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Old 04-28-2012, 09:19 AM   #30
photon
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Originally Posted by pylon View Post
Yep. I was considered a 'Hyperactive' kid. Now what do they call it? ADD? ADHD? And then it has about 15 sub-categories so they can rape you with 15 repeat visits?
That's pretty ignorant, ADHD isn't just hyperactivity, it's very real and has a very real and significant negative impact on the kids who really do have it.

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Originally Posted by pylon View Post
Anyway, the doctor put me on an industrial dose of Ritalin, and it turned me into a total Zombie drone. It broke my parents heart, and they took me off of it once they realized what it was doing to me.
Sometimes it can take trying 5-10 different medications and a constant communication between the teachers, parents, and pediatrician to find the one that treats the ADHD but doesn't turn the kid into a "zombie".

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Originally Posted by pylon View Post
But I digress. My old man has always said in his opinion "You weren't hyperactive, you were just an outspoken a-hole that always had to be the centre of attention." And I agree CC. Sometimes it almost seems Orwellian, that a kid that is outspoken, or super energetic is considered to have a 'disorder' per se, and that has always bugged me. Maybe he is exactly that, just a junior jerk.
ADHD is far more than just outspoken and energetic. For a real case of ADHD, there's significant safety issues, social issues, and much more. And medication is only one small aspect of an overall approach. Everything from discipline to education to social skills all have to be done differently to be effective, and it requires a lot more work and planning.

The whole goal of medication and all the other things that should be being done in concert with the medication is to let the kid grow up as who they are without the huge negative aspects, not to change the kid.

If you are in a room trying to talk to one person, and everyone else in the room is yelling so loud you can't hear the person you are talking to, is asking everyone else to stop yelling changing you? No, it's just asking everyone else to stop yelling so that you can hold the conversation with the person. The right medication at the right dose, that's all it does.

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Originally Posted by pylon View Post
I don't think I would be laughing it my parents had followed doctors orders, and my entire childhood was a forgotten, doped up blur. I would certainly have issues with that.
Obviously bad parents are obviously bad, if they try and dope their kids up that's not good. But I've met hundreds of different parents with kids with ADD/ADHD and none of them do this. They agonize over medication and spend huge amounts of time to find the right one that has a positive effect without any negative. These parents that dope up their kids probably exist, but so what? They're not the norm of caring parents and child care providers, and it's certainly not the goal of the health care system, or anyone reasonable.
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