Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is one of the most feared and misunderstood of all neurological medical conditions. Despite over 200 scientific papers being published on this neurological condition every year, it remains stigmatised and controversial. Yet some doctors don’t even believe it exists.
One in 20 school children are affected by ADHD, and over one million adults in the UK are affected with the condition.
It’s a complex condition where children find it difficult to concentrate or are hyperactive and impulsive. Many are often described as stupid, lazy, disorganised, wild, out of control or woozy on drugs. But the reality is altogether more complex, and deeply moving.
Unfortunately it can be hard to work out whether a child’s behaviour is normal or the sign of a behavioural disorder.
what ever happen to parents being parents personality suppressing drugs should be a last resort. I grew up with the 3 strikes rule if your told to do something more than twice you get a few spanks and or you were grounded for a few days from some activity like going out side or watching tv depending on what you did. What most kids in that age group want is to test the limits and find out what the boundaries are and it’s the adult or parent’s job to teach the child where that is not some pharmaceutical drug.
Well I’m 16 and was diagnosed with ADD when I was 7 and started taking Adderall which helped immensely, so it is really just what you are comfortable with doing.
I blame the 40+ vaccines, diet & the many medical interventions children are exposed to these days! And the doctors that don’t see beyond pharmaceutical drugs! Qwaks all of them!
spare the rod, spoil the child. plus don’t be an arsenal fan
Jon Sharpey
I have been ‘unofficially’ been diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia late in life and I will tell you it has been an amazing relief for some one to actually real off all the symptoms that I have been suffering with since I was a kid.
I have a great family and great parents who have raised very well behaved children yet I was always the black sheep. I had great compassion for people, but found it very hard to remain still in classes, was very disruptive out of pure boredom due to problems remaining alert. I was put on report at school every year of my life from year 3 (aged 9) all the way up till college, yet I had many favourite teachers who said I was a bright kid but who just needed to be pay attention more and not be distracted. yet this was alot easier said then done. I got sent to council-ling, doctors, kinethesologists, oestopaths, homeopaths who where trying to work out my symptom’s and all I got was suggestions but no definitive diagnosis.
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My comment:
You are about to be labelled. Some people find comfort in labels. I distrust them completely and refuse to be labelled by those who know nothing about me. Once labelled, it goes with you for the rest of your life. However, if a label helps your comfort zone, then well and good but do not expect others to agree.
The ‘symptoms’ that you describe are those that might be listed by thousands of people, myself included. I even knew a headmaster who diagnosed himself with ADHD! Where was the test? There is no test. There are NO tests for any of the tripe in the DSM. It is junk science.
There is a very good documentary somewhere on the Internet which tells the opposite of the one you watched. There is also an excellent documentary regarding the nonsense relating to Dyslexia. I beg you to find them and attend before making gut remarks about something you do not yet understand.
I have had hundreds of students of all kinds through my hands and I am held in high regards in the UK and Australia for my work with these students in practical subjects and work experience. It is unfair to make gut comments whe you know nothing about me.
The ‘deficit’ in the acronym refers, in my view to the lack of proper attention given by educators, NOT the child having a deficit of attention.
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I had great trouble sleeping, suffered regualr anxiety attacks and had trouble forming close relationships (and still do) as I always felt I was on the outside. I was far from an un-popular kid, but my irratic behaviour made me find it hard to allow people to get too close in case they saw a side of me I didnt want them to, cos in any instance a negative thought could be acted out. my father still refuses to believe that i have it yet my mother and sisters and close friends all recognize the symptoms.
so for you to say that you work with kids yet purely believe that is nonsense and just a lacking of training my words for you are please find another proffession and dont ruin more kids life by ignoring they’re suffering.
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My comment:
I have never ignored children’s suffering, in fact just the opposite. You have no entitlement to make such a comment. When you have seen the devastating effect of pharmaceutical drugs on these students and the fake diagnoses, you would retract that statement.
