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A Million Kids Misdiagnosed with ADHD?
Jamie was one of several people who submitted links to a story proclaiming that as many as a
million kids were misdiagnosed with ADHD simply for being the youngest and therefore least mature in their classes. Worse still, I wonder how many of those kids are permanently put on drugs.
when my son was 4, he was in a very good pre-school. In the middle of the year he was moved up to the next age group ( 5 and 6 year olds. Luckily a girl was moved up at the same time. A month after the move, my wife and I were called in for a conference because the teacher had concerns about my son's behaviour. In the middle of the meeting, I asked a question about the age distribution in the class. The director and the teacher both looked at each other. You could almost see the light bulb going on. Of the 20 kids in the class, 10 were older 6 year olds, 8 were older 5 year olds. The other two were my son and the girl who had moved up from the 3 and 4 year old group. She was also having "issues". The meeting closed quickly with apologies.
I wonder if Doctors over diagnose ADHD for the same reasons they over diagnose depression.
Friend of mine is Doctor working for the UK National Heath Service and he's told me about how they can be offered cash incentives for prescribing certain drugs, particularly antidepressants. Consequently you go to the doctor with any vague symptoms there is a good chance you will walk away with low dosage Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors(SSRI).
The cash incentives avoid being bribes in a cunning way. If a doctor prescribes enough of a certain pill he gets invited to conferences where they apparently give them more information about the drugs they prescribe. Of course this is out of work hours and the drug companies feel they should compensate the doctors for their time, usually cash in hand with jaw dropping amounts and somehow the after parties end up in hotels with coke and hookers. ''Prescribe our drug and you can come to the next party! ''
I wish I didn't believe him but first hand I went to the doctors with a headache and lethargy and walked away with a months worth of venlafaxine though I never took them after reading the side effects list. 3 years later I passed all the tests to join the Intelligence Core in the British Army but failed the medical because I had apparently previously been diagnosed with depression.
I'm finally considering going on something for my Masters. I made it through all of mechanical engineering just on account that I was 'smart'. I've been able to get good reviews at work even though I feel like I only work 2 hours a day. The rest I spend on slashdot and fark or elsewhere on the internet. But somehow the ADHD has kept it such that I'll work in spurts and and surf and still get more work done than my peers.
It seems that /. has a different group consensus on ADHD (thankfully) but there are some places that think it is made up. That it's just 'kids being kids'. If you spend an hour with me in a 'boring' situation that I don't have my internet pacifier, I start making up things to do. Below is something that I wrote for another website on ADHD:
ADHD indeed does suck. On Welbutrin right now, but at times it makes me near manic. I mean I'm VERY productive but short term memory is nill (I can't remember where I would set a screw driver) and wouldn't work on something for more than 10 minutes at a time. (Opposed to 30 seconds at a time and switching jobs), I honestly would forget words and speaking came out like I had tics, but it's helped a bit.
My adult test for ADHD is sex. As long as I have a 'task' which is her pleasure. I'm all into it. I'm concentrating on something. There is however, no such thing as relaxing. Because as soon as I'm told to 'relax' and it's my turn, ADHD kicks in. "Ooh MyTurn.This feels good, hrm I wonder what that car sound was, cars I wonder where I parked my car, oh yeah in the garage next to that BMW, I wonder if I could get a free test ride. shiat losing erection, she looks like it's her, think sexy thoughts think sexy thoughts. Hrm, last time I had sex, that was last weekend, last weekend oh that was before I went to work, work I wonder if that simulation was finished running, crap I have a meeting on Monday, Monday that's labor day, no work labor day, labor day, stupid unions, probably the only thing they've ever given us, union contract expiring at work".
Repeat. There is a reason sex can take up to 45 minutes and NO it is not fun.
The only exception is when I either haven't had it in a LONG time (Long distance GF) or it's the first time with someone. Even the second time my brain goes "heh, already done this. What else is can I think about."
Only thing worse is when I've been cramming for a final on a subject and the brain tries to incorporate the two. Clutch friction plates, rotational intertia, wave motion, hell I have a sex.c file somewhere in my brain. "No baby, it's not you, I just can't figure out the switch statements for this subroutine."
THAT is ADHD.
The Welbutrin is so so. I think it severely affects my short term memory. When I'm taking it I can't multi-task because I'll forget what the other task was, so it does sort of force me to work on one thing. However at times it makes me talk like a stroke victim because I can't even speak.