I am here because soulless drug companies simply want to increase their profits for their shareholders. They do not care about you or me or all the children in the world.
People come to forums like this looking for info. Without my friends and I here, they would get a very unbalanced view of these "medications". I've never said that ADHD does not exist, but where do you draw the line for "diagnosis"? Drug reps are pushing doctors to "diagnose" people with very few "symptoms". Schools are being paid 0 per pupil to have parents take their children to doctors who will "diagnose" the kids as having ADHD and doctors are paid by drug companies to prescribe drugs to these kids.
It is not whether the condition exists, it is solely about MONEY !
We live in a world of drug altered conciousness. Psychotropic drugs alter your sense of reality. Chidren are seriously affected by having a mother and school teachers on drugs because those "authority" figures who believe that they are helped by these drugs view children as "needing medication".
Do you really believe that President George Bush's "Teen Screen" plan to "screen" every child for "mental disorders" is a good idea ??? Or is it based solely on increasing the drug companies shareholders wealth and the fortunes of the Bush family ? (It's not based on "helping" children.)
More than one in every 100 toddlers and preschoolers in the United States are on powerful psychiatric drugs, such as Ritalin and Prozac, according to a study published in the February 2000 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Joseph T. Coyle, M.D., wrote in an accompanying editorial, “It appears that behaviorally disturbed children are now increasingly subjected to quick and inexpensive pharmacologic fixes, as opposed to informed mutimodal therapy.” He concluded, “These disturbing prescription practices suggest a growing crisis in mental health services to children and demand more thorough investigation.”
But instead of issuing warnings about overmedication or inappropriate prescribing, the experts on the New Freedom Commission warn ominously that too few children are receiving treatment for mental illness. They cite escalating numbers of toddlers expelled from daycare as evidence of potentially serious psychological problems—problems to be diagnosed and cured with mental health screening and pills. Social and economic reasons for the rise in kiddie expulsions are left unexamined.
As bad as this is for those put on drugs and labeled “mentally ill,” the far bigger concern is the creation of a disease for every drug, a situation made possible by the hand-in-glove relationship between industry and the government.
SmallMom - these naysayers don't put ADHD in the neurologic category - that requires meds. They want us pidgeonholed into the "it's your/your parents'" fault category - must be upbringing, or boredom that causes it. The Tom Cruise school of medicine makes us into hypochondriacs who - rather than get ourselves up by our own petards - we just pop a pill to avoid the real cause.
Wow Balanced - real numbers! And references! So you admit now its not the huge numbers - but only around 1 percent of kids on meds in school (yes 1 in 100 is one percent).
Just let them know when you mention all this that it's a fraction of a percent of actual harm coming to children on meds - and can be attributed to faulty monitoring of the intake of those meds that cause any trouble. The meds don't cause the troubles per se - but rather not watching for the already known potential side effects of them that does. If the med is already known to cause a rare problem - and the MD only gives out the prescription without follow-up - do you still blame the meds? Well you do but most people won't.
Not to split hairs, but Ritalin is a medication that works on the Central Nervous System and ADHD is a neurological disorder, not a psychiatric disorder.
The whole article...
Title: “Bush Plans To Screen Whole U.S. Population For Mental Illness”
Author: Jeanne Lenzer
http://www.agrnews.org/issues/284/#2
Truth News, September 13,2004
Title: “Forcing Kids Into a Mental Health Ghetto”
Congressman Ron Paul
http://www.truthnews.net/world/2004090078.htm
Faculty Evaluator: David Van Nuys Ph.D.
Student Researchers: John Ferritto, Matt Johnson
In April of 2002, President Bush appointed a 22 member commission called the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health in order to “identify policies that could be implemented by Federal, State and local governments to maximize the utility of existing resources, improve coordination of treatments and services, and promote successful community integration for adults with a serious mental illness and children with a serious emotional disturbance.”1 Members of this commission include physicians in the mental health field and at least one (Robert N. Postlethwait) former employee of pharmaceutical giant Ely Lilly and Co.
