ADHS

Since my searches haven't turned out anything about this on this board, it seems right to discuss this topic.
ADHS stands for Attention Deficency Disorder/Hyperactivity Disorder and is a supposed to be a very grave health issue for children. Synptoms include: moving hands and feet while sitting on a chair, "distraction" errors during homeworks or schoolworks, not enough will to focus on the study, etc. I am sure an overwhelming majority of children has these symptoms and that many adults had them during their childhood. In fact it was once commonly believed that all these "symptoms" were just an indication of an healthy, normal kid. Those not too willing to study were simply labelled "lazy" or "unwilling", not sick. Not anymore: right now if your kid is not willing to stay in class for five, six boring hours and starts to swing his/her legs around or if he/she prefers to play outside rather than stay in his/her room studying, or if he/she makes a little bit too much "distarction errors", your kid maybe sick with ADHS and needs help. Once the cure for a lazy kid was simply threating not to allow him/her outside to play or to take away his/her toys until the grades improved. Or to explain that poor grades lead to a life of poorly paid and degrading jobs. Right now the cure is easier: drugs! There's a list of commonly used drugs here, but the most commonly used is Ritalin, made by Novartis. Allow me a personal comment: this sounds like a sickie's wishlist, not something you want your children on. What's Ritalin? It's a "mild stimulant", halfway through between caffeine pills and amphetamines. Of all the other drugs, we have stimulants, sedatives, etc. Now what kind of parent would allow his/her ten years old to take stimulants? Answer: either a very lazy or very scared parent. Very lazy are those that cannot motivate their children, those that don't have enough time, and wish to hear that their perfect child is merely sick. ADHD will go away, just take the pills. Very scared parents are those that are summoned by the school's social worker and told their child is ill with ADHD. The kid is sick, unless you put him/her on medications we'll have to notify social services. How do you tell ADHD from normal childish activities? You don't. It's merely a myth invented to sell more drugs, make the teachers' job easier and to give parents an easier time. Why bother spending time with your children, explaining them that studying math will be good in the long run, perhaps helping them with their homeworks, when a pill can do the job for you? Why bother making your lessons interesting for the kids, when some drugs will make them more manageable and more attentive? It's plainly sick, and this reflects a trend very common nowaday: you are different from the standards, you've got to be sick. Be it a psychic disorder, be it a defective gene, you are sick, that's why you are different. Forgive my outburst, but I have very unpleasant memories in my childhood on this topic. ADHD was still in its infancy, and psy-drugs were still off limits for children, but I was treated like one of these kids nowaday. Luckily my parents didn't buy into it and fought back, but I ran some serious risks. Parents out there, think about this when your children's teacher tells your offsprings are lazy. You may be in more trouble than you can bargain.

Hm, interesting, seems I was-am one of these kids.
I still have it, but it never bothered me all too much. It's not a huge problem for me.

Originally posted by ShadowBorn
but it never bothered me all too much. It's not a huge problem for me.

yeah, im the same way. Though, I havn't been off meds for a long while. Dunno how I would be without them, probably not much different.

Originally posted by theshadowknows

Originally posted by ShadowBorn
but it never bothered me all too much. It's not a huge problem for me.

yeah, im the same way. Though, I havn't been off meds for a long while. Dunno how I would be without them, probably not much different.

really? I never used drugs, even as adult(though it became less evident with years). What are you using exactly? I didn't even know it's an ilness before reading this.

That is very interesting because I am against drugging kids and everyone taking drugs unnecessarily. Instead of people learning to conquer their shortcomings, just take a pill to make it all better then you become dependent on it then find out later it caused some side effect that's just now later showing up. It seems the drug companies are trying to get everyone hooked on drugs and I wonder why?

I think the first poster is right, some of what is considered ADHD is just children with lack of disciplince, so they drug them up to make them quiet then wonder why so many teens today are thinking of suicide and are depressed, years of taking drugs could have something to do with it.

[edit on 1/14/2005 by Leading Lady]