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I’m a lucky one, I have managed to go to university and complete a degree and get a good job, but still every day at work, even though I love and enjoy what i do, it is still a struggle. trying to remember what i need to do, controlling the anxiety, juggling multiple tasks, the restlessness. the people who dont believe in adhd are the people who havent experieneced it, it like a constant fogginess you can rarely shake, you will have constant changing of thoughts but your mind just cant keep hold of it long enough for you to elaborate it of for it to become clear, communication suffers, confidence suffers if not given the right treatment and understanding.
For anyone to suggest that my symptoms are due to a lack of discipline and weak mindedness I would urge you to meet me and understand my character, as I have done more in my short 25years of living than most, Ive always strived to better ones self, but when you suffer adhd with dyslexia its a very long and foggy road and with many hidden potholes along the way.
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My comment:
When did I ever mention ‘lack of discipline’? You sound like you need to talk to some-one regarding your position; or what you perceive your position regarding these so-called ‘diagnoses’. These will not help your situation. You have already proven to me (at least) that you have gifts and one of them was to overcome your ‘symptoms’ and get a degree. Power to your elbow.
I have spent over fifty years trying to find answers to awkward questions. If you care to visit my (still-active but unattended) site you will find over 160 articles on all kinds of subjects I have studied.
Hint: When you Google (or whatever) ADHD, Google the ADHD myth and have a look at what you find.
Never, never take anything you read at all from Main Sewer Media at face value.
Salutations,
Peter K. Sharpen
http://www.pksharpen.f2s.com/sharpspeak/Index.html
7:24 p.m., Wednesday April 10
I agree with the comments below. I also “have ADD” and I don’t take medication, nor would I consider it. Our world is too stimulating for me. I can’t watch television, so I don’t. I limit the sensory input that I can handle and this helps a lot. I practice vipassana meditation at least one sitting per day which is a cornerstone for me. Since the industrial revolution (and even further back), our western world has becomes so out of touch with the way human beings have been living for tens of thousands of years, that it is no wonder that we are all freaking out psychologically and our brains are short circuiting. I read a book called “The Gift Of The Hunter Child” by Thom Hartmann and it echoed sentiments that I have been convinced of for years. Watching these people on this documentary try and stuff their round kids into the square holes of society is tragic.
Why medication is the right thing to do and sometimes the wrong. 1) The dopamine deficit is a lifelong condition. 2) The obligation to be in public school ends at 12th grade. 3) The brain stops growing by volume at 15..16 years of age. 4) women cope: can become good dependents in marriage 5) men cope: can enlist in armed forces. 6) there are more neurotransmitters than just dopamine (misdiagnosis). 7) side effects when dosage is very high.
The risk of addressing the wrong neurotransmitter by misdiagnosis or using a higher or lower treatment dosage (=milligrams per day) than the optimal.
Too much medication, not enough discipline from exhausted parents. Sleep deprived, over-stimulated immature brains (TV, Video, game systems, computers, cell phones, iPads) … of course they can’t pay attention! Our children have been conditioned since they were old enough to prop up in front of a TV to watch 25 images (or more) per SECOND! That is not managing the brain in a ‘real time’ environment! Then, thanks to the drug companies and kick backs to physicians (the amounts of which you wouldn’t even believe), we wrongly medicate our kids, and then medicate them more to compensate for the side effects caused by the first prescription. Sleep apnea has also been know to cause problems with these children, and probably adults also. If you are not breathing properly during sleep, the brain is deprived and goes into HYPER DRIVE, and thus ADHD. It makes sense, and studies have shown that ADHD symptoms DISAPPEARED after one year or sooner, in children who have had tonsillectomies and adenoidectomies
We are all like puppets. I have three sons with ADHD. I have ADHD, and I am telling you now, it is up to the parents. Open your eyes and pay attention to yourselves AND your kids. Your children are way OVER stimulated because they are reacting to improper environments. Watch what they eat. Make sure they get plenty of sleep. That is really important. Teach them to sit and meditate (it works). Turn off the TVs, game systems, computers, cell phones, iPads … ALL of it! Stand firm on punishments when necessary, and don’t be so quick to medicate, yourselves or your children. Figure it out folks. Your children’s brains are waiting. Your brains are waiting. Just STOP THE MADNESS.
