beginning Ritalin. My career has taken off, my relationships with my family have drastically improved, I've developed strong healthy friendships. All of these things were impossible without the Ritalin because, regardless of my healthy diet, my running and Pilates, my prayer and meditation, my brain wouldn't work correctly. I tried everything and I am so grateful I take Adderall now.

I think medication shouldn't be the first thing used to help a child in trouble, but I think it should also not be "the last resort." If a qualified psychiatrist has diagnosed the child with ADD, let them take the meds. It will only make their life better.

:getting off soap box now:

I, too, think our culture (U.S.) is in denial about our eating habits. We ARE what we eat. I am, by no means, a perfect eater; but I will admit that there's a definite difference in how I feel when I eat what's good for me--and when I do not eat too much! I have recently lost weight mostly because a new grandchild has stepped up my activity level. My joints have benefitted!!

Regarding ADD, etc., isn't there still a huge controversy over whether "hyperactivity," "attention deficit," etc. are valid diagnoses? It's been a few years since I looked into it, but I remember reading that, in most of Europe, ADD is not considered a legitimate diagnosis by their physicians.

I know this is a controversial issue, and I don't mean to undermine anyone who has received relief from medication. I do think there are lots of people with all sorts of diagnoses who suffer more from the side effects of medicine than from their symptoms. With some diseases, there is no dietary link; but, when there is, maybe we should pay attention. You really have to go on a case-by-case basis and find the best "fit" for you.

Where boys are concerned, I fear that a lot of them are just behaving like boys and are being labeled with ADD, etc. And, think about how many Type II diabetics we have. So MANY of them are overweight and make no attempt to correct their weight. I mean, I see diabetic friends still eating their desserts!! Come on.

Solid post Barbara.

I can tell that we definitely have different viewpoints when it comes to health and wellness. I think along the lines that a 'brain dysfunction' can sometimes be dramatically improved with proper nutrition and removal of toxins from body and lifestyle. Food = Medicine is basically what I'm trying to say.

I fully agree with adults taking medicine because they know and understand that they are having a problem with attention, concentration, etc. However, younger and younger kids are being given drugs, sometimes simply for doing nothing more than acting like a kid.

Barbara - What do you think of these facts (from 'Ritalin is Not The Answer', Stein, 1999:

10-12% of American boys 6-14 have been labeled ADHD

20% !!! of 5th grade boys in the state of Virginia are taking psychostimulant drugs

90% of the world's Ritalin is sold and used in the USA

5,000,000 school children in the US are on stimulant drugs

Ritalin is a Gateway drug for nicotine and cocaine

There has been a 300% increase in the use of Ritalin in 2-4 year olds over the past decade (2-4 !!! who would give a child 2 years old a psychostimulant drug!)


So my question to you is: Why does the US have such high rates compared to the rest of the world?

My opinion is that we are too quick to 'label and prescribe' in this country.

Nice post Cela.

I was busy writing my last one when you put yours up.

I didn't even get into all of the side effects of psychostimulant drugs and how terrible the withdrawal symptoms can be.

One of the kiddos in my DS's therapy group is on 13 different meds for ADD. That's the only diagnosis he has, per the mom. He takes one med. for the ADD, two meds to help him sleep, and the others are to counteract the side-effects of these three drugs. Its unreal.

So far as I know, there is no controversy, huge or otherwise, as to whether ADD is a valid diagnosis. It is a brain dysfunction. It is not psychiatric, it is not chemical, it is a brain function that does not work correctly. I would dearly love to see all of the people who believe that ADD is not a "valid diagnosis" function properly in the world when their brain isn't working correctly.

Okay, now that I sent that last response too quickly, let me add this:

Proper nutrition and exercise make your overall body healthier, including your brain, thus may somewhat improve symptoms of ADD. I think it's always wise to eat a healthful diet and to take good care of oneself. I don't negate that.

I also think that parents have to be very careful to investigate all of their options. If a child has ADD, it will make their lives so much better to receive proper treatment. However, food allergies and other things can present with ADD-like symptoms, so it's better to rule those things out first.

At the same time, waiting too long can cause the child problems in school that will take some time to overcome, so they shouldn't procrastinate.

