Friday, May 12, 2006
RE: Long-term Ritalin use (poisoning my very own child), Initial diagnosis was ITP, current diagnosis – "deadly aplastic anemia"….ADHD fraud, parents beware! Ritalin is known by other names, methyl, methylin, methylpenidate, concerta, focalin and more!
Hello Everyone, I wish I didn’t have to fancy meeting you all, at least not here.., …not in this forum, but here we are, all together aren’t we? How very, very sad. Well, I’d like to tell my daughter’s story and keep telling it so that other’s who may be in the same horrible boat, can hopefully gleen some wisdom from my experience, and if that helps another child, I will have made our heavenly father smile today, I hope.
My name is anita. We are a family of 5, mom/dad and 3 daughters. We live in Apache Junction, AZ and my children’s ages are currently, 13,17,20. My middle daughter Bree who is now 17, had been on ritalin from age 5-6 to age 15 and was first diagnosed with ITP at age 15, (2-1/2 years ago) thru a routine sports physical when proteins were noted in the urine. From there, several blood tests followed and the platelets were found to be lower than normal, around 80,000 at that time. The oncologist assured me (not) not to worry, and tentatively diagnosed her with ITP, that was when I first found/visited this website. At that time, I quickly learned that ADHD – treatment – methylphenidate was known to cause ITP, and low blood platelets. I went to my DR. with this, but he denied the connection and further patronized me telling me that I could still give my daughter Ritalin if I wanted to. Well, I didn’t believe him and she was removed from the medicine immediately. Eventually the platelets spiraled to the 60’s and the dr. ordered a bone marrow biopsy. In 2004, at that time the bone marrow was found to be manufacturing Platelets and an excessive amount at that, so the assumption was that they were being destroyed somewhere else in the body. This ruled out leukemia and cancer at that time. For 2-1/2 years her platelets remained in the 60-ish range.
Then recently, they have spiraled down to 37.000, and we are now being referred to pediatric/hematology/oncology, who have sent out 10 tubes of blood for testing, and are temporarily telling us that she has aplastic anemia, a rare blood disorder involving destruction of the bone marrow, and involves an inability to produce white cells, red cells, and platelets. Our child may be dying! I told the reg. Oncologist that he wasn’t fit to care for my child when with this new news, I learned that ritalin is also responsible for low red and white blood cells too. But guess what? The new pediatric doctors aren’t admitting ritalin is the cause either. NOBODY WANTS TO SAY, YES, IT’S THE RITALIN, BECAUSE THEN THEY MIGHT HAVE TO STAND BY THAT COMMENT/BELIEF IN LITIGATION! And no doctor wants a part of that! Forget that they are moraling and ethically motivated to for the 3 million ritalin users out there nationwide, oh no, cause you see, there’s 3 billion annually in the RX’s pocket – and they are – well connected to the doctor’s pocket!
Well, I have researched aplastic anemia and find that it CAN BE a direct RESULT of BENZENE. And I have now researched the chemistry/compounds in ritalin and find that benzene is an important ingredient of ritalin. All the while NOVARTIS, manuf. Of ritalin is the first to abound with comments about how long ritalin has been around and that ritalin is safe, but the minute someone makes a claim of opposite nature, NOVARTIS is the first to claim, there is no long-term data or studies to know what the effects of ritalin are in children (long-term). Well, I say LIARS! I saw a Physicians REF. DESK encyclopedia today from 1977 that had thrombocytopenia purpura as a serious side effect of the drug, but do you think that information was on the labels of the ritalin medication my daughter was taking in the 80’s-90’s? NO! It was not, and IT CERTAINLY WAS NOT ON THERE, THAT BENZENE IS AN INGREDIENT, NOR IS IT ON THERE THAT THE DRUG COULD CAUSE CANCER, LEUKEMIA, APLASTIC ANEMIA AND PROBABLY OTHER HORRIFYING AND UNTHINKABLE DISEASES. I know, because I still have the receipts!
