Miche wrote:
> BlueBrooke > wrote:
>
>> I'm saying they didn't have ADHD in the first place. I'm saying they
>> didn't need to be medicated and put to sleep to make someone else's
>> job easier. If you don't want to deal with kids, don't have kids, or
>> don't take a job where you have to work with kids.
>>
>> I'm saying that ADHD is over-diagnosed because it's easier to live
>> with a kid who is drugged up and doesn't rock the boat than it is to
>> teach them responsibility and discipline. Or is it just a coincidence
>> that parents stopped teaching their kids what "NO!" means and ADHD
>> diagnosis skyrocketed?
>
> BTW, those kids who get ADHD drugs and don't have ADHD? It makes them
> wired, not "drugged up and sleepy".

On the one hand ADD/ADHD is now over diagnosed in my opinion.

> ADHD meds are stimulants, and one of the symptoms of ADHD is a
> _paradoxical_ reaction to stimulants, meaning it calms them down and
> helps them choose where to put their focus rather than having no
> attention span and not being able to sit still.

On the other hand if a kid is given stimulants and they calm the kid
down then the kid has ADD/ADHD and it is not misdiagnosed. I've never
been diagnosed and will avoid getting diagnosed but I use caffeine as a
calming agent. It does not wire me the way it does with non-ADD folks
and thus I do have ADD (ADD with hyperfocus in my case).

> What about those kids who do get "NO" and do get consequences and don't
> get the medication _or any other treatment_ and STILL have ADHD?
>
> We exist, and there are more of us than you think.

The gripping hand is that there are plenty of ADD folks who can manage
with coping strategies and no medication. Medicate everyone whose
reaction to stimulants is calming and you've medicated far too many
kids. Resist medicating as many as possible and you haven't medicated
enough kids. There's a balance in between somewhere.

I grew up in a time when 1 in 1500 was medicated. Way not enough and
the meds were insufficient for that one case. I've seen the droves of
kids getting medicated. Neither is a good approach. For myself I found
a career where borderline ADD symptoms are an advantage and I've done
well. It was stressful experimenting with my own career until I found
this work. Folk with less self direction might never do such
experimenting and end up miserable.

On food intolerances - There is speculation that a grain intolerance can
cause ADD. Something that parallels irritable bowel, leaky gut and
such. I don't know what to make of such speculations. I'm wheat
intolerant and mildly ADD but by the time I learned of it my ADD
symptoms did not reduce. Maybe they would if I went completely grain
free ...