For the record, I had 3 fosters sons for 2 years, all of whom were diagnosed with ADHD. Only one of them truly had it. The others were having food allergies. One of the ways I could tell that was that in the children who didn't have ADD, the ADD meds didn't work. Therefore, we explored other alternatives. Lazy parenting is as much to blame as medical misdiagnosis when it comes to misdiagnosing ADD.

Natural Health Nut (I love that name, btw!)

I haven't read Ritalin is Not the Answer, so I can't speak to it directly. Here's what I think of the rest of it, though.

I think that chemical imbalances can often be treated with proper nutrition and exercise. Thus, some people with depression are helped that way. However, in ADD, the neurotrasmitters in the brain don't work properly. Sure, a person can improve that to some extent with diet. There are different levels of ADD, as with any health concern.

You and I are not that far apart in our views of health and wellness. I take exactly one medication and that is Adderall. Okay, when I get severe menstrual cramps or a headache, I take Tylenol, but that's infrequent. I've had bronchitis a time or two and for that I took antibiotics. For anything else, include perimenopausal symptoms, I use natural remedies. I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and I am managing that, for now, by losing weight, exercising and eating well. I get that connection.

I also agree that we overmedicate children. I simply ask that parents not rule outADD meds without considering them. I'll give you an example. My nephew has ADHD. The neuropsychiatrist who diagnosed him (after many tests, btw) said his was the worst case she'd seen in her 30 year career. My sister and BIL didn't want him "labeled" and didn't want to give him medication. Guess what? He GOT labeled: the naughty kid. He had poor impulse control (a symptom of ADD), he couldn't learn to read, he couldn't pay attention, etc. He didn't make friends because he didn't learn social skills, etc. Finally, in first grade, we got him diagnosed. In the 5 years since then, his life has turned right around. He reads above grade level, he has friends, he can participate in team sports, all kinds of things. He takes on low-level dose of Adderall per day. He is a happy, well adjusted, confident little boy.

Ritalin is not a "gateway" drug. That is an absolute misconception. It is not addictive in a person with ADD.

As for why America? Honestly, I think it's partly our culture. Frankly, for many people who have more mild AD/HD, we could function just fine if we didn't live in a culture that is so obsessed with schedules and like that. I think Europeans and other developing countries prescribe Ritalin, etc less often because Europeans don't have to fit into American culture. But we do live here, and we do need to manage our lives accordingly.

I could give you a whole host of reasons why I think our children are getting all those meds (besides just the ADD ones) but I'll limit it to this: I think we don't value parenting in this country, so no one learns how to do it well. I think it's often easier to drug something away than learn to deal with it in other ways. That probably seems like a contradiction to all the other things I've said, but in a previous post, I mentioned being a foster mom and how that worked. I think being open to the possibility that your child may need pharmaceutical intervention is NOT the same thing as filling them with drugs at the first sign of child-like behavior.

btw, Ritalin is not a psychotropic, which are the drugs that can cause serious withdrawals if you don't titrate off. Ritalin is only in the body for a few hours, so if you don't take the next dose (and lots of us forget since we have ADD!) you don't have withdrawals. For some reason, it's not like if you stop drinking caffeine, you get those awful headaches.

As for side effects, some people have them, some don't. They tell you all the possibilities, so you can watch out for them. At the risk of giving you "TMI", the only side effect I had from Ritalin (which is the ADD med I started out with), was constipation. I ate yogurt and Bran Buds for breakfast every day and I was fine!

I constantly have to work at holding my tongue when talking to other parents who reached for meds first (the kiddo I mentioned earlier is one of them - they didn't even consider trying anything else first). The poor child is a medicated zombie. In our group of 6 kids in therapy, only 2 of us have tried altering diets and/or adding neutraceuticals. The rest reached for RX meds first. One mom told me it was just too much work to prepare special foods for her child so she wouldn't do it. Eek.

This has turned into a great thread.

Some info on Ritalin being a gateway to cocaine and/or addictive (these were just the first of many that came up in a google search):

BellaOnline ALERT: Raw URLs are not allowed in these forums for security reasons. Please use UBB code. If you don't know how to do UBB code just post here for help - we will help out!

Per Barbara: "As for why America? Honestly, I think it's partly our culture. Frankly, for many people who have more mild AD/HD, we could function just fine if we didn't live in a culture that is so obsessed with schedules and like that. I think Europeans and other developing countries prescribe Ritalin, etc less often because Europeans don't have to fit into American culture. But we do live here, and we do need to manage our lives accordingly."

