Adult A.D.D.

[lazs2]

growing up... and even now.. I have been told that I lack ability to pay attention...  I was told by a shrink back before they had the silly add thing that my mind was like a centrifuge just spinning around throwing stuff out.

I am EXTREMELY glad that medicine had not advanced enough back then for the quacks to "treat" me.

Grew up around hundreds of kids like me.. some were brighter... some were dumber.. some were agitated a lot and some were calmer.. none ever got drugged out by the school...

We all self medicated later on in the 70's but... not the same thing...  seems criminal to do it to kids and silly to do it to adults.

Oh well..  strange old world we live in..

women?  all women are crazy.. some hide it better or longer than others but they are all crazy.  

Seems to me that most of the time the reason they drug little boys is because the boys are acting like.... boys.  

lazs

[Ripsnort]

Originally posted by Chairboy
Teachers and school nurses are casually diagnosing kids as having ADD and, with a wave of the hand, stripping these kids of career choices and constitutional rights and more.

Teachers and school nurses cannot record "ADD" into their medical records. Only a physician can.

[lazs2]

when I was growing up.. not one kid had braces on their teeth but almost every other one had their tonsils out.

Now.. every kid "needs" braces or they will suffer like 400 demons are on them but... not a one needs his tonsils out.

The tonsil docs had the best houses and cars.   the braces docs do now.

lazs

[Chairboy]

Originally posted by Ripsnort
Teachers and school nurses cannot record "ADD" into their medical records. Only a physician can.

You're fooling yourself if you believe that means anything.  Teachers and school administrators are sending kids home saying "your kid must receive medication for ADD or he/she will not be allowed back in school", and the impetus is for the parent to find a doctor that will "confirm" their in-school diagnosis.

[Suave]

I bought a book on ADD and promptly lost it. Forgot it on a plane.

ADD or as it's known now AD/HD is a nuerological problem. People with AD/HD will present atypical EEGs and brain MRIs show a smaller than normal cerebellum in people with AD/HD. I've been told, but I haven't read, that the cerebellum has been shown to increase in size after a time on AD/HD meds. At any rate, it is real.

People with AD/HD are often bright, so they get labeled as lazy, or "gifted underachiever" As a result of these difficulties they often develope other problems such as low self esteem, depression, substance abuse, anti social behavior.

A hundred years ago somebody with AD/HD probably would've gone though life without much problem. We live in a much different world now. Five thousand years ago when life was just feeding, fighting and mating a person with AD/HD would've probably excelled.

I wish they had known about this when I was a kid. My father was a narrow minded sob, he thought there wasn't any child problems that couldn't be solved with a fist. Which compounded my problems, because teachers just sympatetically wrote off my performance to abusive home enviornment.

People with AD/HD are often good at high stimulus work. I knew a couple SF medics who, looking back, I'm sure had AD/HD. But none of daily civilian life is highly stimulating. For me medication was a godsend, it was as you will often here people with AD/HD say, like turning on a light switch. Bio feedback treatment has shown to be promising, but so far it's availability is limited.

Lazs if you can do things like build hot-rods, I would be surprised if you have ad/hd.

[Meatwad]

Originally posted by rpm
The crazier the chick, the better the sex.- Man Law #6

That wasnt true in my case

[Ripsnort]

Originally posted by Chairboy
You're fooling yourself if you believe that means anything.  Teachers and school administrators are sending kids home saying "your kid must receive medication for ADD or he/she will not be allowed back in school", and the impetus is for the parent to find a doctor that will "confirm" their in-school diagnosis.

Give me an example.

[Captain Virgil Hilts]

Originally posted by Sandman
Why #2 and #3?

Is ADD life threatening?

With regards to many jobs, the military, and forearms ownership, ADD, or ADHD, or whatever the flavor of the week is, is considered the same as being adjudicated mentally defective.

They did that to my son when he was about 6. I fought the entire family and the school system for over a year. The DRUGS they had him on were so restricted that wife or I had to take off from work, drive to the doctor's office, and pick up a written prescription to take to the pharmacy. I finally went berserk one day, flushed the stuff down the toilet, and told them all to KMA.