In July of 2003 the commission published the results of their study. They found that mental health disorders often go undiagnosed and recommended to the President that there should be more comprehensive screening for mental illnesses for people of all ages, including pre-school age children. In accordance with their findings, the commission recommended that schools were in a “key position” to screen the 52 million students and 6 million adult employees of our nation’s schools.2
The commission also recommended linking the screenings with treatment and support. They recommended using the Texas Medication Algorithm Project (TMAP) as a model treatment system.3 TMAP, which was implemented in Texas’ publicly funded mental health care system while George W. Bush was governor of Texas,4 is a disease management program that aids physicians in prescribing drugs to patients based on clinical history, background, symptoms, and previous results. It was the first program in the United States aimed at establishing medication guidelines for treating mental health illnesses.5 Basically, it is an algorithm that recommends specific drugs which should be used to treat specific diseases. Funding for TMAP was provided by a Robert Wood-Johnson Grant as well as several major drug companies. The project began in 1995 as an alliance of individuals from pharmaceutical companies, the University of Texas, and the mental health and corrections systems of Texas.6
Critics of mental health screening and TMAP claim that it is a payoff to Pharmaceutical companies. Many cite Allen Jones, a former employee of the Pennsylvania Office of the Inspector General. He was fired when he revealed that many key officials who have influence over the medication plan in his state received monetary perks and benefits from pharmaceutical companies, which benefited from their drugs being in the medication algorithm. TMAP also promotes the use of newer, more expensive anti-psychotic drugs. Results of studies conducted in the United States and Great Britain found that using the older, more established anti-psychotic drugs as a front line treatment rather than the newer experimental drugs makes more sense. Under TMAP, the Ely Lilly drug olanzapine, a new atypical antipsychotic drug, is used as a first line treatment rather than a more typical anti-psychotic medication. Perhaps it is because Ely Lilly has several ties to the Bush family, where George Bush Sr. was a member of the board of directors. George W. Bush also appointed Ely Lilly C.E.O. Sidney Taurel to a seat on the Homeland Security Council. Of Ely Lilly’s .6 million political contributions in 2000, 82 percent went to Republicans and George W. Bush.7
In November of 2004, Congress appropriated million 8 to implement the findings of the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. This would include mandatory screening by schools for mental health illnesses. Congressman Ron Paul, R-Texas introduced an amendment to the appropriations bills which would withhold funding for mandatory mental health screenings and require parental consent and notification. His amendment, however, was voted down by a wide margin (95-315 in the House of Representatives).9 Paul, a doctor and long-time member of the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) states, “At issue is the fundamental right of parents to decide what medical treatment is appropriate for their children. The notion of federal bureaucrats ordering potentially millions of youngsters to take psychotropic drugs like Ritalin strikes an emotional chord with American parents.” Paul says the allegation “that we have a nation of children with undiagnosed mental disorders crying out for treatment is patently false,” and warns that mental health screening could be used to label children whose attitudes, religious beliefs, and political views conflict with established doctrine. Paul further warns that an obvious major beneficiary of this legislation is the pharmaceutical industry. The AAPS has decried this legislation, which they say will lead to mandatory psychological testing of every child in America without parental consent, and “heap even more coercive pressure on parents to medicate children with potentially dangerous side effects.”
Update by Jeanne Lenzer: Whether it’s the pills we take or the oil we use, it would be reassuring to know that the information used to develop new medicines or to utilize natural resources wisely is based on science—not corporate spin.
But blandishments from Big Pharma to politicians and doctors have a profound effect on health care in the U.S., making medical research closer to propaganda than science at times.
One way drug companies, in collusion with doctors, increase their market share is to expand the definition of diseases. When diagnostic criteria were liberalized for attention deficit disorder in 1991, the number of children diagnosed jumped by about 60 percent.
The American Psychiatric Association (APA) acknowledged in the July 2004 issue of Advocacy News that, “The BMJ story has gained some traction in derivative reports on the Internet.” But, they boasted, “mainstream media have not touched the story, in part thanks to APA’s work, for which the [Bush] Administration is appreciative.”10
The APA’s boast is curious. The article was the most downloaded article in the history of the BMJ. It clearly struck a nerve with a public wary of doctors and politicians whose pockets are lined with drug company money.
Given the interest in the BMJ story, it would seem that the APA, instead of attempting to keep the story out of the mainstream media, would be anxious to counter the widely circulated statements in the article. It would also seem that the mainstream press could provide the Administration and the APA the best possible vehicle to counter these supposed factual errors in the BMJ article.
But, the facts might prove difficult to square with the public. More than one in every 100 toddlers and preschoolers in the United States are on powerful psychiatric drugs, such as Ritalin and Prozac, according to a study published in the February 2000 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Joseph T. Coyle, M.D., wrote in an accompanying editorial, “It appears that behaviorally disturbed children are now increasingly subjected to quick and inexpensive pharmacologic fixes, as opposed to informed mutimodal therapy.” He concluded, “These disturbing prescription practices suggest a growing crisis in mental health services to children and demand more thorough investigation.”