[How do you guys make those boxes appear around other people's quotes? I need to know. ]

Barbara, my question would be, "Why do we HAVE to live accordingly?" If we don't like something about our culture, at least we're in a free country--we're free to try to live differently.

Incidentally, I probably misunderstood your meaning, but you're not calling Europe a developing country, are you? Firstly, it's not a country. Secondly, the countries that comprise Europe are among the most advanced in the world. Just checking.

I have to put my two words in here, living in Sweden in Northern Europe.

First: Europe is a continent with lots of countries with varying cultures, none of them very far from the one in US. Yes, USA is different in a few ways, but not nearly as many as you might think.

As European cultures are different I can only speak for Sweden, and we do medicate both children and adults with ADHD. People react different to drugs, so some use Concerta, others Ritalin and some cope fine with Dopamin or anti-depressants.
Personnally I use a drug that has effects on what in my language is called nor adrenalin.

Developing countries on the other hand usually have to do without, as they don't have the money or the medical expertise to diagnose ADHD.

I agree. My partner is an adult with ADHD and it is apparent that when she is not with her medication her behavior is very inattentive, distracted, and characteristically that of a person with symptomatic ADHD. She was diagnosed by a Psychiatrist about 5 years ago. She says that if she would have been treated much, much sooner in life it is possible she would have done better in school, been able to pay attention to teachers and complete her school work with better success. She is a former teacher who now runs an after-school program at the elementary level. Therefore, she sees firsthand that children of today, many children do show ADHD like behavior. Also, being an adult with ADHD she can identify with them easier. Medication is magic people. Taking medicine is okay. EVERY MEDICATION HAS SIDE EFFECTS, EVERY ONE!!! If you really read the number of people who had shown side effects in the the clinical trials that were conducted are very small in comparison to the people who benefited from them. I have always been a healthy eater, I don't even buy soda, chips or the like...Honestly, most of my foods come from the perimeter of the store where its refrigerated (Non preserved foods, no red meat or pork, no dried meats, you get the point.) It didn't stop her ADHD or my Bipolar disorder or migraines. We both take meds for those conditions and are able to focus, smile and live without throbbing pain. All of those drugs have scary side effect warnings. I also take a stimulant called Vyvanse when I am depressed that is prescribed by my doctor. It is an ADHD "pro-drug" which means that is absorbed in the GI tract and must be swallowed for the paitent to benefit from it. Also, it does not have to build up in your system over time so if you dont like it you can just stop. I know when I take it I can focus and do my tasks much better. I can only imagine an ADHD person and how they must benefit, what a relief that must be! Try to not look at the bad. It is okay if your child has a treatable medical condition. Please dont bombard yourself with too much medical jargon that may or may not be perfectly understood by you, in grounding a decision about your child's health. Be cool about it and open minded is what I would do. Well, good luck to ya! Best wishes. AMW

AMW

Thank you for sharing your words here.

I also take vyvanse and am more productive and focused when I take it and I try to take it daily so my energy is consistent. I also like vyvanse since it is one stimulant you can take later in the day and it does not effect sleeping.

People who do not take medicine to focus do not understand how VAST the difference is on and off medication for someone who is ADD.

Erika Lyn Smith

Ooo! Update Erika, they have switched Michaal from Adderall to Vyvanse, and he seems to be doing very well with it. He is not having as much trouble sleeping as he was with Adderall.

When you find the right medicine it is wonderful isn't it!

Erika Lyn Smith

Im a 54yr old woman who started Menapause 4 yrs ago and seemed to make my ADD much worse,so much so that I did try meds Ritalyn made me feel spacy and Aderal was good untill i started to roll my tongue. I have tried hard to not try meds again, My diet is not bad I stuggle with sugar. I stopped smoking 3yr ago gained 35 lb. Any thing out there about menapause and ADD.

I don't know, I've not read anything on the subject of menopause and ADD, but I'll look around. Now that you mention it, menopause made my ADD worse for awhile. Thanks for suggesting such a useful topic.

By the way, welcome to the forum. It's a pleasure to have such interesting ideas posted.

Doesn't menopause make everything worse for awhile?

I've gotten my very first hot flashes this month. It's kind of amusing.

As they become more persistent, they lose that initial charm. LOL

LOL. I bet. It's a weird sensation.

One problem that menopause enhances is lack of memory. At least, it did for me.