I can only HOPE that he won't be penalized for that stupidity later, should he want to try the military, or something of that nature.

He's fine now, he's just a BOY. So was I. He's actually a lot better since we stopped DRUGGING him. Cod damned FOOLS. They told me he couldn't come back to school without the medication, and they could tell. I told them I'd sue them (among other things). He's getting pretty decent grades, and doing pretty well in athletics too.


On the subject of Adderall, my Dad was on it for a while, after he had brain surgery for an aneurysm. He had several problems that they treated with Adderall and Ativan (can't remember the spelling for sure). Those worked, they were prescribed as anti psychotics. But he was suffering from the damage done by the surgery, as well as fluid build up, and the early stages of dementia.

[Pooh21]

Originally posted by Captain Virgil Hilts


I can only HOPE that he won't be penalized for that stupidity later, should he want to try the military, or something of that nature.
.

I was I tried to get intwice Navy DEP in 96, then Army in 05. first time they found I was on ritalin when I was 10(who wasnt in the 90s?). the 2nd I was on some med list the recruiter guy said from being kicked out the first.

I can buy guns just fine though.

Oh I applied for a job at a US embassy in a Euro country once, and I guess they had that list too cause they hired a Turk over a citizen.

[Chairboy]

Pooh: Up until recently, that's been true.  You may want to review HR 2640 to see how that's changing.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=Z16&q=H.R.+2640+adhd&btnG=Search

[Imoutfishing]

My oldest has add and I'll tell you first hand she was a bear to deal with recently when she was hurt.  

She was hit by a car & I spent month's with her in abnormal medication state's... from then on I (my wife & I) have spent arnold loads of effort to reduce the meds and increase her ability to deal with this with her mind.  The later works but it's not easy by any stretch of the means!  

It's dam hard but work them off the drugs.  They will be better off in the long run to deal with their body's without the meds in real life.  

It seem's so easy to numb them and get buy but it's not the right thing to do with a child.

MGD

[JB88]

i never had a problem coming off of them.  

that is not to say that it isn't an issue for others.  it is.  but is it possible that you are now dealing with the old problem from a new point of view having seen different results?

i should say repeat myself...i am not advocating drugs.  

in my view, ADD is also a gift and children who have been diagnosed with it would be better served by attending classes where they are better equipted to handle that type of energy.  school systems are an averaging factor.  ADD people are far from average and given the right environment with the appropriate challenges, they can not only thrive, but surpass the level that would have otherwise been expected of them in the cookie cutter world of the public school systems.

programs like those in montessori or like systems have shown to be a decent alternative.

oops.  i rambled.

dammmmmmmn yoooooooouuuu ADD!

solly.

[LePaul]

Boy I opened a can of worms  

Well Day two and asides having a big ole caffeine headache (she sorely misses her coffee and Coca Cola), she hasnt noted any changes.  She felt very groggy this morning and nauseous but when it was time for the afternoon dose, she was feeling alright.

JB, she teaches at a daycare that is modelled around that Montessori stuff.

Wont comment on the sex comments!

Like I started off this thread with, Im more curious about the adults.  I agree that kids are overly diagnosed.  Certainly some need it, but parenting isnt quiet what it was when we were all kiddos.

[JB88]

its a gift lepaul.

a very frustrating gift.

[texasmom]

Originally posted by JB88
adderall is helpful for people, but you have to be careful with it.  i tried it once and turned into a fruggin nut bag.  i had better luck with small doses of ritalin (which takes the edge off of an add person) than i did with adderall.  i don't like adderal.  not one bit.  it's an uber drug.  it's easilly abused.

strattera is a non stimulant drug that has seen some great results.  she might ask about this.  i'd recommend that route first.
 

a common problem with adderall is that it inhibits your eating & sleeping, which screws up everything else as a result of no sleep & no food =) You could probably counter that with remeron, or something of the sort. Sucks to take a drug to counter a drug though.

straterra is pretty great.  I'd say ditto on 88's recommendation to have her doctor consider that one.