[moonmist31]

ADHD
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Are you the parent or caregiver of a child suffering from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder?
We want to hear your story.
What worked. What didn't work. Please feel free to share your experiences.

Drugs.com Care Guide:
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Children


My stepson has been on several types of meds for ADHD and none of them have worked. I took him back to the doctor and this time they put him on Adderall and Risperdal together, twice daily. Today was his first day on them and the meds made him very sleepy, but atleast he was calm, lol. Is it okay fro him to be taking both of these pills at the same time???? Thanks

[rusty]

Low Iron Levels May Contribute to ADHD
Wed Dec 15, 2004 11:33 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) seem to have iron deficiency, according to the results of a small study. The researchers suggest that such kids may benefit from iron supplements.
Iron deficiency causes abnormal functioning of the brain neurotransmitter dopamine "and may contribute to the physiopathology of ADHD," Dr. Eric Konofal, of Hopital Robert Debre in Paris, and his colleagues explain in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

The team measured iron levels in 53 children with ADHD and in a comparison group of 27 matched children. Ferritin levels in blood were used to assess iron stores, and a standard rating scale measured the severity of ADHD symptoms.

Forty-two (84 percent) of the children with ADHD had abnormal ferritin levels compared with five children (18 percent) in the "control" group. Extremely low serum ferritin levels were found in 17 (32 percent) ADHD subjects but only one of the matched kids.

The researchers also saw that the lower the ferritin levels, the more severe were general ADHD symptoms, as well as specific mental deficits.

Konofal's group suggests that iron supplementation might improve dopamine activity in children with ADHD, "decreasing the need for psychostimulants."

SOURCE: Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, December 2004;158:1113-1115.

[emy_dean]

I have a 7 yr old son a two daycare children with ADHD. Needless to say I have my hands full. My son is on Focalin, one of the other children is on Adderall, and the other takes nothing. I can see a big difference in Focalin and Adderall. My son was on Adderall first and would not eat and just didn't seem to be himself. He was swiched to Focalin and everything is fine. I recently purchased a product called "Focus for ADHD" online. Sometimes it works, sometimes it don't. I don't understand. It was almost $40.00 so I don't think I will purchase it again.

[stingray]

ADHD Linked to Mom's Iodine Levels
Mon Jan 17, 2005 03:27 PM ET

By David Douglas
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A group of Italian researchers is recommending routine thyroid-function screening for women during early pregnancy, because they believe attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children may be associated with an iodine deficiency in mothers.

The thyroid is a gland that helps regulate body growth and metabolism. The gland requires iodine to form thyroid hormone, a substance that is necessary to keep the body functioning normally. The condition in which levels of iodine in the thyroid gland are too low is called hypothyroxinemia.

Based on a study that lasted almost 10 years, the Italian researchers believe that hypothyroxinemia in mothers during pregnancy may increase the risk of ADHD in their children.

The researchers followed the children of 16 women in an area of the Italian island Sicily where iodine deficiency is common, comparing them to children in a region where iodine is sufficient.

ADHD was diagnosed in 11 of the 16 children from the iodine-deficient area, but in none of the children in the comparison group.

Dr. Francesco Vermiglio, who led the study, told Reuters Health that he believes the ADHD and a related reduction in IQ seen in the study resulted from hypothyroxinemia in the children's mothers during the first half of pregnancy. Seven of the 11 ADHD children were born to mothers who became hypothyroxinemic during early pregnancy.

Vermiglio and his colleagues at the University of Messina in Italy published the findings of their study in the December issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

They note in their report that hypothyroxinemia in pregnant women can occur even in places where iodine intake is adequate, and that they therefore recommend routine thyroid screening and monitoring for all pregnant women.

SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Endocrinology, December 2004.

[stingray]

Memory Training Helps Kids with ADHD
Mon Jan 24, 2005 02:43 PM ET

By Alison McCook
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A computer program that improves one type of memory appears to help kids with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), new study findings suggest.

After around 40 kids with ADHD completed more than 20 days of training using the computer program, their parents reported they had significantly fewer problems with attention and hyperactivity, both immediately and three3 months after the program ended.

The form of memory the program addresses is called "working memory," study author Dr. Torkel Klingberg of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden told Reuters Health. This type of memory is what we use to keep information in our minds for short periods of time, and to complete day-to-day activities, the researcher noted.

"When you walk into a room and suddenly find that you have forgotten why you went in there, it's because your working memory failed," Klingberg said.

