Say Anything Blog

There is an increasing trend of prescribing medication for our children. Should we trust the drug companies when they say it is the best option.

Glaxosmithkline were recently censured for lying about test results that showed Paxil was no more effective for treating depression in children than sugar pills and in many cases led to increased paranoia and suicidal ideation - leading to it’s prescription and subsequent (avoidable) deaths of kids.

Conditions like ADD and ADHD have shown improvement after kids were given healthy diets over medication. These conditions have been linked to poor nutrition.

Depression for teens is par for the course. Teens get depressed because their hormones are imbalanced, but they will stabilise if we let them. Medicating them is surely going to lead to imbalances later in life, but then isn’t that what the drug companies want? A generation of customers.

Last year, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency said most SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) - the most common type of anti-depressant - were not suitable for under-18s. However, in a study published today, researchers from the University of London found prescriptions for anti-depressants and other drugs designed to calm or stimulate the brain rose 68 per cent in the UK between 2000 and 2002, compared with nine other countries, including the United States and Germany.

Recent medical reports show drastic increases in the number of children taking stimulants, antidepressants and other psychiatric drugs.

These increases include children ages 2 to 4 who are taking the stimulant methylphenidate, the generic form of Ritalin, for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder at two to three times the former rate in two state Medicaid programs in the Northwest.

Children with ADHD are often disruptive in school, have trouble sitting still and act impulsively. A recent study showed a marked improvement in children who were taking medication on top of therapy, in contrast to the children who had only one or neither of those approaches.

It is tempting to reduce the complex and chronic nature of ADHD behaviors to one single component (e.g. diet). The alternative treatments to medication or behavioral modification in general have been far less studied. Various aspects of diet, including sugar and additives have been studied. Elegant studies have demonstrated that refined sugar does not contribute to ADHD behavior however this notion refuses to die in the community. Some artificial food coloring in massive amounts did make boys under five “more irritable” so it may be wise to limit the amounts of processed foods to all children. However, most of the claims of “alternative” approaches are anecdotal and more study is needed to before I can recommend these kinds of interventions for the treatment of ADHD.

Symptoms of ADD/ADHD include:

* Making careless mistakes in schoolwork

* Difficulty sustaining attention to tasks

* Not listening to what is being said

* Difficulty organizing tasks and activities

* Losing and misplacing belongings

* Fidgeting and squirming in seat

* Talking excessively

* Interrupting or intruding on others

* Difficulty playing quietly

These could easily be attributed to too much TV..?

Physicians often recommend that ADHD or AD/HD be treated asymptomatically with stimulant medication, special education and counseling. Although these approaches sometimes yield positive benefits, they may mask the problems rather than get to their underlying causes.

In addition, many common drugs for ADD (such as ritalin, methylphenidate, cylert), which have the same Class 2 classification as cocaine and morphine, can have some negative side effects that relate to appetite, sleep and growth. Placing a normal student who has difficulty paying attention in a special class and counseling could undermine rather than boost his self esteem.

A sensible, multi-disciplinary, developmental approach treats underlying causes rather than the symptoms which are secondary.

VISION THERAPY improves visual skills that allow a person to pay attention. These skill areas include visual tracking, fixation, focus change, binocular fusion and visualization. When all of these are well developed, children and adults can sustain attention, read and write without careless errors, give meaning to what they hear and see, and rely less on movement to stay alert.

OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY for children with sensory integration dysfunction enhances their ability to process lower level senses related to alertness, body movement and position, and touch. This allows them to pay more attention to the higher level senses of hearing and vision.

TREATMENT OF ALLERGIES to pollens, molds, dust, foods and/or chemicals by eliminating or neutralizing them has also been shown to alleviate the identical symptoms, and without side effects.

The public needs to understand that some behavioral optometrists, physicians, educators, mental health professionals, occupational therapists, and allergists are all addressing the same symptoms and behaviors. The difference is that medication, special education, and counseling can mask these symptoms and behaviors, while vision therapy, occupational therapy and/or treatment of allergies may alleviate the underlying causes and thus eliminate the symptoms long-term.