P.S. to “Sharpstuff” … I think the fact that you have worked with Special Needs students for over twenty years and think “ADHD is total nonsense” is very sad. Surely, any kids or parents assigned to your care are in worse trouble. You should probably do yourself and others a favor and look for different work. After twenty years in the business, you should have, by now, figured out that you are in the wrong profession, Sir. Shame on you for staying in a position better served by someone who gives a damn.
ADHD could also be called a lack of discipline in children, this is a display of the diagnosis of new conditions to medicate a social negligence in the life of a child……
@sharpstuff:disqus
that does not matter so long as the drug makes money… the weird thing is though the drug is a stimulant, how in the hell can it help kids concentrate when really it increases brain activity? for adults i can understand this but for Kids it seem a perverse treatment.
As with all so-called psychiatric ‘syndromes’ and/or ‘disorders’ ADHD is a total nonsense.
I have been working with students with Special Needs for over 20 years.
The 1st boy Ilam, Those parents make all sorts of threats, and don’t follow through, kids have to learn consequences.
who are you to make such a statement? I don’t care how long you may have “worked” with Special Needs students, you are no doctor, and in all honesty you sound like a troll trying to goad people into arguments.
My dear Lenore, who are YOU to make such a ridiculous reply. How do you know I am not a ‘doctor’? If you cannot make a sensible contribution, go back to where you belong. No further comments will be sent to me, from now on, say what you like. I suggest you consult the DSM regarding B.C.D.S. (Brain Cell Deficiency Syndrome).
well then maybe you should work with them some 20 years more because you have learned little.
stick…who are you to make such a reply?
I refuse to be led into one of your hoi polloi non-sensical remarks the likes of the ignoramuses who bedeck the anti-social network sites and comment sections of such sites as these. You will never find me on Faceless book…
Please do not reply to any of my comments unless they are constructive and backed by forensic evidence, the only kind I accept.
I have been ‘unofficially’ been diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia late in life and I will tell you it has been an amazing relief for some one to actually real off all the symptoms that I have been suffering with since I was a kid.
I have a great family and great parents who have raised very well behaved children yet I was always the black sheep. I had great compassion for people, but found it very hard to remain still in classes, was very disruptive out of pure boredom due to problems remaining alert. I was put on report at school every year of my life from year 3 (aged 9) all the way up till college, yet I had many favourite teachers who said I was a bright kid but who just needed to be pay attention more and not be distracted. yet this was alot easier said then done. I got sent to council-ling, doctors, kinethesologists, oestopaths, homeopaths who where trying to work out my symptom’s and all I got was suggestions but no definitive diagnosis.
I had great trouble sleeping, suffered regualr anxiety attacks and had trouble forming close relationships (and still do) as I always felt I was on the outside. I was far from an un-popular kid, but my irratic behaviour made me find it hard to allow people to get too close in case they saw a side of me I didnt want them to, cos in any instance a negative thought could be acted out. my father still refuses to believe that i have it yet my mother and sisters and close friends all recognize the symptoms.
so for you to say that you work with kids yet purely believe that is nonsense and just a lacking of training my words for you are please find another proffession and dont ruin more kids life by ignoring they’re suffering.
I’m a lucky one, I have managed to go to university and complete a degree and get a good job, but still every day at work, even though I love and enjoy what i do, it is still a struggle. trying to remember what i need to do, controlling the anxiety, juggling multiple tasks, the restlessness. the people who dont believe in adhd are the people who havent experieneced it, it like a constant fogginess you can rarely shake, you will have constant changing of thoughts but your mind just cant keep hold of it long enough for you to elaborate it of for it to become clear, communication suffers, confidence suffers if not given the right treatment and understanding.
For anyone to suggest that my symptoms are due to a lack of discipline and weak mindedness I would urge you to meet me and understand my character, as I have done more in my short 25years of living than most, Ive always strived to better ones self, but when you suffer adhd with dyslexia its a very long and foggy road and with many hidden potholes along the way.
Glad I left my genes in my jeans.