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[Bagels]

Sorry dude, grumpy GAFers who think that discipline solves everything have invalidated your entire field of study.

Thank God I have a backup plan - personal physician to a celebrity! None of those crappy moral dilemmas - the patient just asks for the drugs they need, and you give them to them! No worries!

 

[Orayn]

I still think this is disgusting. Do people really think a giant ADHD epidemic has swept over the country in the past decade?

Why is it disgusting? That quote refers to kids who have been professionally diagnosed with specific ADHD symptoms who respond well to a certain medication. It does not imply that medication guarantees that effect, or say anything about the frequency or validity of ADHD diagnoses.

 

[ElectricBlue187]

I still think this is disgusting. Do people really think a giant ADHD epidemic has swept over the country in the past decade?

No but those people generally did not lead successful lives or if they were really bad off they probably ended up in an asylum

 

[Bagels]

I still think this is disgusting. Do people really think a giant ADHD epidemic has swept over the country in the past decade?

Yeah...what? Does the use of powerful narcotics in people dying of cancer also disgust you? Tons of people abuse those drugs! Therefore, the drugs are no good!

How is making a dramatic improvement in a child's life "disgusting"??? We're talking about a small number of kids, with strong diagnoses of ADHD, responding remarkably well to a medication. Any inappropriate use of the same medications in kids who don't need it doesn't completely invalidate their clinical utility.

 

[Barkley's Justice]

America's lost somewhere inside of Littleton
Eleven million children: on Ritalin
That's why I don't rhyme for the sake of riddlin'
False media, we don't need it, do we?
Pilgrims, Slaves, Indian, Mexican
It looks real fucked up for your next of kin
That's why I don't rhyme for the sake of riddlin'
False media.

 

[SoulPlaya]

America's lost somewhere inside of Littleton
Eleven million children: on Ritalin
That's why I don't rhyme for the sake of riddlin'
False media, we don't need it, do we?
Pilgrims, Slaves, Indian, Mexican
It looks real fucked up for your next of kin
That's why I don't rhyme for the sake of riddlin'
False media

Roots? Good man.

 

[Salmonax]

Yes, it's largely lazy/bad parents looking for a quick fix, who are enabled by the massively for-profit-and-little-else pharmaceutical industry and the physicians in their pocket.

 

[ProfessorLobo]

Why is it disgusting? That quote refers to kids who have been professionally diagnosed with specific ADHD symptoms who respond well to a certain medication. It does not imply that medication guarantees that effect, or say anything about the frequency or validity of ADHD diagnoses.

Okay, there are certainly very rare cases when I think it helps. I just think that the ADHD epidemic has been so destructive that I have a knee jerk reaction against anything that mentions the disease.

 

[ReBurn]

Someone in my extended family carries around a pharmacy for her kids. They are 8, 9 and 11. They take a half-dozen pills a day.

She's been in online college for child psychology for the last 6 years and in that time she's personally diagnosed their various conditions and has subsequently gone doctor shopping to find a doctor that will give them medications to treat the problems she's diagnosed. They're on medicine for ADHD, bipolar, anxiety and insomnia. On top of the insomnia medicine, she gives them an extra dose of melatonin at bedtime to make them extra sleepy so that she doesn't have to deal with the issues every other parent deals with when trying to teach their children to go to bed. She just lets them fall asleep and may or may not move them to their beds from wherever they crash. If she's out of melatonin she'll give them Benadryl.

The result so far? She has 3 zombies who are undersize, underweight and emotionally immature. The 11 year old looks like hes's 7 or 8 and the 8 and 9 year old kids could pass for kindergarteners. They all speak in baby talk. It's very sad. There's nothing that can be done since they're under the care of a doctor. Believe me, we've tried.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Absolutely yes, I think. My friend lives with his cousin and his wife and apparently their 1.5 year old child has been on a variety of medications since birth. It's not like she has a specific disease or something, either.

Really disgusting, in my opinion. The pharmaceuticals have almost certainly just taken over the medical industry at this point. I bet physicians have almost no choice but to recommend some kind of medication to their patients on just about every visit.

 

[Mgoblue201]

/Thread, pretty much. The amount of legal drug use is astounding thanks to the government as dealer system. It's permanent existence is helped by the fact that they're taxed and insurance companies are involved entrenched in it as a extremely profitable market.

This article actually argues that, at least when it comes to pain killers, drugs are under-prescribed, and the government actually thwarts their use:

But at the same time, studies also consistently show that chronic pain is tragically undertreated in the U.S. (and around the world). Last June, an Institute of Medicine report called undertreated pain a "public health crisis" that affects 116 million Americans, and costs the economy around a half-trillion dollars per year in medical bills and lost productivity. The same month, three pain-related articles in the Lancet focusing on post-operative, cancer related, and non-cancer related pain, respectively, found mass undertreatment in all three areas. The journal ran an an accompanying editorial pointing to another study from Human Rights Watch showing that the problem is global, and more because of bad policy than because of a supply. In one recent study of 40 countries, 27 didn't consume enough opioid drugs to treat even 1 percent of patients with terminal cancer or HIV/AIDS. " Furthermore," the editorial added, "in 33 of 40 countries, governments had imposed strict restrictions on prescribing morphine, beyond the requirements of UN drug conventions to prevent misuse."

 

[AdventureRacing]

Why specify children? I think people in general are over medicated. I know lots of people who are taking way more medications than they really need too.

 

[Alucrid]

Someone in my extended family carries around a pharmacy for her kids. They are 8, 9 and 11. They take a half-dozen pills a day.

She's been in online college for child psychology for the last 6 years and in that time she's personally diagnosed their various conditions and has subsequently gone doctor shopping to find a doctor that will give them medications to treat the problems she's diagnosed. They're on medicine for ADHD, bipolar, anxiety and insomnia. On top of the insomnia medicine, she gives them an extra dose of melatonin at bedtime to make them extra sleepy so that she doesn't have to deal with the issues every other parent deals with when trying to teach their children to go to bed. She just lets them fall asleep and may or may not move them to their beds from wherever they crash. If she's out of melatonin she'll give them Benadryl.

The result so far? She has 3 zombies who are undersize, underweight and emotionally immature. The 11 year old looks like hes's 7 or 8 and the 8 and 9 year old kids could pass for kindergarteners. They all speak in baby talk. It's very sad. There's nothing that can be done since they're under the care of a doctor. Believe me, we've tried.

Err....holy fuck.

 

[BobsRevenge]

One doctor tried to put me on anti-depressants when I went in for a physical really tired.