Amen to that, It's a pretty big welfare scam excuse, I've seen people use that as an excuse and manage to get free lodging out of it.

As for me, I'm ADHD and OCD. Take either of my medicines away and I can't focous. So I take a perscreption methamphetamine (Which isn't it's name but they're the same thing almost) and anti depressants, (For OCD)

And then I'm fine.

I have been working in Deaf Education for the past few years and I wanted to bring two things to mind in this debate.

1) Something we (deaf ed teachers) learned back in college was that when you have a child with one type of disability (in our case it was deafness as that was the focus of our studies) it very frequently shows up with another issue. So, many times when you have some type of developmental delay/impairment it can come bundled with ADD or ADHD. This could help explain the rise in children in Special Education being diagnosed with this. Which sort of leads into the second point.

2) There has been a rise in premature babies that go on to develop or display signs of ADD/ADHD because it is directly tied to their premature development track. Due to medical advancements, more premature babies are surviving and of that group, the premature babies are capable of surviving even an ever-increasing premature birth. (8 months to 7 months etc). Twenty years ago, we didn't have babies that survived that young. 50 years ago we didn't even that! So it makes sense that there's a rise from what our parents and grandparents remember being "normal" as we become capable of shifting the range of survivability (if that's a word).

They aren't always popping up out of nowhere. Of course, this doesn't cover every scenario or every reason for the existence of ADD/ADHD and it's not intended to. Just food for thought.

I was diagnosed with ADHD and I didn't believe a word of it, because I knew I was just sick of the same old thing. Sit down, shut up. No fun. No imagniation. Nothing but routine, 12 to 12. I love to go and EXPLORE. I remember living in the sticks when I was a lot younger and taking my bike and rocketing around town until sundown with my best friends, without a care. I miss that

I can't tell if you're being facetious or if you're missing the point of the Debate Room...

Ya'll realize this thread was originally posted over 2 years ago, right?

I think that AD/HD exists, but there are TOO many kids with this that don't actually have it.

Ok, missing the point of the Debate Room.

iCad wasn't asking us to provide the answer for her; she posed it to see what our opinions are because clearly she thought it an interesting topic for discussion. She isn't the only person to wonder about misdiagnosis of this condition and simply used a personal anecdote as an explanation for why people might get misdiagnosed.

....

admittance to something, here?
and isnt it sad that we live in a world where we have to make excuses just to have the basics of survival?

I did part of a clinical rotation at a pediatric ADHD clinic in real life, and although a large proportion of our patients were on Medicaid/welfare, they were also genuine. Sure, you'd occasionally see a case where the child didn't have ADHD, just a parent who lacked the ability to set limits/say no/was too overwhelmed with their perfectly normal child, but there were plenty of real cases, including cases where a child was actually injuring themselves and their siblings because they just couldn't stop. Sometimes we'd also see kids who didn't have ADHD, but did have other issues or disorders. I did a project on this last year; I wish I could find the whole list of diagnosis criteria. We had evaluations that the parent had to fill out, evals for the child's teachers to fill out, and a whole set of clinical criteria that had to be met.

Also, the need for services versus what's actually offered is insane - the clinic I was at was just for ADHD treatment, and the waiting list for some of the larger, more in-depth programs (for the kids with non-ADHD disorders or multiple problems) was something like 6 months long. Unfortunately, with budget issues, services are getting cut instead of expanded, so this isn't likely to improve any time soon.

As for debating based on the literature, it's not like scientific literature is going to provide a yes-or-no answer. I could go do a journal search right now and I'm sure I'd get articles that come down on both sides. Not to mention the whole issue of evaluating the literature...just because something gets published doesn't mean it's a *good* study. (One thing to note - there's a higher correlation between lead levels and ADHD. In rural areas, there may be more older, lead-based paint for kids to ingest, possibly leading to a higher ADHD rate.)

Of course, I'm sure some docs overprescribe, and all stimulants are automatically classified as having a high potential for misuse/abuse, even though using them for genuine ADHD doesn't lead to problems. (I do know there is at least one study that suggests not treating ADHD may actually lead to substance abuse in later life, as teenagers try to self-medicate with illegal drugs.) But I'd be worried about overuse more in a teenage/college-age population than in elementary school, where it gets used as a study aid. (Also, the fact that the kids iCad saw were only 5-6 years old doesn't bother me; there are 3 stimulants approved for use in kids 5 and up. That 10% of the school was on stims does sound waaay too high, though, even accepting the idea that lead ingestion might drive up the rates in urban and rural areas. The NIH estimates that 3-5% of children have ADHD.)

