After years of speculation and rare case reports, a recent FDA-funded study by The National Institute of Mental Health claims that drugs such as Ritalin – widely used to treat Attention Deficit Disorder in children – increase the risk of sudden death by five hundred percent among children and teens.
“Drugs are not the answer,” said Etta Brown, a licensed educational psychologist, veteran social worker and author of Learning Disabilities, Understanding the Problem and Managing the Challenges from Langdon Street Press (www.understandingld.com). “Doctors and pharmaceutical companies are quick to tell parents there is a pill that will fix their kids, but it’s a false bill of goods. In many cases, these drugs – like Ritalin – will serve only to dull their kids’ senses and create health risks the parents could never have imagined.”
The irony of Ritalin, Brown added, is that it actually damages the neural connections needed for learning. While it may calm a hyper-active child, so that he is less of a problem in the classroom, it does not create the ability to learn.
“Another well-documented side effect of Ritalin is that it may cause a permanent tic of the face, head and neck,” Brown said. “There is a long fifty-year history of false advertising by drug companies that sell drugs with known side effects that are more damaging to the developing nervous system of children than the condition they are designed to treat.”
Between two to18 percent of American children are thought to be affected by ADHD, and Ritalin remains one of the most prescribed drugs for the behavioral disorder. This suggests that the medical approach to poorly nourished children who aren’t getting enough exercise is to dose them with a drug that is known to interfere with the development of their brains, cause permanent tics of the face, head and neck, and increase the likelihood of sudden death by 500 percent. And the FDA is not looking.
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Comments
Fantastic information.
Spread this along! Why hasn't anyone (the FDA, US Government, etc.) done anything about this?!?
A Learning Disability and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder are two DIFFERENT DISORDERS and any educational psychologist should know this! To put it simply, a child with LD has trouble understanding, processing and/or learning to read words, write or compute math, and child with ADHD can’t mentally focus and/or physically sit still long enough to learn. Schools view LD as an educational issue covered under the IDEA and ADHD as a medical issue which is not. Some students may have both, but each disability requires different education interventions, as well as medical treatments which may include medications. LD & ADHD have been documented, studied and treatments developed by medical and education professionals for over 50 years. Ms. Brown seems to blame poor parenting and poor teaching as the root of the problem which is 100% false information! If you want TRUE facts about LD & ADHD, visit LDA of America, www.ldaamerica.org or CHADD, www.chadd.org.
As you can see from the comment above, it's a very loaded issue. But people whose children have been helped by these drugs are doing their kids a disservice if they overlook the side effects. Doctors are way too willing to resort to drugs before first adjusting the diet, exercise, and educational environment of the kids in question. Drugs should be the absolute last resort. I've written on this on my Examiner page - Santa-Cruz-Parenting-Examiner -- Search for "Alternative views of treating behavioral problems". I am definitely going to link to these articles on my page because we need to be more concerned about drugging kids before other remedies are tried. --Suki
Oops -- my comment went to the top, so it should read "As you can see from the comment below" since the comment I was referring to is now below it...
Kathy, as a person with LD who has been greatly harmed by psych meds, I wanted to comment on this article.
I agree that Dr. Brown's article isn't totally accurate regarding LD and ADHD. But to infer that CHADD is an objective organization is also not accurate since they get alot their money from drug companies.
Also, let's not lose site of the fact that these drugs cause alot of harm. They definitely worsened my LD issues and when you're neurologically compromised to begin with, that is criminal. Not that I am saying they are ok for people who don't have LD/ADHD.
But I do wish that people like Dr. Brown would start being accurate about LD/ADHD instead of acting like they can be cured with various natural solutions. I can tell you from personal experience that while certain things may help, my LD doesn't go away. And to infer otherwise is doing people with our conditions a great disservice.
Hi All. Well, the article confirms the important news that you have to be careful when accepting a prescription like ritalin. It causes more harm that anything else.
Nevertheless, it is a trend with many doctors and psychologists that any restless child has ADHD. What all he may need is fish oil omega 3, some play out on the sun and a diet free of sugars and starches.
You acn read more at omega-3-fish-oil-wonders.com/omega-3-fatty-acids-and-children.html
Best wishes,
Alfredo E.
Think about it.
The information doctors get when they study 'medicine' is... what?
Exactly: they are being prepared for being drug pushers.
They don't know anything about nutrition.
They even have pearned to scorn the subject.
You can't blame them... or can you?
Don't tell me that doctors do not see that the drugs that they push NEVER solve anything, only change the symptoms.
Or are doctors too victim of partial perception?
They were instructed to pay attention to everything red.
So they can never see anything black...
Where's a reference list for this information? If you check NIMH's website for the actual study regarding the rate of sudden death, it says that in 10 of their 564 cases of child sudden death, the child was taking Ritalin (1.7%). Yes, that's higher than their "control group" in which 2 of the children (.35%) took Ritalin. Although this is a striking coincidence, it hardly speaks to a correlation.
www.nimh.nih.gov/science-news/2009/questions-raised-about-stimulants-and-sudden-death.shtml
Also, in the SAME STUDY the scientists admit they couldn't control all confounding circumstances - there could have been any number of factors that contributed to the death (i.e. asthma).
The editor of the study also noted that ADHD itself could just as easily have contributed to the deaths - it shouldn't be blamed entirely on the Ritalin.
It is wholly irresponsible on your part to imply that Ritalin causes 500% increase in deaths without giving us a solid fact-based reference.
You all do realize that the author of this article IS the licensed educational psychologist who is quoted in this article. And the author's/phsychologist's statement that "it actually damages the neural connections needed for learning" is referenced by only herself. I think I agree that it doesn't create the ability to learn - no one ever claimed that it did. But I think I need a better scientific reference that it actually damages the neural connections.
You all do realize that the author of this article IS the licensed educational psychologist who is quoted in this article. And the author's/phsychologist's statement that "it actually damages the neural connections needed for learning" is referenced by only herself. I think I agree that it doesn't create the ability to learn - no one ever claimed that it did. But I think I need a better scientific reference that it actually damages the neural connections.
I have tried for years to improve our diet(no additives, artificail colors, preservetaves, artificial sweeteners) and have seen a tremendous improvement in hyperactivity. Of course over the years maturity also contributed a bit to this part of ADHD. However I and my child of 12 can now see a direct link to artificial colors. Within 30 minutes hyperactivity is inevitable. Exercise works also great for the hperactivity part. However for the LD/ attention deficit part I was not able to get any results. We decided on generic Adderal and were suprised on the sudden improvements in focus power and organization skills. If there were a natural solution out there I would gladly change. I do not see how this medication hurts brain function, but rather the oposite. However the side effects and the toxins are not the perfect approach. Hope to hear what else may be found in the future which is actually practical and works.
This is a prime example of using unfounded fears and lack of actual information regarding ADD and learning disabilities to make a profit – She scares parents with grossly misleading figures and flat out twisting of facts in an effort to sale her book. If this person is indeed really what she claims she should be charged with professional misconduct –
Below find a Direct quote from said study = last line
{Quote}Finally, the editorial notes that "1) sudden unexplained death is a rare event, 2) this is only the first such study, 3) it relies on small numbers, and 4) it is not possible to quantify the risk beyond estimating that it is very small." {End Quote}
She also insults parents by insinuating that they are to daft to try life style modifications BEFORE putting their child on medications
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