Experience with ADHD
 

What has been your experience with this (ADHD) regarding diagnosis, treatment and long term prognosis. Does one normally outgrow the condition.

Nearly 1 in 10 U.S. Kids Diagnosed With ADHD - ADHD Center - Everyday Health

well, my experience..... oh, look, something shiny!

Exactly. Attention abilities are on a bell curve. I am toward the left end of the spectrum - bfd. No change and no "improvement." I just think of myself as a "big picture" kind of guy; let someone else worry about the details.

Ah, that's not exactly what I was looking for but I suppose I left myself wide open.

I decided to refrain from asking the silly question of the group but then gave some thought to the overall audience and said, "what the heck, just go with it". What could happen?

I'd be on Ban Island if I spoke my mind...no bigger load of gradu has ever been foisted on families.

"Diagnosis Tools"...sure.

+1 seahawk.
since you asked,,, it just seems like this is a popular diagnosis, like trendy.
My kid was diagnosed at school when he was little and I did not agree, and he grew up just fine. Please be extremely careful when listening to "expert" diagnosis. Now is the time to protect your kid.

And as a counter point to Scot's experience, we fought the diagnosis for our son, but it turns out he really did need the meds. He even noticed the difference in his own thinking, we noticed the difference in his behavior. Of course, getting glasses helped with a lot of his issues (getting in trouble for knocking other kids around - he wasn't seeing them in his path), and now that he is almost 8 getting him involved in fencing has helped wiht his self control...

This is a typical condition where the prevalence and incidence can vary almost indefinitely depending on diagnostic criteria, sensitivity and population. Not least since the severity and social impact of the symptoms can vary from virtually undetectable to bloody obvious.

What response do you want?

Markus, I would not ever question your efficacy, nor am I a Doctor, but there is so much more: Diet, fitness, parental involvement, state of the family and on and on.

Are there legitimate ADHD cases that need meds? Of course.

Are there absolute shaman and parents willing to attach ADHD as a label to make money or cover their own poor behavior? Of course.

I council multiple opinions, an examination of diet, fitness, social skills, family dynamic, etc. before the first pill heads down the gullet.

Neither of my children were ADHD, BTW, nor was I.

agree with Hawk..
in my day ..'he's bored' would have been the diagnosis's..
once tagged...
he has 'rehab' too look forward too...

Rika

Paul, that was pretty much my point. :)

Exactly. Both of my kids were originally diagnosed with ADHD when they were in 1st grade.
My wife and her parents were all in a panic, ready to take the kids down to a "specialist" and get them drugged up.
I went through the roof and gently talked some sense into them.
Eventually we found that over half the kids in that school were getting diagnosed with ADHD because the school got extra money from the gubmint for each child that was diagnosed with ADHD, even if they didn't have it.

Fast forward, both my kids were taken out of that scam public school, are straight A students, my daughter just headed off to college two days ago, and neither of them have ever had ADHD.

It is real, a very small percentage of the population has it, but the vast majority of kids who are diagnosed with it are victims of greedy and dishonest medical people, or drama queen hypochondriac parents.
It's not fair to the kids who don't really have it, and it's even worse for the kids who really do have it because their condition carries a stigma it doesn't deserve.

Time for society to man up and stop looking for excuses to fail.

Oops. I need a Diet Coke;)

I have worked with a psychiatrist specializing in ADD/ADHD. Despite many calls to just "beat some sense into them" I believe ADHD is real. It is over diagnosed and often incorrectly, but it is real.

My doc wrote a book or two on the subject. Her approach eschewed medications in most cases. Her name is Dr Lisa Routh, a google should bring up her books.

YMMV and good luck.

Paul, as one of the classic ADHD examples, I think you're on the wrong track. If it's over diagnosed, well I'm not aware. I do have 40 something teachers in the family, so I'll consult.

In my case, it wasn't something talked about in the 50's when I was army crawling down the 1st grade isles between the rows of desks during class. I suffered greatly and certainly as a child had no idea what was going on. Neither did parents or teachers. I spent half my time in the office.

I became more well adjusted and completed high school and some college. But, at age 66 I still possess a lot of symptoms. I have studied the problem somewhat only to know I fit the bill and have the dyslexia that commonly accompanies ADHD. Never really knew about the dyslexia until later in life.

I do think there are environmental influences. I don't think any kind of training or counseling will eliminate symptoms by themselves. I'm not sure I agree with the Adderall being doled out either.

But, just like a neurosis, ADD and ADHD are not understood from a chemical standpoint. Diet changes would be very subjective. Sugar has been shown to not be a catalyst to hyperactivity but you can't tell that to a mom.

If I had my way, I'd try to single out kids with the problem and give them some more attention in groups and as individuals. We know that won't happen in public schools.

I think my doctor may have diagnosed me with that once but I wasn't paying attention.

One in Ten is an epidemic, Milt....ten percent of the population diagnosed with anything is incredible. Think AIDS afflicting ten percent of the population...in North America AIDS is 0.6% of the population.

As I wrote, ADHD is real.

10% of kids? NFW.

W13, sorry for derailing the thread, sort of. I hope the skeptics lead you to research more, to challenge.

More serious like we're getting now but I expected some lighter one's as well. I am curious how many diagnosis might be exaggeration or one based on the parent wanting the child to be more sedentary because the parent doesn't want to keep up with the kid.

My wife is a substitute teacher and sees this quite frequently. Do the kids actually outgrow the condition?

On a somewhat serious question, are we replacing parental discipline with drugs?

Not if the condition is real. I have a nephew who was diagnosed ADHD. It was apparant from a very early age. My sister fought tooth and nail with the schools to recognize that he did indeed have a medical issue and was not just a problem kid. Kind of the opposite of Sammy's experience.

The now ex BIL was also ADHD with a hefty amount of OCD thrown into the mix. The father grew up in one of those heavy handed Patrician familys, told to tough it out. End result is that he started self medicating with Pot and alcohol and is slowly spiraling out of control.

Medication sparingly used (my sister is adament about not overmedicating) has helped my nephew get through school (going to be a junior this year). Still, his thought processes are different and he has trouble recognizing what could become an error in judgement. Still...this is something he is always going to live with. My sister has worked very hard with him and that is the key. It takes constant vigilence, not constant medication.

Over the years it does seem to have tempered a bit but, I fear he will have to keep on top of this his entire life.