Finally, I'd just like to point out that ADHD isn't always the "OMG crazy kid running around" stereotype. ADHD in girls is usually the primarily inattentive form, where they just have an inability to concentrate/finish tasks. They get labeled as daydreamers or spacey, but parents are less likely to seek help because they're not the whirling tornadoes of destruction that the primarily hyperactive kids can be.

And, hey, whoever necro'd the thread seems to have sparked a discussion all over again.

Am intiresting point to make is that most kids diagnost with ADHD are actually boys. Interesting right, boys are boys, aren't they supposed to be figety and want to run and play in the mud? Especially at the ages you are describing? 5-6, well I was playing in the sand and throwing mud all around with all of my other class buddies. Yes, all the boys in my class were tight and have been friends for a while. One day, I got home and my mom was really ticked off and my mom and dad were debating about this very topic. They were appalled that the school thought that all the boys in my ENTIRE CLASS had ADHD! She took me to the doctor either way because the school said I had to or I would not be able to go there because of my appalling behavior, wich in fact was normal for boys my age. The doctor gave my mom the drug called Aderall. Right away she started balling her eyes out saying," They want me to give you a narcotic! A drug that it very addictive and could change you, probably for the worse." Next month, i really started noticing how different to boys in my class were behaving. They would do nothing during recess, they wouldn't play in the mud, climb in the trees, play kick ball, football, baseball, but no, they sat down and do nothing," Hey Mike want to play baseball?" "No baseball is boring and not as fun as it used to..." I was really sad that I no longer had nobody to play with, and sadder that booted because I didn't act like the girls did or the good boy did. So I believe that ADHD is overly diagnosed just so the teachers who are terribly lazy can have a uniformily bahaved class.

Highly overdiagnosed...We treat kids like crap these days and expect them to sit in a school seat for 8 hours of the day quietly working their brains out...which isn't what kids are supposed to do. Kids are supposed to be social, energetic, play, have fun, ENJOY childhood... Doctors are quick to prescribe meds for " ADHD " Kids because it puts money in their pockets and makes the parents happy - because then their kids act like little perfect drones, rather then children. Just my two cents on the subject...

Let's not make this about gender. I have two daughters, with completely opposite personalities and interests. One is all about princesses and dresses and hair and has extended concentration and focus skills, the other one is all about action, climbing, getting dirty, doesn't like having her hair brushed, and prefers physical activity over concentration. They are only 14 months apart in age, so it's not an age factor, it's based solely on personality. Perhaps more boys are diagnosed because society finds boys being active more 'normal' and therefore constantly discourage it in girls, so girls are more 'trained' in general, but I don't think it is 'normal' for there to be such a difference in activity and interests based on sex, I think it's root is in personality.

Just to clarify for you: Adderall's not a narcotic ("narcotic" is a badly defined term without medical meaning, but most people usually equate narcotics with opioids, and Adderall isn't an opioid.) It's classified in the US as a schedule II controlled substance, which is something with a high potential for abuse/misuse.

Although many C-IIs have the potential to cause tolerance, dependence, and addiction, Adderall and other stimulant drugs like it (anything that's composed of mixed amphetamine salts or methylphenidate) are generally not thought to be addictive. They're C-IIs because of the abuse/misuse potential, not because of addiction potential, and I certainly wouldn't call them "very addictive." Nor do patients develop tolerance (a need for increased dose) or dependence (which is where the patient develops a physical or psychological need for the drug, and will undergo withdrawal if therapy is abruptly stopped.)

More specifically, Adderall, Ritalin, etc. tend to be abused by people without ADHD: notably, college students who are looking for a study aid, or people who want some kind of speeder to offset the effects of a CNS depressant. That's why it's a C-II.

Also, even if you'd taken it, you wouldn't have seen long-term personality changes after discontinuing the drug. Most of the ADHD meds clear the system pretty fast.