So back to the moment. I’m furious. I’m angry, and I’m going to be the biggest anti-ritalin parent out here on the net. So, if you are just now being diagnosed with ITP and ritalin is involved in your child’s history? Run, don’t walk to the nearest 2nd, 3rd and 4th opinion you can find if necessary, and start checking the heart, the liver, the spleen, the bone marrow, and more, because I had a lull of 2 years – and perhaps that will have a deadly effect now? Could there have been something we could have been doing for her in the time period? LISTENING TO ONE DOCTOR IS NEVER A GOOD IDEA! Trust me, I have had breast cancer too at age 32, and this is the God’s honest truth….be proactive and do not trust them! Other kids have dropped dead with heart associated causes. Please I ask you one thing. Please tell 3 people about my story, MORE IF POSSIBLE, PLEASE!
Can you even imagine how we are feeling as parents? It is bad enough when your child is sick, but to think you are responsible for the demise of your very own children is hardly bearable! The bible put laws into effect for loss, an eye for an eye, a life for a life. You accidently kill your neighbors donkey, you pay for it, you do it on purpose you pay more. How much more so the life of a human being? Well, I may never see compensation from NOVARTIS for this, but WE can shut them down. One person at a time! If you will please pass my story on to someone/anyone who will listen. It’s very real, and it’s happening to us as I type, and we are real people, with a real child we love dearly, very possibly dying from a very real killer. 3 million kids in America may soon follow if WE don’t SHUT THEM DOWN! Please, Please I beseech you, tell someone, email my story, I don’t care….share it today won’t you? Also, won’t you pray for us? Breanna is scared and mom and dad and sisters are too, sisters may have to test for match – for bone marrow transfusion – and that is a whole other nightmare that I don’t have time to relay.
AND LASTLY PARENTS, THERE ARE OTHER WAYS, THE U.S. IS OVERMEDICATING. ADHD IS NOT A DISEASE FOUND IN LIFE OR IN AUTOPSY, AND YET WE ARE DRUGGING OUR KIDS FOR IT. WE AS A NATION ARE CONTROLLING THEM WITH MEDICATIONS RATHER THAN DISCIPLING THEM AND TEACHING THEM BETTER WAYS OF BEHAVIOR. I BEG/BESEECH YOU, FIND ANOTHER WAY PARENTS, PLEASE, PLEASE DO NOT USE DRUGS.
I WISH I WOULD OF TAKEN THE STUFF MYSELF TO SEE WHAT IT FELT LIKE TO MY KID....THEN PERHAPS I COULD OF UNDERSTOOD HER COMPLAINTS when she told me long ago, she didn't like it!
Many parents are have success with Omega's. It is a lot to read but I suggest you take a look. If you haven't ran across it already here on ADHDNews here is quick link:
http://www.adhdnews.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=17175& PN=1
My son is 10 in 4th grade and has had add since first grade. Medication worked great at first. The last year he seems deppresed, stutters a lot, and doesn't have many friends. We are taking him off the meds and going to try some natural approaches. Any suggestions and encourgement would be so appreciated! Thanks, KariHello Kari,
We have taken my son off the meds 2 years ago because they are poison. He was a "C" average in school. We decided to do our own thing the natural way and prove these doctors wrong. We put our son (age 14 with ADHD) on liquid vitamins because he can't take pills. We put him on 3 liquid vitamins along with a multi-vitamin, Fish oil (omega3), Body Balance (high anti-oxidants) and OsteproCare (calcium/magnesium) are the . If you are interested in reading more on the Body Balance and the OsteoProCare the website is www.lifeforce.net/20458118. The Fish Oil website is http://www.vitacost.com/CarlsonTheVeryFinestFishOil-500ml. The OsteoProCare will help you child sleep at night because Magnesium makes you sleepy. After putting him on these vitamins, he became an honor roll student. We also make sure he eats right. He does not like meat or chicken too much so we make sure that he gets protein by certain foods. We make sure he has a Zone bar (Costco) every day which is 16 grams of protein, he gets a power shake in the morning before school and 2 eggs at night after dinner around 9:00 for extra protein. It is very important that they eat properly. Vitamins are not the only antidote though, it takes alot of work of the parent as well. The parent must understand that self esteem if the most important factor of a child with ADHD/ADD. If that goes you will have an extremely hard time bringing it back up. Sports, kickboxing and any other active activities are very important in their lives. Sports for the activity, kickboxing for the discipline. My son is a very active soccer player and also takes kickboxing. He does not have alot of friends but these are issues that need to be dealt with as well. If you have any other questions, please email me.