But instead of issuing warnings about overmedication or inappropriate prescribing, the experts on the New Freedom Commission warn ominously that too few children are receiving treatment for mental illness. They cite escalating numbers of toddlers expelled from daycare as evidence of potentially serious psychological problems—problems to be diagnosed and cured with mental health screening and pills. Social and economic reasons for the rise in kiddie expulsions are left unexamined.
As bad as this is for those put on drugs and labeled “mentally ill,” the far bigger concern is the creation of a disease for every drug, a situation made possible by the hand-in-glove relationship between industry and the government.
NOTES
1. http://www.mentalhealthcommission.gov/.
2. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=390 78.
3. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=390 78.
4. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=390 78.
5. http://www.news-medical.net/?id=3084.
6. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=390 78.
7. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=390 78.
8. http://www.truthnews.net/world/2004090078.htm.
9. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=416 06.
10. See Medicating Aliah: http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2005/05/medicating_ aliah.html.
Alliance for Human Research Protection “http://www.ahrp.org” www.ahrp.org http://www.psych.org/join_apa/mb/newsletters/advocacy/AdvNew sJuly2004.htm#21.
Obvously, if someone is having bad side effects with drugs...to include chest pain, rectal bleeding, etc etc, by all means, QUIT TAKING THEM. If someone is having a postitive effect using drugs and their quiality of life improves, BY ALL MEANS TAKE THEM. Duh. It's pretty strait forward. We no longer die at the age of 42 because of advances in medicine. Do all doctors or drug companies have our best interest at heart? Not entirely, then again, not the complete opposite either. There will always be people on polar opposites to every topic. I do not find polar opposites bad. You need extremest to make a point otherwise no one will listen. Do we need them on this board? Perhaps, perhaps not. I think harrassing people is not necessary. Keep in mind, people on the extreme end of the scale are typically NOT typical. They enjoy fighting a cause regaurdless of it's merit or effect on those they expose their views to. Their agenda becomes bias...to the point that they loose credibility. You can say the info came from this source, that source, it doesn't really matter because you can always find a source to support your beliefs. Their whole goal is to get people to think...regaurdless of their credibility or lack of reality. They do not look at a subject from all sides. They simply have a single minded agenda and arguing with them is pointless. The people who meet in the middle are typically a bit more well adjusted. Or they just are not activist. I do not think this is the forum to degrade people because of extreme view points. I, personally, at first, let those people who are extremest on this forum bother me. The more I thought about it the more I just think of them as I would extreme republicans, extreme democrates, extreme gay activist, extreme animal rights folks, the list goes on. You cannot reason with people like this. Their existance and thoughts are consumed to the point of unreasonable arguements. In our case, here in this forum, they are using "child deaths" as their cause. I'm not a child. I do not have a child. I have no idea what children have to do with me and ADHD.
Soo, for myself it's best to read their post, listen to them and then use my own intelect to arive at my own conclusions. I appreciate their warnings once or twice. Then it is just rhetoric. Blah blah blah.
So far strattera has been working for me. It's only day 5 but my thoughs seem to be matriculating and the buzz in my head seems a little more calm. It's a relief. I don't have to focus like a gorilla to think first thing in the morning. I have also noticed I am staying on task with greater ease. My anxiety is also leveling I think due to the fact that I can pinpoint thoughts and don't have to "grab" at them in by brain to get them to make sense. I can't wait untill the full effect. It's going to be such a relief to think clearly and with "finesse" instead of straining to try and mold all those thoughts buzzing around in my head. I will know what it is like to achieve my goals professionaly. I will know what it is like to have full and happy personal relationships. I will know what it is like to "have my sh*t together". I have always strived at sucesses so attributing my lack of sucess to not trying is not a valid arguement. <although I am considered sucessful on the overall average....good white collar job that requires a degree...good relationship with my partner....NOT that these things are required for happiness. They just seem to be something society as a whole thinks is necessary to "make it".>
I thank all of the people on this board both in the alternative medicine forum and this forum who have shared there HELPFULL opinions. I enjoy reading what others are experiencing and it gives me comfort to know I am not the only one. I also take Omega 3 and L tyrosine in conjuction with the herbal stomach and GI track remedies to counter side effects <so far, no side effects>. The aloe vera concentrate detox flushes my liver and kidneys to keep them healthy. The aloe very concentrate stomach helps maintain healty acid levels and a healthy stomach/GI track/colon. The L-tyrosine helps with the brain chemistry. The strattera is calming my thoughts and helping be use my full mental focus and function. I'm not really sure what the Omega 3's do!!! I've read on the alternative forum and they seem to do good stuff to the brain. WOO HOO.
So, to all the nay sayers. f**k off. Post your opinion and move on. I still have to make an effort to keep ignorant people from getting on my nerves.