andyh wrote:
I took Ritalin for ADHD in middle school then started smoking weed in high school....

.......... wrote:
omfg lol.

Gilly wrote: Maybe we should do a poll just to make it clear?! Simply repeating the facts over and over again doesn't seem to sink in.

.......... wrote:
I'm not suggesting it was your idea to take ritalin, but with hindsight, are you able to say that you feel it was right to medicate you? The reason I ask, is that I do share Andy's suspicions, and it seems logical to me that lots of kids would lack concentration in school, not because they're ill, but because it's bloody boring a lot of the time.

In my day you'd have got a boot up the backside for not focusing. That always seemed to work like a charm.

Another thing is, lots of dietary elements can cause symptoms like inability to concentrate - and even bad behaviour.

I realised when my daughter was a nipper that if she had pop (and even the so called 'freshly squeezed orange juice') she became ridiculously naughty and impossible to reason with. Yet, that didn't happen if I actually juiced oranges myself for her.

So I'm thinking that if kids are genuinely being maniacal, the first thing I'd be tempted to do is see a dietician, or even take steps myself to test things by eliminating them from their diet.

So, I'd just like to know what your perspective is on that, having been subjected to it yourself.

Gilly wrote:
Kids are often flighty and have a short concentration span.
They are concerned primarily with having fun and learning is often not fun. Good teachers understand this and try to work with short attention spans, frequent breaks, trying to make education amusing somehow.
Primary school teachers are all too used to laughing screaming kids its quite normal and nothing to be concerned about.
It dies down as they get older, as a parent I see it myself and strangely enough I miss the kids early years and how quick they are to grin and laugh at everything. I wonder if we're doing the right thing by calming them down and socializing them etc.

wake_up_bomb wrote:
I don't think he'd read the poll though. Or if he did, he'd ignore it, maybe.

andyh wrote:
This is something I've questioned so many times over the last twenty years.

psketti wrote:
Good! If nothing else I'm not the only one

I guess it shows how important the parenting experience is. There's more to it than just some terrible drawn out life sentence of commitment. It is a 2 way thing.

Gilly wrote:
I also think most of it has to do with me drinking alot of sugary soda and eating candy as a kid.

.......... wrote:
Perhaps a part of it but I blame an establishment that sees it as 'abnormal' as being the bigger problem than the kid him/herself IMHO

andyh wrote:
I agree with all you've said here Andy, but when my daughter drank pop, it wasn't just typical child-like giddiness that resulted - she'd actually act mental for half an hour or so, displaying aggressive behaviour that she'd never normally do, and her eyes went weird, like she was drunk on alcohol.

Obviously I realised quickly what the cause was, but there were a few episodes when my mum & my sister (probably assuming I was exaggerating) gave her these drinks despite my asking them not to, and they were shocked. I don't imagine it's just drinks that can have that effect some kids - some additive or other probably caused it, which could be present in other foods.

I wonder how many kids are affected in this way, and are dosed up with ritalin & such as a result.

I tried to combat the 'calming down' effect of school when they were little, by telling them they weren't allowed to be sensible for at least half an hour after getting home from school. We'd have tickle fights, & do star jumps and have singing competitions instead.

andyh wrote:
Yea i think that is true also...

ADHD and depression drugs are a billion dollar industry.

Gilly wrote:


Amazing how sometimes media shows the truth even if its humour eh?

.......... wrote:
Yep agreed.
And its either to 'treat' a non existent problem or an artificially created one in the first place.

Gilly wrote:
Thousands. Needlessly.

In my opinion there's a definate connection with food additives to these so called conditions and both are linked together heavily. I also believe that the pharma industry is making far too much money from it now to ever 'pull out' and therefore many more thousands of kids will be put on this shit for their entire childhoods.
Sadly it's going to be down to parents as individuals to monitor their children and make informed decisions about what they get to eat but again, this itself is a massive problem as the growing numbers of 'ADHD sufferers' grows steadily proves.

andyh wrote:
It seems like the ADHD drugs like Ritalin started getting pushed here in the late 80's during Regans war on drugs.

Now there is a conspiracy...

Gilly wrote: psketti wrote:
Millions psketti...
psketti wrote:
And it's not just the ADHD it's the childhood diabetes and an even wider range of health problems.

I think parents & teachers (generally speaking) just trust the medical profession in regard to this, and lack the knowledge that might lead them to question it and seek proper methods of addressing it.

Does anyone think it would have some impact if we were to put our heads together & come up with some researched information to distribute to schools & so on?

Could anyone justifiably object if you were just presenting them with facts, and suggesting that they get their child checked by a qualified dietician before considering medication?

Gilly wrote:
Believe me I've already tried and just got looks of scorn.
If it comes from some scientists and/or preferably govt then they'll look at it, sigh

Yes, that's what I think too, Andy (after some attempts in another field) BUT, maybe there is research out there that has been conducted by scientists - I think there must be - to back this up.

*Spits at govt*

*Edit* I've remembered a documentary I saw on TV maybe 20 odd years ago,about a group of youngsters who were written off as unteachable tear-aways, with all kinds of behavioural problems. They eventually deduced (a team of dieticians I think) that it was a particular ingredient in shop bought bread of all things, that was at the bottom of it. Once that was removed from their diets, they were like different kids altogether. There must be stuff about this from credible sources out there!