Numerous studies have demonstrated that working memory is impaired in kids with ADHD, Klingberg added. "These deficits can explain why they forget the 'internal plan' of what they are supposed to do next, or forget what they should focus their attention on."

To investigate whether training aimed at improving working memory helps kids with ADHD, the researchers asked 53 children with ADHD between the ages of 7 and 12 to complete working memory exercises using a computer program.

During the exercises, kids practiced memorizing the locations of objects or a series of letters. Half of children were assigned a treatment program that adjusted in difficulty according to the ability of the child, while the other half completed a comparison program, which stayed at a low level of difficulty.

Kids spent approximately 40 minutes every day for 25 days using the program, either at school or home. Forty-two finished the program and checked in for a follow-up three months later.

After training, the researchers found that kids who used the treatment program showed significantly more improvements in working memory.

Klingberg added that kids using the adjustable program were also better able to tackle problem-solving tasks. "The children were able to use their better working memory in order to control their attention and keep mental strategies in mind."

Moreover, parents also reported that kids given the treatment showed improvements in attention and were less hyperactive or impulsive, the researchers note in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Klingberg noted that children may be able to strengthen their working memory using other means than the computer program. "Working memory is required for many activities, and children could get some training from activities such as mental calculation or playing chess," he said.

However, Klingberg noted that kids likely need to test their working memory to its limits for long stretches for several weeks at a time to get the same benefits as the computer program.

SOURCE: Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, February 2005.

[jennifer1972]

Hello. I have a 10 year old son that was diagnosed with ADHD at a very young age. After years of being on Ritalin and many visits to the doctor and specialists, my son was found to have ATYPICAL ABSENCE EPILEPSY. So now with this seizure disorder he is taking Concerta and Depakote everyday. Does anyone know if these 2 drugs are ok to take together? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks so much,
Jenn

[Miles]

On "Drugging Kids:"

Using schools as institutions for social control makes them de facto criminal-psychiatric facilities, depriving children of liberty and, in some cases, labeling them with a psychiatric diagnosis in order to facilitate current and future social control.

Fifty years ago, there was no drug education in schools. School personnel did not forcibly administer drugs to children, and children did not use or abuse drugs, legal or illegal. Children also received neither sex education nor condoms in schools--and there were fewer teen pregnancies.

Fifty years ago, schoolchildren did not suffer from attention deficit disorder or depression, rarely killed themselves, did not go on shooting sprees and managed to grieve without "professional" help.

Fifty years ago, the people in charge of public schools took for granted that their main responsibility was to teach academics; safety was a given. Today, the people in charge of public schools assume that parents aren't competent to teach their children life lessons, that only "professionals" are qualified to teach children "sex education," "drug education," "interpersonal skills" and "conflict resolution."

The "educators" also believe that it is their duty to control what children put into their bodies and to ferret out what is in their minds. The main function of the public school is not education but social control. The result is that the schools are unsafe and test scores are dismal.

Fifty years ago, most people did not sentimentalize childhood as an age of innocence and worry-free happiness. Adults recognized that adolescence is a time filled with intense sexual urges doomed to frustration. Today, adults deny the intensity of adolescent sexual needs and try to control them through sex education and condom distribution--measures that invade privacy and confuse the adolescent's sense of personal integrity.

Fifty years ago, people believed that some children were good and some were bad. Now everyone knows that all children are good, but some are mentally healthy and others are mentally ill.

In words and deeds, young people today tell us that they do not like being patronized, made to feel useless and baby-sat in day-care prisons called "schools." School administrators, teachers, child psychiatrists, child psychologists, social workers, grief counselors, pharmaceutical companies and the many other businesses that profit from the education racket are not the friends of children as they proclaim. The economic and existential self-interests of these do-gooders are inimical to real education and rational discipline.

"Protect me from my friends; I will take care of my enemies," says an old proverb. American children today have nothing but friends. Is it any wonder they are bored, frustrated, angry, troubled and poorly educated and that, occasionally, some of them engage in desperate acts of destruction?

Miles

[diggnrichmond]

Man invented fire as doctors invented medication

regardless of whether or not the govt has some wild plan by introducing legal amphetamines into our schools at a young age. Or THEY want to control society blah blah blah these are all conspiracy theories.

They may be true they may not, in my opinion here is the bottom line

You must look at your child's behavior at school and at home. Does he/she behave better on the meds or off?

You answer those questions for yourself and make the desision. If your child gets sleepy on amphetimines something is going on with the chemicals in his or her brain.