Psychiatric medications for small children

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@ Rally

You're a good egg Mama. I'm sure everything is now and will continue to be more than fine.

I should point out that I am participating in this discussion for myself, of course. I'm an odd duck, and I try very hard to understand myself. I also was a child at one time, and I want to understand that time from the perspective of the adult I now am. Also, believe it or not, I do actually plan on breeding one day, and that kid will probably be an odd duck as well; so again, I desire knowledge.

Now, here are my thoughts on impulsivity: Acting impulsively is not an inherently bad thing. I think if you took the statement, "He acted impulsively", and substituted 'impulsively' with, "as if he did not know fear", you would end up with a completely coherent statement.

I think falling in love is largely due to many impulsive acts. Loving someone else kind of just means you act impulsively with them. Kind acts to strangers are largely just acts of impulse. An impulsive personality coupled with a strong sense of right and wrong is a beautiful thing...

So, I hope I helped bring comfort to your mind!

 

RallyMama, while I'm not a psychologist, and I'd be warry of any that offered a 'quick diagnosis' of something like this, I can offer you a free, easy test that may rule out ADHD. You can probably do it right now without even looking at your child. The test is simple: Can your child concentrate on things he enjoys? The most easily tested symptom of ADD and ADHD is a VERY short attention span, as in a matter of minutes. The problem with using this on kids is they may not WANT to concentrate on something. So the test is, can they concentrate on things they like? Can your child watch a 1 hour long movie (maybe pokemon or TMNT or whatever) without without wandering off for a snack and forgetting to come back? Can he sit happy for long periods of time playing a video game? If he can, he doesn't have ADHD. AHDH affects the attention span itself, not the ability to concentrate on things you don't want to.

If he can't, on the other hand, ADHD is only one possible explanation. It may be something else, including diet, or just learning to control himself.

As for the long term effects, the effects of most ADHD medication are not nearly severe enough to out-weigh the benefits. My father, the psychologist, is also diagnosed ADHD and has been taking medication for it most of his life. We're running into some of the long term effects of that now, and it isn't fun, but it has been more than worth the difference in his life.

Unfortunately, the newer medications aren't nearly as effective for him, and some of the ones he'd like to try would interact with other medications he's on, so we're getting a small look now at what his life would have been like without treatment. It isn't pretty.

 

Actually, NOG, everything I've ever read on the topic says that extreme focus on particular topics is a sign of ADHD.

 

NOG, I have to agree with Rallymama - over-focusing is a hallmark of certain forms of ADHD.

I have a friend whose wife was diagnosed some years ago, as an adult, with ADHD. All their children learned how to use a fire extinguisher and call the fire department before they were 6, because his wife would over-focus on a book and not notice the smell of smoke or even the blaring fire alarm, from the food she left cooking, now burning, on the stove. He said his kid's cry as they ran through the house would be an exasperated, "Mom, you set the house on fire again!" They remodeled a lot.

I don't think it's at all easy to diagnose ADHD correctly at any age, but especially not in children. So I also don't think there's a quick or simple test to tell if someone has it.

 

That's okay, I still think [snip]. You can find lots of independant research which suggests Ritalin has negative long term effects, as well as causing people to be more prone to drug addiction later in life. However, you won't find the same information coming from the people who are funded by the drug companies to do the same types of research. Did you know that drug companies even pay specialists in the field to put their name to studies which were not written by them but by ghostwriters? I'm pretty sure you're [snip, snip some more]. Here is an excellent book for you to read, written by a well respected nutritionist. It will change your life! Here is another great book about Ritalin, and although you may not accept that Ritalin causes long term side effects, you cannot be sure, so it's always better to play it safe, and not to use it at all.

[Warning pending. -Tal]

[ March 29, 2007, 23:20: Message edited by: Taluntain ]

 

EDIT: Never mind, my concern was addressed by moderator.

[ March 30, 2007, 00:40: Message edited by: revmaf ]

 

Ritalin is an amphetamine and amphetamin makes you go kokobananas after long term use so it shouldnt surprise me if even the small doses in drugs like ritalin would also exhibit some of the same effects that amphetamin abuse do after a few years.

 

@Rally & Revmaf:
By all means, listen to experts before me. As I said, I'm not a psychologist. It may be that my father was talking about a specific type or manifestation of ADHD, or that it manifests differently in children, I don't know the details.

On Ritalin, just remember that there are other medications. From what I've heard, many ADHD medications are stimulants, which have their own set of problems, but not like amphetamines.

All in all, though, I'd say psychopharmacology should be your last resort. It only does any good at all if your child is suffering from a genuine chemical imbalance, and that's all he's suffering from.

 

@Joacqin:
Actually, though ritalin is an amphetamine, in proper doses it does not cause psychotic breaks, even after decades of use. So long as your doses are proper for amphetamines, there are no long term side-effects. The problems come when doses are too high, which is a problem for children as their 'proper doses' are pretty much always changing.

 

And that, because they are kids and do stupid things, they end up downing and snorting ritalin in study hall for kicks. Go school!