What are the criteria for diagnosing ADHD & giving kids these drugs? The diagnosis can be based on of seven sets of symptoms that are supposed to have been going on for five months & are disruptive. Let’s have a look at the first set only. Diagnoses of ADHD, ADD & other ‘disorders’ have resulted in a vast increase in the number of kids taking addictive & dangerous drugs from a young age - even toddlers - right through to college. The number of prescriptions for ADHD drugs alone has increased about 500% in the last 15 years. That’s three times the number of kids taking drugs. Considering there is no real scientific evidence that ADHD exists other than as a contrived list of symptoms, that’s saying a lot. & it’s part of the reason why we’re fighting a prescription drug addiction epidemic.
These symptoms are common for all babies. They’re not ‘kids’ because of their age; they’re kids because they haven’t yet mastered the control over their lives, their emotions, their minds, their bodies, their belongings, their social skills, & so on, the way adults supposedly have. Although, in truth, the same symptoms could explain lots of adults as well.
- Doesn’t pay attention to detail & makes careless mistakes.
- Doesn’t keep their attention on what they’re doing.
- Doesn’t seem to listen.
- Doesn’t follow instructions, or doesn’t finish things they started.
- Has trouble organizing.
- Doesn’t like to do things that take a lot of mental effort for an extended period of time, like home-work.
- Loses things.
- Is easily distracted.
- Forgets things.
Nevertheless, parents & teachers who have trouble coping with these symptoms while they teach kids or raise them to adulthood as they gradually get things more under control, get the kids put on drugs. The kids aren’t cured, they’re not as hard to control. But the effect on the kids is disastrous. they may lose their appetite, become nervous & unable to sleep, get abdominal pains, digestive problems, heart palpitations, headaches & dizziness. Their blood pressure & heart rate may go up, & they may get itchy & have skin rashes. they can even go psychotic, commit suicide & become homicidal.
When they try to quit these highly addictive drugs with these awful side effects they can also become severely depressed. So, they keep taking them, or being given them. They also get the idea there’s something wrong with them & they can’t function properly without drugs. & whenever they have trouble in the future, drugs could be the answer. Physical problems can also cause these symptoms - nutritional deficiencies, food & other allergies, chemical toxicity, much sugar or junk food, & medical conditions like hormonal imbalances, & so on.
Often the symptoms these kids have can be otherwise addressed. often times they’re not paying attention in class or doing their home work because they don’t comprehend something about the subject or it holds no interest for them. they may not remember where they put something because that thing had never been given a place of its own. Maybe they didn’t listen because they were talked ‘at’ & no seven was speaking with or listening to them. Giving kids drugs that are the equivalent of cocaine is never justified but, in all fairness, lots of parents don’t know about the other things that could be causing the symptoms or how to remedy them.
If you require to avoid the dangerous side effects of these drugs, if you don’t require to teach your kids that drugs are the answer to life’s problems & set them up for a life of prescription drug addiction, find a doctor who specializes in addressing these problems without drugs as your first step. And if you’ve older or young adult kids who are using prescription drugs, get them into an addiction treatment center to help them get off the drugs safely, & then help them find other solutions to their problems.
